This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

I see it everywhere, even in myself.  It’s that insatiable need to accumulate things: the latest fashion item, the cool piece of technology, that one piece of home decor.  We buy and buy and buy, fulfilling that hunger for more…only to find ourselves incredibly uncomfortable with the abundance.  So we simplify and declutter and fill our cars with trash bags full of stuff for our local thrift store.  The relief is tangible, but fleeting.  And then we start again.

________

Tolkien once said that fairytales hold up a mirror to man and I’ve recently discovered that to be true.  In The Hobbit, there is one term quickly mentioned but later better explained through image: the dragon sickness.  Smaug the dragon, the main antagonist of the story, rarely leaves his lair and his riches, even sleeping on his treasure in order to guard them.  For me, this dragon and his “sickness” describes man’s propensity for greed, for the desire to accumulate and hoard possessions.  There may be a tinge of a love for comfort in there too.

There is no judgment here and I’ll be the first to say that I’m actively battling this seemingly innate desire to acquire things.  And it’s hard!  Influencers are influencing everywhere and the temptation toward comparison is strong.  Even so, I want to hold my life and possessions with open hands.  I want to give generously.  I want to have a healthy level of detachment from material goods and a comfortable life.  Thankfully, every day is another opportunity to practice.

You were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.
– Pope John Paul II

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. Making collages. // A continuation of the “use it up” theme!  I have kept a lot of things for junk journaling over the past year, but stuff without a purpose is just clutter.  To combat this, I’m using up the little bits in my notetaking journal and having so much fun.  This week, I used a piece of wrapping paper, an illustration from an old children’s book, a stamp from a piece of mail, letters cut from a magazine, the inside of a bill envelope and lots of stickers.
2. New healthy habits. // I’ve been experiencing some inflammatory issues so I started a few new habits to hopefully alleviate them.  None of this is revolutionary, but everyday consistency is the key: a 45 minute walk, nutritious meals (no strict rules except no sugar and less gluten) and a lot of water.  One week done!
3. Finding letters in the mailbox. // What a thrill to see a handwritten letter along with all the bills and junk mail!  This week, I received three!
4. More unexpected expenses. // Fortunately, we have a bit of money stashed away; unfortunately, I’m not getting a new couch anytime soon.  (Cue the opening scene from Up!)  Choosing to see this as a good thing because it’s teaching me patience and detachment from material things.
5. The start of Make-It-Do May! // I’m still working out the details, but May seems as good a time as ever to really buckle down and make significant strides on our financial goals.  So far, I know I’ll be spending a lot of time in the kitchen and intentionally practicing frugality in new, creative ways.

Frugal Accomplishments //

• gave my hair a trim
• made vanilla granola to use up some Greek yogurt
• mended a rip in my husband’s jeans (with my go-to patches!) so he could still wear them around the farm
• listed a few things on Pango/Poshmark
• worked on my compost pile, adding new material and turning the entire conglomeration
• found an unused bag of tomato plant food that I purchased last year and can use this spring (saved me $13!)
• paid cash for our pork processing to avoid a 3% credit card fee (saved us $44!)
• made beef broth from bones in the freezer
• planned out a month’s worth of dinners for May
• made a big batch of refried beans in the slow cooker using dried pinto beans

This Week in the Liturgical Year //

May 2 was the Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church.

To Listen: Ep. 24—Athanasius against the World from Way of the Fathers podcast

To Watch: Doctors of the Church: St. Athanasius of Alexandria from EWTN

To Add to the Library: On the Incarnation

Reading //

• Cinderella Comes to the Shire from Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative
• A Tale of Three “Porchers” from Alexandra O. Hudson at Front Porch Republic // “Though originally from the Washington, DC, area, Joanna chose to build a life in Indianapolis with her husband and family. She has used her porch to cultivate community and to provide a haven from the hurriedness of modern life. It is a place to forge new friendships, an incubator of ideas to make the community brighter, a place to encounter and create beauty, a catalyst for further cultural and communal growth, and a venue where those who differ politically, racially, and culturally can form bonds and feel seen, known, and loved.”
• Enough: Seven Suggestions for Thinking About Money & Possessions from April Jaure at Hearth and Field // “I think what I need is detachment, that interior freedom that is enjoyed when one no longer has excessive concern over possessions. I’m reminded of a quote from St. Teresa of Avila: ‘Our body has this defect that, the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds.’ Intellectually I know that attempting to satisfy every whim will never bring satisfaction, but it seems that living simply, and being truly detached from one’s possessions is easier said than done.”
• Ode to Old Hands from Nicole Berlucchi at More Love, More Life, More Glory to God // “My daughter stretched the skin of the back of my hand so it looked smooth. What my hands used to look like, I thought. And yet, it made me see age spots whose appearance I had somehow missed. She put her young hand next to my old hand–a stark reminder of my age–but as I almost began loathing my old hands, I stopped myself–these old hands have done a lot for me.”

New Additions to The List // 

• The White Plague by Frank Herbert

Watching/Listening //

• Lecture 1 of Introduction to Sacramental Theology from The Pursuit of Wisdom at Ave Maria University
• Euripides “Medea” // Greek tragedy #1 for my mother academia goal of the month.  Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.  Yikes.

Loving //

• this homeopathic allergy relief // ‘Tis the season!
• this Lego neighborhood instruction book // A really cool used bookstore find.
• Mexican bean tostadas // A super easy meal and cheap too.  I’ve been eating them frequently for lunch.

from the archives…

WEEK EIGHTEEN 2024 // Contemplation

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

Happiness is a mosaic composed of many smaller stones.  The little acts of kindness, the little courtesies, are the things that, added up at night, constitute the secret of a happy day.

Try to make at least one person happy every day.  Every morning build a booth to shelter someone from life’s fierce heat.  If you cannot do a kind deed, speak a kind word.  If you cannot speak a kind word, think a kind thought.  Count up, if you can, the treasure of happiness that you would dispense in a week, in a year, in a lifetime! – The Hidden Power of Kindness, p.231

Since finishing The Hidden Power of Kindness earlier this month, I’ve been reflecting on the virtue and how I’ve experienced it in my adult life.  Some examples:

• the pediatrician who helped me gain confidence as a very young new mother
• the beautiful older mom who encouraged me at church when I struggled to wrangle many small children
• the friend who insisted on vacuuming out my minivan when I was very pregnant and couldn’t do it myself
• the way my son’s jiu jitsu coaches have helped him grow, both as an athlete and a man
• our neighbor who selflessly offers his help without asking for anything in return

I could go on and on and on.  When I think of all the little ways people have been so kind to me and my family over the years, I want to weep.  What an incredible undeserved blessing.  I am convicted to be more kind, to go out of my way to lend a hand, to share the compliment, to send the note.  Little acts of kindness are not insignificant.

How can I be more kind in a world increasingly hostile?  How can I wish the best for all, even for the people I dislike?  How can I be radically positive, shifting my perspective from snark or sarcasm to joy?

