Where burns the lov'd hearth brightest,
      Cheering the social breast?
    Where beats the fond heart lightest,
      Its humble hopes possess'd?
    Where is the smile of sadness,
      Of meek-eyed patience born,
    Worth more than those of gladness,
      Which mirth's bright cheek adorn?
    Pleasure is marked by fleetness,
      To those who ever roam;
    While grief itself has sweetness
      At home! dear home!

 There blend the ties that strengthen
      Our hearts in hours of grief;
    The silver links that lengthen
      Joy's visits when most brief;
    There eyes, in all their splendor,
      Are vocal to the heart,
    And glances, gay or tender,
      Fresh eloquence impart;
    Then, dost thou sigh for pleasure?
      O! do not widely roam,
    But seek that hidden treasure
      At home! dear home!

    Does pure religion charm thee
      Far more than aught below?
    Would'st thou that she should arm thee
      Against the hour of woe?
    Think not she dwelleth only
      In temples built for prayer;
    For home itself is lonely,
      Unless her smiles be there;
    The devotee may falter,
      The bigot blindly roam,
    If worshipless her altar
      At home! dear home!

    Love over it presideth,
      With meek and watchful awe,
    Its daily service guideth,
      And shows its perfect law?
    If there thy faith shall fail thee,
      If there no shrine be found,
    What can thy prayers avail thee
      With kneeling crowds around?
    Go! leave thy gift unoffered
      Beneath religion's dome,
    And be thy first fruits proffered
      At home! dear home!

The Ladies' Vase by An American Lady

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It's raining, it's pouring!  Well, we had a few days of respite...

I received a very sweet card in the mail today!  Receiving handwritten mail is the best!

I found this interesting--an excerpt from a book, The Ladies' Vase, written in 1849:

TRUE AND FALSE POLITENESS.


Every thing really valuable is sure to be counterfeited. This applies not only to money, medicine, religion, and virtue, but even to politeness. We see in society the truly polite and the falsely polite; and, although all cannot explain, all can feel the difference. While we respect the one, we despise the other. Men hate to be cheated. An attempt to deceive us, is an insult to our understandings and an affront to our morals. The pretender to politeness is a cheat. He tries to palm off the base for the genuine; and, although he may deceive the vulgar, he cannot overreach the cultivated. True politeness springs from right feelings; it is a good heart, manifesting itself in an agreeable life; it is a just regard for the rights and happiness of others in small things; it is the expression of true and generous sentiments in a graceful form of words; it regards neatness and propriety in dress, as
something due to society, and avoids tawdriness in apparel, as offensive to good taste; it avoids selfishness in conduct and roughness in manners: hence, a polite person is called a "gentle" man. True politeness is the smoothness of a refined mind and the tact of a kind
heart.

I'm up early this morning.  I woke up about thirty minutes before my dh wakes up for work, and I felt inspired by some of Paula's Saturday Sweetheart tips, so I made a pot of coffee for my dh and sent him off to work with a kiss. 

Dear reader, that is so unlike me.  I'm a night owl!  Even when I'm not in night owl mode, I sleep "late".  "Late" is kind of whenever I wake up.  It was a conscious decision, when I stopped working, that I would indulge myself in sleeping in from that day forward...I thought that if I indulged myself, that eventually, after a few months or maybe even a year, I would naturally (no alarm) start getting up at a reasonable hour (reasonable, in this case, means about 8:00 a.m.).  It hasn't happened consistently for me, yet!  With each baby, my sleep schedule is completely thrown out of whack.  And, I didn't anticipate this, but with each baby, I've found it more and more difficult to sleep when my husband is working nights.  I really can't find the connection between the number of our children and the rise in my nighttime anxiety (when alone)~maybe there is no connection.

My oldest son and I have a daily schedule~I have myself waking up at 7:00 a.m.  While many times, I give myself the freedom to sleep until 8:00 and start our routine from there, we get so much more accomplished when I am up at 7:00 and he's up at 7:30.  And, I feel so much more organized!   

