Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Inspiring, Photos, Wisdom

It’s a Worm Table!

Posted on September 7, 2011September 7, 2011 by Katharine

The couple that built the house we live in is no longer living, but they had amazing foresight. Everywhere we look, we can see signs of commitment to excellence.

For instance, the electrical breaker box has every switch labeled. Puzzling for months over the one switch labeled “Worm House”, we searched until we figured out the worm house was actually the chicken house/woodshed.

We knew the worm tables were down there, but we hardly guessed what they were. The industrious ones who built two houses on this property and maintained an enormous garden, were human after all. They fished. They loved having their own source for worms. Or they sold worms. What work went into their lives for a bit of pleasure or a few extra dollars!

The worm tables, consisting of framed, 1/2″ mesh wire, were for sifting out worms, I guess. I know the soil under these tables is uncommonly rich and free of the usual rocks from around here. It makes very good garden dirt and a great side-dressing for those plants that seem to need extra nutrition.

I can imagine a grandchild’s wonder as he watches a shovelful of soil reveal its inhabitants. I can imagine the child’s taking all this culture for granted, walking in such luxury of self-sufficiency, hardly guessing all the work others have put into this place.

A little like I tend to do, myself.

I say, “Oh, good, a chicken house,” and forget all the work in those rough-hewn boards. I stroll around a pond and never think that someone had to bulldoze it. I retrieve canned goodies from the basement without realizing all the engineering it takes to perch a house over a hole in the ground.

But I want to remember, to think, to realize. I want to be thankful for someone’s foresight, for those who went before and built for those who would come after.

Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Coffee-ism, Homemaking, Inspiring, Photos

Weekly Photo Challenge – Path

Posted on September 3, 2011September 3, 2011 by Katharine

AT LAST: A PATH!

Well, it’s not the prettiest sight in the world, but it represents GREAT progress: a path to my sewing machine. Now it calls my name every time I hang up a shirt or walk to the coffee pot.

I will be crafting several hand-made eye masks for sleeping, with lavender between the layers of fabric. Cannot wait to begin.

You know, that uberhuge closet had been the dumping ground for anything we were unsure about where to store it. Now that certainty has guided the clean-up, we still have the unsure things, but they are elsewhere.

It reminds me of the Cat in the Hat, which constantly flung pink stuff somewhere ELSE, but never actually got rid of it until the very end of the book.

I don’t want to wait that long.

But I surely enjoy strolling down that closet path.

Blessings of Habit, Coffee-ism, Homemaking, Inspiring, Photos, Wisdom

LOST AND FOUND: One Large Closet.

Posted on August 31, 2011August 31, 2011 by Katharine

Yesterday, I finally launched a work I meant to do last year.

And the year before.

Today I actually dragged half the contents of the master closet out into the bedroom and kitchen.

Kitchen? Yes; it’s a walk-through closet connecting the kitchen and bedroom. My side of the bed is exactly ten steps from the corner of the stove where the coffee pot sits each morning. Heh, heh.

just ten steps — Just Ten Steps from Zzz-land!

But I digress . . .

There used to be no terrific place to put all my sewing project business. However, there was this enormously gigantic closet in the master bedroom. And we are the type that has a normal amount of clothing. So . . .

One new electrical outlet later, and voila! I had a lovely galley sewing room, with space for zillions of yards of fabric to hang on coat hangers around me. Excellent!

Except it was also still our closet and sometimes I put outgrown or off-season kids’ clothing in there. And schoolwork that needed filing. And large skeins of yarn for crochet projects. And gifts I’m hiding until someone’s gift-day comes along. And stuff-Mart bags stuffed with stuff I needed to deal with. And back-logs of un-ironed items. And a multitude of craft supplies.

It was becoming unnavigable.

So yesterday, I hit it.

However, I also needed to wash a couple of intricate loads of laundry, hard-boil a dozen eggs without ruining them, and fix myself breakfast and lunch on time, since I had a tutoring appointment in the afternoon. So I did all of it at once, listening to the washer while watching the eggs come to a boil, and taking bites of my breakfast and sips of my juice, between trips in and out of that closet, loaded down with boxes, etc., and at the same time, sorting contents according to what was throw-away, storage, or put-away. Also re-charged my cellphone, did chicken chores, and made a new pot of coffee.

We call it multi-tasking, and we are good at it because we do so much of it. So many aspects of keeping a peaceful home depend upon it.

Our home is not too peaceful, right now, though, but rather torn out and scattered, waiting for me to finish it. Oh, the worst is over; just have to fit a few things back in, the right way, then enjoy it again.

And when it comes to the soul, aren’t most of us also in that shape?

Blessings of Habit, Homemaking, Husbands, Inspiring, Photos, Rain, Sayings, Wisdom

Weekly Photo Challenge: Up

Posted on August 27, 2011September 27, 2013 by Katharine

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP AT OUR HOUSE

Ever have a day when your plans vanish? I’m there. It is good, though.

Today, I assist my carpenter. UP there.

You see, in our world, snow hardly ever falls, but last winter, we frolicked in lots of it. And our guttering suffered from lots of it. It sagged. It bulged. It pulled loose.

