Grateful Living: Reflections on HOME

This is my post to share a touching story and lovely quotes about the most important place in a person's life--their home...

Best Snowflakes on the Block
It is Christmastime on our street. The homes are decorated with tinsel and many-colored lights. Some windows frame beautifully decorated trees, and well-shaped wreaths hang on the doors. At one home, however, a little confusion of homemade snowflakes congregates in the picture window. They are hung in childhood fashion (not in the adult perfection of other windows nearby) and whisper a special secret about the occupants of that home.

I want to share a secret with you. The secret is that children are more important than picture windows; that fingerprints and boot-drips and carpet stains aren't nearly as important as a child's self-esteem. Those little white snowflakes tell me something more. They tell me that smashed bouquets of dandelions adorn that kitchen table in the springtime and are loved as if they were the most beautiful of imported orchids. They tell me that a pet potato bug in a box can live there unmolested, that helping with a bug collection is just as important as doing the wash, that viewing the first violets of spring with a child's hand in yours is better than a shiny floor, that listening to a child's fears is more important than television, that children's art is more beautiful than the greatest of the old masters.
Oh, they do tell a special story, those snowflakes.
(Sherlene Parker, Ensign Dec. 1976)

A small house well-filled is better than an empty palace. ~Thomas Haliburton

Houses that express comfort and well-being can go a long way toward making us feel at home in the world. ~JoAnn Barwick

Everything in the White House must have a reason for being there.  ~Jacqueline Kennedy

Tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free...Amish song

'Mid pleasures and palaces, though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
~Pa, Little House in the Big Woods

God bless this house And all that's in it

A garden of flowers Some books for the hours

Sweet dreams Good Health

and Love, glorious love. ~unknown

“...I remember thinking how often we look, but never see...we listen, but never hear...we exist, but never feel. We take our relationships for granted. A house is only a place. It has no life of its own. It needs human voices, activity and laughter to come alive.” 
― Erma Bombeck, A Marriage Made in Heaven: Or Too Tired for an Affair

Homemaker's Quotes

To my child:
You are the trip I did not take; 

You are the pearls I did not buy;

You are the blue Italian lake;

You are my piece of foreign sky.

~Anne Campbell

One of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life is to have a happy childhood.  ~Agatha Christie

It's better to build children than repair grownups.  ~Unknown

The best thing to spend on a child is time. ~Unknown

Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel.  ~Unknown

Never chasten beyond the balm you have within you to bind up.  ~Brigham Young

The best way to make children good is to make them  happy. ~Oscar Wilde

The next time the children started quarreling, I fought back an urge to get angry and started singing, “Jesus said love everyone; treat them kindly too.  When your heart is filled with love, others will love you.”  Both children stopped quarreling and looked up in happy surprise.  Mother was singing!  ~Margery D. Small

[Parenthood] is a learn-on-the-job situation.  It's not for the faint-of-heart. ~Kathleen "Casey" Null

Don't think of the gray in your hair.  Think of the fun you had putting it there.  ~Anna Greenwood

Friends are important, but when you have a child you should turn into a parent.  ~Elaine Cannon

In 1939, President Joseph F. Smith taught:  "There should [not] be any of us so unwisely indulgent, so thoughtless and shallow in our affection for our children that we dare not check them in a wayward course, in wrong-doing and in their foolish love for the things of the world more than for the things of righteousness, for fear of offending them."

Beginnings

Yes, my fretting, frowning child, 

I could cross the room to you more easily.

But I've already learned to walk, 

So I make you come to me.

Let go now--There! You see?

Oh, remember this simple lesson, child,

And when in later years you cry out

With tight fists and tears--

"Oh, help me, God--please."--

Just listen and you'll hear a silent voice:

"I would, child, I would.

But it's you, not I, who needs to try Godhood."

