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life{in}grace

live with more presence, passion, & purpose

Edie Wadsworth

Price My Space

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I’m joining the Nester’s Price My Space party with my newly redecorranged breakfast room. (I just moved stuff around, nothing new here).

  1. Slightly damaged armoire that I bought 8 years ago for $150 at a local furniture sale. I love this beastly mammoth and just moved it from my dining room by myself (in a rare burst of hulk strength) to make room for a new piece I bought for my dining room. I kinda like it here, even though it doesn’t truly fit in the space. I’ve also entertained moving it the bedroom to store cute sweaters and shoes.
  2. French distressed table and chairs—bought 11 years ago for $1100. I think that was the most I had spent on furniture at that point in my life, but it’s been such a great investment. I still love the set and have resisted painting it many times. It’s beautiful, comfortable and just the perfect size for a breakfast room.
  3. IKEA window treatment–$39 for the pair! I love this pattern and it coordinates so well with my newly painted kitchen cabinets.
  4. Original oil artwork—-I love this artist—whose name I can’t remember or decipher–and have several pieces of her work. (I know it’s a she and she’s French.) I bought this for around $100 at an Art Finds home show. Look up the company online and attend a show if you can. They have great stuff at a fraction of the price you’d normally pay for original oil paintings.
  5. Various plates from TJ Maxx—I’m gonna guess around $40 for all of them. I bought several of them in the last few months on clearance and LOVE them all!
  6. Striped pillows from TJ Maxx–$6 each on clearance for a total of $24 . I had these in the guest room at my lake cottage. The colors work perfect here with my new kitchen.

Drum roll please: Total for breakfast room $1410. The lion’s share of the money is on seating, which Mrs. Nester tells me is how it should be.

Just for fun, I thought I’d show you, using Polyvore, what my new living room furniture (that I bought recently at a high-end furniture store for unbelievable close-out prices) sorta looks like (the colors at least). I bought ~$30,000 worth of furniture for $6500. 12 pieces in all, I think. I don’t have a blue armoire but am contemplating painting mine, and given the other colors in the furniture, I’m leaning to jewel blue paint or dark charcoal stain. You wood purists are gonna tell me to stain it, I just know it. Remember I’m painting the walls creamy-white. Whadya think?

Tune in later this week for more on my Creating an Environment of Learning series and a few peeks at my new furniture. You will definitely want to visit the Price My Space party for lots more fun. And I can’t say enough ‘thank-yous’ to the Nester for so generously sharing her creative life with us. She has set a high standard for how to positively use this blogging world to help and encourage each other.

Furniture which shouldn’t be spray-painted and books which shouldn’t be neglected….

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“No sooner doth the truth come into the
soul’s sight, but the soul knows her to be her first
and oldest aquaintance.”

  1. I should first tell you that I am still working on the ‘beauty’ post. I get hamstrung by reading a lot of great writers and then feel completely inadequate with my own summation of the important points. I guess the old adage that we should listen twice as much as we speak is holding true for me. I can‘t stop listening(reading) long enough to speak (write).
  2. I also wanted to tell show you what else I’ve been up to lately. By a stroke of luck, or by my estimation, divine appointment, I wandered into a ‘high-end’ furniture store at the end of their ‘store closing’ sale. I also just happened to have insurance money that had to be spent on furniture replacement in order to be fully reimbursed. Long story short, I feel like I’ve just won the lottery. Most of the furniture ended up being 75-90% off. For instance, I bought a $1000 kilim rug for $89. And so on. So, to prepare my house for delivery next week, I’m rearranging everything. ( or as JamieKnoxville and I affectionately call it…..’tuggin’ and pullin’).
Yesterday, in a burst of hulk-strength, I moved this large china cabinet from my dining room to the breakfast room—to make room for the $4500 mahogany sideboard that I bought for $619! It really doesn’t exactly fit here, so it may end up in my bedroom holding clothes and shoe displays. On 2nd thought, my bedroom is on the other side of the world, so it will likely stay here for awhile.

