making home

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

"Homemaking is seen as a mere detail that can be amply covered as secondary to a job or career, which is "real life."

however…

People and their everyday lives matter more than things or status. Serving others is the highest calling of all (apart from prayer) – serving them in ordinary ways, giving people what they need.

Homes absorb immense amounts of time and energy. This effort is satisfying if one has a balanced schedule and can cover the essentials without too much stress. Essentials include the extras to the everyday round that is part of human life – the celebrations, reunions, disappointments, depression, sicknesses, disasters.

Homes work best when someone is the contented keeper of the home life.

Homemaker is a good description. It really is worth giving full attention to this vital task."

For the Family's Sake

It's been a long several weeks of unpacking but I am so happy to have my old books back. We took a good amount with us on our European adventure but many were stored. It is like being reunited with old friends.

I am rereading Susan Schaeffer Macauley right now, one of my first inspirations. I am newly inspired and refocused in this vocation going over these words. 30 years into this journey they ring truer than ever and now feel more pregnant with meaning than ever before.

Now, as life presents so many possibilities and distractions, I am reminded again and again that keeping the home life is really worth giving my full attention to.

bullwinkle by morning

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Yesterday morning began like most mornings do. Coffee was brewed, breakfast made, lunches packed, and people sent off to work and summer football practice. I was giving myself the celebratory pat on the back (you know, go Self! They are fed. They are packed. They are launched into their day and it isn't even 8am!) when I thought I saw something move back behind the trees. The thing I thought I saw was a pony. There is no logical reason for this other than once upon a very long time ago we had such a pony. That pony never scaled the side of a mountain however. And that didn't happen yesterday either.

Nope.

Much as it may have looked like a pony bum for a minute there, it was not a pony in my yard. It was a…..

MOOSE!

oh.my.word.

It was a gosh honest truth, real live MOOSE and it was just meandering around the yard nibbling on trees til it got full and decided right there would be a perfect place to….

…sit a spell.

In my YARD, y'all.

And there he sat for the better part of the morning, with us periodically peeking out at him til he up and wandered off, all casual like. As if this sort of thing just happens.

Our neighbors said they spot one every once in a blue moon and generally they don't cause trouble. We watched from a safe distance just the same. Moose are prey, not predators, but they can reach speeds of 35mph when they are defending their young or during mating season (in the fall) or say, when the neighbor Corgi tries to herd them and they get super annoyed.

They sound like a cow which we didn't know until later in the evening when he returned and made actual cow sounds. Our neighbor texted me from her porch. We couldn't see at first in the dark until she said he was over eating our apple tree. This enlightened us to two things. First, we have an apple tree. Who knew? Second, we probably shouldn't count on a lot of apples.

He has made one more appearance so far, chasing the aforementioned Corgi back to her porch early this morning. To be fair she sorta had it coming. By all accounts this doesn't happen very often so this may be our only opportunity to see such a magnificent creature so close. Still, I will probably look over to the hillside in the mornings just in case…

Rainy May – lots of links – sort of Daybook

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Outside: Rain. A whole bunch. It doesn't look much different outside my window today than it did outside my window last year this time.

Listening to: Simon and Garfunkel. A lot. Because…Simon and Garfunkel.

Thinking about: "Slow down, you're moving too fast. Got to make the moment last." (see above) Which reminded me a lot of this article about The Sacred Inefficiencies of Life and where productivity sometimes runs right up against being present and connected.

Creating: A beautiful (with luck!) command center for household tasks. Need some ideas? I have my favorites pinned here. Will be back to update on which we chose.

Reading: So much. First, friends had shared a few weeks ago about Pioneer Girl

It was out of stock at the time and approaching scalper pricing so I put it out of mind for a bit though it was super intriguing. Then this showed up at my door courtesy of my friend Heather whom we roadtripped with to Bath lo these many years back now.

When they say "annotated" they are not kidding. There are footnotes of biblical proportions. Like, for real, there are as many footnotes as lines of story on many pages and surprisingly they are just as interesting as the main text.

Around the house: Some people are still struggling to recall where stuff goes in the new house. All the people, actually. They say it takes three months to form a new habit. Meantime….

While getting familiar with a new American house is a challenge at times we had to laugh at this tutorial BBC put out on British houses. Oh I get homesick.

In other news I found the living room curtain panels and they ended up being not quite right since one side of the living room is a bit sunken. When going through my picture files I found a snap from Hancock Fabrics. At least I hope that's where it was. It may have been Joann's which will mean two trips to figure out but either way I am leaning towards something in this family…

From the learning room: Ok there isn't a learning room per se at the moment, though every day sees it coming together a bit more. We are still learning, however, and thinking about learning and planning the coming school year's learning. I have also been thinking with gratitude about my teaching mentors over the years after we read this article from last fall which led to the discovery the US Dept of Ed reported that over the course of one recent school year over 37,000 children were restrained in this way. This all got me thinking, "What would Marva Collins do?" If you can't answer that then spend the penny on Amazon and be inspired.

Same team, y'all.

We are all on the same team. : ) On that note I read Janet Lansbury's sample dialogs when facing potential confrontation of wills. How differently these scenarios can play out.

