Around my Kitchen

When we looked at this house, the first thing we did was look at the kitchen and realize that it wasn't going to work long-term for us.  We know there is a remodel in our near future because there just isn't enough counter space and the eat-in section of the kitchen is big enough for a small bistro table and not much else.

Another thing I noticed was that the basement door was smack-dab in the middle of the kitchen.  I had been wanting to have a nice big chalk board in my kitchen for awhile, so I decided to turn the basement door into a giant chalk board.  While it didn't quite work out to my expectations, it does, in fact, serve the purpose of putting that door to good use.  

So far we've used it for a nice Thanksgiving motif, which I can't believe I do not have a picture of because it was so cute, an Advent and St. Andrew novena calendar

and  a spot to count the 12 Days of Christmas.
 

It has sparked a lot of creativity (as you can see above) and has been a fun thing to have in the kitchen.

Now, however, I find myself with this:

a blank door and no ideas for what to put on it.  January means, what?  Ordinary time?  How do you draw that?  It's too soon, in my book, for Valentine's designs so what can we do until then?  Ideas appreciated :)

Another thing I've added to the kitchen to kind of spruce things up a bit is a craft my oldest daughter did at the library one evening.  This idea is so cute that it inspired me to want to have a coffee theme in our remodeled kitchen.  They are pages from a book that they painted coffee/tea cups on. 

She did four of them, so she found some frames in the basement and we decided to hang them up to help brighten up the kitchen.  It doesn't take much to bring some zing to a room.  
 

 
Sometimes you just have to take a few minutes to look around your house and find something you could switch to a different room to make it brighter, or, in this case, take a craft someone did and put it in some left-over frames.  I like this kind of decorating; it's cheap and easy!

Need something to brighten a part of your house during these dreary days of January?  Walk around and see if you can't make a small change like this one.

God Bless!

My 2016 Word

Last year I went along with the crowd and picked a word for the year.  The word was "purposeful" and my intention in living this word was to be much more purposeful in what I did with my time and my attention.  Looking back over the year, I would say that I did much better at that.  There were a lot of things that required my attention and I was able to walk away from my distractions (mainly this lovely computer) and get down to the business of doing what needed to be done.

Now, that's not to say I always did that.  No sirree, not in the least.  And, when I did do it, it certainly wasn't always easy.  Releasing ourselves from our mindless distractions is a difficult thing.  That is why, for example, I don't want to have HGTV available in my home.  I know, at least for awhile, that I would be addicted to sitting in front of show after show watching others do exciting decorating things instead of doing them myself.

This year's word is "wisdom":  

wis·dom

noun

the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise.

 

 

It isn't a new word to me as it began popping up on my radar last year.  I kept reading or hearing in various places how good it is to pray for wisdom.  When Solomon asked God for wisdom he asked for "a discerning heart" to govern God's people and "to distinguish between right and wrong". And God was very pleased by his request.  I figure a mom like me can't go wrong in asking for a discerning heart to govern the people in my charge and it can definitely help me in distinguishing between right and wrong; especially when trying to sift through the myriad of disagreements that go on here every day!

So this will be my prayer, and hopefully my guiding principle, as I go through this year.  Given the events of the world, having some extra wisdom might just not be a bad thing!

God Bless!

Our Friends Were on TV!

While we have not formally resumed schooling yet (still in the 12 Days of Christmas.  Sounds reasonable, right?), we did take some time today to watch an educational program on EWTN.  Well, we also had another incentive to watch it because our good friends, Laura and Mary, were live on the "At Home with Jim and Joy" show talking about the unit study they wrote for the American Life League.  

You might remember that I reviewed and gave away some free copies of this unit study and, since we know them personally, it was so fun to watch them talk about how important it is to cultivate the pro-life mentatlity, especially in our young children.

Another exciting project they just released is a unit study for high schoolers on Euthanasia.  I'm so glad that this has come out and I definitely think it is something we'll have to look into.  Coincidentally, I just finished reading the book "Me Before You", which is about a quadriplegic who wants to die on his own terms.  It was a great book, but if you are not catechized as to why this is wrong, you will definitely be swayed by the emotional aspect of this topic.  This is why it is so important for us to arm our youth with the facts and reasons why the Church teaches as it does, so that they are not swayed by emotions.

To learn more about these important programs that our friends are producing through the American Life League, you can either go to their website, catch the  replay of the show on January 9th at 10:30 am or watch it on EWTN's youtube channel.   

Spread the word about these great unit studies and pray that we can all become ambassadors for life!

God Bless!