pinterest made her do it…..

 

a cut-up-magazine-hearts-banner.

it’s so cute.

she’s so cute.

love.love.love.this month….so much love. and hearts. and pink and red everywhere.

be back soon.

xo.

a collective effort

it started with the idea to make the grammie a quilt.

a colorful mish-mash of fabrics from our stashes.

(those sunflowers are from my garden!!)

for a little woman who had a passion for her garden in her stronger days.

then it turned into a lesson in using the big machine for the girl-child.

those two were my mother’s ideas. she is the patient one.

notice her hands are helping. not mine.

i’m just the picture taker. sans wedding ring and with chewed fingernails *gasp* more bad habits

so i worked on my half alone because there are certain things i won’t do with my children.

teaching them to tie their shoes is one of them.

another is enduring painful lessons wherein i teach something that i really like to do for fun and recreation-but somehow leads to frustration and sometimes even tears on their part-because-well-frankly i don’t really know why-maybe that’s just not my forte.

besides that’s what nana’s are for. don’t you agree?

there was some hand stitching to be done.

a block which read: with love to the woman who taught us to work with our hands.

and the binding. which i really enjoyed sewing with some pearled cotton thread.

two things which ARE right up my alley!

it is now complete. tied with a rainbow of  silk ribbon bows. washed and ready to be delivered today.

because sometimes weekends are for giving…even when you’d rather be taking. a break. or a nap with a newly made quilt that you worked so hard on….

see i’m really not the one with good ideas….i told you so.

ps. tongue in cheek: i did add a small piece of our lady of guadalupe fabric(just in case the little grammie wants to have a “reversion” back to our beloved Catholic faith anytime soon…that was a good idea, huh? *wink*wink*)

{pretty, funny, happy, real}

“capturing the context of contentment in everyday life”

every thursday at like mother, like daughter

{pretty}: red paint for a thrifted bookshelf. which also makes me happy!

{funny}: it is funny that this girl child, even with stitches in her leg, can’t sit still. here she is up and around painting said bookshelf.

{happy}: the baby is happy to help paint same red bookshelf too. only that doesn’t make us happy. so we give him a star to paint instead. ooohhh…that shiny star is pretty too!

{real}: my very real husband caught a very real fish.

he butchered it and together we cooked it right up.

 it was very yummy. ugly. but yummy nevertheless!

my real husband looking so handsome in white. (and letting me take his picture!)

and finally a very real candle.

to mask the not-so-funny- fishy-smell that is permeating the air!

so that’s it!

random daily contentment….one doesn’t really have to look far….there is so much to choose from…..can’t wait to see what everyone else is up to!

three words

she is fine.

she is breathing on her own.

that’s six words.

thank you, doctor. three.

BLESSED BE GOD. three again.

THANK YOU, LORD. another three.

and finally: Jesus, i trust in YOU.

apparently people have simple surgeries all. the. time. in and out.

they cut you open and send you home almost as quickly as you zip thru a drive thru to order a burger and fries.

this is something that i, the super panicky type has trouble fathoming….i, who once called the paramedics (when this girl child was just a baby) because i cut her little fingernail and it wouldn’t stop bleeding.

me of so little faith.

i teeter at the edge of faithfulness. what can i say?

it’s a trust thing.

Lord, help me in my unbelief.

help me to trust even though i can’t see You.

now if you will excuse me i am going to take a very long nap while the patient and her big sis watch the king’s speech.

AND have a glass of wine later!

thank you, friends for all of your prayers and well wishes too….

dear july….

before i forget…and you are gone…

i wanted you to know that you have been so good to us.

with your cool mornings.

and your scattered wild sweet peas on the side of the road.

of course we picked a few. for our Sacred Heart Altar.

and of course there was that day at the beach…

filled with sand and seashells. the sun was hiding. and the roar of the ocean almost lulled me to sleep…

except there was so much to see…everyone made a new friend to play in the waves with. and then there were treasures to behold…

and then we tried those scones we heard about here.

they were absolutely deliciously lovely.

i was proud to perfect my hamburger buns recipe for the bread maker. quick. easy. and loved by all.

even the pickiest of eaters.

there is still so much i could i write about…but some things will just have to be our little secret…

and instead i will close with my favorite quotable that i read this month…i hope you will enjoy it too…

“one of the commonest natural experiences of the sense of loss is tiredness: it empties us out….it is useless to reproach a tired heart. and when we are tired out the only way to God is the simplest wordless act of faith. a woman too weary for articulate prayer will find that for her the best of all prayer is the unspoken act of faith in Christ in her children when she knows that  she is setting the table and baking the cake (or scones!!) for the Christ Child, her soul will be at rest.”

thank you, july magnificat for that.

those were soothing words to this weary mama.

happy weekend friends.

hope to see you monday.

with good news of a safe and successful surgery.

