bed

we need a new bed.
i am thankful for our bed.
we were gifted it right before we got married.


thank heavens too - because Lord knows we did not have money for a bed, and it's kind of one of those necessary things for a young married couple who have never known each other before. yeah, you know what i mean.


but six years in and it's day has come.


every day I wake up with a sore neck and a tight back and a grumpy disposition because of it. 


it's time, dear husband of mine, to concede and loosen up those purse strings. and while we're at it, new sheets and a duvet that isn't thread-bare would be nice. and pillows, pillows would be bliss. (take note robbie - i wasn't joking when I asked for pillows for christmas. it totally counts as a need item!)


I'm thinking a king size, organic mattress is just what my aching neck ordered.


p.s. to my husband - I know you read this, so consider this post the official beginning of the conversation.

the cleaning can wait

I think.

I am trying to tell myself that, anyway.


I am trying to remember that the state of this house. this temporal, man-made, house doesn't define me. 


meeting the expectations I have on myself isn't where i find my identity. it's not in my weight, in my hair length, it's not in how many loads of laundry I can do, or the style of furniture i like, or the blogs i read, or my sewing machine, or the music i listen to. 


it's not even in my kids, or my husband (gasp! the thought...)...


i have a lot of work to do. 
or not do depending on how you look at it. 

homeschooling

we've decided to homeschool.


ack.


at times I feel like I am biting off more than I can chew.


mostly I feel peaceful and excited by it all.


the sheer amount of information to wade through is overwhelming though, even at my most confident times.


a year will fly by though, so I need to get serious about this stuff.


is it bad that I am already giddy with excitement over buying school supplies?

cookie love

molasses used to scare me.


ginger snaps have always been my favorite but for some reason, I stayed clear of them when it came to my own kitchen. it's the molasses. For one, I could never find it in the aisles of our grocery store (syrup! not baking - who knew?... probably everyone) and secondly, I haven't really trusted the stuff since the crazy lady at church told me to give it to my baby to stop his throwing up and then ever so bluntly told me to chug the stuff too and the pounds would melt off. grr.


anyway. the cookies.


better than your grandma's. guaranteed. 


a lofty guarantee but oh so true.


test me on this. 


i dare you to prove me wrong.


tsk, tsk. so arrogant sarah.


the cookies made me do it.

the recipe:
2 C sifted unbleached, all purpose flour
1 T ground ginger
2 t baking soda
1 t ground cinnamon
½ t salt
¾ C butter
⅔ C white sugar
1 egg
¼ C molasses
1 t vanilla
⅓ cinnamon sugar

• preheat oven to 350°
• sift flour, ginger baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in bowl
• beat butter until creamy
• gradually add in sugar
• beat in egg, molasses, and vanilla
• sift ⅓ of the flour mixture into the butter mixture
• gradually sift in the rest of the flour mixture until a soft dough forms
• roll into 1" balls and roll in cinnamon sugar until ball is completely covered
• bake for roughly 10 minutes (until cracked and slightly rounded)

you could cool them and store them in an airtight container, but you'll likely eat them all before that.

sharing optional.

dear saturday,

you are ripe with opportunity and I love you.


sincerely,
sarah

home

I haven't lived at home for 10 years.


You know, home, home. Home where your mom cooks for you, home where you find the weirdest little time warp decorative pieces, home where everything is in the same place it was when you were 7 (except the silverware, why in the world after all these years would you switch that? it messes with me everytime). That kind of home.


I got married. I grew up. (yeah in that order) we had a baby. we bought a house. we built our own home. and it's great. and gets better every day. i love our home. the people, the things, the smells. all of it. because it's ours and we did it together. just me and the husband.


but for all that building and working on our own home, the old home, never stopped feeling like home.


until this weekend.


we went home for thanksgiving and it all felt different. familiar still. but so different.


they're building and changing at home.

and so  am I, but it's here at my home, with my own, new people.
strange business, this getting older.

thrifting//the desk & the desk lamp

For a long time, the husband has needed a place to study. And lo, we finally found it. For under $5. I love it. We moved it in and it just belonged. At the store, I thought we should refinish it somehow, but now I love it's shabbiness and two (three... four...?)-tone finish.


