Over and out…

I’ve decided to start a new blog…

find it here… www,jennascircusmind.blogspot.com.

Come on over and I’ll tell you why!

Inveterate, useless, cranky, committed and unabashed bookworm.

I found that description in my best-book pick  for January and thought, “Yup. That’s me.”

The book The Heroines Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore.

.

This book explores how the examples of literary characters can encourage women today. Each legendary character is paired with her central quality…

Self ... Lizzy Bennett in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Faith ... Janie Crawford in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Thurston
Happiness ... Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Dignity ... Celie in The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Family Ties ... Francie Nolan in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Indulgence ... Claudine in Colette's Claudine novels
Fight ... Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Compassion ... Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Simplicity ... Laura Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Steadfastness ... Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Ambition ... Jo March in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Magic ... Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

I was happy that she included a heroine who I’ve been basically obsessed with since my early childhood.  None other than Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Who said “I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”

I’ve got some ladies lined up for the Promiscuous Readers Book Club (that’s the first name that comes to mind, but hopefully we can do better.) I’m tempted to make this our first book. It’s a quick, fun read and it made me want to go back and revisit some old favorites.

A couple of excerpts from the introduction that explain so well why I am a committed and unabashed bookworm. ( and cranky. Can’t forget cranky.)

“Call me a coward if you will, but when the line between duty and sanity blurs, you can usually find me curled up with a battered book, reading as if my mental health depended on it. And it does…”

“ A moment with a book is basic self- care, the kind you pass along to your children as you would a security blanket or a churchgoing habit.”

“It’s a familiar book, rediscovered and dusted off, cracked open at random until you’re sucked in again. It reads differently at different junctures in your life, but that’s part of the fun. Time travel, redemption, escape and self knowledge are all neatly bound and sewn into the modest covers of the books we pass from hand to hand, library to purse, mother to daughter, where heroine’s lessons live long after they’ve gone out of print or disintegrated from love and wear.”

Any other friends and family want to join in on the book club? We don’t have anything concrete planned yet, but I’m really in the mood to get it going!

Big excitement on the homemaking front.

Went to DI, found a console table with beautiful lines and a dog awful paint finish. Spent the afternoon painting it and… voila…a little table to hold our drinks at dinner (yes, we eat in the front room quite a bit. I digest better when I’m watching Mike Rowe do a dirty job.)  Also,the game table for Mitch and O to play their games of chess, art project area… and so on.

10 bucks well spent! I may still tweak the paint a little with a glaze of my cupboard color. Or do I like this nice clean white? Hmmmm.

Happened upon an article online that said silver can be cleaned by boiling it with aluminum foil and baking soda. I have a set of silver that has languished in the cupboard for years because I could never get it clean. Could the boiling method possibly work, I wondered?

Check it!

Isn’t it purty? I hope to collect more silver, now that I know the easy cleaning secret.

I only cleaned half of the pitcher so you could see the difference.

Whatever the chemical reaction is between the silver, the foil and the baking soda… it’s awesome. Not so awesome on the hands, though. Next time I’ll wear gloves so I don’t have to apply 4 coats of vaseline to my dehydrated skin. Ouch.

My Grandma came to spend the afternoon with us while Grandpa ran errands. As I was making dinner, I peeked into the front room and saw this…

I can’t even articulate why it made me so happy.  I remember many an hour spent just like this with Grandma when I was little… I guess I’m just glad that Mia gets to have those memories with her too.

As you can tell, it’s the little things that make my day.

How green was my salsa.

We love salsa at our house and I have a growing collection of really tasty recipes. This one is the current favorite. Mitch LOVES it… and the jar in the picture only lasted about 4 hours before we had scraped up the last bit with our chips.

That’s okay, because all salsas… and this one in particular… are so healthy. How could anything this vibrant and green not be chock full of vitamins and spicy goodness? The tomatillos aren’t steamed or cooked in any way and the taste is FRESH… what I think the color green should taste like.   I used some delicious raw local honey that we got as a Christmas gift (thanks, Miles family) and that took it right over the top.

Here’s the recipe for any other tomatillo lovers out there.

Tomatillo Honey Salsa

1 pound fresh tomatillos

2  chopped jalapeno peppers

6 green onions, with 2 to 3 inches of green, chopped

1 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1 teaspoon honey

1 clove garlic, chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

Remove husks and stems from tomatillos; rinse and coarsely chop. Place in food processor with the peppers, onions, cilantro, honey, and garlic. Pulse until coarsely chopped. Drain off excess liquids and add salt and pepper to taste.

Don’t let the voice of the critics paralyze you…

Possibly my favorite mormon message of all time. The “Hot” apostle (don’t try to deny it… he IS) speaking powerfully about one of my favorite subjects. Chillllllllls.

I found this video posted at 320 Sycamore under the title “Courage for the week.” It was the title that caught my eye after a hard day yesterday. I didn’t stand up for someone when I should have. I spent the night wondering if I had responded to another situation the right way. I soothed some feelings, explained other things the best I could… and just hoped I’d done the best I possibly could as the mother of two complicated and sensitive children. (one of whom also barfed all over the bathroom and hall at 3 in the morning. Oh, Mia. That was the cherry on top of a pretty sweet day ;)

So, courage for the week it is. Here we all go again. Let’s try to create something of substance and beauty… and I’ll continue to do my best for this little family I created ;)

12 on the 12th- January

1. pancakes and cherry preserves for breakfast.

2. a glimpse of blue sky.

3. reading “the mysterious benedict society” with the kids.

4. buying crickets at petsmart.

5. mia’s harajuku lovers perfume. “a fatal attraction to cuteness”.

6. owen’s reading homework.

7. napping huckle.

8. a threat of snow.

9. putting my feet up on the couch and resting.

10. my bulletin board.

11. mia’s art- “artey the one man party”.

12. owen’s dentist visit. he got a baby root canal and it was nerve shattering. he took a picture of huckle to help him feel brave.

(is this a fun new photo project, or what?  It’s easier to commit to this than a 365 photo-a-day. Basically, on the 12th of each month I’ll be taking 12 pictures to document our day.  It will be a cool cross section of days of the week, months and seasons.)

If you want to join in or find out more about it… GO HERE.

My life as a SAHM.

I chose it.

Most days I really, truly love it.

Some days it feels like this…

Glad that tomorrow is another day.