No.894: Last Week at the Farmhouse // Abundance at Home

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

This week, our primary focus was packing up the first floor as we prepare for our new flooring.  I’ve spent a lot of time decluttering the past few years but it still astounded me to see how many items we own, neatly tucked away in cabinets and nooks and crannies.  None of this is junk per se – it’s our puzzle collection and stacks of books and throw blankets and pillows – but it was a good reminder to never complain.  How fortunate am I to have collected an abundance of beautiful, useful things!

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. Celebrating my husband’s birthday. // We did the math and have celebrated 20 years of birthdays together.  Time flies!
2. Making it through the ice storm (relatively) unscathed. // A wild experience.  Trees were snapping everywhere and roads were blocked in every direction.  We even lost power for 30 hours!  So thankful for our generator and fireplace.
3. The gentle reminder from my kids not to stress. // I think they could see it in my eyes.  With the unpredictable weather, my husband’s insane work schedule, car issues and a sick pig, I was very overwhelmed with all of the tasks that needed to be accomplished.  My sweet son joked, “So is No Stress 2025 out the window now?” and that was enough to pull me out of my spiral.  One step at a time.
4. Not breaking my finger. // In the midst of this crazy week, I somehow managed to jam the ring finger on my non-dominant hand!  Thankfully, taping it to the next finger helped significantly and I was back to normal a day or two later.
5. New art! // My “making do” project of the week: I finished my second cross-stitch project and planned to frame it for my dining room.  I took a quick look at framing services and realized that I might be able to do it myself!  I laced the back using this tutorial and put it in a secondhand frame I purchased on Poshmark.  Definitely not perfect, but done.

Frugal Accomplishments //

• used every tote and bag and piece of luggage we own to pack up instead of buying boxes
• did all of the heavy lifting (moving furniture into the POD container) ourselves
• found a secondhand frame on Poshmark to use for my cross-stitch project
• used the newspaper packing from the box to start a fire
• reused an Old Navy bag to package up an ebay order
• fixed a gear shifter issue without having to see a mechanic (maybe. hopefully.)

This Week in the Liturgical Year //

February 8 was the Optional Memorial of St. Josephine Bakhita.

To Read: St. Josephine Bakhita Was a Humble Witness to God’s Love

To Make: African Inspired Meal for St. Josephine Bakhita

To Copy in the Commonplace Book: “Be good, love the Lord, pray for those who do not know him. What a great grace it is to know God!”

Reading //

• The Rules of Discernment: A Practical Guide – Rule 7 from Megan Hjelmstad at Spiritual Direction
• That I Might Be Seen from John Cuddeback at LifeCraft // “How I see the persons around me is more in my power than how they see me. Maybe, when I feel unseen it is then most important that I look outward at others, that I renew my effort to see them better. Lord, that I might see. Them. Even now.”
• Hannah Coulter, the Green Lady, and Me from Emily G. Wenneborg at Plough // Thought provoking.
• The Gift of Kindness from Melisa Capistrant at The Cavalry of Woe // I loved this.
• “Immanence” by Evelyn Underhill // A poem mentioned in the Tasha Tudor documentary I watched last week.

New Additions to The List // 

• Aristotle: The Desire to Understand by Jonathan Lear
• Perelandra by C.S. Lewis

Watching/Listening //

• Lessons 4-5 of the How to Think Like a Thomist: An Introduction to Thomistic Principles from Aquinas 101 at the Thomistic Institute

Loving //

• this book from Alicia Paulson // A used bookstore find for $3!

from the archives…

WEEK SIX 2024 // Patience