Scattered thoughts from a busy week

Are "quick takes" for Fridays?  If not, I'll still use the concept as an excuse for scattered thoughts...


1.  Our family tried St. Louis Catholic's recipe for French dip sandwiches (see the comments section of this post), and yes-- it's THE recipe!  Incredible flavor. My husband loved it; I loved it; and it was unbelievably simple to make in my slow cooker...  Thank you, Mrs. Timman!!  This meal is going on our regular schedule.

2.  Lately naps have scarcely overlapped at all, so I've had very little free time during the day-- although I'll admit that I've been carving out an early-morning coffee hour by letting the girls hang out in their cribs a bit longer before breakfast.  (So long as they're not crying...!?)

3.  With my toddler, I've fallen into an unfortunate habit of using videos as a distraction during diaper changes and her baby sister's pre-nap feeding/rocking session.  True, she watches (what I consider to be) good stuff: excerpts from The Nutcracker ballet, orchestras playing classical music, scenes from Disney's Cinderella, a half-hour alphabet video from Sesame Street...  But I can see that video is becoming an addiction for her, as she's constantly requesting it outside of the normal times.

4. With regard to the above, I'm beginning to create my own short videos of the toddler's books-- sort of a virtual storytime.  With the camera zoomed in close to the page, I read, point out fun bits of illustration ("Do you see the puppydog?" etc.)...  While of course this can't possibly replace actual storytime, I figure that this sort of video has to be a cut above Cinderella!  Especially if our toddler has the books, too, in her hands, so that she could potentially follow along... Again, not ideal-- but perhaps a slight improvement.

5. One final thought:  Our seven-month-old does better push-ups than I do.

Have a great weekend!

Your Neighborhood, 100 Years Ago

Have you ever wished that you could step back in time-- just for a moment-- to experience your neighborhood as it was long ago?

Photographs offer a glimpse, of course; but while photographs convey the look and feel of a place, they usually don't reveal the area's layout.  For example, if you lived in this spot 100 years ago, where would you shop?  What might you do in your spare time?  What sources of light and heat were available? Sanborn maps-- detailed city and town records maintained by the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company-- can help you to visualize a neighborhood at this level, as they show and label individual shops, residences, churches, and other community resources.

And now, these addictive maps are online!!  (When I first encountered Sanborn maps in grad school, one had to go to the city library and page through them, physically.  It was fun, but also a lot of trouble.)

For example, I'll link you to the following images at the University of Missouri:

... Old St. Patrick Oratory (Kansas City, MO) in 1896

Zoom in, and find surrounding hotels, offices, dwellings (coded "D"), shops ("S"), the public library, the YMCA, a laundry, a drugstore...

... St. Francis De Sales Oratory (St. Louis, MO) in 1909
You'll see nearby tenements, flats ("F"), movie theaters ("moving pictures"), pool rooms, saloons (abbreviated "sal"), a laundry, etc.


Kansas residents can find many of their maps here, at the University of Kansas Libraries.

Whatever your city/state, be sure-- if you're interested--to check the online resources of your public library!  Many county libraries have begun to offer digital access to their local maps... Keep in mind, too, that the Sanborn Company began these records in 1867 and updated them throughout the 20th century, so many different editions may be available to you.  If your local library offers only maps dating from 1920- 1930, for example, look at the holdings of your area academic library-- there could very well be more!

Wouldn't this research make an interesting homeschool project in History?!

PS:  Here's a helpful key to common Sanborn map abbreviations (University of Michigan).

Snood sighting!

Chances are you're already well acquainted with Regina Coeli Creations, Delena's online shop specializing in pretty, Mass-appropriate headcoverings. However, if not-- or if you haven't been there recently-- check out the cuteness (and feminine dignity, of course!):

In case you missed it, Delena's also offering 15% off your next purchase.

Jacob's Toy Box

Christine, a local Catholic homeschooling mother of six, has opened an online store for her beautiful handmade dolls and other toys.   I find the dolls especially enchanting:  they have that old-fashioned, Laura-Ingalls-Wilder appeal that makes a mom feel so good about her daughter's delight in them!

The store's name-- Jacob's Toy Box-- has bittersweet significance.  On the accompanying blog, Christine writes:

This spring I was anxiously awaiting the birth of our 7th child, Jacob.  For each of my children I have made a special blanket or quilt before s/he was born.  While at the fabric store getting material for Jacob's blanket, I saw a pattern for a stuffed animal and decided to make one for my soon to be born son, Jacob.  The stuffed animal turned out adorable.
      
Tragedy struck June 2, 2012.  Jacob died at 32 weeks gestation.  The doctors don't know what happened.
      
