The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

No.441: Last Week at the Farmhouse // Plants Make Me Ridiculously Happy

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The biggest news of the week is that Sophia’s bathroom remodel is underway.  We hired out for the demo and tiling (a friend of Mark’s is a contractor) and I’m so glad we did.  What would have taken us forever, they knocked out in just a few days.  We will still have to paint and do a few more cosmetic-type things, but I’m so, so excited to have that room functional again.   

I went on a quick date with Mark to Home Depot to pick up grout and came home with $20 worth of houseplants.  The way to my heart isn’t through fancy jewelry or handbags, but definitely plants, ha!  I picked out a big dieffenbachia, which turned out to be poisonous for dogs so now lives in my bedroom (where Lucy’s not allowed).  I also got a pothos for the bathroom.

I started pulling out some of the summer garden and the spent wildflowers in the front beds – bittersweet, but also deeply satisfying.  I have learned SO much this year and am already planning what I’m going to do differently next year.


School highlights:
+ In order to keep the kids away from the construction, I brought out one of my secret weapons: a bag of balloons.  Good for everything from a science demonstration to PE class!  I blew up a handful and the little ones were happy in the basement for over half an hour, creating all kinds of games.  We had our share of popped balloons along the way, but definitely still worth the $2.
+ I’m really liking our new elementary science curriculum so far: Elemental Science’s “Earth Science & Astronomy for the Grammar Stage” curriculum.  This week, we finished a paper mache Earth model (after learning about the continents) and did an experiment about currents.
+ After a few years away, we’re back with Story of the World for elementary level history.  The kids made a model of the Nile, following the directions from the Activity Book.  Can’t wait to see the grass grow in the next few weeks!

No.440: Mother Culture Commonplace Book // August 2020

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“Mother Culture,” an idea from Charlotte Mason and coined by Karen Andreola, simply encourages mothers to keep learning and growing, even while raising children.  Andreola describes it this way: 

Mother Culture® is a way-of-life, the skillful art of how a mother looks after the ways of her household. With a thinking-love she creates a culture in the home all her own. A mother does a lot of taking care, so she needs to take care of herself, too. Much depends on how she manages her life. 

I resonate with this encouragement because it feels like I have someone in my corner, someone looking out for me as I do the hard work of motherhood.  Taking the time to gain new knowledge/skills really fills my cup and I think my children notice.  So with that in mind, I’m committing to my own set of monthly assignments this school year!  Here’s what I did in August:   

✔ ASSIGNMENT #1: Crack open a classic novel.
Back in 2019, I started reading The Well-Educated Mind and was so pumped to start the “The Story of People: Reading through History with the Novel” reading list.  I ordered a beautiful hardcover copy of the first book, Don Quixote, aaaand…read the first few chapters and put it away, ha!  In August, I decided to tackle it again.  This book is a brick (over 800 pages!), so I gave myself the goal of reading just 50 pages for the whole month.  Sounded easy enough!  As of this writing, I’m on page 87, so about 10% finished.  I definitely don’t find it a page turner, but it is a good one for reading a chapter or two a day.  I actually think the writing is somewhat humorous!  Who knew?

✔ ASSIGNMENT #2: Discover and listen to a new type of music.
I popped around the Internet for some inspiration on this one and ran into Mildred Bailey, a Native American jazz singer during the 1930s.  A few fun facts about Mildred:

  • She grew up in Washington, but often visited relatives on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation in Idaho, where her mother was an enrolled member.  (Her mother was also a devout Catholic.)  
  • She was known as “The Queen of Swing” and “The Rockin’ Chair Lady.”
  • This little tidbit made my smile: “Whatever the reasons may have been, superstardom eluded Bailey. The singer blamed her plumpness for her lack of commercial success, while others suggested that it was really Bailey’s temper and sharp tongue that were her undoing. There’s plenty of evidence that Bailey felt especially bitter towards better-looking female vocalists, many of whom she felt lacked her talent. Throughout her life, Bailey blamed her obesity on a glandular condition, although many of her friends attributed it instead to her great love of food.”
  • She suffered from diabetes and died of a heart attack at only 44 years old.
  • She had many popular songs, including “Rocking Chair” and “Thanks for the Memory”, but I loved (and could relate to!) another of hers called “It’s So Peaceful in the Country”.  All three songs are below!







✔ ASSIGNMENT #3: Read and reflect on one poem.
For this one, I pulled out a beautiful old book from 1957 called Favorite Poems Old and New: Selected for Boys and Girls by Helen Ferris.  This is the poem I chose for August:
“Leisure”
by William H. Davies
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
Fun fact: W.H. Davies was a Welsh poet who spent a significant part of his life as a hobo.


✔ ASSIGNMENT #4: Learn something interesting about nature.

I went back to The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs and was excited to discover that I was on the chapter about stars.  Reading the sky is interesting to me but I have very little experience.  One fun fact that I learned:

It is commonly believed that the North Star is the brightest in the night sky, however it’s actually neither very bright not very dull… if you see a very bright white object shining more brilliantly than anything else in the night sky, it is very likely to be the planets, Venus or Jupiter, or the brightest star, Sirius, but it will definitely not be the North Star. (p.152)

✔ ASSIGNMENT #5: Memorize something: a prayer, a poem, or the lyrics to a song.
We’ve been attending the Latin Mass and the chanters have been singing the Salve Regina after Holy Communion.  I knew parts of the song, but never the whole thing, so in August, I practiced!  This video was helpful.

