2009

Happy New Year everyone!

Well, my family certainly didn't stay up to see the new year in....we were all in bed by 9! Between Cora's teeth coming in (all of them at once, it seems...she is miserable) and me just coming up from being sick, and Matt running around taking care of the both of us, we were all so tired!

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, but I think this year calls for at least one.

A little background first: There's a place called Stream Cliff Farm nearby our home, that I love to visit with friends and family (mostly women....it's almost too girly for the guys, but not quite). Everyone always says it's so relaxing to come there and dine in the tea room, and wander through the gardens, check out the gift shops, and it IS lovely place. I try to go as often as I can, they are only open in the gardening months, and I usually make it three or four times per year. A visit to Stream Cliff leaves a refreshing feeling.

My little family lives on the farm that was built by my husband's great-great-grandparents, on top of a hill, with a beautiful view all around of pastures with the charolais/angus beef herd, the goats and horses, the pond, and the river. There's a creek that runs through one of the pastures at the bottom of the hill, and when it's not too dry you can hear the water running peacefully into it. Since I started staying at home (and after we had done quite a bit of landscaping work around the house) my Dad began marveling each time my parents would come for a visit how nice it is to be at our home, that it's a peaceful place. (below is a photo Matt's uncle took from his paraplane of our homeplace)

Anyway, at a recent visit to Stream Cliff, a friend of mine remarked that she'd love to be able to come there all the time, it was so relaxing, and what was it about the place that made it that way? It got me thinking, and I can't really think of a good reason why our homes can't be that place. Can't we make our homes peaceful havens of rest from a busy and hectic world? I think we can, and that is part of my New Year's Resolution for 2009.

This has been a goal of mine for quite some time, but I think that now with things in our world being so crazy it seems, that 2009 is a great time to pounce on that opportunity. I actually wrote out a list of 6 goals I had (on january 31, 2007) and it's posted on my bulletin board by the computer, it's full of good stuff, and I may share the entirety of it some day, but here is #3 and 4 on that list:

• Make our home a pleasant place to be. Keep it clean and tidy, decorate it so that our surroundings are pleasing to the eye, all without spending too much money.
• Grow a flower garden around our home and landscape it in a pleasing way, so that we can enjoy our yard and feel proud of it, and eat produce from our vegetable garden.

I've already got a good start on some of these things, but there is always more that could be done. I think this is something that really starts in the heart. Somewhere in Proverbs it says that it is better to live on the corner of the rooftop than to live in a house with a quarrelsome wife. (imo the same is true of the rest of the family members, but I know it seems women can be more.....irritable, and mouthy!) So, I will start with attitudes, then work from the inside of the home out.

What ideas do you have for creating a "homey" "peaceful" "resting" feeling at home?

What New Year's Resolutions are you working on in 2009?

looking forward to your comments :-)