Comfort Food

Where I grew up, we bring food. When someone is sick, or injured or has a baby or looses a loved one, we bring food. People queue up to make meals. I remember when my mother gave birth to my youngest sister at age 47 people brought so many meals my and my other teenage siblings felt a little silly (but when didn't we?). I remember when my good friend lost a family member to cancer. People brought meals for months and months, through the whole ordeal. When I have a friend who is tired or down I say, come on over for a cup of tea, a slice of banana bread, some biscuits and honey, wine and chocolate, cookies, or better yet the dough right out of the mixing bowl. It's comfort food and I think everyone needs it.

I started thinking about this the other day because at this point in my life so many of my friends and much of my family are scattered around the country. It is difficult, from this distance, to bring them food when they are unwell. I can call them and pray for them and send them funny emails or cards, but really I want to show up on their doorstep with a meal. A tangible, edible comfort. I was thinking that perhaps this instinct, practical as it may be is a little too practical, it misses the big picture. Those prayers are are really more important that the pot of soup, right? And yet it does not feel that way.

Trying to make sense of this persistent feeling, I started thinking about the life of Christ and realized that he understood this urge. How many times do we see him eating with his friends? Eating with sinners? Preparing wine for the wedding feast? Multiplying the loaves and the fishes? The last supper?? Feeding the hungry. And this food was not just a physical good. It IS a spiritual good. It is comfort food. It is soul food.

Now I just need to figure out how to mail this lasagna...

No, but really, there are lots of foods you can mail. Cookies, banana bread, chocolate (it usually doesn't melt), brownies, what else???

What do you send to friends and family when they are down? Any other ideas?

Unusual Beautiful Life

A friend sent me this link and I thought I would share it with you all. Just something pretty and unusual to look at.

I think it is socially/politically pertinent right now as well. How many of these people are too unusual, too poor, etc. to be allowed to live?

Do you ever feel like God is buttering you up??

I do. Ever since we moved into this new house (that I love) He's been working His way down my wish list. "You wish you had a dishwasher? Well here you go, here is a free, working dishwasher, delivered to your home, manual and all. "


"Oh? You'd like a chest freezer? Would this one do? Just go pick it up from the neighbors, if you don't mind!"


"And while you're there, didn't you say you wanted a wood stove? Would this beautiful antique work for you?"

"More seating for the living room? How about a bent wood rocker? (once again, free with delivery!)"


"Hm, and island for the kitchen? Do you think this huge piece of butcher block would work?"


"What to use for legs? What about that solid chest of drawers that you have to move to install the dish washer?"


"You would like a kitchen hutch? How about two? Rock Maple, early American reproduction, just happened to belong to your husbands much beloved grandmother? (once again delivered to your door, and this time installed to prevent tipping should anyone feel the need to climb up to that attractive little cookie jar)"



He has not delivered a washing machine to my door step, but totally out of the blue I received a check in the mail that should cover it, and if I play my cards right a dryer too!

So, what do you think I should ask for next? Do you think a car would be too much? ;) Maybe I should just say THANK YOU LORD.

Also, thank you to all those he's been working through, Krista, Craig, Ron, Jan, Monica, Chris, and Joan!

Do you know about...

Digital Post-it Notes?!
I love them and use them all the time. This guy who used to date a friend of mine downloaded a free version for me years ago. This guy actually told me exactly which computer I should buy and walked me through the entire process. Then when it came he set it up for me just because he enjoyed it. A few of these computer lover types fell into my life in college and I don't know where I would have ended up without them.

Anyway, if you haven't already you may want to try the post-its. There are still free versions out there...

Building 19
I just found out about this place. I was in the market for a living room rug and had looked at ALL of the local stores. I went about 6 other places before finally making a trek up to NH to check out Building 19 and it was well worth the effort. So much so that I went back up the next day and bought a second rug for the dining room and still came out very close to within budget!

