I’m feeling so on top of things! I’m following through on a new intention by getting my recap of September things that made me smile, done before the new month of October starts. Welcome to post #3 of monthly things that made me smile. (You can see July 2024 here and August 2024 here.) After finding a wonderful new treasure trove of a blog, more on that later, I’m using a phrase from it called “pretty, happy, funny, real.” This blog is by Leila Lawler, a Catholic mom of 7 from New England. It’s called likemotherlikedaughter.org. You can see Mrs. Lawler’s pretty, happy, funny, real posts here. I love that phrase! It captures everything that makes me smile, except for maybe “smart.” In the spirit of sharing what was pretty, happy, fun, real AND smart in my life for the month of September 2024, here goes.

First on my Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real Smart list is my married daughter’s pretty shelf above, in her home. I don’t think she had it up the last time I was there. I just love it! We see her and her husband and two little boys weekly for Sunday dinner, at our place. Her oldest boy had a birthday party so we went to her place for the party, where I saw the shelf. That’s the first birthday party for children I’ve been to with no organized games for the kiddos. It turned out well, with the little ones playing with my grandsons’ toys, mostly Legos, and the adults conversing. It was fun to see my son-in-law’s brother, and his wife, and talk with them. They are all such great conversationalists.

Next, my cute friend Heather’s log cabin home. See above the handy baskets for her gardening tools that she has on the back of her home and her darling gate below with the black wrought iron she designed herself. The Veggie Gals had a gathering at her home in September. I finally got to see her place! She moved there over 20 years ago, but this was only the second VG gathering she hosted, and the first one that I attended. The last one happened while I lived in AZ.

I sure do love my Veggie Gals! We always have the best conversation and food! See Girlfriend Joyce’s sourdough pizza above. It just feels like Thanksgiving every time we gather. This time, after hearing Heather share all about the benefits of hypochlorous acid (go here if you don’t know), we got to tour her garden. So beautiful! We also talked about Jesus and politics of course. Two favorite Veggie Gals topics, along with holistic health.

Library book envy! Don’t you just love it when you go to the library to pick up your holds, and you see someone else’s books they have on hold, and you want them too? Like, right away?! Here are three below. I took photos so I can put them on hold too and get them as next in line.

(Actually the above book is in Everand so I don’t have to wait! Yay! I can read it on my phone and iPad! Go here to learn more about Everand.)

A new recipe for Sunday Dinner. It’s bacon wrapped around marinated shrimp and zucchini, stuck on skewers and then roasted. For that dinner we had my nephew over. He just come to BYU to resume his studies after getting home from his mission to Costa Rica. We gathered for Sunday dinner and enjoyed that recipe which I got from one of the Pioneer Woman cookbooks I have collected over the years.

Thrifting treasures! September was a great month for thrifting! I found another copy of Generations board game, and gave it to one of my VG girlfriends who is really into genealogy. You can read a little bit about Generations here, where I describe it as a game for Sunday gameschooling.

I bought the Anne of Ingleside book because I realized after moving and getting all my Anne of Green Gables books in one place and accessible to me on my new pretty shelves that I was missing three in the series. I bought and read the whole series as a teen and loved them. I wonder if the missing ones are at my mom’s house? I thought I had cleared out all of my stuff decades ago. I resisted buying the book about family dinner for three weeks. I kept seeing it at the thrift store but didn’t buy it, thinking, “Don’t I have enough books already about the importance of family dinner? I don’t need to be convinced.” But after seeing it for the fourth time, I decided I’d get it for the recipes. I tried out the ragu shredded pork recipe and loved it. So I’m glad I got the book. It also has a recipe for spicy shrimp I’m excited to try.

The basket with the polka dot fabric liner is so cute! Since moving, I’ve been collecting baskets for storage of various items. This one is perfect to hold all my baby board books for my family room, to replace the unaesthetic and non-crunchy mom plastic bin that I had. The Word Go Round and Izzi games are perfect additions to my easily-portable-games-that-can-be-played-at-mealtime-or-while-traveling collection. The Izzi game also works for something to do while listening to a read aloud book. I keep these games in my baskets in my new bookshelves in my dining room. These just make my heart sing! The fabric shown above is a bedsheet I picked up for $4 at the Provo D.I. to become a tablecloth, as shown below. I just love it! The perfect perky yet neutral print! The picture below also shows my latest Pioneer Woman cookbook for my collection. I get these books not for me to use as recipes for me as I’m still doing keto to maintain my weight. I get them for my children to peruse through to get recipes for them to to fix dinner. Currently I have a 15, 18, and 20 year old at home. I like each one to take one night a week fixing dinner. The PW Cookbooks aren’t as whole foodsy as I would like but I love the gorgeous color photos that step by step show how to make the recipe. Plus all the recipes are delicious. I just adapt with more whole foods as I can. I got the Paw Patrol Phonics readers for my grandson because he is just learning how to read. the Rainbow Valley book I got to help complete my Anne of Green Gables collection. The book about homemade kids is to add to my collection of books about family traditions.

