grandma's tea cup collection

 Sunday's, I don't set my alarm.  When I wake up, I wake up.  No to do list is waiting.  And every Sunday when I'm home...I find myself wandering into a little project.  This morning was cleaning teacups.  My grandma Ella had a big collection of teacup.  Grandpa had made her 8 tea cup cabinets to hang on their walls.  Each held 9 teacups.  When she passed my sister and I were gifted her collection.  

At the time, I wasn't having tea parties.  Frilly, fancy teacups weren't really my thing.  As much as I love my grandma, I didn't really want a giant collection of teacups.  I didn't even like pink or fancy dishes.

Of course, growing up, I didn't like broccoli, asparagus, brussels sprouts, or beets either.  Everyday you lose cells and gain new cells.  Every 7 years we become new people.

A few weeks ago, I cleaned out, organized, rebooted and downsized all my dishes, my grandma dishes, good dishes, tea cups everything you would find in a china cabinet.  Which is funny because, I also never wanted a china closet and yet somehow, I had enough good dishes and such to fill a china closet.  90% of which were gifted to me or wandered into my life. 

Over the years, I fell in love with tea parties and vegetables.  A friend of mine endeared me to the art of tea.  Sitting, enjoying a cup of tea during a work pause or after work satisfaction.  Maybe I learned to love tea parties by reading about Wabi Sabi, or going to Iona, or from my aunt Darlean.  Or maybe I've always be destined to love tea parties.  I'm a slow bloomer. 

Like the dishes I didn't buy, tea parties wandered into my life.  I didn't search them out, and yet they found me anyway.

This morning, as I was washing my tea cup collection.  (My own collection whittled down to 9 tea cups with saucers.)  I was wondering.  As many tea cups as my grandma had did she ever have tea?  Did she use her tea cups as tea cups?  I never saw her have tea.  And yet, as much as she like collecting tea cups, I can't remember one time her using those tea cups.  Maybe she used them when I wasn't there.  My hunch is, she loved collecting tea cups and making cookies, pies and the most amazing sticky pecan rolls.  But the actual tea party...I don't know.

Now I find myself falling in love with tea parties, tiny bites.   Moments you savor slowly, absorbing the moment as well as the food and tea.  Tea served in a tiny cup feels special.  Deliberate, better?  I'm awake.  Mugs of hot tea go well with books, afghans and afternoons.  Teacups, are used awake-present.

I know my grandma loved her tea collection.  Going to garage sales, on day trips, finding a teacup calling her name.  Having the means to buy something beautiful just for the sake of beauty- was a gift to her.  She grew up very poor.  Her china closet was more than just dishes.  

I understood why she loved teacups.  This morning as I was washing each tiny plate, little cup, I was present. I was so present.  This is what a tea party means to me.  Savoring a moment.  Being fully present and tasting life.  Pausing from my own life to slow down, slow way down and simply sip, or taste a bite a tasty bite.  Tea parties, even tea for one, when served on tiny plates and little teacups with a special treat...makes me... happy. 

With a tiny tea cup you take tiny sips.  You hold your posture a little straighter.  The table set just so.  It's a tiny moment in life. It is special.  Tea parties are special moments.

Thank you, grandma, for my tea collection that took a long time to be appreciated.

If you have a teacup collection.  Dust them off.  Wash them.  Take them out of the cupboard.  Brew a bit of tea.  Make a tiny treat.  Sit up straight, breathe slow and deep - satisfying breaths.  Invite a friend over.  Tea parties don't have to be fancy.  Little peanut butter and jelly sandwiches do just fine.

               Denise

I have an update to this tea party... Yesterday, my mom and I got into a conversation about sewing machines and tea parties.  I gave away my sewing machine this summer.  On paper, I should love to sew. My mom is an amazing seamstress, so is my step mom. I'm not. I'd rather be doing pretty much anything but sewing.  To be fair, I love to sew straight lines, go buy material and fantasize about all the things I could create...but that's as far as it goes.  I was telling my mom I was loving tea parties.  She told me something I don't think I realized.  Denise you have always loved tea parties.  She would know, she is my mom.  Thinking about it, I can't imagine a time that I would turn away a tea party.