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. Starting “Mail Mondays.” // Hoping to start a new snail mail writing routine!  I checked two letters off the list.
2. A focus on “Using It Up.” // You know the saying, “Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make it Do, or Do Without” that was popular during the Great Depression?  This week, I focused on the first part, looking at the abundance of things around me and making plans to make them into something new.  This included everything from food in the fridge/freezers to stationery I already own to even stickers sitting unused in a drawer!  I needed a little boost in “frugal morale” and this did the trick.
3. Hardening off the seedlings. // These poor plants…they were somewhat neglected and are looking a little rough, but I think I can salvage them.
4. Positive feedback about our pork. // Our customers have all picked up their orders and we’ve started hearing their thoughts as they cook their first meals.  All positive feedback!  I always get nervous that people will be underwhelmed or unhappy with their purchase, so this was another morale booster.
5. A frugal experiment that worked! // Late last fall, I re-planted some of our leftover potatoes from an earlier harvest.  The idea is that they overwinter in the ground and then will start growing earlier the following spring.  It seemed like a low-risk experiment…and it worked!  I usually spend at least $60 on seed potatoes every year, so this new strategy should save me some money in the long run.

Frugal Accomplishments //

• made chicken broth from backs in the freezer
• listed a few things on ebay/Poshmark/Pango
• made sole water as a cheaper way to get in some electrolytes (those little packets are so expensive!)
• cut up more scrapbook paper for resale thank you cards
• made banana blueberry muffins to use up overripe fruit and sour cream
• broke down a ripped fitted sheet to use for fabric
• power washed our dirty outdoor rug
• made peach yogurt by swirling my homemade peach jam into plain Greek yogurt (delicious!)

Reading //

• Pandemic’s Effects Linger in Americans’ Health Ratings from Lydia Saad at Gallup // This is unfortunate.  How can we turn this around?
• My Lifetime Reading Plan from Ted Gioia at The Honest Broker // I loved this.

And along with it, I wanted to develop a meaningful philosophy of life. That seemed urgently important to me as a teenager. It still does today. I wanted to take the high road, with the right values, and pursue the best goals. I wanted to appreciate the world around me more deeply, more richly—and not just the world today, but also the world in different times and places, as seen by the best and the brightest.

Some people will tell you that this is elitist. But I have the exact opposite opinion. For a working class kid like me, this was my way of overcoming elitism. Some elites even tried to steer me away from this project—as not appropriate for somebody from my neighborhood and background.

I felt that this was patronizing in the extreme. In any event, I was determined to pursue this path of wisdom even if others tried to discourage me.

I felt that my best way to do all this was through books.

• Listening to “Four Quartets” series from Dwight Longenecker at The Imaginative Conservative // Very helpful commentary.
  • Listening to “Burnt Norton”
  • Listening to “East Coker”
  • Listening to “Dry Salvages”
  • Listening to “Little Gidding”

New Additions to The List // 

• Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
• The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrún by J.R.R. Tolkien

Watching/Listening //

• A Guide to Finally Understanding T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets (Audio Lecture) from Andy Patton

Loving //

• this power washer // We have had it for years and it’s one of my favorite spring chores.  SO satisfying!
• this line in Four Quartets: “The only wisdom we can hope to acquire is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.” (p.27)

from the archives…

WEEK SEVENTEEN 2024 // Frugality Drives Creativity

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her,
ablaze with light from her eternal King,
let all corners of the earth be glad,
knowing an end to gloom and darkness.
Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice,
arrayed with the lightning of his glory,
let this holy building shake with joy,
filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.

– from the Exsultet: The Proclamation of Easter

Alleluia alleluia! Christ is risen, Christ is truly risen!

It always feels bizarre to share the Holy Week review during Eastertide (here was last year’s) but here were are.  This was the most somber Holy Week I may have ever experienced.  It’s a story for another day but I really clung to Mater Dolorosa, combining my sadness with hers.  It helped.

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. The importance of photographs and home videos. // I finally took the videos off of my phone and saved them onto an external hard drive for the kids.  (The long-term plan is to combine all of our photos/videos throughout the years and put them all in this one space.)  I can’t tell you how many times I noticed the kids watching them this week, laughing and reminiscing.  Memory keeping, not the perfect images for social media but the real everyday messy minutiae, is so important.  I’m inspired to start printing and framing photographs everywhere.
2. The last pigs off to the butcher. // This did not go as smoothly as last month but it’s done and we’re enjoying the break.  Taking the summer off and then we’ll figure out piglets in the fall.
3. Writing thank you notes. // So many times, I think about thanking someone for their kindness but never actually send the note.  This week, I actually sat down and wrote.  I want to make it a point to do more of this in the future!  In a world so dark and angry, people should know that their kindness is noticed and appreciated.  My new motto: send the note.
4. Reading slowly. // With so much going on right now, my reading life has been reduced to almost nothing.  I’ve been plodding along with Green Dolphin Street since early March at a pace of 15-30 pages a day.  (And this is an epic novel at almost 600 pages!)  Considering this a good thing because the story is lovely, it allows me time to appreciate the writing and vivid descriptions of place, and forces me out of that ridiculous compulsion to read a certain amount of books per month/year/lifetime.
5. A much-needed nap. // I have not been sleeping well lately so this was welcome!

a photo from last week! (credit: G.M.)

Contemplating Holy Week with Art //

Reading //

• Κυριακή των Βαΐων from Catherine at Pleximama
• Mary’s Fiat from Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey // Quoting Dom Prosper Guéranger: “As the heavenly Father had waited for her consent before He sent His Son into the world: so, likewise, He called for her obedience and devotedness, when the hour came for that Son to be offered up in sacrifice for the world’s redemption. Was not Jesus hers? her Child? her own and dearest treasure? And yet, God gave Him not to her, until she had consented to become His Mother; in like manner, He would not take Him from her, unless she gave Him back.”
• On Charlotte Mason and Tattooed Sons from Heather Mills Schwarzen at Commonplace Quarterly //

I am not disappointed because Charlotte Mason took great pains to describe education as “a large room,” and I believe her. A room outfitted with the most beautiful furnishings and lavish tapestries still has corners where dust might gather, and my son, through the workings of the Holy Spirit, has been led into those places to serve. I didn’t know this, of course, when I introduced him to the couch of history, so ornately upholstered by the men God emboldened to lead His people. I couldn’t see it when he set to exploring the wardrobe of music or the cabinet where all of the greatest scientific minds held court. I saw my son touring the vast expanse laid out before him and assumed he would be inspired to try and add something to that large room. Instead, the appreciation he gained as he listened to fairy tales and observed birds in flight lit a different fire in him altogether– the desire to protect and defend that very room.

New Additions to The List // 

• Blessed Hanna Chrzanowska, RN: A Nurse of Mercy by Gosia Brykczynska
• Star Lore: Myths, Legends, and Facts by William Tyler Olcott
• Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches by George Weigel

Loving //

• this soap from Ginny Sheller // Smells great!
• this poem:

from the archives…

WEEK SIXTEEN 2024 // Little Moments of Delight pt.2

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the passage of time.

We found ourselves watching old home videos and I couldn’t help staring at the chaos in the background; there were toys and blankets and random things all over the floor!  I can remember being so frustrated by my inability to keep a tidy house, little people always underfoot destroying my meager attempts.  Fast forward about ten years and our home looks quite different: the floors are clear but the flat surfaces are now always covered with the detritus of everyday life.  Craft projects and artwork and dishes from a baking experiment and gym gear and so much laundry.  I’m still picking up and putting things away, this time with more nudging (and occasionally nagging). The kids are bigger, but the amount of stuff is both different and the same.

And yet.  Time is speeding by and I’m trying to grumble less about the imperfection of my home and enjoy the people who are in it.  Before I know it, they will all be off doing great things in the world.  I’ll have that perfectly tidy house I’ve always desired but will be missing the most important part – them.  So yeah, my house is a constant work in progress, but it’s this way because a family lives here.

