Yesterday was our open house. We finally have the house put together enough to have friends and family come see our new home. We were surprised how many people came.
Princess and her husband came from 3 1/2 hours away, and she took tons of pictures of the event for us. That gave me lots of time to cuddly my sweet little grandson, too!
My parents came from 80 miles away. That was an extra blessing, since I had no idea they would be able to come. It was such a joy to be able to share my new house with them.
Many of our local friends came. Business partners, our realtor, work friends, church friends...It was just a busy, fun, lovely day. And I realized this is the best reason to love our house. Because it gives us plenty of room to welcome all those we love.
I hope our home will always be filled with love, and that all our friends and family will always feel welcomed here.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Hubby in the Kitchen
A few days ago, I had the opportunity to go to the school where my husband is studying culinary arts. He has had a dream for a long time to own a restaurant, and so he decided to go to culinary school as the first step. When he is at home, he is studying in his books, or working on projects. He is duplicating things he has learned to cook, or practicing things he is working on learning. Getting to eat the projects and experiments is a definite benefit of being the wife of a culinary school student.
But now and then, the school has events that the families are invited to attend. Once, it was a dining experience for lunch, because Dearest Husband was learning the art of serving, and how wait-staff is expected to serve in a five-star restaurant. Once it was a dessert buffet, as part of his final exam in a baking class. He got an A+ on that exam, in my opinion. Trust me, you want to try my husband's creme brulee!
This time, it was a kitchen class, and we were invited to lunch, cooked for us by my husband's class. The lunch was superb, but the highlight of my afternoon was the fact that the kitchen has a glass wall which allowed us to watch them cooking our lunch. I was watching my husband carefully preparing his dish, and I could just see how much concentration and attention he was putting into it. It was fascinating to me to see the focus and determination on his face, and know that he was totally in his element, learning, creating, cooking.
I sometimes see the frustration, the frenzy, the aggravation, when a project is almost due, and he feels there are details still not in place. Or when he is studying for a test he does not feel completely ready for. Or when he he is cooking a dish at home that is not quite cooperating. But I don't often see the excitement for his craft or the joy of the finished product the way I did at the school that day.
Lunch, of course, was amazing. But the most amazing part was seeing my husband enjoying himself cooking it.
But now and then, the school has events that the families are invited to attend. Once, it was a dining experience for lunch, because Dearest Husband was learning the art of serving, and how wait-staff is expected to serve in a five-star restaurant. Once it was a dessert buffet, as part of his final exam in a baking class. He got an A+ on that exam, in my opinion. Trust me, you want to try my husband's creme brulee!
This time, it was a kitchen class, and we were invited to lunch, cooked for us by my husband's class. The lunch was superb, but the highlight of my afternoon was the fact that the kitchen has a glass wall which allowed us to watch them cooking our lunch. I was watching my husband carefully preparing his dish, and I could just see how much concentration and attention he was putting into it. It was fascinating to me to see the focus and determination on his face, and know that he was totally in his element, learning, creating, cooking.
I sometimes see the frustration, the frenzy, the aggravation, when a project is almost due, and he feels there are details still not in place. Or when he is studying for a test he does not feel completely ready for. Or when he he is cooking a dish at home that is not quite cooperating. But I don't often see the excitement for his craft or the joy of the finished product the way I did at the school that day.
Lunch, of course, was amazing. But the most amazing part was seeing my husband enjoying himself cooking it.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Making Progress
I was weeding again today. I honestly haven't really weeded since the last blog entry I wrote about weeding, but as I went out into the humidity and heat again today, it seemed like it's all I ever do. And I wasn't really very happy about that thought. But as I weeded, my thoughts changed. I'd like to share them with you.
Weeding. AGAIN. Always weeding. Well, I guess that's what I get for buying a 90 year old house. I wonder if there are any ways to kill all English Ivy and kudzu in my yard, without actually killing everything else. Geez. This stuff would probably survive a nuclear holocaust. Death to IVY!!
But I continued weeding, and gradually....
You know what tho? It makes the house seem very settled in it's environment to have this beautiful ivy here and there. And these weeds really are coming up pretty easily. The nandina looks pretty here. Nandina. Wow. I'm even beginning to know the names of some of these plants. Gotta get the weeds away from the dusty miller. He's not growing too well, all choked with ivy. Hold on, Dusty. I'm working on it.
I hardly even realized it was happening, but by the time I got the side bed weeded....
