I’m excited to offer one-of-a-kind felt sets for sale.  I just finished a new set this morning.

For more details see my one-of-a-kind felt sets page.

Lynn

Nothing says WELCOME like a fresh new rug at the door, even if it’s a 90-some-year-old doorway like mine — one that’s been redone and redone and has only recently been touched up again with a coat of white paint.  It’s the best we can do right now.

I had a gift certificate from Kohl’s where I did so much shopping for funeral clothes on the day after Thanksgiving.  Yes, I was out shopping for funeral clothes on black Friday.  It would sound scary if one didn’t know that black Friday was only a shopping day and nothing more.

Anyway, check out the back door.  (I used to NOT like that my house was blue, but now I just go with it.)

I just love the new rug.  I like the primitive-looking trees and the green with the blue.

NOW let me tell you something.  I am going on a favorite fieldtrip to a dreamy-wonderful store not too far from where I live.  The owner is a lot of fun to talk with and she told me I was welcome to take pictures and put them on my blog.  You’ll love this place!  I will probably be going in the next 3 or 4 days.  I’ll put pictures up as soon as I have them!

Lynn

I knew at some point I would try this on.  I did today.  It was one other thing that was my grandmother’s that was given to me and I did want to share how pretty it is.  It is an apron that she ordered not long ago.

Isn’t it great?  I’m sure I won’t be using it to do anything that will mess it up.

Lynn

I just wanted to share a picture and a few thoughts this morning.  Last night I walked through the small foyer that surrounds the staircase in our home.  I looked up, and there on the little landing lay my 6-foot 2-inch, 200+-pound 16-year-old son, reading.  I had to smile.  (Then I grabbed my digital camera.)  I surmised that all his favorite places to read — the den, the upstairs bedrooms, my big office chair — were being occupied by someone else, so he found just any place he could to read. 

You can only know how thrilling this is if you have had a child that you struggled greatly (for years) to teach to read!  Joseph has dyslexia.  He looks at things differently from the rest of us, on and off the pages of a book, I might add.  I never did give up on him and was even determined that he would be a super reader.  My heart sings a song of thankfulness everytime I see him reading like this. 

For those of you who are teaching a child with dyslexia:  Don’t give up!

Lynn

I went to see my mother and my aunt today as they worked through cleaning out my grandmother’s apartment.  They have been working on this for a couple of days now.  They should not be there alone — either one of them — so other family members are trying to rally around and be supportive. 

As an aside, when I got home today my beautiful rose from Grandma’s gravesite was looking a bit wilted so I put it and a carnation and some heather into my flower press.

Sorting through Grandma’s things was like walking through a garden of memories.  My mom and my aunt alternated between crying when they’d come across a gown or something that smelled beautiful like Grandma and laughing at all the funny little things that Grandma had kept and done with her things.  As I looked at things, I’d remember something she had said or an occasion that had been tucked into the back of my mind.  I can say this:  My grandmother did not have a multitude of things, but she didn’t have one of anything.  She liked “plenty,” just in case, and the older she got the more intense this was, I think. 

I got a few special things to remember my grandmother (with my aunt’s and my mom’s approval, of course), and they were putting things aside for the other grandchildren and great-grandchildren as well.  Like I said, not a multitude of things, but just little things to remember her by.

I suppose my favorite thing will be the Smith’s Bible Dictionary. Of course, her copy was an older edition. I also brought something home for my daughter.  A little trinket box with a few pretty pins. 

There were a few other sundry things that would seem trite here.  It was a special time today.  I just wish my sister and my sweet cousins could have been there.

Lynn

I wanted to share a little about a merchant I have just become affiliated with: Our Green House.  I am very excited about their products.  You will find links to their products at The Healthy Homeschool!  You can click on the banner below to start browsing now.

They have many products that I love, but the Sigg water bottles and the Mrs. Meyers cleaners caught my eye immediately when I saw their website.  I love the baby clothes and the home scents and furnishings and their toys made in the USA.

Lynn

It’s not that I’m falling apart or anything.  It’s just that when the casket is closed and carried away, it’s so final.  I’ll never speak to or hug my grandmother again.  It’s a time of reflection and pondering many things, including whether or not I’m ready to go myself.  We don’t know when we’ll be called from this life of busy-ness.

I took a rose from the gravesite, as all the daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters did.  I keep looking at it.

It’s so beautiful, but it won’t last, and I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with it. 

It felt good to get back home tonight and know that at last the formalities are over.  It felt good to all come bustling in the door of home together, turn the gas stoves up higher to get our home-sweet-home nice and warm again, and cherish the anticipation of an evening ahead.  Is there anything like family?  Is there anything better than having them all here at home with us?

We cooked something easy.  The left-over ham from Thanksgiving Day went well tonight with eggs and cheese.  I watched my 9-year-old daughter as she stirred the eggs on the stove. 

My heart is just so full when I look at my children.  There’s so much I want to teach them.  I want so much for them to embrace good and right.  I’m thankful tonight to have them all home with me.  It’s a good place to be.

Lynn

Here it is Thanksgiving Day, and here I sit mourning the loss of my grandmother, who died this morning, on Thanksgiving morning. 

She was born in a different time – 1917.  She lived through things that are history to me and my children.  She was beautiful.  So beautiful.  The men who knew her when she was young said she was ”pretty as a peach.”  She was a faithful wife and mother to five children, losing one child — my mother’s twin – at birth.  Two of her children — her only sons — preceded her in death.  She suffered losses that I cannot imagine, and yet she kept going and living and being my grandmother.