 

plain jane and some other things

i am not a plain jane.

who was i kidding?

and so i could not keep that “theme” i had up for those few days.

i might be moping a little bit.

i don’t want to…so i will tell you about that yummy bean dip instead.

very easy peasy. layer some re-fried beans.(heated slightly). (i mashed canned organic pinto beans for a quick fix) top w/ cheese. add a layer of sour cream and guacamole (ours is just mashed avocados, lime juice, crushed red chile pepper, garlic (fresh and powder) purple diced onions and roma tomatoes). then top with salsa (or more sour cream and cheese) and even some yummy, colorful bell peppers.

and how we went to see the ballet folklorico on friday night.

and how we even re-scheduled that darn surgery to see said ballet.

it was so important to her.

and i just may be spoiling her a bit right now.

like by ordering her a whole bunch of new books from alibris and b-n.

which books?

the incorrigible children of ashton place book one (which she already devoured but i want to read it aloud to the baby and not be in a big hurry to take it back to the library) and book two.

two penderwick books

and two callahan cousins books.

am i bargaining with God?

as in:”look Lord, please keep her safe, she has a bunch of summer reading to do!”

maybe.

pitiful of me, i know.

a very dear friend gave me a tight hug today when i expressed my crazy feelings.

 a dear priest friend annointed her with some holy oils and relic of the True Cross. (there IT is…so beautiful, huh?)

with saints and angels to pray for us….what more could we ask for?

i am so very thankful for the gift of our Catholic faith.

because faith is a gift.

a very special gift.

if you are a magnificat reader you remember these words from yesterday:

“it is the assurance of things not yet seen.” st. paul. hebrews 11:1

it is God saying:

come and follow ME into the darkness. I want to know you are ready to go into the things that you do not see yet, on faith alone.

a very important component of true love is: trust.

and i trust HIM.

with my life. with hers.

and with everyone and everything that i love.

because HE loved every bit of us first.

calm. cool. and collected.

forgive me. please. but Someone. very kindly. sent a wee bit of cool weather our way and it has me under its’ spell.

and i have become a fool for boys who sleep clutching their harmonicas…now whether he is doing it out of love for said harmonica or because he knows if he doesn’t  i might just hide it somewhere really good…might be one of those things i will never know…

and maybe we are both better off.

because let me tell you…tolerating the noise sound of that harmonica MIGHT just be one of the criteria that needs to be met for sainthood.

and if that is the CASE, friends, i have failed miserably.

for i hate that little harmonica.

but i LOVE that baby.

and so i digress…

from the title of this post…wherein i tell you how calm. cool. and collected i am.

and how the sight of these peonies makes me calm….

i think it should be mandatory that people  HAVE to buy peonies at least ONE time every summer.

and then have a drink….

like my mama did at this wedding we went to on saturday.

just me and her.

i was her escort.

i made sure that she didn’t have too much wine and that her friends didn’t spin her around too much on the dance floor(that really almost happened).

hence my cautionary warning about too much wine.

at least for middle-aged ladies.

well, really any lady…because it just isn’t proper.

summer weddings are so nice.

it was kind of fun sitting around watching everyone talk and laugh.

everything so magical and enchanted. white orchids kissed by afternoon sunlight.

a tented reception. chandeliers hanging. glowing candles.

very pretty.

but all i could really think about was my new toy.

and how much i wanted to play….

so off to bed i go.

but before i do i wanted to ask for prayers. for a special intention that will hopefully be resolved tomorrow.

and if not, well, then it is not the will of God.

and i will ask Him for peace.

until then….

hope you, too, are staying calm. cool. and collected!!!!

xo.

 

 

glittering summer days

dirty feet. water balloons. a wet kitchen floor.

i am having a staring contest with my messy house.

things get a little bit crazy around here when mama is not feeling well. 

i have slowed way down.

like snail slow….

 when you lose your health (even if temporarily), things sort of shift into proper perspective (with God’s grace).

and suddenly you hang desperately onto something as small as teaching the baby how to tell if a cantaloupe is ripe…because that’s important.

at least it’s important to me.

so what if the stuffing is coming out of the couch….i can deal with that later.

right now we are enjoying these glittering days of summer:

a very empty calendar (by choice!!!) = time to create.

butterfly craft found here.

i had way too much fun punching all. those. butterflies. out!!!!!

and she, well, she is the artist. so there were pages of watercolors…

the pottery…well, that is courtesy of our local pottery shop which holds children’s classes….

yes, this is me screaming…”look how talented my daughter is!!!”

what can i say? i really love watching my children blossom. 

and make things.

(that is a decorative wine-cork-topper btw. a painted button glued into the top of a cork.)

i think it is (one of the many) very special components of homeschooling…dabbling in this and that…

and we do dabble…

speaking of my daughter…she went and turned 12 on me last month…did i mention that?

how dare she!

my june bug.

but what a lovely person she is turning out to be!

donning an apron and whipping up some sort of yummy baked (or not) concoction at least every other day is something that has me in awe these days…i am impressed.

and not just because her peanut butter cookies are so good!

i am impressed because of the little woman she is turning out to be.

useful. joyful. and so faithful.

these are the things i see during this time of pulling back…

and because there are so many things to say “yes” to these days…it is hard.

but i want to say more yeses to these…

these gap-toothed smiles.

and inquiring minds.

so worthy of my attention.

i often feel like there must be some well-adjusted woman out there who i was meant to be…

a woman who has her act together and cruises through her days….

but until i find her…i will soak up every moment i can….staring at faces with pink cheeks and scratches from the kitty…reading stories and laughing.

because it won’t be long before these glittering summer days will be gone….

help

i am so thankful that she has been feeling compelled to help me more in the kitchen these days. that she is just so stinkin’ cute in her little thrifted apron is an added bonus.

 

for all the ways

you’ve colored my world pink. purple. red. yellow. and peach. for your big brown eyes. your soft little cheeks. your smile. for your book-wormness. library loving. sharing of strawberries and cream. sunset and flower walks. thrifting companionship. dollies. tea parties. frilly dresses. fairies. garden help. cooking lessons. laughter. tears. scrapes and bruises. learning to ride your bike. piano lessons. concerts and plays. nail biting. braids. for the million ways that you are so much like me, yet very much your own person. i thank the God who gave you to me. and pray that He wills to give you many, many, more birthdays. years with which to love HIM, serve HIM, know HIM and to be with HIM one day forever. my beautiful. beautiful. girl.

happy birthday. love always, mama.