You know, this really isn't going to be too bad to keep up. I just need to get out here a couple times a week and make sure nothing is taking over. The hardest part is getting them looking better. Keeping up shouldn't be a big deal. I could even learn to like this. Getting to see how my flowers are coming, tending them, seeing them grow. I never did get to play in the dirt when I was a kid. I guess this is my chance. Hmmm...I'm done with the side bed. I suppose I ought to check the front bed for weeds. Probably won't be too many, since I weeded it the other day....
And then, what really surprised me...
You know, I have the front bed caught back up again...I could just take these pansies and verbena and put them here. They'd be happier in the ground than in those pots....Here you go, little flowers. Now you can keep your little feet wet and grow...grow! Grow! GROW! Ha. I am talking to my flowers. Before you know it, I'll be planning what I want to plant, instead of just tending what's here. And then...on to Yard of the Month!! Well! THAT'S not what I was thinking when we bought this house! Hmmm....done already??
And I realized something...Most ANY project seems completely daunting, overwhelming, when you first begin. Training a puppy. Raising kids. Painting a room. Learning to drive a stick shift. Most anything. But if you start, you make progress. Even if it's a tiny bit of progress. The NEXT day, you have only to maintain that tiny bit of progress...which is SO much easier than gaining it...and make a tiny bit MORE progress. And you know what?? I'm not just making progress for progress's sake. I'm not just making progress because it's a duty. I'm making progress because I enjoy seeing progress. Because progress helps me dream further ahead.
I had forgotten that. Dear Husband and I have our own business, and sometimes all the tasks that need to be done for that seem SO overwhelming, just too big a mountain. But there was so much joy today in realizing that if I just....make some progress....no matter how small, I will be further along than I was today, and closer to whatever I dream.
So here is a wish for you today, my friend. My wish for you today is that you find something...some small way to make some progress toward a goal. Tomorrow, all you will have to do is maintain that...and you'll be closer to whatever you dream.
Weeding. AGAIN. Always weeding. Well, I guess that's what I get for buying a 90 year old house. I wonder if there are any ways to kill all English Ivy and kudzu in my yard, without actually killing everything else. Geez. This stuff would probably survive a nuclear holocaust. Death to IVY!!
But I continued weeding, and gradually....
You know what tho? It makes the house seem very settled in it's environment to have this beautiful ivy here and there. And these weeds really are coming up pretty easily. The nandina looks pretty here. Nandina. Wow. I'm even beginning to know the names of some of these plants. Gotta get the weeds away from the dusty miller. He's not growing too well, all choked with ivy. Hold on, Dusty. I'm working on it.
I hardly even realized it was happening, but by the time I got the side bed weeded....
You know, this really isn't going to be too bad to keep up. I just need to get out here a couple times a week and make sure nothing is taking over. The hardest part is getting them looking better. Keeping up shouldn't be a big deal. I could even learn to like this. Getting to see how my flowers are coming, tending them, seeing them grow. I never did get to play in the dirt when I was a kid. I guess this is my chance. Hmmm...I'm done with the side bed. I suppose I ought to check the front bed for weeds. Probably won't be too many, since I weeded it the other day....
And then, what really surprised me...
You know, I have the front bed caught back up again...I could just take these pansies and verbena and put them here. They'd be happier in the ground than in those pots....Here you go, little flowers. Now you can keep your little feet wet and grow...grow! Grow! GROW! Ha. I am talking to my flowers. Before you know it, I'll be planning what I want to plant, instead of just tending what's here. And then...on to Yard of the Month!! Well! THAT'S not what I was thinking when we bought this house! Hmmm....done already??
And I realized something...Most ANY project seems completely daunting, overwhelming, when you first begin. Training a puppy. Raising kids. Painting a room. Learning to drive a stick shift. Most anything. But if you start, you make progress. Even if it's a tiny bit of progress. The NEXT day, you have only to maintain that tiny bit of progress...which is SO much easier than gaining it...and make a tiny bit MORE progress. And you know what?? I'm not just making progress for progress's sake. I'm not just making progress because it's a duty. I'm making progress because I enjoy seeing progress. Because progress helps me dream further ahead.
I had forgotten that. Dear Husband and I have our own business, and sometimes all the tasks that need to be done for that seem SO overwhelming, just too big a mountain. But there was so much joy today in realizing that if I just....make some progress....no matter how small, I will be further along than I was today, and closer to whatever I dream.