To help me celebrate this rare joyous occasion, the crepe myrtles are blooming. So kind of them. ( I love how they poke through the fence)

I also have an insatiable reading appetite lately as I’ve been preparing the last two blog posts in this series. And if you are homeschooling, you must read this Charlotte Mason book “A Philosophy of Education”—it goes right along with the Thomas Jefferson book I’ve been giddy about, and is much better than reading someone else’s summary of what Charlotte Mason said.
She reitirates the fact that self-education is the key, and that we as teachers, are to inspire and help to ‘awaken the soul’ so that children have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
And Plato? This stuff is fantastic. I’ve been printing off maps of Greece and taking copious notes. It’s not as hard as I thought. I read the sparknotes summary of it first, which helped, then I read a historical introduction, which really helped, and then I dove in, headfirst. It must be contagious because in the antique store the other day, my 7yo got really excited and said, “Mom, I just found a book about Plato!” We were all excited about the beautiful little volume with dainty gold lettering, but mostly, I was thankful that she had been paying attention to what we were reading.
And that little notebook at the bottom? That’s a collection of lots of fun stuff—-paint swatches (I’m painting my living room—which has been the same color for a record EIGHT years—-before the new furniture arrives), magazine clippings of things I love, articles I want to read, my much neglected calendar, my somewhat neglected bible reading schedule, notecards, address labels, and so on.

I also stumbled upon a lovely aloe plant and my girls have discovered hundreds of little boo-boos lately which most definitely require aloe. Hundreds. Thank you to my friend, the Nester, for introducing me to this beautiful way of displaying my succulents.

So, as I re-evaluate my decor, and pour over design ideas, do you have any advice for me? I’m painting my living room Woodrow-Wilson Linen (a very presidential cream color) in an effort to feature my new heirloom furniture. But I’ll find a way to ‘shabby’ it up a little I’m sure. Although I don’t know how I’ll adjust to furniture that shouldn’t be spray-painted. I can’t wait to show you.

Check out my tumblr site—a place where I store links and pictures I love. And if you have time this weekend, read the post I wrote at the blogfrog about my current thoughts on blogging.
Have a great weekend and I’ll soon return to my series!

Anniversary Post

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I fiddled around all day, trying to think of something just so, to say to the this man with whom I have shared my soul’s truest longings, my mind’s most intimate questions, and my heart’s deepest sorrows—-for these past nine years. I have poured over poetry books to find just the right words and listened to legions of songs, in hopes that someone has captured before, in writing, the love and gratitude I wish to convey to him today.
But alas. I find no words.
They seem weak and inadequate.
I guess i’ll just remind him that I can’t even fathom my days without him.
That I am filled to overflowing with gratitude for his love and protection.
That I don’t take for granted the heavy burden of providing.
That I notice the tenderness with which he fathers.
and faithfulness with which he doctors.
I’ll remind him that most of all, I respect him. And the way he uses his gifts.
And confesses his faults.
He is capable and accomplished. So skilled with his hands. The perfect combination of masculinity, wisdom, and passion.
He’s all that I want.
Just what I need.
More than I deserve.
And I wish him a most Happy Anniversary.

"Surround Them With Books"

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This is part two in a series entitled Creating an Environment of Learning for Your Children. We will explore the power of books as a guidepost to your child’s educational and spiritual development while inspiring them to a rich inner life that leads to greatness. I hope to give you some resources that will inform and equip you but most of all, I hope to encourage you and your children to read the great classic books of the past, and to use those books as a cornerstone for your life.
Our culture seems to have all but forsaken the written word. We live in an image-obsessed age where ‘screens’ have completely invaded every part of our lives. Even most of our churches have been invaded by the big screen. And when we do read, it’s usually something written in the last 2 years, or worse the last 2 days. We have become unfamiliar with and ungrateful for the wealth of great writers, intellectuals, and heroes that have shaped the very way of life we now deem so precious. And you might ask, what is so wrong with a society that has become subjugated to images? What about the old adage ‘a picture is worth a thousand words?’ Gene Veith’s book Reading Between the Lines begins with a powerful first chapter on the importance of the written word.

