Tag: Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Homemaker Monday: August 14, 2023

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First and foremost: Happy birthday to Renaissance, who is a whopping seventeen years old now! She’s heading into her senior year of high school and I’m just so proud of her and all that she does. She’s a hard worker, she’s smart, she’s talented, and she’s kind. What more could one ask for in raising a child? I’m all sorts of sentimental as we enter into the last year of her childhood…parenting is so bittersweet. I love having children in my home and I am dreading when they all fly from the nest.

Second and next most: Sorry for skipping last week’s entry! It was just really busy and I couldn’t get to the computer for something like this. My #craftygoals update on Friday was written on my phone while my husband drove somewhere, that’s how difficult it was to get anything done on the blog!

Highlights of the last two weeks:

  • We did a lot of driving practice this week and I’m starting to see a lot of improvement and an increase in confidence. I might just turn out a driver or two after all!
  • I tried out a new bread recipe this week and it turned out really well!
  • Renaissance and I have made time to stitch together after lunch most days and I absolutely love it.
  • Nathaniel helped me with my photoshoot for the Patriotic Baby Quilt and we had fun doing that together.
  • The kids helped me update the garden and it’s looking really nice now!

Things I Wished Had Gone Better:

  • Everything’s been going pretty well. Busy, but nothing to complain about. Finishing up a quarter is stressful and not a lot of fun, but this one wasn’t crazy and didn’t have any monster/stupid assignments, so it was fine…just took lots of time to complete.

The Weather Forecast:

Oh. Yuck. But it could be worse.

As I Look Outside My Window:

I am so proud! Renaissance and I sat down on the Friday before last and hammered out her birthday party plans and I realized that letting the garden “lie fallow” was no longer an option because I’ll be hosting her party in our backyard in a few weeks. So we made plans to go find some plants that Saturday, and as luck would have it, happened upon a very good clearance sale on them. We smashed plants into the back of the van, headed home, rounded up all the Brookelets, and were done three hours later. Garden with your kids while they’re little–they become extremely efficient at it in their teenage years!

Right Now I Am:

Winding down after a busy day and smelling the air as Michael makes dinner.

Thinking and Pondering:

  • Hospitality vs. Entertaining
  • Schedule changing in order to open up time for other interests
  • What the heck am I going to do with all this free time in the next week, now that summer quarter is done?!?!

Listening to:

Evening sounds. Movement upstairs. Things being moved, air being breathed.

How Am I Feeling:

Content, and a little excited about the upcoming week and its lack of responsibility!

On My Reading Pile:

Due to two weeks ago’s devotional topic of connection, I bought a handful of books on hospitality and friendship. I’ve been reading through them and gleaning ideas. They’re scattered all over the house and I pick them up as I putter around and read a few lines here and there.

On My TV This Week:

I never really know. Maybe some stuff that requires thinking because I’ll have the available bandwidth since I’m not studying the days away.

On the Menu:

Nothing because my regularly-scheduled meal planning time was taken up with driving and picking up kids from a million things, and then all the studying. I’m just going to wing it, because it’s a weird week anyway.

Looking Around the House:

The living room is clear of Rachel’s belongings, we did it! It will be short-lived, as Michael got a bee in his bonnet about building a loft bed for Renaissance and it will have to be built inside her room because it won’t fit through her door once it’s assembled. So…yeah, Ren’s stuff will soon overtake the living room and she’ll probably have to sleep on the couch for a week or two. But loft bed/desk combo! Totally worth it.

To-Do List This Week:

  • Plant lettuce and spinach
  • Should decide if I’m going to make jam this year or not; schedule it if I am.
  • Go do a fun thing that I especially want to do–quilt museum?
  • Work on Renaissance’s birthday party stuff
  • RELAX. I always use my breaks to “catch up” or “get ahead” on stuff, and darn it, just take a freaking vacation, Cara!

Devotional:

My word two weeks ago was CONNECTION. I was so looking forward to learning more about connection and figuring out a way to connect more with people in my life, but I mostly just came to the conclusion that I am not very good at connecting with others. I am greatly inspired to become better at this skill, so I ordered some books on the subject, which I’ve enjoyed reading.