~Carol Lynn Pearson

To be a righteous woman during the winding up scenes on this earth, before the second coming of our Savior, is an especially noble calling.  The righteous woman's strength and influence today can be tenfold what it might be in more tranquil times. ~Spencer W. Kimball (1895-1985), Prophet

"A virtuous woman" (Proverbs 31:10):

Verse    Quality

11          Can be trusted

13          Works willingly

20          Is compassionate

25          Is strong and honorable

26          Speaks with wisdom and kindness

28          Is a dedicated wife and mother

30          Obeys the Lord

...and for always letting me lick the spoon.

This card was the best present I could get on my 43 birthday from the child, (Elise--shown above), who always loves to help in the kitchen.

There is nothing wrong with the world that a sensible woman could not settle in an afternoon. ~Jean Giraudoux

Old-fashioned Travel Games

This came from a really early Southern Living Magazine--like from the mid-seventies!  I love to read really old Southern Livings.  The early eighties must have been really good issues and not disposed of cause those are the only S.L. I couldn't find.  As you can see in the scanned photos, these kids are not wearing seatbelts!!!  Well heck! neither did we in the mid-seventies.  I would have been about these children's age.  I had an aunt whose nine kids were all geniuses and they always wanted to play car games that were way over my little pea brain.  But I kept this article cause I think the little ipod thingys and other techy toys need to be left at home, and moms actually find their arts and crafts supplies, dust them off, and prepare games that can involve the whole family.

Anagram--Cut some small squares of paper.  Write one letter of the alphabet on one side of each square, making more vowels than consonants.  Turn the lettered side of each square down.  Draw six squares, and try to use the letters in one or more words.  Score one point for each letter used.
Name Pictures--Try to write your name in as many ways as you can.  For example, you can make tall, short, fat, striped, and polka-dot letters.
Pathways--Make up a theme for a game.  For example, you can choose a treasure hunt or animal safari.  Draw a numbered path of squares on a piece of paper.
Use coins for men, and throw the dice to determine the number of moves for each man.  The first one to get to the end wins.
Puzzles--Draw a picture on a piece of paper, and color it.  Cut the picture into pieces; then try to reassemble the picture.
Spot a Word--Write the letters of the alphabet in a column on the left side of a piece of paper.  Opposite each letter, write a word that begins with that letter; use only words that you actually see printed on signs along the road or the names of animals or objects you see.
Squiggles--Draw an oddly shaped line on a piece of paper; then try to turn it into a funny face by adding other lines.
The following verbal games are good to suggest to children who cannot read in a moving car.
Animal Game--Take turns naming kinds of animals.  The last one to name an animal wins.
Color Game--Name a color, and take turns naming objects that are that color.  The winner is the one who is last to name an object.
Name All Your Relatives--Name a relationship, a cousin, for example; then try to name all your cousins.  Or you can name a city or state and try to name all the relatives who live there.
Tapes--Many families take a cassette player along on trips.  Children can record impressions of the trip, or amuse themselves by recording their voices.  They can also play tapes recorded on previous trips.  (YOU CAN STILL BUY TAPE RECORDERS AND TAPES!!!--They're not obsolete!!!)

Trick or Treat Family Night Idea

Blast from the Past:  Maybe everyone knows about Tootsie Roll Ghosts, but in case you don't, they're a cute addition to Halloween goody plates.  In the 1970's my elementary school teacher showed us how to make these.  I was so excited cause, "Hello!" it's a Tootsie Roll Pop!  Delicious :O)  Take a couple of tissues and wrap around the Tootsie Roll Pop and tie off with string to make the head.  (I use candle-wicking or crochet cotton found in the crochet isle).  Then with a permanent marker make two eyes and a mouth.  Voila!

Georgie is a favorite "Ghost" book of mine!