As television turns our society into an increasingly image-dominated culture, Christians must continue to be people of the Word. When we read, we cultivate a sustained attention span, an active imagination, a capacity for logical analysis and critical thinking, and a rich inner life. Each of these qualities, which have proven themselves essential to a free people, is under assault in our TV-dominated culture. Christians, to maintain their Word-centered perspective in an image-driven world, must become readers.

Vieth quotes Neil Postman who wrote extensively on the subject of image-dominate media.

Postman explores the differences between the mental processes involved in reading and those involved in television watching. Reading demands sustained concentration, whereas television promotes a very short attention span. Reading involves (and teaches) logical reasoning, whereas television involves (and teaches) purely emotional responses. Reading promotes continuity, the gradual accumulation of knowledge, and sustained exploration of ideas. Television, on the other hand, fosters fragmentation, anti-intellectualism, and immediate gratification.

So, how do we ‘get back on track’? How do we turn back the tide and reclaim our children from the images that dominate our culture? The best way to is to set the example yourself. A Thomas Jefferson Education lays out a clear plan.
“Set the example by reading, pondering, writing about and discussing classics, sharing your love and ideas with your students (children). Then they get inspired, go to work, find the study difficult, and come back to you for encouragement.”
We NEED books. We must turn off the screens . We need to teach our children that reading is THE most important part of their education. Teaching them to read great books is likely the single most important thing you can do for their educational development and for their spiritual growth.
For Their Educational Development
1. Reading reinforces the truth that we alone are responsible for our own learning. We’ve been handed a pernicious lie in our society. We expect someone to teach us the things we need to know. We have been taught to pawn off the responsibility of our learning to someone else. We are taught the learn the bare minimum: the ‘Will this be on the test’ mentality. And this mind-set wreaks havoc on one’s desire and love for learning. Learning is hard work. It takes time, sustained concentration, and some solitude— three things we seem to all be in short supply of. We want ‘sound bites’ instead of depth and spoon feeding instead of the difficulty of ‘digesting’ difficult vocabulary and complex sentence structure.
2. Reading great books connects us with great minds and thinkers of the past, who have been where we are, faced what we face, and have often done so with a dignity and character that can rarely be found in modern society. We learn the stories of Cleopatra, Esther, Augustine, Prince Caspian, King Arthur, and Tom Sawyer; stories of redemption and adventure that inspire us to greater and nobler pursuits in our own life. Nothing personal against modern writers, but there’s little to inspire my 7 year old from a Junie B. Jones book. She can learn disrespectful language almost anywhere. But introduce her to the sisters of Little Woman or the adventures of Joan of Arc and then watch the magic begin. Next thing you know, she’s staging tea parties and pretending to ride on horseback, and without ever verbalizing it, she’s creating a rich inner life. Where her thoughts and dreams become entangled with those of the heroines she’s read about; where she begins to come alive and believe that she is part of a grand story.
3. It inspires us to be creative, industrious, and virtuous. I cannot count on my hands the times this year my girls have read a great book and then been inspired to make or invent something or to draw and paint or to bake and sew. It’s true for me too. Great books change us. They change the way we look at the world. They change the way we see ourselves. They move us to stretch our minds, to challenge our assumptions, to grow, and to refuse to stop learning.
For Their Spiritual Development
1. Christianity is a faith based on WORDS. We have a historic tradition that has been handed down to us as words on a page. We, of all people, must be people who read and value the written word. Our very life and faith depends on it. God warned His people early on about ‘graven images’. Pagan societies have always been image-centered and we seem determined as a culture to let images be our master. Veith says this tendency toward image and emotion has invaded our church life as well:

As evangelicals, we too are tempted to conform to the world rather than to the Word, just as the children of Israel were tempted by their neighbors’ graven images and the thought-forms these embodied. We too often stress feeling rather than truth. We tend to seek emotional religious experiences rather than the cross of Jesus Christ. Because we expect worldly “blessings,” we do not know how to endure suffering. We want to “name it and claim it”—instantly—rather than submit ourselves without reservation to the will of God. We are impatient with theology, and we dismiss history, thus disdaining the faith of our brothers and sisters who have gone before us and neglecting what they could teach us. We want entertaining worship services—on the order of a good TV show—rather than worship that focuses on the holiness of God and His Word. We want God to speak to us in visions and inner voices rather than in the pages of His Word. We believe in the Bible, but we do not read it very much.

