Aprons and the Homemaker

I loved this article that I read at the Hillbilly Housewife website. Here's a small exerpt...

...As I suspected she had the perfect solution. Darthulia told me I needed a uniform or costume which would reassure myself and others of my intention and status in the home. She claimed it would remind me of my duties, inspire me to greater levels of cleanliness (which as a hillbilly I sorely need), and reaffirm my authority in the home.

Darthulia then went on to describe the homemaker’s uniform to me in detail. “Imagine the modern archetype of the housewife.” She began. “Think Donna Reed, or Beaver Cleaver’s mom. They wore full skirts, and stockings, and heels when they vacuumed. But you knew they were doing housework because they had their aprons on. A string of beads graced the necks of their classic shirtwaist dresses, and a lacy bibbed apron proclaimed their role as matriarch in charge of household management.”

That very day, I put on a full skirt, stockings, sensibly low high heeled shoes, and a string of pearly white beads. Then I sat down at my sewing machine and ran up a couple of bibbed aprons, decorated with lace and ribbons.

I put the first apron on, a creamy white or ecru, and looked in the mirror to admire my handiwork. I expected to see myself staring back at me, probably looking a little silly in this frilly piece of confection designed to protect my clothing.

Boy howdy, was I in for a surprise. In the mirror I saw a vision of the homemaker I have always strived to become staring back at me. Her cheery face glistened in the sunshine. Her hair tied up neatly in bun looked authoritative, and compassionate all at the same time. The apron covered several figure flaws and accentuated the fertile curves of the woman I saw in the mirror. This woman had purpose. She had status. She had clout. I stood there, contemplating the wonder of the homemaker that shone through my image in the mirror. “This is who I want to be” I told myself.

I wear my aprons every day now. When I put on my aprons the children mind me better, wandering visitors immediately know my role as a stay at home mom. Door to door religious missionaries assume I am a virtuous woman and cheerfully move on to the next house. Fred thinks I look cute as a button, and neighbor children hug me more often.

I like my aprons. They have changed my life, raising my standards, inspiring me to greater feats of home making skill, and making me more effective as a parent. Whoever thought that a dollars worth of fabric and lace could effect so many changes on one woman and one family?

To read the whole article Apron Evangelism, go to http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/apronevangelism.htm.

Fourth of July Weekend

Hangin' out at the rodeo.

Fourth of July at our house...

Daniel LOVES his Aunt Katie!

Pretty sky...

Mom and sis

Daniel's 1st try at sparklers!

Watching the fireworks! :)

Frisco Park in Rogers:

Cute choo choo train playground!

Why is it so hard to get a good picture????

Trying to get Daniel to smile....

News!

Be sure to check out my pregnancy blog to find out what we're having! We found out today and boy was it a surprise!!

The Joy of Baking

I've been reading this mystery book about a tea-shop owner in Charleston, SC. I really enjoy the books (I've actually read 3), because I love to read the descriptions of all the teas and yummy desserts/food the owner serves at her tea shop. I also love to read the descriptions of her store and how it's decorated...it's a cozy, inviting little shop full of antique teapots and cups, shelves packed with various cans of teas, and tables of baked good likes scones, cookies, madeleines, etc. I actually like these descriptions more than the actual mystery. I pretend that I can go there anytime I want and just relax with a nice cup of tea and a scone.... Anyway, at the end of the books, the author always includes some recipes that she uses in the story, so I thought I'd try one out. Tonight Phillip and I made some cream scones (very easy), and they were so tasty!! I sprinkled sugar on top of each one and ate one right out of the oven. Yummy! Then I was doing some research online for scone recipes, and found this very cool website: www.joyofbaking.com. It's got tons of recipes and beautiful pictures for each one. And it's even got the history of where the baked goods originated from. Pretty interesting. My new favorite website for a while...

Trip to Bahamas

Krystal and I went to the Bahamas a couple of weekends ago for Sharrah and Kevin's wedding. The trip there was very long! It was basically an all day event. Krystal had Liberty (6 months) so that was an extra adventure. Liberty was very good the whole trip! She is such a sweet little girl. We got into Nassau late Thursday evening. Sharrah came to pick me up at the airport (Krystal's flight had come in earlier than mine), and on the drive to her family's house we got to chat for a little bit (that was really the only time I got to talk to her for the next 3 days!). Her family was having a party at their house and all their family and friends were there. I was so exhausted and starving (thankfully, there was food)! I'm not sure how long we were there. Sharrah arranged through one of her friends to taxi us back and forth from events to our hotel. Anyway, that night I slept very good! The next morning was relaxing. Here is a picture from our private terrace...You can't see it in the picture, but we could see little bits of the ocean through the trees - very beautiful!

Here is Liberty being sweet and adorable!

On Friday, Krystal and I walked to a restaurant and had lunch at a place Kevin's family had recommended. They had the best virgin strawberry daquiris! Yum!

After we ate lunch, we took a ferry over to the Straw Market. We spent the next few hours there buying gifts for our families back home. The market was very interesting. It had rows and rows of booths, and the rows were so close together that only one person could walk through at a time. The owners of the booths would say pretty much anything to get you to stop and look at their items. It was very overwhelming at first! They would say things like, "Hey, pretty lady, why don't you stop and look at my booth? What would you like today? We are having a sale! Do you need this? Do you need that?" It was really something! And then if you did show any interest in anything, they would almost stuff it into your bag to get you to buy it! It was fun. Anyway, I got some jewelry, some t-shirts, and some toys for gifts. Oh, and some coffee for Phillip which he has yet to try! We spent much longer there than we intended. We were supposed to get back by like 4pm so we could get ready for the rehearsal dinner which started at 5pm. However, we didn't get back until 5pm! So we had to rush to get ready for the rehearsal. Here is a picture of us on the ferry.

