Friday, August 31, 2018

Asher is 8




Hours old. Most alert baby ever.



and a smile




First kisses are sweetest
I need this hair again.



I'm so thankful to be a grandma, a Yaya, to these precious boys.

Happy Birthday Asher.  
You are an artist, a storyteller, a math wiz, a basketball star and a great big brother.
Eight is GREAT!

Love Yaya

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Hit me with your best shot!


Here is the hard boiled egg I peeled this morning.

I tried to make it nice.
I tapped the ends and started peeling there...
to no avail.
I admit this is worse than usual...
but it is a fine example of my dilemma,

I can not peel a hard boiled egg.
Therefore I can not make deviled eggs.

As so.  I ask you.

What is your method for cooking and peeling eggs so they peel nicely?

Thanks.

And hey! Please leave your comments here in the blog comments so I have a record of them and don't have to go to Facebook to find them.  
Facebook is my last place I check and did you know, I do not have Facebook messenger on my phone....so it can be days before I see comments there....
I REALLY like comments here on the blog.

Thanks.  Or email if you can't comment here.

Now back to the egg.

Help me.

Love
Donna Elsie











Saturday, August 25, 2018

Call me Chance.

And now for the audio visual update at Quiet Life blog.

To save money we have disconnected our Charter Cable and have signed up for Hulu.
With Hulu we can watch almost all the channels.
Since we have Amazon Prime we have a firestick we can watch movies and shows thru that service too.
We can record with Hulu.  So that is still good.

However.  Since I am not using my Tivo anymore....which is saving money too....
I have to watch so many commercials that I want to die.

And Hulu does not get the Hallmark channel.  And I watched every single Hallmark movie that was released.

I am therefore searching for things to watch to replace my beloved Hallmark.

The best things I have found are a TV show called Younger and two cooking shows; Baked in Vermont with Gesine Bullock-Prado and Girl Meets Farm with Molly Yeh.




Molly Yeh.  
She's adorable.







This is Gesine.  She is Sandra Bullock's sister.  
You will like her too!



Oh!  I watched The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society movie too!
I highly recommend it.
It's better than the book in my opinion.  The writing fell apart in the book at the end and this is not an issue in the movie (obviously ;o)




Anything new and worth watching out there?
Let me know!

Donna






Thursday, August 23, 2018

Learning from one another.

Our blog-sistah Di left a lovely comment in the comments yesterday that I wanted to share here on the main page.
I have asked her to elaborate when she has some time.
But here is what she shared

She was responding to the empty nest life and to the song Add to the Beauty.



Dear Donna,
This has been my journey this last year. Our nest continues to fill and empty, as seems typical these days, but the empty days bring some interesting challenges for me. I've had to ask myself if maybe the reason I wasn't accomplishing all my dream ideas WASN'T because I had all these kids around. Just maybe it has more to do with me. I have had to face my fears and my self more and decide what the new dreams are. And then live that life. It's been super good for me, very exciting, but really, REALLY challenging.

This song has LONG been one of my favorites, but I have never even seen the words, "We come with beautiful secrets...With possibilities only we can hold, that only we can hold." I have so long viewed myself as part of the collective that I think I lost sight of what it is that I am, what it is that I am called to do. The funny thing is, it is 100% enriching my family relationships rather than being selfish. Oh! I have so much to learn.

THANK YOU for posting this. Means the world to me. LOVE YOU SO!!!!

Always,
Di








Di and I met IRL (in real life) in San Francisco in 2010.
We got along okay.
:o)



I took lots of pictures.
I promise to take more pictures soon.










Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts and ideas and wisdom.
Love you.
Mean it.

Donna Elsie




Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Encourage one another.

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands. ~1 Thess. 4:11 

Add to the Beauty
What happens matters
Encourage one another
Love you. 
Mean it.


****

Remembering the purpose of my blog.

It was to encourage.
It was to love.
It was to add to the beauty.


*****







Add To the Beauty by Sara Groves


We come with beautiful secrets
We come with purposes written on our hearts, written on our souls
We come to every new morning
With possibilities only we can hold, that only we can hold

Redemption comes in strange place, small spaces 
Calling out the best of who we are

And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story
I want to shine with the light
That's burning up inside

It comes in small inspirations
It brings redemption to life and work
To our lives and our work

It comes in loving community
It comes in helping a soul find it's worth

Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
Calling out the best of who we are

And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story
I want to shine with the light
That's burning up inside

This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful
This is grace, an invitation

Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
Calling out our best

And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story
I want to shine with the light
That's burning up...