Salve Regina

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiæ,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevæ,
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos
misericordes oculos ad nos converte;
Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

No.439: My Latest Reads // August 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!  



#60. EUCHARISTIC MIRACLES AND EUCHARISTIC PHENOMENA IN THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS by Joan Carroll Cruz || ★★★★☆

Simply written and packed with facts, I really enjoyed this book about Eucharistic miracles throughout the ages.  I often found myself Googling the miracle after reading it, so I could see the pictures up close.  (The next best thing to going to visit on pilgrimage, I guess!)  The faith of the people throughout history was greatly inspiring to me and I know I experience the Mass in a deeper way because of their example.  (This was also my 1991 pick for the 20th Century Reading Challenge.)
#61. MADE FROM SCRATCH: DISCOVERING THE PLEASURES OF A HANDMADE LIFE by Jenna Woginrich || ★★★★☆
This is the kind of book I wish I had read back when I lived in suburbia and was dreaming about acreage.  Very much an encouraging, “start where you are” story that is a mix of memoir and helpful beginner’s tips.  3.5 stars, rounded up.
#62. FOLLOW THE RIVER  by James Alexander Thom || ★★★☆☆
I’m not sure what I was expecting going into this book – maybe a cozy little historical based in the mid-18th century?  Oh no no.  This book was intense!  The story was compelling, but the gruesome and violent parts were hard to read.

#63. THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW by A.J. Finn || ★★★☆☆

This thriller/suspense novel about a woman struggling with agoraphobia was definitely a page turner.  I predicted most of the twists but there were a few surprises there too.  
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MY READING IN NUMBERS FOR 2020

Books Read: 63
Pages Read: 17,760
Fiction: 35  //  Non-Fiction: 28
Kindle Books: 25  //  Paper Books: 38
20th Century in Books Challenge: 29/100
Original 2020 books “to-read” total on Goodreads: 414 // Current “to-read” total: 398 (I’m in the 300s!!)
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No.438: Last Week at the Farmhouse // A New School Year Begins!

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The first week of school is done and it actually went better than expected!  In seven years of homeschooling, I’ve learned that the best thing you can do right off the bat is to find that routine, that steady flow of the day.  When the kids know what to expect and what is expected of them, when I can get even a tiny grasp on chores and other responsibilities…the days then become smooth and productive.  There will always be hiccups and small changes (life!) but the general routine is what keeps homeschooling from feeling like total chaos.

Recording what is working so far, for posterity’s sake:

  • I rise around 6-6:30, drink my coffee, read my Bible, start a load of laundry and get the dough going in the bread machine.  Then I hop in the shower, dress and eat breakfast.  During this time, the kids trickle downstairs, eat breakfast, get dressed, and sometimes watch a cartoon.
  • At 8:30, we all meet together in the kitchen to divvy up the day’s chores from The Confident Mom’s Household Planner.
  • At around 8:50, I have a mini meeting with my two middle school boys, go over the assignments/reading of the day and then send them off!  They pick different quiet places throughout the house and will typically sprawl out while reading and head to a table for written work.
  • At 9:00, we do kindergarten!  We start with TJ because he will otherwise relentlessly bug me for his turn.  This is the time we work on his math, letters and read aloud.
  • I take a quick break to switch laundry and put bread dough in pans for their second rise.
  • At around 9:15, my elementary students (K, 2nd & 4th) all meet at the school table for our group subjects like science, history, art and geography.  We do these altogether and just toggle the amount of work depending on grade.
  • I take another quick break to switch laundry again, put bread in the oven to bake for lunch and check in on big boys.
  • At around 10:15, we split up.  My 2nd and 4th graders do their math on the computer with Teaching Textbooks, so while one is on math, I work on the individual subjects of the other, like language arts.  With Mark home full time right now, he’s taking on their catechism and they love that special one-on-one time with him.
  • This takes us to about lunchtime and we break from 12-1.  This used to be our household quiet time but now that my kids are older, we just kind of hang out and relax.  It’s like a midday siesta minus the nap.  (Although I sometimes could go for one, ha!)
  • After 1:00, we finish up any work we haven’t completed yet.  If they work diligently and we don’t have any big projects, we easily can be done by early afternoon.  Sometimes we get in the kitchen and bake something at this time, or they play, draw, play guitar, get outside, etc.  On Fridays, we take a nature study hike through our back woods.  


100 Little Things Update: I checked off the first two tasks on my new list!
+ Get Lucy a new dog bed. (#57) – This technically breaks goal #100, but I found a reasonably priced dog bed and it was a Lightning Deal too!  Lucy cuddled right in, so I’m calling it a success.
+ Buy myself a pair of snow pants. (#79) – This one is random for late August, but my thinking is that I would pay less if I bought now versus later in the fall.  I ended up finding a secondhand pair, like new, for only $9! 

On the Nightstand: I just finished The Woman at the Window by A.J. Finn.  Still working through Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola, Gaining Ground by Forrest Pritchard and Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves by Jason Evert.

Recipe of the week, A is for Applesauce Muffins:

Applesauce Muffins
adapted from Mom to Mom Nutrition


2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla


Preheat the oven to 375.  Combine the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another.  Add the wet to the dry and stir until combined.  Scoop into muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes.

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