happy homemaker monday {tuesday}

 

…because I have nothing better to do… ha!

Sandra, the instigator of this meme, is actually on hiatus from blogging …which is where I should also be, but it seems like I’ve already been there for months!   Sandra must be a wise woman.

  Monday, March 19, 2012

The weather:::

It’s a warm 70F or 21C… a few light showers so far with a few glimpses of the sun.  Forecast is for thunderstorms and showers through Wednesday.  We need the rain, but I’d really like the skidsteer guy to be able to come and smooth our future yard so we could throw some grass seed out there first.  Great Expectations.

 

On my reading pile:::

I’ve been catching up with Bible reading since coming home from our major gad-about.  Bonhoeffer and The Maker’s Diet patiently wait.  I indulged in a novel by Julie Klassen the other day – good but not worth the sleep I sacrificed to finish it in one day.  {duh}

 

On my TV:::

not much although it would be fun to sit and watch some roundball.  {basketball}  The Cyclones fell to Kentucky in a well-played game, no surprise.  But I heard Wisconsin is still in the tournament.  Yay!  Go Badgers!

 

On the menu for this week:::

Monday – chicken enchiladas

Tuesday – meatloaf       The Cowgirl says she is not making meatloaf tonight!             

Wednesday – cheeseburger soup or turkey/veg soup

Thursday – spaghetti

Friday – haystack

Saturday – pizza

Sunday – beef roast

 

On my to do list:::

I was going to put “Go to harp lesson with Miss Artist…” Instead I got up and WENT!  out the door with all the kids since we had a chiropractor appt after the harp lesson.

Now it’s Tuesday, and I still have other things to do  ; )  ~ but I’m going to quickly finish this post first.  Then I will bravely face my tax returns.  Really.  Or check school papers.

Here’s another To Do List from last week.

 

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

 Tax returns aren’t supposed to be creative, are they?  When they are done (or sooner), I have birthdays next week to get ready for, and flannel baby blankets that I should have sewn last month {when I couldn’t do our taxes}!

 

In Homeschooling:::

  We’re having an afternoon of practical education:  the boys are out picking rocks in the future yard.  And the Popper is taking a break by being sick on the couch today  : (

 

Looking around the house:::

  It’s very quiet due to the Popper sleeping on the couch… and the boys being outside.  I put a pile of school papers on the table to check earlier, but didn’t get any further than that.  The Cattleman’s tomato seedlings are looking good.  Mt. Laundry is currently small enough to ignore.

 

From the camera::: computer!  just because I can!   Yesterday the Computer Geek helped me transfer several things from the old computer to the new. {so that I can do our taxes of course}

  Here’s the house in March 2010:

And here’s a view from April 2011, when Tim was working to smooth out the yard a bit:

…which should improve even further this spring.  Mr. A+ Skidloader came today to look and leave his bid to get us ready for seeding the actual lawn.  Yay!

{the rocks we are picking today are much smaller than these}

 

Something fun to share:::

Sorry, not sure what to offer you here.  Y’all are welcome to come share in picking rocks, washing windows, or naming the baby calves…

 

On my prayer list:::

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Grace to do what we should when we should, even {especially} when it’s not our own agenda.

 

Bible verse, Devotional:::

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

1 Peter 1:13-16

to do list

• laundry
• nap
• be thankful for our friends who took care of our beloved animals
• laundry
• buy groceries
• cook and enjoy home-cooked food
• greet the mailman at the door when he arrives with our week's worth of mail {to include part of our garden catalog orders!}
• make use of the treadmill again... and again
• switch the laundry 
• get ready for calving season {Tim thinks that Lola will be the first to deliver!}
• buy more groceries
• sweep/vac the floor again
• nap
• remember to cook so we can enjoy home-cooked food
• visit chiropractor
• laundry
• catch up on school paperwork
• actually read from the books listed in the side bar
• remind the kids we're not living in the Suburban anymore {which means they can/should do something besides play the alphabet game or watch another RinTinTin dvd}
• download hundreds of photos from the camera
• more laundry and cleaning
• get serious about a landscape plan ~ and put it into action
• school work
• check the credit card balances  :o
• cook, bake
• complete my notes from the past week's adventures
• nap
• change blog header photo
• laundry 
• bake bread for Mike
• help the teens pick something to make for the international missions meal at youth group
• iron  all those clean but wrinkled clothes
• write as many posts as it takes to tell y'all about our 3300 miles of travel in nine days
• laundry
• sew a baby blanket for Isaac {and bake cookies for his family}
• buy more dark chocolate to feed my flesh when I finally face the job of tax returns
• nap NOW so that I can stay awake for Dr. Bob's sermon tonight

 

Looks like more than enough for this week?

His robes for mine

 

His robes for mine: O wonderful exchange!
Clothed in my sin, Christ suffered ‘neath God’s rage.
Draped in His righteousness, I’m justified.
In Christ I live, for in my place He died.