Some observations:

  • Food is often a part of connection rituals. Yet another reason to be a good cook!
  • Most people I know are just too darn busy to eat a normal meal, let alone a meal that’s meant to be enjoyed and drawn out with conversation.
  • The parent-of-teenagers stage might be a difficult time to work on connecting with others because we are just so stinkin’ busy, too. Trying to line up two families’ schedules to do anything together is near impossible.
  • Connection often begins with MY efforts to reach out, and not the other way around. If I’m sitting around waiting for someone to reach out to me, I’m going about it the wrong way.

My word for this last week was TRANSFORMATION, which was a cool one to think about.

Some observations:

  • A transformation is often preceded by a period of discomfort or feeling like you no longer belong or have outgrown your surroundings. If you’re aware of this order of events, it might make the discomfort less scary. Maybe even make it exciting?
  • Transformation is almost always a positive thing, so embrace the change with enthusiasm, even in the messy, difficult, and uncertain parts.
  • This reminds me of this last year–my Pinterest algorithm became very “academia-aesthetic” as I progressed through my master’s program, and I’d always wanted to be “that way” when I was a young girl, so I decided to just go with it this last year and it was so much fun! Embrace the aesthetic of what you’re doing! It makes it prettier and more enjoyable!
  • Transformation is less scary if you have an end destination that you’re working towards.
  • Your past, pre-transformation, is nothing be ashamed of. It got you to and through your transformation, so be proud of where you’ve come from and what you’ve overcome.
  • We often speak of transformation as if it’s a sudden and drastic thing, but it’s really not. Transformation is a process that requires a lot of patience. The only way you appear to “transform” to someone else is if they haven’t seen you in a long time. Your everyday acquaintances probably won’t notice the changes because they are incredibly subtle and spread out over a long time. That’s OK. Doesn’t mean the changes are any less transformative.

This upcoming week’s word is: Abundance. Well, as a white, married, middle-class, college-educated, mostly stay-at-home mother of four living in the American suburbs, I will freely admit that I possess a lot of abundance, and I am very, very aware of the abundance that I enjoy. I wonder how this word will shape up as a devotional?

Linking up to Sandra’s Happy Homemaker Monday!

Happy Homemaker Monday: July 31, 2023

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We’re at the end of July, y’all! Oh, I just feel like I’m not experiencing summer ENOUGH this year. Hopefully we can cram some more summer fun into these last few weeks before school starts back up again.

Highlights of last week:

  • There’s been a lot of crafty progress made over the last week, including finishing up the knitted unicorn I’ve been working on for a while.
  • Ren and I are still showing up for our workout sessions. This last week’s sessions were rough, man. Owie.
  • We finally had our family portraits done! I think the last time we did portraits was nine years ago, so it was very overdue. Bonus: We took the photos at a blueberry patch and we got to pick some blueberries to bring home, too.

Things I Wished Had Gone Better:

  • I had Ren drive once last week, and Rachel did zero driving. I have to make these practice drives happen! I really don’t like doing them because they raise my anxiety like nothing else.
  • I’d say we needed to get out more, but we got out a lot for appointments and errands and stuff. Nothing fun. Hopefully we can do something fun in this next week.

The Weather Forecast:

Definite summer weather, a little on the warm side for my personal tastes, but nothing crazy like many others are dealing with at the moment. I’ll just be thankful for the sunshine and leave it at that.

As I Look Outside My Window:

Such a dry backyard. Michael applied the weedwhacker to overgrown parts of the garden, so it looks nicer out there now. Will I actually get to doing anything with it? I don’t know. But there’s some nice garden-y things happening in other parts of the yard:

The four basil plants are nice and healthy and we’ve been enjoying the lovely flavor that fresh basil gives to our meals.

There are three tomatoes ripening on the tomato plant at the back of the house. I’m literally the only person who is excited about this as no one else in our family even likes tomatoes. However, Renaissance makes incredible bruschetta, so I make sure to have fresh basil and tomatoes growing so we can enjoy that beautiful dish a couple of times throughout the later part of the summer.

I always have a random cherry tomato bush start growing in the gravel along the back of the house, and this year’s plant has green tomatoes now! I’m excited to have them ripen!