Below are two versions of cute poems to leave treats anonymously and help others catch the spirit of "treating."  (Leave poem with a ghost door hanger and your gift of treats)  You've Been Boo'ed PDF

source unknown

The air is cool the season fall Soon Halloween will come to all 
The spooks are after things to do In fact, a spook brought this to you 
"Boo" is a shield from witching hour Just hang it up and watch its power

On your front door is where it works It wards off spooks and scary jerks 
The treats that came with crypted note Are yours to keep, enjoy them both 
The power comes when friends like you Will copy this and make it TWO

Then others here among our friends Will give warm fuzzies that do not end 
We'll all have smiles upon our faces No one will know who "BOO"ed whose places 
Just one short day to work your spell Or a big ZAP will strike your tail

And don't forget a nifty treat, Like something cute or something sweet 
Please join fun, let's really hear it And spread some"Boo"s and Halloween spirit.

2nd Example

The Phantom has been here with a treat just for you,

He crept to your door in a fog misty blue.

This isn't a trick, this treat isn't for free,

Now it's your turn and the Phantom you'll be!

The Phantom loves treats and also loves rhymes.

Take you this paper and copy TWO times.

So he won't strike again, hang this on your window or door.

Take this and a treat and deliver TWO more

To a neighbor or friend in the black of the night.  

Pound on their door, and give 'em a fright.

Then by Halloween night, there surely should be

Phantoms on all the doors that we see.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

October Traditions: Fun with Cookies!

These are my absolute favorite cookies!  I made some today and realized when it was time to add the flour that I only had a little all-purpose flour left.  So I used half wheat and half all-purpose.  They turned out sooo good!  In fact everyone said they liked them better.  I think they taste better a little thicker, so I only make a dozen/recipe.  Spook someone with this Trick or Treat Family Home Evening idea!

Autumn Owl Cookies

1 c. packed brown sugar

1-1/2 sticks butter, no substitutes

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2-1/2 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1-oz square unsweetened chocolate

1/4 tsp baking soda

Reece's Pieces

whole cashews

In a mixing bowl, cream brown sugar and softened butter. Add egg and vanilla; mix well.  Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture.  Remove two-thirds of the dough; roll into an 8-inch square on waxed paper and set aside.  Combine chocolate and baking soda until thoroughly blended; beat into remaining dough.  Shape into an 8-inch-long roll; place on edge of white dough.  Wrap white dough around roll and pinch seam together.  Wrap in waxed paper; chill for at least 2 hours.  

Cut into 1/4-inch slices.  To form owl's face, place two slices side-by-side on a lightly greased baking sheet (I like parchment paper on my baking sheet instead of greased).  

Pinch dough at the top of the circles to form ears.  Place Reece's Pieces in the center of each circle for eyes.  Place a cashew in the center of the face for the beak.  Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Cool for 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack.  Yield:  about 1-1/2 dozen.  (From Taste of Home's Halloween Food and Fun)

October through December, we enjoy Baking Days which includes these chocolaty cookies my son loves and which we like to mail to missionary friends:

Kitty Cookies

1 c. butter (no substitutes), softened

2 c. sugar

2 eggs

3 t. vanilla extract

3 c. self-rising flour

1 c. baking cocoa

candy corn and red-hots

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Combine self-rising flour and cocoa in a separate bowl. Gradually add flour mixture to creamed mixture.  Roll dough into 1-1/2-in. balls.  Place 3 in. apart on lightly greased baking sheets.  Flatten with a glass dipped in sugar.  Pinch top of cookie to form ears.  

For whiskers, press a fork twice into each cookie.  Bake 350 degrees F. for 10-15 min. or until cookies are set.  Remove from oven and immediately press on candy corn for eyes and red-hots for noses.  Remove to wire racks to cool.  Yield: 2 dozen (From Taste of Home's Halloween Food and Fun, p. 14).

Here are some tips I found in the magazine, Quick Cooking, on packaging cookies: 

~When choosing recipes, look for bars, drop cookies, slice-an-bake cookies and sandwich cookies, which are fairly sturdy and less likely to break when shipped.

~Avoid delicate cutout and shaped cookies, which may break; chocolate, since it will melt easily; and items with perishable frostings or fillings.

