happy homemaker monday

 

 

The weather:::

The toolbar says 27F (-3C) ~ feels like 16F.  It’s snowing this morning!

 

On my reading pile:::
 
Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas, Deeper Water by Robert Whitlow

Bible ~ Proverbs and John

 

On my TV:::

nothing lately, except the usual heavy coat of dust  : )

We’ve moved the TV with the new arrangement in the living room.  Now we get less than not much for channels (via the black box).  So Tim spent some time looking at TVs when we were at Sam’s the other day.  I’m thinking we might be making the first television purchase of our married life in the near future!

 

On the menu for this week:::

Monday -  baked chicken taquitos {Kate is the cook}

Tuesday – pepper steak {the Cowgirl}

Wednesday – maid rites?

Thursday – spiral ham that I bought in December

Friday – Madison Co. Chicken {Miss Artist}

Saturday – pizza {the Popper}

Sunday – beef roast

Current leftovers ~ Mulligatawny Soup

Oh, and I bought a couple big portabellas to stuff with spinach {like Tim enjoyed at Applebee’s last week} … Now to find a recipe to guide me!  Oh, here’s one.

 

On my to do list:::

Check a small pile of school papers

Laundry!

Cleaning is a constant, but it’s even worse with current construction ~ Tim started in the school room with the laminate flooring this weekend, which is great but that means he’s also been sanding the high spots… So much extra dust and so many piles and piles and piles of books and stuff.

 

What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::

A new couch!  ha ha 

But seriously, this looks so much better!

Um, no, I didn’t sew it  : )

 

In Homeschooling:::

The Cattleman still interrupts everyone else to hear a repeat of Mr. Howe’s humor.  If we get down to Pensacola, we have several people to find and meet in real life!

Miss Artist was delighted to find the supplemental CD for Apologia human anatomy ~ and proceeded to tell us about it at lunch today.  Something about a video of a cadaver? 

 

Looking around the house::: 

I should be vacuuming or dry-mopping.  And dusting. 

Or sitting on the couch reading Adam of the Road aloud to my younger kiddos.

 

From the camera:::

                Kids with their own cameras… 

taking pictures of this scene outside…

 

 

Something fun challenging to share:::

Conny posted this on facebook the other day ~

Sometimes it is better to be kind than to be right. We do not need an intelligent mind that speaks too much, but a patient heart that listens a lot.

 

On my prayer list:::

Bob W, nephew Austin, Mom F, Stef ~ all with health issues

 

Bible verse, Devotional:::

  In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence:

and his children shall have a place of refuge.

Proverbs 14:26

 

 

Click here to link up with Sandra

Miss Artist’s Christmas secret

 

Miss A has been asking for a certain something for a few years.  Another musical instrument.  Every so often Tim would spend time scouring Craigslist for a used one. 

In December Tim found one in the Milwaukee area.  {His mom lives between Madison and Milwaukee ~ and we were planning a trip there for Christmas}

When he talked to the owner, Tim learned that they even drove to Watertown every Tuesday for other music lessons {W’town is just seven miles from Tim’s mom’s house} ~ at the Bible college there.  Unfortunately, we weren’t in Wisconsin until Thursday night.  So Friday we drove over to East Troy to meet the owners of this lovely instrument ~ and to buy it from them!

The only glitch was getting the harp back to Iowa.  It was a crazy 24 hours of puzzling.  Being a man of action, Tim opted to remove the back bench, loaded up Abby and her harp, and drove to Iowa on Christmas Eve.  They were up again early Sunday morning to get back to Grandma’s house for a bite of breakfast before church.  {It’s 300 miles ~ about a 5 hour drive one-way} 

This last Monday I took Miss A and Miss Music Box for Miss A’s first “get-to-know-each-other-sort” of lesson with Marie, who lives near Bondurant. 

Exciting, yes?!

 

         

 

on the go!

No pictures.  No Live Writer {this time}.  And not much umph.  Just a quick Hello!  And here's why...

Monday ~ After errands in town, it was off to Bondurant for ____{surprise-post to come} and Ankeny {Kohl's} with my two young ladies.

Tuesday ~ Almost posted, but ran out of time.  B/c it was another outing for the evening with Tim in DesMoines.  Bought a used treadmill, had dinner at Applebee's, and shopped the furniture store.

Wednesday ~ More errands, including a haircut for me : )  And out for the evening at church.

Thursday {today!} ~ Off again with the whole family to the chiropractor, shopping at Sam's & Theisen's, then dinner at El Azteca {where a dear lady at the next table was treated to a sombrero on her head while the waiters sang Happy Birthday in Spanish ~ Not me, says I.}

Tomorrow ~ It's piano/grocery day with several errands I've been putting off.

Now that I've finally checked the mountain of school papers, I am OFF to sleep!  g'night!

january via the camera

 

Continuing the wading game through the hundreds of pictures…

{for this post I downloaded Windows Live Writer again, Jodi!  Happy day!}

 

WEEK FOUR

• Along about New Year’s Day, the older girls finished their To Do Lists.  Monday morning they opened their Christmas gifts.

The Popper gave Miss Music Box (Kate) a pretty necklace.  And she got several more from G&G  : )

               

Kate gave Miss Artist a Sugar Shack mocha java candle and a music CD (Kaffeemusik) in this pretty package.  

          

 

Miss A is also enjoying a new digital camera…

 

• the Breakfast Feast

          

 

• Books ~ the Computer Geek read Tim’s new book

                                   

 

• More game time ~ Note: Do not set up the game like this again!

       

• Tuesday brought Back to School and work (and the old computer went to visit Mr. Fix-It… and has yet to come home)

 

WEEK FIVE

• Organizing in the garage ~ building shelves (begun Dec 30)

                      

Luci likes to supervise… sometimes with her eyes closed.

                    

 

• The boys helped to remove the lights and haul the tree outside (and mop the spilled water and sweep the dropped needles)

                         

 

WEEK SIX

• We picked up the order of laminate and Tim began to prepare the floor…

         

Sanding the high spots, cutting out the rotted wood (Remember the house had no roof for much of our first winter’s snow.)

    

• Friday afternoon  (Jan 20) Tim began to lay the laminate! It was a loooong weekend of late nights.

                     

                                

 

• Saturday they took a break to play in the snow.

   

   

Luci preferred to not ride the sled.

 

 

WEEK SEVEN

• Rearranging… and new rugs!

             

   

 

• Sewing projects ~ my first attempt at a tag blanket.

     

 

• When kiwi is on sale, Miss A makes pavlova – yum.

                

 

• Pressing on… (or trim and snap and lock)

                     

 

• Ciabatta & Panini

            

  

(Nice panini press, eh?  It also works well enough just to press it with the flat spatula or your hand ~ just be sure to wait to butter that side.)

The batch of ciabatta only made two little loaves, so I made some Italian herb bread too. 

It was all good ~ except for the sun-dried tomatoes. Next time I’ll use fresh tomatoes for this smoked turkey club panini. Yum. 

Y’all come!