I don’t have a picture of the front of the house because it looks just the same as always, but I did want to mention that the baby birds have flown the nest. I’m surprised they left so soon. I’m not sure they were even hatched for a full week before they all flew away. Or maybe they were hatched and we weren’t aware of it for a few days/weeks? Or maybe they all got eaten by cats during their first day of flying lessons? We did see them perching in the bushes along the front porch, and one of them even tried to return to the nest when we (accidentally) startled it, but its aim was bad and it faceplanted into the porch eaves and fell back down into the bushes below. We checked on him and he was alright, but I don’t know if they could make it back to the nest at all. We haven’t seen any of them since that day, so we’re hoping they’re fine.

Right Now I Am:

Writing up this post before going to bed Sunday night because I won’t have time to work on it in the morning. Trying to plan out the next week.

Thinking and Pondering:

  • What can I cut from my to-do list?
  • What needs to be done for Ren’s birthday?
  • What am I going to knit next? Options include a teddy bear, or Halloween decorations, or a hat I need to design first.
  • What can we do for fun this week?
  • Do I want to can up some jams this year?

Listening to:

The creak of the upstairs floor as people walk around. A kid getting a drink of water from the fridge. The hum of the fans and air conditioner. Summer evening sounds.

How Am I Feeling:

Behind on a lot of things. Michael was really tired this last week, going to bed early almost every night, which was weird. I got hit with the same feeling yesterday afternoon, so I’m dragging and worried that the tiredness will follow me through the upcoming week. Working out is feeling better, despite how sore we can be after particularly intense workouts, so that’s a positive development. And I was able to connect with friends via text this last week and that helped to alleviate some of the loneliness I was suffering from the week before. The loneliness will take care of its self once school and PTSA stuff starts back up again, no worries.

On My Reading Pile:

Hee hee hee, lots of Christmas crafting books in honor of Christmas in July last week. And some knitting and crochet books in case I want to add some projects to my gift list.

On My TV This Week:

Not much. Probably a random movie if I’m feeling tired. I’m in a cottagecore mood, so maybe some Jane Austen-y things.

On the Menu:

Saturday: Steak Quesadillas
Sunday: Super Nachos
Monday: Pineapple Bacon Sausages, Corn & Zucchini Soup
Tuesday: Picadillo Tostadas, Veggie Slaw
Wednesday: Gyros, Tzatziki Cucumbers, Yellow Rice
Thursday: Pancakes, Bacon, Sausage, Fruit
Friday: Chicken Caprese, Caesar Salad, Pasta

Looking Around the House:

Still putting Rachel’s room back together, but it’s coming along.

To-Do List This Week:

  • Emily dentist appointment
  • YW Camp preparations
  • Send last of graduation thank-you cards
  • Driving practice (Blargh)

Devotional:

My word for this last week was STRENGTH, and my readings about it mentioned a lot that strength was born out of suffering, which really bothered me because I don’t like it when people dismiss suffering by saying it created favorable outcomes. It feels like that reasoning is used to downplay the extent of the suffering and pain, and excuses the actions of the perpetrator a little bit, and I’m never ok with that. So I thought about it a lot because I know that, in regards to building muscle, you do need to damage the thing that needs to become stronger so that it can heal into a stronger version of itself. And as I sat with that, I decided that it was healing that created strength, not the suffering. And the healing is all within the realm of the victim/self. Perhaps strength is the Universe’s reward for getting through difficulties? But I never want an abuser to be able to say, “Because of the pain I caused you, you’re a stronger person,” and feel good about themselves.

Also, healing takes time, especially if the injury was extensive. We live in a society that expects instantaneous healing and strength, despite nature not working that way at all…and that impatience with our own healing and the healing timelines of others only hurts us. Strength requires so much patience.

I also think there’s two types of strength. The first one that I mentioned, which is a healing-after-injury kind of strength. I like to also call it “glue strength,” because it’s the strength that comes from putting something back together after it’s broken. The other type of strength is the preventative type: When you apply layers of protection or reinforcement to something to make it strong enough to withstand something. I decided to call it “insulating strength.” I think this is the best sort of strength to strive for, as it doesn’t require injury or pain to begin the process. We add strength to our spirits when we consume uplifting media, surround ourselves with edifying people, practice looking on the bright side and questioning the veracity of the thoughts in our heads. We insulate and strengthen our children with our love, kind words, protective measures, and efforts to make our homes welcoming and comforting. Insulating strength helps us withstand the pain and injury that life throws at us, and can sometimes makes it so that pain and suffering doesn’t even damage anything, if the insulation is thick enough.

