The Big White Farmhouse | intentional living, little by little

February 4, 2019

No.217: Intentions for the Beginning of February

“Winter may be beautiful, but bed is much better.” – Toad

P.S. Did you hear that Google+ is shutting down? From the e-mail: “If you’ve used Google+ for comments on your own or other sites, this feature will be removed from Blogger by February 4th and other sites by March 7th. All your Google+ comments on all sites will be deleted starting April 2, 2019.”

INTENTIONS FOR THE BEGINNING OF FEBRUARY

to think about: how can I be more of a creator than a consumer?
finish taxes
open a separate Christmas account
start thinking about a dog (!!)
order a shampoo bar (100LT #84)
order photos for the first month of my #100dayproject
catch up on snail mail correspondence
leave thoughtful comments on at least 20 blog posts
figure out Valentines for the kids to pass out at co-cop
make a plan for Poshmark (I put it on the back burner last month and need to refocus)
finish at least one book that has been sitting on my “currently reading” list for months

PREVIOUS INTENTIONS

If you’re reading on your phone or in a reader, be sure to click over to see what I checked off the list!

~~No Sugar~~ (so far so good – Mark and I are trying to go without it for 90 days!)
~~start preparing for taxes~~
~~wrap Mark’s birthday gifts~~
catch up on snail mail correspondence (so behind on this – sorry for the delay, penpals!)
photograph and list all remaining inventory for Poshmark
finally finish my winter cross-stitch project (ugh, still not done – I’ve definitely chosen books over handiwork)
check Home Depot for a snake plant (I’ve been avoiding going anywhere unnecessary in this frigid weather – see you in the spring, HD)
buy a bag of potting soil
propagate my Christmas cactus (100LT #76)
~~research shampoo bars~~ (I found a few options on etsy)
~~deep clean the living room (vacuum the couch!)~~
start a separate Christmas fund ~~and determine amount to save~~ (Brooke’s post really inspired me to get this started – I’m hoping for much less stress this fall)
~~keep closer track of how much we’re spending in groceries~~ (those quick trips for “just milk” really do add up! we’re spending more than I realized and need a plan to reduce that)

What about you? What do you hope to accomplish in the next two weeks?

February 1, 2019

No.216: The Good List // Vol.04

a little list of things I noticed the past two weeks
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The full moon was absolutely beautiful and as usual, this lame photo just doesn’t do it justice. Out here in the country, it gets dark – I mean, dark dark – at night. I’ve come to enjoy the extra light that a full moon brings every month.

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These ginormous shoes belong to my son…my son! He’s growing faster than I can keep up. I can’t believe how quickly my chunky little baby turned into this almost-teenager who is just about as tall as me. Those old ladies at the grocery store are totally right: the days are long, but the years are short.

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I had to scrape the car before heading out and noticed this design in the frost. So beautiful!

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This post from Kristine Levine was so good. Over the years, we have been the humbled recipients of such generosity and I need to be better about intentionally seeking ways to do the same. “When you give the best you have, it does more than feed an empty belly, it feeds the soul.” I want to give the best I have.

January 31, 2019

No.215: What I Learned in January

1 // THE BOOK OF REVELATION IS A STORY OF HOPE.
This month, I worked through the book of Revelation. I’d heard it described as a story of hope and goodness, isn’t that something we need in today’s day and age?! I read it along with commentary from Dr. Taylor Marshall and I’m so glad I did – you really need to have a great understanding of the Old Testament to “get it” and I needed that hand-holding as I flipped back and forth. Anyway, now that I’ve read the last verse, I can also attest that Revelation holds so much hope for us as Christians. I can’t wait to see heaven someday and I’m more determined than ever to live my life in such a way that I can get there.

