5 Things Friday

1) Rebel Green Fruit and Veggie Clean. Have ya'll tried this? I bought some a few days ago at Target, and I really like it. I try to buy organic, but feeding a family of 7 is expensive! We can plow through some strawberries. So I gave this a try and I could not believe what the water looked like after soaking for just a few minutes. Gross! 

2) Tazo Orange Chiffon, if you are a tea drinker, getcha some! 

3) I have been an Emma Bridegwater admirer for a really long time. I don't own a single piece, but I would love to someday! Look at these coffee mugs! There are so many weddings going on right now, I can't think of a better gift! 

4) And look at this sweetest cup and saucer ever!! You can find it on the Dayspring website.  

5) I have slightly curly hair. Kinda wavy, kinda wrinkly. Anyway, this stuff is awesome if your hair needs a little encouragement to curl, or hold curl. And it adds lots of volume. And your head will smell like a lemon sugar cookie, so, how could THAT be wrong??  

Happy Weekend!!

What Ever Happened to Good Ole' Fashioned Visiting?

I'm a thinker. I've been thinking a LOT lately. It's 7 a.m. and I'm in my dining room drinking a Diet Coke (don't be judgey, Oklahoma has been experiencing monsoon conditions for the last 7 days, which means I have been in the house with 5 children and a husband recovering from back surgery..so, just please. Spare a little grace. ) and I cannot stop thinking about this question.

What happened to good, old fashioned visiting? Remember when ladies used to get together and quilt? Or spend a day canning? I don't quilt or can (yet), but I would have no problem say, getting together with a friend and folding laundry over ice tea. 

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been reading about pioneer women. The women who packed up their families and all their belongings and necessities that would fit in their covered wagon, and followed their husbands and fathers across the continent to stake a claim on some land and begin a new life. The books I've read are actually just compilations of diaries that these women kept on the the journey. There was a common thread within their writings, which was friendship, support, care, comfort, and community that they shared with one another. They helped each other care for their sick children, they did the wash together, delivered each others babies, cooked together, sewed together, exchanged bonnet patterns and even spread out their prairie skirts to create a makeshift "lady's room" right there on the open prairie.

One of the fondest memories I have while spending time with my grandmother in the summers was going with her on an afternoon visit. We would pull into Ms. Joy's driveway and almost immediately she would burst out her front door and welcome us in as if she had been expecting us all day. Ms. Joy would put on a pot of coffee, and there was always some kind of pie to be served on her white Correlle dishes and I would sit and listen to these two ladies talk about sewing, gardening, canning, quilting, and whatever else was important to them. After a hand or two of dominos (which I HATED) we would load up and head back to grandma's house. Nothing fancy about it. No celebration. It was just a normal day, visiting a friend for no other reason than to just be social and neighborly. 

Why don't we do that now? Is it because I'm 39 and not 69? Because it's 2015 and not 1985? or 1885?

What would that look like today?  I think the easy thing would be to meet up at a Starbucks or Panera, but to me, that is missing the whole point. There is something honest and authentic about welcoming someone into your home. Home.

What would that mean for me? For my guest? It would mean that I would have to be okay with you stopping in and being greeted by a baby in a diaper and t-shirt and dried oatmeal in his hair. It would mean that my visitor would most likely be stepping over abandoned shoes and Matchbox cars, library books, piles of laundry and graham cracker crumbs on the floor. You would most likely see the breakfast and/or lunch dishes in the sink, a fluffy dog (roughly the size of small horse) begging for your attention, and a refrigerator covered in fingerprints and priceless works of art. It would also mean that I would have to make sure there is toilet paper in the guest bathroom because no matter how many times I ask the precious babes to use their bathroom upstairs, they just will not. 

