daybook 3

The Simple Woman's Daybook will be posted each Tuesday ~ here.

 

FOR TODAY ~ March 1, 2010

Outside my window...

it is still sunny and bright with white snow.  The cattle have found their way to the south end of the pasture ~ Do you suppose it's warmer there?

I am thinking...

my brain is muddled with school, health insurance, and house decision-making.  I should be switching laundry again; I should have worked on taxes today instead of blogging.  :-(   Hmmm, do you think I'm possibly in a late afternoon slump?

I am thankful for...

last night's fellowship at church where I actually sat down and had a good conversation with a new friend  :-)

There are no blizzards in the forecast!  My teens all had good trips last week and came safely back home to us.

I am praying for...

so many families and their seemingly overwhelming struggles; health for Kate S. and strength for her family; Pastor H & Pastor B, who are both ministering away from home ~ and their families.

From the learning rooms...

it is another lighter week as we are in end-of-quarter and spring break mode.  I want to THINK about Spring!  I ordered something new today for the Cattleman... hopefully it will all be here for him to enjoy in two weeks.  And no, it wasn't his wishlist of seeds or fruit trees ~ that is something else I must make time for soon...

From the kitchen...

Mon ~ I have had veggie-beef-barley soup in the crockpot all day

Tues ~ meatloaf and mashed potatoes (post-orthodontist appt menu - should be thawing the burger)

Wed ~ oh-so-good-chicken from AllRecipes dot com with all the reviewer extras - yum - probably with turkey, since it's cooked already

Thurs ~ pancakes & dumplings, sausages, homemade applesauce, cottage cheese (maybe?? subject to whim and availability of additional cooks)

Fri ~ pizza

Sat ~ I think the forecast is for rain (!), but we are all hungry for a homegrown ribeye off the grill

I will have to check the bread supply in the freezer to determine when I need to bake again.

I am wearing...

the usual denim skirt with a warm sweater over a TEE SHIRT instead of a turtleneck!  Yay!  Must be spring  :-)

I am creating...

a stiff neck?  hmmm, I should look at last week's entry ~ might be the same?  gonna have to tame the computering addict...  Miss Artist, on the other hand, has made a really cute card ~ I will try to add a photo yet.

I am going...

tomorrow to the orthodontist with Miss Music Box and the Cowgirl; will also have him peek at the Popper's mouth and give his approval to extractions that are obviously needed  :-(  Then five of us have chiropractor appointments ~ this time I will ice my neck before leaving his office.  Miss Artist fell on the ice last week and hit her head, so she will likely have a major adjustment coming as well.  (If we leave early enough, we might stop at the shoe store first for some overdue replacements.)

I am reading...

yesterday I read some of the latest issue of No Greater Joy while driving to church.  Otherwise list remains same here too.  Various blogs ~ new ones, what fun! 

I am hoping...

to empty another dirty basket when I visit the laundry room.  (...soon, ahem.)

I am hearing...

Miss Music Box practicing piano, Miss Artist working with card-making, and barely and occasionally the others in the basement playing, computer keys clicking ~ mostly just the piano!  :-)

Around the house...

I think you've already got that pictured ~ I suppose I could mention the p.i.l.e.s. on the floor of paperwork necessary for tax prep ~ naaaah.

One of my favorite things...

Perfect Brownies ~ with chocolate buttercream frosting and loaded with both walnuts and pecans ~ mmm- mmmm

A few plans for the rest of the week:

Aforementioned 'goings' plus church on Wed eve, groceries sometime, and friend Jill is scheduled for a visit on Friday.   :-)

Here is picture for thought I am sharing... 

Lots of family fun yesterday with my cousin's old snowmobile  :-)  More pictures posted here.

You can read more daybooks here.

sunny Sunday in the snow

My cousin Nick loaned Tim the use of his old snowmobile yesterday afternoon.  Thanks, Nick!

We told the Popper she HAD to go on the snowmobile...

Think she liked it?
Keep your eyes open for this blue hat in the following photos  ;-)

 

We did a lot of hanging out while everyone got their ride(s)

  

My turn!

  

Howdy  :-)

  

This is FUN, Mom!

  

Ready, set, ...

  

...whoooooops...

