a cat, Ethan wrestling, Grace’s friend, & my books

Posted on December 22, 2015 by Shanda

We can’t keep kids or cats away from our beautiful Christmas tree! And it makes me smile.

Hello my friends. Rich and I are together today. We went downtown for breakfast and then to the mall to finish up our shopping. We are home now. He has his feet up on the coffee table and my feet are on his lap along with his laptop. And, I have my laptop, too. Parker is next to me licking his leg loudly and Gentleman Gray is curled up on a blanket at the end of the couch. It’s dark and pouring rain outside. Poor Caleb will not get snow for Christmas this year, I’m afraid.

Have I mentioned that Rich is the head coach for our school’s wrestling team? The first tournament was on Saturday and I got right up at the crack of dawn with him and rode with the team on the bus to the location, which was an hour away. Seth and Sarah came, too. Grace came along because she’s the team manager. It’s a family affair.

Here is a picture of Ethan after he won a match. The assistant coach is talking things over with him, his name is Jim. Little brother Seth is hanging around wanting to say “good job” to his big brother. ‘Cause that’s what you do.

Ethan is pretty intense so it’s nice when he cracks a slight smile.

handshake

Later on, Ethan got bloody and lost a match. There’s his Dad in the background, and Coach Jim is about to take his arm and lead him to the trainer to get cleaned up. Oh and there’s Seth again.

Here is a picture of Ethan right after he won another match. All in all, he did very well. He wants to do nothing but win, his heart is in the right place, but this time he lost 2 and won 2. Ethan is a senior this year and we have high hopes that he will continue to do well in wrestling, and then he will move on to baseball. Before we know it he will graduate, and I hate to say this but it looks like he’s heading for the service after graduation. I’m trying not to think about it but stay tuned because by God’s grace that blog post will eventually be written.

THESE TWO ARE SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grace and her suitor. I took their picture from clear across the gym because I can’t help myself.

*****

I hope your Christmas plans are all coming together. I have decorated the house. I have bought and wrapped the gifts. I have planned a Christmas Eve brunch. I have made cookies….but they have all been eaten so I plan on making more if I can gather up enough interest…I feel as though I don’t really need to eat anymore cookies. I’ve been reading books instead of baking. One of my favorite authors is Janice Holt Giles, who wrote books in the 1960’s. “Pre internet” fiction is my favorite, it seems less spoiled and more sincere. I read her book, Hannah Fowler years and years ago–many times, and finally got around to reading several more of her books which I picked up at library booksales. I finished Tara’s Healing yesterday and then started Savanna. I would be interested in knowing if there are anymore Giles fans out there!

David’s bus will arrive in half an hour so I have just enough time to read a few more chapters before the late afternoon rush of children/homework/wrestling practice/dinner begins.

You are loved. ~Shanda

If you’re alone, I’ll be your shadow. If you want to cry, I’ll be your shoulder. If you want a hug, I’ll be your pillow. If you need to be happy, I’ll be your smile. But anytime you need a friend, I’ll just be me. ~Author Unknown

what family means to me

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Shanda

Once again, never to be taken for granted, Rich and I and all seven of the children were together in our warm and cozy living room — to decorate our Christmas tree, purchased in town at the Fire Department for 30 dollars.

It was delightful chaos. Talking, bossing, laughing, non stop movement to and from the tree to the ornament boxes which were all along the couch.

Seven times we experienced the miracle of birth, births of our own flesh and blood, baby girls and boys from a man and woman whom God joined together as one. As the children grow and develop into their own individual selves, we are all the more thankful for each and every moment with them. They teach us so much, they remind us of what we have forgotten–that life is an adventure from sun up to sun down. Very little worries, seldom any cares, only exciting things to look forward to and absolute trust that Mom and Dad will love and nurture them.

From the oldest to the youngest, we are their Parents until death do us part. To support, guide, enjoy, and yes…even step away (but never too far away) in order to give space for them to make their own decisions in life. They will become stronger and independent, knowing that we are there to cheer them on their journey of living.

Firstborn Jacob’s 19th birthday is the last day of the month.

While the youngest, Sarah, is only five and a half.

Each child is a gift, so unique, so amazingly precious to me and to their Dad.

They have brought so much gladness and light into our lives.