Nestled perfectly into our bedroom, I love catching glimpses of it from down the hall. I think it may have taken the top spot on my favorite thrift store finds list.

We bought the light this summer at a garage sale and haven't had anywhere to put it until now. It's an old piano light but since we don't have a piano and now we do have a desk, we thought this little set up would be ideal.

thanksgiving

could it be better than

dad's candied potatoes,

turkey,

and mom's pie?

yeah, i didn't think so.

it was fun while it lasted.

fall came and went last week. 

so we trucked out in the cold and blustery weather to outfit ourselves in toasty new jackets and boots.

but not without a photo shoot first.

the snow proved a formidable adversary to this photo taking mama, so daddy had to step in. it was just way too exciting though and the snow beat us both.

the photo session was short lived. 

how strange to see the leaves, still green, hanging with snow. hello winter!

the tomatoes

i knew i wanted to be this type of person, i just never thought i actually would be.

we were gifted a crate load of tomatoes and i knew i would feel guilty if i didn't at least try to do something with them.

so i canned.

i canned.

i found a recipe online and set to work.

the best part was definitely peeling the tomatoes. who knew how satisfying it would be to feel the skin slide off?

the yield wasn't quite as high as I was hoping, but I wanted a thicker sauce so we simmered away for most of the afternoon and ended up with a few pints of perfectly thick and rustic tomato sauce. and more is on the way. just as soon as the rest of the bundle ripens.

dear sun,

finally.

the doctor is out

this year for Halloween the boy wanted to be a doctor. so today, on this, the umpteenth day of dreary, rainy fall weather, I got to work.

it turned into one of those sewing days. ugh. the kind where your stitches aren't straight no matter what you do, and the pattern reads like some ancient lost language that you have no hope of ever deciphering, and the whole thing leaves you so discouraged and frustrated you say a lot of words your kids shouldn't hear. and then you cry.

there is a generous amount of time left before this costume is actually worn, but for now it stays like this.

tea time

black tea + milk + caramel sauce = a perfectly palatable tea for the four year old. 

and his mama too.

wrinkly hands

i love washing dishes.


in the sink.

usually though speediness wins out and the ease of the dishwasher just makes sense in our busy days. 


today though, with the kids in quiet time, i ran the water and sunk my hands into the soapy bubbles. and relaxed.

there is something that is so therapeutic about the process for me. the hot water. the way it reminds me of being a kid, watching my mom at the sink. the satisfaction of seeing the immediate results of my work. how it feels like a throwback to a time without the convenience of well, everything. 

it feels simple. i feel good when I do it.

and that is better than the incessant moaning of the dishwasher any day.

the baby conundrum

i want a baby.
how absurd is that?
i know what will happen to me if we get pregnant again.
i know months and months of agony will ensue and then it will all wrap up nicely with hours of terrifying pain.
not to mention the healing, the sleepless night, the sore boobs, the hormones.


but i want it so badly i can feel an ache inside.


will this ever go away? will having another fix it? or will it just delay the feeling which would inevitably come back once the newest bubba was walking and the next friend got pregnant? 


am i destined to feel this way no matter how many babies we have? 
because, at some point, they would all have to grow up.


this whole being content business is hard work. 

the breadwinner

four slings were made and sold this weekend. four! 


there was a frantic night of sewing friday night but they all got done. 


and no pictures were taken.


it was a real blessing to us this month though and I am grateful to have contributed in a dollar sort of way. the bank account doesn't keep track of meals made, or loads of laundry washed, or cleaning lists completed, or tears wiped away, or books read, or diapers changed, or prayers said. 


it should.


we would be rich.

maybe we are rich.