2. Christians should be a well-informed and thinking people. Sustained serious reading, when modeled by parents, will teach children the value of personal discipline. It’s easier to watch Stuart Little than to read it. It’s far easier to watch Ben Hur than to read and memorize and meditate on the Ten Commandments. But as we know, anything worth having is worth working hard for. We must model for them the dedication and discipline it takes to educate ourselves. It will inspire them to seek truth on their own and equip them to identify falsehoods and posers.
The Practical Side—What to Do Now?
~Literally, surround them with great books. Start building a library of great books. Antique stores are often a great place to find classic books cheap. And most book stores have a section of classic literature and they are usually the cheapest books in the store. Try yard sales or Goodwill. The point of reading classics is that you’ll want to read them over and over again, so start accumulating your own copies.
~Visit the library often and monitor what they get—a few ‘fluff’ books won’t hurt them, but teach them to search out quality works too. I followed the Well-Trained Mind advice and make them get a biography, historical work, science-related book and then whatever else they want–each week.
~Give books as gifts—it teaches them that you truly value the printed word.
~Read to them, have them read to you, provide ample opportunity to listen to audio books, memorize poetry, bible passages, or quotes. ie……WORDS are important. WORDS are AMAZING!
~Make reading fun. Snuggle with them, stop and talk about the characters, ask them anticipatory questions to see how their logical skills are developing, and most of all, pick great books. Do interesting projects based on the books you read. Cook food from the time period or country from which the book was written. Use online cliff notes such as sparknotes to aid in your own understanding of plot, setting, and character analysis.
~ Having a plan for your reading will increase your success. I use The Well-Educated Mind to educate myself. It lays out a reading plan that can be tailored to meet your time constraints. I even started a bookclub based on this book and you can join us online this fall, as we tackle great thinkers like Plato, deToqueville, and Thomas Paine. If you don’t have a group to read with, join us this fall. It’ll at least give you a deadline, which is key for me finishing difficult books.
So, if we can agree that we should read, the next question is what to read. All books are not created equal. What is a great book? There are many definitions, but any book that can be read over and over again without you wanting to poke sharps objects through the your eardrums is usually a great book. And as much as I loved reading Twilight, I never once thought of reading it again. You can easily ‘get it all’ in the first time through. Not so with The Hobbit. Or Treasure Island. Or even Beatrix Potter.
There are many available lists of recommended books for children. I like this one, which you might argue contains only books written at least 90 years ago or longer. This one is very much more comprehensive and is broken down by ages, starting from birth.
My most important advice, open a classic and keep turning the pages. Great books are challenging, but as you exercise that part of your brain, it gets stronger and more fit for the task. There is no substitute for reading the great works of the past.
Happy Reading!
P.S. I just posted a new post for Rhoda’s thrifty treasures party. Visit here to see everyone’s ‘finds’.

From my kitchen— on July 4th

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We interrupt the regularly scheduled series—-which I shall certainly not finish by Monday—to bring you a few dynamite ideas for the Fourth of Juuuly.   That’s how we say it in the South. 

Juuuu-ly.   

With an emphasis on the ‘Ju’.  And I’ll just confess this right now, I don’t have a whole lot of Independence Day knick-knacks.  
Hold on, let me scan around the house one good time. (from the sofa I look quickly in all directions)   
Not even one.   I don’t have one Fourth of Juuuly knick knack.   And I probably won’t look like an American flag myself.   I’m just not a ‘try to wear as much holiday paraphernalia as possible’  kind of a girl.   Not that I don’t enjoy cute little girls or darling little old ladies decked out in holiday fare.   Because I do. And it’s not that I’m not intensely patriotic.  Because I am.  I get teary eyed almost anytime I meet an honest to goodness soldier, or read almost any book about America’s founding fathers, or see little girls and darling little old ladies decked out in flag-printed clothing.
 