Now both strengths have their extremes as well—extremes that end up causing weakness. If you insulate your children to the extreme and never let them experience hardship or difficulties, they won’t develop the necessary strength to withstand the rigors of daily living. (Oh my gosh, I saw a lot of this while student teaching.) And glue strength can only fix so much—there are injuries that are too extensive to heal.

Also, glue strength requires time to allow the glue to set; if you don’t give the glue time to set and then jump back into the type of situation that caused the damage, the injury will just open up all over again. (Also, maybe stop jumping into things that injure you?) Balance is required, and once again, patience.

This upcoming week’s word is: Connection. Ooh, I’m excited to ponder this one! With the last year being completely focused on getting through my Masters degree, I disappeared from my social life completely and I’m trying to figure out how I want to connect with people, and which people, now that I’m re-entering the realms of living somewhat normally.

Linking up to Sandra’s Happy Homemaker Monday!

Happy Homemaker Monday: July 24-30, 2023

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Another beautiful summer week has come and gone, busy and yet unhurried. The dichotomy of summer is interesting that way. I like having this Happy Homemaker post on my to-do list for each Sunday because it gives me a chance to reflect on the last week and firm up my plans for the upcoming week, so I’m going to personalize some of the prompts to my particular wishes this week.

Highlights of last week:

  • Renaissance and I are making good progress on our strength-training and hiking goals. We are complete newbies and starting from absolute zero, but we’ve shown up consistently 3-4 times a week for the past month for our scheduled workouts together. That’s something to be very proud of! I especially love our trail walks together. There’s just something about summer morning walks in nature that are absolutely wonderful, and I get to share it with one of my favorite people. I love that we’re doing this together.
  • Rachel’s room was officially emptied! I was anxious about this and it was so nice to complete that step!
  • I finally quilted the baby quilt!
  • Peach milkshakes
  • Planted some flower seeds just because I could. We’ll see if they’re successful come…August 1-7-ish?

Things I Wished Had Gone Better in the Last Week:

  • Workout fatigue is real. I wish it didn’t impact my days so much. I think it’s improving slightly, so at least there’s that. Until it does improve, I need to simplify evening tasks because I am just out of energy by that time of day. I know this will be worth it, but it’s hard to deal with the exhaustion while my stamina builds up.
  • Cancelled a lot of Ren and Rachel’s driving practices because I was tired or something came up. I’d like to schedule these for earlier in the day, but we just don’t have that time available in the mornings right now. Gotta make it work.
  • We didn’t get out much this past week. The field trip I had scheduled in my head turned out to be a 2.5 hour drive away and none of us were interested in 5 hours of driving that day. I feel like we’re getting bored of our immediate area and we’ve visited so much of it already. I’d like to come up with a new plan. More nature walk/hiking, perhaps? Maybe I need to move field trip day to a different day of the week so we can get an earlier start? Our schedule is going to go through some major change-ups in the next few weeks as different activities end, so it might be possible.

Alright, onto the regularly schedule HHM prompts:

The Weather:

Looks like a perfect week, temperature-wise! Last week’s forecast seemed pretty ok, but it was much warmer every day than originally guessed, so I wonder if it’ll actually be bordering on too warm this week as well?

As I Look Outside my Window:

Aww, cute little Rachel was doing her weeding for the day when I stepped outside to snap a picture. She’s been really consistent about weeding and the garden looks much better for her efforts. I really appreciate her work out there. I think the grass is starting to get a little greener as the increased watering begins to show its value? I’m hoping to plant a few more seeds just to see if they’ll work. We could have a few flowers in the autumn.

The baby birds in the nest up to the right of the swing post hatched this week! They’ve already grown a lot in the few days they’ve been out of their shells. Mama and Daddy Bird are flitting back and forth non-stop to keep the babies fed and it’s so cute to hear the babies’ thin little squeaks when food arrives.

Right Now I Am:

Sitting in my craft room typing up this blog post, listening to Rachel hammering away in her bedroom as she constructs the new shelves we ordered for her.

