Beauty in the Ordinary
Here we are again, knocking at the door of the beginning of a new Church season – Advent – which begins in less than a month on December 1! Every year, for the last 9 years, I have been building an Advent and Christmas Planner and sharing it. In truth, this planner has been in existence longer than 9 years,… Read More
Here we are again, at the start of spring and staring at all the potential around us! The weather is glorious and our schedules are beginning to fill with all the activities and priorities that come with a new season! This time of year is a time of new potential in so many areas, and to meet that need planner… Read More
Recently, I had the opportunity to pop over to the Erin Condren blog and share some of my favorite spring cleaning tips! Head on over to check it out! I wanted to share a few more of my favorite spring cleaning resources with you in case you’re starting to get your spring cleaning game together! Simply Clean by Becky Rapinchuk… Read More
Look around – on desks and counters and tables across the world there are beautiful, shiny, new planners – all full of the potential and possibility of a blank canvas. The days we anticipate, goals we hope to accomplish, lists waiting to be listed, the season we live, responsibilities and duties folded in with fun and relaxation – it all… Read More
Can you believe another year has flown by? It seems I was just here…just sitting down to consider 2018 – our goals, plans, hopes, and prayers. And now, I’m sitting down to consider 2019. So many wonderful things happened in 2018 – so many blessings to be thankful for. I find (and maybe you do, too) that the faster and… Read More
Summer is winding down and I’ve been busy wrapping up summer projects here and there and preparing for our 17th year of home education! Wow! Where does the time go? With my last post, which many of you receive by email, it was evident that my blog had been hacked. I apologize for the nonsense that came with my post!… Read More
Oh goodness! I didn’t mean to be away for quite this long! In fact, I started drafting this post on December 4, but life and then Advent and then we have multiple birthdays and my anniversary all at the beginning of January on the heels of Christmas. It has been a wonderful month, but it has kept my focus away… Read More
This is the 3rd in a series of reading, discussing and applying ideas from Thomas Howard’s book which is available under two different names: Splendor In the Ordinary and Hallowed Be This House. If you’re new to the series, start at the Index Post discussing The Household for more explanation and a trail of breadcrumbs to the other posts in the series. Each post contains an… Read More
This is the 2nd in a series of reading, discussing and applying ideas from Thomas Howard’s book which is available under two different names: Splendor In the Ordinary and Hallowed Be This House. If you’re new to the series, start at the Index Post discussing The Household for more explanation and a trail of breadcrumbs to the other posts in the series…. Read More
Have you ever heard the phrase, “bloom where you are planted?” I suppose that applies to us moderns, planted squarely in the 21st century with all of its technology, activity, and constant going and getting and coming back from. I don’t eschew technology, nor activity, nor going and getting, but they do begin to overshadow days when they’re not guarded…. Read More
Well, friends, it’s planner season! And that means I have a few planner-posts for you to consider here! Today, I’m going to share a review post for the planner that has recently become a cornerstone for me – the 2018 Emily Ley Simplified Planner. My posts are photo heavy, and this one is no exception. Here’s your invitation to click away now if… Read More
I’ve been working through so many fantastic home projects the last few months. Organizing spaces. Tidying and sorting and putting things in places. It’s been good in so many ways, but mostly because it helps me sift out the useful and beautiful from the superfluous. I find renewed peace and beauty in these “sifted spaces” and naturally there is the… Read More
Hello friends! I hope y’all had a fruitful Advent and are enjoying the Christmas season! Our Christmas was wonderful – full of family and celebrating the Divine Infant’s Nativity, and this Christmas was our last Christmas with our oldest daughter at home! She gets married this May – we’re just a few months away and it’s a flurry of planning activity here!… Read More
Last week, I posted a snapshot of my clipboards on my instagram account. Just a crazy, simple shot to encourage you to make your walls work for you by hanging a few clipboards around! And I was amazed at your responses and interest! You LOVE those crazy clipboards and you asked me to share more about them – so…here you go!… Read More
I have had so much fun reading all of the great ideas and planner party posts and sharing at Dawn’s blog! Have you? I love thinking about planners and I love gathering ideas…seeing how we all plan differently! Gathering planning ideas is inspiring and helps me streamline and add great pointers to my own action planning. And so…on the off chance that… Read More
I’ve been doing some bigger picture thinking – you know the kind I mean? When you “zoom out” with your vision in light of everything, taking it all in while keeping your own family in focus. It has been hard for me not to default into this wider scope or focus of thought with all that is going on in… Read More
I confess, I’ve had this post in draft for nearly two months now. In fact, this post is old enough that our learning room looks a little different today than it did when I took these pictures – I unpacked the geography cabinet and have it in place, the toddler got taller so art supplies moved up a shelf…but I think… Read More
Hello friends! How has your week been so far? Mine seems to move along nicely…until it doesn’t. 😉 You know that kind of week, don’t you? The one that involves a day of picking up a meat order….across town…by 8:00 am, then sprinting to the dentist, and then charging off to buy clothing for the 14 year old eating machine growing boy that… Read More
It’s taken me a bit of time to find a few minutes here and there to piece this post together. We’re so blessed and so grateful for the amazing spaces we dreamed about {for the past 12 years that we’ve been in our home} and worked hard to make a reality and now get to enjoy! Truly! I shared about the… Read More
With our kitchen delightfully humming away, we’re thrilled to be baking with the liturgical year again! For the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we made some simple rose cakes with a silicone rose mold. This mold will be perfect for any feast day that is associated with roses – especially St. Therese of Lisieux. The little treats couldn’t have been simpler… Read More
How is your autumn so far? I hope it’s lovely and rich – full of those warm autumn smells of spiced tea simmering away…and roasting veggies…and leaves tumbling everywhere! We’re enjoying beautiful mild temperatures and are just beginning to see some fall color in our trees! This has always been my favorite time of year! Photo Credit: Sarah Nicole Studio… Read More
I’ve shared with all of you that we are pursuing some remodeling plans. It’s exciting…and daunting. As I planned our booklists this summer, I kept in mind that our year would need to be flexible and I began to consider ways to stretch outside of comfortable routines and spaces. Earlier this summer, I shared with you that I had to… Read More
I have been meaning to post some yummy recipes from my menus that we’ve enjoyed lately! This has been a busy graduation week here – delightful though! Since the week was busy getting ready for graduation (and I missed this week’s CM Teaching Tuesday post) I thought it would be fun to throw together a quick post full of pictures… Read More
As mid-winter rolls around, I know many of us are revisiting our chore routines as well as our books and plans and refreshing a bit. It’s an excellent time for this because: We’re all starting to settle back into routines… …routines that are likely different than they were before Christmas break There is renewed vision and a desire to keep… Read More
