Jenny at Allsorts must have the same Victoria magazine back issues as I. I have poured over these very same pictures of Tasha Tudor’s home and farm for years. This IS fall in my mind. Go visit!

Beau Rabbit blog posted pics of this oh so nice embroidered canvas Home Mgt Binder. Should you suddenly feel the urge to embroider something, and admittedly I did, take a look here for more inspiration. The bags are soooo pretty. I imagine the girls could easily make something similar for Christmas gifts. And yes, its probably high time to be thinking of that! 

I followed a link to the new Seasonal Delights web-mag today.  Delightful indeed.  Subscriptions are free through September. This issue has 20 pages of crisp, clear photos of fall-inspired baking and craft ideas, poetry, puzzles and more. It says it is for ‘young ladies and their mothers’.  I think my young ladies will enjoy the featured projects as much as their mother. : )

Had a flashback. <g>  I got a wild hair and googled This End Up furniture after watching a show about a European family and recognizing the style of furniture. I used to really love This End Up’s higher end upholstered pieces because they so resembled the homes we knew in Germany and the Netherlands. Clean lines, practical, kid friendly. I later came to really long for seating that could be easily recovered with nice fabric given my meager sewing skills and my children’s fondness for water-resistant art supplies. This seemed to be the answer. Til 2000 anyway. That’s when the company went bankrupt and it looked like that was the end of the era. (yes there were copycat companies but none as nice imo)

Aha, but look here. They have reorganized and reopened – now that I have bought cherry furniture. Sigh. BUT, I am not going to think about that because I still need a new couch and its not going to be by the other woods and it can be recovered when my children eventually wear it out.  By me. Cheaply. Hmmmm….

This article makes me smile and nod in agreement. There was a time when I abslutely hated housework. It become clear to me that it was a necessary evil however and I developed a sort of grudging acceptance. That step helped me to get started but every inch of the job was spent longing to be finished and get to the "good stuff".  I can honestly say I enjoy my work these days.  I haven’t really been able to articulate that monumental change in my life until I read the linked article.

My days can be demanding and occasionally boring and sometimes downright bizarre.  Life with small children and teenagers is like that. : )  For all its challenges it is real, however. It is sustaining. It is what life is made of, if you are fortunate enough to have a home and lots of people to share it with, and learning to embrace that has made a huge difference.

Seriously. : )

I guess I am telling this story backwards, but I am starting the WI trip update with the tale of our return.  The most noteworthy item in our travels was that we made it all the way to WI and nearly all the way back with nary a mishap.  Not a wrong turn in the mix! Not til we got within 30 mi of home.  Somehow I missed our crossroad and just kept on trucking about 20 min further south.  Ah well. What is that saying? Blessed is the woman who can laugh at herself, for she shall always be amused. <g>  The only real problem with the missed turn was the little boys were anxiously waiting in front of the house and had to be brought in to wait so that was disappointing for them.

We finally rolled in, exhausted, around 9 Sunday night. I was surprised that the lawn hadn’t been mowed.  Allen is usually very vigilant about lawn mowing when we have company coming. He was very um, smiley, though. Actually they all were. We walked into the sunroom and I saw the last of the old bookcases from the living room. You may recall the bookshelf/living room/family room/remodeling saga that started last fall.  Or not. <g> I may far overestimate the interest of the general public in our little domestic dramas lol!  Anyhoo I was very pleased to see them because that meant Colin had moved all the books out. When I walked in the house it smelled really odd however. Much like old attic. I couldn’t place it but it was undeniable. Still the kitchen was very clean and dinner was waiting for us. We got ready to eat and Allen said hold on, follow me.  We walked down the hall and as I was puzzling about the sawdust-y smell we turned into the living room where…. (insert drumroll please)

MY HUSBAND HAD REFINISHED THE FLOOR!!!   

On my stars, you have no idea how giddy I was with joy! Gone was the old off-white carpet that bore striking resemblence to a Dalmation. A Dalmation with a fondness for mudpies.  In its place were gleaming wood floors. Well gleaming laminate floors, but hey they are stunning. They give the room a whole new look and are soooooo much easier to clean. And now they match the rest of the downstairs main rooms and hall.