As their Mother, their pains are my pains, their joys are my joys. Their love is my love. One of the most romantic things I have witnessed occurred last night and oh, last week at this time I would have never dreamed that my darling daughter would very soon have a loving, Christian boy humbly ask and receive the blessing of her very protective Dad to get to know her……….and my heart gives grateful praise even as I sneak upstairs to read their text messages after she goes to school. *sigh* soooooo sweet

taking off the hats

discussing the hat with Ethan the 17 year old.

still discussing the hat

I gave the hat back.

MERRY MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS

busy kitchen, happy hearts

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Shanda

Good morning, dear friends and relations, it is a beautiful fall day. The official first day of winter is in one week and it currently does not feel a bit like winter. Caleb, my precious soft hearted boy, had tears in his eyes this morning as he looked at the weather report for the days leading up to Christmas. NO SNOW. He said he prayed about it, too. He wonders if we will have ANY snow AT ALL this winter. It’s so important to him that it makes me long for snow, too. What a happy boy I will have on that day.

I went down to the chicken coop to let out the hens and give them a bowl of leftovers. I collected three eggs and stood at the pond to look at the beauty around me as I prayed a good morning prayer to God, asking him to send down his blessings on this old world, thanking Him for all He enables us to do each day….learn, grow, think, laugh, praise, heal, feel, work, BE…new creations. The old has passed away and the new has come like a miracle. Every good thing comes from above and our thankful hearts please Him.

The birds are happy, too. I have a feeder by the porch which brings in the songbirds. They sit in the bushes by the house and take turns flying over to select a seed.

I opened windows and turned on the house fan for some fresh air. Later on I will go the post office to get a Christmas card weighed because I bought a pack that require extra postage, but how much extra? I need to figure it out and get to work writing my cards, which I do so love to do, sending out mail is a pleasure. Receiving it is, too!

*****

How about one last post featuring dear Hannah? Oh, we had a lovely visit, doing so many simple sweet things together like sing and play piano, put together puzzles, watch TV, go for walks, and……..WORK IN THE KITCHEN. How fun it is to work side by side with another woman in the kitchen! Four hands are better than two. And we were blessed with two little helpers….eight hands ready to work in the busy kitchen.

While Hannah set to work making her famous chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles, I began a batch of Christmas cookies….Russian tea cakes. I only regret that I didn’t think of sending a box home with her because they are a very sturdy and delicious cookie indeed, able to survive a trip to Alaska.

flour, eggs, butter, water, salt…..such humble ingredients turn into the best of comfort foods…NOODLES

She rolled the dough as thin as possible and then cut the noodles on a cutting board.

Then, she sprinkled them on a floured cookie sheet to dry for a little while.

I put Seth and Sarah to work rolling balls of cookie dough. “Is this one too big Mom?” she asked. “Yes, a little.” “Okay,” she said as she solved the problem by taking a chunk off to put it in her mouth.

just right.

sweet happy Hannah. In this picture you can see the paper Angel garland over the entry to the dining room. Hannah bought one for her house, too. Isn’t it pretty?

The noodles are all cut out and waiting to be placed in hot flavorful chicken broth.

The cookies are done and powdered sugar (which Sarah called flour over and over regardless of my corrections) was everywhere — reminding us of Caleb’s elusive snow.

I left Hannah briefly in order to pick up my teenagers from High School and take a few of their friends home. When we returned, dinner was done. She made fresh and creamy mashed potatoes for us to pour the soup over. Every bit of this meal was homemade and it was so delicious that even though I was filled up by my first helping, I knew it would be a crime not to enjoy a second helping. So I did.

And it was just what Grace needed to recover from a long long day of school.

But that wasn’t the end of Hannah’s work in the kitchen that night. As soon as she was done with the chicken, she began a batch of overnight cinnamon rolls.

((By the way, Hannah was wearing an apron that she made for me years ago.))

THE NEXT MORNING……Sarah eagerly watched the cinnamon rolls bake in the oven at 350 degrees.

pretty pretty profile

The cinnamon rolls were blanketed with cream cheese frosting.

Once again, I helped myself to several cinnamon rolls too many just for the sake of taking advantage of the freshness, the homemadeness, and the lovingness of Hannah’s baking. Although she mourned what she considered *a shade too brown of a bottom*, let me assure you THEY WERE PERFECTION.

After our cinnamon roll breakfast, we took David, Caleb, Seth, and Sarah to the movies. But before we did, we attempted a “frameworthy” photo of the two of us. Forever friends.

