daybook 4/30/2015

 

For today… Thursday, April 30, 2015

Outside my window... black cows, green grass, blue skies, sunshine.  The ornamental pear still has blooms; lilacs are budding; columbine are beginning to bloom.  The Cattleman has been busy in his garden.  Seven calves born so far this month.

Hearing...  the clock say, Your morning is almost GONE!  {I’ve been sidetracked with VBS research… which isn’t until July this year.  Um, and I have no menu from which to create my grocery list?!}

Pondering... where did April go, and what exactly did I do all month?

Swap groups on facebook can be a source of amazement:  How can people afford/allow themselves to ‘restyle’ a room and sell a 3yo bedroom set?  Sorry, I just don’t relate.

Praying...

Denise is on chemo-break, but still doing radiation I think.  Also preparing to celebrate her daughter’s high school graduation while her Marine son trains for late summer deployment.

Sarah, Jill, Marianne, and my mom – all with health issues.

Our kiddos – college ‘kids’ to finish semester well and to have direction for summer break; two of the youngers as they prepare for missions trip overseas

Purpose, focus, diligence.

Thankful... Tim should finish with corn planting today.  On to soybeans.

Creating... We have the makings of a few little book bags our church is sending to a missionary.  Just need to make myself and my girls sit down and get them done!

Going... to do some baking for a benefit auction for a classmate’s family {Barb lost her battle with cancer.}

Reading... 1 Samuel

And skimming several library books by authors heard on recent online seminars.  Sort of a health and nutrition info overload.  Or maybe it’s just a Grain Brain Fog?  ha ha

Looking forward to... knowing all the answers someday.

In the kitchen... Menu??  We’ve had leftover roast beef, chicken enchiladas, and some sort of potato/cheese/veggie soup so far this week.  Tonight – something with the ground beef thawing on the counter.

Meanwhile the Popper has been milking her cow and learning to make butter… She even bought herself a new butter dish at Kohls last week.

 

 

In the learning rooms... winding down school year.  woot!  We should finish reading Co. Aytch next week – just a few chapters left.  Such a mixture of gore and humor.

The Cowgirl made flash cards this week to study/learn/identify different leaf characteristics.  The Cattleman has started next year’s geometry.  The other day I found a youtube video for them to watch a worm dissection, but our connection died with 10 minutes left – something to come back to.   The Popper was the first to finish all of her year’s work – she needs a prize methinks.

Around the house... graduation, wedding, birthday gifts that will be easier to rid the house of than the rest of our accumulated clutter.

The Mother Load... wrap gifts, declutter {Must think ONE room at a time or something doable}, HAUL clutter away, menu planning, mending, sewing {the Popper needs a new skirt and culottes}…

Notable:::  My ironing pile is caught up!!!

Noticing that... you can add a LOT of homemade jam to plain yogurt and still have less sugar than what’s in a container of flavored Yoplait.

Something fun to share... an idea from pinterest for our space-themed VBS snack list

{click here for link}

A favorite quote for today... You can’t please everyone.  You are not pizza.

One of my favorite things... a Jersey

{think she’s cute?  you should see her calf!}

A few plans for the rest of the week... moving into May, ready or not

A peek into my world...  recipe book for a gluten-free bride, TRIM added to the girls’ closets {woot woot!} and this morning’s sunrise

{today’s outdoor photos courtesy of the Cowgirl}

 

~.~.~.~.~

Giving credit where credit is due:

While I am not linking up with anyone, you could read more weekly news posts at other blogs by following any of these links:

• Peggy at the Simple Woman’s Daybook

• Julie for adapting this daybook version as her own ‘Grasshopper Days’ ~ Perhaps I could call it the GHV Daybook. :)

• You can also find a similar weekly meme in Happy Homemaker Monday at Sandra’s

~.~.~.~.~

Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord,

that thou fulfil it. Colossians 4:17

If the shoe fits…

 

 

with a nod to a daybook

 

Whichever daybook prompts come to mind I guess… with help from my photo files.

Outside now – Accuweather says it is 45F with a real feel of 33F.  And I think our window thermometer would agree.  We’ve had a pretty strong round of thunderstorms roll through here again this morning, so it is cold and wet – and muddy of course. 

But so far my forsythia is keeping its blooms so I am thankful for temps above freezing.

Actually there has been a lot happening outside here on the farm…

Sunday morning {Easter} our calving season officially began!

   

Patty took first place honors with the arrival of Anastasia {which Abby tells us means ‘resurrection’ in Greek}.  Later in the day Keiko’s calf Lily arrived. 

And sometime early Monday morning, Valerie’s bull calf Hus arrived as well. 

Hallelujah’s new calf was born on Tuesday, whom the Popper has named Hydrangea.  We are thankful for the new shed that has offered some shelter from the rains this week.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Looking further back to the previous week – Mr. W. came to disk our field on March 30

 

Inside the house, Abby’s amaryllis is blooming very nicely

 

And you can see some of the forest of growing things that are longing for the great outdoors – and this was almost 10 days ago, so they are bigger now  of course!

The Popper’s daffodil is trying to bloom too.

 

 

This radish sorta got overlooked in my window box of greens – and overgrown.  Can you see how huge it is??  I should have taken another photo with size reference before they ate the spicy thing, but alas, I did not.  You will just have to believe me.  It was huge.

 

Back outside, Tim & the Cattleman spread some seed before the first rain came

 

 

Of course we’ve had daily days – our school year is wrapping up.  {woot}  All three have finished their math courses.  The Cattleman finished English.  He and the Popper both completed research papers.  The Cowgirl must still be working on hers.   We finished reading from our TruthQuest Guide as well as spines – ahead of schedule – love that.  So we will enjoy reading Co. Aytch.  Oh, and we finished our 2014 photo book at Shutterfly – it arrived in the mail earlier this week.  The Popper already broke a string on her ‘new’ violin, so I will have to do something about that soon – as in, today if possible.  I am attempting {one day’s efforts so far} to make use of a free online budget application that Dave Ramsey promotes – Every Dollar.  We shall see how far I go with that little project.

The past week or so I have been glued to my little laptop watching another health-related seminar.  This one is called The Truth about Cancer:  The Quest for the Cures Continues.  (<—click for hyperlink)  I think I have 3 episodes left to watch.  It’s one of those online seminars you can view for free for 24 hours before the next episode takes its place.  {Each day’s episode is only about an hour, so it’s not an all-day commitment!}  Anyway IF you are at all interested, the currently available episode 9 is to include doctors who have battled cancer with alternative solutions themselves.  The one thought I will leave with you, even if you don’t choose to look it up:  Cancer is a symptom of a sick body.  If you can keep your immune system strong enough, the idea is that God made our bodies to heal themselves – or keep from getting the terrible disease.  The doctors interviewed have varying views of whether you can completely avoid ‘conventional’ chemo/radiation, but I am a firm believer in the Hippocratic oath of “First do no harm.” 

{putting my soap box back in the closet now…}

 

:::Great News of the Day:::

According to FlightView, our Kate has less than five hours remaining on her flight from Beijing to Chicago!!

 

Sooo on that note, I’ve got places to go and things to do!  {It’s also violin & piano lesson/groceries & errands day before we take a drive to the DsM airport after supper.}

Ciao for now!