When in doubt...sit

Today, I was faced with a decision.  I couldn't come up with a clear answer and it was making my stomach turn.  I laid down for a 20 minute nap and when I woke up I had my answer: be still.

We have many opportunities and options in our great country.  We are blessed with abundance and with abundance comes choices. More is not always better. There is an ease to having fewer options.  Your mind can relax.  It becomes more creative with less.

This is our Penny kitty.  She understands stillness. 

I help people let go of the "too much" world.  I am not immune to this world.  Maybe I don't collect things but it is easy to collect ideas, tasks, opportunities, possibilities.
Tonight before I toddle off to bed I wanted to share my thoughts with you.

If you can't decide- don't.  Become very still and listen
Before going forward clean
      clean out your projects, your procrastinations, your unfinished beginnings
By going back and cleaning up, you gain insights into where you want to go.
By becoming still, you ground yourself, your breath deepens as does your internal wisdom

These are my thoughts before I sleep.  July is a good month to clean out and breathe.
          Denise

A few of your favorite things

This week, Julie Andrew songs seem to be popping into my head.  Last blog it was
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from the movie Mary Poppins.  This week it seems to be, "A few of my favorite things" from the Sound of Music. 

What do you love? What makes your heart smile?  What makes you breathe deeply? When are you at your most creative?  How do you want this year to feel? 

 Make a list of your favorite things.  Along the year, when you need a boost you will have your own go to guide.

 Do you know what your favorite things are? 

Need a little inspiration?

Click here to watch A Few of My Favorite Things by Julie Andrews 

Here are a few of my own favorite things...

   Apparently, songs from Mary Poppins and the Sound of Music...

   Curling up in a big blanket, having something hot to drink and reading just for fun

   Running in the woods- this includes 2 of my favorite things - running and nature

   Having an idea, inspiration a light bulb moment pop into my day

   Creating a dish.  Something healthy, interesting with no expectation only curiosity 

   Free time, 15 minutes to a full day set aside for doing whatever my heart wants

   Coming home to Sally- our flop eared smiler (picture below)

            Nobody greets as joyfully as Sally.

            She grins, wags her tail and turns herself inside out
    Moss on trees in the winter- it looks like little coats

    Walking with my hubby and having him put his hand on my back- just to say hello
     

Wishing you all an inspired new year, filled with your favorite things, places and people!

      Denise

The grain of the month is Quinoa

Tonight somewhere after putting the groceries away and making dinner, I made a fabulous little discovery. There is a grain of the month calendar!!! I ask you, how incredibly cool is that?

The whole grains council has created a calendar celebrating one or two grains per month. From my blog title, you probably figured out Quinoa is March's grain of the month.

Here is a teaser about this super little pseudo grain:

"It's not surprising that quinoa supports good health, as it's one of the only plant foods that is a complete protein, offering all the essential amino acids in a healthy balance. Not only is the protein complete, but quinoa grains have an unusually high ratio of protein to carbohydrate, since the germ makes up about 60% of the grain. ( For comparison, wheat germ comprises less than 3% of a wheat kernel.) Quinoa is also highest of all the whole grains in potassium, which helps control blood pressure."

The site is a gold mine of grain info.
http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org/

Each month the council lists a new grain. Since we are already into March I will catch you up.
January is Oats
February is Barley
March is Quinoa

Tonight we had sprouted brown rice for dinner...apparently, I was out of season:)

As always, wishing you a healthy and happy home,
Denise Frakes

Day of Epiphanies!!!!

Happy Epiphany Day! This little holiday often goes unnoticed after all the hoopla of the past month's holidays. Starting in Thanksgiving we are filled with holiday cheer and or perhaps longer to do lists. After the new year begins, it feels like we should get back to focus and start the new year with a powerful resolution to create a spectacular year.

This year I have given myself two little goals or as I call them practices for the new year: write and pause. I often find myself jumping into the future and reliving the past. When all I really desire is to appreciate and enjoy each day to its fullest.

How can I learn to stay grounded in the day at hand? This is a questions I have pondered over many year's resolutions. This year, I'm taking a bit of my own cleaning advice and applying the less is more principle. My two little practice are so simple but as in cleaning, it is the consistency and thoughtfulness that makes for a healthy and happy home.