Thinking and Pondering:

  • I have a lot of thoughts that I’m processing right now! I’m “in the swirly place” as I call it, with a lot of thoughts and feelings swirling around that I’m trying to examine and unpack.
  • With the push to give kids more autonomy and practice with making their own choices, I’m wondering if we’ve taken it too far and are expecting behaviors above the developmental abilities of their ages? Kids aren’t great at making solid plans, coming up with an attack strategy, and following it through. They need it modelled to them and they need to be shown how to do it. Then they need to be slowly allowed to take control of one thing, then another. It’s not a “sink or swim” kind of thing.
  • A Facebook memory popped up where I shared an article I’d read five years ago:
  • Upon reading it again, I’m thinking about the importance of service and socializing. We Brookes are an achievement-oriented people and can produce a lot of dopamine for ourselves, but we’re not known for doing a lot of service or connecting with others and I’m wondering if concentrating on those two categories would improve our lives and happiness levels? (I think this article was from the Costco Connections magazine, Summer 2018? I have no other info to go on.)
  • Being self-disciplined is a solitary road to walk.
  • I think I might be a little lonely right now. Which makes sense; I’ve only socialized with my husband and four children for the past three weeks and that’s not healthy. Summer is weird like that. It feels super busy, but with everyone going out of town and the like, it’s actually hard to connect with other people.

Listening to:

Rachel hammering away on things in her bedroom. The squeak of the floor in one of the bathrooms as someone takes a shower. The clink of a spoon against a bowl in the kitchen. Morning sounds.

How Am I Feeling:

Frustrated, lonely, and tired. Not the best combo, but completely understandable given what I’ve got going on right now. The workouts and decluttering are wearing me thin. I’m going to schedule a week off from decluttering once Rachel’s room is finished because I’m tired of my living room being full of kid possessions. The workouts will continue because eventually I’ll crest this hill and feel energized. I’ve got a few feelers out to connect with other human beings in the next couple of weeks as well, so that should help with the loneliness.

On my Reading Pile:

Library books went back to the library and I just couldn’t find anything I wanted to read to check out. Perhaps I’ll check out a bunch of magazines over e-loan? That seems to be the level of reading that I’m up for right now.

On my TV this week:

I started re-watching Clarkson’s Farm 2 because it makes me happy. If it weren’t for my back injury, I think I’d like doing a lot of farm things. I’ve been inspired to get out in my garden more, so that’s good.

On the Menu:

I don’t have a menu planned for this week because there was a church BBQ on Saturday that I had to get ready for during my meal planning time and then Michael drove straight to Costco from the BBQ because he didn’t want to drive home, wait for me to plan meals, and then drive somewhere again. So we have food, but no plan as to how we are going to use it.

Looking Around the House:

I see light at the end of the tunnel regarding decluttering Rachel’s room, so that’s nice. The craft room is getting tidier, so it’s nice to be in there again.

To-Do List This Week:

  • Haircuts
  • Dentist appointments
  • Family portraits
  • Maybe figure out a way to use up the rhubarb
  • Rachel’s bedroom finishing
  • Keep planning Ren’s birthday party
  • Driving practice sessions for Ren and Rachel
  • Plant sunflowers
  • Some sort of field trip. It’s Nathaniel’s week to pick the location.

Devotional:

My word for this last week was “power,” and I really didn’t like sitting with that word and its implications. I think, in my experiences, I’ve mostly dealt with power in terms of lacking it. I’ve thought a lot this week about what it means to have power, how it’s decided who gets the power, and what should one do when they either have or lack power? These were not warm and fuzzy ponderings.

One thought that I liked was that there is power in cultivating good character. You can be poor, you can be unwell, and you can be victimized, but you still have power in choosing the right. I had some experiences during my student teaching this last year where I saw the importance of always choosing to have good character and how easy it is to let one little blip of a bad moment absolutely ruin a reputation of goodness and how far-reaching and difficult it was to recover from that blip. There is immense power in maintaining your good character that will serve you well once ugliness and meanness come to their full fruition and everyone realizes how terrible the situation was. You keep your power when you refuse to stoop down to levels of spite and aggression. You are powerful when you are honest, when you are trustworthy, and when you calmly assert what is right and true and fair, even if it doesn’t benefit you.

