Making a beautiful home

I'm busy unpacking, but want to share bits of my successes. (and Sondra's, since she was doing a lot of the design work yesterday!)




Here is our reading/prayer nook in our bedroom. Don't you just want to sit and relax over the Bible, or the latest Atlantic, or Runner's World?!


This is the dining room just before dinner last night. NB the sideboard with food. We need to loose the ladder and vacuum, but the candles add ambience, no? Nice books too!

This was Sondra's Baby--artfully placed pitchers above the cupboards. She forced me to give up the big black hole garbage can that I was really enjoying for the more understated kitchen garbage can--oh well. It does look better.

And this is what happens when you are so busy unpacking that you leave an open jam jar on the table with a toddler.

Hey, Peter

Blaise: Come over here! My mom has this cupboard, and if we open it there are treats inside!

P: Really? Let's see. OOO here is that little brown bottle. It smells good, but Eli says it tastes yucky! What's in this bag?

B: Sand! White sand!! Let's poor it out and play in it.

P: My hands are sandy, I hate that--I'll lick them WOW!! This sand tastes GREAT!!!

B: You're right!! Be really really quiet. The Mom's will never know! Just keep licking!

Because I nee Distraction,

And storage. . .
My new brainchild idea. .
I have some college-ish interior design issues--the biggie is milk crates. I have at least a dozen holding books, a few more holding sewing fabric, several holding shoes in the mudroom, and a couple of empties lying around just in case.

But milk crates are not beautiful, and I desire beauty in my new house. I also need to maintain a semblance of order on a tight budget.
So I'm thinking of combining some creative storage ideas Like this


















With a not too hard sewing project like this.

I'd use a sturdy canvas for the shoe bound crates, something prettier but still strong for the books. Voila! Form and function!

Building Stress, and Building Relationships

My energies are taken up these day with more than just running a house of 8 with love and grace. We have a bit more than 4 weeks to get the house fully built and ready for the Bank to inspect it and say, yes, indeed, we may move in and begin paying the mortgage.

In God's infinite wisdom, He is asking John and I to put a bit more of ourselves into the job than we had anticipated when we began this journey. So I'm now lurking the Maine craigslist and the re-store looking for deals on appliances, kitchen cabinets, and other necessaries. I'm not low on cash, I'm an environmentalist!! Re-using someone else's stuff is really good for our carbon footprint, dontchknow!?

As I examine my conscious at the end of the day, I now spend more time distracted by "Are my beams sanded? are the walls painted?" than more appropriate questions about how I have impacted others, and brought a bit more love into the world.

At its worst this stress comes out sideways towards those I love most as impatience, inability to deal with the normal challenges of motherhood, and frankly, a messy house.

At its' best these times of extra effort show me more clearly who I am, and who those around me are. The husband who understands and does dinner dishes in the morning. The friends who give up beautiful summer days to work with paint, hammers, and wood. And the medium and big children who bring wood scraps to the burn pile, set the floor nails, put up stair banisters, and cut down miles of blackberry brambles. These are people I love, and I see clearly through their actions that they love me.

And within all of this I see and recognize the person closest to my soul. He loves me so much that he knows the challenges that will strengthen me, and the graces and consolations I will need to get through those challenges and come closer to heaven. I am so glad tomorrow is First Friday. I have a date at 11 that I would not miss for the world--or for my house!

Borrowed From the Ether

I Corinthians 13 for Home-schooling Moms*



Though I teach with the very best skills,

But do not have love,

I am just drawing attention to myself.

And if I have experience, and knowledge of all the best techniques, and test results proving my effectiveness

But do not have love,

I am wasting my time.

And if I work hard, sacrificing all my money, my time and my energy

But do not have love,

It adds up to nothing.



The loving teacher is patient with her children, allowing them to learn according to their God-given temperaments and developmental rates.

She is kind, treating her children respectfully.

She does not compare herself with others.

She does not brag about her accomplishments and is not smug about teaching her own children.

She does not try to be like anyone else, but acts appropriate to the way God made her.

She is not irritable and pushy and insistent upon making her children fit into her lesson plans.

She is more concerned with promoting truth and beauty than with criticizing those who don’t.

She perseveres in developing her own character, believing that God’s ways are always best. She is not a quitter.

Love never fails.



If there are creative ideas, they will be replaced.

If there are great curricula, they will be superseded.

If there are effective techniques they will be improved.

All that we know now is only a part.

Only later will God reveal education at its best.

When I was a child, I had unrealistic expectations.

As an adult, I know better.

Now abideth faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.



*And Dads

Easter !!!!

Mary Catherine's amazing cupcakes.

Lamb, garlic, herb roll-up! YUM.

Saturday night egg dying.

Crafty eggs.

Finished crafty eggs--onion skins and herbs.

Finished Bunnies! (midnight).

Bunny hand-out! This is before Weggie rejected his and we traded with Blaise, who didn't care either way.

Bunnies and babies--the teenager, and teenager's bunny are missing.

Easily pleased John--MC is trying to give him bunny ears, but she is too short. HAHA!

A whole new world, with chocolate in it!

YUM YUM.

Loving the baskets--this is at Lisa's house BTW.



Thaddeus on the egg hunt.

Egg hunt.

Brisk hunting!

A Fruitful Lent Indeed

Any Catholic knows how dagerous it is to pray for what you want. My prayer for a fruitful has resulted in many opportunities to suffer in small yet exquisetly painful ways. Thanks Lord! Even though the beans didn't get dyed purple (still hoping to get to that. . .), and the toothpick thorns all got stuck in the crown (sorry Jesus, no relief at that end), my goal of having a 'quiet home' in order to better hear the voice of Jesus has happened. I think the children notice. No radio in the car means we pray a lot more rosaries, and sing a lot more hymns. No facebook/radio/videos means am sometimes left wondering what to do without all my usual distractions. Oh right. Pray!! I could do more journaling for sure, but the general sense of quietude, reflectedness, and presence with my children has been a true blessing. Let see if I can keep it up past Easter. This afternoon for a few moments I had the 3 youngest boys rolling chapatis with me. Yes, Blaise too had his own rolling pin, flour, and ball of dough. Arveragus was good for about 1 1/2 chapatis. Thaddeus was the workhorse, finishing very close to half of the chapatis with me. The beans and rice fast is spiced up considerably by daal and chapatis--feels more like a feast even though it is vegetarian and simple. The meal plan has also quieted down my life. Beans and rice every night but Sunday, and oatmeal 3 mornings a week. Lunch is usually leftover dinner. I am not wasting a lot of energy on meal plans these days! I feel like a hermit! Except for the kids, and the husband, and the girlfriends on the phone--but other than those--I am having a very monastic, lovely lent.