In that spirit, I wanted to try a black-and-white photo essay of sorts, documenting this season of life.  I didn’t get to photograph everything I wanted, but it was a good start:

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. All of the lovely comments on my quilt post. // Thank you all so much for your kindness.
2. A surprise lunch date with my oldest son. // He called me on his way home from work and told me to get ready, he was taking me out!  We ate at a local place that he loves and I’d always wanted to try.  I was so touched.
3. Starting to design next year’s curriculum. // I’ve been really influenced by John Senior and am excited to incorporate more of his educational philosophy into our homeschool, especially for my dyslexic kids.
4. Pork orders are in! // This was the first year that we offered whole hog options for purchase.  We ended up selling two whole and one half just by word of mouth and inquiries from our current customers – a huge accomplishment!  We are still new to this part of farming, so it was a little wild helping the customers fill out their cut sheets, facilitating payment and organizing pickup.  Even so, it was a good learning experience and I can’t wait to try again.
5. Watching my oldest son promote my husband to blue belt in jiu jitsu. // Jiu jitsu belts for adults are few and hard-earned.  After watching my son train for years, my husband also started and has been working consistently for the past year.  We (me, my son and the senior coaches at the gym) managed to keep a huge secret and pulled off a surprise promotion for him!  The belt test is so difficult and includes an hour of crucible-type endurance where you grapple with teammates and show your ability in a variety of positions.  No water and no breaks!  It was hard to watch, but my husband did great.  The best part of the afternoon was watching my son tie on his dad’s well-deserved blue belt.  My heart was full to bursting.

Frugal Accomplishments //

• cut up old scrapbook paper to use as thank-you notes for resale packages
• listed a few things on Pango/Poshmark/ebay
• made more beef tallow
• reused the tissue paper from a ThredUp order to package up a sale

This Week in the Liturgical Year //

April 7 was the Optional Memorial of St. John Baptist de la Salle.

To Watch: Saint John Baptist De La Salle: Patron Saint of Teachers

To Copy in the Commonplace Book: “Example makes a much greater impression on the mind and heart than words.” and “The way you behave should be a model for those you teach.”

 

Reading //

• Walking with My Dad to Calvary from Constance T. Hull at Catholic Exchange // “Even though the last two weeks of my life have been the hardest, they have also been the most beautiful. There are no words for the gift of helping my dad carry his Cross in union with Christ in those final hours. I will forever remember holding my dad close as I urged him on to Calvary. What a gift to know he died in the arms of the Holy Family.”
• The Reading Rebellion: One Book. Two Weeks. Repeat. from Peco and Ruth Gaskovski at School of the Unconformed // “If we are to restore our deep reading circuits and rediscover the joy, insight, and myriad of associated benefits of reading fiction, we must begin simply by committing to regularly reading tangible books.”
• It’s Just Stuff: What Estate Sales Reveal About Us from Sherry Shenoda at Plough // “I take my sons to estate sales so they can bring home small, hand-carved wooden animals for their bookshelves, old glass marbles in jars, and yet more rocks. Mostly I bring them so they can see that the insides of other people’s homes are like their own, and so the baby can babble happily at strangers in these holy places, and the tired workers at the front can let the toddler keep the lemon that fell from the backyard tree that he’s clutching excitedly.”
• 15 years of motherhood from Tabitha at Team Studer

New Additions to The List // 

• Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge
• Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child’s Moral Imagination by Vigen Guroian
• Stalin’s War: A New History of World War II by Sean McMeekin
• We Have Ceased to See the Purpose: Essential Speeches of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn edited by Ignat Solzhenitsyn
• Warning to the West by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• The Educational Philosophy Of St. John Bosco by John A. Morrison (thanks again for the recommendation, Rosemary!)

Watching/Listening //

• this production of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles // This story is brutal.
• Lessons 4-6 of the Marxism, Socialism, and Communism course at Hillsdale College

Loving //

• LineUp, a memory board game // I played multiple rounds with my 10-year-old this week!

from the archives…

WEEK FIFTEEN 2024 // The Anti-Library

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

The past seven days have been incredibly ordinary: a mix of good and not so good, laughter and a few tears.  The weather was typical of Virginia springtime: up, down and all around temperatures, sunshine and showers.  I spent one entire day focused on the laundry and for fifteen beautiful minutes, I had clear floors and empty baskets.  I made simple meals; my daughter made delicious treats.  I worked outside for hours and had to rest the next day because everything hurt.  (Getting old is for the birds!)  So many inconsequential things, but goodness can be found there too.

One more thing: did you know that April is National Poetry Month?  I thought I would share this poem that perfectly encapsulated my love for this time of year:

Today
by Billy Collins

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. Piano lessons! // The sister of a friend (don’t you love those connections!) offers piano lessons and I jumped at the chance to enroll my daughter.  An extra blessing is that the price is so reasonable!  She had her first lesson this week, really liked the teacher and is excited to learn.  I can’t wait to see how she progresses.
2. A Lord of the Rings movie marathon. // One of my sons wanted to share his love of the movies with me, so we watched the trilogy over a couple of weeks.  I’m not a big fantasy reader and have never read the books, so I went in completely blind.  And it was good!  So long, but good.  (And after listening to Joseph Pearce explain Tolkien’s vision – see below – I love it even more!)  Even more so, I’m grateful for the memory we made.  I’ll always remember LOTR as a Lenten journey we traveled together.
3. Listing every day for extra cash. // There are only so many extra hours in a day and this week, I replaced all of my creative time for reselling.  I have a big plastic bin full of decluttered items to sell and it’s time to get them moving on to a new home.  I also went through my unread books (parted with about a dozen!) as well as an initial sweep of homeschool curriculum.  Hoping to make some extra money to pay for our short summer trip as well as make a significant dent in our debt.
4. Reading Thomas Aquinas’ Shorter Summa. // Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae is on The 10 Year Reading Plan for the Great Books of the Western World but that’s a bit more than I can commit to in this season.  Instead, I decided that I would start with his Shorter Summa – a much better fit!  I’m reading alongside The Thomistic Institute’s video series, which has been helpful.  I’m currently working through the course called “Who is God? How Can We Know Him?“.
5. Helping my daughter finish a project. // She has been working steadily on this big diamond art project since early February and was starting to lose steam.  I was so thankful for her help with my pinwheel quilt that I wanted to return the favor.  I’ve been sneaking in some work when I can and together, we finally finished this week!  Now to find a frame and hang it in her room.

Frugal Accomplishments //

• mended a hole in my youngest’s favorite pajama pants
• listed a bunch of items on Poshmark/ebay/Pango
• turned off the heat on April 1st and will see how long we can go before turning on the A/C!
• deep cleaned the washing machine with these tablets
• made more tallow from beef fat in the freezer
• avoided the grocery store, only buying milk and burger buns

This Week in the Liturgical Year //

April 4 was the Optional Memorial of Saint Isidore, Bishop and Doctor of the Church.

To Read: Benedict XVI’s General Audience Address on June 18, 2008

To Listen: Isidore of Seville: Last of the Red-Hot Latin Fathers from Way of the Fathers Podcast

To Add to the Library: An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages: Isidore of Seville, Vol. 40

Reading //

• Why JRR Tolkien Made March 25 the Day the Ring Was Destroyed from Joseph Pearce at National Catholic Register //

How can a story about, hobbits, dwarves, elves and wizards have anything to do with the life, death and resurrection of Christ?  The answer is revealed in the date on which the Ring is destroyed. The One Ring to rule them all and in the darkness bind them is destroyed on March 25. This should make us sit up and take note because March 25 is, of course, the feast of the Annunciation, the date on which the angel of the Lord declared unto Mary and she conceived by the Holy Ghost. It is the date on which the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us, the date on which God became man. Most Catholics know this but few know that, according to tradition, March 25 is also the date of the Crucifixion. It is, therefore, not merely the date on which God became man but also the date on which Christ died for our sins.