This upcoming week’s word is: Strength. What is strength? What is not strength? Is there such a thing as too much strength? How do we become stronger physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually? Is it ever OK to choose weakness over strength?

Linking up to Sandra’s Happy Homemaker Monday!

Happy Homemaker Monday: July 17-23, 2023

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Thank you all so much for your comments on my last Happy Homemaker post! I’m so grateful for the opportunity to join a supportive community of people who love making their homes beautiful.

This last week was a busy one and I didn’t get on the blog like I wanted to, so my apologies for the lack of crafty posts. It is not an indicator of change on this blog; I simply didn’t do any crafting last week because we were so busy with decluttering and summer activities. I’m hoping to do more crafty posts this week, but Rachel’s bedroom declutter is taking longer than I thought it would because that room is a grotto of thingamabobs and whatsits, and…yeah, taking longer than I thought it would. Believe me, I’d much rather be crafting.

Anyhoo, on to this week’s Happy Homemaker post:

The Weather:

I know I shouldn’t complain about the heat because so many other people are posting much warmer temperatures in their parts of the world, but 80s in the Pacific Northwest can be a lot. I just keep saying that I’m thankful for AC and move on with my life. I’ve had to start watching my basil and tomatoes because they’ve been showing some heat stress, and the hydrangea is requiring a lot more water to keep from wilting. But it sure is nice, when compared to rainy and gray February, to have hot sunshine on my skin when I step outside…just need to be careful to not spend too much time in that sunshine!

As I Look Outside My Window:

I cut some daisies for a bouquet this week, but left them outside overnight so I didn’t bring bugs inside the house. And then I liked them on my porch table so much that I just left them there. I love to watch fat lil’ bumblebees in the lavender, and my Parrot Echinacea is getting ready to bloom soon! The poor grass is struggling, even after we increased the amount of water it’s getting each day.

Right Now I am:

Thankful to finally be done with homework, and enjoying a simple day of rest after too many activities last week! I’m also smelling the most delightful smell because Renaissance decided to bake an Almond Maraschino Chiffon Cake. She’s reducing the maraschino juice for the glaze right now and it smells amazing.

Thinking and Pondering:

  • I think I need to do less on Sundays. It’s become a catch-all day of the week, which isn’t a big deal, but I got really good at being productive and efficient with my time throughout grad school, and I’ve transferred that work ethic and prowess to regular daily living and I’m getting a lot done each day. To the point that I really do need a day of nothing to balance it all out or I’m going to implode.
  • Which means I probably need to un-commit to a few things…you know how you’ll finish something HUGE and then, because you suddenly have a lot more time to give to other things, you just say yes to everything? I’ve done that. Not so much to other people, but definitely to myself about projects and ideas. I need to have a sitdown with myself and make some decisions so I can calmly remind myself that we made a calculated decision to not do that thing because XYZ.
  • It is just so nice to be home and busy with house projects and decluttering. We’re just a little hive of activity and things are looking better each day. Love it.

Listening to:

The kids talking excitedly about the last round of GarticPhone that they played.

How am I feeling:

Pretty good. Things are going good right now and I’m thankful!

On my Reading Pile:

Nothing has really changed since last week. Haven’t read much.

On my TV this week:

Hopefully nothing, the weather is too nice to be sitting inside watching television!

On the Menu:

  • Saturday: Spaghetti, Garlic Garlic Beans, Summer Salad, French Bread
  • Sunday: Citrus Grilled Pork Roast
  • Monday: Hot Dogs, Broccoli Slaw, Potato Salad
  • Tuesday: Tacos, Beans, Fixin’s, Rice
  • Wednesday: Leftovers
  • Thursday: Sandwiches, Carrot & Celery Sticks, Green Salad, Chips
  • Friday: Chicken Satay, Thai Cucumbers, Rice

Looking Around the House:

The front room is full of Rachel’s things and piles of stuff that people are finding throughout the house to get rid of. I’m getting overwhelmed by it, but I know if I just keep plugging along with this work, it will eventually end and I’ll be so happy with the end result. I did do some cleaning in the craft room because my hands were tied in every direction forward unless it got cleaned. Hopefully I can start sewing again this week.

