{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ {pretty, happy, funny, real} ~

Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

Do you ever cook with farro? I only discovered it recently, but we are in love. Lately I like to cook a big pot in broth (thereby upping the protein quotient and the tastiness at the same time) at the beginning of the week, then add various veggies and proteins (almost always leftovers) to it to make tasty lunches.

This one is a leftover pork chop sliced, leftover roasted vegetables, sweet potatoes (I cook them a bunch at a time to have on hand), and green onions. Everything was done beforehand (because lunchtime generally means at least one boy is asleep, perhaps even both, and I’ve got things to do, projects to dive into, books to read, naps to take!), so I just put it all on the plate and tossed a little vinegar and olive oil on. And then took a picture.

A few weeks ago the sun was shining, the grass was green, and I put my baby on a blanket, gave my toddler a shovel, hung up my laundry, and puttered in my garden.

(We have a constant struggle over how high things should be hung, since the height range of the adults in the house is a good sixteen inches. When the Quack was hanging my clothesline for me, I asked him to please make sure I’d be able to reach it! I think we can agree that I was worrying for naught.)

The previous tenants of our rental house had a nice big garden out back. In fact, when I moved in back in October I got a few veggies out of it, even though the house had been vacant for a couple of months! So we just had a little bit of weed-fighting and sprucing up to do. So lucky!

Since then we’ve had weeks and weeks and probably even MONTHS and AGES of dreary days. Toss in a week-long sickness for Freddie, the kind where he’s contagious so we can’t go out, and he feels poorly enough to be cranky but not enough to stay on the couch, and I am feeling the cabin fever. It’s supposed to be nice here in May!

So today after naps were over we had a little trip to the hardware store for paint and seeds. I have two dressers, a small bookcase, and a high chair to paint. I’ll show you how we progress on that. The high chair is high priority!