~When packaging the goodies, wrap bars individually in plastic wrap.  Drop cookies can be bundled back-to-back in packages of two.  Slice-and-bake and sandwich cookies can be wrapped in plastic wrap in bundles of two or three.

~Pack soft cookies in containers or tins separate from crisp cookies.  If packed together, the moisture from the soft cookies will make the crisp cookies lose their crunch. 

~To help retain the best flavor, don't pack strong-flavored cookies like gingersnaps in the same container with mild-flavored ones like sugar cookies. 

~Line the containers with crumpled waxed paper to help cushion the cookies.  Snugly pack the cookies to within 1 in. of the top.  Use crumpled waxed paper or bubble wrap to fill any gaps between the cookies.  Add more waxed paper or bubble wrap over the last layer to cushion the cookies and prevent shifting during shipping. OR
Place pieces of wax paper between cookie layers and add mini marshmallows to make sure cookies don't move around.  Tuck in a couple packages of cocoa for a great gift! (from Gooseberry Patches' Country Quick and Easy Cookbook).

~Place a layer of crumpled paper, bubble wrap or foam shipping peanuts in the bottom of a sturdy corrgated box that is slightly larger than your cookie container.  Set the container on top; then add more paper, bubble wrap or shipping peanuts.

Grateful Living: M.H. Spa Retreat

Count your night by stars, not blackness, Count your time by good deeds done. ~Ethel C. Smith

This is the last of my Grateful Living Series--are you grateful?  About 20 years ago I read in my women's church manual about enjoying what you have.  An example was given of an older woman who had a very modest apartment without very many material possessions.  But what she had, she took good care of.  Her apartment was kept neat and clean.  There were little touches such as houseplants and photographs and other simple things attractively displayed.  The little apartment was inviting, warm and comfortable to guests.  Being newly married myself, without hardly a stitch of furniture, the lesson really struck home.  I have followed its guidance in every home I've lived in.

vintage pillowcases hide the laundry

It never occurred to me at nineteen that  in my forties I would choose to live in a mobile home!  I totally sympathize with Janet Palmer who said, "Turning forty was the biggest let-down of my life.  I thought I'd be happy and in control by then."  However, I know I wouldn't trade my life with anyone else.  Having an oasis from disappointments or stress or just plain exhaustion has come in the form of my bathroom or as I like to call it, my "Spa Retreat."  I even play soft, soothing music with calming background sounds from nature--just like at a real spa.

My husband replaced the tile and lights, and installed baseboards and the curtain rods, but basically everything else was done by me during a particularly stressful period.  The job was therapeutic. We had just added a third bedroom and large bathroom to our mobile home and I thought we'd never get it done.  Little did my family know that they would no longer be welcome again in the old bathroom--My Bathroom.  You do what you have to to get by sometimes, and having my own bathroom--the only room in the house that no one could mess up was critical to my psyche!

Dealing with the massive mirrors over the tub was the biggest obstacle.  They came with dark curtains, but I saw a picture in a magazine of a softer, brighter window treatment and knew that would be simple and inexpensive and a huge improvement.  I painted the cheap vanity cabinet with the same kind of paint I used on the baseboards and crown molding (cabinet and trim paint).  My husband sanded the knobs to find a really nice "nickel" color underneath the gold so we kept it like that.  The only gold is the bathtub faucet because the one that came factory installed fell apart and this very expensive model was practically given away at the hardware store.  Everything else in the bathroom is nickle, but I've made peace with the gold faucet.

Pegs hold towels, robes...

I tried flat paint on the walls and ended up repainting with gloss.  Satin would probably do just as well, but I was very careful to finish out the mobile home walls so that there were very few flaws to see.  I painted the ceiling with Kilz first and then ceiling paint.  My best advice for renovating a mobile home is to make sure you're fairly comfortable with what you are doing.  Save up for jobs that you don't feel competent, (especially wiring!).  Study before you take on drywall, painting, even hanging anything on the wall.  As the old saying goes--Measure twice, Cut once!