  

The Computer Geek has a new item on his wishlist  ;-)

   

Then we tied on a sled ~ Look, Mom, no hands!

  

Ahh, but better is a saucer sled!  Hang on!

  

Along came Nick & Katie with the real thing...

  

Whew!  50+mph on this was so fun!

  

 The Cowgirl and the Cattleman

  

They bounced their dad a bit, but the drift underneath was too high still... ouch.

  

Pretty oak tree with a blue, blue sky

  

And GRASS!!!   Woohoo for spring!

  

the week in pictures

 

On Tuesday Miss Ava came for a visit  (along with her mom and dad, and her grandma who happens to be my sister)  My sister now lives in Arizona.  She is so sweet to bring us this favorite treat on her visits to Iowa... Medjool dates, often topped with cream cheese and pecans.  ....y.u.m....

  

Wednesday morning, I amazed myself by serving this breakfast to my kiddos... scrambled eggs with sausage and cheese, yummmmy roasted potatoes, more of Marcia's dates, oranges, and banana muffins!

  

Tuesday was complicated with a wintry Iowa breeze... the driveway kept drifting in.  Ava's chaperones said the interstate also had some icy spots coming up from DesMoines.  I helped the boys shovel and asked Tim to clear the driveway.  But we forgot about the pasture.  So Wednesday Freddy decided to make his escape over the water tank drift.  Ugh.  Oh, it was .c.o.l.d. out there with the wind blowing.  He jumped back in, but they never go the easy way of the snowdrift.  The Cattleman had a lot of work to get that shoveled down again.   Here's Freddy back where he belongs along with Smokey the cat visiting their water tank.

[edit: Sorry, the pic of Freddy was not pretty enough to publish so I removed it.  It's a bit chilly for giving him a bath...]

  

Can you see the buried water tank?

  

Here comes Freddy... it's pretty much a single lane to the water tank with not much of a turn-around space.

 

Thursday I already rehearsed for you here.

Friday the kids left at home opted to play with play-do and clay for their afternoon fun...

  

Note the baseball/farm caps... they are back in uniform.  Today they are the Super Super Clay Crafters.  :-)

  

As usual they adopted TV personality names... the Cattleman said he was Chris from America's Test Kitchen.  The Popper wondered who we were talking about... Who's Julia?  Yikes, she needs a culture lesson, don't ya think?  Her big sisters cut their play-do cooking teeth watching Julia, Jacques, Lydia, Father Dominic, and others on IPTV.  

Which reminds me of a lesson I learned while watching with them:   Don't start a batch of eclair dessert with the water and butter on the stove to boil and then go see what the kids are watching on IPTV... or you too might have a blackened ceiling above the stove and a smoke filled house and a ruined saucepan and no eclair dessert to feed your husband!

So I spent my time hanging out in blogdom while they enjoyed the play-do and clay... and set the timer for the clay critters in the oven  ;-)    ahem.

  

The Cowgirl said this (below) was scrambled eggs and muffins, I believe.  She also cooked some real scrambled eggs for us on Friday morning, by the way.  And I indulged us all in apple fritters from the grocery store.  My head could ache from just the memory of eating an entire sugar-glazed fritter.

  

And then they got down to business with the clay critter magnets... the Popper made a teddy bear for Miss Artist; the Cattleman made a polar bear for me; the Cowgirl made a mouse for Miss Music Box and a solid cow for her daddy... of course.

  

I need to make a trip to the house to get some more photos of the latest progress. Tim said it was a convention of workman there yesterday - the well guy, plumbers, carpenters - and how many more on the phone to sell us their ducting or insulating products?  But today my agenda consists of laundry, breakfast, laundry, put clean sheets on beds, laundry, discuss the kitchen soffit and porch roof, laundry - remember my girls are home from their week away, laundry, lunchtime?, laundry, make chili for Sunday dinner, laundry, make lasagna for Sunday supper, laundry, I'd better find time to make the calzones for tonight's supper!  Tim or I will fetch the Computer Geek home again and possibly buy shingles, showers for kids, early supper - ha!, laundry done yet?! then find a clean bed for all ~ and to all a Good Night! 

Have a Blessed Lord's Day!

a DAY I'd say

Yesterday was a full day.

