intentional living, little by little
Valentine’s Day is just a week away! With a house full of boys, this holiday has minimal appeal, but here are a few ideas I just may be able to get them to do!
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.
This is the plan. The Mamma Support Swap encompasses two things:
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:
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!
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!
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:
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!
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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.