Then we learned the rest of the story.

Rot.

In our world, rain usually falls in buckets. Torrents. Sometimes, rain so furiously dumps on us in sheets and waterfalls, that we have seen it splash against a neighbor’s roof with enough force to make a wave that actually rains UP a few yards before surrendering to gravity again.

We need the guttering.

So, today, in firm belief that someday rain will actually fall on us again, we are removing the guttering, removing the siding, mending the rotted places, and re-attaching everything.

It’s a little like other problems: Have to deal with the cause of it to really stop it.

“GREAT DAY FOR UP!”
–Dr. Seuss

Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Home School, Inspiring, Recipes, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom, Womanhood

Postaday Challenge – January Favorites – 2

Posted on August 23, 2011January 20, 2015 by Katharine

I look out my window and see dead trees, grass that’s brown and crunchy like Wheaties, cat dish always needing water . . . with all the heat we’ve had, isn’t it hilarious to read these old posts! Enjoy!

DAY OFF #2

Repairmen of streets, wires, and buildings will get our roads safe and everyone back in their places eventually.

In the meantime, we play in the snow.

The day begins with Dad shoveling snow and bleary-eyed offspring wandering into the kitchen to ask, “What is that noise?” We so seldom have the pleasure.

Now our snowman stands watch. Our cars are decorated with snow objects. Lots of hot cocoa has slipped away. I enjoyed the crazy antics of our two home-bound adult kids, playing in the snow as if they were grade-schoolers. How thankful I am for the snow! Realizing they can still find joy in each other’s company is bliss to this mom.

ALSO (here comes the fun part) THEY CAN PUT ON AND REMOVE THEIR OWN WRAPS!

THEY CAN HEAT THEIR OWN WATER AND STIR UP THEIR OWN HOT COCOA!

THEY CAN HANG ALL THEIR WET THINGS TO DRY!

THEY REMEMBER TO SHUT THE DOOR!

THEY THINK ABOUT NOT TRACKING THE HOUSE WITH SNOW AND MUD!

I get all the same fun as when they were younger, with none of the work.

Another amazing thing: No one grumbles today that the Internet is “down-ish”. We all have decided to do traditional snow-day fun and forget about the rest of the world. I love it. Board games, non-electric musical instruments, laundry hanging on wooden racks by the wood stove, homemade food, and wild birds have risen to the top of our most-selected interests list and everyone is content.

And I wonder: How is it in other homes? I hope you and yours enjoy a great day, today. I pray God grant you peace and contentment.

And snow.

Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Inspiring, Scripture, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

Supernormal Children

Posted on August 16, 2011April 7, 2015 by Katharine

My husband and I have been keeping a couple of sweet kids for a week, while their parents take an anniversary trip. It has been a most enjoyable and profitable experience.

These children’s parents have made them behave since they were first born. It was not easy, either. The children have normal stubbornness and selfishness enough to test any mom or dad. But Mom and Dad have constantly and consistently met that test with something immoveable: the Word of God.

Therefore, the children know right from wrong. They also practice a strong grasp of mercy and overcoming, so that although the big brother may be right, he also may give in because he loves little sister, and she is much more apt to quietly point out his mistake to him, than to tattle. What an eye opener this has been!

The biggest lesson I have learned is in the area of sowing and reaping. It is the diligence and faithfulness of the parents that has formed these normal kids into such uncommon sweeties. No guessing was good enough for them; they went with the best child-rearing Manual and so far have done their best to understand and follow it. Though at times their decisions have been unpopular with friends or family, they have not backed down.

And we are enjoying a bit of their peaceful harvest.

Blessings of Habit, Inspiring, Wisdom

The Doldrums

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Katharine

What Do We Do?

We’re sailing along just fine when we come to the place of great heat and no breeze.

We row and row and it’s just killing us and we cannot find any solution to that sluggish funk. Our get up and go has got up and gone.

Well, we have choices.

We can just wait. Eventually, within the Doldrums, a breeze will come, will shift, will carry us out. It can take a long time, though, and we can lose much productivity that way, can die of thirst and starvation.

We can pray. When God sends a breeze, it is His Holy Spirit. He understands. He fills us but we leak. His supply is never-ending. No prob.

We can find like-minded people who don’t mind standing next to us and shedding some of their sparkle on us. That is the hard one. People don’t stand beside people, anymore. They sit before computers. Computers don’t hug. Don’t sparkle. Don’t pray. So, the computer dependent people don’t either.

I know, I know, Paul sent out handkerchiefs, so you could send me an email.

But I need a handkerchief. I need to hold in my hand something you have held in your hand. I need to feel the warmth of your skin as you embrace me. I need to feel your breath blowing through my hair as you hold me and pray for me. I need you, physically present, if only in a physical letter.

Don’t bludgeon me with bits and bites.

Bless me.

Or we can do all three. We can wait upon the Lord and renew our strength. We can pray for new inspiration. We can call upon our friends, our fellow travelers, to stand by us.

Isn’t that how it is? Isn’t that how it was meant to be?