• delivered the Computer Geek to church to go with youth group to the Creation Museum near Cincinnati
• (I should note that the temp on the Suburban said -4 F at 9am)
• drove slowly to my next stop on roads still bothered with a bit of snow/ice... and a sheriff's car behind me... slowly seemed like a good choice although I possibly annoyed him  ;-)
• that stop was for our buying club co-op delivery -- sorry to those who endured the cold to unload the truck while I was still with the Geek -- they were working hard on splits when I got there.  When they made it to the organic sugar, this was in the form of two 25-pound solid sugar cubes.  A determined Pat G. hammered and chipped and crumbled her way through one bag to give each person one half her order.  They decided to return the other bag.  Smart.  And you can imagine the mess in dear Wendy's kitchen.
• an hour later I was on the road to Ames... dropped books at the library, then went to Fareway to finish my menu plan in the parking lot before entering to buy groceries.  I enjoy this parking lot method b/c I get to listen to Jan Mickelson on WHO Radio while I try to think of what's not on my grocery list...
• hmmm, extra time so I decided to stop in at JoAnn Fabrics to look for khaki twill for my daughters' desired skirts.  Yay! for a 40% coupon when you only need one cut of cloth... like the remainder of the bolt, almost 8 yards.  Should be enough?
• I think I still have enough time to make my stop at Lowe's.  I actually know what I need.  I call the Boss to make sure, and he opts to have the smaller shower heads.  Done.  We now have tub/shower faucets for every shower in the new house... in a variety of finishes and manufacturers, thanks to clearance shelves.  And thanks to Moen, who sent a missing part overnight for free.  I'll be shopping for more Moen methinks.  They at least have my consumer satisfaction so far.
• On to my leisurely 1pm lunch date at Hickory Park with my good friend Jill.  Yummy food.  And good company, too.
• Directly to my chiropractor for a much-needed adjustment and a quick visit with my friend Vickie  =)
• Getting closer to the end of my list, I dropped off part of my co-op order at another friend's house, where I was also entertained by her sweet boyish boys.
• (It's now 4pm and the temp says 20 F. - a balmy, sunny day indeed)
• As I was leaving I had a phone call, so instead of going directly home, I went to a quick meeting
• And finally ~5pm I was home again -- thankful for a good, productive day, but also thankful that I don't usually leave my home for 8+ hours/day.

 Meanwhile at home, 3 children had been busy doing something all day long.  When I arrived, two were running around cleaning and the other was working at making an apple crisp.  They all had baseball caps on as part of their team/company uniform (the Super Super Cleaning Company).  I worked at getting groceries, etc. into the house and put away, wishing for an icepack on my neck (or at least time to lay down).  The Cowgirl found the recipe for supper (turkey packets).  She mixed up the filling, and then the Cattleman and the Popper helped finish those, along with setting the table, cooking green beans, and washing up some raw broccoli.  Oh, and the Popper also made the cheese sauce for the packets.  They count all this as fun (mostly), by the way.  Joy for me.  I did wash the leftover dishes after supper, but my cooking ambitions were pretty much limited to frozen pizza...

I had told them to get their schoolwork finished, do their housecleaning, then they could make dessert or play games, etc.  And we could have Friday for something special.  Hmmm, I'm still working on finding the right 'special' thing to do with them... today.

{intermission}
Well, now that they've fixed our lunch... they've decided to play with clay.  =)

edit:  broccoli.  I need a spelling list for the mom.  

think on these things

What am I filling my mind with?

Is it helpful?  Is it true?  Is it praiseworthy?

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 

Philippians 4:8

I'll admit it was fun to indulge in reading Jane Austen lately.  Watching was even more enjoyable than reading chapter after chapter after chapter...


But I concluded that reading something like this was much more in line with Philippians 4:8.  What a challenge to read about someone like Eric Liddell... always smiling... living to glorify God even when dying of a brain tumor in a Japanese prison camp.

So I allowed myself to watch the last Masterpiece Theater Jane Austen Sunday night (Persuasion), then Monday morning I found another YWAM biography to help turn my focus to following Christ again...