But I also hope that you will find a place where you are always welcome. You'll find a weary-in-a-good-way mom that is so happy to have a visitor.  She will most likely be in a raggedy t-shirt and jeans, and barefoot of course. There is always coffee and tea in abundance in this house, and sometimes even chocolate chip cookies! I hope that you would find laughter, kindness, love, encouragement, friendship and a safe place to just be you. Most of all, I hope you will find that ours is a home where Jesus is Lord. You'll probably have to shove some toys off the well-worn leather sofa and pet the dog. PET the dog. Focus on the dog. Like the whole time. He is....well, needy. Sometimes, I think that friendship is a lost art. We get so wrapped up in the busyness of doing nothing that we forget, or maybe we never learned what it is to be a friend.

I have a lot more thinking to do on this. What are your thoughts?? I would love to know!

2015 Summer Movie List

Most of our movie-watching goes on during the fall and winter months. And then August happens in Oklahoma. You know those days. Too hot to go the pool, Sonic slushes are served in liquid form, tomato plants are getting crispy. Perfect days for setting out a jar for sun tea and popping in a movie. So, here are a few flicks I'd love to see. 

1) Gone With the Wind

Ya'll, I've never seen it. I've seen little bits and pieces, but not the entire movie. 

2) Secondhand Lions

Love this one, and I think the kids will. Plus that, Michael Caine and Robert Duvall. 

3) What About Bob

An old favorite!

4) Walk the Line

Another fav that I haven't seen in a few years.

5) Coal Miner's Daughter

I doubt ANYONE will watch this with me, but they will be the one's missing out. I love this one. Love.

Summer Reading List and Ten Things Tuesday

Well, look at that! It's been a year since my last post. That is embarrassing. Our school year is winding down, which affords me more time to do stuff I don't normally get to do! Like blog, read, paint some furniture, repurpose some crap, work in my flower beds, and watch movies that don't revolve around homeschool. 

So, first up is my reading list.  I don't get to read a lot for myself during the school year, because, well, homeschool. So here is what I have on my list!

1) Love the Home you Have

2) Home is Where My People Are

 3) Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography

4) Parenting the Wholehearted Child: Captivating Your Child's Heart with God's Extravagant Grace

5) The Most Important Place on Earth: What a Christian Home Looks Like and How to Build One 

6) Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life

7) Own Your Life: Living with Deep Intention, Bold Faith and Generous Love

8) Culture Shock: A Biblical Response to Today's Most Divisive Issues

9) Geronimo: My Life

10) The Ministry of Motherhood: Following Christ's Example in Reaching the Heart's of Our Children

~

Have you noticed the "Ten things Tuesday" trend? I've noticed it's becoming a "thing" so, I'm jumping on the bandwagon.  Here are my ten things on this Tuesday:

1) I'm learning that the right thing is very rarely the easy thing.

2) Throwing stuff away is my favorite way to de-stress. Just give me big black garbage sack and 30 minutes and ya'll I can clean some crap OUT. 

3) Ten things to come up with is a lot harder than I imagined.

4) #3 was kinda cheating, wasn't it? 

5) I should probably start with a disclaimer every time I blog...because, most of it is just rambling and I just type what comes to my mind. I'm not the least bit concerned with properly written sentences and grammar. Spelling, yes. But sentence structure..not so much. 

6) Ketchup is nasty.

7) I have a problem with children's books.  I want to buy them all and read them all. 

8) If I think too much about what eggs are, I can't eat them. So, I just try not to think about it.

9) God has really been working on my heart. I am learning to love people right where they are in life....ya know, like the way He loves us. 

10) Pioneer Women: The Lives of Women on the Frontier. This is my absolute favorite subject to read on.  The pioneer women are my ladies! My people! They paved the way for me. These were my great-grandmothers and great-great-grandmothers. Can you imagine just getting to peek into their lives for just one day? I think it would be fascinating. I read this book last week and this quote grabbed me!  I want to have it printed in really pretty lettering and frame it and hang it in my house. 

"Thus, in the end, the homes of pioneer women are of far less importance than the loving and the living that went on inside those homes-from the everyday activities that sustained family life to those special events that added richness and variety to an often difficult existence."   

Is that not wonderful? I think it is! 

What is on your summer reading list? Next up is my summer movie list, like as in this summer. Not 2016. ;)