• In Praise of “Old” from Reid Makowsky at Front Porch Republic // “The world ‘old’ is just that, having changed little since the Proto-Germanic *aldra, and having related forms in Latin and Greek. For that reason alone, wisdom and humility might suggest that we hesitate to condemn it. But besides the deference owed to age, it is a beautiful word. Those who have no ear for the music of words, or who think that such music is purely in the ear of the beholder may scoff at this sentiment. But I think that most people can tell the difference between ugly and beautiful language, between the fatuity of the advertiser and the sincerity of the child.”
• A Mother’s Thinking Love: or, Stir the Jam and Read Some Shakespeare from Liturgy in the Home with Maria // “If there is drudgery in the life of the professional, there is also drudgery in the life of the homemaker. But it is also true that if there is the potential for an intellectually fulfilling life for a professional, the potential is there, too, in the life of a homemaker.”
  • And this quote too, because I am living it:

And, although you might think it unimaginable now if you are a mother with small children, someday sooner than you think, you will come up for air, and you may realize that you now have the time to pick up that novel you always wanted to read or to freshen up the French you learned when you studied abroad. Your intelligence, skills, and experience are not wasted on your children. They will help cultivate that thinking love that your particular children—given to you by a God Who knows you and them intimately—most need.

• In the Kingdom of Noise from Francis X. Maier at The Catholic Thing // “The more resentment we bring to our public discourse, the more poisonous our shared culture becomes. If so many of us feel that we’re now the targets rather than the active agents of our social and political environment, it’s because that’s what we are. That’s what we’ve become, the world we ourselves have helped create. And it will get worse until we as a people – assuming we can still call ourselves ‘one people’ – remember that even our perceived enemies bear the image of God and thus deserve some compassion and respect.”

New Additions to The List // 

• Tree and Leaf: Includes Mythopoeia and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Tolkien: Man and Myth: A Literary Life by Joseph Pearce
• Frodo’s Journey: Discover the Hidden Meaning of The Lord of the Rings by Joseph Pearce
• Bilbo’s Journey: Discovering the Hidden Meaning in The Hobbit by Joseph Pearce

Watching/Listening //

• Lectures 1-6 of The Genius of J.R.R. Tolkien at The Pursuit of Wisdom at Ave Maria University // This was excellent.
• Lessons 1-3 of the Marxism, Socialism, and Communism course at Hillsdale College

Loving //

• these silicone piano “stickers” // Very helpful for my new piano player.

from the archives…

WEEK FOURTEEN 2024 // Putting Down Roots

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

When our boar, Fred, died last fall, it felt like failure.  My big plans to scale our pork business, keeping a steady production going with two sows, disintegrated in my hands in one miserable week.  I was devastated to lose a beloved animal but I also mourned the loss of what I thought I was meant to do.  The aftermath was disorienting and confusing.

But God works all things for good.  What I thought was disaster is turning out to be an unexpected blessing.

We’re using the next few months to take a break, pay off debt and regroup.  I’ll work on some much overdue home projects.  I’ll have the time to putter around and carefully tend to my garden.  I’ll have the brain space to cultivate the beautiful, not just the functional.  I’ll dream and make plans.  And then we’ll start again, refreshed and ready to provide the healthiest and best-tasting chicken and pork we can.

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. A season for everything. // Despite the break from broilers and pigs, we are definitely still beginning our busy season on the farm.  Add in all of the moving parts with the kids’ schooling and activities and work schedules…and it’s a lot!  Thankfully, after years and years of overwhelm, I am finally learning the lesson that to everything there is a season.  The mantra I keep repeating to myself: “Lean in and get enough sleep.”
2. Four pigs off to the butcher. // And our easiest transport yet!  (Compared to our first experience, we’re getting pretty good at this farming thing, ha.)  Processing day is always bittersweet; we are sad to say goodbye but are also so proud of the product we produced.  This is also the first year we offered whole hog options for buyers and I’m hopeful that they love the meat as much as we do.
3. Operation “Keep our eleven hens alive!” begins. // I clearly have been living under a rock.  This week, I mentioned to my husband that I wanted to drop into Tractor Supply and pick up a handful of chicks to round out our hens for the year.  No big deal, right?  I was so wrong.  Apparently, there is a chick shortage.  Even my go-to hatchery in Pennsylvania was completely sold out for the season!  So Operation “Keep our hens alive!” is in full swing around here.  I spent many afternoons filling the barnyard with fresh woodchips and fortifying the fencing from that pesky fox.
4. Another licensed driver in the house! // Two down, four to go.
5. A fun afternoon adventure at a Lego convention. // We took the four youngest to a Lego convention and it turned out to be so fun.  The different models were incredible – plastic pieces can be an art form! – and my littlest boys were very inspired.  We bought a few mini-figures from the vendor area as a memento and they already want to go back when it returns next year.

Frugal Accomplishments //

• got a truck full of free woodchips when our next-door neighbor had a tree removed
• finally planted in a Jiffy seed starting kit that we purchased years ago but have never used (trying pumpkins!)
• shopped the sales on ThredUp for my daughter

This Week in the Liturgical Year //

March 25 was the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord.

Reading //

• It is Not Good to Read (Only) Alone from Nadya Williams at Front Porch Republic // “Reading together with people we love makes a good book even better, more memorable, more enjoyable for much the same reason as a delicious meal consumed with those we love tastes even better.”
• A Poem For Your Saturday from Pleximama
• this quote from The Hidden Power of Kindness:

Although you cannot carry out certain works of charity, your soul is a garden in which you may plant the fairest flowers of loving thoughts.  Especially at prayer, when grace is most ready to assist your efforts, try to weed out all bitter memories, all severe judgments, all suspicions, and all resentful and angry thoughts, and in their stead plant in the rich soil of your soul the noble sentiments of charity.  Carefully cherish and tend these gentle thoughts so that they may thrive and fill your day with their perfume.  Try to fill the whole of this present life with such thoughts, and you will not only do good to those around you, but you will also share in the good that others do. (p.132)

New Additions to The List // 

• The Terrible Speed of Mercy: A Spiritual Biography of Flannery O’Connor by Jonathan Rogers
• A Prayer Journal by Flannery O’Connor
• The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor
• The Last Hurrah by Edwin O’Connor
• A Declaration of Dependence by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Watching/Listening //

• Uncommon Grace: The Life of Flannery O’Connor on PBS
• Lectures 1-3 of The Wisdom of Fulton Sheen at The Pursuit of Wisdom at Ave Maria University // Finally got to enjoy this after sharing it in this post!

Loving //

• this drawstring bunny bag tutorial // So cute!

from the archives…

WEEK THIRTEEN 2024 // The Holiest Days of the Year

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

Last May, I wrote a post about Wendell Berry and his book, Home Economics.  I wrote:

Basically, he’s saying that he’s been wrestling with the development of an argument, using essays written over many years to try to clarify/mold one idea.  Isn’t that such a lost art in our age?  To ruminate on an idea, spinning it around and around, looking at it from all angles.  To read and read some more, listening to other people’s opinions and then weighing that against our original ideas.  To fortify those original ideas or yield to a new and better one.  Does anyone still do that?

