Reading

Recently I was organizing some things around our home and I had a huge stack of books I'd been saving up to read. I love to read and I'm always reading several books at the same time. For example I'm always reading: 

💗during my devotional time I love my stack of devotionals but those I only read that excerpt from each day so it's not a lot of actual reading

💗during my prayer time I've got another stack of prayer books that I love so much (and of course my Bible too - I'm always reading that) 

💗school books - I love to stay current and inspired so right now I'm reading a book on reading - bit by bit, piece by piece

💗cookbooks - I'm always reading one of those - I love seasonal ones and I read those when I want to escape and feel cozy and plan something wonderful for my family to eat

💗Home books - I have a little stack of those that I'll have to post on soon. They inspire me to make all things comfy and cozy at home and it helps me enjoy the season I'm in right now. 

So yes, that is a LOT of reading just there. But that reading is here and there in little chunks. 

But then I wanted to plan out my real book reading for the year as I had collected books I wanted to "get to". 

So I took out my calendar for the year and wrote at the top of each month what book I wanted to read that month. I moved those Christmas books to October and November to get jolly and ready in my heart for Christmas, and then I spaced out all of the rest. 

When I look at that stack I do realize that there is no fiction and I'm okay with that. It's another reason that I like to give myself a whole month for a book (1) I read so many books at once (2) my books are a lot of "food for thought" and I need time to digest the issues presented in them/the ideas in them. They are not exactly 'page turners' and I go slowly, underlying and applying things I love to my life as I go. 

This year I'd like to begin to blog my thoughts about all of these books as I go. I just finished up my January book and I'll start to write about that this week as I can. It was wonderful and so much is underlined and page corners are turned over. I have so much to share. 

I really am looking forward to more reading this year. It makes me so happy and fills my soul. 

January: Your Mom Walk with God, Sally Clarkson

February: Uniquely You, Sally Clarkson

March: Sacred Art Every Catholic Should Know

April: Well Lived: Sally Clarkson

May: Theology of Home III

June: Spirit and Life: The Holy Sacraments

July: I saved a space this month because I know I'll come across another wonderful one and will need a place to plug it into my calendar. 

August: Same as above for this month too. 

September:  A Farm Country Christmas

October: Christmas on the Farm

November: Pie For Breakfast, Averill, 1953

December: Farmer Takes a Wife, John Gould, 1942

Off to write up a blog post on my January book. 💗

 

Her Last Semester

It feels like home, this campus to her. 

She moved in. 

She had concerts. (There are a lot of these posts... someday I'll do one post and have all of them in there) 

She studied and made the Dean's List every semester 

She overcame. 

She went on a journey. 

She discovered faith in a whole new way. 

She is growing up and has changed so much. She certainly isn't the same person who entered Holy Cross as a Freshman. 

And today we helped her move in for the very last time. 

It felt right, and good. But sad at the same time. 

I love this place. This place 'held' my daughter for four years. 

I have so much I could say about these years, about this college. But for now... what happended today. 

8:00 AM We went to Mass in our town

9:30 AM We left for Massachusetts. 

10:40 AM We arrived, unloaded the car, and helped her set up a bit. (Although by now, she is quite capable of doing all of that on her own -- and would rather do most of it on her own after we leave and send us a "move in" video later. 

11:30 AM Antique store that I love so much

12:15 PM Lunch at our favorite Italian place

1:30 PM We left for home (stopping at two antique places on the way home) 

3:30 PM Home just in time for a 9 inch snowstorm coming! 

 

I am so grateful that she is "all tucked in" for a snowy night in her adorable dorm room, ready to start classes for her very last semester. So happy she's home. 

Birthday!

I turned 52 on January 5th. It was a Sunday ~ my very favorite day of the week! I was so happy to celebrate my birthday on a Sunday. 

Mass 

All of us sitting in our church, receiving Holy Eucharist, listing to the songs, the homily. Best birthday ever! 

Scott arranged and treated us all to brunch at a really fancy restaurant, Max in our little old town center. 

It was such a special day with my precious family. I certainly felt the love! 

 

It's Catch Up Time!

I wrote back here about how to let Christmas linger. 