The original Quiet Life profile picture.

Wearing my homeschool denim jumper and 
our mom's diamond.  
Loving our baby girl.



You are loved.
You matter.


Encourage one another,

Donna




Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Where you invest your love, you invest your life.

DSC_4037-3




where you invest your love
you invest your life

~mumford and sons





Six years ago we went to Dixon Illinois and saw this amazing band in person.
It was beautiful and wonderful.

Now six years later the words to this song
speak to me in a whole different way.
(I'm not the best at listening to words in songs.
I can hear a song one thousand times and still not be able to sing along.)

But this line

Where you invest your love
you invest your life


I'm working on this one.
The nearly empty nest has me feeling purposeless.

I am still here.


Encourage one another,
Donna


Friday, August 17, 2018

Favorite Thing.


This is my new favorite thing!!!
You know, besides Dottie.





I have watched two new cooking shows this summer.
Baked in Vermont and Girl Meets Farm.

I enjoyed both shows very much! Watch them if you can find them.

Molly Yeh (Girl Meets Farm) makes her own Everything Bagel topping!  And I never thought of this but I really love Everything Bagels and I was about to try to make my own when I heard Trader Joe's carried their own Everything but the Bagel topping.  

So off I went to Trader Joe's.

It's wonderful!!!  I put it on my daily bagel.  
Like this

Bagel
butter
big shake of Everything but the Bagel
cream cheese

in that order.

I didn't think I could love my morning bagel more!

Try it!
You'll like it!

The Easy Chef,
Miz Boo







Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Family and furniture.



Since we last spoke, I visited Emma and James in Columbia and Matthew Melinda and the boys in Omaha.  Patrick came with me to Omaha and that was so nice not to have to travel alone.

Katie is in Canada working on a vineyard with a family for two weeks.  


Looking thru their dating history/pictures. 
Trying to figure out the short and sweet timeline.



We visited a nice garden with an old school house.  We always went here with Sue and Cindy.  
Who wants lunch?





Malachi started kindergarten on Monday.
I remember my first day of kindergarten.  
It was only a 1/2 day.
We napped.
I didn't want to go back.
I was too little.

Malachi finds it hard.  He is there all day and comes home hungry and tired.
Of course he does.  
Yaya understands.




Asher is in second grade.  His best friend is in his class.  How fun is that?
He's okay with school. 




Zeek is home alone.  I'm sure he is lonely for his brothers.
This picture cracks me up.  His pose looks so mature and forgive me, but it looks like he is smoking a cigarette. 

Matthew will start a new job in Sept and their life will take on a different rhythm, but we are hopeful that the change will be a great one for Matthew.  Melinda will fit her nursing nights in when Matthew is home.  

*******

In between the two road trips, I bought some new furniture.
Lately I have been checking Facebook Marketplace for a couch.  I have always wanted a Pottery Barn couch or chair but have never wanted to pay the price.  So I look for those and I look for mid century modern pieces.  

One Saturday, I checked the marketplace and saw a love seat, chair and ottoman.  It had just been posted.
The price was unbelievable. 
(I'll tell you later.)

Patrick was at work so I was not able to ask him about it.
But I messaged the seller and said I was interested.
It needed to be picked up in Madison in less than 24 hours.
Sold.  I'll figure out the details later.  Um. Like where to find a truck....

Well, I was co-hosting a wedding shower that night and Patrick had to stay at work until after it started....so I forgot to tell him about the furniture.
Until about 9:30 that night when he was getting ready for bed.

"Oh! Patrick.  I bought Pottery Barn furniture.  Do you know anyone with a truck?"

Oh boy. He was not happy.
Why hadn't I told him sooner.  
I forgot.
Oops.

He found a truck, we arranged the pick up time and hoped the furniture was not too stained or smelly or broken.


Off we went to downtown Madison to pick up the furniture.   

It was a third floor walk up.

heh.

Katie came along to help.

When we pulled up the young couple asked who would be doing the moving.
I guess we did not look too capable.
We said, us....and that tiny girl over there.




And here it is!!!


The furniture is in nearly perfect condition.
We stumbled into the best deal ever!

Fifty. Dollars.  
That is all.
5.0.

(That ottoman alone is priced, new @ $499.)

Even tho it was only FIFTY dollars, we are not allowing Ginny on it.
Because we will never find a deal like this... I can have new slipcovers made but I'd rather not.


It's been a good month.

How have you been doing?

Donna Elsie