After reading that book, I’ve often wondered what my big question would be.  What theme would I hold in my hands and contemplate like that?  And then…

I’ve been writing these weekly reflections on my blog for over a year now.  Some are quite thought out, others are more of the rambling type (sorry about those).  But as I recently browsed through my collection of posts, I started seeing some common themes.  I realized that I had a big question without really knowing it: What does it mean to be human?

I’ve pondered it in relation to technology. I’ve weighed it against the cultural push toward materialism. I’ve investigated life-giving alternatives with useful handcrafts and meaningful work. I’ve meditated on the Creator who made us this way.  My quest is certainly not over and I’ll continue to hold this theme lightly in my hands, turning it this way and that, letting the light shine on each new facet.  I’m excited to see where it leads me next.

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. A room makeover for the little boys. // One evening at dinner, I made a comment about moving their beds around.  One thing led to another and they had an entirely new arrangement by bedtime!  I love that we were able to make things feel like new without having to spend any money.
2. Farm projects in full swing. // It’s go time here on the farm and I seem to be adding more and more outdoor tasks to my daily lists.  This week, we had pigs acclimating to the trailer (headed for the butcher soon!), prepped paddocks for others to go onto pasture, worked in the garden, planted peas and made plans for new chicks.  Spring is a wild ride.
3. Crafty perseverance. // I have nothing finished to share for Make Stuff March, just slow and steady work on existing projects.  This is what I hoped to strengthen in myself during Lent and while it’s been hard not to start something new and exciting, I know this (boring) middle part is where the virtue is found.
4. Postcards! // In an attempt to restart my snail mail habit, I decided to begin with something small: postcards!  I purchased a handful from DalekoUSA and dug out my stash of postcard-specific stamps.  Highly recommend the postcard route if you’re short on time or just want the recipient to know you’re thinking of them.
5. A trip down memory lane. // When we moved into this house almost eight years ago, I started a One Second Everyday project and kept it up for three years.  I just found a bunch of the raw footage from those videos and we spent over an hour watching them.  My kids were probably ages 11-1 and it was so fun to return to that crazy season.  We haven’t laughed that hard in a very long time.

Frugal Accomplishments //

• accidentally tie-dyed a load of kitchen towels when a pen snuck into the wash, but mitigated the damage with Oxyclean
• listed a few things on Pango/Poshmark/ebay
• made banana bread from overripe bananas
• saved $5 off each ticket to a Lego convention after searching for a promo code
• used my homemade compost in the garden (not nearly enough for all of my plants, but I’m insanely excited that I actually made it!)
• sold chicken to friends
• made broth from chicken backs in the freezer

Reading //

• Thou Shalt Not Destroy from Hadden Turner at Over the Field // “We must remember this. We must remind ourselves daily of our high and noble calling: the calling to create, to build, to fashion, and to grow, and then to steward, preserve, maintain and protect what we have made. It will be helpful to remind ourselves when tempted by destructivity that destructiveness, though often the easy and pleasurable option, rarely, if ever, creates value — and almost never results in beauty. And an action without value and devoid of beauty is probably something we ought not to do.”
• Do you remember how life used to feel? Flip phone February: how I downgraded my phone and upgraded my life from Catherine Shannon // This is partially behind a pay wall but the free section will resonate with a lot of people, I’m sure.
• On Kneeling from Heidie Senseman at Dappled Things // “We’re meant to feel strange and wobbly on our knees. We’re meant to reach out for a tether, something upon which to lean. And there in our flailing we find the Christ, the God-man, The One who condescended to meet us in our lowly humanity, The One who comes down even further to meet us in even lower places. Like here upon this kneeler, in humble posture. Of course we’d find Him down here.”  A good example of lex orandi, lex credendi: as we worship, so we believe.
• Why We Need Graveyards from Paul Lauritzen at Commonweal // Thought provoking.

New Additions to The List // 

• The Smile of a Ragpicker: The Life of Satoko Kitahara – Convert and Servant of the Slums of Tokyo by Paul Glynn
• The Eighth Arrow: Odysseus in the Underworld by J. Augustine Wetta

Watching/Listening //

• Lessons 16-21 of the How to Think Like a Thomist: An Introduction to Thomistic Principles from Aquinas 101 at the Thomistic Institute // Done!  This course was excellent.

Loving //

• this interpretation of The Iliad // Reading this to my littlest boys.

from the archives…

WEEK TWELVE 2024 // He Provides

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

Things have felt a little heavy around here, so I decided it was a good time to bring out this practice again.  I definitely needed to take my own advice (get out of head and into my hands) and lean heavily into gratitude to keep me moving.  Here’s my list:

Teeny seedlings sprouting under grow lights.  How the hens have adopted the lone remaining duck into the fold.  Changing the blade on my rotary cutter.  One on one time with my middle son.  The random ladybug crawling on my bathroom wall.  Hearing piano music throughout the house.  Getting into a dinner routine that works for us in this season.  Feeling the subtle shift of spring weather returning.

(Previous little moments lists: part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, and part six.)

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. Keeping the sewing machine out on the desk. // I usually have it tucked away in a closet and it’s always a pain to lug it out and put it back.  In this season of life without any curious toddlers, I decided to keep it out on the desk full-time and wow!  Even though it happened in fits and spurts throughout the week, I made so much progress on my quilt!  My daughter has used it for little projects too.
2. A Make Stuff March update. // I definitely slowed down the pace from last week, but have still been working steadily.  This time, I finished three little ornaments that I stitched in 2023, started stitching the second ornament for my Handmade Christmas goal and made a lot of progress on the pinwheel quilt.  (See below.)
3. A mother/daughter quilting bee and a perseverance win. // When I organized my projects last week, I found the beginnings of a quilt I must have started back in 2010.  Most of the block pieces were cut and I even found the instructions I had printed from the Internet!  I started machine-piecing and quickly saw what must have been my frustration fifteen years ago: some of the pieces were slightly the wrong size!  But in the spirit of perseverance and finishing the task at hand, I decided to do the best I could with the supplies I had.  (I only had a few leftover fabrics, so couldn’t start over.)  My daughter helped me with every step including designing the layout and tying each quilt block corner.  (We even learned how to make a surgeon’s knot!)  None of it is perfect, but we’re getting closer and closer to a finished product.  I have loved spending time with her in our little mother/daughter quilting bee.  A sweet memory.
4. A lesson in failure. // I tried to make yogurt twice in the slow cooker and failed both times.  Choosing to see this as a good thing because it got my problem-solving wheels turning, gave me a healthy dose of humility and fed my piglets a special treat.  I want to try again once I recover from the money I wasted.
5. Pie for pi day! // I would probably have forgotten about this if it weren’t for my bingo board!  My middle kids each made a pie: apple and chocolate chip.  Delicious.

Frugal Accomplishments //

• discovered that a Bandaid makes a good makeshift thimble
• used up a science kit from last year that worked for a subject we’re studying this week (the solar system!)
• gave my daughter a haircut
• made another batch of granola to eat with our homemade yogurt
• used my soap saver bag (mine is no longer for sale, but this is similar) to use up the last bits and pieces
• made banana bread from bananas in the freezer
• cooked dried pinto beans to make into refried beans
• finally finished a shampoo that has been languishing in my shower since I bought something I liked better

This Week in the Liturgical Year //

March 12 was the Commemoration of St. Luigi Orione, Priest.