While grieving for our son, I needed a way to honor and remember him.  I thought of the joy I had sewing the stuffed animal for him and decided to start the business Jacob's Toy Box...   [source]

Please pay her a visit.  Her creations are simply beautiful!!

Slow-Cooker Sunday: A New Family Tradition

Until recently, the slow cooker had always struck me as a rather pointless gadget:  after all, unless you worked outside the home, why would you invest in a device that took eight hours to accomplish what a Dutch oven could do in three or four?  Moreover, it couldn't reduce a liquid down to the silky, rich sauce that I expected in a pot roast or stew; and its throw-everything-in-and-walk-away method seemed to leave no room for creativity... So for years I skipped all of those slow-cooker recipes, confident that there was really nothing in them to miss.

Until recently.  To my shock, that once-despised slow cooker has actually proved itself...!

You see, on Sundays our family assists at Tridentine Mass (Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite) in the city 35 miles from our home, and-- depending on traffic-- it can take us anywhere from 35 to 50 minutes to reach the church. Once Mass ends, we're hungry; the babies are both tired and (despite take-along snacks) hungry; and we still must face the long commute home.  It's a problem.

In pre-parenthood days, my husband and I loved to follow Mass with a leisurely brunch at one of the downtown restaurants; and even when our eldest first came along, we still could usually sneak in 40 minutes or so at a family-friendly establishment.  When our second child arrived in January, however, that option was shot.  There was no enjoying a sit-down meal with two frazzled little ones to manage!  ...And so, we began pulling into Sonic for a quick meal of burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, and tater tots.  I'd squeeze between carseats in the back of our sedan, where I could give the infant her bottle (if necessary) while handing the toddler bits of chicken and greasy fried potato.

Needless to say, this arrangement was less than ideal.

On a whim, I picked up a seven-quart Crock Pot (with visiting family in mind?) at Walmart on a Saturday, along with 3lbs of pork shoulder and some barbeque sauce.  At eight the next morning I loaded meat, vegetables, and sauce into the thing, turned it on "high," and ran upstairs to go back to bed prepare for Mass...  "I hope it doesn't burn the house down," my husband said as we drove away-- late, as usual.  (Mea culpa.)

But when we returned home, the smell was amazing-- and the pork was tender and savory.  We could sit down to our meal almost immediately, no fuss, with naps to follow... Leisure restored!  I was sold.

Since then, we've experimented with beef sirloin on two successive Sundays (not as tasty, since it really needs more cooking time); and this past Sunday, we tried this worthwhile Food Network recipe for pork carnitas.  In the interest of time, I initially skipped the final "crisping" step, but tried it on the next day's leftovers-- and we both found that it elevated the ok to the sublime!  (Please don't forget the "crisping" step!  It creates those flavorful brown bits...)

Humbled, I now ask-- do you have a favorite slow-cooker recipe? 

Attitude Adjustment--

-- in that I really need one, ASAP.

All weekend my thoughts have centered on me, on a sort of struggle for my time and my space against all other members of this household, dogs included. When will the baby let me drink my coffee in peace? Why is the toddler always in the kitchen? When will I finally be allowed to watch that TV show? While I did my job (with lots of help from my husband), I wasn't "doing small things with great love"; rather, I was busy "getting small things out of the way to make room for me."  And when that room didn't magically appear, I chose to become resentful and sullen.

As a result, I've begun the week on the wrong foot and the wrong side of the bed.  As this morning wore on I heard That Tone creeping into my voice; and upon smelling That Smell just before naptime-- right when I thought I was home free-- I actually exclaimed to my toddler, "What?!  You pooped again?! How is that even possible??"  (She laughed, thankfully... But in the future she may take to heart this sort of accusation.)

Hopefully I can still manage to turn the day/week around...  Although nearly two years ago I'd allowed the arrival of our first daughter to completely derail my daily prayer, last week this post at The Happy, Resourceful Home motivated me to begin again, just in a small way: a decade or two of the Rosary said here and there, most often as I rock the baby to sleep.  Maybe it will help to pull me through today; and maybe a nap will, too... However it's achieved, though, my focus does need to shift away from "getting what I want" and toward the process, the day's rhythm as a source of grace.  (Yes, yes, I've been reading Holly Pierlot!)   Otherwise, I'll only keep clawing at members of my family, as I did all weekend-- and how pleasant was that?

Love Literature? Win Free Books from Civium Press!

Civium Press, purveyer of little-known classics, is giving away four books by "father of modern fantasy" William Morris (1834-1896), whose work influenced C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.  All four books go to one lucky winner!  Please click here for details. The drawing will take place on Monday, July 23.

Disclosure: I'd love to be that lucky winner!  This blog post constitutes an additional entry in the drawing... Yes, I'd go to some effort for a book.  Or four.  Wouldn't you?