Friendships, Old & New

I have been pondering the importance of my friendships with women lately...good ones that span decades are so rare in our day and age, and I treasure those that have stood the test of time. And I'm not talking about my Facebook friendships. Real ones. Ones that sit and cry with you when you suffer loss or are struggling. Ladies that rejoice with you when good things happen in your family. Friends that are on the same page in life, marriage, faith and family. God has given me several people like this and each one is a treasure to be carefully guarded. My friend Becca is one of these people. She has TEN kids, is a gifted wife, mom and friend to many. (You can have a lovely peek into how she does it here.) Her oldest daughter and my youngest daughter are besties for life. They are both in college now, and Becca and I miss our girls all the time...they have become our good friends as they have matured.

Ellie, Mary Kate, & Caroline

But she's got lots more kiddos at home still, and these three lovelies round out the female contingent of their tribe. When my kids (and I only have 4) were younger, Becca and I were both home schooling. She is still in the thick of it with the last 4 or 5 children, but mine are all out of the house and in college or married. Our families have known each other a long, long time, and I love that these girls wanted to come and hang out with me while their parents were out of town. We had a little sleepover and had some fun learning new things. I felt like a home school mom again! I guess in a way, I was their substitute teacher for the day.

When they arrived, it was close to dinner time, so we commenced making pasta. With me, everything is a learning opportunity (our home school motto was "Always Learning!" and we were constantly repeating that phrase, much to our children's chagrin, I'm sure) so I thought making pasta would be a fun and practical way to make dinner together. I've written about making pasta several times on this blog, so I won't go into the details, but just share these fun photos of our floury adventure.

Mary Kate learned some knife skills and helped make a filling. Ellie and Caroline became pretty adept at shaping, filling, sealing and cutting ravioli and tortellini.

    

Bedtime, and 8-year-old Mary Kate made herself a little perch, like the princess that she is. No fear at all about sleeping in a new place, in a big bed all by herself! She just got out her Bible, set a lamp on the bed and settled herself in. In the morning, she made up her bed and left the room spotless. I noticed that she enjoyed most of the treats in the "Welcome" basket, too. ;)

In the morning, we had breakfast together, and started working on a little bit of schoolwork. It was mostly fun, though, and we decided that we covered the following subjects:

• Home Economics (pasta making, knife skills, crochet lesson)
• PE (we walked around Pittsboro from our lunch venue to the building permit office in the COLD)
• Math (we had to calculate the egg-flour ratio per person)
• Writing (I had the girls write guest posts for this blog about their experiences - see below!)
• Creative Arts (I am getting ready to start construction on a new home for our neighborhood, so Caroline, Ellie and Mary Kate each made a plan for the exterior finishes, choosing siding, windows, stone, roof shingles and paint colors)
• Italian (we discussed culture and language and learned a few new words like macchina di pasta, al dente, and molto bene! As you will see below, the concept of al dente - 'to the tooth' made a huge impression!)

Here is what the girls had to say about making pasta:

"I didn't think making pasta was so fun if you don't know what you're doing. Having Mrs. Metty guide me and my siblings through all the steps made me enjoy cooking so much more. I loved making the dough for the pasta and putting it in the pasta machine. The best part was eating it! It wasn't crunchy or soggy but just right! I don't think I have ever eaten better pasta before!"

"My favorite thing about making pasta was sending the dough through the machine. It took a while for me to get it right but soon it got more fun. The ravioli was really fun. I liked the part when you wrapped it up in the dough. It tasted fantastic especially when Mrs. Metty put the oil on it. I am soooo glad I got to make it with Mrs. Metty. She is such a good cook." (aw, thanks!)

"My favorite thing I liked about making pasta was that the ravioli was sweet and noodle-y. The thing I liked about the pasta was it had a little bite to it and it was just so, so good. All of it was so good."

I have a chalkboard wall in my bonus room and invited the girls to clean it up and leave a new message...I love what they decided to write! 

I loved getting to know these three darlings just a little bit more on this visit. I feel like their Auntie, and they have enriched my life!

Is there a seamstress in the house?

