{"id":379547,"date":"2013-07-15T02:23:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-15T02:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2013\/07\/15\/family-food-founding-fathers-and-a-housekeeper\/"},"modified":"2013-07-15T02:23:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-15T02:23:00","slug":"family-food-founding-fathers-and-a-housekeeper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2013\/07\/15\/family-food-founding-fathers-and-a-housekeeper\/","title":{"rendered":"Family, Food, Founding Fathers, and a Housekeeper"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Washington’s Quarters, Valley Forge Winter Encampment<\/div>\n
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If you\u2019ve been around these here parts very long, you know how\u2026well\u2026disheveled<\/em>my office is<\/span><\/a>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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I am six months behind on my paperwork, and neither my floors nor my furniture have been tended to in weeks.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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On our last road trip, I was among a few who were drooling over another couple\u2019s glowing testimonial for their housekeeper.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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I labored for two weeks before I finally called her.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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The biggest excuse\/worry\/putter-offer was We can\u2019t afford a housekeeper<\/i>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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I can\u2019t afford not<\/i> to hire someone to help me, I finally realized.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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I met with the woman on Tuesday and snatched up the only opening she had.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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Twenty-five dollars a week sounds so much better than one-hundred bucks a month.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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I can make that happen and make myself very happy in the process.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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Honestly, once I made the decision, all of that guilt chatter left my head.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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I can\u2019t afford to pay her to do all of our household chores, but what she will be doing definitely gives me peace of mind and more time to follow my passion, more time to devote to that which I believe to be my truest calling.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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My work with The Five Facets.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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And then, look at this little jewel of wisdom that I found today, Journeyers.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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George Washington, one of the Founding Fathers who gave us independence, has also granted us freedom from the same.<\/span><\/div>\n
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\ufeff<\/div>\n

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Do you see that, Friends?<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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George Washington himself acknowledged how much time writers invest in their craft, and how such dedication draws us away from other, less critical matters.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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And honestly, I consider words to be so much more pressing and so much more valuable than housework.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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He\u2019s giving us permission<\/i>\u2014all of us who want to\u2014to enlist the help of others.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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We can all take off our capes and remove those scarlet \u201cS\u201ds of Superness and Shame from our chests!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I\u2019m with you, George.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Writing and correspondence is hard work that requires much of our attention.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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We can all use someone to take charge of certain responsibilities, like dusting and windows.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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The timing of my Cleaning Commander\u2019s first day on the job couldn\u2019t be any better, just in time for us to return from our family vacationing.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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We\u2019re spending the first four days of our trip at a family reunion in Philadelphia.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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My mother and her sister flew out from the west coast for this three day event.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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After a daylong bus tour, we walked downtown to one of the most magnificent restaurants you can imagine.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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A little Irish Pub called The Plough and the Stars<\/span><\/a>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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\ufeff<\/div>\n

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Journeyers, if you travel, or if you\u2019re in the Philadelphia area, Go<\/b>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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It won\u2019t disappoint.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Eight people.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Seven different meals.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s the best I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d said my well-traveled, eighty-one-year-old aunt about the Guinness casserole.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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\ufeff<\/div>\n

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I was a little worried about the ginger in this seafood fettuccini, but let me tell you I am so glad it didn\u2019t deter me, for the sauce was a perfect, creamy blend of divine cuisine.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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Before I share the rest of the photos with you, let me just say that I wasn\u2019t given any sort of compensation for the inclusion of this restaurant in this piece (but now that I say that, my brain is churning about future possibilities\u2026)<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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I am writing about this sixteen-year-old establishment simply because the people and the place created an overall experience that was just exquisite, and moved me to do so.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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My mother\u2019s second cousin (does that make her my second cousin once removed?) thought this tuna loin was extraordinary.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\ufeff<\/div>\n
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Big Guy loved his juicy steak.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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Beauty raved about her braised chicken.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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And my mother had nothing but good things to say about her fresh salad, which I somehow failed to photograph! (Can you believe that?!)<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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If you\u2019re looking for something other than or in addition to the food, this bar looks like a real crowd pleaser.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\ufeff<\/div>\n
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\ufeff<\/div>\n

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And if you\u2019re looking for music, a small stage provides a live entertainment platform.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I could have listened to Raymond\u2019s sultry Irish tunes all night long.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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\ufeff<\/div>\n

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There are other fleeting instances of satisfaction that gave me sustenance this past week, but we\u2019re almost to the second leg of our vacation.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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The beach and the sand and the sun are calling my name.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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And since those elements cause electronics to have meltdowns, which make me not-so-happy, I\u2019m going to wrap this up.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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But you can carry on the Happy. What recent Moments have provided nourishment for your soul?<\/o:p><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n

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May Hugs, Happy, and if you need it, Healing be a part of your coming days\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Soon\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington’s Quarters, Valley Forge Winter Encampment If you\u2019ve been around these here parts very long, you know how\u2026well\u2026disheveledmy office is. I am six months behind on my paperwork, and neither my floors nor my furniture have been tended to in weeks. On our last road trip, I was among a few who were drooling over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[316,113,317,1032,233,859,340,1037,320,366,1043],"class_list":["post-379547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-happyhappens","tag-family","tag-finding-happiness-in-your-day","tag-george-washington","tag-happy-happens","tag-housekeeping","tag-housework","tag-philadelphia","tag-random-happiness","tag-shit-happens","tag-the-plough-and-the-stars"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/George-Washington-2527s-Quarters-Valley-Forge.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}