Ever get the blahs after you take all your Christmas decorations down? Everything seems so drab and dull? And empty? Or cluttered and all the wrong color? I woke up today feeling like that. I’m tired of my color schemes, tired of too much stuff everywhere. I see painting in my near future if I can just but decide what colors I want for 2009? I think I’ll lighten things up, literally. Light colors, more lighting with generous splashes of color. As I was reading my Treasury of Daily Prayer and my Lutheran prayer book this morning, I came across this prayer for the home that I thought I’d share with you. We should never take for granted, despite how much we want to change certain things, the blessing of a home. (It took an inordinate amount of time to type this as ‘puppy’ was chewing on my arm, hand, bible, book, computer, sweater, and so on. He had Job chapter 5 for breakfast. Wonder how that’ll go down?)
Search Results for: hospitality
Family Tradition
My family gathered for the last hurrah! last night and feasted on steak and shrimp. It was a delightful dinner and I’m pretty sure I pulled some ab muscles laughing so hard. I literally fell onto the floor laughing at one point…..not to be confused with me literally falling out of the bed last night…(thanks for all the concern about my possibly fractured hip, Stevie). We performed our redneck version of the 12 days of Christmas and recorded it to send to my JamieKnoxville (my beloved cousin who makes her home among the yankees of New Joisey). She could be in debt to me for life for orchestrating that piece of musical prowess. Loretta Lynn ain’t got nothin’ on me. If you’re quick on the draw, you might be able to see it later today mingled into an older post. But in the interest of protecting the last ounce of self-respect I still possess, I’m not leaving it there long. If you do happen to view it, remember two things. 1. Most of my relatives call me ‘sister’. 2. The favorite funeral decoration among us is the plastic phone carefully nestled among all manner of carnations that reads “Jesus called”. Need I elaborate? I didn’t think so.
And for those of you who are wondering how ‘baby dog’ is doing. He’s absolutely the most darling adorable little pooch you’ve ever seen. And in the interest of preserving all things southern, we named him HANK. Max sounded too much like he was from New York and wore argyle sweaters…..and had a doggy umbrella. HANK has a certain “I drive a Ford f150 and have a rifle rack” sound. He’s much more of a HANK. And since our family has a really bad habit of butchering all names, I knew that within the hour, we’d be calling him Maxipad.
Scooter (our other dog) has refused all acknowledgement of baby HANK. He pretends not to see him at all….and when HANK comes in for a sniff, he growls. Nice. Way to show him some southern hospitality Scooter. Where are your doggie manners. You should be showing him around…..showing him where to find all the dirty underwear and shoes. You should be giving him the scoop on mealtimes and doggie treats. But no. You refuse to welcome Baby Hank to the family. Just wait til he’s 50 pounds and giving you the cold shoulder. You won’t like it then buddy.
So, in 24 hours, here’s what we’ve called him
Southern Women 101………
Things you should know about southern women:
1. We love all things ‘hair’—‘fixin’ our hair, dyin’ our hair, teasin’ our hair—-you get my drift.
2. We have two commandments: ~ thou shalt not go out in public without lip gloss and mascara ~ thou shalt surely have cute hair. Don’t mess with Texas. Or Tennessee.
3. We take pride in our warmth and friendliness-–translated, we frequently invade your personal space. We’re huggers, kissers, touchers of all kinds.
4. We make strong eye contact and teach our children to ‘look in their eyes’ and say yes ma’am. Our children will probably be eating iced sugar cookies when they say yes ma’am. But they’ll say it. Amen.
5. We have been accused at times of being superficial…..call it what you like, but despite the fact that I’m reading “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas a Kempis, my daughter (Caiti) and I will certainly do hitchkicks and spirit hands (we were both cheerleaders) when MAC comes out with a new lip gloss. Y’all think I’m kiddin’ but I just pulled my psoas muscle tryin’ to see if I could still do a hitchkick.
6. We love makeup and all things girly. We love bows and glitter and ribbon and animal print and cookies with icing on top. I have yet to meet a woman, from say, Connecticut, who would dare add trans-fat and high-fructose-corn-syrup infested butter cream icing on to an already suspect chocolate chip cookie. Our motto, “what’s better than a cookie? a cookie with icing on top”.
7. Our official anthem is ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and watch out if this starts playing while we’re chatting with you at a Christmas party about the current economic crisis…..or the latest new shade of lip gloss. We scan the room for any sign of a girl who looks like she has cheerleader in her past and head on to the dance floor as we sing, “singin’ songs about the southland…..I miss Alabamy once again and I think it’s a sin”
Economics can wait. And you can borrow the new lip gloss while I dance….’cause I’ve already got the new color.
8. Our daughters are the ones with the ribbons in their hair……from birth. It’s just part of our morning routine. Did you have some breakfast? Brush your teeth? Put your ribbon in? We buy ribbon by the spool not the yard. In all manner of colors and patterns.
