7QT - Little Things and BIG Thing

27 January 2017

Throwing up a post this Friday morning! It's chilly here in Houston which puts me in SUCH a good mood. And my little sister is visiting this weekend (Right, Lil??) and my little brother who's been out of town all month is finally back and we're all having a pizza night tomorrow. So many good things big and little!

>><<

I read most of Gary Taube's new book The Case Against Sugar this week, and I'm sufficiently terrified of sucrose, fructose, and all the other -ose's. The book was actually pretty dry - and I LOVE reading about health and wellness books and food histories - but it's a pretty compelling look at the story of sugar consumption and the rise in chronic disease. Whenever I feel my healthful eating resolve starting to teeter, I check out a book like this.

When Jacob saw me reading the book, he sat next to me with a bowl of ice cream.

>><<

The kids and I went to the park yesterday morning. It was 55 degrees and when we were getting back in the car Jake asked if he had frost on his face.

>><<

The remodel is still trucking along. I'll try to get a post up about it next week. I'm no longer sleeping in a total construction site...it feels more like...a garage.

The kids are troopers about it all:
The suckers were from before I read the Taubes book.

>><<

Jake really likes to shorten words. Yesterday he called his Uncle Michael "Mikes." He thinks it's extra cool. Often he'll shorten words and we won't even know what he means. Like the other day when he asked for these:
bloobs

>><<

Jacob and I have been scrambling for a new show for both of us to watch. He has his kinds of shows (dry British or Australian humor) and I have mine (overdramatic period pieces), and we'll often find shows to watch together (Stranger Things, Poldark, The OA.) But we've been floundering for awhile to find a new one, so we picked up The Man in the High Castle. I didn't like the first half of season one but I'm really liking the second half.

>><<

I'm reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder's books with the kids. I love them all so much. Right now we're reading Farmer Boy. My favorite part is how much this nine year old boy thinks about food. At one point he was reflecting on how pretty his mother was and that she was never prettier than when she was carrying a ham to the kitchen table. #parentinggoals

A couple months ago we made butter tinted with carrot juice just like Ma Ingalls. I'm thinking next week we'll make Almanzo's favorite food: fried apples and onions.

(Disclaimer: I realize replicating Little House recipes sounds industrious. Let it be known that the only thing I'm really doing well is making it to the couch every night with a bowl of popcorn.)
>><<

The other day I was asking Jacob how one even begins the process of finding a good therapist...and then literally two days later we got an e-mail from a good friend of ours from college who has written an ebook about how to find a great therapist. You should definitely check it out or at least visit his website which has tons of information about therapy (cost, kinds, frequency, what to expect). This guy is basically the coolest, and I'm so excited for this initiative!

>><<

And now the BIG THING - which is NOT another baby. 
We're gearing up to move to my hometown in rural Texas this summer. I. can't. wait.

We'll rent my parents' house while they relocate to my grandmother's old house, and then we'll start the slow process of buying ten acres from them and building a house on it. It feels like a dream, and I'm so excited about it. (But Jake told me he likes being a city kid because he gets to drive on highways -_-)

We'll buy ten acres of unimproved land except that it has an acre of high fencing around a vineyard of Black Spanish grapes. 
It has a creek!
 And carpenter anthills the size of basketball courts!
It's basically a deer habitat and is totally overrun by wild mustang grapevines ten inches thick at the base, and we're totally in love.
We're thinking this for the backyard:
Then I'll be able to go seriously Ma Ingalls on everything. It's such an enormous dream come true to move home and read Wendell Berry and work the land and watch sunsets.

Visit Kelly for more quick takes! Happy Weekending!

16 comments :

  1. So exciting about the ten acres!! We are reading laura ingalls again too--at the banks of the plum creek--I feel exhausted thinking how hard their life was!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh man, that land looks GORGEOUS. Dream come true!

    ReplyDelete
  3. So exciting! What gorgeous land. I wish you the best with it all!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Replies
    1. The door is always open! Especially in the fall on Friday Nights!

      Delete
  5. Awesome!! So excited for you all. Can't wait to hear more about it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Every time I read Wendell Berry I'm like, "YES! YEAH!!! WATCH OUT WORLD! WE ARE DOING THIS!!!" and feel really justified in all my life choices and also really angry with Big Agriculture. So excited to see the house in progress! Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Every time I read Wendell Berry I'm like, "YES! YEAH!!! WATCH OUT WORLD! WE ARE DOING THIS!!!" and feel really justified in all my life choices and also really angry with Big Agriculture. So excited to see the house in progress! Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  8. How exciting for you guys! What a magical childhood you'll be giving them! That last shot is heavenly. (And since you're Texas-bred, you're probably not as humidity-averse as this shriveled Coloradan, whose lone experience of Texas thus far is 2 sweat-drenched days in Austin one July, haha)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! And since we've spent the last three years living in a swamp, central TX feels downright arid!

      Delete
  9. This is awesome! Can't wait to see updates!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh My gosh! What cool news for you guys! I love the pictures of your piece of land.. You'll be like the Wendell Berry of Texas... Also I LOVED Poldark and we are planning on watching Stranger Things and The Crown next..

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow, what an incredible gift for your family! Seeing the Lord unconventionally give someone the desires of their heart is always the most exciting thing to see. Can't wait to follow along with y'alls adventure!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Beautiful! I look forward to hearing about how you Ma Ingalls it up. :)

    PS-- I'm on 3 weeks of no sugar, and it feels so good. Except a little sad without ice cream.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...