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created for joy

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created for joy

Tag Archives: joy

Loving the Kitchen

19 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by createdforjoy in Cook, Make

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

calm, cook, journal, joy, kitchen, make, recipe, scrapbook

recipe journal cover

Thanks to a fantastic response from our backers on Kickstarter, my new business Kerfluffles Marshmallows got off to a wonderful start. I so appreciate everyone who supported me with feedback and purchases. Now comes many weeks in the kitchen making handmade bites of fluffy goodness to fulfill all our backer pledges and the orders coming in on the web site. I can’t wait!

In honor of the months ahead, I thought it was a great time to blog about a recipe journal I made recently as a birthday gift. The front is titled appropriately: Ten Things I Love About Being In the Kitchen. The recipient is a dear friend who makes my world a gentler, more loving place, and who also shares my enthusiasm for cooking and baking.

recipe journal page 01

The journal pages are each folded pockets containing blank, embellished recipe cards for her to add her own family favorites. I took a cue from the vintage-style printed cardstock and further aged the covers, pockets, and recipe cards by sanding the papers and staining the edges with chocolate-colored ink.

recipe journal blank pages

For me, time in the kitchen is much like time in the studio: creative, inspiring, and nurturing. Even when I am not alone — when there is a house full of guests and multiple conversations and dishes bubbling away — somehow the kitchen manages to be a place of quiet for me.

recipe journal back cover

Maybe that’s one way to define love, when calm and joy exist regardless of circumstances. I do love being in the kitchen: the feathery softness of flour, the minuscule crunch of vanilla bean, watching a sauce thicken as it simmers. I love the details and the preparation, the sharing and smiles. Wishing you that same feeling today, in your kitchen and beyond. :)

recipe journal page 02

Perfectly ordinary

22 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by createdforjoy in Think

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

create, future, hope, joy, ordinary, past, perfect, pray, think

daisies01

May 11 was beautiful here in Tennessee. The weather was sunny and warm, and the day was fairly predictable, in a wonderful sort of way: cookies were baked and dishes were washed; a neighbor’s kids stopped by for a few hours, and we enjoyed dinner and a family game night. The last of the homeschool lessons were finished up, and summer break danced tantalizingly on the next week’s calendar page, along with dance rehearsals and slumber parties and orthodontist appointments.

All day long I hugged a little secret to myself, trying to make the most of May 11 without granting it any special attention. It was a day that cried out to be noticed, but a day I hoped would blend into the others around it, on its way to becoming ordinary. One year ago that day — on May 11, 2011 — a medical error almost took my life. On May 11, 2011, my heart stopped and started again, fast and furious and broken. And with it sped away my sense of security and trust in the safe places, and in rushed a year of hurting and healing, searching and finding, a year of so much pain and so much more beauty.

I didn’t mention May 11 to anyone until it was over. Didn’t point it out or raise a banner that said “I SURVIVED” precisely because I did survive, because all those days in between May 11, 2011, and now are the real story. I didn’t blog or reflect or reminisce with others. Instead I prayed and said thank you, as I do every day, and I went on with the business of making the most of this gift of another day with my loved ones.

I love to share ideas about cooking and crafting, about what I’m reading and thinking, and hopefully I make somebody smile along the way. But May 11 reminded me again of what this blog is really all about: creating today and making it matter — not because it’s pretty and perfect, but because it’s here and its ours. I celebrate May 11 because it was another perfectly ordinary day, and I’m so thankful for every single one of them.

Beauty

14 Monday Nov 2011

Posted by createdforjoy in Think

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Tags

beauty, gummy bears, joy, mason jar, vitamins

smgummyvitamins

Why, yes, that is a jar of gummy bear vitamins on my counter, thanks for noticing. :) That little jar sums up a lot about what is important to me.

I take those gummy vitamins as part of a regimen designed to give my bones and joints the best chance to get stronger. With severe osteoporosis and four spinal fractures at age 35 (here’s why), stronger bones are a priority for me. Given the choice between capsules the size of small submarines that give me fish breath, and yummy cranberry orange-flavored treats that make me smile, I’m going with a handful of gummy bears every time.

I’m a lot better about remembering to take my vitamins if they’re sitting out where I can see them. And while the gummy bear vitamin industry has my wholehearted approval, their packaging efforts leave a lot to be desired. Vitamins in an industrial-sized plastic bottle make me think about hospitals and bone scans. Translucent orange gummy bears in a mason jar make me think about giggling kids and making jam. Pretty easy choice.

Even taking your vitamins is an opportunity to choose joy and beauty. A lot of life’s challenges are non-negotiable, but the way we receive them is completely in our hands. I choose gummy bears and mason jars because I don’t get a choice about broken bones and sick days. All of us have adult-size problems to deal with, but we don’t have to abandon fun or settle for the status quo while we do it.

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