First the pretty – our summer weather has been nothing short of glorious. A few days of rain, which is perfect for the gardens, and many days of abundant sun. I haven’t been gathering flowers every day to enjoy on every surface, but I have been gathering. The peonies are almost done blooming, but there are still a few left… Read More »The Great Toy Sort (A Before and After)
Maddie wanted to rearrange her bedroom, but needed a different (shorter) dresser in order to do what she wanted. Sophie had the perfect dresser, so we decided to switch them. But first Maddie needed to clean out her room and get rid of some things. She sleeps in a narrow room, so there isn’t much room for furniture and stacking… Read More »Switching Around
My husband has been dealing with a lot of crazy things at his job lately. When he comes in the door at the end of a very long day, I want him to feel like he’s entering a sanctuary, not a project with endless lists of things that need to be done. I really want him to be able to… Read More »Loving Home
Homing:: After moving things in and out and around Maddie’s room (which is still not quite done) I had a chance to make some changes in other corners of our cottage. One of them was moving a tall bookcase out of Maddie’s room and into the little girls’, which made the coziest of reading corners. Made even better by moving… Read More »In and Around the Cottage
I want to apologize for my very long absence. Between the problems I’m having with my laptop, problems with the back up laptop, and posts that were eaten by my iPad, I’m beginning to think we have computer gremlins. I really didn’t want to post without a picture or two, but a photo-less post is better than no post at… Read More »Of walls, woodwork and doors
The family has been fighting a bit of a cold – the first of the season for us. Wouldn’t it be very nice if it were also the last cold of the season? So, for dinner I wanted to make something warm and healthy. Restorative Roasted Garlic Soup is exactly what we needed. I used this recipe, given to me… Read More »Restorative Roasted Garlic Soup
Mulching our Christmas tree is so “old-school” recycling. We have a new method. Meet one of our methods. Yes, we fed our tree to our goats. It makes a great treat for them. They’re happy. We’re happy. And it keeps one more tree out of the landfill. And for our entertainment, they dance, too.
Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; But much increase comes by the strength of an ox. Proverbs 14:4 This verse was going through my mind as I was cleaning my house today. I used to clean model homes part time. You know, those showcase homes that builders build for people to walk through and actually believe that they… Read More »Thankful for the Oxen
A beautiful site to awake to this morning. Every little branch was covered. It was just enough to freshly coat everything, but not so much that we needed to spend hours shoveling out. Just right.
Our family has squeezers, shakers, peekers, lifters and shufflers. So to try to keep the contents of Christmas gifts a secret until the big reveal, I don’t put who each gift is for on the package. In previous years, I write the name on the bottom of the wrapped gift in small letters. Usually I can see it, but everyone… Read More »To: 3,067,591,189