To Read: Homily of St. John Paul II on St. Luigi’s canonization

To Add to the Library: The Restless Apostle: From the Writings of Don Orione

To Copy in the Commonplace Book: “Without Prayer nothing good is done. God’s works are done with our hands joined, and on our knees. Even when we run, we must remain spiritually kneeling before Him.” and “Only charity will save the world.”

Reading //

• Why? Springing Forward, Falling Back, and Changing Times from Matthew Giambrone at Hearth and Field // “I had always been given to understand, anecdotally, mostly by my mother, that Daylight Savings Time was founded by Benjamin Franklin and was for the benefit of farmers’ harvest schedules and suchlike. I have conducted a short study of the matter, however, and it turns out neither assertion is true.”
• Who was Elizabeth Goudge? from Elizabeth Goudge Bookclub // “Elizabeth Goudge (which is pronounced somewhere between “Scrooge” and “rouge”) was visited by a constant stream of visitors and admirers from the 40’s until the end of her life, with them popping in the door at all hours. She felt that fame was her duty to share more of herself, so she wrote letters and visited with everyone who came. She loved her little dogs, doing embroidery, observing nature and living in the country.”
• Letters from Prison from Ben Spencer at Comment // This was so good.

On March 26, 1987, Ben Spencer—twenty-two years old, newly married, with a baby on the way—was arrested for robbing and killing a wealthy white man in Dallas. Nothing connected him to the crime. He was convicted on the testimony of three witnesses who lied for a $35,000 reward and a jailhouse informant who lied for a shorter sentence. Ben was sentenced to life in prison.

Ben’s story reveals how criminal trials can go off the rails and why innocence is not enough to undo the mistake. But it is also a story of faith. For thirty-four years in a maximum-security prison, Ben absorbed God’s Word at a cellular level: He forgave the people who framed him, and he never doubted that the truth would set him free. Ben’s spiritual journey can be traced in some two thousand pages of letters to his wife, Debra. He never succumbed to bitterness—he saw it as a poison—and he trusted that God alone controlled his fate, not the Texas legal system. His miracle came in the form of a new district attorney, who reinvestigated his case. Ben Spencer was exonerated on August 29, 2024, his name cleared and his soul burnished to reflect the image of Christ.

• It Is Time from Grandma Donna // “I have always been a curious thinker, I like to know how things work and why and I do better if I can see it and learn visually. A mentor is even better but there are not as many mentors today as we once had. We have now gone several generations without them as many of the old skills of the past have been replaced by machines that do it for you but this comes with a cost.”  I think about this often.
  • And this from Sara M in the comments after she shared how she spends her time after work: “I may have to live in the 2025 but it doesn’t need to live in me.”
• this passage from The Hidden Power of Kindness by Lawrence G. Lovasik that dovetailed nicely with last week’s thoughts:

Action is one of the most effective forms of self-encouragement and good cheer.  There is something intrinsically humble about action.  When you act, you come to grips with reality.  Action does not make your problems magically disappear, but unlike talk or dreams or merely good resolutions, it does begin to solve them.  As long as you act, there is limitless hope for you and very little room for gloominess.

In your action, however, try to take a long-range view of things.  This will further serve to encourage you.  You are often too impatient.  You want quick and easy solutions.  When they are not forthcoming, you get depressed.  Nature has a way of taking its own sweet time, and you are part of nature.  You cannot force things.  Cultivate a respect for time and the essential role it plays in all human activity. (p.43-44)

New Additions to The List // 

• Breadsong: How Baking Changed Our Lives by Kitty and Al Tait
• On the Road by Jack Kerouac
• The Joy of the Snow by Elizabeth Goudge
• Beyond the Snow: The Life and Faith of Elizabeth Goudge by Christine Rawlins

Watching/Listening //

• Lessons 13-15 of the How to Think Like a Thomist: An Introduction to Thomistic Principles from Aquinas 101 at the Thomistic Institute

from the archives…

WEEK ELEVEN 2024 // Make It Up With Relationship

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

There’s a quote I love from Kate at The Last Homely House: Get out of your head and into your hands!

Recently, I’ve heard a lot of anxiety/frustration/anger/fear about current events.  The news cycle is nonstop and so many things seem to be beyond our control.  In my area of the world, I see how many people are coping and these activities are not exactly life-giving: lots of alcohol, an obsession with work and productivity, excessive materialistic spending, etc.

Now this is silly and I’ll probably be mocked for its simplicity, but I think I have the antidote: get off that screen and into the physical present.  When you’re in touch with what is right in front of your eyes – your family, your neighborhood, your town – your priorities in life seem to come into focus.  I have no control over how the government is run, but I can attend public county committee meetings or police department meetups or school board meetings in my area.  I can’t solve world hunger, but I can donate to the food pantry in my city.  I can’t control inflation or high food costs, but I can get my hands in the dirt and sow a few seeds.

I think there’s a place for handcrafts in this too.  The act of making something from nothing is not only a huge boost in self-confidence, but also has this amazing way of drawing you into the task at hand.  In those moments, the repetitive nature of what you’re doing helps to soothe and calm the mind.  I think we all could see a little more of that.

So pick an old favorite or try something new: baking, diamond art, sewing, embroidery, punch needlework, needlepoint, cross-stitch, gardening, woodworking, quilting, painting, writing, playing an instrument… the possibilities are endless!  Wishing you a little more peace in your life (and mine!) this week.

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. A new cookbook project. // I bought The Stay-at-Home Chef Slow Cooker Cookbook at the used bookstore for $3 and it inspired a new idea!  I’ve always wanted to make every recipe in a single cookbook and this may be the one.  This week, I made Extra-Sloppy Joes and Cheesy Bacon and Ranch Potatoes and both were a hit.
2. Planting more seeds. // This time, I started all of my tomatoes.
3. Week one of Make Stuff March. // Feeling very accomplished!  I fully finished my first Christmas ornament and even learned how to make a decorative bow for the top.  I finished a half-completed cross-stitch frog and then sewed it into a log cabin quilt block, finally attaching it to a random muslin bag I had hanging around.  (My first time using iron-on adhesive, which I also had in my stash!)  I practiced zippers again and made a pouch using a finished cross-stitch piece I must have made back in 2009?  (I used this tutorial this time.  I’m getting better and at least it zips!)  I hand-quilted a little on my grandmother’s flower garden quilt and started machine-piecing a pinwheel one.  Not sure if I can keep up this pace all month, but it’s a solid start!
4. Deterring a hungry fox. // For months now, our poor birds have been relentlessly pursued by a fox.  We had about 35 hens and 15 ducks last summer and now we’re down to about 12 hens and one lone duck!  We can’t let them free range anymore which is sad for everyone.  Anyway, we’re constantly looking for weak areas in our fencing and trying to stay one step ahead of that pesky fox.  This week, we felt triumphant as we watched him unable to penetrate our reinforced Critterfence.  Our Great Pyrenees, Samson, helped scare him back into the forest!
5. A new job for my 16-year-old son. // Very excited for him!

Frugal Accomplishments //

• began a test to see if we can get away with only going to the grocery store every other week
• made beef tallow in the slow cooker twice from fat in the freezer
• made broth from chicken backs in the freezer
• listed a few things on Poshmark/ebay/Pango
• made vanilla granola to use up the yogurt in the fridge
• gave the three youngest boys haircuts

This Week in the Liturgical Year //

March 7 was the Optional Memorial of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs.

