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Happy Friday!
In the Liturgical Year: We finished our celebration of the 12 Days of Christmas with a bang at a local historical mission site where they had a “First Christmas in the New World” event.
They had Las Posadas and our bishop said Mass there (but we missed out on those because of baby naptime). The kids loved the rest of it, though! We haven’t taken down our Christmas decorations and I’m loathe to. I love the light of the Christmas tree early in the morning. Can’t we keep it up til Candlemas, Daniel? Pretty, please? To be honest, we haven’t done much for Epiphany. We’ve settled back into our flexible routine: teaching ballet, preschool homeschooling, slow cooker meals, trips to the museum. I need to go ahead and get organized for Lent so it doesn’t sneak up on me. It’s so early this year!
Pregnancy Update: 21 weeks! I’ve been feeling much better as far as the pregnancy nausea goes. What a relief. When I feel so dreadful, it’s honestly hard for me to do much bonding with my baby in utero. But finding out the gender last week and choosing a name have really helped me start connecting with this precious little gal I’m carrying. And all her kicking and jumping around my womb certainly helps! She’s a little firecracker.
In the Garden: Daniel really outdid himself this year with our garden. We have had so many delicious greens to eat. Swiss chard several times a week and enough lettuce (of many varieties!) to make beautiful salads every night. And now that the idea of vegetables doesn’t make me nauseous I can really enjoy the bounty!
Quote:
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.
-Wendell Berry
The Quotable Benjamin:
“Let me in, mama! I know you’re going potty but I have to go THE BADDEST!!!” (Oh, the joys of a one-bathroom household.)
“It’s OK, Lucy. We love you no matter what!” (Lucy was going bare-bottomed to help with a diaper rash and had a few accidents. Benjamin was very understanding.)
“Can we listen to “Sleigh Ride”? NOT the bossy version!”
(By bossy version, he meant the Zoey Deschanel/M. Ward one. Love him.)
Links:
Wendell Berry’s Wild Spirit: Garden and Gun (I pretty much love anything Wendell Berry.)
Everything I Need to Know About Hospitality, I Learned from Molly Weasley: RNS (How could I resist sharing this? You know my love for Molly and the Harry Potter books. Also, be sure to read the first comment on the article. I laughed out loud.)
Are There Rules for Religious Art?: Simcha Fisher (One of my greatest passions is Christian art. If I were going back to school for something, it would be medieval Christian art. I think Simcha’s piece is great and starts a wonderful conversation.)
Bless This House: Surviving Our Blessings (I really want our priest to come over and bless our home. Why do I always forget about this?)
The Nap Window: Honest Toddler (This blog is so funny.)
Helpful Tips for Traveling with Cloth: Two Ortizes plus More (I’ve never really attempted this. Sarah does a great job of explaining how to make it work.)
Instagrams Worth Sharing (if you want to follow me, I’m carrotsformichaelmas on IG):
My, she’s cute. And see? I really wasn’t lying yesterday when I told you my bath tub is moldy. (In my defense, our old-timey bathroom doesn’t have a vent installed so the mold gets out of control before you can blink an eye in muggy Florida. But, yes, also because I’m not good at this whole housekeeping thing.) Also of note: she was making this cute face because Benjamin was teaching her to say “poop.” Just trying to stay honest.
“I found brother’s hat and am feeling very sneaky.”
More Miscellany:
I am starting to get the hang of Twitter, @haleycarrots, (barely, it still doesn’t feel as natural as FB) but I’m really enjoying connecting with readers there so follow me and I’ll follow back 
And I realized this week that the button that should link to my Pinterest account (haleyofcarrots) wasn’t working. It’s fixed now so you can find me there, as well!
And while we’re talking social media, if you follow me on FB, you’re probably not seeing most of my posts in your news feed because of some changes FB has made. If you want to see more of my updates, hover the mouse over the “liked” button at the top of the Carrots FB page and choose the “show in news feed” option. Thanks!
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!
Love,
Haley
Haley,
About your tub, if you aren’t opposed to using bleach in your household, have your hubby (or use gloves, especially because you are pregnant) and soak cotton balls in bleach, shove them into crevasses and let them sit on moldy parts of you grout. You can also get cotton from beauty supply stores or out of vitamin bottles and do the same thing with longer pieces of cotton.
I really bleach would be the only solution to the state of my tub. This is good advice and will help the problem in the short term. In the long term the bathroom needs a rehaul and a vent installed so save us from the mold!
I second the bleach idea! It’s the only things that keeps my own moldy-Florida-bathroom issues in check. I’ve heard white vinegar will work as well but I wanted my mold really and truly good and dead and bleach kills everything right?
I stick with vinegar in the kitchen but our bathroom is just a mold factory and vinegar is no match…
Your links this week are awesome! I found quotes in the Molly Weasley and religious art ones that just jumped out at me like flashing neon signs. I also liked the one on blessing the house. The CMB over the door is something really popular in some parts of Europe. When we were traveling in Trier, Germany, almost every house had that over the door. My husband had read that it was really popular there and he made me guess what it was. It took me awhile before I guessed that it was the Magi, but I didn’t know the blessing tradition so I couldn’t connect all the dots. Thanks and have a nice weekend!
Thanks! I really loved those links. Next year I want to be on the ball with some blessed chalk! I think it’s a lovely tradition.
Is Lucy wearing lipstick in the bath tub photo? Or, are your lips just naturally rosy? Just curious.
It’s just her natural rosiness and probably the filter on the image that makes them look even rosier. No lipstick yet!
I mean . . . are “her” lips naturally rosey?