A few of my favorite things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.  

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up in strings

These are a few of my favorite things.

  Does everyone else start singing that song in their head every time they go to write a Five Favorites post?  

No?  It's probably just me. 

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite things.

1.

Warm snuggly babies that fall asleep nursing.   Everyone says you shouldn't let babies fall asleep nursing...but I just can't help myself.  They are so sweet, and warm and snuggly and it's just so nice to feel them go all limp and sleepy in my arms...with a tummy full of milk.  Plus, I never figured out how to do it any other way and I'm lazy so I tend to stick with the easiest route. 

2.

So, every since Ben got the kids an app on the Kindle Fire that reads the story Green Eggs and Ham, they have been obsessed with getting certain members of the family to try certain foods they hate.  Heidi and Greta gang up on John to get him to try milk (they both LOVE milk) and Heidi and John gang up on Greta to get her to try oatmeal.   It's absolutely hilarious how much time they spend trying to get John to try milk or Greta to try oatmeal. 

Today Greta made a deal with John, that if he tried 1 drop of milk, she would play two games with him.

I just have to ask why?  I do not know?

The good news is that my kids apparently are immune to peer pressure and no amount of cajoling, bribing or reasoning will get John to try milk or Greta to try oatmeal.  Hopefully, they still have the same resolve and stubborn streak when they go off to college. 

So, that wasn't really a thing...but whatever...I'm still counting it.

3. 

Brown paper packages taped up in tape. 

I love packages.  There is this old episode of the The Dick Van Dyke Show that Ben and I love called The Curious Thing about Women.   In the show, Laura opens up Rob's mail.  It's hilarious..and that is so me.  I love opening mail and packages and I have ZERO patience to wait for someone else to open it.  I have however, managed to curb my curiosity somewhat...and don't open other people's mail...most of the time. 

4.

Muffins.  I love muffins...all types of muffins.  And, they are so easy to make, and so quick to take places as snacks and you can make them super healthy or super junky  or dessert-like, and everyone in the house loves them and I can get  my kids to eat things they normally wouldn't eat...like zucchini or carrots or eggs and I can use up weird ingredients like carob chips..and everyone still loves them. 

Not my muffins...I got this off of morguefile

5.

My High Step...I use this daily for exercise.  It's so easy, doesn't take up much space and you can vary your work-out a lot.   It's so versatile.  Currently, I strap Elsa to my front, and step away while watching something on Netflix.  This is how she takes her morning nap every day.  I don't know what I would do without it. 

So, those are a few of my favorite things.  Go visit Hallie at Moxie Wife for more Five Favorites. 

Five Favorites

1.

,
The BBC Period Drama...Call the Midwife.  I'm in the middle of watching Season 1 on Netflix, and am highly enjoying it!  It's about a young, newly qualified midwife who moves into a convent (thinking it's a hospital) in the East End of London (an impoverished area).  Highly entertaining..and lots of great birth scenes...but even better it offers some great insights into love and life..and there are some really profound moments.

2.

-Super, easy-peasy, flourless peanut butter cookies.  The recipe is a cinch..just mix 1 cup peanut butter, 1 egg and 1 cup sugar.  Form into balls, flatten with a fork at and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  So, so, so easy and yummy and good. 

Not my cookie...I found this picture on morgue file.  My cookies don't last long enough to take a picture.

3.

Amelia's super secret, super easy, versatile, mix and match marinade/sauce.   Except it's not a secret anymore because I'm about to share it with you.  Aren't you sooooooooo excited!  I use this sauce on chicken and rice all the time and I always make it a bit differently and it always tastes delish.

The general gist is to mix 1 part acid (vinegar or lemon juice) with 1 part condiment (ketchup or mustard) and 1 part sweetener (honey or molasses).   Add in various other spices like salt, curry, pepper and you have an awesome marinade for chicken and rice.   Just pour it over your chicken while cooking and it imparts a delicious flavor and keeps the chicken really, really moist. 

4.

The cooling rain on a hot, humid, sticky day in Fl.  

I almost let out a huge Hallelujah when I walked out of Publix today and felt the drops. 

