The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

No.457: Homemaking Notes on a Monday // Vol.05

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The weather outside is // 

Looks to be a pretty warm week!  I’m going to try to spend as much time outside as I can.

On the breakfast plate this morning // my same old, same old: oatmeal mixed with pumpkin puree and sprinkled with raisins on top.  
As I look outside my window // I still see a bit of foliage on the trees, but the rain and wind from the last few weeks have made most of the trees pretty bare.  What a change from the last time I wrote one of these posts!  It’s still beautiful, but in a different kind of way.

As I look around the house // I see a living room in complete shambles, but hopefully not for long!  The dehumidifiers will hopefully be removed by this afternoon and our new couch should be delivered on Thursday.  In other living room news, I think I’ve made a decision about painting the stone fireplace, but have to run it by Mark one more time before we pull the trigger.  We’re also debating the pros and cons of moving our television to a less prominent location.      

On this week’s to-do list //
  • take a BIG internet break
  • order a few Christmas presents
  • begin the last 54-Day Novena for the year
  • put flannel sheets on the kids’ beds
  • make a donation to the food bank (100LT #90)
  • research the Mediterranean Diet to help alleviate some of my blood pressure issues

Thinking about // “de-frumpifying” my wardrobe for the fall/winter.  When lockdown first started, I spent waaay too much time in “comfy clothes” AKA sweats/athleticwear and it really started to take a toll on my mental health.  Thankfully, I pulled myself out of that funk and made it a point to get dressed everyday.  I actually wore dresses for most of the summer and loved feeling put together while still being comfortable.  So I’m pondering how to recreate that for the colder months ahead.  Dresses seem the easiest way to go, but how can I stay warm?  Is there such a thing as comfortable tights?  Maybe leggings?
Looking ahead // to the ultimate low-stress Christmas!  Taking our own family photos never happened, so I picked a beautiful letterpress card to mail instead.  Gifts will be simple with my typical less-but-better approach.  We’ll bake and bake and bake some more.  Decorating will be staggered throughout the month as is our Advent tradition, but I am excited to add a little cheer to our porch this year. (Yay for debt freedom!)  I’ve already preordered a wreath (remember my wreath story from Advent 2018?) and plan to add a few other simple decorations out there too.  In a year that has been a complete rollercoaster and full of unknowns, we’re going to celebrate the newborn King big time!

On the menu this week //

Monday: leftovers from the weekend
Tuesday: burgers on the grill and french fries from the freezer
Thursday: beef stew 
Friday: shrimp scampi and garlic bread

Currently reading // I’ve got too many books going all at once and never enough time to read them.  The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware just came off of the holds list at the library.  I’m slowly making my way through The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad.  I’m almost halfway through Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves by Jason Evert, but I also just received the new book, Inside the Light: Understanding the Message of Fatima by Sr. Angela de Fatima Coelho and I just had to dive in to that one too.

No.456: Ordinary Days

All week long, I have felt the juxtaposition of two simultaneous but separate worlds.  One world held the tense build up to Election Day, followed by a confusing and stressful aftermath.  
The other world – my little world – was strangely the same as always: meals were planned and eaten, math lessons were learned, floors were swept and laundry was washed.  I tossed our rotting Jack-o-lanterns in the compost heap and raked crunchy leaves for mulch on my garden beds.  We worked on a new puzzle and I started jotting plans for Christmas.  We even had a minor renovation issue!  (We had lots of rain last week and the unfinished fireplace work caused water to start dripping from the ceiling and pooling under a part of the hardwood flooring!  So now we have five days of constant dehumidifier machines to hopefully save the wood from mold, buckling and cracking.)  It was all so…ordinary.  I’m grateful for that.
For a few years now, Mark and I have chosen a piece of artwork as an anniversary present to each other.  2020 has been such a wild ride and we wanted to find something especially fitting.  We finally settled on this piece (affiliate link) and I had it sent off to Framebridge to be professionally framed.  And it should come as no surprise, but when did we receive the finished product?  This week.  God is faithful.  In a year where we feel like the disciples, confused and afraid and crying out, “Lord, save us!  We are perishing!”, He is with us.  I cling to that reminder and hope you do too.  Be assured of my prayers for peace of heart and eyes to see the good still around us, friends. XO 

He got into a boat and his disciples followed him.  Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep.  They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us!  We are perishing!”  He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?”  Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm.  The men were amazed and said, “What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?” – Matthew 8:23-27

 

No.455: My Latest Reads // October 2020

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P.S. I highly recommend Book Outlet!  Use my link to receive $10 off your first order of $25 or more.
P.P.S. Have you heard of Bookshop?  They are an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores.  You can check out all of my favorites on this page and I’ll be linking to Bookshop and Book Outlet as much as I can from here on out.  I hope you’ll support them too!  
#67. THE VERSIONS OF US by Laura Barnett || ★★☆☆☆
Clever premise, but really hard to keep all of the story lines straight.  I also have a huge pet peeve with books that encourage the reader to root for/support infidelity and this book was rife with that.  2.5 stars, rounded up.