That night, Hannah helped us decorate our Christmas tree. Tomorrow I will share the family photos she took of Rich and I with the kids. But this next one was one that I had Grace take of the two of us holding books that we bonded over. I first believed Hannah was a possible kindred spirit because she mentioned on her old xanga blog that she was reading the James Herriot books which I absolutely LOVE. Then, later on, once we became pen pals and got to know each other better, we read several LM Montgomery books together, including Pat of Silver Bush.

Book recommendations!

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.”

“True friends are always together in spirit” LM Montgomery

by our love

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Shanda

“Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy!”

Christmastime this year has been made brighter by the visit of my precious friend, Hannah. I mentioned a few blog posts ago, when I posted pictures of the blouse she made me, that she is the only friend I have that has battled depression. I have struggled once again with that old curse that I hate so much, and during this time, according to the typical nature of depression, I found myself closing off from almost everyone around me…..except for Hannah. She lives so far away, in the beautiful state of Alaska, but she graciously and promptly answered all my texts, responding hastily with the love of Jesus, verses, encouragement. We talked several times on the phone. I felt comfortable voicing those parts of my heart that needed expression and light.

And then came the moment when she asked if she could come and visit me. She couldn’t take the depression away but she could sit by my side in full understanding. I’ll never forget her words, “If I had to go through depression in order to help you, it was worth it.” We felt the visit was truly God-ordained, even to the price of her round trip, only 36 dollars!

Jesus is always with us, He promised in his Word that He would never leave us, nor forsake us. I believe that He uses His people in tangible ways to love us. What I mean is, Hannah has been *my Jesus with skin on*. I hope that doesn’t sound disrespectful. Jesus is within all believers, we are a temple of the Holy Spirit, we have this treasure in jars of clay, and as we hold one another, sit beside one another, speak to one another, we are experiencing His love through a brother or sister in Christ. He loves me through her. As I spent time with her, I felt as if Jesus Himself was with me.

Hannah is not the only friend I have like this. If you’re reading this and you’re my friend then it is the same with you. God places certain people in our lives whom we cannot forget even if we might sometimes want to. Their names are written on our hearts. I have friends that I will be loyal to until the day I die, I simply cannot neglect the brothers and sisters in Christ that God has brought into my world. I’m thinking of so many people right now that have shared my life with me, and I with them, many of them are my own relatives but some of them are not. Why does He do this? I have to believe that it is because part of the work He has for us to do is to love each other deeply, encourage each other, sacrifice time and energy, so that the journey through life is not without abundant support and meaning. It’s a beautiful thing to see.

The Bible says, “If we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us.”

HOW AMAZING IS THAT?

I found a quote on Pinterest that says it well: “When God puts love and compassion in your heart toward someone, He’s offering you an opportunity to make a difference in that person’s life. You must learn to follow that love. Don’t ignore it. Act on it. Someone needs what you have.”

I’ve been writing about lifelong relationships, but this concept of being an instrument of God’s love applies to the “one time” act of kindness for a random stranger, too. How many people have we unconsciously showed grace and love to, without even being aware that our smile, our small conversation, our politeness, touched someone’s life in a meaningful way at just the right time? How many times did a stranger touch our hearts with kindness that made us thank God then and there?

Surely, God is in full operation at ALL TIMES. Moving, breathing, shepherding us THROUGH EACH OTHER. (and his Word, his World, and so many other ways, too). Praise Him with me!

Oh for eyes that see and give Him glory. And in all things, to give thanks.

A few days ago Hannah and I went to a museum together. We drove into the city, parked in a parking garage, and walked a few blocks to the museum. It was a special time at the museum, too, because of Christmas, there were decorated trees and choirs singing as we wandered delightfully through the rooms. Oh how we loved the artwork! We came away determined to enjoy more art and Hannah wants to study art history. It was fascinating.

I took a few photos of the trees. The first picture in this blog post is one that an older lady did. She lives in a nursing home and knitted every single ornament and garland for her tree. I loved it. I loved imagining her working on it.

A bird tree, a tree decorated with origami which reminded me of my David who loves to fold paper, and another view of the “yarn” tree.

A Harry Potter tree! (David is reading all the books these days, he’s now on #6)

And then we made our way into the art exhibits. There was a folded card which showed the details of each painting so we took advantage of that and studied each one.

There was so much spiritual depth in the works, some we understood, others we felt as if there was more to learn….which I suppose is one of the purposes of museums and art…to create a thirst for knowledge as we appreciate the beauty.

