MOTHERHOOD

"About every true mother there is a sancity of martyrdom-
and when she is no more in the body, her children see her with
the ring of light around her head."

Godey's Lady's Book, 1867

THE ART OF DOMESTIC BLISS

.....in a time lacking in certainty and filled with anguish and despair, no woman should be shamefaced in attempting to give back to the world, through her work, a portion of it's lost heart. -Louise Bogan
“And there are my children!
My darling, precious children!
For their sakes I am continually constrained
to seek after an amended, a sanctified life;
what I want them to become
I must become myself”.

~ Elizabeth Prentiss, Stepping Heavenward

Sunday, February 28, 2010

King Name Meaning and History

Follow the ways of your ancestors. -Old Irish Proverb

English, Irish and Scottish: nickname from Middle English king, Old English cyning ‘king’ (originally merely a tribal leader, from Old English cyn(n) ‘tribe’, ‘race’ + the Germanic suffix -ing). The word was already used as a byname before the Norman Conquest, and the nickname was common in the Middle Ages, being used to refer to someone who conducted himself in a kingly manner, or one who had played the part of a king in a pageant, or one who had won the title in a tournament. In other cases it may actually have referred to someone who served in the king’s household.


King
Immigration to the US by Year
Ports of Departure for king

To honor our family's heritage, we celebrate this month with all the flair of our Irish Ancestors. You can honor your heritage to. Just use the Surname search at the top of my Blog this month. Soon you will have traditions to celebrate with your family.

Welcome March With This Festive, Lucky Wreath!

To attract those lucky leprechauns to your happy haven. All you need is a grapevine wreath, a strand of artificial ivy vine, some sparkly shamrock wire, a package of shamrock foam cut outs, and a St.Patrick's day bow.
First Wrap the ivy vine all around the wreath. Then Loosely wrap the sparkly wire around the Ivy. Follow that with inserting the foam shamrocks into the branches of the vine nice and tight. And then finish off with tying on the big bow. See that was easy! And very cute!




Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I'm going to catch a fairy in the Garden for Lily!





Look at these adorable fairies in a jar. I saw these on a website and I want to make one for Lily. She is really into fairies right now. We built a little fairy house last year in the garden. This would just be perfect to start out our spring in the garden. When I'm done making mine I'll add it to this post. You can make one too if you want. I'll show you how when I'm finished.




Here is an update of my finished fairy...I decided to use a photo of Lily in her Easter dress and put wings on her. I like it a lot!

Grooming My Poodle Lulu

Well Lulu used to be a very spoiled pooch! When her mommy was working, she used to go to the groomer every month and came out smelling like roses and vanilla. A fluffy fur ball with polished nails. With beautiful bows in her ears. But with the economy in shambles...and mama is staying home full time now....our grooming habits have had to adapt also. So instead of going to doggy daycare she got a haircut here at home. I had all the supplies laid out from ear wash to nail clippers,bows ,to nailpolish. And we finished her off with a spritz of dog perfume. My sweet little cherry, vanilla puppy. I love my Lulu. I posted before and after pictures of my sweetie!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A Trip to the Park Becomes an Adventure







It was a beautiful, sunny day today. So My girlfriend Lissette invited Lily & I to go to the park with her and her son Alex. So I got Lily ready...only one problem came up...Mackinnon...Her 11 year old brother, was told to put her shoes away last night...and now they are are no where to be found. So me, being the laid back mother of 5 that I am, we decided to go barefoot today. Geez! I hope I'm not losing mothering points today!
Lissette was kind enough to pack a lunch and we were on our way....or so we thought. Then The car overheated and a light came on in the dashboard. I started telling her .."Hurry! Pull into the gas station!" You see, I just lost a car engine last year to overheating...well not exactly...it was from driving while over heating. What do girls know about cars? So we pulled over, and I, acting like little miss Mechanic lifted the hood with Lisette to take a looky! Well What do you know, from what I could see we were empty. So Lissette went and got a cup of water. She carefully poured it in. And we were off to the park for a fun day. Oh! Lulu my poodle came along as well. We had a nice time, until the drive home where we began to overheat again. So we returned to Lisette's house where she called the Mechanic, who explained we had put the water into the overflow instead of the radiator, and that wouldn't do us any good. So once again we went and filled it properly. All I can say is "LEAVE IT TO GIRLS!" One nice thing is Lissette steamed me a beautiful artichoke, and we ate those little petals with mayonnaise . YUMMY! I never had one before. So an adventurous day indeed! :)

My Medicinal Plants



It looks like my Rosemary, Lemon Balm, and Lavender made it. But only one of each I had many of them. Wormwood didn't mind the cold a bit. My Fennel did well and so did the Rue. They seem Hearty. I found Some lucky clover just in time for St Patricks day!
And to my suprise My Chocolate Mint and Pineapple Mint were still alive. I was filled with a sense of ahhh when I saw one flower blooming on it's own...a red Petunia..... to give hope to new life in the garden. I can see it's time to get busy again in the garden.






Monday, February 22, 2010

Into the Garden


Today I ventured into the garden to have a look at what the cruel winter did tobeautiful garden. It was an unusally cold winter here and I lost a lot of my plants this year. Let us go and assess the damage. Little Miss Lily will be our companion today.First My Herbal & Medicinal Plants all suffered greatly...but to my surprise some survived. Here is my sad butterfly garden.



I guess I could get started somewhere ...This is a good spot. Lily is like her mother..she loves to work
in the garden. These are my before pictures. I will post more when my garden is in full bloom. Now let me take a look at which of my medicinal plants made it through Jack Frost this year.


An Island of Security....A Mother at Home

Very largely does the wife hold in her hands, as a sacred trust, the happiness and the highest good of the hearts that nestle there. In the last analysis, home happiness depends on the wife.
  • Her spirit gives the home its atmosphere.
  • Her hands fashion its beauty.
  • Her heart makes its love.
And the end is so worthy, so noble, so divine, that no woman who has been called to be a wife, and has listened to the call, should consider any price too great to pay, to be . . .

the light,
the joy,
the blessing,
the inspiration,
of a home.

The woman who makes a sweet, beautiful home, filling it with love and prayer and purity, is doing something better than anything else her hands could find to do beneath the skies.

A true mother is one of the holiest secrets of home happiness.

God sends many beautiful things to this world,

many noble gifts;

but no blessing is richer than that which He bestows

in a mother

who has learned love's lessons well,

and has realized something of the meaning

of her sacred calling.










~ J. R. Miller, "Secrets of Happy Home Life, 1894" ~