So here is a wish for you today, my friend. My wish for you today is that you find something...some small way to make some progress toward a goal. Tomorrow, all you will have to do is maintain that...and you'll be closer to whatever you dream.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Pride and Joy
Today, I got to talk to all three of my kids. This is a rarity on ANY day, since, as a general rule, I don't usually talk to more than one of them on any given day. It just worked out that way today, and I'm so glad it did.
One of them was telling me about some goals and dreams that are in the works, and called me, excited to share about the future. I was so thrilled I was the one that got to share that.
Another one chatted with me online about some sorrows and challenges happening right now. I helped as much as a parent can in a chat, giving advice, commiserating a bit, sharing the moral outrage for perceived injustices that are part of the situation. I'm so blessed that I have a relationship with my kids that allows them to know that I am a safe place to vent, and will always be here to listen, and help where I can.
The other one texted to share with me some plans that are in the works. They've been a long time coming, and very much anticipated, so sharing that bit of good news was very exciting.
My kids are all adults now. Grown, out of the nest, gone their own ways. None of them even live in the same state as Dear Husband and me. And at first, after talking to the last of my three children, I was overwhelmed with sadness. I miss them so very much. I longed for just a few more days of peanut butter and jelly lunches, skinned knees that are so easily healed with a bandage and a kiss, backyard pirates or neighborhood adventures, picking mulberries by the creek. Those days are just a distant, pleasant memory now, and for a little while I cried, missing them, heart-broken over the fact that my babies are gone.
But then I realized something. My babies are NOT gone. My little birds all came back to the nest today, to roost for just a few minutes with momma bird, by all our modern electronic devices. And they are beautiful, strong, healthy, determined adults. They are all making their own way in the world. They are all pursuing something they love. And they all love their Momma. They showed me that today, by visiting.
I am so, so, so proud of each of them. It fills my heart with so much amazing joy to sit back and watch them take off. So even though there were more than a few tears today, in getting to talk to my kids, there was so, SO much joy.
Thank you for the gift, my beautiful birds. Fly high. Fly far. And know that Momma is still here whenever you need her.
One of them was telling me about some goals and dreams that are in the works, and called me, excited to share about the future. I was so thrilled I was the one that got to share that.
Another one chatted with me online about some sorrows and challenges happening right now. I helped as much as a parent can in a chat, giving advice, commiserating a bit, sharing the moral outrage for perceived injustices that are part of the situation. I'm so blessed that I have a relationship with my kids that allows them to know that I am a safe place to vent, and will always be here to listen, and help where I can.
The other one texted to share with me some plans that are in the works. They've been a long time coming, and very much anticipated, so sharing that bit of good news was very exciting.
My kids are all adults now. Grown, out of the nest, gone their own ways. None of them even live in the same state as Dear Husband and me. And at first, after talking to the last of my three children, I was overwhelmed with sadness. I miss them so very much. I longed for just a few more days of peanut butter and jelly lunches, skinned knees that are so easily healed with a bandage and a kiss, backyard pirates or neighborhood adventures, picking mulberries by the creek. Those days are just a distant, pleasant memory now, and for a little while I cried, missing them, heart-broken over the fact that my babies are gone.
But then I realized something. My babies are NOT gone. My little birds all came back to the nest today, to roost for just a few minutes with momma bird, by all our modern electronic devices. And they are beautiful, strong, healthy, determined adults. They are all making their own way in the world. They are all pursuing something they love. And they all love their Momma. They showed me that today, by visiting.
I am so, so, so proud of each of them. It fills my heart with so much amazing joy to sit back and watch them take off. So even though there were more than a few tears today, in getting to talk to my kids, there was so, SO much joy.
Thank you for the gift, my beautiful birds. Fly high. Fly far. And know that Momma is still here whenever you need her.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Annoyance and Joy
First, let me apologize for an entire MONTH passing between posts. I'll try diligently not to let it happen again. My only reason is that my Dear Husband and I have bought a house! It has taken quite alot of energy and thought getting closed on the house, moved, and getting the house looking liveable. So I haven't posted. But so much has brought me joy recently, and I'm excited to share it with you.