Even though my to do list is long this time of year, given it is the start of the our new fiscal year in business. I take a moment and pause, pausing on the little holiday known as Epiphany Day. I take a moment to write, writing on the gift of discoveries.

In the Dictionary there are 3 definitions of Epiphany but my favorite is the 3rd and since this is my blog, it is also the one I'm going to write out. Hope you enjoy the Epiphanies of your new year!!

Epiphany:
a. A sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something.
b. An intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking.
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary

This may the best holiday of the new year!!

As always wishing you a healthy and happy home!
Denise Frakes
Healthy Home Specialist and
Co-Owner of Blue Sky Services

A list of one for December

Kaizen:
An interesting Japanese concept.
The art of making the subtlest changes as possible.
It is not about the grand gesture.
It is about producing real and lasting change:
However small.

December is big. It is full. It is the big 4th of July firework finale at 10pm. Our days are full of decorating, cooking, shopping, wrapping, celebrations, cards, phone calls, cleaning before company and hopefully a couple cat naps. December is the last month of this year. The month of catchup before we start again next year.

I like the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Making the smallest most subtlest little change for lasting and real results. What if we took this understated concept to the month of December? Instead of creating a big list of ways to create a beautiful holiday, what about focusing our energies into one little idea? Not a list of 10 or 100 but a list of one. It sounds almost sinful doesn't it?

If there was one change or idea or feeling you would want over the next month what would it be? Christmas shopping done, wrapped and shipped by the 11th of December? Or taking 5 minutes everyday to stop and listen to someone you love? Baking 12 batches of cookies? Or taking a daily stroll outside- rain or shine? I have no idea what little change you would make. I'm not even sure which one I would make, but it is most definitely an interesting concept.

A concept worth a moment or two. This month, look inside yourself and ask what would touch my heart the deepest this month? Think small- little tiny- think molecular. Think about it with a smile and inward knowing joy.

My hope for you and myself this December, is a month not filled to the brim but open to receiving the gift of an interesting art of a subtle change.

As always, wishing you a healthy and happy home,

Denise

Spring planting is like an all you can eat buffet!

This afternoon it is raining cats and dogs. I was thinking about doing some more planting but instead I'm planning and dreaming. Laying out my seeds and lists of what I want to plant, I discover I probably need more garden if I want to get all this into the ground.

My Aunt Velma gave me some seeds from 9" red corn plants her friend in Holyoke Colorado grew. I found some quinoa-bright rainbow seed which grows 4-6 feet tall. I have 2 purple potatoes and 2 red potatoes I want to cut up and plant. Five color Silverbeet Swiss Card is going everywhere I can find, if for no other reason than it is beautiful.

My list goes something like this: beets, carrots, lemon cucumbers, yellow crook necks, kohlrabi, red leaf lettuce, butternut squash, chives, flat leaf parsley, dill, basil, cilantro, red bush beans, pak choi, watermelon radish and if I can still find room maybe some sunflower seeds. Of course, I almost forgot tomatoes and peppers which I will buy plants later this spring. My peas and some lettuce are already growing.

Is it just me or is spring planting like going to an all you can eat buffet??? My eyes are bigger than my stomach and my seeds are more than my garden and probably available time.

Still, this year I'm doing more than just growing my summer food, I'm experimenting with lasagna gardens, worm composting, heirloom seeds and eating locally as much as possible - all on a budget! Whew, this is going to be some garden.

Did I mention my flowers, I'll plant lots and lots of marigolds, apparently they make good companion flowers. Zinnias and snap dragons will get planted, mainly because they remind me of my family and our gardens growing up.

It's a good thing it's raining outside, a little planing might just be good for the garden!

Happy planting this spring!

Denise

Take a unexpected vacation

There are days when you have to stop and take a little mini vacation. This is a vacation of the spirit. You can't plan this, it's not expensive and you most likely just stay home. It is a little unexpected block of time where you say " enough, I'm on vacation" and then proceed to take one. It can be for as little as for 15 minutes or as long as 3 days anything longer turns into an actual vacation. Which is also Ok but not the same thing,

This time of year the ground is still asleep, trees are still without leaves, grass dormant. The outside knows the importance of rest but as a society we value a good day of tasks completed.

