{pretty, happy, funny, real}

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter! 

{pretty}

Pippo and I discovered this spot along one of our new walks. It's like a fairyland!
(actually, that flowery slope leads up to the interstate, if you can believe it.)

Homemade pancake mix of fabulousness.

Back when we were talking about food preparation and the streamlining thereof, I posted about the pancake mix I formulated to my own satisfaction. I have very high standards for pancakes, waffles, biscuits, and scones, don't you? They can't taste cottony or be dry; they need to have moistness yet also a bit of crispiness, because, let's all just admit it right now, a flabby pancake is no good.

Bad beer, good cake.

I seem to be an expert in using up leftover beer.

Viz, today's cake.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter! 

 

This past week we were wrapped up in Deirdre's graduation from The Catholic University of America, which is why I've been a little less active here on the blog. So my {phfr} for this week is definitely graduation-centric. Hope you don't mind!

 {pretty}

Deirdre is so pretty, and I thought you would enjoy this Mother/Daughter moment.

The Way of Beauty

You may have noticed The Way of Beauty button over there on the sidebar.

Naturally your interest is piqued with my clever tease. I just put it there and then waited a good long while before telling you all about it. It's all part of my master plan...in which I have great ideas and then get distracted.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

{pretty}

Our guest room faces west and gets the prettiest light in the late afternoon. 

Lunch with the girls

The Lt was in the field again last week, and so I did what I always do when he's gone: I bought a sweet potato.

(I love sweet potatoes; my husband can't stand them. He is under strict orders not to prejudice our children against them - or anything else I like and he doesn't.)

Also some beets, and a few other random things he doesn't like. Soon it was nearing the end of the week, and while I'd done a good job finishing up the leftovers in the fridge (which always requires more effort when it's just me), my special ingredients were untouched.

It happens to me so often that I'll come across a recipe that looks so good to me, and I'll want so much to try it out, but am not willing to commit to eating all of it by myself! Lunch with a few more adventurous eaters is the perfect excuse for a little experimental cooking.

So I invited some friends over, and we had a delicious lunch of food our husbands won't eat with us!

How to tell a Sugar Maple; a post with pictures of trees.

In my unending adventure in learning the obvious (see here where I learn what straw is and here where I find out what they mean by a bonfire and here where I discover that spaghetti with red sauce doesn't count as "bland" in a bland diet), this past weekend I figured out which of the gazillion trees that surround me are sugar maples.

Because I am thinking that maybe, possibly I could do maple sugaring next winter, I dunno.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

 {pretty}

Ask Auntie Leila: I feel guilty not working!

Dear Auntie Leila,

I had part-time job. I liked it. When my baby got a bit older and my husband started traveling, that little job was the greatest source of anxiety and worry.  It took away my peace and made me into the kind of mother I never wanted to be: frantic, weary (in all the wrong ways), and disorganized.  So, I resigned.  And now, I feel guilty!  It's all self-imposed guilt, as my husband is completely supportive.  But I feel guilty to be spending money I no longer contribute to, to putting all the financial burden on my husband's shoulders, to not being out in the community.

Thank you,
A Young Mom

We all need encouragement. We discover wonderful things about the meaning of life and then lose our insights, usually because it turns out to be hard to put them into practice. The need for an infant to have close contact with its mother; the irreplaceable value of an intact family; the beauty of home life; the possibility of living simply -- these are all things that have been written about eloquently and embraced by... few. It quickly seems too hard to nurse a baby, give up a job that gets you out of the house and the chaos, understand the person your spouse is developing into, or live within a budget.

It's just all very hard!

The going gets tough... and the weak fold. What makes us weak? Not having encouragement from friends. When you have a friend, you can get through a lot.

I hope that we can provide the encouragement of that friend, if you don't happen to have one at the moment...

Bonfires are fun.

Even after Sukie had to go back, Bridget had the fun of hosting a bonfire/wienie roast/s'mores fest with friends. I won't show you too many photos because that would involve posting pictures of other people's children, but I will tell you a little about it...

...just because, you know, it's up to us to restore happy times to our tired sad world. Sometimes we just don't know how! I think we've almost lost the art of knowing what to do with our time together.

Fires, hot dogs, marshmallows -- it's good clean fun!

A bonfire from a previous year. Pretty good one, eh?

 

Chatty

Last week was just so nice.

Will had to go back to school right away, but Suzanne got her spring break at last --  a much needed rest for a busy schoolteacher!