I learned to sew at a young age. I have fond memories of sitting on my grandma's lap while she pieced together tiny bits of fabric to make Barbie clothes for me. She bounced me along while she pumped the treadle with her feet on that old Singer, and I watched as the stitches magically appeared. My mother also sewed, and supervised and advised as I experimented with my own designs. Sewing, as well as child care and cooking, were required courses for girls the three years I was at Arbutus Junior High School (the boys were busy in welding, carpentry and auto mechanics). And then one of my first jobs was in a commercial drapery shop, where I learned even more practical wisdom about working with large pieces of fabric, using the presser foot to sew a straight line, how to use buckram to make pleats, and putting my math skills to work to measure accurately. So, by the time I was 16, I was a fairly experienced seamstress. I took all this for granted, until I was about 30 and noticed how difficult it was to find a fabric store. I realized that not many people sew anymore. I've been asked repeatedly to teach sewing. What I usually say is that I'll show them how to use their machine, and a few basics, but the best way to learn is to just start doing it. Gaining confidence around the terminology, a pattern, your machine, a pair of good shears...cannot be taught. You must just dive in.

I feel a little melancholy when I think about this skill that has been so useful for centuries, just slowly dying out. I feel it must be one of those tragic collateral damage losses from the women's liberation movement...you know, throwing the baby out with the bathwater and all. How did we ever buy into the lie that homemaking skills were an insult to our intelligence? It's an art form that has suffered greatly in the last 30 years. I am on a mission to bring it all back. I am not alone...Martha Stewart has become a wealthy lady by inspiring excellent homemakers. And what are the hottest topics on Pinterest? Cooking, home interiors, DIY projects.

It's just so much fun to take a plain bolt of fabric, cut it and transform it into something beautiful and custom. When my children were babies, I loved making darling little outfits for them. I've altered much of my wardrobe and those pieces end up being the ones I wear most because they fit properly. I have adjusted waistlines (in and out!) on my husband's dress pants over and over again, altered my sons' suits and repeatedly repaired their blue jeans. Most recently, I've worked on my daughter's wedding gown. I don't know what I would do if I had to pay someone to make custom window treatments...I know how much I get paid to do this! And it's such a great way to make a house your home. What would I do without my ability to sew?

Here are some examples of window treatments (and general interior design) I have done recently...

So this post is dedicated to the generations of women in my family that carried the tradition of sewing...Grandma, Aunt Sue, Aunt Annie, Mom...I have taught my daughters the basics (and sons actually...although I try to keep one of them away from my sewing machine as he broke it once trying to make a costume with seat belt webbing!) and 

I hope that they fill their homes with 

beautiful handmade things.

Cannelini and Personality Types

"Hold up a cooking implement!"

Monday night cooking night...this time we have the usual suspects: Caroline, Becca, and the Jessies (though Stacey and Abby, of course! were greatly missed); but we're expanding with some welcome additions! Emily and Kristen joined us for the 'lesson' and of course, there's always a boy involved who somehow gets invited to the consuming part. That's fine. A way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right? And I've always said one of the most satisfying things in life is feeding hungry boys. :)

So, tonight, we're making Cannelini e Gamberetti (white beans and shrimp in a tomato sauce) and Calzone Fritti (fried calzone). Lots of instruction and demonstration on how to hold a chef's knife, popping little cherry tomatoes without squirting them all over the stovetop, kneading, keeping an even temp while deep frying, etc. Everybody's hands were busy and messy.

I loved this particular menu because it incorporates so many basic skills: chopping, mixing and kneading of a basic yeast dough, fundamentals of frying, utilizing the necessary ingredients in any great Italian sauce, peeling shrimp, dispelling fear of using too much olive oil ("don't be shy with the olive oil"). And in the end, you have this lovely, visually-appealing-long-before-it-hits-your-tastebuds platter of delight. And the fried calzone...ahhh, is there anything better than fried dough? Seems every culture has its version. And this has the added pleasure of cheese and ham tucked inside.

With so many bright young minds in the room, what could be better than ending a great meal with stimulating conversation? Tonight's topic? Personality types. We discovered several obvious ones in the room - The Enthusiast, The Individualist, The Achiever, The Reformer. I love the multi-generational nature of being with these girls. They challenge the way I think, and bring fresh ideas to the table. This age-segregation thing is not for me; bring on the twenty-somethings! (At least they'll tell me when I'm wearing something ridiculous!)