Thursday, August 29, 2013

Maine by the Sea

The last couple of days of our trip we decided to go to Maine. We loved Maine as much as New Hampshire. It was just as beautiful with gorgeous gardens and quaint little cottages all along the Maine seacoast and little inlets.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notice that cute little dog looking out of the door window. He had probably never seen someone drive by take a picture of his house :)
 
We stayed at the most charming hotel. It was an old hotel that had been remodeled and kept beautiful through the years. It actually had locks on the doors, not the newer kind where you use the little card. There was NO t.v. either which we didn't miss at all, especially since we don't have t.v. at home anyway.
 

 
The best part of all, I felt so clean!! Usually in hotels I get a yucky dirty feeling (and we are very careful where we stay). There was even this hanging in the bathroom...all GREEN clean too!
The little garden outside our window.
 
 
And what would Maine be without lobster. We ate at Mabels...twice! It was soo good the first night, we decided to go back again the second night. It wasn't anything fancy, just good simple REAL food. Like lobster and fresh vegetables. No fluffy fillers.
 
All too soon, it came to an end,
 
a very beautiful end.
 
 
 

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Our Own Little Trip

While our girls were at camp, Doc B and I had our own little trip. We had such a wonderful time. We decided that America is so beautiful, who needs to travel abroad. There is more right here in our own country than we ever realized. We even liked our trip better than a cruise. We had no schedule. We ate when we wanted and took trips at our leisure. Our time together was blessed as well as our girls week at camp. The first part of the week we spent in New Hampshire. Neither one of us had ever been and we were both very surprised and amazed by its beauty!
We didn't realize when we planned our trip that we were actually in a popular tourist area. However, we chose instead to go the back roads and were very glad that we did. We saw the most lush, gorgeous gardens, including veggies and fruits as well as flowers. I would have thought with their cold winter weather that wouldn't be possible. I guess though they don't have the scorching heat and drought that we do which usually kills our gardens here in the south by mid summer.
 
Love the laundry hanging in the background...just like me :)
 
 
My husband loved the hotbeds (like a greenhouse in the ground) you see in the background here.
We assume they heat with wood since most houses had large stacks close by.
 
 
Just had to get a pic of these goats. Not sure why since we have had dairy goats of our own. Maybe that's why, I think they're actually cute :)
We've never had sheep though.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Our Girl's go to Camp

Our girls went to camp this summer. We knew ahead of time of course it was going to be wonderful. Not only do we know families who's daughters have gone there, but also our own very dear friend has just been received into the convent.
Another very good clue...when we drove in we were greeted with these! :)
 

A very blessed week indeed for our girls.



Thursday, August 22, 2013

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

Pretty
My husband and I traded phones sometime back. A couple of years ago one of our sons was going into the military and the new phone he had just gotten wouldn't stay charged very long. My mother heart worried about that in case he were in situations where he wasn't able to charge his phone. Soooo since my contract was the next one up in the family and happened to be at the time, I said "sweet boy, just go get you a new one on my contract and I'll take that one". Well then it wasn't long and our other son was having trouble with his phone. He was fixing to begin an oral surgery residency and I knew he would need a reliable phone. My mother heart once again went into emotional overdrive. I said, "sweet boy, take my phone and I'll just start using my old one again." Soon after my old one started acting up and frequently wouldn't work. So my contract at this time was just newly renewed by my military boy and mom was stuck with a new contract but an old phone that wasn't working. Sooo now sweet Doc B, who in the meantime renewed his contract with a new phone, said "honey, so you won't be without a phone, I'll trade with you." Since we no longer have a land line I took him up on that. He was able to take parts of my old phone and parts of another old phone and make it work...most of the time :s poor sweet guy that husband of mine.
This was his phone, now my new one:

One day I was looking on eBay at Cath Kidston anything and saw the most gorgeous phone covers. They were $35-$40 I think or something like that. Too much :(
So one day, my daughter and I were in T.J. Maxx and I saw Cath Kidston phone covers for $7.99!! Now I own one :)
My used new phone now looks like this:

Much prettier, and much more feminine!

Happy
I homeschooled our younger girls until the spring when our oldest little was in the 4th grade. They began going to a small school that is composed of (both teachers and students) our Latin Mass community families and members. It is like homeschooling without homeschooling. It is truly a miracle in the midst of the bible belt. I revel in the goodness of God every time I think about it. It is just such a miracle that I get goosebumps. It is very traditional with prayer throughout the day. I get tears every time I am there for whatever reason watching our little school in action and in holiness. It is truly beautiful. Today is the 1st day back after our summer break.


Funny
I was at my mother's helping her go through old stuff. When I came across this:
my old P.E. uniform from high school, I laughed out loud. Definitely belongs in the vintage category.
Real
I wish I could say my kitchen always looked like this:


 but truth is it doesn't. We cook 3 home cooked meals a day with REAL food. I barely get cleaned up from the one meal before its time to cook for the next meal. It seems to me that cooking is a lost art. I know so many families that don't cook anymore, even an evening family meal. SO sad. I'm sure those magazine kitchens are one such kitchen. Waayyy too clean. So even though my kitchen is always a mess, it is a fresh mess, since we do as I said cook everything fresh 3 times a day. That doesn't even include any snacks, which are frequent and at least once a day. This is what my kitchen usually looks like:


round button chicken