I am a wife to Steve and a mother of five. I live in a very small town in Michigan, but have traveled and lived in some pretty exciting places throughout the years. I like to say that I'm a small-town girl dreaming of a big-city life. Our roots are here in Michigan, but I am in love with places like Nashville, Chicago and Southern California.
By day, I can usually be found chauffeuring our children to their sporting events, theater practices, Quiz Bowl practices, study groups, band concerts and friends' houses ... all while trying to make sure I have a tasty meal on the table when my hubby gets home from a long day's work. It's important to me that we all sit down as much as we can and have dinner together.
And, at night, I blog.
I'm a flip-flops-in-the-winter kind of girl. I love reading to my kids! I find playing Backgammon on my phone extremely addictive. I'm a talker. I pace when I'm on the phone. I hate clutter and cannot relax at night until my house is in order. My teenager thinks I have OCD because I line up the bottled water in the fridge with all of the labels facing forward. I'm far from being a picky eater, but am picky about my food. (Does that make sense?) One of my biggest pet peeves is restaurants that serve prepackaged, frozen food. Although I am known to grab my kids a burger at a fast food joint every now and then, I am a huge lover of made-from-scratch, homemade, whole foods.
I grew up in an environment where everything was homemade from scratch and made with love. Our whole extended family tended to my grandparents' gardens. We canned and froze the harvest. Due to my blended family when I was younger, I was blessed with three sides of extended family. My grandmas made lovely things like real Southern buttermilk biscuits, homemade preserves and fried chicken. My mother was and still is the baker of the family. I grew up on just-baked cookies several times a week, banana bread and yummy made-from-scratch cakes. We didn't have chips, pop or candy in the house very often. It was all unprocessed, real food.
Cooking was an extension of love. When a church-member came home from a hospital stay, we took them a meal. When a neighbor had a baby, we'd make up a food care package. Holidays and special occasions meant everyone gathered at grandma's and spent hours preparing a feast. Family meals could turn into two-hour, sit-down events. And, everyone pitched in after to clean up and do the dishes. Even the men sometimes.
Growing up this way impacted me tremendously. It's the way I am trying to raise my children. No matter what else is going on in life and no matter how crazy our schedule gets, I want them to know how important and meaningful it is to sit down around a table to share a meal and connect.