Today, bright and early this morning, I went out to weed my flower beds. For those who know me well, you will already be laughing. "Bright and early this morning" is not a phrase that happens in my life very often. I am an avowed night owl. Added to that, 'weed my flower beds' should have many people scratching their heads in confusion. Mother Nature and I have a tentative and untrusting relationship at BEST. I have agreed not to try to keep ANY of her creations, other than my fairly low-maintenance cats, and she has agreed not to attack me with a bee sting or poison ivy or....itchy grass...as long as I stay out of her territory. And we've pretty much lived with this treaty for decades.
But as I said, Dear Husband and I bought a house, and she's a 103 year old Craftsman. Along with a beautiful old house comes alot of well-established yard. There are (if I counted correctly) eight trees in addition to three main flower beds and a fourth that we may dismantle, ultimately. The three main flowerbeds go along the street view of the house, so at the very least, these have to be maintained for curb appeal and to be a responsible neighbor in our very pretty neighborhood.
So....'bright and early this morning', I was indeed out 'weeding my flower beds'. At first it was an annoyance. Because it's summer on the East Coast, and even at 9am the humidity is fierce. Because Mother Nature and I are not yet allies. Because I still have boxes that need to be unpacked inside. But as I continued weeding, I could look back on the part of the bed I had finished, and see the fresh, moist black dirt around the happy little pansies and verbena, and see the verbena tucked up under the boxwoods for shade, and the petunias pouring down over the front porch railing. Looking ahead of where I was working was an overgrown disaster, and there was a sense of challenge to put it right again and have it be a beautiful, orderly display of flowers.
So I started enjoying seeing the progress, and remembering summer evenings spent with my mom, sitting on the walk in front of our house, deadheading petunias and weeding flower beds that she had planted on either side of the walk. Sometimes we talked. Sometimes we just worked companionably together, tending the flowerbeds, and loving the beautiful riot of petunias she grew each year. At the time, I very often resented having to sit out in the summer heat, weeding.
But now I'm grown up, and here I am, sitting out in the summer heat, weeding. Still. Again. There is such a peace and joy seeing life continue on, doing something that has been familiar for so long. And being rewarded by the beautiful flowers at the end of the process. I can't say I will always look forward to weeding. Maybe I will NEVER look forward to weeding. But even in the annoyance of the chore, there is joy in the result, and in the memories.
Today, bright and early this morning, I went out to weed my flower beds. For those who know me well, you will already be laughing. "Bright and early this morning" is not a phrase that happens in my life very often. I am an avowed night owl. Added to that, 'weed my flower beds' should have many people scratching their heads in confusion. Mother Nature and I have a tentative and untrusting relationship at BEST. I have agreed not to try to keep ANY of her creations, other than my fairly low-maintenance cats, and she has agreed not to attack me with a bee sting or poison ivy or....itchy grass...as long as I stay out of her territory. And we've pretty much lived with this treaty for decades.
But as I said, Dear Husband and I bought a house, and she's a 103 year old Craftsman. Along with a beautiful old house comes alot of well-established yard. There are (if I counted correctly) eight trees in addition to three main flower beds and a fourth that we may dismantle, ultimately. The three main flowerbeds go along the street view of the house, so at the very least, these have to be maintained for curb appeal and to be a responsible neighbor in our very pretty neighborhood.
So....'bright and early this morning', I was indeed out 'weeding my flower beds'. At first it was an annoyance. Because it's summer on the East Coast, and even at 9am the humidity is fierce. Because Mother Nature and I are not yet allies. Because I still have boxes that need to be unpacked inside. But as I continued weeding, I could look back on the part of the bed I had finished, and see the fresh, moist black dirt around the happy little pansies and verbena, and see the verbena tucked up under the boxwoods for shade, and the petunias pouring down over the front porch railing. Looking ahead of where I was working was an overgrown disaster, and there was a sense of challenge to put it right again and have it be a beautiful, orderly display of flowers.
So I started enjoying seeing the progress, and remembering summer evenings spent with my mom, sitting on the walk in front of our house, deadheading petunias and weeding flower beds that she had planted on either side of the walk. Sometimes we talked. Sometimes we just worked companionably together, tending the flowerbeds, and loving the beautiful riot of petunias she grew each year. At the time, I very often resented having to sit out in the summer heat, weeding.
But now I'm grown up, and here I am, sitting out in the summer heat, weeding. Still. Again. There is such a peace and joy seeing life continue on, doing something that has been familiar for so long. And being rewarded by the beautiful flowers at the end of the process. I can't say I will always look forward to weeding. Maybe I will NEVER look forward to weeding. But even in the annoyance of the chore, there is joy in the result, and in the memories.
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