And, by the way, we both wore blouses that Hannah made herself~art from the sewing machine!

that beautiful blue color

Book of Hours from the 1400’s. Imagine the work that went into this amazing book and all the hands that touched it through the years.

Egyptian cat

Amazingly carved linden wood.

“Still life with Ham”

a GORGEOUS silver center piece which we stood and looked at for a while

This too! A birdcage!

made entirely of porcelain (I think…or something similar)….amazing detail and beauty

God’s art….above and beyond anything we could even imagine!

God made Hannah, too, a beautiful work of art, and He made YOU as well…so special and unique, truly one of a kind.

After seeing as much as we could possibly absorb in one day, we made our way to lunch at the cafe and then shopped the gift shop for Christmas gifts.

It was a memorable day with a dear friend.

You are LOVED!

happenings

Posted on December 8, 2015 by Shanda

LOVE

JOY

PEACE

forbearance

kindness

goodness

faithfulness

gentleness

self control

against such things there is no law.

Good evening, my friends.

Today is a wonderful day. I am finally feeling more like myself. Thank the Lord for doctors and modern medicine. After I got the kids out the door for school, my oldest son Jacob got up and showered. When he came downstairs he told me that he didn’t have to go to college today so I mentioned that I was going to go shopping in about an hour. I had some photos to pick up and some things I needed to get. He right away showed his willingness to go along with me without even being asked…he said, “Oh, than I can show you those legos at the mall that I wanted to get the boys for Christmas.” It made me smile that he wanted to go with me.

He drove me after I said I would give him gas money. Gas money is very important to 18 year old young men. He talked to me the whole time we were together. And if he wasn’t talking, he was singing along to his music. He and his girlfriend share a spotify music account now, isn’t that romantic? They also did community service together yesterday by picking up litter along some of the main roads in our area.

Jacob LOVES music. He has quite a varied collection, from classical to Christian metal.

We went to several stores, including Starbucks and Five Guys (burgers) for lunch. Then he drove us to his school so that we could pay for his next semester. He walked me around and showed me the library. He loves his classes, his professors, and the campus. I’m so thankful for the way he is adjusting and becoming independent. The place he works for originally hired him for the Holidays, but recently asked him to stay on full-time. He loves his job and the people he has met.

The chickens get bowls of old leftovers and they love it. It looks sickening to us humans, though. I always have to laugh when I hand a bowl over to a child and say “run this down to the chickens” and they do, while gagging.

Just beyond the hens, in that spot that looks like briars, is a small little pond nestled down a bank. I love that little pond, and so do the chickens. They make their way down and drink from it. Beyond that (the building you see) is our garage.

Holiday FIESTAWARE display!

precious children coming home off the bus

Dear teachers, your students notice everything you do. The other day I told Sarah she would make a good teacher someday and after sitting there thinking about it she said, “No I don’t think so. It’s such hard work! And I don’t know how to make a star!”

Tis the season for gingerbread men. She brought another one home today. It’s a paper plate painted brown, with a circle at the top of it for a head and oval arms and legs decorated with glitter. Only it looks more like a brown turtle then a gingerbread man.

Saturday morning these guys went to a wrestling practice.

Grace brought her rabbit inside for a little while and we had such a time watching funny Gentleman Gray visit with him from the top of the cage.

I put a small box inside of her cage yesterday and she had a great time chewing it up into a bed.

beauty in an apple core

beauty outside the door

Going back to the aloe vera plant. Just a few months ago the planter contained one big “mama” plant that was so big that it was tipping the whole planter over unless I balanced it against the wall. The appearance was beginning to bother me so I cut it right off and threw it away. It has been a delight to see so many baby plants grow up in it’s place. I hope to divide it soon and share with friends. I’m sure there is a parable in there somewhere.

Tonight I am picking my dear friend Hannah up from the airport and I cannot wait.

victorian christmas

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Shanda

As promised, today I would like to show you the photos that I took at the Madrigal performance on Saturday. The group sang at this old house-turned-museum, which was decorated to the hilt for Christmas. The community had it open for the public to come in and enjoy, free of charge, with a donation box for those who could give a little. There was also a small craft table for children to enjoy, a gift shop with reasonably priced Christmas items for sale, and refreshments.

small table tree, covered in decorations

paper dolls under the tree, artificial fruit bowl, ginger bread man, fruit garland.

