Bless Her Heart

30 Days with a Grateful Heart - 20

 Day 20: Cookbook Corner

I'm sliding in under the wire here so I don't end up 2 posts behind...there are really not enough hours in the day when we reach this part of the year.  Riding on the coat tails of yesterday's post I am feeling most appreciative of my cookbook corner. All of the iPhone cooking apps in the world can't make up for leafing through page after dog-eared page of recipes at my kitchen table.  When I am in a cooking rut I turn to my corner for inspiration.  My current favorite is A Taste of the World, that my friend Jenny gave me for my birthday.  The photography is AMAZING and the recipes I have tried so far have been a smashing success.  I feel all inspired just looking at the picture of my cookbooks.  How sick is that?  :)

30 Days with a Grateful Heart - 19

 Day 19: Continuance

I've always been drawn to older ways of doing things: cooking, handwork, sewing. Often times you hear people say they feel like they were born in the wrong era.  I have felt that way my whole life.  I love my fancy gadgets and technology, but I feel like I always have one foot in a slower, more deliberate way of life.  About 10 years ago I was at an estate sale with my mama.  We were there scoping out an old treadle sewing machine (still in it's wooden shipping crate from years and years ago).  We decided to make the investment and I meandered into the kitchen where the cashier table was.  While I waited in line I noticed that all of the cookbooks and kitchen knick knacks were still laying around.  When I asked the cashier how much the cookbooks were he replied that I could make an offer because they were planning on hauling off what was left at the end of the day.  I picked up a copy of the Joy of Cooking and underneath was a small file box of recipes.  "Ten dollars for both?"  I could tell he thought he was getting the better end of the deal, but I knew better.  When I got home I laid down on the floor in front of the fireplace and took out each recipe, one by one.  This was the recipe box of one Mrs. O.P. Breland.  No one famous or spectacular in any public fashion, but her box of recipes was like opening up a time capsule.  Un. Believable.  There were recipes written on the back of old laundry order forms dating back to 1945.  There were clippings from newspapers from around the country.  There were so many recipe cards exchanged at church and over bridge scrawled on calendar pages and calling cards. I spent hours and hours pouring over each little scrap of paper.  I continue to be astounded that someone was just going to toss all of that history.  There are big chunks of time that were not the best time for cuisine in our country historically speaking.  Apple Sauce Salad or Spam in a Blanket anyone?  She also has some really simple but incredible recipes. I will post the recipe for Coffee Crispies in a bit.  When I look through her recipes and all of the different women who gave her their recipes, I feel connected to them in some strange way.  I feel this fierce guardianship...a need to protect the heritage of all of these recipes.  I was joking with the Man the other night that I should cook each recipe in the box Julie and Julia style but I don't think I could do it.  Julie may have had to bone a duck, but she didn't have to make and consume Sea Foam Salad Mold (serves 6).  To bring this story full circle (kind of): The next week was my birthday and my parents watched the boy so that the man and I could have a little time to ourselves.  One of my favorite things to do in Austin is to spend way too much time at Uncommon Objects.  It's an antique/vintage finds store that is set up booth style with individual sellers.  I walked into one of the booths, I looked down and saw a box of beautifully preserved rosette style candles in a box.  When I picked up the box I glanced at the lid laying next to it (see below)

 Now.  I know that this only means that this seller (clear across town) was at the same estate sale that I had been at the week before.  I get that.  I choose however to think of it as a little something more.  Kind of like a thank you or acknowledgement that I respect and honor Mrs. Breland's past and will continue to marvel at the record that she left behind in her recipes.  I'm funny like that.