Keep an idea book of what you like for at least a year before you delve into renovating a room.  When you start to see a lot of ideas that go together in your book, you will begin to know better what you want.  Some people are super gifted with this--not me.  I'm talking to the rest of us who don't have a clue!  The main thing is being happy with the results of all your hard work.  My goal was that when I was inside my home, it was a home not a mobile home.  I can look around and there is nothing left of the "factory installed" and my home is warm, comfortable, and inviting (at least to me!).


Living Small
Homemaking Journals
Homemaking: Homebuilders of the World
Grateful Living: Scaling Down to A Mobile Home
Grateful Living Series: Dress Up M. H. Windows
Grateful Living: Repurposed Trunk
Grateful Living: Class Up the Mobile Home Fireplace
Grateful Living: Front Porches
Grateful Living: The !#*! M.H. Walls
Grateful Living: M.H. Spa Retreat
Grateful Living: My Collection on Reflections of Home

Grateful Living: The !#*! M.H. Walls!

This I learned from the shadow of a tree, That to and fro did sway against a wall:  Our shadow selves, our influence, may fall Where ourselves can never be. ~Anna G. Hamilton

Above is how I arranged my collection of cross-stitch samplers.  I got the idea from a past issue of Southern Living Magazine.  A tip I learned from Martha Stewart is to trace the frames onto wrapping paper and cut out.  Using removable tacky putty (whatever it's called), you can try all kinds of arrangements for picture placement.  I actually keep pictures from magazines of picture arrangements that I like in my Idea Book.  It really comes in handy.  Also, Martha taught me to use little Velcro circles to put at each bottom corner of a picture and then press in place to the wall.  Then the picture doesn't move out of place.  Which is great if you live in a mobile home with paper thin walls.  See my post on Picture Groupings.

I wanted to do something my very Southern grandma did in her hall and have my own "hall of fame."  As children, my sister and cousins and I loved to look at old family photos, baby pictures, and pedigree charts that literally lined my grandma's enormous and long hallway.  Somehow, I had to find a way to make my now less wavy hallway wall more interesting to walk through (and wavy wall even less noticeable).  Here's how I got the hall wall's flaws to be less noticeable.

I'm not sure if this is a common occurrence or cheap building gone amuck, but our hall had become a real
sight!  For some reason the outside wall is all wavy.  My husband's standard response is "What do you expect from a mobile home?"  My reply is always, "Remember that wavy wall in our family room in the house we built for $250,000?  Bad construction happens folks!  I am a great lover of old homes that were built to last but no matter how well-built a house is, there is bound to be something that goes terribly wrong.  You can't just blame everything on bad construction and hope your wife backs off!

So we thought about using spackling to even the wall out, but that would really take someone talented with spackle or someone who has a lot of patience--neither of which was us.  We thought about replacing the wall board (it's literally a cardboard substance!) with bead board.  However, my husband had just put baseboards and crown molding up and we didn't want to mess with that.  I thought about painting the wall in vertical stripes as an optical illusion.  But the hall is such a narrow space that I thought stripes might overwhelm it even if I used narrow stripes in soft colors.

Finally, I was in Lowe's and became attracted to the paintable wallpaper products and noticed some that looked like bead board. That's what I decided on.  My husband, younger daughter and son put the wallpaper up.  My husband is a little OCD and soon learned that you didn't have to place the wallpaper to the wall with great force.  My son's method of simply placing the paper to the wall gently actually held the best.  Here again, my husband complained that nothing was straight in the mobile home and therefore it was impossible to place the wallpaper up straight.  I quietly reminded him that we have never lived in any HOUSE where any of the construction seemed straight.  That's where the kids came in.  They actually seemed to have fun with the project and turned my husband's mood around.  Also lots of yummy snacks keep spirits high.  I kept the paint color the same in the hall as throughout the house.  I use flat paint because wavy walls and other unsightly flaws show up less.