This was a cobweb Christmas game. The children would each have their own color yarn to follow and as they went along the string they would come across small gifts to keep.

the main Christmas tree, with examples of gifts all over the floor underneath.

The clothesline was hung in the house at Christmas so that the children could each hang their own pillowcase on it, which would have their name on it and be filled with gifts.

The dining room…I loved the wallpaper in this room.

Garland and bows hung all around the tops of the walls.

I have two fireplace mantles at my house so I love to see examples for how they can be beautified for the holidays.

Now this is something that I could handle….simply placing pinecones along the windows.

The day after we visited the museum Sarah and I went in the woods to find some.

Another lovely mantel. So beautiful. Sarah thought the oranges at the tops of the stockings looked funny.

This was a Christmas idea for Grandmother, called a wonder ball. The family would unwind a ball of yard and then wind it back up again with little gifts inside of it for her to discover as she used it up in her knitting.

This pie plate was full of little gifts which were then covered over in bran. Each person at the table on Christmas day would use the spoon to lift a surprise gift…

This is a variation of the bran pie. This one is covered in paper with strings to pull a gift out through a slit in the paper.

“Festival decorations are not designed for close inspection but for general effect, and simple materials may be used with the most satisfactory results.” Vicks Floral Guild 1879

Sarah and I had time to explore the house and then it was time to listen to the Madrigals sing their lovely old fashioned Christmas hymns and carols.

Grace signing “Silent Night”

The audience had to stand through all the songs and I did feel sorry for the elderly folks. The man standing by the mantel propped himself up by his fingertips on the mantel…..but he loved hearing the children sing and at each invitation from the director to “please join us in singing this song” his beautiful old baritone voice could be heard singing.

Grace and I have been listening to a beautiful Christmas album by Elizabeth Mitchell while we work on a Nativity puzzle. This is the song Grace wants to listen to over and over…….(the whole album is on youtube for you to enjoy)

I’m so homesick for Jesus and Heaven. Isn’t it wonderful that this world is not our home….we’re just a passing through. In the meantime, we can fix our eyes on Him and know He never leaves us alone. He loves us so much. At this time of year it’s comforting to snuggle up close to Him and thank Him for all He has done.

grace wants to show you her dress

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Shanda

She dresses up in this pretty gown for her school singing group.

The Madrigals travel our local towns, singing at Christmas time in centers, malls, clubs, and so on. Today they sang at a beautifully decorated old house, decorated in the Victorian style for Christmastime. Before we left, we crossed the road into the woods for a few portraits.

In my next blog post I will share photos of the house and the performance.

(very inspiring!)

short and simple

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Shanda

There is snow falling in blog-land!

How are you, my friends? I hope you are well, and if you’re anything like me, not feeling your best and trying to be patient while your medication starts to kick in then I hope and pray for you. Be kind to yourself. If you’re staying at home too much, get out of the house and go shopping. That’s what I did today and it helped tremendously.

Everything is going to be okay.

“Let us always meet each other with a smile, because a smile is the beginning of love.” Mother Theresa

I bought a decorative plate holder and added a vintage yellow fiesta chop plate to the top of my cookbook shelf, right underneath Aunt Colleen’s painting. I like this little spot in my house. I put the stool there yesterday and Sarah promptly sat down to sing to herself and color. While she’s at school, Gentleman Gray sits there and tells me what to do.

He wanted me to put the camera down and pet him.

But I wanted to show you a picture of my new moccasins. Grace and I each got a pair this weekend. They are so comfy and just like wearing slippers. She said with a little laughter, “I love these shoes, why didn’t we get these sooner?”

Dave just got home from school.

“This would make a good picture, Mom.”

My little Christmas tree.

Aunt Amanda and Sarah made this paper chain. I helped a little, too. Every day we tear a chain off until Christmas comes.

in which we decorate a wild evergreen tree

Posted on November 27, 2015 by Shanda

Last week I went for a walk in the sunshine and noticed a small evergreen tree growing just outside the state forest by the side of the road, not far from our house. I envisioned it decorated for Christmas and what a fun feeling it would be to drive by and see a tree that doesn’t belong to anyone, with holiday ornaments on it. I followed through with this vision and bought some large unbreakable ornaments today. When I got home, I gathered up my four happy youngest children plus their two friends and off we went on a exciting short walk to The Tree. As you can see, we had a nice warm weather day today. Several children were barefoot and Seth was shirtless, too.