2 // WASHING DISHES BY HAND IS NOT SO BAD.
So…our dishwasher is still broken. We’ve had such a runaround with repairmen and still haven’t decided if we just want to replace it (which means $$$, which means we have to come up with that $$$). So in the meantime, I’ve been washing dishes by hand. And once I stopped complaining, I found that I don’t really mind it. I usually wash the morning and lunch dishes myself, shooing everyone out of the kitchen so I can listen to a podcast or Youtube channel in peace. It’s my own little self-care oasis in the middle of the day! (P.S. The kids wash/dry/put away the dinner dishes, which has been good for them too. Being a team makes for light work!)

3 // THERE IS SOMETHING SO SATISFYING ABOUT SHOVELING.
I’m probably crazy, but I like shoveling. I’m alone with my own thoughts (#introvertforever), I get some physical exercise, and it’s satisfying to see a job well done. Sort-of like vacuum lines in the carpet – I love it.

4 // IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY LEAVE YOUR GARAGE DOOR OPEN OVERNIGHT, THE PIPES OF YOUR UTILITY SINK MAY BURST AND FLOOD HALF OF YOUR GARAGE.
Ask me how I know…ahem. That was a fun adventure while Mark was at work. I was screaming orders to the kids while getting soaked by freezing cold water: “You take the baby inside! You move these boxes out of the way! You help hold down the broken nozzle while I try to turn the water off!” It was crazy town. Thank goodness for a Shop-Vac and D who heard the commotion before it got a lot worse.

5 // I THINK I FINALLY FOUND A NATURAL DEODORANT THAT WORKS!
I’ve written about my frustration with natural deodorants before. I found this company (from an Instagram ad!) and really liked that their version didn’t have any baking soda, which makes me break out in an awful rash every time. I’ve only used it for about a week, but so far so good. I’m hoping it will make my Five Favorites list next month!

6 // GIVING UP SUGAR FOR 90 DAYS ISN’T AS HARD AS I MADE IT OUT TO BE.
Full disclosure: I’m only two weeks in BUT I have managed to watch my children eat donuts – DONUTS, my favorite! – in front of me and I didn’t break. Feeling pretty proud of myself right now. Just seventy-something days to go.

7 // I NOW KNOW WHAT A SNOWSQUALL IS.
In case you were clueless like me (or maybe live in CA or FL), a snowsquall is “a sudden moderately heavy snow fall with blowing snow and strong, gusty surface winds.” We experienced one yesterday afternoon!

January 30, 2019

No.214: My Latest Reads // January

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#01. FIND THE GOOD: UNEXPECTED LIFE LESSONS FROM A SMALL-TOWN OBITUARY WRITER by Heather Lende

My Rating: ★★★★☆

I will begin…by taking advantage of a day that is topsy-turvy without my consent. If the snow keeps me home from an important meeting, I’ll take a walk in it. Shovel my neighbor’s stoop. Then build a snowman at the end of the driveway. When was the last time I did that? When my plane is delayed for two hours, I’ll call Dad. Listen to the entire saga of his knee replacement surgery and recovery. Ask him how he’s adjusting to living alone after forty-nine years of marriage. I’ll finally have the time to listen. And I’ll cry a lot after a friend dies. Attend the funeral. Bring my best bean salad to the potluck. Wallow in grief. When I’ve had all the sorrow I can bear, I’ll take a hike down by the river to wring myself out. Then I’ll be ready to invite a new friend over for coffee and begin again. (p.28)

But something happens over the weeks, months, and years of regular workouts. Pretty soon it’s not about the tummy roll or the wobbly thighs or even how many crunches we can now complete in a minute. That’s all beside the point. It’s about doing the best with what we’ve got and appreciating our scarred-up, well-used, stretch-marked, marvelously individual bodies just as they are…even as we strive to improve what they can do, one lunge and squat at a time. (p.69-70)

I got this little book for Epiphany and zipped through it in two days. A perfect start to the year with my one little word.

#02. THRUSH GREEN by Miss Read
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

A beam of sunlight fell suddenly upon Mrs. Bailey’s hand, the first real warmth for months, she thought delightedly, and her spirits rose at this token of the summer to come. (p.68)

Books centered around village life are just so cozy and comforting, don’t you think? I enjoyed the simplicity and innocence of Thrush Green – it was a sweet mix of romance and humor and a teeny bit of mystery.

