Family in Feast and Feria

My son has hooks in the mudroom to use to hang up his coat, and the organizer for his broom, dust pan and brush. Underneath is a basket for his boots and shoes, mittens and hat.

But his enthusiasm for hanging his things has no bounds. I never know what I'll find hanging on the rack.

Yesterday I cleaned my kitchen. I clean my kitchen everyday, but today I worked on those clutter piles, those odds and ends that wait to find a good home and now have clean counters.

What is it about a clean kitchen that inspires me and makes me calm and relaxed? I was positively giddy last night, enjoying the vast expanse of a spotless kitchen. And I wasn't cleaning for guests or an event, which makes it even more fulfilling. The cleanliness is for us! And it is simply elegant!

Welcome to the tour of my kitchen.

For larger views of all my pictures, click on the links throughout the post. Through the entry hall you will find the kitchen, in between the dining room and family room.


We've been in this house a year -- the anniversary of our move is tomorrow. My kitchen is not beautiful, but is spacious, lots of counters and functional. There are things that need to be changed -- it's quite a 1980s kitchen. I dislike the wallpaper. I don't like the color of the cabinets, nor the knobs. The appliances are original to the house, breaking down and soon to be replaced. The lighting is fluorescent and awful. There is no backsplash. The floor is a fake-ceramic-tile-pergo-type flooring. It's not yellow as it appears in the pictures. But I want wood floors.

These are just minor ascetics and projects that will be tackled one by one, time, energy and money allowing. But I don't look at the wallpaper much. I have very little wall space..we fell in love with the kitchen view. I have a picture window with backyard views of nature at all times and natural lighting from the bay windows. My "room with a view" is cheery and uplifting. I don't need much to decorate this kitchen. If it's clean, all eyes go to the beautiful outdoors. That, to me, is my simple elegance. Who needs to improve on nature?


The floor space in my kitchen is expansive. The U-shape is nice and open, but it is a lot to walk across doing prep work. I've seen other similar kitchens with islands. It works, the Cook isn't crowded, but you lose that open airy feeling. The other major drawback? My son couldn't set up his cars, trucks, trains!

I have few upper cabinets. Most are lower, so I have the dishes accessible to younger people. Drawers are shallow and few, so the utensil crock stays on the counter. I bought that crock for my husband before we married when he moved to Virginia, and the design includes the name of our little town. The other items that remain on the counter: paper towels, water pitcher, bananas, toaster oven, microwave (for now), ring holder and outside thermometer. I'd love to keep everything off the counter, but for now this assortment is manageable and not too cluttered.

My elegant touch this month is to have a basket of fresh vegetables from the garden. Nothing is as inviting to me as homegrown juicy red tomatoes.

We're a family of 3, so we continue to have our meals at the kitchen table. There's a hummingbird feeder on the window...and last night was the first time one came to feed. We're hoping there will be many more to come. The table is quite small, so if another person is added to our numbers, we'll need another table. The dining room is off to the right of the kitchen. It's carpeted, so family meals aren't relaxing if I'm figuring out how to clean the spills and crumbs. It's also a bit awkward because there is no pass through, nor a close counter to hold food or plates. It's quite a few steps to the closest counter from the dining room table. When dinner with a toddler only lasts 20 minutes or so, I don't always have the energy to be toting all the food and plates back and forth from the dining room.

But we do break the monotony of the kitchen table by eating on the screened-in porch. This is right off the kitchen and family room. When the weather is nice, we're outside. It's one of our favorite places to be. We just finished painting the deck and porch, which makes time out here even more enjoyable. The next step is to find some outdoor shades that fit (and aren't expensive) so we can shield ourselves from the setting sun to make dinners even better.

The refrigerator area is my weakest spot. I do keep baskets and my son's cooler on the top. The wine rack is a waste of space. If you really enjoy wine, you don't want to keep them in the warm kitchen. Look closely and you'll see that all the bottles are actually empty. Project procrastination -- I'm saving the labels, but since I can't find my label remover at this moment, the bottles are just sitting there. We hope to replace the fridge sometime soon, but it works. We have our LeapFrog letters and farm which keep little hands busy. All the magnets of Penn State and Steelers football are also there for my son's enjoyment.

The microwave is temporary. How long is temporary, I'm embarrassed to say. My built-in microwave caught on fire last Thanksgiving. My maternal grandmother had died a few days before, so my mother is letting me use her old microwave until we get a new one installed. I want to put one over my stove. I had that in my other house, and it was convenient and off the counter. Where my built-in microwave sits I want to replace with a double oven.

The pantry is small and cramped. There is a small mudroom to the right off the eating area that we plan on adding shelving units to house both extra food items, toys and school supplies and the notorious shoes and other paraphernalia. Since I have 9 foot ceilings, I'm going to use all the vertical space I can.

