The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY, Monday, March 16, 2009

Outside my window... Light rain and lots of puddles ... I just noticed a spider web on a tree in the back yard. Very cool looking with all the little droplets of water hanging on to it.

I am thinking... that the kids will be stuck in the house again today

I am thankful for... a new day

From the learning rooms... a lot of "home-ec" this week as we prepare for a visit from Granny

From the kitchen... homemade pizza for supper tonight

I am wearing... sweats and a t-shirt ... no surprise there

I am creating... a menu for the rest of the week and a shopping list

I am going... hopefully no where

I am reading... Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes ... in you and your kids!

I am hoping... to finish with the re-arranging/de-cluttering of my bedroom today

I am hearing... my youngest son softly snoring

Around the house... lots and lots of laundry

One of my favorite things... a quiet morning

A few plans for the rest of the week: Lots of housework in anticipation for our visitors this weekend.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Signs of Spring - Blooms on our Bradford Pear tree

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Boys will be boys ...

Even though I am nervous when they do it,

I always expected the boys to climb trees and such.

In this picture the Shy One is showing me that he can now climb higher than he ever has before ... as Mama's heart tightens and fear moves in.

The Hurricane is still staying pretty close to the ground, but since he started climbing long before he could walk, I am expecting to have to call the fire department for him one day.

Okay, so I expected this of my boys, but ...

... how do you explain this?

This is my normally girly-girl out climbing the boys and loving it.

You might also notice that, though these pictures were taken yesterday and it is only March, my Dancing-Girl-turned-tree-climber and the Hurricane are barefoot. Spring is definitely in the air, even though today is 20 degrees cooler than yesterday, it is still comfortably in the 60's. The kids have been amazed at how quickly our tree has gone from barren to covered in tiny red and green leaves.

This is the Hurricane's first experience with "wish flowers" ... he thought it was great fun, even though it took him about 10 tries to get all the little fuzzy things blown away.

The Simple Woman's Day Book

FOR TODAY Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Outside my window... Cloudy and warm ... the weather man says today will be the last dry day for the week.

I am thinking... that I really need to get school started.

I am thankful for... being able to garden with my Daddy yesterday, and not to be where I was a year ago.

From the learning rooms... catching up from the busy day yesterday.

From the kitchen... dirty dishes, lettuce to wash, and minute steaks thawing for tonight's supper.

I am wearing... sweats and a CHEB t-shirt, no shoes

I am creating... a cleaner, more organized home and school for my family.

I am going... to stay home until I have to take my little dancer to class this afternoon.

I am reading... Back to Basics trying to learn more about veggie gardens.

I am hoping... for a calm day of school.

I am hearing... the kids playing in the living room.

Around the house... lots of laundry to do today since we didn't have water yesterday.

One of my favorite things... a day at home!

A few plans for the rest of the week: continuing our bedroom project, a trip to the library, and preparing for Granny's visit next week.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Papa teaching the kids how to plant tomato seeds.

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Sunday Reflections

The word for today: challenged

After a great Sunday School lesson and two sermons from the Word of God, challenged is the most appropriate word I can think to sum up the day.

Challenged by the Sunday School lesson from the book of Nehemiah to spend time planning and preparing for the things God has laid on my heart to do. Challenged to be patient and wait for God's leading instead of running ahead of God or following my own plan. Nehemiah spent four months praying, when was the last time I committed that amount of time to a single burden God has laid on my heart?

Challenged by this morning's sermon to examine my walk with Christ. Am I serving out of a sense of duty, or because I love Him and desire to follow His perfect will for my life? Challenged to search my thoughts and my attitude toward God's Word, God's house, God's family, the world, and God's Son. A statement to consider ... "when I submit to God because I love Him, my whole perspective changes."

Challenged by this evening's sermon to allow the Holy Spirit to work freely in my life to bring understanding, power, boldness, vitality, fervor, and passion for the lost into my life and to lead me to earnest prayer.

One final thought for the day ... tonight at choir practice, as we practiced our Easter Musical, I was so moved by the words of one of the songs. We have been working on this music for several weeks, so this isn't the first time I have heard the song, but somehow it spoke to me differently tonight. Some of you may be familiar with the song "He Grew the Tree" but just in case you aren't, let me share a few lines with you.

He grew the tree that He knew would be used to make the old rugged cross. Nothing took His life, with love He gave it. He was crucified on a tree that He created. With great love for man God stayed with His plan. He grew the tree so that we might go free. (words and music by Chuck Lawrence)

I think that these words speak for themselves. God's love, beyond anything we can possibly imagine. So now I am challenged with one more thing ... to be thankful.