9. We monogram everything. We’re like sorority sisters who never got over themselves. Only sweeter. We suck you in to our various and sundry habits too. Move here from New York and soon you’ll be monogramming, eating iced sugar cookies, and teasin’ your hair. And droppin’ the ‘g’ from the endin’ of every word. And sayin’ y’all. And gettin’ your nails done.
11. We love to have people in our home. We pay serious attention to how are homes ‘look’ from the outside…..is their plenty of lighting? Does it beg me to ‘stop by’? That southern hospitality thing is serious business around here. There’ll be place cards and token gifts and flowers and candles and lots of homeade desserts. Our guest rooms will have the latest issues of Southern Living and Cottage Living and we’ll go the extra mile to make sure you’re comfy. Granted, we’ll talk your head off and make you watch football and Steel Magnolias and probably invite you along to attend someone’s funeral with us…..but the experience will be memorable. And in case we forget to warn you, the casket will be open and various relatives will comment on how ‘Hank never looked better’. I never even realized this wasn’t standard practice until last year. I had already picked out my outfit and requested a hairstyle for my ‘departing day’.
12. We all have dogs. We keep our dogs inside. The image of Paula Deen cooking with the dog shedding his hair under her feet comes to mind. We love our dogs. And name them things like Sceeter and Scooter. Hypothetically, of course.
Y’all have any questions? ‘Cause there’s a lot of myths going around about Southerners and I could set the record straight.
* A brief update- due to the enormous amount of will power it takes to ‘do’ school near Christmas time, I promised my girls a series of hitchkicks if they finished their math quickly. They came through…….and I did not disappoint.*
Ta-daaa!
The above “plate wall” is my latest redecorarranging/plagiarism project. My friend Denise gave me a link to an awesome blog site (more coming later) where plate walls reign supreme. My plate wall is a work in progress but stay tuned……you’ve not seen the last of plate walls from me…..
Unrelated to the plate wall project, this is Paul Jett and Derek Cooze riding the infamous “hotdog” at Mike Bratton’s house.
Derek is doing some wake boarding and I was so mad when I got home and realized that I didn’t have a picture of his son Sam wake boarding…..they both did great. I, on the other hand, not so great……I never progressed from this humble position in the water. More on my theory about wake boarding below….
Mike and Vicki Bratton invited us over for a little lake fun today. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and noticed many cool things…..a boat dock that looked big enough to land a helicopter on…..their eight…count them…eight dogs, which seemed hardly believable until someone reminded us that we have eight…..count them…eight children…..pin ball machineS, that’s plural, a water “hotdog”, Polly Jett in really tight goggles…on dry land, Mike on a wake board, 5 little girls chasing 5 little schitzu’s around, and no sweat bees. Twas a glorious day indeed. A generous thank you to Mike, Vicki, Ruth, and James for the wonderful food and hospitality!
Meet Edie
Y’all! Come on in!
I’m Edie and I’m honored to have you visiting my online home. I am a Christian writer and the author of a not-yet-finished book to be published by Tyndale next year, called Coming Home—a spiritual memoir of redemption. I write here to remind you that you are loved and to inspire and encourage you to live with intention, love with passion, and serve your people well. It was nearly six years ago that I started this blog and I do not take for granted the privilege to write here. I used to have a job that required me to actually get dressed and leave the house in the mornings but most days now you’ll find me at home, teaching and raising children, cooking up a storm, getting lost in classic books, and learning to enjoy the beauty of ordinary days. I’m obsessed with art and design, all things Texas, banjo music, cowboy boots, colorful, quirky home decor, New Year’s resolutions and Southern-ness.
Six years ago, I decided to give up my career as a family practice physician to stay home full time with my family.
I’m not gonna lie. It ain’t been easy. The next year, I began homeschooling my girls. Whoa, Nelly.
There were days I wasn’t sure I’d make it.
The good news is, I firmly believe in inspiring spaces, so we school in this workroom/craft room/laundry room.
It’s a pretty great place to spend hours on end, even when the days get long and hard.
In short order, this southern belle became a blogger, a homeschooler, a Lutheran, and a self-proclaimed goddess of the domestic arts. I taught myself to cook, to sew, to craft, and am trying to learn how to garden. There just never seems to be enough hours in the day to do it all but I don’t go down without a fight!
I love teaching my girls to be keepers at home. They made this pom-pom wreath recently and are learning to be industrious little women.
I am humbled and grateful to be right where I am doing just what I’m doing, with all its trials and joys.
I am so glad that you have come.I will pour out everything inside me so that you may leavethis table satisfied and fortified.Blessings on your eyes.Blessings on your children.Blessings on the ground beneath you.My heart is a ladle of sweet water, brimming over.The Red Tent, Anita Diamanti