The Big White Farmhouse | intentional living, little by little

February 6, 2012

{friendship} 1st Ever Mamma Support Swap!

Source: etsy.com via Ashley on Pinterest

This post is for all of you Mammas out there. Maybe you are pregnant with your first baby and you are filled with both excitement and anxiety for what’s to come. Maybe you are a new mama or maybe you are a mama to many! Maybe you feel unsure in your role as a mother. Maybe you feel isolated from the “outside”. Maybe your life feels so crazy, and while you’d love another child, the thought just terrifies you. Maybe you feel all alone.

Motherhood is a hard and largely misunderstood vocation. So my thinking cap went on. How can I use my blog to provide encouragement to another mom? How can I help another mom know she is not alone? How can I show another mom her worth? The wheels started turning. After I participated in the Blogger Exchange Party, the wheels started really turning!

Enter the first ever Mamma Support Swap!

This is the plan. The Mamma Support Swap encompasses two things:

Support: A handwritten note to your partner, telling her about yourself and your family. You can add some advice, words of encouragement or just let her know you’re praying for her. Your letter can be any length, but challenge yourself! Words are powerful…you can do so much good. This letter is the most important part!
Swap: A little something special purchased just for her. You can learn more about her on her blog if you need ideas. Let’s keep it in the $10-15 dollar range. Not mandatory, but if you want to include a little present for her kid(s), please feel free to do so!

My prayer is that through this swap, we can encourage each other on this wild adventure we call motherhood. Maybe we’ll even make a new friend! You know the phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child”? Well, I think it takes a village to support a mamma!

So are you in? Know a few friends who could use some support? I hope so! Please e-mail me at mrsb04jc (at) gmail (dot) com with the following information:

Your Name

Your blog address

Age(s) of your children

Sign-ups will be open from February 6 to February 10.

I hope to have everyone e-mailed with their partner by Monday, February 12.

You will then be responsible for getting in touch with your partner for her address.

Please have your packages in the mail no later than Friday, February 24. Then be on the lookout for a special package just for you! 🙂

One more thing…please, please, please spread the word! I am just a little fish in the big blog ocean, but I know there have to be so many mammas out there who could use some love. Talk about it on your blog, Facebook, even twitter!

P.S. I’m working on making a button for you to grab too! Check back soon!

February 3, 2012

{in the kitchen} Blueberry Banana Bread

Talk about impulse. While I probably should have been attacking that never-ending laundry pile, I instead made a dash to the kitchen to make Blueberry Banana Bread. Word to the wise: don’t casually peruse cookbooks unless you’re ready to bake. Right.This.Instant! I have no control when it comes to delicious quick breads. The recipe comes from this book, which was actually an anniversary gift to my husband. Enjoy.

Blueberry Banana Bread
from Ruhlman’s Twenty

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Salt
3 large eggs
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (I omitted this because I didn’t have any lemons at home)
1 cup blueberries, tossed with 1 Tablespoon flour

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter a loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and 1 teaspoon salt. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk, sugar, melted butter, bananas, vanilla, and lemon zest and mix well. Add the flour mixture and whisk just to combine. Stir in the blueberries.
Pour batter into pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

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Oh, and Mammas: need some encouragement this winter or know someone who does? Be sure to check back Monday for an exciting announcement!

February 1, 2012

{recording life} Making a Life List: Goods and Greats

Source: milenuts.tumblr.com via Everything on Pinterest

I’m back with my Part II of Jenny’s Life List series. (You can find my post on Part I here.) This week, the task is brainstorming a few things into two categories: goods and greats.

Here’s what Jenny says about “goods”: “Simply put, they are my goals. They still hold tremendous worth. They still require me to work hard to achieve them, but no one ever questions me or my ability to succeed. My goals still require planning and execution, and other resources such as money and/or childcare. But goals are completely attainable and often 100% up to you to achieve.”

I have a lot of things that could easily fall into the “good” category. Here are a few I came up with:

Go horseback riding
Run a race with my dad
Ride the Amtrak
Make homemade ice cream
Make every recipe from a single cookbook (a la Julie & Julia)
Organize a getaway trip with my cousins
Have our family pictures taken by a professional photographer
Learn how to make candles
Take a photography course

And then there are the “greats”…goals that are a whole different level. This is Jenny’s take:

“Essentially my greats…are my dreams. Dreams are sort of scary. My dreams can leave me energized and breathless in one moment and then quickly make me feel naked and vulnerable in the same minute. The scary things about dreams is that they aren’t always planned out and the details aren’t always available. That is hard for a planner and for a type A person such as myself. Why? Because dreams require something other than just your hard work. Dreams require elbow grease plus a bit of magic. Dreams still require intention plus God smiling upon you. Dreams also bring out the skeptics and/or the “realists”. These dreams bring on the statements: “Jenny, that’s ridiculous. That’s impossible. You are setting yourself up for disappointment.” Now that voice can come from others or from within yourself. This is where you have to ask yourself if you and your dreams are worth the fight. Are we deserving of great things? Simply put, YES!”

Jenny’s words are powerful and inspiring. Those dreams deep in my heart…those are the ones to put on this list. I’m going to throw a couple of mine out there – maybe they will inspire you to dream big too!

See a game at every NFL stadium with my husband

Give in 100 different ways (at least!)
Purchase an old home and completely renovate it

Run a successful home decor business

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What are your goods and greats? I’d love to hear an item or two on your life list. Oh and check out Jenny’s blog to see her biggest dream. She’s so cool.

January 31, 2012

{friendship} Meeting a New Friend through the Blogger Exchange Party

One of my unwritten goals for 2012 (unwritten because it sounds kind-of lame) is to use my blog to meet new people and create new friendships. Being a stay-at-home mom can sometimes feel so isolating, you know? So when I heard about the Blogger Exchange Party, I knew it was the perfect way to start off 2012 and I couldn’t sign up fast enough!

I was paired up with Heather, who blogs here. She is a momma of two, a big movie buff and bowler, as well as a lover of all things pink and glittery! From the moment I “met” her, I knew I liked her and was determined to think of a really good gift.

Now my family will laugh at me, but just like I do with my husband, my relatives or my kids, I was on a mission to find the best gift for Heather (and in the designated price range!). After reading much of her blog, and lots of deliberation and “Mark, what do you think of this?”, this is what I came up with:

Because she is such a movie lover and saw something like 60 movies last year(!!), I thought she may enjoy the Ticket Stub Diary. I have given this as a gift before and it was well-received. A fun way to record all of those movies for 2012! 🙂 And since I couldn’t help myself, I included a little tissue cozy that I found on etsy to represent her love for bowling.

I packaged everything in the only pink wrapping paper I own (oh perks of living with a ton of boys!) and some vintage lace and rick rack. Then off to the Midwest it went!

And this is what she sent me!

Amazingly generous, right? I was blown away by all of her gifts but this may be my favorite part:

She sent little goodie bags for the boys! They were so surprised!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Heather! 🙂

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This swap was so much fun and it really got my wheels turning. I can’t wait to share my big idea with all of you. Be sure to check back next Monday for the big announcement!

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