Wren Bay The Story of Making A Home - Give A Way

Hi everyone! Have you ever wanted or thought you could write a novel? Well my amazing friend Clarice has written and self-published her first  book and you have an opportunity to win an autographed copy!

It only took me two days to read her book. I couldn’t put it down! I was captivated by the charming story, the lovely characters she created and the delicious recipes! If you love homemaking you'll love this book! I could go on and on but I’ll let her tell you a bit about it.

Wren Bay, the story of making a home is just that, a story about homemaking, about taking a house (a charming, old stone house at that) and turning it into a home! This is Wren's dream. Wren Bay is a newly married, Boston socialite, who is wondering how to find her place in this new world, Bay Farm, her husband's 200 acre estate and dairy farm in Massachusetts. She knows nothing about dairy farms but she does not need to, she has the Harrison family. They are the caretakers of Bay Farm.
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Wren is intent on using this time of separation from her husband, Devlin, who is serving in France during WW1, to learn the skills of homemaking. She wants to be able to conserve, reuse and make the most of what she is gifted with. Wren has been taught the joy of cooking with perfect ingredients from her Madame Mimi. She has also been gifted with a creative eye from her eccentric Aunt Sophia, a milliner in Boston. Even her deceased mother-in-law's herb garden provides new ideas to help Wren fill her pantry. She was raised to find her bliss with fierce passion and to never let fear pull her down. Wren Bay is hoping her creativity will serve her well as she finds a way to put her own, unique fingerprint on this dairy farm.

My novel Wren Bay is a fictional form of my blog Storybook Woods. I was interested in taking all the subjects I blog about (such as baking, crafting, whole foods, self education, upcycling and more) and turned them into a fictional story. My blog is about taking the simple things in life and making a celebration out of them and Wren Bay reflects this. As Wren grows and learns new skills and ideas, so will you! You can read a sample of the book and see the list of recipes in my shop here and on my blog here. 
 

Enjoy and thank you Clarice

Clarice is one of my oldest blogging friends and she (and her girls) have always been such an inspiration to me. So I’m really delighted to be able to have this give away for her!

All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on this post  by Friday evening and a winner will be picked randomly and announced on Saturday. Everyone can enter including all of you outside of the U.S. Clarice will sign and ship Wren Bay directly to the winner.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck!
******Thanks everyone! Comments are closed check back Saturday for the winner!******

A Fresh Start - Book Give Away

              Happy New Year!



Hi everyone! Hope you all had a fun and safe New Year's Eve.The New Year always feels likes such an exciting time to me – full of hope for what’s to come. All those blank calendar pages waiting to be filled!

It also seems like the ideal time to start something new doesn’t it?  Maybe it’s a resolve to exercise more or maybe learn to knit/bake bread/sew etc. Or maybe you’ve decided this is the year of doing less. Just because it’s a New Year doesn’t mean you have to add more things – you can take away :)

This year I’m not making any “resolutions” or “goals”. This year I’m going to focus on a “Word of the Year”. My word for this year is “Organize”. As we get to the final countdown of listing this house, coordinating projects and decluttering will be top priorities. Then finding another place to live, the logistics of moving, setting up home in a smaller space (we are downsizing) and everything that comes with moving to a new place will be next. I think being organized will go a loooong way to making everything run more smoothly and hopefully result in less stress for us all (especially me since it’s up to me to make sure it all happens)!

For the last two years I’ve given away Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover because I believe in his system - I know it works! But this year I’ve decided to give away Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider. She writes the Simple Mom Blog. A really wonderful blog that for some reason is new to me (so many blogs so little time).

All you have to do is leave a (one) comment on this post to be entered. You have until Tuesday night to do so. Unfortunately finances are tight with all this remodeling work that we are doing and I can only ship to the U.S. The winner, chosen randomly, will be announced Wednesday. Both TMMO and the give away book are in my Amazon widget on the sidebar if you’d like to read more about them.

Thank you all for reading this blog - without you it wouldn't be half as much fun! Happy New Year and have a great weekend!

*******Thanks to everyone that entered. This give away is now closed. Check back tomorrow for the winner!****

Book Give Away

Hi everyone! I mentioned last month that I would be having another book give away. This month I'm giving a way a copy of Tracey McBride's fabulous book Frugal Luxuries by the Seasons (Celebrate Holidays with Elegance and Simplicity on Any Income) and Jonni McCoy's Miserly Moms (Living Well on Less in a Tough Economy -revised edition).

Tracey's book shows you how to live beautifully and celebrate the seasons on a small income. The book is divided by Part I - Spring's Promise, Part II - Enchanted Summer, Part III - The Still Small Voice of Autumn and Part IV-The Magic and Majesty of Winter. Some people say she's a bridge between The Tightwad Gazette books and Martha Stewart! Her books have had a huge influence on me and I'm honored that she stops by this blog now and then. She also has her own wonderful blog Frugal Luxuries by The Seasons.