To Listen: Perpetua: A Rare Female Voice from Antiquity from The Way of the Fathers Podcast

To Add to the Library: The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity by Tertullian

 

Reading //

• The person I’ve become since I left social media from Slow Scottish Stories by Molly Ella // I relate deeply to this.

I can be hasty, thoughtless and ungrateful.

I struggle with anxiety.

I am widely imperfect.

Yet, I am me again. A better, more aware, happier version of myself.

I am finally content with my life.

It breaks my heart to think of the person I was before. There is no going back.

This is me.

• Meaningless language (and how fairy tale vocabulary can save us) from Susanna Schwartz at The Enchanted Window // “I think we’ve lost the old words and phrases we used to describe how people can live and behave, and we’ve replaced them with other terms that obfuscate the old meaning. Worse, I suspect it’s a terrible vicious cycle — we lost words like “nobility” and “virtue” because they didn’t mean anything to us anymore, and as they withered out of use, so did the ideals themselves. We lost a more human vocabulary, and along with it a more human way of life.”
• My Year in Books 2024 from Melisa Capistrant at The Cavalry of Woe // LOTS of good recommendations here!  I already have a bunch of the titles on my TBR and I added a few new-to-me ones to my list below.

New Additions to The List // 

• Grey Is the Color of Hope by Irina Ratushinskaya
• And I Am Afraid Of My Dreams by Wanda Półtawska

Loving //

• this free printable Lent calendar from Quis Ut Deus Press // I’m quickly running out of little ones who enjoy these kinds of things!

from the archives…

WEEK TEN 2024 // Little Moments of Delight

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

For a few weeks now, I’ve been pondering the idea of perseverance.  One way of defining perseverance is “the virtue by which one persists in the arduous good until the end is achieved.”  Sounds simple enough, but why is it so difficult in practice?  I don’t know if it’s because I have a little undiagnosed ADD or I’m the result of a culture insistent on instant gratification or maybe I’m just a squirrel (ooh, new shiny object over there!), but this is a virtue I struggle with.

BUT.  I also know what it feels like to endure to the end.  I know that euphoric feeling of satisfaction and pride.  I have tons of examples in my life, from very personal to ridiculously silly, and these are the cases I hold onto.  If I’ve done it before, I can do it again!

For Lent this year, I’m hoping to strengthen my perseverance muscle by focusing on one source of embarrassment and frustration: my pile of half-finished creative projects.  While it’s just frivolous fabric and papers and supplies, I feel like it’s indicative of a bigger flaw in myself and one I’d like to remedy.  Here’s to forty days of persisting in the arduous good until the end is achieved!

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. A tease of spring weather. // We were in the 60’s most of the week and it was wonderful.  Coats off and sun on our faces…can’t wait for spring!
2. A weekday dinner date. // My husband called me on his way home from work to tell me to get dressed, we’re going out to dinner!  We are not spontaneous people so this felt wild and crazy.  So nice to spend some one-on-one time with him in the midst of another busy week.
3. A new apron. // Our “making do” project of the week: my daughter is a wonderful baker so I wanted to get her a full apron.  (She currently has a half version.)  After looking online, I ultimately decided to let her choose something in my fabric bin and we’d make one ourselves!  We used my full apron as a pattern and she sewed the pieces together herself.  She even added some beautiful “chicken scratch” embroidery to the hem.
4. Starting seeds. // It’s that time of year again!  I’m a little behind schedule, but I did manage to start the jalapenos and marigolds.  Tomatoes are next.
5. My gilt is not pregnant. // We weren’t sure if breeding had been successful (before the tragedy), but this was the week to watch and it came and went without a birth.  I’m a little sad that we won’t have a Fred Jr. but very happy to not have tiny piglets in late winter!

Frugal Accomplishments //

• bought twelve vintage deadstock zippers for $2.70 (vs. new zippers at $3.49 each!)
• made beef broth from bones in the freezer
• mended a rip in a son’s work jeans using these patches again
• listed two books on Pango
• covered seed trays with plastic wrap because I couldn’t find the clear dome tops
• made banana bread with overripe bananas

This Week in the Liturgical Year //

February 27 was the commemoration of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, Acolyte.

To Read: this entire website about St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

To Pray: Collect for Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

To Add to the Library: Saint Gabriel Possenti, Passionist: A Young Man in Love by Gabriele Cingolani

To Copy in the Commonplace Book: “Our perfection does not consist of doing extraordinary things but to do the ordinary well.”

Reading //

• The Practical Case for Studying Latin from Josh Allan at Antigone Journal // “Latin is useful, however; and unlike the sciences, it is not only useful to those who practise it. Indeed, Latin is useful to anyone who wishes to learn another language, or to anyone who hopes to become a doctor or a lawyer. It is useful to anyone who simply wants to improve their mental faculties, or expand the horizons of their perception, and that is without making the oft-repeated case – as I have avoided doing – that a knowledge of Latin deepens one’s understanding of Western culture, of art, philosophy and literature.”
• Better than Success from Johann Christoph Arnold at Plough // “Who are the role models we can point our children to today? Who can they really emulate? And what about you and me? Do our lives inspire our children to look beyond themselves and their own little worlds to find ways of making a difference in the world? After the work is done and the bills paid, do we help them aspire to what is worthy and good, or do they see in us lives driven by selfish and self-centered pursuits? Remember, children are always watching – always.”
• Classical Education’s Remedy for America’s Loneliness Epidemic from Rachel Alexander Cambre at Public Discourse //

In contrast, classical schools embrace an older understanding of education, one that prepares students for festivity and friendship, rather than socially handicapping them. Like their ancient and medieval predecessors, classical educators maintain that a crucial purpose of education is to liberate students from a calculative, utilitarian mindset by teaching them how to enjoy intrinsically worthwhile activities for their own sake. This does not mean that classical schools downplay the importance of working hard or striving for excellence, but that they emphasize the intrinsic goodness and beauty of those virtues—like those of fortitude and magnanimity—so that students might cultivate them because they are good and beautiful, not because they will help them to acquire wealth, power, or fame.

• The Age Of Abandonment from Freya India at GIRLS // Very thought-provoking.

New Additions to The List // 

• Looking for Anne: How Lucy Maud Montgomery Dreamed Up a Literary Classic by Irene Gammel
• No Bullet Got Me Yet: The Relentless Faith of Father Kapaun by John Stansifer

Watching/Listening //

• Lessons 9-12 of the How to Think Like a Thomist: An Introduction to Thomistic Principles from Aquinas 101 at the Thomistic Institute
• Can I Make Felt Look Like Stained Glass? from The Stitchery

Loving //

• this pretzel bread recipe // My daughter is a wonderful baker and tries something new each week.  This time it was pretzel bread – delicious!
• this creamy potato and sausage chowder recipe // A big hit.

from the archives…

WEEK NINE 2024 // Never Say Never

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

It is done.  The floors are done!  It took a long time to come to fruition, but the end result was worth every delay.  We chose a wide plank French oak and it is beautiful.

Anyway, I spent the rest of the week bringing order back into our home: unpacking our belongings, puttering around, organizing and decorating.  I could feel a physiological calm wash over me as each item went back into its place!  I already knew about this at some level, have read the studies about decluttering and order in the home, but now have a personal experience to confirm it.  Feeling very inspired to keep our home simple and tidy going forward.

