I have been purposefully making a run to Trader Joe's every week to purchase a pretty bunch of fresh flowers. It is a bit out of the way and yes, I do grow flowers in my garden but the act of selecting just the right color to suit my mood or match my tablecloth brings me such joy.
Every time I pass by the dinner table on my way in or out of the kitchen, I can't help but smile.
I find that giving myself just a small gift helps to remind me that what I do is not just a task on a to do list but a vital part of running our household. Making things pretty with decor or a lit candle shows that you take pride in your home and the contribution you make to it.
I am not talking about getting in debt or buying in excess but a relatively inexpensive thing like a bouquet of flowers, a sweet smelling candle, a set of new tea towels or a pretty notebook to plan menus in can be a real attitude changer and turn an ordinary thing like cooking, washing dishes or dusting feel a little less like drudgery and more like a blessing.
The things I mentioned come with a small price tag but spending money isn't necessary to give yourself and your home this same feeling. You can set out your best dishes and light a candle when you sit down for lunch by yourself or reuse that pretty wrapping paper you are saving to line your kitchen drawers so that you are greeted with something lovely each time you reach for a fork or a spoon. There are so many ways to bring added joy to what we do in an ordinary day.
With things as expensive as they are right now that $10.00 purchase might seem like an unnecessary splurge but to me it is worth every penny. You just can't put a price tag on the boost that those special little things can do for your mental health.
I know that true joy comes from a deeper, spiritual place but the simple act of treating yourself to something special can brighten your mood and make you more willing to do for others with a better attitude. Don't you agree?
What are some of your favorite attitude lifters around the home? How do you bring joy to the everyday?
xo, Patty
When we moved last winter I quickly discovered how much I would miss my community of girlfriends and our planned times of togetherness. Making new friends as we age is certainly more difficult than when we have young children and there are natural meeting points like school pick ups and little league fields.
I soon realized that without these built in gatherings of women I was going to have to get creative in finding my new community of local friends.
What I did have nearby was family. So in my typical type A (read pushy) way I set about creating intentional get togethers to do the things that I missed doing plus a few I always wanted to do.
And so what I affectionately call the "Granny Skills Club" was born.
Once a month I get together with my mom, sister in law and niece and we practice or learn a new skill together. We have learned water bath canning, basic quilt making, sewing an apron, preserving lemon curd and this week we are taking on the perfect pie crust, just in time for our holiday baking.
My niece gifted me with Kate McDermott's gorgeous book, Art of the Pie and it seemed fitting that we take our lesson from her. We are attempting her traditional all butter crust and quintessential apple pie filling this week. She offers both a handmade and food processor addition of the all butter crust and we will be trying them both.
I love the idea of coming together as women. In days gone by this would have been a normal thing to do as a community. Whether it was around the quilting table or cutting board these gatherings were the place where life's joys and concerns were discussed and advice and encouragement were given.
I believe these in person gatherings are needed now more than ever. As we four come together around the kitchen table we are gaining so much more than new skills, we are gaining the community built around doing them together. And that just might be the biggest reward of all.
xo, PattySomething about the times we are living in has me longing for days gone by. Not centuries ago, although that sounds lovely as well, but the days of my early adulthood and marriage. You know the good old days of the 80's and 90's. (Technically I guess that was a different century but in my mind it can't have been more than 20 years ago.)
Do you remember the days of Romantic Homes, Country Living and Victoria magazines? The days when we looked to still pictures in books and monthly publications for our tips and style inspiration. The days before fast moving reels and flashing images? The days when you went to a thrift store and old dishes cost a dollar or two?
Our move last winter was a considerable downsize for us and I was brutal in the editing of my possessions. Countless sets of glassware, dinner plates and serving bowls found their way to the donation center. There is nothing like a move to motivate you to reassess everything you've accumulated over the years.