Not to worry though,  I can often be ‘over the top’ when it comes to my tablescapes.  And I’m never in short supply of flags.   When I saw this cute little idea on Kimba’s site, with the bandanas, I knew  it would work perfect for my upcoming ‘luncheon’.   We dined inside but in true picnic style.  I used one of those genu-ine camping table cloths and my favorite white plates with red napkins.   Strawberries and cherries in fancy compotes completed the festive table.

 Okay, enough about the tablescape, I must introduce you to the star of the show:  
Ratatouille Tart
This recipe came from my favorite source for new recipes, Cuisine at Home.  Have you seen this little magazine?  I’ve been getting it for about 3 years now–since I stopped hi-jacking them from my mother’s house– and have made so many scrumptious recipes from it.   You must subscribe.  I don’t mean to make your mouth water unduly, but this is a homeade tart crust (prebaked for 30′ at 375), with basil and fontina cheese layered first, then mandolin-sliced zucchini, squash, red onion, and red pepper, layered next.  It’s finished off with generous drizzles of olive oil and salt and pepper and then baked for thirty more minutes.

Then, I searched high and low until I found three cute little helpers decked out in red to skewer the kabobs–jerk chicken kabobs with kielbasa and veggies–from same said magazine.

My style is often to mix elements of style–a little retro with my cottage or picnic with my fancy–I think it makes decorating and living in general, more interesting.

So, I wish you all a Happy Fourth.  Of Juuuly.    And I wish you were here to taste this tart. Stevie says it doesn’t touch the homeade pizza I made earlier this week, but he was only mad because I didn’t add salami, pepperoni, beef and sausage to this tres chic tart.  We’re foodies around here, we can’t help it.   

We had such a fun visit with our friends Sebastian and Sarah.   And can’t wait to see them again!
I hope to post the ‘Surround Them with Books’ this weekend and then we’ll finish up next week. I can’t decide if I should do a linky or if you just want to post your ideas for ‘Creating a Learning Environment’ in the comments.   Let me know today in the comments and my girls  will pick one lucky (at random) person to give a one year subscription of Cuisine At Home.  And if you have any fun ideas for July 4th desserts (besides the cake decorated like a flag or the standard trifle) let us know! 
Disclaimer–I have no affiliation with this cooking magazine, I just love it….and you!
Post Edit:  It occurred to me while I was running this morning that you might need to hear Juuuly pronounced, at least those of you who don’t live below the Mason-Dixon.    And when this song came on my iPod, I knew I had to share with you.   A little family trivia for those of you who enjoy such, our dog Scooter is named after Shooter Jennings—because I thought his name was Scooter Jennings.   And our dog Hank is named after Hank Williams—my daddy’s favorite musician.  I’m not a fan of much current country music but I grew up listening to eight tracks of  Tammy Wynette and George Jones–so if I bust out into ‘Golden Ring’ or ‘We’re Gonna Hold On’, consider it a form of mental disorder forced on me when I was 3 and cut me some slack.   Please, for the love of all things honky-tonk and patriotic, give Shooter a listen–at least until you see those darlin’ girls with those sundresses and cowgirl boots (one of my all-time favorite looks)  and until he says
 ‘Foath-a-Juuuly-yyy”