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. Forced rest. // We somehow all got sick again!  It seems to be a common occurrence everywhere this winter.  While I hate coughing and general feeling of yuck, I’m glad it’s not the stomach flu!
2. An honest mechanic. // Our frugal fix didn’t work long term, so we had to bring the car to the shop.  So thankful for an honest mechanic who does great work at a fair price.
3. Paying off another loan. // We used the $3,000 that we saved by removing the old flooring ourselves to pay the loan off in full!  Another huge weight off of our backs.  One credit card to go and we’re back to being debt-free except for the mortgage.  (But that’ll be next!)
4. A cross-stitch project for my teenage son. // When your 16-year-old son asks if you can make him something, you jump on the opportunity, ha!  We chose a pattern together and it is huge!  Thankfully, it’s only one color and is coming along pretty quickly.  I hope to have it done and framed before his birthday in the fall.
5. Deep freezer organization. // We have a few deep freezers on the farm and despite my best efforts, they always turn into a chaoic mess.  I saw a picture on Pinterest that would work for us and got right to work!  I ordered a bunch of HÅLLBAR bins (in both 3 gallon and 6 gallon) as well as a few UPPDATERA containers from Ikea and they are perfect for my needs.

Frugal Accomplishments //

• found my son’s preferred shirt (same exact shirt, bigger size) new with tags on the secondhand market
• refreshed my first floor curtains by washing with Oxyclean

This Week in the Liturgical Year //

February 21 was the Optional Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop & Doctor.

To Read: Message for the 100th Anniversary of St. Peter Damian by Pope Benedict XVI

To Listen: St. Peter Damian—The Lord Be With You from Catholic Culture Audiobooks

To Add to the Library: St. Peter Damian: His Teaching on the Spiritual Life by Owen J. Blum

To Copy in the Commonplace Book: “A very good penance is to dedicate oneself to fulfill the duties of everyday with exactitude and to study and work with all our strength.”

Reading //

• We Still Need Paper Maps from Katherine Johnson Martinko at The Analog Family // “Maps do more than orient a person. They also spark imagination, curiosity, and wonder.”
• How to Raise Readers, in Thirty-Five Steps from Brad East at Front Porch Republic // Loved this list and agree with it all!

New Additions to The List // 

• Little House in the Ozarks: The Rediscovered Writings by Laura Ingalls Wilder and edited by Stephen W. Hines
• Folk Fashion: Understanding Homemade Clothes by Amy Twigger Holroyd
• Volcanoes in Human History: The Far-Reaching Effects of Major Eruptions by Donald Theodore Sanders and Jelle Zeilinga de Boer
• I’m Staying with My Boys: The Heroic Life of Sgt. John Basilone, USMC by Jim Proser

Watching/Listening //

• Lesson 6-8 of the How to Think Like a Thomist: An Introduction to Thomistic Principles from Aquinas 101 at the Thomistic Institute
• Keeping a Comic Diary from Jane Porter // This looks fun.

Loving //

• the cards from Painted Tongue Press // I keep forgetting to share about my first purchase on Go Imagine!  I was so pleased with these letterpress cards and will definitely buy more.
• this quote from Henry Ward Beecher: “Every tomorrow has two handles.  We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.”

from the archives…

WEEK EIGHT 2024 // Now Is the Time

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I had a good chuckle when I stumbled upon the painting above because…the look on her face was pretty similar to mine this week.

We have been in limbo with our flooring situation since October 29th and have hit delay after delay after delay.  I’ve been relatively patient as the months have gone by, but after moving all of our furniture into a POD and then hearing of another delay due to a snow storm…I about hit my limit.

In a moment of desperation, we decided why not, let’s just do the floor demo ourselves!  A couple of Youtube tutorials later and we were fairly confident in our abilities.  (It really wasn’t hard, even for non-handy people like us.)  As a family, we spent Monday through Wednesday doing the work entirely ourselves, getting everything removed and prepped and ready for the flooring team to arrive on Thursday.

And then…even though we were in contact with our estimator early in the week and he knew exactly what we were doing, there was still some sort of miscommunication and the person sent out on Thursday was for demo!  The poor guy came in and looked around so confused, ha!  Anyway, we had to be put back on the schedule for the installers and they wouldn’t be available for almost a week.

It’s funny to look back at my 2025 goals and the virtues I wanted to work on in the new year.  Ask and you shall receive!  Oh well.  We’ll just continue rolling with the punches, hoping we grow in patience and perseverance along the way.  We’ll have floors…someday.

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. Doing the flooring removal ourselves. // We felt like we were on a HGTV show!  We also saved $3,000, learned a new skill and even discovered a new interest for one of my sons.  (Maybe general contracting is in his future?)
2. Six years with our dog, Lucy. // She is a joy and we can’t imagine life without her.
3. Warm temperatures that melted the snow within two days. // We are pretty done with this relentless winter!
4. Starting my “handmade Christmas” challenge. // I purchased the “Christmas Lights” pattern by Stitch With Coffee and am stitching 2 over 1 (two threads over one square) – tiny!  It’s turning out so cute.
5. A plan to organize our deep freezers. // More details once I acquire the supplies, but I’m excited to bring some order to chaos.

Frugal Accomplishments //

• frogged a discarded knitting project to use the yarn in a different way
• used a scrap fabric for the ornament cross-stitch
• refreshed my white bed quilt using Oxyclean (thanks to the prompt on February’s bingo board!)

This Week in the Liturgical Year //

February 10 was the Feast of Saint José Sánchez del Río, Martyr.

To Read: The young Mexican who gave his life for Christ the King

To Add to the Library: Saint José: Boy Cristero Martyr, Saints and Sinners in the Cristero War: Stories of Martyrdom from Mexico and Mexican Martyrdom: Firsthand Accounts of the Religious Persecution in Mexico 1926-1935

To Watch: Looking at Heaven: The Life of St. José Sánchez del Río

To Copy in the Commonplace Book: ¡Viva Cristo Rey!

Reading //

• Humane Learning in a Machine Age: A Professor’s Resolutions from Dr. Ben Reinhard at Hearth & Field // “We will have to move more slowly on this model: to read fewer works, but read them more deeply; to write less, but invest more in what we create. This seems to me an acceptable tradeoff. As we enter the machine age, the goal of introductory humanities coursework is no longer to teach close reading or the Western literary tradition, but something more fundamental: how to be human.”
• C. S. Lewis, Peter Kreeft, and the sequence: truth, goodness, and beauty from Jeffrey Wattles at Universal Family
• From Gourmet Pork to Subsistence Farming: Why Buellton’s Winfield Farm Will Stop Raising Mangalitsa Pigs in Favor of Sheer Survival from Matt Kettmann at Santa Barbara Independent // “At a time when supporting honestly raised, regionally grown, sustainably minded food is on the lips of every self-respecting restaurant lover, why is it essentially impossible to make a stable living off of working the land?”  A blog post for another day, but these questions are frequently being asked here at our farm too.
• The challenge: Avoiding the grocery store from Bruce Steele // “The challenge, To stop eating anything storebought. To see how long you can go on foraging , dry provisions from last years garden, preserves from your own trees or foraged fruit. And of course the garden.”

New Additions to The List // 

• A Bold Return to Giving a Damn: One Farm, Six Generations, and the Future of Food by Will Harris
• Politics by Aristotle

Watching/Listening //

• Lessons 1-2 (on George Orwell’s 1984) in the “Totalitarian Novels” course from Hillsdale College
• How I Turned Over 300 Scraps into a Beautiful Quilt in 1 Day from Sew Easy by Sandy

Loving //

• The Last Homely House Youtube channel // Her voice is so soothing and her projects are inspiring.  She reminds me of a British version of my grandmother!

from the archives…

WEEK SEVEN 2024 // Patience