Long forgotten about boxes of chintz china and teacups that fell out of style, were unearthed from a previous move and lovingly hand washed and repackaged to be brought to our new home. No longer concerned with the latest decorating trends they are proudly out on display and I am determined to use them routinely.
This year, as this brutally hot summer comes to a close, I am excited to reconnect with my love of the art of afternoon tea. Nothing fancy but a purposeful slow down with a fine china cup and saucer, a little sweet treat, a time of quiet contemplation, a good book to read or the browsing of an actual magazine. A little time just for me.
Or perhaps I will send a handwritten note to a friend (there was no text messaging in the good old days) and invite her over to join me? Nothing says hospitality like tea and conversation, don't you agree?
Just because this world seems to be spinning faster and faster, doesn't mean we have to hop on for the ride.
We are still in control of what happens under our roof and between our four walls and if I want to go back in time to circa 1985 and open up one of my treasured Mary Engelbreit magazines, then by goodness that's just where you'll find me.
The outside world will intrude eventually, but until it does, here's to the good old days.
xo, Patty
When I was a new wife and mom one of my primary influences was author, Emilie Barnes. She was to me, the epitome of a godly woman. I devoured every book she wrote and even attended a couple of her conferences.
Since both of us were Southern California girls, I even drove out to her Riverside "ranch" home and peeked through the bushes for a glimpse of her home. (If you knew me in real life, this wouldn't surprise you. Remind me to tell you about the time I hunted down a home from picture in a magazine and became life long friends with the owner...but I digress.)
One of my favorite of her books was entitled, 'Welcome Home, Creating Your Own Place of Beauty and Love". It's chapters are filled with ways to create beauty and a sense of comfort in every room of your house. It included pictures of her warm, charming and colorful home and I did my best to recreate her style within my newly married budget.
Flash forward to today, through the years of Southwest, mauve and sage green and the Joanna Gaines white farmhouse look and I find myself smack dab back where I started and always felt most at home, recreating that warm and colorful environment in our new home.
"When you make yourself at home, you surround yourself with the people you love, the objects you cherish, the memories that warm you, and the ideas that motivate you. You work to create a nest that helps you be happy and productive, an environment that rests you and renews you. You choose to invest your time, your care, your loving energy to keep your nest clean and warm and welcoming." Emilie Barnes
I recently purchased Welcome Home again (I gave my original copy away to a newlywed from church) and have spent hours reading and beginning the process of creating a home that says, you are welcome here. This time it won't be an imitation of Emilie's style but a home that reflects my heart and since we are well into the empty nest years, the comfort of my husband as well.
Looking back, what style of the decades most captured your heart? Does your home reflect that? If not, what's stopping you from creating it today? I say it's time to recapture the ambience that most says, "Welcome Home" to you.
Happy Welcome Home Day!
xo, Patty
I was feeling a little blue and uninspired last week (by life in general and my home and garden in particular) when a dear friend reached out to check on me. Even though we haven't chatted in a while it was like riding a bike, the memories came back as soon as we started talking.
One thing led to another and before you know it we were talking about the "good old days" (which makes us sound really old), specifically the deeper connections we made in the early days of blogging. Not surprisingly that's where we met and felt an immediate kinship of spirits. Our beliefs and decor were similar and we each spent our early mornings with coffee at our computers catching up on our favorite bloggers and writing our own posts.
It turns out we have both become disenchanted with the fast pace reels and lack of intimacy that instagram holds as well as the slick sales and advertising that most blogs of today include.
We miss the early days of blogging.
Like school girls calling each other on the wall mounted phone with the mile long curly cord to plan whether we were wearing dresses the next day, we got our heads together and came up with a plan of attack.
I have to tell you I haven't been this excited creatively in a long while. We are busy working out all the details but trust me, if you miss those old blog connections like we do, you are going to love what we have planned and will be sharing very soon.
And in case anyone hasn't called or messaged to ask, how are you doing old friend?
xo, Patty
This is home. Right here. In the desert. Both literally and figuratively. It seems rather pessimistic to say that out loud and yet, at the same time it is freeing to admit it.