#03. THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah
My Rating: ★★★★★

“It’s hard to forget,” she said quietly. “And I’ll never forgive.”
“But love has to be stronger than hate, or there is no future for us.”
Sophie sighed. “I suppose,” she said, sounding too adult for a girl of her age.
Vianne placed a hand on top of her daughter’s. “We will remind each other, oui? On the dark days. We will be strong for each other.” (p.526)

World War II books affect me deeply and The Nightingale was no exception. Such a powerful story of courage and love despite harrowing circumstances. I kept asking myself the question, “What would I do in this situation?” I know that I’ll be thinking about this one for awhile.

#04. NO WAY HOME: A MEMOIR OF LIFE ON THE RUN by Tyler Wetherall
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

This is home, I think.
Right now, this moment.
Through all the moving and the chaos, through everything that happened in our childhood, there was only one constant. Home with a capital H will always be wherever Mom is. (p.281)

You know me and memoirs – everyone has such a unique story and I love to listen and learn. No Way Home describes one woman’s childhood memories of a life on the run with her fugitive drug-smuggling father. An interesting story with an important lesson: all of our decisions have consequences and they often spread to our loved ones too.

#05. IN THE WOODS by Tana French
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

The girls I dream of are the gentle ones, wistful by high windows or singing sweet old songs at a piano, long hair drifting, tender as apple blossom. But a girl who goes into battle with you and keeps your back is a different thing, a thing to make you shiver. Think of the first time you slept with someone, or the first time you fell in love: that blinding explosion that left you crackling to the fingertips with electricity, initiated and transformed. I tell you that was nothing, nothing at all, beside the power of putting your lives, simply and daily, into each other’s hands. (p.198)

If you like Law and Order procedurals, this is the book for you! Full disclosure: there is lots of language and the imagery is intense, but it’s what you’d expect from a murder investigation. Solid three stars – I figured out whodunit early in the story and I felt it was like 100 pages too long.

#06. THE LONG LONELINESS by Dorothy Day
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

They were kind to me. I saw them wrestling with moral problems, with the principles by which they lived, and this made them noble in my eyes. I saw them pray, and the public prayer in the church and Blanche’s kneeling down by the table on which was spread out her hats and trimmings did something to me which I could not forget. As with the sight of Mrs. Barrett kneeling beside her bed, this posture, this gesture, convinced me that worship, adoration, thanksgiving, supplication – these were the noblest acts of which men were capable in this life. (quote about her Catholic friends, p.107)

It is not only for others that I must have these retreats. It is because I too am hungry and thirsty for the bread of the strong. I too must nourish myself to do the work I have undertaken; I too must drink at these good springs so that I may not be an empty cistern and unable to help others. (p.263)

I finally finished up the last quarter of Dorothy Day’s autobiography, The Long Loneliness…it only took me a year! I found this book thought-provoking and interesting in some places and painfully boring in others, which explains why I kept putting it down. Still, there were enough insightful tidbits to make it worth the read.

#07. CITY OF THIEVES by David Benioff
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

I have never been much of a patriot. My father would not have allowed such a thing while he lived, and his death insures that his wish was carried out. Piter commanded far more affection and loyalty from me than the nation as a whole. But that night, running across the unplowed fields of winter wheat, with the Fascist invaders behind us and the dark Russian woods before us, I felt a surge of pure love for my country. (p.233)

Where do I begin with City of Thieves? It’s haunting and horrific, but interlaced with humor too. I don’t think I’ve ever read a WWII book from the Russian perspective before, so I learned a lot about Leningrad (St. Petersburg) during the German offensive. I’d hesitate to blindly recommend it due to the profanity and crude “men’s locker room”-type comments throughout, but it’s a powerful story if you can look past all of that.