They have a lot more than just rugs, and someday I will explore it all, but I think pretty much it is like a Marshall's or a TJ Max only HUGE.

Decorating Made Easy and Cheap!

A dear friend of mine (soon to be married!) sent me a house warming gift that I have been mulling over and enjoying for some time now. It is a book called Use What You Have Decorating, by Lauri Ward. It boasts that you can re-do your whole house in ONE hour, "using the space you have, the things you like, and the budget you choose."

Now, for those of us whose "decorating budget" is non-existent and further don't already have lots of nice things, this method is slightly less effective. However, I have found this book quite useful.

Basically I think she offers a set of rules and guidelines to help you achieve what you want and might possibly stumble into a few years from now after many, many failed attempts. You know how sometimes you walk into a room and say...hmm, this just doesn't quite work, and you might be able to rearrange for a while and try different scenarios till you find something that does work? Well, this book is pretty much a list of all of the things that your room needs to "work", so now when I walk into a room I can say what it is that doesn't work and perhaps even see a solution before I move the furniture 15 times.

I think I have made many improvements around my house. I have two corner cabinets and a china cupboard all with exposed shelves and I was really at a loss as to how to make them look decorated instead of just used. They still aren't perfect, but I don't go cross-eyed staring at them anymore! (sorry I didn't take before and after pics!)

I do disagree with some of her "rules". Like I don't always think that any wall that is less than 36'' has to be left bare. And in general I would allow for a LOT more art work on the walls than she would. But I do see what she means about people (myself included) hanging everything on the walls about five inches too high.

Anyway, I had fun at my parent's house the other night rearranging their front rooms. They have TONS of furniture that they have inherited from different sides of the family or picked up different places over the years and have never really figured out quite how to make it all work in their current house. I am sure my solution was imperfect, but I had fun, I think the rooms look much homier and more usable and my parents appreciated my efforts!

Anyway, this book (and blog!) is worth a look!

Two Projects have been Completed!

ONE
Remember The Wedding Quilt??

I actually finished it before we moved, but I'm sure you know what moving is like and will kindly excuse my not blogging it yet!


Anyway, I love how it came out. I got a little carried away washing out the marker and faded some of the notes. I guess the ink was not QUITE as permanent as I was thinking. Luckily you can still read them all.



Notice the binding? I have done a couple of these bias bindings now and I think I've finally gotten the hang of it!

Also you can see the quilting there...right?


TWO
And in this post I showed you a sneak peak of the nursery...After scraping two layers of wall paper off the bare dry wall (disappointed that the dry wall had not been sealed pre-papering, delighted that it was dry wall rather than plaster!)



repairing the numerous gouges we had made during the scraping process, sanding, washing, priming (three times! I should have gone straight for the Kilz!), three coats of ceiling paint, two coats of wall paint, two coats of trim paint, and one coat of floor paint (ok, it should have had two!) my dear, patient (I'm not that easy to work with) husband and I finally finished the nursery.



Isn't it sweet? Notice the Madona of the streets? I love that one.

Now for the list of things that aren't really quite done:
The arm of the rocker needs repairing (my dear says this weekend!)
The radiator needs to be taken off and painted
The wall behind the radiator needs to be scraped and painted
The floor needs a second coat of paint
There are these sweet little nursery rhyme prints that Mary gave me that I want to frame and hang.
And I want to get a fragment of carpet for the floor to make it a little cosier for crawling practice.

Wow, that list is longer than I thought...maybe if I make the font smaller...

Now for the list of things that aren't really quite done:
The arm of the rocker needs repairing (my dear says this weekend!)
The radiator needs to be taken off and painted
The wall behind the radiator needs to be scraped and painted
The floor needs a second coat of paint
There are these sweet little nursery rhyme prints that Mary gave me that I want to frame and hang.
And I want to get a fragment of carpet for the floor to make it a little cosier for crawling practice.

Ah yes, much better.