Confessions of a Night Owl

For my whole life I have been a night owl. I have always liked staying up late and sleeping in the next morning. Even when I was in school or working a regular job, I still stayed up late. I even converted my “normal” husband with a little help from my family back in the days before we had children. I really can’t even deny that I have always been somewhat proud of the fact that I, and my whole family, kids included, could function on less sleep than most.

I am not totally to blame for this … my parents trained me well. When we (my 3 brothers and I) were little, our parents, aunts and uncles would hang out at our grandparent’s house until all hours of the night yelling at each other as they played Aggravation. We loved it. The kids, there were 13 grandchildren in all, pretty much had free reign to play whatever we liked … as long as we didn’t interrupt the adult’s game. Sometimes the games would go into the wee hours of the morning and they would have to wake us up to go home. The one difference being, while I have always enjoyed sleeping in, my parents would be up at the normal time the next morning ready for whatever they had to do that day.

So here is the confession … I don’t enjoy this anymore. I am tired. And, now that my kids are older, sleeping late just makes for a miserable day of trying to play catch up and get our school work done before supper time. I love the freedom to set my own schedule, but I am finally having to admit that not starting until the middle of the morning isn’t working. Oh, the kids love it on the front end, but then they want to be outside playing in the afternoon and not stuck doing school work.

For the last couple of weeks we have been putting real effort into changing our routine. When I say we, what I really mean is that I am changing my routine and the family is slowly adapting. This morning was the true test. The kids and I had to leave the house no later than 9:00 in order to drop the boys off at their Grandmother’s house and for me to get the girl to her co-op class on time, and we made it. Okay, I know that this is not a really big deal, especially for anyone reading who has children who have to be on the school bus before daylight, but for a family that likes to have school in their pajamas, this is a big deal.

Who knows, I may even learn to like getting up early. And the hidden blessing? Kids who get up early, tend to go to sleep earlier. Amazing.

Tomorrow Is Another Day

Today was one of those days that I just wish I could rewind and do over. It isn't that anything horrible happened, just the opposite ... nothing happened, well almost nothing. Very little housework happened and very little school happened though I did manage to get meals cooked and dishes washed. I guess that is something. My favorite part of today is that it is now over and I can look forward to a better day tomorrow.

On top of that, I wasted several hours over the last 2 nights watching the idiocy of the Bachelor. Yuck. I haven't been a follower of this "reality" show in several seasons. In our house, we mostly watch shows that the kids can watch with us and I am not too keen on the idea of the kids thinking that the way these people act is acceptable, or even normal. That said, I did watch a few episodes toward the end of the season, like from the final four on, and I wanted to see who he picked. Frankly, I preferred Melissa ... I don't really know why, I just did. Now, after seeing all of the after the rose junk, I have decided that I hope that the show is scripted, because then I wouldn't have to feel so bad for what he did to Melissa on camera!

Okay, that said, I think I will stick with re-runs of M*A*S*H and Hogan's Heroes.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

I found a link for this over the weekend and loved the idea, so I am posting my own ... I am supposed to have a button to go at the top of this post, but I can't figure out how to copy it, so just imagine a picture of a lady sitting at a desk with a quill pen writing this, or go to the link at the bottom of the post and you can see it for yourself. Have a happy Monday.

FOR TODAY Monday, March 2, 2009

Outside my window... A beautiful blue sky, but still a cold morning.

I am thinking... I wish my daughter liked handwriting.

I am thankful for... my early morning quiet time. I am really going to need it for the rest of today.

From the learning rooms... handwriting practice, and then new division tables for one and new blends for the other.

From the kitchen... homemade bread about to go in the oven.

I am wearing... my favorite lounge pants (so comfy) and an old gray t-shirt from some long ago youth camp I chaperoned.

I am creating... a mom's planning book and a unit study on gardening.

I am going... to take the kid's to play practice and then to the library for books on gardening and weather.

I am reading... this week's Sunday School lesson.

I am hoping... to finish cleaning out/re-arranging our bedroom this week.

I am hearing... way too much talking from the schoolroom and "Through It All" by Selah.

Around the house... more projects than I can count.

One of my favorite things... watching the birds play in the yard this morning and knowing that spring is on the way.

A few plans for the rest of the week: work on our monthly book report for our meeting on Wednesday, get co-op work done before Thursday night!

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

No, we don't have snow today, but this just seemed appropriate for how cold it is this morning ... no problem though, it will be in the 70's by later this week, I love living in the deep south!

You can create your own daybook ... just check out this website: http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/