30 Days with a Grateful Heart - 13

Day 13: Stretching (just a bit)

These kids...sometimes I just have to wonder how we all ended up together in this family.  I mean, I know HOW we ended up here...but I guess I mean, I wonder why.  With the boy, it's obvious to me that we both got what we could handle when we could handle it.  Lots of butting heads and emotionally bumping up against each other as we learned how to communicate with each other. It certainly wasn't the easy way, but we were (and continue to be) winging it to some extent.  There's no looking for the parenting lesson when it comes to our boy..the lesson comes looking for you, and often times knocks you squarely in your jaw just to drive the point home. When the girl came along we had finally kind of caught our stride with the boy (he was 4).  I have 3 younger siblings: 2 brothers and sister.  We'll just say that Auntie (the sister) was quite the tomboy in her youth, as I had been myself. Growing up that way I just assumed that childhood was full of rough and tumble, skinned knees, dirty nails and all around ragamuffiny behavior.  Having the girl really threw my understanding of childhood play for a loop.  Now...don't get me wrong, she can climb trees with the best of them and she plays first base like a champ, but there is this whole other part of her that is so foreign to me.  I marvel at her accessories and sparkle.  She begged me to curl her hair this weekend, but not until she put on her red velvet dress. She loves dangly earrings and polished fingernails, lipsmackers and bobby socks trimmed in lace.  Huh? These are the types of things I rejected out of hand when I was her age.  But isn't that the way?  There has to be something, right?  Something that makes you stretch a bit in your understanding of your children...something to be accepting of and amused by at the same time.  I guess it's teaching them that you can love a person even when sometimes you don't exactly 'get' them. I know there's plenty of times they don't 'get' me, so it's nice to have a lesson you can laugh at together sometimes.

30 Days with a Grateful Heart - 10

 Day 10: Leaves

I'm so amazed by the colors I am seeing in our fair city this fall/winter.  I can't remember the last time there were so many different shades of oranges and reds on our trees.  Maybe it's been like this all along, and I just haven't taken the time to slow down and look?  I think my children are tiring of my fascination with the changing seasons. "Mama...please tell me you're not taking another picture of a leaf!" (insert eye roll here).  They like to tease me but in actuality I started looking at the leaves because they did, so it takes no effort at all to get them to slow down and study the flame colored tips of a Japanese Maple on the walk to class in the morning.  It's a great way to center a bit before walking into the school building.  Close examination and quiet attention is just what the doctor ordered after the crazy hustle and bustle of getting out the door.

30 Days with a Grateful Heart - 3

 Day 3: Homemade Soup...on the second day.  The only thing better than a steaming bowl of soup made from scratch, is enjoying it's yumminess  after it has had a day to sit in its own flavor.  My family loves this fake chicken noodle soup.  The kids go back for more till their bellies are so full of goodness that they have to loosen their belts.  It's even better when it's a recipe your own mama made for you since you were wee yourself.  Comfort on all levels, you know?  I'll go ahead and admit I had it for breakfast.  What?

30 Days with a Grateful Heart - 2

 Day 2: Sleeping Children

When our kids were wee...and so, so energy intensive, my mother used to tell me that children look the way they do when they sleep so that you can fall back in love with them at the end of a hard day. Word.

...and around we go.

It's hard to believe the summer break is gone.  Lord knows it's still hot enough around here to want to spend every waking hour at the pool...but alas, it's off to school we go again.  We just wrapped up the first week of school and I think we're all still floating on how exciting last week was.  The boy started at a progressive middle school here in town, and all indications are that we have found an excellent fit for him.  The girl is in the bilingual 2nd grade at a local public school that we love, love, love.  Each day after school last week, I listened to each of them trip over each other words, anxious to tell me all of the reasons they are excited about this school year.  It does the mama-heart good to hear them going on and on, using words like cool, awesome, centering, and 'good vibes' when describing their learning environments.  My middle school years were so befuddling to my budding emotional self, that it is both lovely and inspiring to see the boy so comfortable in his own skin while navigating this new landscape.  Although we'll miss the laziness of summer days, and I have some regrets about some of the things we weren't able to fit in...it's nice to be back in the swing of things around here.  The kids are so invigorated and excited about all of the possibilities that the upcoming year holds...and that kind of enthusiasm is contagious.  :)