5.

Upcycling old jeans into cute, little purses.   Yes..I made this.  Aren't you proud of me?

Now, go visit Hallie at Moxie Wife, swoon over pics of her newborn and see some more favorites.

What I learned about housekeeping from watching Downton Abbey

I'm always late to the game. So, while everyone else was watching Downton Abbey when it first came out on Masterpiece Theatre, I didn't start watching it until recently.  I will admit it took me awhile to get into the first episode.  I kept trying to watch it on our Amazon Prime account and falling asleep midway through.  

I have this annoying habit of falling asleep while watching movies (or TV shows, or basically anything after 9:00 PM...except for Dr. Who.  Not even I can fall asleep during Dr. Who.)

But, everyone kept raving about Downton...so I persevered and persevered (oh the struggle) and finally one day while sick in bed, I watched several episodes in a row and discovered that I liked it.  I really, really liked it.

I've been doing some blog-reading on housekeeping lately (mostly on Like Mother, Like Daughter about how to have a reasonably clean home).  I'd actually settle for a somewhat clean home.  I have low expectations.  Anyway, the idea of housekeeping and cleaning has been on my mind, and I've actually been on a bit of cleaning streak today (try not to fall over and faint with shock, Mom).

Anyway, for anyone who might be unfamiliar with the show, Downton Abbey is basically a soap opera that takes place in England spanning the time from 1912-1921.  Actual historical events (the sinking of the Titanic, WWI and the Spanish Flu) play a significant role in the plot.

While watching last night, it occurred to me that the servants in Downton Abbey do less work than I do.   Oh, don't get me wrong..they work hard.  But they each have their own job and that is it.  There are the maids and the butler and the footmen and the cook and the kitchen maid and the chauffeur and the valet and they each do their own job.  The maids aren't expected to cook and the footmen aren't expected to also chauffeur.  If I recall correctly, there was even some scandal about maids having to serve in the dining room, which apparently was unheard of, but the household was short-staffed due to the war. 

While nowadays, everyone is basically expected to do/be all those things.  And, not only to do them all, but to do them well.   We're expected to cook and clean and chauffeur and child raise  (no doubt the daughters in Downton Abbey would have had nannies and tutors when they were young) and garden and even teach (for those who homeschool).  Granted, our home is much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much smaller and we have the advantage of modern conveniences they didn't have back then (like washing machines and electric stoves).

But, I still find it interesting, that not only is the modern parent expected to do all those things, but to do them well.  Not only do we have to cook, but we have to grow our own organic vegetables, cook everything from scratch using organic, free-range, cruelty-free ingredients and avoid anything processed or convenient or easy.   Not only are we supposed to bake our own bread, but we're supposed to grind our own grains and then soak them as well.   Not only are we expected to clean, but we're expected to keep our house, company-ready at all times.   And for those families that homeschool..you can add teaching/tutoring on top of that.

Now that any of those things are bad, or that we shouldn't be doing all those things.  Just pointing out that in times past...no ONE or TWO people were expected to both do and excel at ALL those things.   Even going further back in time and looking to a poor family, we see that most people didn't have all these multiple hats to wear.  Ma Ingalls certainly worked hard..no doubt about that.   And, way harder than we do nowadays...but she didn't have to wear all the different hats we do. She wasn't spending time driving Laura and Mary around to piano lessons and practices.  She didn't spend time scrubbing toilets..since they didn't even have toilets..just an outhouse.  While doing laundry was much, much harder back then, there was also much, much less of it, because they didn't have nearly as many clothes.   Cleaning a one-room log cabin was likely much simpler than cleaning a multi-room, larger home with A TON more stuff in it.

So, maybe it's time to cut ourselves some slack, if we can't do everything..  if we can't have a perfectly clean home and cook perfectly tasty, healthy meals, and grow our own organic food, while perfectly driving kids to a billion different activities and teaching them ourselves (or just helping with homework)...not to mention those parents who have significant commitments outside the home or at home (work or school or volunteering or ministry)..which is another added pressure and demand.  People in times past didn't do EVERYTHING, so how can we?