I chose Miserly Moms to give away because even though I admire Amy Dacyczyn and the The Tightwad Gazette, but that's not how I live my life or want to live my life. Jonni was a working mom who lived in San Francisco when she originally wrote this book and quit her job to be a stay at home Mom. She looked at frugality as way to achieve that goal. Some people are naturally frugal and enjoy it and some people do it just because they have to. I don't particularly enjoy it - even though it's second nature to me at this point in my life. But when we have extra money I generally revert to my non-frugal ways! So I really could relate to Jonni more than Amy. All the advice she gives are things she has done herself. Go to her website for more info Miserly Moms. *In this revised edition, she starts off with a whole chapter of stories about women who stopped working outside the home to be home full-time. So I would just skip that chapter if you don't think along those same lines. The rest is full of practical advice. Plus, she really did update it and has changed and added things.

Both books are full of wonderful ideas and even recipes! As always, please feel free to enter even if you have the books - they make wonderful gifts!

Just leave a comment on this post and I'll post the winner Tuesday morning. Next month is another book give away and December's is an Amazon GC so you can get whatever book you want. Just my way of saying thank you to all who stop by and read my blog. You don't need a blog to enter, you do need to leave me an email addy if you don't have a blog. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Slumps and Grunts!

Don't you love all that fresh fruit available now that summer is in full swing! Our berry bushes are just going crazy! So everyday I've been berry pickin in my own backyard. What could be more fun!

I love baking and I really enjoy baking with fresh fruit. At least I feel somewhat healthy eating a dessert who's main ingredient is fruit! Then it counts towards you daily food pyramid guidelines right? Aren't we supposed to eat something like 9 servings of fruit now?

So what do slumps and grunts have to do with fruit? They're funny names for a type of fruit dessert! A slump or grunt cooks on top of the stove (although slumps can also be made in the oven) and has a dumpling like topping. Love that! This way I don't have to heat up my kitchen making a yummy dessert!

I found this wonderful book "Rustic Fruit Desserts" by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson. It has the recipes organized by season so you can always bake with what's available fresh (or you can do frozen or canned). That's where I found a recipe for slump. I never knew what a slump was before! According to her a slump can be made with "whatever fruit you have on hand". So I made a blueberry/blackberry slump!

This is the recipe that appears in the book and was the recipe of the week from Crown Publishing Stone Fruit Slump.

I wound up not using that recipe because it calls for cake flour and I didn't have any cake flour and I didn't want to run to the store to buy any cake flour! But it got me searching on the internet and this is the recipe I used. Gingered Berry Grunt

Oh My Gosh It was sooooo good! You've got to try it! I'm sure using cake/pastry flour for the dumpling would have made it a lighter less dense dumpling but I liked it anyway!

The ginger in the dumpling topping is such a wonderful flavor! I made half the recipe to try it out so you could even just make it for one or two people!

Speaking of ginger....I'm growing my own! I bought a ginger plant a few weeks ago from a vendor at our town's Farmer's Market. It's going to stay in the pot until fall so I have time to think of where it's permanent spot will be.

Now for a bit of trivia for us Little Women/Louisa May Alcott fans:

"It is known that Apple Slump was a popular dessert in her day, and a favorite of the Alcott family. And because of the lovable -- but homely -- character of both the dessert and the house, Louisa nicknamed Orchard House "Apple Slump", so the dish does have a special connection to her."

"Little Women" is my all time favorite book and I keep this postcard of Orchard House on my bulletin board above my desk.

Possibly Louisa May Alcott's Apple Slump
Serving Size: 8

Filling:
6 tart apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Topping:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp double-acting baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Toss together the apples, sugar and spices and place in a buttered baking dish. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.
While this is baking, prepare the topping, starting by sifting together the dry ingredients. In separate bowl, mix the egg, milk and butter and add this mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring till just combined. Spread the topping over apples and bake at 350F for an additional 25 minutes. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Sept.2000 The Concord Magazine

Somehow we've gone from berry pickin to slumps and grunts, to growing ginger, a book review and some Alcott thrown in! I think I'll stop now LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great weekend everyone!

Good Reads

It's always good to relax with a book but I find that in the summer I seem to want to read even more! I love books! I would love to have a little bookstore with a little cafe where I could sell homemade treats and have live music. So I thought I'd share a few homemaking and gardening books with you in case you're looking for some new summer reading.

One of my favorites is "Home-Making" by J.R. Miller. which I got from Vision Forum.com but it seems they are out of stock right now. It's also available through amazon but for some reason it's titled "The Family" even though it's got the same cover as mine. It's also available online free here, if you'd like to have look before purchasing. It was originally published in 1882 and it's not a how to take care of a home type book. It's more about the relationships between people in a home - wife and husband, parents and child and how each plays a particular role in creating a lovely home life. It's so beautifully written! Here's a snippet:

"Love may build its palace of noble sentiments and tender affections and sweet charities, rising into the very clouds, and in this splendid home two souls may dwell in the enjoyment of the highest possibilities of wedded life; but this palace, too, must stand on the ground with unpoetic and unsentimental stones for its foundation. That foundation is good housekeeping. In other words, good breakfasts, dinners and suppers, a well-kept house, order, system, promptness, punctuality, good cheer - far more than any young lovers dream does happiness in married life depend upon such commonplace things as these."