Yesterday was the perfect weather day. It was overcast, cool, light showers all throughout the day, and no outside errands planned. I may be considered strange, but I revel in these indoor days. My soul needs these kind of days. And since here in Virginia we're suffering from a 4.5 inch rain deficit, it's obvious to me that I haven't been getting enough of these days this year to water my soul.

I spent the day in active contemplation, "Martha's hands with Mary's mind" (see The Kitchen Prayer). The last few months the housework has suffered. Ambrose and I spent the day cleaning the bedrooms and doing laundry.

While scrubbing away, many thoughts crossed my mind. I'm not a "natural" housekeeper. Last week my father's sister came to visit. We talked about her mother, and how she ran such a tight and immaculate household. The children had to help, but everything was in tip-top shape. When I asked if Grandma had it written down or shared her mental schedule, she replied to the contrary. To me, that would be hard as a child. I I liked knowing my boundaries and knowledge of routines and expectations. In fact, I still do.

I believe my mother-in-law has an internal clock to housekeeping. She had wonderful example from her mother and her family and household flourished under her hand. My husband knew what was expected from him, and enjoyed the order. Her daughter learned the rhythm and practices it her house.

To me, it doesn't come naturally. I do have an eye to see the mess, and I clean well and thoroughly, but I don't have the rhythm or routines.

I was also thinking about the posts from Melissa in her The Not Supermom Series and Elizabeth on Organization and Charlotte trying to Simplifying My Life.

These women are far beyond me. I'm struggling to keep my head above water with just one toddler. There are so many things that need to be done, and the overwhelming thoughts cripple me. And just writing that is EXACTLY what my mother would say. Just as I was writing, one of my sisters called me. When I told her what I was mulling over in my mind, she said "Ah, the eternal struggle takes time." (A quote from a family favorite movie). And it is an eternal struggle for us.

I need to look at FLYLady again. I don't completely like her method. I want to start with a relatively clean house then tackle bit by bit the clutter. Her routines don't always fit with me....but perhaps it's just my pride talking? I want to see the complete picture, and not just wait for Sunday's email to figure out what I'm tackling for the week. And I want to internalize it, make it my own, tweak it so it fits my routine and I won't need outside reminders. Perhaps make my own chart so I answer to myself, not FLYlady? Am I reaching for the impossible? I also want to reread and internalize Home Comforts. That book really spoke to me. Perhaps someone else can suggest some others?

Of course, just reading and not implementing doesn't work. When we moved, dh made a comment on all the organizational and decluttering books I owned....too many for the disorganized life I have!

I want housekeeping to be a second nature. I want my son to feel the rhythm of the seasons, and know basically what the expect in the house. I need to show a good example of keeping things tidy, so that he practices this himself. I can't expect anything from him that I don't do myself!

I'm also trying to analyze our environment for my son. With a small budget I need to organize his toys, but also set up learning environments and prayer spaces accessible to him...but also tidy and neat. Things are piecemeal right now, but I can see how hard it is for him to concentrate on one item with the messy toys in the background. And not all items have a "proper home." So that's another aim.

And better meal planning...and tackling the extra house projects, like removing wallpaper and painting. How does one juggle? When I concentrate on one area, everything else flies out the window.

And then just a personal routine...time slots for more prayer time, reading time, exercise time....

I think I need some more rainy days......

It all started with Leonie and her description of her Peg System in organizing her day as she homeschools her children. Several women have adapted this as their own rhythms in their day. The Bookworm and Mary at St. Athanasius Academy brought to my attention Melissa Wiley's wonderful post Nuts, Bolts and Peg. Melissa gives a wonderful description of how her homeschool routine flows, by applying this system of pegs.

Now I'm not homeschooling officially yet. But in reality every day is a little "home school" for my son. We learn all the time, and the peg system is quite applicable for a mom with toddlers and preschoolers. By incorporating FlyLady and teaching times and hanging them on "pegs" of the day will give my a flowing rhythm that can help me adjust when ds is actually school age.

I love the idea of incorporating music appreciation for a mealtime. I think my peg for music will be lunchtime. Already we play records like "Peter and the Wolf" as we sit at the table.

Bedtime is the peg for read-alouds, and prayertime (part of the bedtime peg) includes introducing hymns and chant, discussion of Liturgical Year (feasts, seasons) and new prayers.

And ds naptime is the time for me to do house projects, cleaning and meal planning.

I've been trying to implement more Montessori activities in our routine, but it seems hit or miss, so I'm now trying to see if I can find some "pegs" to hang some practical life, sensorial, mathematics and language activities throughout the day.

I also need to find the pegs to get more things done around the house in a more consistent fashion.

Thanks, Melissa, for the great reminder and food for thought, and thanks, Leonie, for such a great system.