Chorus:

I cling to Christ, and marvel at the cost:
Jesus forsaken, God estranged from God.
Bought by such love, my life is not my own.
My praise-my all-shall be for Christ alone.

His robes for mine: what cause have I for dread?
God’s daunting Law Christ mastered in my stead.
Faultless I stand with righteous works not mine,
Saved by my Lord’s vicarious death and life.

His robes for mine: God’s justice is appeased.
Jesus is crushed, and thus the Father’s pleased.
Christ drank God’s wrath on sin, then cried “‘Tis done!”
Sin’s wage is paid; propitiation won.

His robes for mine: such anguish none can know.
Christ, God’s beloved, condemned as though His foe.
He, as though I, accursed and left alone;
I, as though He, embraced and welcomed home!

~ Chris Anderson {See the music here.}

Leap Year Day #5 {20 years}

 

 

Leap Year Day of 1992 was a very special day.  It was a Saturday morning when the phone rang…

Twenty years. 

Twenty years ago, I’d made a very casual and distant acquaintance with Tim at church.  I didn’t approach him to speak ever, nor do I recall him approaching me.  Ever.  We did talk to each other when we acted as judges for the married couples’ games after the church’s Valentine’s dinner.   We were the only non-couple adults in attendance.  And while it was fun {when I wasn’t being intimidated by his brother}, it wasn’t the beginnings of any romance.  And I knew better than to hope.

I had no hopes of a relationship with Tim for reasons I’ll not detail ~ except to say I knew he’d heard discouraging things from another man I’d previously dated.  Being the only single woman in a small church with three bachelor members… I had no reason to think any of them were my Mr. Right.

I remember towards the end of the February, praying again that God would continue to work in my heart and life to make me worthy to be the wife of some godly man somewhere.  And to help me to be content to wait. 

And since I have no clue where he’s at,  Lord, You will have to bring him into my life somehow.  Please?

Something else I didn’t know was that Tim had asked our pastor’s opinion of me.  And that Pastor R. had encouraged Tim to date me ~ if he was looking to get married.   Tim was 27 years old and had recently completed his service to the US Navy, but he was not looking for a wife.  Or so he thought.

February 29.  Saturday morning, I was very surprised to find Tim on the phone.  Calling me.  For a date.  Tonight.  {I remember thinking, If you make me wait a whole week until next Saturday, I’ll go crazy!  ha ha  So much for praying for patience.}

So it was that Tim took me out to dinner on Saturday, February 29, 1992, to a great Italian restaurant in Madison near the UW campus ~ Lombardino’s.  On the wall it said, “A meal without wine is like a man without a wife.”  I didn’t point it out to Tim.

We had a great time {Tim seemed to agree} talking, talking, talking.  We sat in his car for a long time still talking.  Which he concluded by telling me he wasn’t looking to get married.  He was thinking about joining a singles’ group at another church, hoping I’d come with him to some of their activities.  If I saw something I wanted to do together, I should let him know.

We met again for a political meeting, saw each other at church.  His dad passed away in April, so I attended the funeral with another woman from our church.  We signed up for a singles’ retreat at a camp where the director asked us to consider the difference between dating and courting.  hmmm?  We were still operating at the friendship level it seemed.  At some point he began to offer me ride if he saw me walking home from church.  Which of course provided more opportunity for conversation.

In May we went out for pizza a couple times and attended an evangelistic meeting at another church.  He still gave me rides home from church with good conversations.

In June I went home to Iowa for a couple weeks.  Tim called once to check on me.  I told my folks I’d found a “keeper.”

In July we shifted gears.  We were out with friends July 3rd most of the night.  Then Tim took me to the church picnic on the 4th.  Our first public appearance at a church function together.  Which lasted through the evening’s fireworks at the park.  Sunday we had dinner with friends newly aware of our relationship.  Out for dinner, protests at an abortion clinic, Sunday afternoon walks, dinner at my apartment with friends, popcorn on my porch, and more.

{by the way, we never did find that singles’ group}

 

October ~ Learning teamwork:  baking a chocolate cake … without a recipe.

 

After agreeing to accompany me home to Iowa for another visit in August, Tim decided I should meet more of his family.  July 31 he took a flying leap down a stairway followed by a refrigerator.  That night I met his mom and sisters before we went bowling.    August 4th found us at Great America with the teens from church.  Riding roller coasters.  Sharing lunch.  Making wedding plans.  While we stood in line for a ride, Tim said, “What would your parents think if I met them one weekend and we got married the next?”  {“Be always sure you’re right, then go ahead,” says Davy Crockett ~ but we didn’t elope.}  The next day we went shopping for rings.  Marianne and I found for a dress for me and cloth for bridesmaids another day.  We met with Pastor W. for our first pre-marital counsel.  And soon we went home to Iowa.  After lunch Tim asked my folks for permission to marry me….