"Let the morning time drop all its petals on me.
Life, I love you…"

– Simon and Garfunkel

digging in

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

This last week's adventures included weeding, painting, beginning to repair the gas-fueled fire pit and a crash course in cactus 101 – which I'm gonna venture to say was nearly as unpleasant for the person removing as it was for the afflicted.

A dear friend sent a box full of perennial cuttings which have found new homes here in the mountain west. It has rained and rained and they seem to be taking root right along with us.

The boys have begun their yard care apprenticeship. Really, we all have. It's been a while since we have had a garden of our own to tend. (We had a most fabulous garden in England but it had been cultivated and maintained by the farm over many generations, so we just had to not wreck it.) We are being realistic when planning summer to include plenty of time to work on all this. It's a good thing. We are back to falling into bed at night zonked and waking up to full new days.

I love seeing my guys wearing work gloves again. : )

Story Stretchers – Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Years ago when our adult sons were small we had a couple volumes called Story Stretchers. (here and here – they are a PENNY today. Still find that stunning. I saved so long to buy books pre-amazon days) Like the outstanding Five in a Row volumes that would come later they took a children's book and created activities based on the story's location or language or illustrations. We haven't done full-out units in a while but I always find some element in a story we can build on a little. Once you work through Five in a Row you just start to see all sorts of potential rabbit trails inside a book.

We read Joseph Had a Little Overcoat last week. I love this book and like the best picture books there is so much happening in the illustrations that goes over children's heads but is totally engrossing for the grown-up reading. Shortly after we got the book the little girls ran through the knees of a couple pair of leggings. This is a rather regular event. Tough girls, we have. Before we tossed them we talked about Joseph and looked to see if there was potentially some more life in them.

Cotton knit headbands are a favorite of Tess and Alannah right now since they don't pinch behind the ears and can hold back heavy hair. (and don't crack in half when small people overextend them…) When I looked at them they were seriously just a tube of t-shirting. For a dollar or two a piece? So before tossing the trashed leggings we cut a tube off across the tops between the waistband and legs. Quick work to turn right sides together and sew a seam, leaving a bit for turning. You don't really even have to bother with a seam if you fold the band when you put it on or cut it into a strip and tie it instead.

Not the world's most glamorous tute. Just a little practical 'stretcher.'

these came from pants like these…

Now if someone can point me to some girl proof leggings I'd be a happy woman. : )

transplants

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

It is a habit of our family's that soon after we move in, we plant flowers in our front yard someplace, maybe just a pot or two or maybe a small bed. Thinking back on many other moves, most of which were in warm months, it seems this is a ritual of ours. It is a sure sign that we are home again and this place belongs to us. Over the years we have developed several such moving routines that help us pick up our lives and set them down again someplace entirely new.

About the time I was mulling all that over I read a wonderful essay from Homemaker's Mentor about this very thing which asks Is Your Home a Daylily or an Oak? The oak stands for years in one spot, rooted, solid, firm. Daylilies grow and spread and then are often transplanted to new spots to once again bloom and brighten a space. The trick to any transplanting project is to minimize trauma to the root system. Using this analogy the author offers some really helpful tips for smooth transitions.

I particularly love her reflections about the stages of a new home. Year one feelings, year two, and year three. They are each different from each other but predictably similar every time. A dear friend of mine, a master gardener, used to say of her perennials, "First year they sleep, second they creep, third they leap." This is very like our own relocation experiences. That first year is spent figuring out the new place, finding doctors and sports teams and favorite shopping spots. The second year we spread our wings more and begin to have some familiarity with local events. We recognize faces when we are out and no longer need our GPS for every outing. That third year we really have hit our stride and begin to branch out comfortably in our new community. We feel settled. Home. And reality is, this is usually when it is time for us to prepare to do it all over again so it's vital that we develop ways to do it as painlessly as possible.

As suggested, we have been working diligently to set up kitchen, living areas, and bedrooms so we can get everyone settled into familiar patterns sooner vs later. We still have work to do, however our days are already beginning to look like our May days always have. We cook, we study, we take walks, we plant flowers, and then yes, we work on the house.

Things are still very new here. We are still getting to know our way around this house, figuring out the best places for things and then remembering where those are. A home is made through a series of little steps like this one. Day by day we become better friends with this place and wake up a bit more comfortable than the morning before. Everyday there is a little something more tying us here – flowers to water, a life to cultivate.

The Weekly Cookup

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Alannah and I worked side by side this weekend on our respective weekly cookups. If you haven't read Well Fed Paleo this is where you get as much food prepped as you can in one fell swoop, making quick work of the rest of your week's cooking. Or in my case, at least make some of the rest of the week's cooking quicker work.

This isn't making whole meals ahead but rather doing prep work like browning ground meat, chopping and peeling, steaming vegs for sautees, making smoothies and so on. (curious? check out a cookup plan here)

I had made extra turkey and pork sausage for breakfast Saturday morning. To that leftover meat I added some steamed greens, leftover chopped vegs from stir fry, a handful of flaxseed, and a dozen eggs and made breakfast muffins. No recipe. Just a bit of Adobe seasoning to the above and into the oven til set. (I toss leftover vegs etc in the freezer for soup and frittatas.)