I wrote back here another idea. 

But I found going through some pictures that I had just one more. 

On New Year's Morning Scott and I had my parents over for breakfast. We had Scott's family over for breakfast on Christmas Eve morning and I just felt sad thinking that the Christmas tree was coming down soon and I really wanted my Mom and Dad to see our twinkling home. So they came. 

I used the Christmas china and all of our pretty things... one last time. I wasn't even wishing they were packed away. I really lingered that day and just enjoyed it all. 

I made homemade cinnamon rolls (overcooked them just a tad, darn!) 

and I set up a coffee bar in the kitchen (and tea in the dining room).

 We lingered in the living room with coffee. 

And I made a fruit salad, scrambled eggs with chives, and those cinnamon rolls... yummmm!

I have to include this picture even though it's blurry because I love the full table so so much! 

It was a great way to celebrate Christmas just one more time! 

PS I miss that Christmas tree in our dining room! 

Been Craving White

In my last post I talked about how I had a can of creamy white paint out and how I'm loving the white in our china cabinet filled with all of the blue and white dishes. 💙

And I've been redecorating since all of our Christmas came down. I've been craving simple. And I've been craving white. 

I love the white in our little wallpapered bathroom. 

I love all of the white in our kitchen (good thing I love white so much since we have white cabinets, and white counters!) 

Our little tea tray has a more simple look for January as well. 

Our whole family room has lots and lots of white already. The white slip covers are still on (I love bright white at Christmastime) but I plan on changing those out soon for the beige for a more natural and warmer tone look soon. 

I loved the bare mantle with just a huge bouquet of birthday flowers. 

Catching Up Thoughts and New Home Projects

I'm so behind on this blog of mine but I'm also perfectly okay with that. I worked really hard to get all of our Christmas festivities on here so I didn't forget, plus there are always tons of pictures between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to manage so I like to organize them here quickly. 

But then that glorious week between Christmas and New Years happened. We filled it with relaxing and bit of fun too! (here and here)

Before we knew it, it was back to school and I really wanted to put my heart back into teaching. I had some new ideas brewing and did a bit of research, reading, and prep work to get a new fluency program up and running in my classroom. And there were a bunch of other things to do for school too. So a week of not being on this space slid into two and here we are! 

A lot of life has been happening and I have much goodness to catch up on, but for now I find it helpful to post some very recent when I'm this behind on memory keeping. And then, as I dip my toe back into this space, I can begin to go back and pull those older events/photos too. 

With all of that said, one thing I have been loving is my empty home. Empty of vibrant color. Empty of so much twinkle. I love it of course! If you've been on my blog for a moment, then you know that decorating for Christmas is just about the greatest joy in the world for me. But how nice our home is right now. I love January for that. It's like our home can take a breath and let it out. And I can see it for it's 'bare bones'. I dreamed up new home projects, new paint colors, new ideas for the walls... when Christmas was gone, my creativity did not go away. It's like a whole new start. 

First up, was painting our built in china cabinet. I knew I didn't like the blue anymore in there. It wasn't a big job and Scott happily painted it for me last night. That meant that on this sunny, and crisp day I moved back in... all of our blue dishes. I have one whole set and then I've added here and there so much that I adore. I think there is always room for more blue and white, and when I find more I just have to bring it home. 

I snapped these on my phone today so they're not my 'usual' pictures but they'll still give you an idea. 

Well, I'll have to say that getting back on this space feels really really good. I'm glad to have taken a week or so off and happier even to be back. 

More projects to share coming soon!  

Holding On To Christmas ~ more

In this post back here I talked a bit about how and why our family likes to continue to have the feast and celebration of Christmas during the week between Christmas and New Years. Every family is different but holding on to Christmas feels right to us. 

Here are a few more ideas: 

 ❤ On New Years Eve day we went to the darling town of Stockbridge, MA in the Berkshires. It's the Normal Rockwell-perfect Main Street. We love the Red Lion Inn and had lunch in the tavern. Most hotels and restaurants are all dressed up for Christmas still so it's fun to be in them ~ it just feels festive! Here's a peek at our day... I only took a few but loved it!