The Big White Farmhouse | intentional living, little by little

January 29, 2018

No.77: Five January Favorites (A Link-Up and a Giveaway!)

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Welcome to the Five Favorites linkup! New for 2018 – I’m bringing back the monthly prize pack! (See all the details below.)

1 // LIGHT & EASY CHICKEN SALAD
Somehow last fall, I adopted a lot of poor eating habits. Lots of grazing and eating random things at random times. So when January 1st arrived, I set out to make some changes and the biggest one being my lunch. I’ve been making this chicken salad and it’s delicious – and this is coming from someone who wasn’t sure she really liked chicken salad! I like it open-faced on a piece of bread (even better if it’s homemade), but I’ve also eaten it with Ritz crackers or even just in a bowl by itself. One batch lasts me almost the entire week.

2 // NAOMI’S MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

Naomi’s blog is all about slow living, creativity and snail mail. I subscribe to her newsletter and honestly, it’s one of the best ones I’ve read. Her monthly e-mails include free envelope templates that she draws and designs (so gorgeous!) as well as helpful tips and fun links. If one of your goals is to send more personal mail in 2018, this is well worth your time!

3 // MY NEW DUSTBUSTER

What does it say about me that I wanted this for Christmas? (#oldlady) We have hardwood flooring throughout the first floor of the house and this dustbuster makes it so easy to clean up crumbs or dust bunnies. No need to sweep or drag out the big vacuum! Bonus: the kids actually fight to use it.

4 // ONE LINE A DAY – A FIVE YEAR MEMORY BOOK

I’ve been intrigued by this concept for a few years now, but decided 2018 was the year to take the leap! It will be the first full year in our new house, so lots of new memories to record. We’re also in a sweet spot of parenting – at the end of five years, my oldest will be 16 and that just seems impossible! I know I will appreciate the little ordinary moments recorded when I’m old and gray.

5 // L.L.BEAN PULLOVER

My parents got this fleece pullover for me for Christmas and I have lived in it all month! So warm without being bulky. I also like that it’s enough to wear underneath my puffer vest (I have something similar to this in black) for quick trips out. My pullover is in Pewter because I’m boring, but Royal Plum is pretty too.

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A Peek into January’s Prize Pack

The giveaway items I’ve chosen are a mix of some of my favorite things: etsy finds, vintage pieces and little bits picked up from various stores. All have been purchased by me and nothing has been sponsored. This incentive is to thank you for visiting here and linking up your posts. It’s my small way of showing you that your words are being heard! I read every single entry and try to comment on or share a few (I wish I could do this for every one – not enough hours in the day!) Here’s how it works: every time you link up a blog or Instagram post, you get an entry. The linkup will be open until Sunday, February 4th and I’ll randomly pick a winner on February 5.

January’s prizes include:

1 // Ear Warmer in Dove Grey

2 // Two Notecards from Currant Studio

3 // S’Mores Hot Cocoa

4 // $40 credit to try Home Chef (maybe for an at-home date night like we do?)

5 // Doily Coasters from Uncommon Handmade

I can’t wait to hear about what you’re loving this month! Here’s what to do:

1. Write a blog post sharing about five of your favorite things. You could also share a photo on Instagram too! (hashtag is #bwffivefavorites) It can have a theme (ie: five of your favorite slow cooker recipes) or just a mishmash like I usually do.

2. Please link back to this post so your readers know where to find the Five Favorites hub (posts not mentioning “Five Favorites” or not linking back to this post will be subject to removal).

3. Not mandatory, but feel free to visit some of the other posts in the link-up! Sharing and/or leaving a comment is even better.

4. Make sure to add a link to your specific post or Instagram picture, not just your blog address.

Thanks for linking up!

An InLinkz Link-up

January 26, 2018

No.76: Our Farmhouse Schoolhouse in Photos (Week 20)

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Just another ordinary week around here. My brain has been swirling with mental to-do lists: home projects, school plans, creative endeavors, exercise, doctors’ appointments, etc etc etc. It’s invigorating and exhausting all at the same time. I’m limping to the Friday finish line, but so excited for Saturday – for the first time in a long time, I’m spending the day without a baby attached to my hip!

NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTS

+ A new addition to our morning basket: American Tall Tales. This week, we read about Davy Crockett, his sassy wife Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, Johnny Appleseed and Stormalong.

+ Both M and D are in full multiplication mode in math (one is just learning and one needs the practice), so we started extra drills to make the facts stick. I timed M (5th grade) while he filled out one of these worksheets (“Multiplication Drills”) as fast as he could. Next week, he’ll do the same sheet and see if he can beat his time. They’ve also been playing two apps called “Battleship – Math Game” and “Math Ninja – Times Tables”. Both free!

+ We finished up our Zoology unit this week and will be moving on to Human Anatomy for the rest of the school year. Amazon boxes have been arriving with new resources, so the kids are dying to get started! First up: bones and the skeletal system.

+ What’s the best way to get a hesitant and perfectionist first grader to practice his writing? Give him a penpal! J is writing to a new friend in North Carolina and sent off his second letter this week. He’s already told me a handful of things he wants to ask him in his next letter. So cute.

Current 1000 Books Project Total: 96/1000

MOTHER CULTURE & SELF-CARE

+ Health: Same old, same old. Mutu week two and very little sugar. The scale isn’t really budging, which is frustrating, but I still fit in my pants, so there’s that, I guess?

+ Reading: I started Happier at Home for book club. Also started The Paris Architect.

+ Spiritual: Oh man, I’m slacking in this department. I’ve set down Fulton Sheen’s book for now. I think I need something new.

+ Fun: More bread baking this week. I’m hooked – I want to try ALL the recipes! Good thing I have a handful of eager taste-testers.

January 25, 2018

No.75: My Latest Reads // January

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Linking up with Kristin’s Book by Book!

MY NOT SO PERFECT LIFE: A NOVEL by Sophie Kinsella
My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊✰

I think I’ve finally worked out how to feel good about life. Every time you see someone’s bright-and-shiny, remember: They have their own crappy truths too. Of course they do. And every time you see your own crappy truth and feel despair and think, Is this my life, remember: It’s not. Everyone’s got a bright-and-shiny, even if it’s hard to find sometimes. (96% on my Kindle)

My Not So Perfect Life was a fun, easy, totally chick-lit read and just what I needed to kick off 2018. I caught on to the main dilemma right away (I’ll keep it vague to avoid spoilers) but enjoyed it anyway. I also appreciated the main message that the “highlight reel” you see on Instagram or blogs doesn’t always tell the whole story. We all have sadness, suffering or difficulty in our lives, even if we never share it over the Internet. Another good reason to be kind to everyone you meet.

SUCH GOOD GIRLS: THE JOURNEY OF THE HOLOCAUST’S HIDDEN CHILD SURVIVORS by R.D. Rosen
My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊✰

For most of these survivors, the sources of family stories and intergenerational conversations—a cornerstone of the foundation of an individual’s identity—had been exterminated. Even if relatives survived, the family narrative had been badly broken. What often remained were unspeakable memories, shame, and helplessness, which constituted a lingering atrocity. The Nazis had not only stolen their families but their pasts as well.

I would describe Such Good Girls as part gripping memoir, part history book. I was able to put myself in both the little girls’ and their mothers’ shoes and…gosh, it was such a horrible situation any way you look at it. A heartbreaking but important read.

TO LIGHT A FIRE ON THE EARTH: PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL IN A SECULAR AGE by Bishop Robert Barron
My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊✰

One of Barron’s maxims is “The sure sign that God is alive in you is joy.”

My first religious book of the year. I reviewed this book here.

S. by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst
My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊✰

He is a man without a past sailing in a strange sea in a world where the stars have come loose in the firmament.

My brother surprised me with this book in my mailbox and an invitation to dive into it together. Best gift ever!! A story within a story, S. is unlike anything I have ever read before. It was a little confusing and if you know anything about J.J. Abrams (he’s responsible for shows like Lost), you know that there were a lot of questions asked and not as many answered. Still so good and interesting. I think I’ll have to re-read it again to fully understand it.

