Valentines doesn't equal Love

Post Valentine high. 

My little home is still bedecked with streamers and paper hearts cut from a copy of Alice In Wonderland, delicate read tree, and flag banner.  Flowers sit upon our coffee table, looking surprisingly lively for tulips, and a small red rose bush in the dining room.  I adore the celebrating holidays with simplistic creations.  I find it so very enjoyable to create an atmosphere of cheer with decorations which flow naturally with the current decor.  Is it really necessary to spend thousands of dollars to recreate each room in your home?  Is it essential to bombard each new guest with a reminder of what day of the year it is?  Would they be lost without the bright plastic hearts which cost you unnecessary funds? 

If you are not a "artsy" person, there are many brilliant blogs which can alleviate any stress in the matter. Many "how-to" websites have been created to help walk the very "artistically inept" through creating handmade cards, mantle decor, and all manners of wreaths to hang proudly on your front door. 

But what about those that don't enjoy this process?  What about those that break into a hive at the less then subtle burning smell of a glue gun or the purr of a sewing machine?....Lord bless you.  I have no hope for you aside from hiring us poor individuals to do it for you!  The thought of being given a blank canvas of a room, with the funds to back it up and empty design plans!?  What FUN!!!! 

Please, oh please do not attempt to simply throw together a last minute design plan from the forced holiday spirit supplies at the check out aisle.  These are for those that cannot even begin to attempt a theme.  Those that suddenly remember the holiday, once they have walked between the bright red and bubble gum pink candy aisles and already discounted door banners.  Stop your hand from grabbing the slightly damaged red heart balloons, cherry colored garland (which doesn't make any since when based on what it is supposed to have derived from) with pink bobbles.  Just because it is 75% off doesn't make it a great deal!!!!

Let this be a warning.  Be creative and do not fall prey to the last minute knock-offs that can be found near the trashy magazines and whatever else the grocery store might be fearful will remain on their shelves without the giant discount sign.

Cooking smaller portions:

Growing up in a large family we bought food by the bushel.  Seriously! We literally bought everything in bulk. When we took our trips to Walmart we filled two baskets: a couple gallons of milk, two dozen eggs, multiple kinds of cereal (which maybe we were allowed to choose), boxes of noodles, cheese (always the largest - the small might have lasted for one meal of quesadilla)...and still more.  The list was forever long, and yet my mother was still the most frugal of all women.  Often our Mrs. Baird's just down the street would have a sale, and we would go pile up on pizza bread, white/wheat bread, roles, cinnamon roles, and any other treats...as long as they were on sale.  Then later came the trips to Sam's and still later Costco's (as a replacement for the previous...we were biased, plus the pizza was better!).  When shopping was a day long experience as a kid...how do you transition to smaller portions?  How do you buy food for as reasonable a price, but at a great price...?



I love to cook, but I am still experimenting with trying to buy only what I will need.  I hate to throw food out.  My heart lurches within me as the food goes down the drain, thrown outside (if it is biodegradable) and still yet in the trash. 
A work in progress....

Heart

What is it that creates a home?
Home (adverb): to a vital sensitive chore
Home (noun): one's place of residence

What do you believe is necessary to have an "established" home? Is it the size?  Is it the work placed into it? Does the interior or the exterior matter more?  What makes a home: comfortable? Stable? Secure? Safe? 

Is it necessary for every person to have their own room?  Do you think that there should be a dining room? 




The reality is that each home is different, and yet we create homes often "cookie-cutter" in appearance.
 
The LARGER the better?
 When one looks at the exterior of a home, there are presuppositions established.  You might turn to your spouse and state: Look at the size of that house!  Our entire house would fit in their entry way!  Although that may simply be an observation, often this is done with a slight bitterness or resentment for their seemingly successful lifestyle.
Is this true?  Does that family have it together?  The reality is their house is so big they could go weeks without even seeing another member of their family.  The reality is their house is so big that they cannot even do entire "dusting" in one day.  Imagine! What stress...I can barely stay on top of what I already must clean, much less a house triples or greater!


"Small"  means close knit?
I think that many believe that the smaller the house, the more close knit the family.  Although this seems realistic, because then your a forced to interact.  The matchbox size bathroom requires maneuvering and sharing of the pinpoint mirror.  The very art of spitting out toothpaste while dogging the hairspray fumes, and avoiding seeing the individual desperately trying to shower in the last ounces of lukewarm water.



Does the size of the home create the bond of the family?  I think most individuals would state: No.  The home is simply a tool that can possibly increase the desire for intimacy as a family.  In can be the place where family gathers, but it can also be a place where no one truly feels safe. 
How tragic for the people in the world who find that the place that should be safest, is the thing which they dread.  School is the safe place.  Work is their haven.  Without prayer, patience, proactive interaction, and a penitent spirit: no home will truly create a unifying family.

dust::Sin

It gathers, congregates, mingles, grows, multiplies, reproduces, expands...really however you call it, the stuff seems to increase by the hour. 

I dust, then glace back and there it is again!  I wipe and it seems to reappear behind the wake of my hand across the surface.  How?  What great phenomena allows for such a persistent foe in our homes?  Yes, yes.  I know "scientifically" why it appears, but really?  It makes me think of your tonsils, some things are just a nuisance.  To clean, and then find yourself back where you were again...exhausting.  Reminds me a great deal of another such frustration.

How is it that you can find yourself constantly making the same mistakes.  I had a conversation with a sweet student of mine, and she was overwhelmed with the idea that the journey of becoming "more like Christ" never becomes easier.  What a concept for so young!  She whispered through broken tears, "does it ever get easier?" It was so incredible to sit and discuss such a weighty concept with a child.  Sin is one such topic that is overwhelming to really understand, but thank goodness for young children to teach...that is the only way that I can fully understand the pure grace of God, when I am teaching and expressing the sovereignty of God.

Frill

Overwhelmed with the desire to create I bought some felt.  The fingers flew and ideas spilled out, full of felt, ribbon, beads, and lace.  I ran to the mirror to try on my new delicious apparel choice.  There staring back at me was a normal girl wearing a rather awkwardly stiff, fluff at my neck.  My mouth twitched and I tilted my head, pondering my next steps.  Without a thought I took it off and placed it about my head...eyes popped.  My heart beat excitedly.  Could it be possible? Had I accidentally created something that  might, just maybe be well, creative?  There upon my head stood a headband unlike any I had ever worn, I was gleeful.  My roommates encouraged, and my heart was content. 
I kept briskly creating one after another.  Each design was new and original  never one quite the same.
Thus FRILLS was established.   

Frill

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a place I fell upon while in NYC

6.22.10

Mango Delight

White wine (whatever extra might be leftover in your fridge)
1 lb Lean ground hamburger meat
bread crumbs
1 egg
4 Tb brown sugar
2 ts paprika
salt
1 cup of rice
1 mango
soy sauce
olive oil

Begin by starting your rice. Next cut up the mango. Don't hesitate to leave small bits because this will be put into the meatballs (even shave off the bits left on the seed). In mixing in your bowl the wine, egg, brown sugar, paprika, mango juice and bits (not the larger chunks!), and hamburger meat. As you mix then add in the bread crumbs to help soak in the egg and wine. In a large frying pan begin warming the oil to fry the meatballs. As it warms form the meatballs and place on a cutting board in order to let them all cook at the same time. Once oil is hot enough begin frying the meatballs. After rice is done pour into a large bowl. As meatballs finish put into the same dish mixing them in with the rice. Once all of the meatballs are in with the rice pour a generous amount of soy sauce on and add in the mango. Mix together and enjoy!