If you find yourself wandering from room to room, fighting with yourself about your to do list and generally feeling overwhelmed, under appreciated, over booked, exhausted, then for heavens sake take a vacation day. If you can't take the whole day then take 3 hours, take 1 hour, take 2 days. Take back your own sanity and give your life a chance to breath and your smile to effortlessly return.

I think there is great value in free time, in taking a break from the have to's of life. Freedom is what we fight for in this country. Freedom is also what we should enjoy. When we were in high school we called this playing hooky. Go play hooky, if being on vacation is to formal. But most of all just relax and smell the roses.

Wishing you a most enjoyable hooky-vacation day,
Denise

Don't wait for an earthquake to shake you present

"The 7.0 magnitude quake that struck Tuesday is most powerful to hit the Caribbean nation in 200 years" Headline from on online newspaper Voice of America 1-13-10.

You can plan, schedule, dream and work and yet when a 7.0 magnitude earth quake hits your day, your life is forever changed. No matter what we planned or scheduled life is bigger than our to do lists.

Learning to appreciate and cherish the gifts of each day: the morning chat over breakfast, the rowdy afternoon watching football with your husband, the Saturday morning cleaning your house, the phone call with your dad, the walk in the rain with your dogs. Everyday is a gift.

Pause today- stop and just look around. Don't look at what you haven't done or need to do but stop and be present. Look around and see what you have been given. The gift of this day.

Be mindful, enjoy your days and cherish your relationships.

Wishing you a happy and healthy home,
Denise

The great list

I make lists of my goals, things I want to accomplish and items I feel obligated to do. My list is called my MASTER TASK LIST. Sounds quite impressive doesn't it? MASTER TASK LIST must be very important and worthy of a special name. But it isn't really. It is just a list of things I don't want to forget, things I should do-or think I should do and things I have full intention of procrastinating about and never doing.

When I think of my MASTER TASK LIST I feel guilty and behind. It's not that I don't get a lot accomplished in the course of a year. It's just that this important list is always there reminding me I am not done. It tells me I am behind and will never catch up-not a good feeling.

This year I'm going to try something a little differernt. I'm going to rename my list. What do you think of "Really good, Don't forget and Procrastination list". That has a nice ring don't you think?

I now realized this list is just a list. I have many great qualities and one of them is procrastinating. I'm not doing to defind myself. I just thought you should know.

MY MASTER TASK LIST is kind of like all the stuff I collect over a year. I gather material/ideas/research. I devour some and file others for a later time- a time that rarely comes. I am curous and overzellous in my enthusiasm. If you put this quality in a MASTER TASK LIST you will have a long list.

This year, the the first items on my list will not cause my stomach to do twists but my heart to do a leap of joy. Next, on my list will be valuable items I don't want to forget. Like calling my grandparents, changing the fire alarm batteries or going for ice cream. Finally, I'll write my procrastination list. I now know this is not my most important list, it is just a list I created to help me along my year. a place to put things I don't want to forget.

I'm I rationalizing,? Could be, I'm also very good at that.

Happy New year,
Denise

Top 10 New Year Resolutions with a Twist

It's the time of year to set our new years resolutions. Here are a few ideas for a different twist on the tradition of resolutions.

1- Get abbs of steel- by having at least one good belly laugh per day
2- Become a master of procrastination- 10,000 hours are all you need - you might be close
3- Tap a nap a week- Our cat loves to nap- she is happy and well rested
4- Practice listening- Our dogs are great listeners-its really nice to be listened to
5- Spend $20/week on whatever your heart desires-( as long as it only cost 20.00)
6- Learn to enjoy everything you do- or just stop doing it until you figure out how to enjoy
7- Go outside and get the stink blown off everyday
8- Make a wish a day- wish for anything you want and then just smile, relax and say thanks
9- Pretend. When in doubt or unsure learn to pretend as if
10- Find a new love a month. Not spouses! I'm talking foods, activities, books, friends

There is no need to end the year filled with regret. I say end the year well rested, with a smile on your face, happily enjoying your life and family.

Wishing you a most happy, healthy and prosperous new year!
Denise