Purpose

tradition

• breakfast work
  Three years ago, while Jeremy was still in Georgia getting our house together to sell and I was living here alone with four children, I started reading the Bible to the kids over breakfast.
• the lure of slow living: on paying attention
  I am drowning, I wrote to myself in my journal. No, that’s not right. I’m being bricked in. It was a few weeks after Beatrice was born. I was already back in the swing of things–I had been since her second
• father’s day, 2019

homemaking

• paradox
  In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet is led before officials of the city by the priests and others seeking his death. They cannot find reason to condemn him, yet Jeremiah places himself in their hands to do
• moving rooms & the hand-painted dot wall
  Some nesting periods start rather mildly, with the washing of baby clothes and assembling of cribs. Others are a little more forceful, with packing up your bedroom and your nursery and informing your husband that you’re ready to
• a few cut & sew finds from spoonflower
  I fell down a rabbit hole this morning, remembering suddenly the old cut-and-sew projects I did as a kid (as well as the cut-and-sew Cheshire Cat I found at a “junque” store, which is one of my favorite home
• crochet owl christmas ornament tutorial
  Back before all of the kids came along, I kept a little Etsy shop with crocheted items for sale. These were mostly hats, with some amigurumi, iPod cases (remember iPods?) and ornaments. All of these items were generally

homeschooling

• Some scary Schubert music videos
  A couple of the Kranslings have a taste for “scary music”. I can relate, since as a child I used to listen to Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” until I was so scared I couldn’t go in the basement.
• reading (or, re-reading) plan for 2020
  I’ve been thinking about books. There are a few (very few) I want to re-read–slowly–and then write about while re-reading. Or after I’ve re-read them. Or something like that.
• on raising readers
  We’ve had a strange phenomenon in our home, concerning books. I realized not long ago that I barely pick up a picture book anymore. I used to write a semi-monthly series called What We Read which mostly featured picture books from

motherhood

• Aurick’s mealtime song
  For Aurick Virgil, nicknamed Rikki-Tikki, who has developed a habit of shrieking at mealtimes until someone puts food on his tray. (To the tune of “Just You Wait, Henry Higgins“) Just you wait, Rikki-TikkiJust you wait!You are
• a day in the summer, 2021
  “On my birthday, Mama, I would like a whole lot of Cheetos.” Thus declares the Kransling who is across the table from me; it has been duly noted. His birthday, though, is still several months away. He
• reading goals for 2021
  I feel slightly guilty for even suggesting such a thing as reading goals. Last year’s goals were never even close to being attained–I never reread the short list of books I wanted to. I did read a