Alannah made a stuffed pork tenderloin from this magazine, then sliced and froze it for her lunches. She will do another main dish every several days and the variety will increase. She also made up a double batch of mocha/veg/yogurt smoothie from the same volume and froze it in ice cube trays. It's a grab and go breakfast if you toss it into a smoothie cup and let it defrost.

I pulled out two chicken carcasses from a chicken roast and made a meaty bone broth. Then prepped a bajillion veggies for juicing etc. I divvied up vegs into baggies for husband's lunch. Also had a can of rice noodles which isn't a health food but adds crunch to salad. Divvied that up into snack baggies to toss into lunch boxes too.

Husband meantime made burgers on the grill because you do NOT want to make another thing after a weekly cookup. You're done. Out. Finis. He made up a load of chicken legs as well. Some went into lunches and some was chopped for dinner tonight.

We are working on our new routines like this in the new house – assigning laundry days, getting back on track with meals, finishing up the school year (Amazingly they are almost there and maintaining their A averages. Go kids! I am taking note of this fact to remind myself when I am tempted by new curriculum…) and wading through boxes.

With so much to do we can't afford NOT to do a weekly cookup. It is easy to let diet go when you are pressed from all sides but the time to compromise is not when you are asking more of your body.

’til the sun goes down

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

That evening when they were playing out back and discovered what time the sprinkler system was set to go off?

Magic.

"Because children grow up, we think a child's purpose is to grow up. But a child's purpose is to be a child. Nature doesn't disdain what lives only for a day. It pours the whole of itself into the each moment."

Tom Stoppard

a moving experience

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Some snaps and notes from our moving days…

8am Eyeliner is wonky. I really could use a shower but husband called to confirm the plan for the piano placement. So instead I straighten my hair, fill the to go mug, and head over to the new house.

10:30 Kids move from doing schoolwork upstairs to an empty bedroom

…while we tag team checking in boxes and Alannah directs mover traffic in the lower level

11am First casualty, a big green glass demijohn bottle. Sigh.

Some comic relief

noon lunch break.

Alannah drives Moira to work. Husband and I muse about the possiblity of nodding off.

3:30pm three books randomly fall out of a box. One happens to be the title an adult son asked me to please read. (Soon, I promise)

4pm B is worn out. Abbie is reveling in that moment when you find the box with your toys.

5pm A child reports, "I hear swearing in a bunch of different languages," which confirms my hunch that they have begun to move the piano. God bless them. That was no picnic.

7:30pm Take out pizza and salad for the family. Make a cold meat and fruit plate for myself.

Now comes the unpacking.

life, lately

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

I hid out strolled leisurely through Walmart tonight picking up beverages and snacks for the moving crew that will be spending the next couple of days unloading our household goods from England. We closed on our new house last week which makes three homes and three hotels in the past two months. Soon as we got the keys in hand we began an ambitious run of renovations and DIY work trying to get done anything easier to do when the house was empty.

That makes a girl tired.

So yes, Walmart. For an hour I just walked around. Slowly. By myself. With nothing to clean/paint/move. Nice. Very nice. : )

What follows is just a highlight reel because it's 11pm and that aforementioned truck will be arriving in 9hrs.

First there was a freak snow. Though we don't mind freak snows when they stick around just long enough for a photo op and then promptly temps return to the 60s. East coasters, my apologies. Sincerely!

Brothers. Near and far.

Then came the keys, the keys to the most awesome kitchen I have ever had.

Ever.

We looked at what felt like a hundred houses. Many had gorgeous interiors and postage stamp yards. Some had funky interiors and large but treeless yards. One by one they left us cold and there was a last minute search for rentals, none of which was handicapped accessible nor took pets. In the end we found this fabulous neighborhood begun in the 60's and added to over the next 50years. Trees, hills, and an array of homes, none of which looked alike. Some old, some new. Ours is more one than the other but it had great bones and the major systems were solid and updated. It felt like home.

The views that sold us…

And the exploring that followed.

and the most awesome kitchen was next to the not awesome 90's wallpaper AND stencil job. The stencil from hell basically that climbed down onto wallpaper, over trim, and up onto the ceiling.

Why? Really?

There has been a lot of painting. Miles of masking tape.

Maybe I exaggerate. It just seemed that way. Gah, I need a manicure. My nails are embedded with spackling compound. Gross. Sorry.

I have a clicker. 'Cause I have a garage. First one since 2002. Which was one of the few we have ever had.

And the world's most awesome kitchen sits above possibly the world's most hideous family room fireplace. The 80's, people. It was not kind. As late as 2007 (per my resurrected reno mag) Better Homes and Gardens asserted that "a wall of mirrors reflects light and doubles the square footage of the room."

To borrow another 80s/90s bit of advice….

So we have just embarked on quite the adventure, commuting back and forth to family in Colorado and falling in love with – and updating – a new old house.

More to follow!

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Reflections from Starry Sky Ranch

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