Surround Them With Mentors

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Learning to knit from a great mentor, my mother-in-law
This is the first part of a four part series on Creating an Environment of Learning for your children.  Read the introduction here.  
 I read a book recently,   A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver Van DeMille, which I will refer to as TJED,  that inspired and challenged me to rethink the way I’ve approached home education and learning in general.  In the book, DeMille describes three types of education:  conveyor belt education which teaches the students what to think (most of our schools are this type–where all students learn the same thing at the same time),  professional education which teaches students when to think (this is particular training for a particular field like law, medicine, engineering, etc), and then leadership education which teaches students how to think (this type is what most of the educated people of the past received including our forefathers).   
He purports that societies function best when all three types of education are present,   the problem is that conveyor belt education has taken over.   It is rare in America to find students who are being trained to be leaders.   And just because your children are being educated at home or at expensive private schools doesn’t mean they’re being trained as leaders either;   likely, they are not.  Most home schools and private schools, without even realizing it, have adopted the conveyor belt model.   
So, how do we train our children to be leaders in our society?   He makes two basic recommendations, the classics (be it classic literature, art, music)  and mentors.  And he uses the example of highly educated men like Thomas Jefferson to drive his point home.   Jefferson worked extremely hard to obtain a superb education with a depth and breadth of knowledge that has rarely been duplicated.    To quote a beautiful artistic tribute to him by Maria Kalman (thank you Patty for the link), “he was a scientist, philosopher, statesman, architect, musician, naturalist, zoologist, botanist,  farmer, bibliophile, inventor, wine connoisseur, mathmatician, governor of Virginia, US minister to France, vice president, and president of the United States of America”.   He learned to speak Latin, Greek, Spanish, Italian, French and knew more than ten Native American dialects, and was an accomplished attorney and businessman.   And he was educated like so many scholars and leaders who have gone before us:   by reading and studying the great classic works and by discussing ideas with his mentor, George Wythe.   
Parents are childrens’ first and most natural mentors.  And DeMille encourages parents to adopt a style of mentoring your children, rather than demanding certain tasks from them.   The word mentor dates back to Homer when he wrote of the adventures of Odysseus.   When Odysseus left for the Trojan War, he left Mentor in charge of his son Telemachus. 
 In modern times, this word has come to mean counselor, trusted friend, one who leads by example.   It would sound more like,  “Let’s read”, instead of   “Go read”.    Or  “Let’s play”  versus  “Go play”.     We all can think of people in our lives or in our childrens’ lives who are great mentors.  I think of Grandma Evadne, Steve’s mom, who seems to always teach the little ones by involving them in whatever she’s doing, whether it’s knitting or cooking or singing a song or telling a story.  I look forward to her visits because I know I’ll learn something new and my girls will enjoy the gentle guiding and teaching of their grandmother.   We must learn to take advantage of the skills and passions of those who are more knowledgeable and experienced than we.  They are often most enthusiastic to teach us and pass their knowledge on to the next generation.
Even as our children get older, mentoring them doesn’t require advanced degrees, it need only require that we’re one book ahead of them in our own studies.   We read with them, to them, or maybe along side them, and then discuss the great stories and heroes.   Sure, they will have coaches, music teachers, and many other adults who will mentor them, but we shouldn’t neglect the opportunity to enjoy the challenge and fruits of mentoring them ourselves.
There have been many women and men over the years who have been mentors to me.  They seem harder to come by now and I find that my mentors now are often the authors I read.   Hands down, the writings of C.S. Lewis have impacted me more than any other single author. There isn’t a day that goes by that his words don’t have an impact on my thinking and decisions. Thomas Jefferson is quickly becoming my new ‘crush’.   I love this quote by William Channing,
“It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds…..In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours.”
So, we all need mentors.  And though you’re busy mentoring your children, don’t neglect your own need to be mentored and discipled.   Steve and I  tend to read the same books and then discuss the ideas together.   We’re currently reading Plato (he’s a book ahead of me) and he’s soon to start the TJED book that I just read.   In a way, we mentor each other.   We also listen to many hours of talk radio and then discuss those ideas together too.    Then, someday, when our girls’ read Plato or ponder the passive obedience of Christ,  we’ll be able to mentor and encourage them from our own experience with the subject matter.   I leave you with this quote from Jacques Barzun, quoted in TJED,

“Think of human parents teaching their child how to walk.  There is, on the child’s side, the strong desire and latent powers:  he has legs and means to use them.  He walks and smiles;  he totters and looks alarmed;  he falls and cries.   The parents smile throughout, showering advice, warning, encouragement and praise.  The whole story, not only of teaching, but of man and civilization, is wrapped up in this first academic performance.”

My friend and mentor, Denise, just added a post to my Painted Patio Furniture party, so you should check out her chairs!   Many thanks to Denise for introducing me to homeschooling and to blogging, my two new favorite pastimes.  
Now, I’m off to do some mentoring.  First on the agenda:  homeade waffles.  Second,  chapter four of The Hobbit.