To-Do List This Week:

  • Hopefully finish gutting Rachel’s bedroom, reorganizing it, and putting it all back together. I’m not sure if this can be done in one measly week.
  • Keep planning Ren’s birthday party.
  • Driving practice sessions for both Ren and Rachel.
  • Buy birthday gifts for Renaissance

Devotional:

My word for this last week was “energy.” As I thought more and read more about it, it seemed that the message I needed to get out of it was that wherever my energy goes, that’s what grows. I kind of hijacked the idea of “energy” with the idea of “focus.” Focus takes energy. Putting my energy into gratitude and optimism? I feel more grateful and optimistic. Focusing my energy on worrying and bad memories? I get tenser and more stuck in thinking about those kinds of things. Once I figured that out I would catch myself when I’d start ruminating and switch my thinking to happier topics. It’s weird that it works so well to change your train of thought to a different set of tracks.

I’m thankful that I realized this little trick this week because decluttering forces you to deal with all sorts of stuff that also can trigger some very unwelcome thoughts and memories. It’s been a long week of feeling the burden of past negative interactions, and I could have easily hunkered down in fixation on them, but I kept saying, “Nope!” and moving on to something else that plays an actual role in my life right now, rather than getting into a slurry over things that no longer matter.

This upcoming week’s word is: POWER. What does power mean to you? How can you harness power for good?

Linking up to Sandra’s Happy Homemaker Monday!

Happy Homemaker Monday: July 10-16, 2023

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(Note: I wrote this yesterday [Sunday] because my weekdays are super busy and I’ve no time for blogging on Monday mornings.)

I came across the Happy Homemaker Monday link-up last autumn and earmarked it as something I wanted to do once I got done with grad school because I’m still a homemaker at heart who loves to make my home comfy and beautiful. I love reading through Sandra’s thoughts and her enthusiasm for taking care of her home and family, and it’s hard to find blogs like that these days. So here’s my first, of hopefully many, Happy Homemaker Monday posts:

The Weather:

We have some lovely summers here in the Pacific Northwest, and we are in the middle of some great weather right now. It was pretty warm last week, so this little bit of cooling is welcome. It will make our afternoon activities much more bearable.

As I Look Outside My Window:

  • We are “allowing” the garden “to lie fallow” this year because I was too busy with school to get out into it during the spring, but it’s making me a little squirrelly to see it be so fraggly. The kids have their weeding chores and the weeds are slowing being eradicated, so that’s good. I just have to keep telling myself that this is a not gardening year. ((shudder))
  • I did go buy some basil plants and a tomato plant because it’s just not summer if there’s not basil and tomatoes in my garden. I now visit them every evening after Michael and I get back from our after dinner walk. Makes me happy.
  • I missed the window for harvesting my lavender. I was going to try my hand at making lavender wands this year, but alas. Oh well, it’s still very pretty to look at.
  • I love our super shaded front porch so much. The kids and I have been spending a lot of time out there eating ice cream, drinking drinks, working on hand projects…it’s a great little spot that doesn’t get sunbaked and is hidden from the view of people walking by on the street.

Right Now I Am:

Waiting for my Lime Curd Bars with Coconut Crust to cool on the counter so I can bring them to church for our “Linger Longer” after meetings are done. Michael is giving one of the talks in sacrament meeting today, too, so I’m thinking about ways to make it better.

Thinking & Pondering:

  • Renaissance’s birthday party
  • How to explain/teach goal-setting to teenagers
  • I’d like to throw a Mother/Daughter Halloween tea this autumn
  • How in the world will I organize Rachel’s bedroom after I gut it this week?
  • Do I just quilt the Patriotic baby quilt on my regular machine, or do I go forward with cleaning off my cutting table to make way for the Big Boy sewing machine with the super throat that I bought last summer? I think a cutting table clean-off would require gutting the craft room, and I can’t gut more than one room at a time or my house will burst into flames and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. The kids’ bedrooms are the priority right now, so I think I have to quilt on my regular machine, which I’m not very excited about.

Listening to:

My main man, Claude Debussy, as I try to keep the energy chill in the house on this beautiful summer morning.

