My New Years Resolution for 2010

I like the sound of the new year: "Twenty-ten"- kinda' catchy.
Just had to throw that in. Now, the real reason for this post.....New Year's resolutions.
Ever since I was a young girl, I always wrote a list of resolutions on New Year's eve. I never was a big party gal, and my idea of a fun New Year's Eve was dreaming about the great person I was to become in the promising year ahead. It didn't matter that I never carried out the previous year's hard-thought out resolutions. The year ahead was going to be different. It was a new chance, a fresh start.This year I have one resolution. I am so pleased with it, I can't wait to live it out. I was walking along the driveway the other day, and a word popped into my mind (disclaimer: I am not claiming any major revelation here, and after googling the term that I thought I had come up with -Ha!- I realize some of my readers might find my "resolution" a bit trendy. Nevertheless, it was an epiphany to me) so what is my new resolution? It is "simply" to live an intentional life. It helps to look at what being intentional is not. Intentionality is not impulsive: impulsive spending, impulsive speaking, impulsive reactions and outbursts. Intentionality is not compulsive: compulsive eating, compulsive hoarding (even books-ha,ha!), compulsive cleaning. What is intentional living? To me it is a deliberate and prudent way of living. Intentional living seems to be a prayerful and thoughtful way to live. If I am an intentional person, I am careful in every detail of my life, and I make time for what is important. I am excited about embarking on the journey towards intentional living, and I look forward to sharing this journey with you. I realize that living intentionally will be a life-long journey, not a year long resolution. An ancient Chinese proverb states: " A thousand mile journey begins with a single step." Here's to that first step!!!

An Afternoon Tea

As most of our readers know, we love tea! I have always made tea a very casual affair, but the other day(just for fun) we decided to get a little more fancy. It made me realize that it takes about five more minutes to make it a little nicer. Spread a tablecloth, light a candle, put on a little music. And the children should definitely help! One of my friends actually has "tea serving" written into her chore schedule. What a wonderful way to teach hospitality to our future hearth warmers!

Things to try

On my list of things to try : soapmaking and herbal crafting....Neat webite to check out: http://www.aselfsufficientlife.com/

Thoughts For Today

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do . . . but how much love we put in that action.       
            ~Mother Teresa


The mother is everything - she is our consolation in sorrow, our hope in misery, and our strength in weakness. She is the source of love, mercy, sympathy, and forgiveness. He who loses his mother loses a pure soul who blesses and guards him constantly.
            ~Kahlil Gibran

Herbal Warming

A Happy Fall to all!

Remember in your festivities and winter preparations to take time to dry some herbs from nature's bounty( or your garden). I plan to dry mint, rosemary, and thyme this week. Think of what a nice tea these herbs would make in the winter!

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart, to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common~this is my symphony." ~William Henry Channing

Soup Is On

We just had the most delicious potato/beet soup for lunch. Yesterday, while visiting the Frontier Culture Museum, we were given two bags full of beets. I decided to make soup for lunch, and it was very satisfying. I decided that we will be eating a lot of soup this winter. Travis is thrilled; he loves soup.
Today I based my recipe on one from a book called Vegetarian Soups For All Seasons. I never follow a recipe exactly, but this one was a real winner. There are many other interesting recipes in this book. There is even a section in the back with different breads to accompany the soup(i.e. onion-rye scones, cheesy pepper-corn muffins, etc...)
Of course recipes abound on the Internet, and I am sure you won't have a hard time finding many recipes, even if you never purchase a book. You could also check your local library for soup cookbooks.
There are several merits of serving soup often: it's easy to prepare, most soups are very inexpensive to prepare, and soup feeds a lot of people. There is a reason many Monasteries around the world have soups as their main fare. Go ahead...try your hand at creative soup making. If you find a really stellar recipe, let me know!

The Daily Green

The soup picture I posted was from a website called The Daily Green ( http://www.the dailygreen.com ). I haven't really looked through it yet(so maybe I shouldn't recommend it), but it looks kind of neat to me. Please share URLs of helpful sites in the comment section!

Motherly Image

I have a weakness for mother/child portraits- I hope to share some with you here:

The Thrifty Mom's Credo

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without."~ Old maxim (?)

I first hear Elisabeth Elliot say this on a child-training tape. I really liked it when I heard it then, and I like it now! I have heard it several times since, and I still pause to think about a time gone by when people really used everything to the utmost and threw away nothing(almost to an extreme).
I read a book a couple years ago about a woman growing up in hard times, and she said they didn't need "recycling" because they simply re-used everything! While I don't want to become a pack rat(if I'm not already), saving every coffee can, etc...There are a couple of standbys I think we should bring back into service:

1.The mending basket- When is the last time you've darned a sock? Patched a knee in an old pair of pants? Sometimes I think clothing is so easy to come by these days(thrift stores,yard sales), we toss out clothes that have small holes and tears in them. Maybe we should try to salvage the oldies before we buy "new" goodies. For those of us with children, the mending basket could provide a happy diversion ;)

2.The rag bag- When clothes have move beyond mending, transfer them to the rag bag. This is a bag or box where you keep old clothing to tear into rags. The rags can be used for cleaning, as wipes, or even cloths to drain bacon . I use them in the same way I would use paper towels. Some scraps could even be used to quilt or for other small craft projects.

Thrifting can be a fun hobby! Be creative!

Some Happy Thoughts

"All heaven and earth resound with that subtle and delicately balanced truth that the old paths are the best paths after all." ~ J.C. Ryle

"Friendships, like Geraniums, bloom in kitchens." ~Peter Lorimer

"Mercy is the golden chair by which society is bound together."~ William Blake

A Kindred Hearth

I don't know how often I will post on this blog, but I desired a little corner for writing about homemaking, cooking, etc...This is a place where I would invite my nearest and dearest~including all kindred spirits to come and share a cup of tea.