It was no small feat for Allen and Colin to accomplish. They were the only two "big" people home and Colin is in a wheelchair so they had to work nights and naptimes. They had to be innovative too since Colin couldn’t lift and carry. They managed to rip up and roll the old carpeting, for instance, but then got stuck with removing it. In the end they pushed one part through the window, hooked it to the truck, and pulled it to the dumpster on the other side of the house. Where there is a will there is a way. : )

They completely and utterly took me by surprise and couldn’t have been happier about it.  It was such a blessing! It was a convicting lesson about contentment for me as well, though Allen could not have known that. In the past few weeks I had watched Alice’s flooring project unfold with admiration. I had so longed for my own re-do but knew it had to wait. Another friend had a pending floor job but it was on hold temporarily. We had surfed the net together for a beautiful area rug. Again, I thought gee, a nice big rug might help a lot.  That didn’t seem to be in the cards either though. I had two choices at that point: envy and resentment or peaceful surrender.  I chose the latter.

I was a bit embarassed about bringing my mother into the house with the stained carpeting but figured we would clean it up as best we could and it just was what it was. It would all come in good time and heck, it is NOT a bad way to suffer, lets face it. It’s a little bitty thing in the whole big picture. And then,out of the blue, there was this gift of time and treasure, all the more wonderful because I didn’t ask, I didn’t badger. Instead, my dear men had plotted and toiled to make it a beautiful surprise. Thank you! I will remember every time I walk into that room.

My new camera needs a cord and we have to transfer all our pics to CD offsite so pics of the floor will be coming later. Suffice it to say, I love it. : )

I am only online in snatches this week since I brought my mother back from WI with us and we have a full schedule this week and next.  I did want to quickly share some highlights from our trip which went very well.

Our first outing in WI was to Cedarburg, a small historic town near Lake Michigan which has a lovely shopping district. I snapped pics as we shopped so you could enjoy too. : )   Lots of inspiration here!

Tess was game at the get-go but by afternoon’s end she looked more like we felt……

Alice Cantrell is sending out a traveling art journal. The Cantrell Clan has contributed the first few entries. My personal favorite was the one shown here with the fingerprint people ala Ed Emberley! (an aside – we LOVE his Make a World and Circle Art books as well!) Very original!!

If you want to get in on the fun email Alice (link through her post) and get signed up to join. Thanks Alice! We are looking fwd to it!

….at Homespun Living.  VERY nice!

Lady Lydia did it again. Excellent quote today:

"When you realize life is not supposed to run smoothly it is easy to adjust to these challenges.  If you are overwhelmed and do not know where to turn, just think, you may have been created for such a time as this. You may also be leaving a message for your family by the way you handle seemingly insurmountable tasks.  There is more to cleaning up a mess than making it look nice.  There is an attitude and a ministry in it."

She was discussing home management but I think it also applies both to homeschooling and parenting in general.  We send messages to those around us by how we handle our challenges.  It is hard to say why God put us each where we are, but we can be certain there IS a reason. It can be difficult to see purpose in apparently thankless tasks like washing dishes destined to return immediately to the sink or mopping floors which will be trod by muddy shoes in short order.  Difficult until we consider that what we are modeling is not simply how to clean but how to persevere, how to remain gentle spirited, how to maintain grace under pressure, how to serve the least of those around us.  Our tasks may well just be the venue chosen to relay those lessons and not simply an end in and of themselves.

A dear friend of mine recently opened her home to a young relative of hers who has had a very sketchy upbringing. They have had a rough transition requiring lots of redirection from her. One very difficult afternoon she felt her nerves fraying and she finally snapped and said,"We need to say our prayers NOW!"  I had to smile when she told me this story. How many of us would have had that reaction?  Admittedly prayer is not always the first thing that comes to mind when I am frazzled. Too often I am too grumpy to pray well right then.  She didnt worry about the "well" part however. In the process she provided a life lesson that tops any practical skill he will learn at their home- that we are kind to one another, that certain behavior is hurtful and therefore unacceptable, and that when we are not doing well we don’t blow up we stop and pray for each other.

I am trying to look at the challenges in our life less like unnecessary interuptions and more like opportunities. It is hard to see something fruitful coming from continued variance from well laid plans. And yet, it does seem like a better life skill to learn how to roll with the punches than how to be in complete control. In my experience life throws lots of punches and absolute control is elusive at best.

If you are a parent, you ARE the curriculum. Kids are much more prone to respond to what we do than what we say. It’s humbling. It’s challenging.  But as a friend of mine has been known to say it isn’t supposed to be easy, just simple.

"But let it be the hidden person of the heart,with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, that is precious in the sight of God."  1Pet 3:4