The Big White Farmhouse

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Bringing back this prompt for the first time in 2025!  (Here’s part one, part two, part three, part four, and part five.)  I needed this intentional practice as our weather was bitterly cold and most of my family battled a nagging illness.

Here are the little moments of delight I found this week: Picking out a few papergoods from my rolling cart to add to my journals every day.  Puzzles with artwork by Charles Wysocki.  Making a fire first thing in the early morning.  Finishing my cross-stitch sampler.  Big plans for my oldest’s future.  A job opportunity for my second oldest.  Paying off a little chunk on our next debt challenge.  A family slowly returning back to health.

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. More snow and ice. // Choosing to see this as a good thing even though we’ve had snow and ice on the ground for three weeks now and we are over it.  Definitely not used to this here in the mid-Atlantic!
2. Our incredibly kind feed provider. // Our feed delivery was supposed to come on Monday but due to our location and the precariousness of the roads, they had to postpone until the next day.  They called twice to apologize and explain and of course, we were completely understanding.
3. A Youtube feed full of creative endeavors. // So inspiring.  I feed off of their enthusiasm and can’t wait to be more of a creator in 2025.
4. Burning an entire candle! // It took about a month, but I burned the entirety of this candle.  Next candle on the desk: Battle Cry from CORDA Candles.
5. A new-to-me book genre. // I’ve been reading Kennedy’s Avenger: Assassination, Conspiracy, and the Forgotten Trial of Jack Ruby all week and I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like it.  I would describe it almost as a courtroom transcript but rewritten in prose, a play-by-play of the trial.  So interesting.  I keep placing myself in the jurors’ shoes and asking if each testimony was believable or would sway me one way or another.

Frugal Accomplishments //

• avoided the grocery store, only purchasing milk when we ran out
• cut down two of my husband’s old dress shirts, saving the fabric and buttons
• visibly mended three small holes in my cotton gloves
• made chicken broth from frozen chicken backs to bring out to the pigs
• removed the remaining bit of wax from my finished candle jar to use again as storage

This Week in the Liturgical Year //

January 24 was the Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor.

To Listen: Introduction to the Devout Life audiobook on Catholic Culture

To Pray: Lord, I am yours, and I must belong to no one but you. My soul is yours, and must live only by you. My will is yours, and must love only for you. I must love you as my first cause, since I am from you. I must love you as my end and rest, since I am for you. I must love you more than my own being, since my being subsists by you. I must love you more than myself, since I am all yours and all in you. Amen.

To Add to the Library: St. Francis de Sales: A Biography of the Gentle Saint by Louise Stacpoole-Kenny, A Man of Good Zeal: A Novel Based on the Life of Saint Francis de Sales by John E. Beahn, and The Catholic Controversy: A Defense of the Faith

Reading //

• The Rules of Discernment: A Practical Guide – Rule 6 from Megan Hjelmstad at Spiritual Direction
• Shakespeare’s Grief from David Bannon at Front Porch Republic // “Hamlet also offers profound insight into the complex nature of masculine mourning. The obvious similarity of the names Hamlet and Hamnet aside, the play itself is preoccupied with twinning: the act of sublimation; doubling themes; the use of two points to describe a single complex meaning; a play within a play; all are delivered in a masterpiece of lyricism. The title character displays much of the terrifying anxiety and exhausting nature of grief while examining internal struggles that lead ultimately to transformation.”
• Where Is All the Fiction-Inspired Art? from Jonathan McDonald at Dappled Things

New Additions to The List // 

• Run by Blake Crouch
• The Children by Edith Wharton

Watching/Listening //

• the 1948 rendition of Hamlet with Laurence Olivier // Watched as I read along with the play.
• The True Horror Of WW1’s Tunnel Warfare from All Out History // I just read a book about tunnel warfare and wanted to learn more.  This documentary is long (almost three hours!) and I’ve finished about half so far.
• Lesson 3 of the How to Think Like a Thomist: An Introduction to Thomistic Principles from Aquinas 101 at the Thomistic Institute

Loving //

• this pretzel bites mix from King Arthur // I purchased a handful of mixes for my baking-loving daughter for Christmas.  These were a big hit!
• this quote from Fulton Sheen: “Because God is full of life, I imagine each morning Almighty God says to the sun, ‘Do it again’; and every evening to the moon and the stars, ‘Do it again’; and every springtime to the daisies, ‘Do it again’; and every time a child is born into the world asking for curtain call, that the heart of the God might once more ring out in the heart of the babe.”

from the archives…

WEEK FOUR 2024 // Brave Knights & Heroic Courage

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Pursuing the intellectual life in three easy steps!

I’ll preface this by saying that I’m fairly new to this endeavor, but I loved this quote from the article I shared last week and want to use it as my guide in 2025: “The true classical scholar is simply an ordinary person who loves truth, beauty, and goodness. He is not puffed up with self-importance, nor does he try to make a show of what he knows. His humility is a beacon of light, allowing him to emanate the true spirit of the classical tradition.”  So with my limited experience, below are the three steps I recommend for a successful reading year.  Hopefully it’s helpful!