{insert picture of us with Marianne & David and Stacy & Matt in Iowa ~ Why oh why can’t I find it??}

Six months after Leap Year Day ~ Saturday, August 29, 1992 ~ Tim again took me to Lombardino’s in Madison.  And said, “Do I have to ask you again?” 

Another fast three months {and lots of ice cream at Marianne & David’s house}… and it was November 27 when we said our vows:

…until death parts us,

or until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

 

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Happy Leap Year Day!

dreaming of the simple life

 

or not so simple maybe.  But where everything has a time.  So it gets done. 

{sorta like a place for everything, and everything in its place}

 

 

If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride. 

But here’s a wish list anyway.

Time for blogging.  Baby books by hand.  Photo books via digital online.

Planning for landscaping.  Ordering trees, shrubs, flowers.  Starting seeds for a vegetable garden.  Our own berry patch with fruit and nut trees.

Painting the bookshelves I started scraping in 2010.  Somewhere there’s a can of beautiful blue paint for them.  Sometime down the road, the walls will need painting again ~ then or sooner, I will think about a few accent walls.  Maybe.  I need a few other ducks in a row before my thoughts can go there.

Reading multiple chapters in my Bible daily.  Time spent in prayer.  Remembering those I need to pray for {including those who live in this house}.  Reading more profitable books beyond the fast food diet of vacation reads {such as Bonhoeffer or The Maker’s Diet or Sweet Journey Bible study and more}  Thinking.  Reading historical fiction aloud to my kiddos.

Sewing.  Fun stuff like flannel baby blankets.  Needed things like culottes or skirts for my girls.  Practical jobs like mending jeans for my boys and Tim.  {The bzillion pieces of my “grandma” quilt wait quietly.  Someday our school room or the boys’ bedroom might be a sewing room.  Then it might be time for that quilt.}  It’s good to have something in this list that is appointed to wait for a different season of life.

But in the meantime, I have a stack of school papers to check.  Checkbooks to balance.  Supper to cook.  E-mails to wait for that should contain important links.  A new-to-us treadmill to ignore get back on tomorrow.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Just to brighten this post ~ and show you I haven’t been in la-la land all month ~ and confirm that we mostly live to eat ~ here’s a few more snapshots of life here…

 

Kate made a cranberry tart with her birthday tart pan {actually she made it into part cranberry /raspberry /cherry}  Recipe from Smitten Kitchen I think.  The cherry was the best of course.  {Must have a cherry tree in the future orchard}

 

Tim treated us to his waffle dessert on a Sunday night…

      

      

 

Kate also made a raspberry chocolate cake that was delish {surprise}  but it would be best to chill it for a while before serving…

            

 

She also found a different recipe for potato soup…

 

{Are you wondering what I have been doing instead of cooking?}

I did bake some breakfast tea cake the other day.  Just no pictures.

Did I mention we bought a tread mill? 

{Can you guess why I need a tread mill?  and Kate needs to reserve her daily desserts for the restaurant?}

Yeah, that.

Tim finished the floor in the school room!  ta da!

Everything was (is) terribly dusty from the sander {on top of months of neglect}  I started with the ceiling fans/lights  in the kitchen, dining, living, and school rooms.  I cleaned shelves {thought about painting them while they were empty} and dusted every thing that had to go back on them.  etc, etc.  I had four microfiber dust rags going plus the vacuum.  I did have the Computer Geek clean his own desk, thank you.  And his beloved office chair was banished to the basement due to evidence of unwelcome marks on the plywood floor.  He was not overly happy with me that day. 

I’m thinking about buying some shelves at Target for the ‘closet’ area.  We aren’t using the vertical space very well in there right now.  And I could use that low green shelf elsewhere…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So Tim just has to finish the laminate in the front entry hall and put in the other threshold pieces.   And then it will be back to staining trim.  yee haw. 

{prepare to roll your eyes} In other headline-worthy news: I had an ironing marathon one day.   While I was doing laundry and little else.  I should have saved the entire season of Downtown Abbey to watch that day instead of just the last episode.  I suppose that might have been worthy of before/after photos.

And I dealt with the mending pile again.  No pictures.  It’s just too exciting for public record, ya know.  When I get Hanna & James’ new baby boy’s blanket stitched, that will call for the camera.

I am somewhat Monday-challenged. Do you know what I mean by that? I’ve long made it a habit to stay at home on Mondays. Then we met Miss Artist’s harp teacher who is only available on Mondays or Wednesdays. So the choice seemed obvious. But I’m still in training trying to remember I have someplace to go on Mondays.  And it’s more than just a few miles away.  I’m thinking that about the time I develop the habit, she’ll be able to drive herself solo.  {Yes, add a trip to the DOT for her DL to the List}  And then maybe I can manage a daybook/happy homemaker sort of weekly post again?  Maybe.

And there’s more on my List.  But it’s still a secret. 

Stay tuned, but please don’t hold your breath!