We watched the movie The Hiding Place a few months ago, so the kids are already very familiar with Corrie's story.  But it is worth remembering again.  And, like I said, I'm really reading this for me.

daybook week 2 for me

FOR TODAY

February 22, 2010

Outside my window...

it is still white (of course)

The boys have begun some afternoon shoveling

The girls are headed outside too

I am thinking...

I should be eliminating this messy pile in front of me, but it's difficult to type at the same time  ;-)

about next year's curriculum choices (sounds like something to pray about)

I am thankful for...

my husband ~ he is so good to me and to our children <3

yesterday's predicted snowstorm went south of us (Sorry, Missouri!)

From the learning rooms...

It is quiet this week without my two oldest here.   The others finished most of their work this morning -- the Computer Geek is starting Algebra 2 and opted to take a couple chapter tests today instead of wading through so many lessons of review.  I still wonder if this particular curriculum is challenging enough for him? (but he likes it...)  We spent a fair amount of time watching video samples this afternoon, wondering if that is a good change for more than one child ~ something to pray about

From the kitchen...

I didn't like my original menu plan, so Saturday I had the available kids help rewrite it with their favorites.

Turkey barley soup is cooking on the stove for supper tonight

Tues -- pizza; Wed -- pepper steak and rice; Thurs -- turkey packets; Fri -- chili; Sat-- calzones

I need to make a pan of lasagna at some point for Sunday evening's YAC (young adult/college) fellowship, and determine what we are eating here for Sunday dinner (?) Hopefully not a repeat of yesterday's o.v.e.r.c.o.o.k.e.d. sweet potatoes.  So sad.  We ate what we could.

I am wearing...

the usual, denim skirt, sweatshirt and polo, socks and my beat-up danskos 

(um, those would be my only danskos)

I am creating...

Oooh, should we say should be creating?  our tax returns

Blech, Tim says that's why I'm fighting a migraine  ;-)

I am going...

to the chiropractor, but not until Thursday -- hoping I can still be productive in the meantime

I am reading...

Philippians still -- enjoying the repeated reading for absorption 

I would also like to finish the Hoover book since it's just one chapter left

I started a new YWAM today for read-aloud ~
Corrie Ten Boom

(mostly for my own benefit, trying to cleanse my palette after plenty of Jane Austen)

I am hoping...

I think I've mentioned plenty already ~ 

to accomplish something with this week of fewer children to supervise/parent/etc., which would include taxes and sewing projects

 to have a good visit with Marcia, Marissa & Ava tomorrow afternoon  :-)

I am hearing...

the dryer just beeped

the stovetop clicking

the girls are back inside and doot-dooing a song,
and getting ready to play upstairs

Around the house...

Pretty much covered this one too, didn't I?  ;-)

In a word, cluttered.

With school book catalogs, schoolwork to check, bills to pay and receipts to file, lists of ideas for school and menu, guide for the outdoor woodstove as Tim figures out completing the hookup.  
I need to find the top of this desk again!

Piano humidifier needs water, laundry needs switching,
What should we have with our soup besides bread and salad?

One of my favorite things...

preparing tax returns (joking! big time joking.)

A few plans for the rest of the week:

the Computer Geek leaves with youth group to see the Creation Museum later this week plus

Coop buying club delivery and groceries and chiropractor all on the same day -- 

hoping to fit lunch with a friend in there too and call it a DAY.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

Pardon the broken clothesline ~ photo is really of the young cattle enjoying their snow hill.

Read more daybooks by clicking this link to the Simple Woman's Daybook.  McLinky is now available on Tuesday mornings to help us not mess up our Mondays  =)

Edit:  Hopefully the link works now!  ;-)

swagbucks

I put the widget on my blog, but don't think I got around to saying anything about it, did I?  (see my glazed eyes in front of the foggy brain?)

At any rate, Conny says it's a MEGA SWAGBUCKS day, so if you're inclined to sign up for FREE stuff, today would be a good day to do it!  ;-)

And if you hit my widget in the right sidebar to do it, I'll get some referral credit swagbucks  ~ with my Mega Thanks to you!  =)  Then start surfing for furniture stores or something legitimate and fun, and see if you don't get some swagbucks for yourself, too!

Reality is this is more likely ONE little swagbuck at a time, but hey... why not?  This isn't the lottery, is it?  :o