1. Determine what you are curious about. // If you’ve ever looked at my weekly “Additions to The List” books, you know I find recommendations everywhere.  As you go about your daily life, start jotting down topics that interest you.  It may come from something in the news or a list you find online.  It may be something mentioned in a book you’re currently reading.  It may come from an ailment you’re suffering or an activity you enjoy.  It might even come from reflecting on your favorite subjects in school!
2. Choose your books. // Now that you have a few topics in mind, start collecting the books.  This can look like going on a shopping spree or just jotting down a physical list.  Now is also the time to reflect on how you read.  Do you like to read one book at a time or are you a multiple book kind of person?  (I like to have multiple books going at one time, as long as the subjects are significantly different from one another.)
3. Find pockets of time to read and make it a habit. //  This step takes a bit of time as you begin, but don’t give up!  I have found that I enjoy nonfiction books in the morning/early afternoon but by bedtime, I’m ready to curl up with a fictional story.  Start with a habit of ten minutes in the morning, half an hour before bed, etc.  Can you replace some scrolling with a book?

One last note: it seems common in today’s society to be ridiculously competitive about reading (ie. I read 250 books in one year, I stayed up for 48 hours to finish 20 books..).  Don’t fall into the trap!  This pursuit is about quality vs. quantity.  It is completely okay to read one single book – maybe just a paragraph or two a day! – as long as you keep going and really ingest the information in a deeper way.  We’re looking for greater wisdom here, not gold stars and accolades.

Happy Reading!

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. New scrunchies! // “Making do” project of the week!  I have a bad habit of putting up my wet hair with an elastic and apparently that’s terrible!  Lately, I’ve tried to mitigate the damage by using a scrunchie instead.  I only have one, so was looking into buying more until I realized I could try to make my own!  My daughter and I used this tutorial and it was pretty easy.  We’re hooked and can’t wait to make more.
2. A less bloated stomach. // Wheat belly is a thing.
3. Seed catalogs in the mail. // ‘Tis the season!  Thankfully, I have plenty of leftover seeds from last year, so I only need to order a few.  I also found the planting schedule I made a few years back so I’m all ready to go for Growing Season 2025.
4. A hardwood floor update! // We finally heard back from insurance and the money has been approved to move forward.  We’ve been in a constant state of disarray since mid-October so suuuper excited to get this process going.
5. My go-to illness arsenal. // By the end of the week, we all got sick with colds and sore throats.  I pulled out all of our favorites: Cold Calm, Vitamin C tea with a spoonful of honey, Emercen-C, and Ricola cough drops.  Add in a lot of rest and we tend to bounce back quickly.

Frugal Accomplishments //

• cut up an old chambray dress to use as fabric (and saved the buttons too!)
• listed a few things on ebay/Poshmark
• altered two dresses that had slits a little too high (now much more appropriate for church, ha)
• made chicken broth from frozen chicken backs to bring out to the pigs
• invested in another 50 pounds of flour
• shredded some unneeded documents/junk mail to add to my compost pile
• made homemade bacon from sidemeat from our pigs using our meat slicer (delicious!)

This Week in the Liturgical Year //

January 13 was the Optional Memorial of St. Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop and Doctor.

To Listen: Hilary of Poitiers: Exile and Understanding from the Way of the Fathers podcast

To Read: Saint Hilary of Poitiers by Pope Benedict XVI

To Add to the Library: On the Trinity

To Quote: “The privilege of our Church is such that it is never stronger than when it is attacked, never better known than when it is accused, never more powerful than when it appears forsaken.”

Reading //

• The Rules of Discernment: A Practical Guide – Rule 5 from Megan Hjelmstad at Spiritual Direction
• The One Hundred Pages Strategy from Matthew Walther at the Lamp
• The Need For Adults from Freya India at GIRLS // Very, very thought provoking.
• New Year’s Resolution: Bring Back The Aunties from Mary Harrington // “Aunties, assemble! We have nothing to lose but the next generation’s loneliness.”
• Basically Beavers from Sarah W Rowell at Blind Mule Blog // “We learned that being friends was just as fun as being lovers, and often a lot more useful.”
• The Power of the Good, the True, & the Beautiful by Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative // “If the Good, the True and the Beautiful, as a reflection of the Trinity, are the end to which we strive they are also, through their manifestation in love, reason and creativity, the means by which the end is achieved. Love is the path to goodness; reason is the path to truth; and creativity is the path to beauty.”

New Additions to The List // 

• St. Rita of Cascia: Saint of the Impossible by Joseph Sicardo, OSA
• When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss

Watching/Listening //

• Lesson 2 of the How to Think Like a Thomist: An Introduction to Thomistic Principles from Aquinas 101 at the Thomistic Institute

from the archives…

WEEK THREE 2024 // The Soul Craves Beauty