The last few years have been wrought with change and fear and uncertainty.
We packed up our belongings and a few plants from the garden and left our sweet Cottage on Lemon Lane, leaving behind the best of times and the worst of times.
We've moved to a new city and while I am closer to family, I have left my dear friends behind. I didn't realize how much I'd miss the connections and the routines we'd established. I'd forgotten how hard it can be to make new friends as we age. It seems the number of years I've been alive doesn't match the number of years I think I am (can I really be I really that old?) and finding like minded women will take some time and patience.
I don't know if it's the times we (collectively) are living in or just this time in my life but it feels like I've been living waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's a kind of uneasiness that keeps me from settling in and living life.
Now that I've called it out, I can see what a sad waste of time it is to live that way.
And so I begin again...this is home. I think it's time I settle in and make it feel that way. We are none guaranteed another tomorrow. I refuse to squander today waiting for what may never come.
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34
xo, Patty
In this ever noisy and chaotic world we find ourselves in, I am finding the art of listening to be a dying skill. Have you noticed opinions and judgements seem to fly before we have even heard the views of others?
I am guilty of this myself and it is one of the areas I am asking God to give me wisdom and patience in conquering. I'm not sure if I have always been this way, or if the times we live in have made me more passionate and less tolerant to listening to differing world views and values. Having a gentle home and speaking words in anger cannot co exist for long.
Being a good and respectful listener doesn't mean you agree with the other person, it just means that you value everyones right to speak without spite and anger. An angry or hurtful response never softened another's view or opinion.
I am convinced that most of the division in our current culture would be eliminated if we could respectfully agree to disagree. I have the ability to choose how I react and respond to whatever the world throws at me and that includes differing values and beliefs.
Of course, I can choose to surround myself exclusively with like minded people but how would I be a light on a hill? How would I offer a helping hand? How would I serve the sinner?
I realize this is a controversial and nuanced conversation especially if we throw our children in the mix. We must protect them as much as humanly possible. What they see cannot be unseen. But as adults, we need to do better at being kind in our cancel culture. We need to reflect Christ. He didn't condone but instead offered a hand up.
What are your thoughts on the subject? How do you stand your ground and hold your angry tongue? I'd love to hear.
Patty
"So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God." James 1:19-20
What does it mean to be a keeper of the home and how do we best share those attributes with those coming behind us? Is it still important or even relevant in the climate of our world today with the global headlines changing so rapidly? Is a neat and tidy home that welcomes others with warmth and hospitality something to be aspired to or should our focus be more outward to the needs and threats of the world? Is a well stocked pantry and the ability to bake bread as important as knowing the latest headlines and where they might place us on the kingdom calendar? Can the two views/needs coexist?
These questions have been weighing on my heart more and more heavily in the last couple of years along with my responsibility as an "older woman" to teach the younger women biblical womanhood.
"the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— 4that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed." Titus 2:3-5
It seems in recent times that women's bible studies and women's ministry in general have fallen out of fashion pushed to the wayside along with potluck suppers and church wide rummage sales. The lure of the mega church and online services has removed the natural connection between older and younger women and social media "influencers" have mostly stepped in to fill the void. I am not opposed to well versed peers teaching biblical womanhood and I applaud those who do it well but interpreting scripture is made so much more valuable when it has been walked out by a woman a season or two ahead of you.
I have heard the cry from younger women for Titus 2 women in their lives. I have desired to walk along side them teaching and encouraging. The question has always been how?
After praying about it I have felt the tug to share here on my blog and YouTube channel what I have learned and am continuing to learn about bible based womanhood. What does the Word of God say a woman's role in her home is?
2022 is the year I am taking on this vital mission field and my hope and prayer is that you dear older woman, will be encouraged to do the same. What are some things you would love to teach younger women about biblical womanhood? Please share in the comments.
xo, Patty
Here's the link to my corresponding YouTube video.
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