#68. THE HOURS OF THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST by Luisa Piccarreta || ★★★★☆
This book is a really unique look at the last 24 hours before Jesus’ death.  It’s broken up hour by hour, drawing you into what was happening at that time.  Each hour ends with a short meditation from Luisa’s spiritual director.  I found this deeply moving and powerful and it will be one that I return to again and again.  I think it would be perfect for Lent or for meditating on during a Holy Hour.  (FYI: Luisa Piccarreta has an open cause for canonization and is currently a Servant of God.)
#69. THE DIARY OF MATTIE SPENSER by Sandra Dallas || ★★☆☆☆
I was so disappointed with this book.  For a “19th century pioneer novel,” it sure did sound a lot like modern times – there was much more sexual content than I expected, infidelity (you know how I feel about that) and the positive view on abortion was heavy handed.  I’d pass on this one.  
P.S. These Is My Words is still my favorite in this genre.
#70. MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON by Elizabeth Strout || ★★★☆☆

I have said it before: It interests me how we find ways to feel superior to another person, another group of people.  It happens everywhere, and all the time.  Whatever we call it, I think it’s the lowest part of who we are, this need to find someone else to put down. (p.95)

A quick read.  There wasn’t much of a story, but it did cause me to reflect on things unsaid between people, especially family members.  2.5 stars, rounded up.  

#71. TOWNIE by Andre Dubus III || ★★★☆☆
I’m not quite sure where I heard about this memoir, especially because I’ve never read any of Dubus’ novels.  The book chronicles his childhood following the divorce of his parents and the struggles along the way until he finds his passion for writing in adulthood.  To be honest, this book made me mad.  It’s the story of the consequences of a selfish father, a broken marriage and the effects on children.  It’s the story of a single mother trying to make it work for her four children and the limitations of that.  It’s the story of the lack of positive male role models in a boy’s life.  It’s the story of trauma manifesting itself in unhealthy behavior.  Resilience is admirable but it always comes at a cost.
#72. THE RIVER by Peter Heller || ★★★☆☆
Another pretty quick read.  I heard about this suspense novel from Modern Mrs. Darcy, although many of my friends on Goodreads had already read it with varying reviews.  The writing was good, but I feel like I would have gotten more out of it if I were more of an adventurer type?  Some of the descriptions went right over my head.

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MY READING IN NUMBERS FOR 2020

Books Read: 72
Pages Read: 20,567
Fiction: 41  //  Non-Fiction: 31
Kindle Books: 26  //  Paper Books: 46
20th Century in Books Challenge: 29/100
Original 2020 books “to-read” total on Goodreads: 414 // Current “to-read” total: 370
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No.454: Combating a Crazy World with a Cozy Home

Life feels really heavy right now, you know?  The virus, the election, the nastiness of the Internet…if I stay too long in that stuff, I can start to feel very anxious and overwhelmed.  So to combat that a little, I’ve been using my home as a distraction.  Projects, new décor pieces, paint – it’s all frivolous and silly, but it helps me have a little perspective.  Even if the world around me seems to be going crazy, I can make my home a refuge for my family and all who visit here.
Today let’s chat about a few things happening at the farmhouse:
  

PLANTS EVERYWHERE!

I’m so excited about the dwarf calamondin orange plant I just purchased from Gurney’s Seed & Nursery.  It’s currently living in my bedroom for now since we get the best sunlight there.  Everything I have purchased from Gurney’s has arrived healthy and in great shape and this one was no exception.  Can’t wait to see how it grows.
I also just bought some paperwhite bulbs to force for Christmas from another favorite gardening company, Eden Brothers.  My first time and I’m excited!  (This is also 100LT #45.)  Now to decide what containers I want to grow them in – the images I’ve found on Pinterest are so inspiring.    
In other plant news, I’m slowly collecting houseplants to line the big windowsill in my master bathroom.  I like to plant them in vintage milkglass containers and I just bought a really cute hobnail version on Poshmark.  I used my earnings from things I’ve sold, so it ended up being “free!”  Love when that happens.

LIVING ROOM

Big things are happening in the living room!  We finally ordered a new couch.  Our current couch is about six years old (a sectional from Ikea), didn’t make the move well and has generally been uncomfortable to sit on ever since.  Not to mention that as a puppy, Lucy ripped a big section off the back, so it’s been not only uncomfortable but unsightly too!  We put off replacing it until we reached debt freedom, but you better believe I started saving immediately after we made that last payment.  With COVID, we aren’t really sure when it will be arriving, but praying it comes before Christmas.
The fireplace is also getting a face lift: we’re removing the propane insert and replacing it with a wood-burning one.  (The picture above is the official “before” photo.)  This project has been on our radar for awhile now, but the craziness of 2020 helped us finally pull the trigger.  Even though wood is much more work, we see it as an insurance policy for any possibility of losing power during the winter.  When we’ve lost power here in the past, we never used the fireplace for fear of carbon monoxide poisoning and it was cold.  Having a wood-burning fireplace gives us peace of mind for whatever winter throws our way.    
The fireplace itself is stone with a brown mortar and I’d like to whitewash it or maybe do a German schmear.  I’ve done tons of research, but still haven’t tackled it because it just feels so….final?  What if I hate it?  What if it screams DIY?  I’m plagued by indecision.  I’d also like to add a thick mantel and I need to deal with that ugly clump of wires too.  

MASTER BEDROOM

Last year around this time, one of the kids was jumping on the side rails of our metal bed frame and broke it.  A replacement got pushed to the back burner, but now I’m trying decide if I want another metal version or something different.  I’ve been checking Facebook Marketplace for a deal, but no luck yet.  
In other master bedroom news, I’ve been cozying up the room with a new throw blanket, a new candle, and books everywhere.  Is there really anything better than that?  

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