My most recent trip thrifting scored the above items. I have been looking for a Christmas cookbook from Susan Branch for over 2 years! Guess what? It was in the children’s section of books at the thrift store. This is the third time I have found a Susan Branch book in the children’s books section. These are cookbooks, not children’s books. Like the Pioneer Woman cookbooks, they aren’t whole foodsy. I get them for the vibes. I just feel so happy when I read them, because of Ms. Branch’s gorgeous illustrations, the fun stories she shares, and her cheerful energy. She grew up as the oldest of 8 children so I just love her vignettes of large family life. You can read my review of her summer cookbook here. The bunch of fabric in the upper right is another bedsheet to use as a tablecloth. I just love, love the colors. Then some games and a puzzle set to play with the grandchildren!

Look how beautiful the bedsheet looks on my dining room table! I love how the teal flowers match my teal Pioneer Woman tumblers. (Excuse the oddly shaped pillow to the left of the center chair behind the flower centerpiece, my grandson had just run into the room and put his pillow on the couch and ran out.)

And now for something that’s more on the smart side of Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real, and Smart. For my sisters’ book club (my sisters-in-law meet in Zoom once a month to discuss a book we read) we did the book below. It is a wonderfully delicious read! It’s historical fiction. It’s about two people, C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman, who really did fall in love and get married. But the letters and conversation in the book are completely made up. It made C.S. Lewis come alive for me! I listened to this book in Everand (my phone app that allows me to listen and/or read unlimited books) and read parts of it as well. The narrator did a terrific job of changing her voice for the different characters. The lines that the author Patti Callahan gave to Jack, aka C.S. Lewis, made him sound like the most perfect man next to Jesus. He sounds like Santa Claus, the world’s greatest coach, uncle, husband, philosopher, and father, all rolled into one. Kudos to Ms. Callahan for writing such an amazing book! If you are in a book club, pick this one next time it’s your choice! You won’t regret it!

I also read Guts and Glory Civil War by Ben Thompson for my new Sword of Freedom Class/LEMI Project that I’m mentoring. It’s a good overview of the war but I don’t like the oversimplistic self-congratulatory imperialism /siding with the Union tone at the end of the book. The author shows it with his cartoonish description of Admiral Farragut high fiving the Statue of Liberty with a bald eagle flying over head, used as a metaphor to describe the feeling after a battle victory. He does acknowledge that the Statue of Liberty did not exist during the war so I wish he would have just left that part out. Anyway, I discussed the book with the scholars and enjoyed our discussion. This is my third time around mentoring Sword.

Honey Buzz, shown below! I played this game with my 15-year-old for a Friday game night. On another night, we had some of his friends over and played Codenames and Secret Hitler, which you can read about here, in the middle of the post. So much fun! I wish I had taken advantage of the youthful energy of teens and hosted game nights when my older children were that age. I just felt too busy with all their younger siblings. Oh well, live and learn, right?

I started using my Little Women stuff that I got at the Little Women Orchard House gift shop last month. A tote bag, socks, and T-shirt. They are so cute! The little book is full of teaching maxims from Bronson Alcott, Louisa May’s father. Plus I got another visit with my sister Emily, from Maine, who hosted us last month when we visited Orchard House together. She came out to bring a daughter for college, so we got more time together, having lunch at my home. I’m really glad that happened so my daughter, who didn’t go to Maine with us, could see her cousin. Then we went to my parents’ home where I got to play Huggermugger with Emily, her daughter, and my mom. I’m super glad I finally got to play this game with Em after hearing her rave about it for a few years now, after she got it as birthday gift from her husband. Earlier in the day, we got to be at the gift shop at the BYU Museum of Art together, and saw more work from the artist who designed the bag, T-shirt, and socks above. Emily told me that the artist has a company called Rifle Paper, over here. The artist’s name is Anna Bond. The museum gift shop had some note cards, other stationery, and clothing with her signature gouache style. Artist Emily explained to me that gouache is different from watercolor, because the colors are opaque and not transparent like watercolor. I just love her style! I’m drooling over all the apparel options here.

For date nights, my husband and I watched movies this month and ate keto chocolate. We alternate who picks the movie. I think his favorite pick of the month was Charade, with Cary Grant, and Audrey Hepburn. I love the campy elegant classic but unfortunately it’s not about married love. My favorite of my picks was probably The Magic of Ordinary Days. A delightful story set in WW2 about married love. The lead female actor is so beautiful. Watch free here in YouTube.

In closing, here are some of my favorite blog posts at my new favorite blog, Like Mother Like Daughter:

-about “The Library Project”

-about why feminism is a lie

-about cultivating order and wonder in your home