Living Small
Homemaking Journals
Homemaking: Homebuilders of the World
Grateful Living: Scaling Down to A Mobile Home
Grateful Living Series: Dress Up M. H. Windows
Grateful Living: Repurposed Trunk
Grateful Living: Class Up the Mobile Home Fireplace
Grateful Living: Front Porches
Grateful Living: The !#*! M.H. Walls
Grateful Living: M.H. Spa Retreat
Grateful Living: My Collection on Reflections of Home

Grateful Living: Front Porches

When you live in the country (in a mobile home), you have to give serious consideration to a porch.  In our case, we have a closed-in front porch and a "back deck."  Since the front door is the easiest to enter from our attached carport, we needed some way to take shoes off before entering the house.  This is because there is a lot of dirt in the country.  We have a gravel drive which is very dusty when it hasn't rained in a while.  Our cars need constant spraying down due to the amount of travel they go through, (we're 30 minutes from the nearest Walmart).  Also, front porches are really important in the South for welcoming people.  When you live in a mobile home where you walk through the door and HELLO there's your living room, kitchen, dining room, etc., it's kinda nice to greet people on the porch and chat awhile while the family straightens up.  My goal was to make my front porch so cozy (as well as a way to trap dirt) that we might just visit there instead.  The decor has to be simple but homey so that it doesn't become one more place that requires constant attention.  It has to be okay if there are leaves and grass on the floor.  They are easily swept away and pretty much expected on a porch. I added what I call Parlor Touches like the knick knacks, pillows, houseplants.  A double rocking chair with cushions and corner bench with storage are easy to wipe clean.  The porch ceiling is painted a coastal green and the nooks are filled with little treasures.  (Ceiling painted Valspar Signature Colors - Southern Breeze SR901)

Living Small
Homemaking Journals
Homemaking: Homebuilders of the World
Grateful Living: Scaling Down to A Mobile Home
Grateful Living Series: Dress Up M. H. Windows
Grateful Living: Repurposed Trunk
Grateful Living: Class Up the Mobile Home Fireplace
Grateful Living: Front Porches
Grateful Living: The !#*! M.H. Walls
Grateful Living: M.H. Spa Retreat
Grateful Living: My Collection on Reflections of Home

Grateful Living: Class Up The M.H. Fireplace

Some women go through life turning on lamps in the evening.  Others are themselves a light. ~Helen Parks

One of the first renovating projects I did (after replacing the carpet!) in our mobile home was to antique the fireplace.  The original was pretty cheap looking wood and cheap looking tile.  My husband replaced the tile with marble leftover from the house we built.  He also painted the fireplace insert with a brown, "hammered-look" spray paint designed for metal that can be exposed to heat (I think Rust-oleum brand).  I replaced the blah handles with adorable twig-shaped ones.  I used the below product that I found at Walmart at the time.  It was very simple.  Because the adjacent wall has my cross-stitch collection displayed on it and there's a TV above the mantle, I chose to decorate the mantle sparsely.  I have my grandma's figurines from her dining room that my sister and I used to play with (and quite possibly broke!).  

I'm pretty siked about another Rust-oleum product on the market that will class up my kitchen cabinets.  I chose a light color for the fireplace to make the tiny living room appear larger.  I would do the same with the kitchen cabinets as well:  http://cabinets.rustoleumtransformations.com/

Living Small
Homemaking Journals
Homemaking: Homebuilders of the World
Grateful Living: Scaling Down to A Mobile Home
Grateful Living Series: Dress Up M. H. Windows
Grateful Living: Repurposed Trunk
Grateful Living: Class Up the Mobile Home Fireplace
Grateful Living: Front Porches
Grateful Living: The !#*! M.H. Walls
Grateful Living: M.H. Spa Retreat
Grateful Living: My Collection on Reflections of Home