I just finished "The Backyard Homestead" and really enjoyed it! She has drawings of what you can do with 1/10 of acre, 1/4 of an acre or a half an acre. Great gardening and extending the season tips, cidermaking, drying fruits (which you don't really hear too much about), herbs, growing grain, keeping chickens, making sausage and lots more. It's good to learn and research these things even if don't have the space or time to do them yet!

I always look to see what people have on their bookshelves! Do you? When I'm looking at a picture in a magazine and they have books on the tables, I always try to see the titles! I tried to place most of the books shown in this post in the Amazon widget to your right, but I'm still working on it - it's easier and faster than me talking about each book.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Inspiration from Marie Claire Idees

One of my very favorite magazines is Marie Claire Idees. It always has such wonderfully inventive ideas. Unfortunately for me it's a French magazine and I don't speak or read a word of French! But I enjoy it anyway! I thought you all might enjoy seeing a few fall ideas that they had.

Isn't that just beautiful! Look at those framed chestnuts and the leaf and acorn spray painted and framed.

Love, Love that gorgeous swag!

Cute acorn and leaf pincushion! They give directions on how to make some of these things in the back of the magazine and I must say google translate is of little help!

I thought this was such a sweet little fall accent that I did it to some vintage skeleton keys I have hanging in my kitchen. I found the perfect little pinecone with a bit of a stem the other day when Maxie and I went for a walk.

This just because it's beautiful!

Oh My Gosh! Doesn't that just scream "Manuela do this in your house"!! I'm sure you can hear it too. Love it! Those are the colors of my bedroom only I have the blue on the walls and the black toile on the bed and curtains. But I'm loving the reverse....maybe I can paper the wall the bed is on...hmmmm.

In other exciting news, you'll never guess who has a blog!! Tracey McBride!! Tracey McBride of Frugal Luxuries! I love her two books! If you haven't read them you must get yourself to the library and check them out. They're simply wonderful. One is in my Amazon box on the sidebar if you want to check it out now. Go say hello Tracey Frugal Luxuries

Show & Tell Friday!

For other Show and Tell Friday posts please visit Kelli at There's No Place Like Home

Since I'm in the midst of re-organizing my bookcases as part of my fall spruce up,(see the post below)
I thought I'd share one of my favorite books for Show & Tell - The Little House Books.

I used to love the Michael Landon series and he will forever be who I think of when I think of Pa Ingalls! But the books came into my life much later. My first exposure was when I was homeschooling my daughter and we read them as part of our curriculum. That was many years ago. But I've re-read them on my own ever year!

My family and I were at a thrift store last year, the kind where there are lots of "hidden treasures". Meaning it's the kind where there's junk piled upon junk piled upon junk! If you wanted the piece of furniture everything was sitting on, I don't know how you would actually buy it because they'd have to move so much stuff off it! Anyway, I didn't see this set, I walked right past it, but my eagle eyed daughter saw them. She knows how much I love reading these books. Usually I just check them out of the library, although I had started looking for them to purchase and had found two hardcovers. I'd seen sets like this on ebay but the bidding always went to high for me. So I was doing a happy dance when I saw the price and they came home with me.

There are so many lessons that we can learn from these books. They really did "Use it up, wear it out, make it do". Ma Ingalls worked hard, Pa Ingalls worked hard, the children all had chores and expectations for behavior. They had fun family times enjoying simple pleasures. When times were hard they banded together and worked through it. Sometimes I think these books should be required reading.

"It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all."

~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

Party Basics For New Nesters - Review

We had a lovely rainy day yesterday! The first one in about 4-5 weeks. So I had a wonderful cozy day at home and had a chance to go through some books that I've been keeping for just such a day. I was sent "Party Basics For New Nesters" by Maria McBride when I had my other blog, but I never got around to reviewing it.

This is a fabulous book filled with really easy to do projects to make any party a success AND the pictures are just gorgeous! She has a whole section on party basics. Everything from invitations to what floral tools you need to make arrangements, cute ideas for personalizing votives, recipes for classic cocktails,and pantry basics for entertaining. Really great if you're new to entertaining.

This is one of her autumn decorating projects that uses orange masking tape! The book is organized by event. She covers Lunar New Year, Cinco De Mayo, Earth Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and more. I'm going to be doing one of the projects from her book next week.

Maria has some great party planning advice and cute, very easy to do projects! It's written in a very friendly style that's easy to read and the directions are easy to follow. This is a very helpful book if you're a new nester or if you've always wanted to entertain but didn't know where to start.