A view from the ferry.

After the rehearsal, we were taken to the dinner which was at one of Sharrah's relatives' house. It was more like a mansion! It was so beautiful! The dinner was outside on their back patios. They had 3 swimming pools, one or two of which were lap pools! The outside was decorated so beautifully...the pictures just don't do it justice! Anyway, they had lots of yummy hor d'oeuvres, and they even had a man there making drinks for everyone. That meant more virgin daquiris for us MBBC ladies!

The next day was Saturday - wedding day! The whole day was super busy and crazy as wedding days usually are. Here is a cute picture of Sharrah getting her hair done at our hotel. Her hair dresser and the lady who did our makeup came to our hotel, which was really nice!

The wedding was at 3:30pm on the beach right down from our hotel! It was very windy!!! I don't know what I was expecting, but beach weddings are very laid back. There were of course tons of people on the beach right by and behind the wedding site in their bathing suits! It was very different than any wedding I have ever attended! But very normal for a beach wedding. The beach, by the way, was absolutely gorgeous. The water was so blue - like turquoise blue - and in some spots very blue-green. And the sand was white. It was just beautiful! The only beach (and I don't think it really counts) I've ever been to is the Galvaston, TX beach - ugly!! Anyway, the wedding was lovely. I will put pics of the wedding up later. The following pics were actually taken at the reception afterwards. The reception site was also amazing! It was in what must have been a mansion, which is now used for events. I'm not sure how old it was, but everything was beautiful! The reception was in a huge room that had doors along one side that opened up onto a balcony. The wedding party and the bride/groom's families were seated at tables inside the room while the guests were at tables on the balcony. Sharrah and Kevin were at their own table in between all of us. A wonderful four-course meal was served in increments while a live band played classic love songs. There was a MC who just happened to be a comedian - another friend of Sharrah's I think. She was really funny and kept us all entertained. I have to admit though, that I was very tired and very hungry the entire time!! I guess it didn't help to be pregnant! :)

After the reception, we were taken back to our hotel. Krystal, Pam and I all went down to the beach at night. Then we went swimming in one of the hotel pools. It was nice cause we were the only ones at the pool. We got special permission to swim after hours since we had been so busy that we hadn't had a chance to enjoy the pool yet! They also had a place where several hammocks were tied between palm trees, and we went and "hung" out there for a while too. It was so nice! The next morning was Sunday, our last day. Our driver was coming to pick us up to take us to the airport at 1pm I think. So we had a few hours in the morning to quickly pack and then go do one more fun thing! I had to take some pics of the hotel and its surroundings though!

Once were were packed, we met up with Caroline (Kevin's younger sister) and walked over to Atlantis - the major resort on the island! It's actually where Chuck and Debbie got to stay, so that's how we got in free (we used their room key to get arm bands). Normally, it would've cost us each $110 to get those arm bands if we weren't staying at the resort!! Here is a pic of us on our walk to Atlantis.

Here's Liberty being cute again!!

When we got to Atlantis (which is HUGE by the way), we found Chuck and Debbie's room and then took some pictures on the patio right outside their room. It was so pretty!!

There was this shallow waterway running along the rooms and it had sharks in it! I think they were Nurse sharks so they were pretty small, but still...SHARKS! Need I say more?

You can see in this picture how close we were to the sharks!

Then we got into our bathing suits and walked down to the swimming/water rides section of the resort. While Caroline and I swam with Liberty in one of their many pools, Krystal went down some pretty big (and steep) water slides! Then Caroline and I went on the Lazy River ride (my kind of ride!). I sat on a big intertube and was carried along a water course which lasted about 20 minutes! It had rapids at parts, big waves at other parts, and gentle currents on yet others. It was a lot of fun and not too scary, which was good for me! :)

Then we had to rush back to the hotel, and when we got there our driver was already there to pick us up! We quickly loaded our stuff in the van, said our goodbyes to Kevin's family, and left for the airport. We got back around 9pm Sunday night, which was a much shorter trip than on the way there. I was so happy to see Phillip and especially Daniel, that I just started crying and couldn't stop! This was my first trip to be away from Daniel and I was gone a total of 4 days! Phillip said he was really good while I was gone and didn't seem upset that I wasn't there until Sunday. He didn't do well in toddlers at church and was pretty fussy. Of course, the whole next week, he was pretty bad for me! I think he was taking out his frustrations at me being gone for 4 days. Anyway, overall, I'd say the trip was good - exhausting - but good. I was glad I got to be there for Sharrah on such an important day. And I was the matron of honor so that was really special! I wish we could have had even one more day to enjoy the sights, but I was also glad to be home. I still can't believe that I can say I've been to the Bahamas! :)

Lovely gift

Phillip bought me this ring for my birthday/Mother's Day gift. It's absolutely gorgeous and I love it!! Thanks, honey! :)

It's Hard to Keep a Good Secret!

The secret is...I'm pregnant! Not really a secret though. I found out 2 Wednesdays ago that baby #2 is on his/her way! I'm about 6 weeks along and am due mid-November. Want more details? Follow my pregnancy blog at www.babyblevins2.blogspot.com!