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen

My Rating: ★★★✰✰

When you are five, you know your age down to the month. Even in your twenties, you know how old you are. I’m twenty-three you say, or maybe twenty-seven. But then in your thirties, something strange starts to happen. It is a mere hiccup at first, an instant of hesitation. How old are you? Oh, I’m–you start confidently, but then you stop. You were going to say thirty-three, but you are not. You’re thirty-five. And then you’re bothered, because you wonder if this is the beginning of the end. It is, of course, but it’s decades before you admit it.

After reading, I’m really conflicted about Water for Elephants. I think the premise of the inner workings of a circus is really interesting, but I struggled with the romance part. I have trouble when books and movies push the reader/watcher into rooting for an affair. This is a tricky one to recommend – I liked it, but there were lots of pretty explicit parts I had to skim.

ANNE OF AVONLEA by L.M. Montgomery
My Rating: ★★★★✰

“I’d like to add some beauty to life,” said Anne dreamily. “I don’t exactly want to make people know more…though I know that is the noblest ambition…but I’d love to make them have a pleasanter time because of me…to have some little joy or happy thought that would never have existed if I hadn’t been born.” (p.53)

“Well, I should like to see you go to college, Anne; but if you never do, don’t be discontented about it. We make our own lives wherever we are, after all…college can only help us to it more easily. They are broad or narrow according to what we put into them, not what we get out. Life is rich and full here…everywhere…if we can only learn how to open our whole hearts to its richness and fulness.” (p.131)

Oh Anne, you have my heart. This one took me longer than usual to get through – I’ve been reading bits of it since September! I think it’s because it feels like each chapter is an “episode” and you can read one and then put it down for later. There isn’t that rushed, “I need to see what happened next!” feeling, if that makes any sense. Even so, I really enjoy this sweet series and look forward to the third one.

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins
My Rating: ★★★★✰

There’s something comforting about the sight of strangers safe at home.

I’m probably the last person ever to read this book, but I now know what the hype was all about! I was hooked from the start and finished in two days – so fast-paced and creepy. My only critique is that I didn’t really care for any of the characters, but maybe that was the point?

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MY 2018 READING IN NUMBERS

Books Read: 7

Fiction: 5 // Non-Fiction: 2
Original 2018 books “to-read” total on Goodreads: 443 // Current “to-read” total: 442

January 22, 2018

No.74: Intentions for the End of January

“The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.” – Albert Einstein

INTENTIONS FOR THE END OF JANUARY

Habit of the Month: Self-Discipline
keep up with Mutu System exercises and some sort of daily walk (even just to the mailbox!)
find a dentist in our new town (we’re ready to stop commuting to our old one)
unpack and display my newly inherited china from my grandmother
bake a cinnamon raisin bread
look into King Arthur Flour’s #bakealong
start reading Happier at Home for book club
finish the last few chapters of Anne of Avonlea
print December Daily & January Coffee Project photos
gather enough cards/postcards for the International Correspondence Writing Month in February (100LT #28)
complete my winter cross-stitch project (100LT #86)
buy paint for the living room
buy frames for living room gallery wall
choose fabric and buy an insert to make Sophia’s princess pillow

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 all month~~ (I’d say 99%: I used a bit of honey/maple syrup in a few recipes)
return to regular running and persevere despite freezing temps! (I hurt myself and won’t be running indefinitely)
~~write thank you cards~~
~~find a family practice doctor in our new town~~
look into an extra-curricular activity for the big boys (still on the lookout for a good fit)
~~find and join the local Facebook yard sale page~~
finish reading Anne of Avonlea (so close!)
read at least two chapters in my Jackson Pollock book
buy paint for the living room
~~try baking ciabatta bread~~
~~bake bread in the dutch oven (100LT #51)~~ (SO good!!)
unpack and display my newly inherited china from my grandmother
~~upgrade Inlinkz for the Five Favorites linkup~~ (all ready for Five Favorites on the 29th!)
~~see if someone can recover the files on my old laptop hard drive~~ (dropping it off this week – fingers crossed!)
choose fabric and buy an insert to make Sophia’s princess pillow