Five Favorites, May 14th Edition

1. My new irrigation boots. Because if I must tromp around in the mud moving sprinkler lines, I may as well be wearing cute boots.

2. This new "Hepburn" dress at Lady V London. Just lovely!

Image from Cooks Country

3. Key Lime* Icebox Pie. Graham cracker crust, 2 cans sweetened condensed milk, 3 egg yolks, 3/4 cup key lime juice. Mix the three filling ingredients until smooth, pour into prepared crust. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, cool 1 hour on the counter and 3 hours-overnight in fridge. Serve with sweetened whipped cream.

*You can substitute lemon juice.

4. Strawberries. Our local grocery store had 2 POUNDS FOR $1.48!! And they're SWEET! I bought... um... a lot.

Image from L'Osservatore Romano

5. The pope preaching about Christians with "pickled pepper" faces, not being a "part time Christian," and the fact that the devil "always rips us off." This guy is good.

Read more Five Favorites at Moxie Wife.

The Calf Named Sunday

Meet "Sunday."

She's named Sunday because she had the audacity to start dying on a Sunday.

Her mom is a 1st calf heifer and doesn't really know what to do with her, so she mostly abandoned this little calf in the weeds.

Which meant we spent most of our Sunday doing....

... this. Pumping electrolytes and milk replacer into this little one on our ONLY day of rest.

But, after all, who among us would let our ox die if he fell in a ditch on the sabbath?

Definitely necessary labor, and kind of fun labor at that, but these every-few-hour-feedings when she lives a 15 minute drive away make for a very unrestful day of rest.

Who can resist that sweet face?

This morning her mother rediscovered her. She's still far from out of the woods (she might have scours and we still haven't seen her nurse), but we'll be watching her closely.

Good luck, little Sunday.

Miracle of the Pepper Plants

This is my 12 week old pepper.

12 weeks.

As in, 3 months. 

It's supposed to be HUGE.

But due to over babying, over watering, an aphid plague of Biblical proportions, not repotting them from the seed starter soon enough, and my general black thumbhood, they're stunted, sad, and I want to cry every time I look at them.

I refuse to abandon this little project, however, and I faithfully set them out in the sun every day to harden off. Yesterday I deemed them worthy to remain out all night for their first sleepover.

Parting with them was bittersweet. They weren't tucked in under their grow light in the kitchen. I couldn't check on them to pick off the aphids. I slept a little uneasily, wondering how they were faring on the cold dark front step.

This morning when I looked out the window to see if they'd survived their first night in the elements...

"MY BABIES ARE ALL GROWN UP!!! How on EARTH did they spring up like that OVER NIGHT?? Did they just need fresh air?! Did my little boost of fish emulsion cause this Edenic transformation?! It's a miracle!!"

"Actually, darling, Aunt Elena gave us her extra pepper starts yesterday and I set them out next to yours."


And there was much laughing. Maybe we'll get some peppers out the garden this year after all!

4 Pretty, Holy, Catholic Pinterest Boards

It's hardly a secret that I love Pinterest. There are so many beautiful ideas, fun crafts, delicious recipes, and inspirational images.

When I scan the feed, though, I always pause an extra-long time over the religious images. They always catch me off guard because there are so few holy pins, but it's like seeing portraits of old friends and it never fails to make me smile.

And, not gonna lie, if I'm starting to slip into covetousness of beautiful houses or dream gardens, the images of the Blessed Mother gently call me back! It's a wonderful little pictorial evangelization.

If you need some Catholic boards to follow, I'm rather fond of:

Betty Coe's "Catholic" Board

Sherry Gardiner's "Catholic" Board

Kathleen Doherty's "Catholic" Board

Amy Caroline's "Believe It" Board

and I suppose I could do a little shameless self-promotion and direct you to my own

City Wife, Country Life's "Sanctus" Board

Please please please let me know which Catholic boards you follow so I can have some more sanctified Pinterest viewing!

Monday Musings on Tuesday

Right now... I'm content.

This weekend... I went to meetings and parties galore! It seems to be the season for baptisms, wedding showers, baby showers, burger bashes; it was all very fun.

Some plans for this week... I read a book about making wine. I'm intrigued and want to price out the supplies I'd need to make some blueberry wine with the supply in our freezer. Sounds like a worthy project.

I'm also hunting, furiously, for someone to finance our housing project. We made a misstep by planting crops on our land. Apparently nobody finances land that makes money. Now they tell us! I have one option left, and I'm waiting for him to call us back. Otherwise, well, let's just not think about the "otherwise."

Time to plant a lot of stuff in the garden, too. My entire pea crop was decimated by quail, and they're threatening my beets, too. My tomato starts succumbed to some virus, and the aphids wiped out my peppers. It's not a good gardening year, thus far, except for my artichokes. Those are hardy little suckers and just might live to tell the tale!

If I find some time for myself, I would like to... learn some music on the piano. I didn't know our library had sheet music! This is a wonderful find, and I've got lots of Irving Berlin to hammer out.

I am grateful for... our parish that offers so many daily Masses. Sometimes we have 4 on any given day, so there's no excuse for not going.

Some prayer intentions for this week: a green light on house financing. Success for my husband who's installing irrigation systems and planting crops and working obscene hours to provide for us. For all those I know who are getting married in the next few months (lots!!).

Something that makes me smile: 

This little cutie that I really really really really really want to buy! I'm going to have to campaign hard for this one, but isn't she adorable??

Read Nadja's Monday Musings.