Are you an early riser?

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Teacup for the week--because I did not post one yesterday!

A gift from my sister, this teacup was made in Bavaria, Germany by Bareuther.  The pattern is "Waldsassen".  It was a little difficult to photograph the pattern~tiny posies, vines, and leaves~the gold is quite reflective! 

I had my coffee in it this morning! 

We got up early today and went to the library for story time.  We haven't been since I had the baby~and my sweet little Lion is out of practice!  *Library behavior* 

I had planned to pick up books, pay fines (), and stay a little while, but he was really misbehaving and I started to sweat...that's my sign to leave!  I feel like...why get all stressed out?  We'll just go home!

I am still working on my buffet and my oldest son, Lamb, pulled furniture out of the little boys' room to completely clean it out.  So my living room is not a pretty sight right now.

Am I the only quirky freak who doesn't answer her door to strangers during the day?  If someone calls before coming over, if I know the person, if (at the least) the living room is decent, I welcome company!  But if my husband is not at home, I do not open the door to strangers.  Not even women who are alone. 

Yesterday, a woman knocked right as we were discovering that Pilot had a diaper emergency.  I wasn't expecting anyone, so I told my son to ask (through the door), "Who is it?".  He couldn't understand what she was saying, so I went to the door, still not opening it, to ask.  She said she wanted to talk to me about CANCER.  I said, "Well, I'm really busy with my baby right now and I'm also not even dressed yet--could you just leave your paperwork on the porch and I'll read it later?" 

"Oh, I don't have anything," she replied.   ???  She said that maybe she'd go to some other houses, then come back.  She didn't return...I wouldn't have answered, anyways~it felt suspicious.

I think she came back today.  I don't know for sure--this time, I was cooking and my oldest son looked out the window and said that there was a black truck out there again (she drove a black truck yesterday).  This time, we didn't even go to the door~we just ignored the knocking.  Do I sound completely inconsiderate?  I am the one who lives a paranoid life, LOL!

I won the most games at Bonco last night!  My first time with this group. They are some serious six-throwin' ladies!

This week's tablecloth:

It's a simple, ice blue oval that I bought to use for a baby shower last summer.  I think I'm ready to move the sand and shell hurricanes to the buffet for the remainder of the summer...

My camera batteries are weak and the second pic is a little blurry!

Bethro78~the pitcher and bowl were my "find" during my first visit to Tuesday Morning! 

So I talked about Tablecloth Tuesday and it's Tuesday...and my table is full of drying dishes, LOL!  I'll have it ready tonight, after Bonco. 

Rebecca introduced me to these delicious crisps~oh, the wild berry taste like blueberry (and the snozberry taste like snozberry) and Lamb and I made a sweet cream cheese dip for them.  Whoa.  This is party food--the next party, tea, gathering, whatever--will have these on the menu!

It is time for me to realign my calendars~I've already missed a couple of things because I have neglected to write them on my purse calendar!  A baby shower...taking out the water bottles for the Ozarka guy...and there's something else, but I can't remember! 

Recent highlights of my life:

• tried a new recipe:  banana crumb muffins--a definite keeper!  I'm attempting a twist on the basic recipe tomorrow--lemon blueberry! yum!
• re-organized my china into these quilted organizers--I should have done this a long, long time ago!
• cleared out half of my buffet (Therapeutic!  Wow, I feel good doing this--and I am motivated to do the other half as soon as I can get out to buy some more organizers for my crystal dinnerware!)**lots of choking on dust!
• neatly stacked vintage tablecloths in oh-so-accessible buffet

And, in one of those sweet ironies of life, I replaced my old ironing board cover (how old is that board?!  I think I bought it while in college...it's older than my oldest son!), and a week later,  someone (one of those in-home mysteries) broke my ironing board!  Today I bought a new ironing board that cost less than the new cover.  ???