When my own mother called me to tell me my grandmother had died, she cried like I have never heard her cry.  Her crying made me cry.  Her pitiful sounds over the phone were the evidence that she had lost something that was part of the essence of her very being.  It made me realize again how much we owe to our own mothers. 

Our mothers make us what we are — their tending to us, their loving us, their nurturing, their scolding, their teaching, their approval — and their actions shape us, just as surely as a potter molds clay.

If one is blessed to have a good and sweet and kind mother, as my mother was blessed, and as I am blessed, then the loss is great when mother passes to another realm and a great gap is made between that cannot be crossed. 

Sophocles said, “Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life.”  Well, we ”anchors” stay pretty busy being attached to our mothers, no matter how old we get!  We may not need them every single minute or be dependent on them for care anymore, but I certainly know who I call when I need a shoulder to cry on, and sometimes all it takes is my mother’s sweet voice to start the tears falling.

Mary Lamb said, “Thou straggler into loving arms, young climber up of knees, when I forget thy thousand ways, then life and all shall cease.”  Mothers do love their children just like that until they draw their last breath, and so a great love that my mother had always known took its last breath today.  That was her crying.

That’s her.  My grandmother, in her youth, beautiful, with all of her life before her.  I am going to miss her.  My mother is going to miss her even more.

Who ran to help me when I fell,
and would some pretty story tell,
or kiss the place to make it well?
My mother.

Ann Taylor (1783-1866) and Jane Taylor (1783-1824), English writers.

Lynn

Ever go into a nice antique store or bath and body store or candle store and think it smells SO good in here! 

 The way I achieve that effect in my own home is by layering scents, and I do not like artificial chemical scents.  They give me a headache.  I like using natural products to make my home smell wonderful!

Natural Cleaning Products…

The first thing I do in my effort to make my home smell great is clean with natural-based cleaners that use essential oils.  The line I use is called Mrs. Meyer’s and you will fall in love with Mrs. Meyer’s products if you begin to use them! 

For the holiday season, I bought a gift pack of her gingerbread-scented home cleaners.

This 4-pack of cleaners (in the gingerbread-colored box) cost me about 15 dollars.  I also took the opportunity to get my surface scrub and my dryer sheets, both in a lavender scent. 

Now, if 15 dollars seems like a lot, it’s not.  Each product is made with essential oils and they smell so good, they are absolutely worth it to me.  When the countertop spray is empty, I simply add — according to Mrs. Meyer’s own instructions — one tablespoon of her All-Purpose Cleaner and water and then my bottle is full again!  It is very thrifty.

Amazon sells Mrs. Meyer’s products at a good price if you are not near a store that carries them.

Mrs. Meyer’s Countertop Spray in Geranium

Homemade Potpourri…

Another thing I do is make my own potpourri from herbs in the garden.   This morning I went out and gathered a fresh batch of rosemary, lavendar, gardenia petals, rose petals and hips, and just a bit of sage and mint.  It is spread out to dry on a tray on our heating stove even now.

I will add to it some lavender blooms I have had drying in my home.  Once dried and mixed up, I will place scoops of the potpourri in little baskets throughout the house.  I will also place some potpourri in pretty pouches to hang from door handles or hooks throughout my home.  When I walk by, I just give the bag a squeeze, and I have instant air freshener!

Scented Candles…

Scented candles also go a long way in making a home smell good, whether you burn them or not.  I am always on the lookout for candles on sale, especially expensive soy candles that I can get at a deep discount.  I keep a drawer full of them so that I always have candles ready to burn and place throughout my home for holiday displays, etc. 

If you have small children or if you are simply not good at keeping track of burning candles, you can sit candles around your home just as a source of home scent.  You don’t have to burn them!

Essential oils…

Last of all, I keep a supply of essential oils in my herbal medicine cabinet. 

Essential oils are good for many things.  Aside from their uses in herbal medicine, they make great natural cleaners and disinfectants.  I often make mop water with just hot water and a few drops each of rosemary, anise, and lavender.  I keep spray bottles — one in each bathroom and one in the kitchen – filled with water and a few drops essential oils for cleaning counter tops and spills. 

I also add a few drops to the water we keep on our heating stoves to moisturize the air.  This water might as well serve more than one purpose and add to my mission to keep my home smelling great!

I wish there were some way to let you smell all of these wonderful things over the internet.  You’ll just have to take my word for it!!

Lynn

It takes a lot to bring tears to my eyes in Sam’s club.  Yes ma’am.  But it happened today.  Victoria magazine, my favorite publication of all time, has returned to the newsstand!

Victoria magazine…  How can I tell you what it means to me.  I have issues of Victoria magazine going all the way back to 1990.  I had a toddler at home.  I was expecting my second son.  I lived in a rental house that was about 80 years old.  My heart was young and full of dreams of faraway, elegant places, of teas, of English etiquette, and of beautiful clothes and home furnishings, and Victoria would take me to all those things, each and every month. 

I kept true and bought Victoria through the years, but the light that had shone forth from all of Victoria’s pages began to fade in the early 2000s and finally Victoria disappeared from the newsstands altogether.

Imagine my delight today when I saw it:  Bliss.  Victoria.  Rejoice!  VICTORIA Returns

I leafed through the pages and found that same sweet feeling I had when I read Victoria all those years ago.

Me and Victoria magazine.  Together again.

Lynn