I stood on the road to take this picture. I hope that once the snow falls the green ornaments will stand out more. I wonder if anyone will notice this little tree when they drive past? Even if they don’t, it will be a secret pleasure for the children and me.

the always important little things……

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Shanda

Good morning and happy Monday, friends!

I made this wreath! About a month ago I went for a walk in the woods and came across a convenient grape vine to pull down. It was thin and pliable, not like the ones that grow so thick that the only part I can reach is as big around as a small tree with the rest of the vine grown far up into the tree tops. I pulled the little grapevine down and wound it up into a circle the best I could. And there it hang, back at home, outside on a nail for a month until I got ” a round tuit”, which was Saturday afternoon. I went outside with scissors and cut some evergreens (some still had tiny pinecones on them) and wild berries. I already had the dry grass (the tops look and feel as soft as down) in the house –I picked it from the side of the beaver pond. I used forest green yarn to tie everything together and a brown ribbon on the bottom, tied in a bow. I’m way too proud of it.

I also made a jello cake from my new favorite cookbook. It was amazing. In fact……

As soon as it was done, we ate it all. (after I took the picture, Ethan ate the last piece).

It wasn’t hard to eat it all in one go because we had a house FULL. In this picture there are 10 teenagers, 2 big dogs, and a small gray cat. There are two kids not in the picture, plus Rich and I.

Allie

Zak, Parker-the-dog, and Ethan

David made a Harry Potter wand all by himself out of a small tree he cut down in the woods. Then he carved it up and shellacked it. Sarah made turkeys out of her handprints. The Cook’s County cookbook is the one I got the jello cake from. Today I’m making a raspberry chiffon pie!

But mainly this post is about the love of my life-Richard Charles-who was gone all last week but is now home again and the part of my heart that needs *my husband around all the time* is at peace. From Monday-Wednesday he was in TX for work and then Thurs-through Saturday afternoon he was finishing up his coaching medical class that he was able to take so he can be the head coach for wrestling at our local HS this year. He was the assistant last year. He is going to LOVE coaching….he can’t wait to get started.

Well, I made him a nice “honey-do” list yesterday afternoon when he started hinting at going out for a run (which takes hours)…and he got right to work. So I thought I would show you some of the other little things we have done around the house lately……..

He put fresh lightbulbs in the ceiling fan on our cathedral ceiling.

While the ladder was out, Seth and Sarah decided to climb it.

(by the way, Seth trimmed his own bangs…he’s such a helpful child!)

Turns out Sarah is afraid of heights. I say this because she was only about two feet off the ground and beginning to shake like a leaf.

He changed out this outlet. It used to be a plain old outlet but it was loose in the wall and nothing would stay plugged into it, the cords would just fall out. It’s an important outlet because it’s on the wall at the end of the couch and we like to plug in the electric blanket and phones there. Consequently, while he was at it, he bought an outlet that has two slots for phone chargers, too. Very convenient. It’s amazing how such a small change can lift one’s spirits.

I bought this plastic bag holder a few months ago. It came with sticky strips on the top and bottom but the thing would NOT stay on the wall using just the strips. So it had to be put away until yesterday when I got Rich to hang it back up, using screws. (in the pantry)

This is our toilet paper dispenser. Rich actually hung these up a few weeks ago. We bought one for each the downstairs and upstairs bathrooms because the bathrooms are used so much that we were going through rolls and rolls of toilet paper and the rolls were all over the place. I love this dispenser because it’s clean, it’s locked, and it holds a large roll of paper. Half the kids thought it looked too “public bathroom” but I just don’t care…..I can’t tell you how many toilet paper holders have fallen off the walls, it’s nice to know this is here to stay. Michael says they were hung too low but he’s over 6 feet tall and we were thinking of our small kids at the time……

I love my new garbage can. We needed one for our dining room and this one is beautiful. It also has an open top (flip lids are an extra step) to “make baskets” into. Sarah can look right inside the top and see her papers from school that I throw away. Then she can get them right back out again.

Well, that’s about it as far as small home improvements. Rich also rehung the towel rack in our bathroom but I didn’t take a picture of that……(small mercies, right?)

These two little boys were stuck to their dad like glue yesterday watching everything he did and talking to him about football. It was precious to see.

“The small things of life were often so much bigger than the great things . . . the trivial pleasures like cooking, one’s home, little poems especially sad ones, solitary walks, funny things seen and overheard.” Barbara Pym