How Am I Feeling:

Last week was a huge disruption to my routine, as most holidays are, and I still feel a little off-kilter. Sleep hasn’t been great for various reasons. I’m hoping this all evens out in the upcoming week. I’m excited about the improvements I’m making in the house. I wish it wasn’t such hard work, but it is definitely worth it.

On the Breakfast Plate:

I used to be much cooler, breakfast-wise. Now it’s just a protein bar, pills, and caffeinated water before yoga, followed by a protein shake after yoga. Renaissance makes me an egg sandwich on the mornings that we work out together.

On the Lunch Plate:

I still hate lunch. Dumb lunch, interrupting my work flow. However, I’ve been grilling up a few chicken breasts every other day so the kids can add chicken to whatever they’re eating and up their protein intake. I’ve been noticing that they are ingesting very carb-heavy meals and I’m trying to curb that tendency.

On the Dinner Plate:

(Sunday) Michael will make tacos tonight!

What I’m Wearing:

My favorite pink gingham shirtwaist dress, which I wear to death and will eventually need to reverse engineer to recreate a million more.

On My Reading Pile:

On My TV This Week:

Hopefully nothing; I like to keep my television watching to bad weather days. I did binge-watch some Clarkson’s Farm last week when I wasn’t feeling well.

On the Menu:

I meal plan on Saturday mornings, so my plan started a couple of days ago:

  • Saturday: Italian Sloppy Joes
  • Sunday: Tacos
  • Monday: Spaghetti, Green Beans, Caesar Salad, French Bread
  • Tuesday: North Carolina Pulled Pork (new recipe!), Corn on the cob, Broccoli Slaw
  • Wednesday: Steamed Buns, Stir Fry Veggies, Marinated Cucumbers, Rice
  • Thursday: Leftovers
  • Friday: Cedar Plank Salmon, Baby Potatoes, Caesar Salad, Rolls

Looking Around the House:

We’re in the midst of decluttering the kids’ bedrooms. I’m pretty much finished with Emily’s and Nathaniel’s room, but some of their stuff is randomly strewn about the house. Everything’s messy after a year of grad school, but this summer is the antidote to that messiness and we’ll crawl out from underneath the weight of the clutter by the time school starts back up.

To-Do List This Week, beyond the obvious laundry and like:

  • Start gutting and deep cleaning Rachel’s room. Oh, this is going to be a BIG job.
  • Move forward with plans for Renaissance’s birthday party
  • Go to the DOL and renew Renaissance’s driver’s permit
  • Driving practice sessions for both Renaissance and Rachel
  • Maybe plant some seeds in the garden for autumn crops?
  • Get graduation cards and thank you cards sent out

Devotional:

I’m experimenting with a new spiritual practice of choosing a word each week and pondering on what that word means to me, character-wise and in practical application. This week’s word is “energy.” I’ll report on what I came up with next week.

This last week’s word was “sunshine,” and I didn’t spend a lot of time with it because I was feeling crummy. But I do love that it’s a word that describes something tangible and also can be applied as a positive adjective.

What does it mean to me to embrace sunshine in my life?

  • Physically: Getting as much of it as I can during these summer months and being oh-so-grateful for it because I know I’ll miss it dearly come January, February, and March. Being careful with it because too much of a good thing can be very harmful indeed.
  • Emotionally: Making the choice to look on the bright side of things. The last few years have been an interesting experiment of watching people become what they fixate upon. I am more and more convinced that focusing on the negative just breeds more negativity in one’s life. You don’t have to scream about all the bad things in the world all the time in order to change them. Better to stay calm, be cheerful and cordial, strive to make things beautiful and lovely, AND work the proper channels to fix what’s wrong. Screaming doesn’t help things, but writing letters, voting, and contributing funds to important causes does. Better to do those things quietly and live your daily life gracefully so you can be a bringer of sunshine to yourself and those around you, rather than making people dread interacting with you and avoiding the causes you’re passionate about because you’ve soured them towards them with your ranting and seething. I accomplish much more positive change when I’m calm, collected, and cheerful, and our home is such a lovely sanctuary from the stress of the world when Mama is content. My husband and children deserve a safe place to land each evening.

Well, that’s everything. What a delightful exercise in noticing what’s going on around me and contemplating my actions for the upcoming week. I enjoyed writing this post! I wish you all a beautiful and productive week ahead!