Simple Woman

FOR TODAY January 12, 2009...

Outside my window... gray skies, drizzle, the bare brown branches of my little maple

I am thinking...about my menus for the week

I am thankful for...my husband and his hard work - two jobs so I can stay home with the kids

From the learning rooms...starting our unit on the War of 1812 and amphibians

From the kitchen... homemade vanilla yogurt culturing - 4 quarts this time since we ran out last week

I am wearing...soft corduroys and soft green sweater, beat-up slippers (I think there's a hole in the toe - one feels funny)

I am creating...just working on my blanket

I am going...to Costco with my hubby for a date - and the fill up the pantry

I am reading...Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith - really cute book - a relaxing read

I am hoping...to get back to exercising this week

I am hearing...A Mr. Monk dvd playing in the living room - my son gave me a series for Christmas. It's a fun show.

Around the house...Still working on that laundry pile - I'm thinking that I need to get some new houseplants - maybe a flowering violet to cheer up the place on these gray days

One of my favorite things...Squealing babies!!! Esther has discovered her voice!

A few plans for the rest of the week...the big guys have a snow retreat with church this weekend - I'm sure that will involve several errands with me as the taxi driver.

Here is picture thought I am sharing: Sam wasn't to sure about the lavender smell when we picked from this field this summer - but I can say I sure enjoy the scent now in my room from my dried flowers. :0)
For more Simple Woman Daybook entries you can go to: http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Blessings,
Christine

What a mess!!!

Our neighborhood looked like this just a little while ago. Then the jet stream changed practically overnight and brought our winter storms from Hawaii instead of Alaska. So we went from this:


To this in hours - it was weird!!


But that means that rivers that looked like this:


Now look like this (and very much worse - we just didn't want to get in a place where we were stuck!!) BTW the bridge we took that first picture from is now completely under water!! Could not even get close to it there was so much water!!!


And local farmlands that looked like this:

Now look like this (the picture can't show how far that water reaches!! As far as the eye can see)
Whole towns are dealing with water where it isn't supposed to be. Everyone to some degree has been affected - whether it is dealing with limited transportation, extended company (as we had) because people couldn't get home due to quickly rising rivers (our niece just was able to get home yesterday) or homes filled with water. What a mess!! The joys of living in a beautiful area filled with lots of rivers streams and creeks does have its problems at times! This also shows that we are really at the mercy of things far more powerful that us even if we like to think we are in charge. I'm so glad our family knows the One who is Most Powerful - the One who created water and weather and all things. The Amazing thing is - He knows me!!!!

Blessings,
Christine

P.S. We are in prayer for those who lost much in these storms - and will help any way we can!!!

Music Galore!!

After a nice break music lessons have begun again. So the instruments are out and kids are madly practicing (catching up :0).

The guitars are out - the big boys play these:

The drumming has resumed
The fiddling has started

All beautiful music - I enjoy all the music that is always going on in our house. Not being particularly musically talented myself I do truly enjoy listening. When Esther is bigger I will start my music lessons again as well. I am painfully learning to play the fiddle also. My fiddle is taking a short rest while Esther grows but then I will be back at it.

Irish Dance lessons have also restarted: Ruthie is doing so well!!

There are a lot of lessons going on in this house!! We have managed to combine fiddle, dance and guitar lessons with other homeschool activities to keep the running around to a minimum (which I'm glad for). Music is so worthwhile to learn!! I wonder what instruments will catch the fancy of the younger crowd?

Blessings,

Christine

FOR TODAY January 5, 2009...

Outside my window... Rain dripping - snow sliding off the trees

I am thinking...about Esther being five months today - it doesn't seem like she could be five months yet - maybe I miscounted

I am thankful for...routine

From the learning rooms...getting back in the groove

From the kitchen...vegetable chicken soup, homemade Italian dinner rolls, and applesauce. Also homemade vanilla yogurt culturing.

I am wearing...the standard denim skirt and thermal pink top.

I am creating...a tiny felted pocketbook type bag for my crochet hooks - making up the pattern - I hope it works

I am going...to finish getting my house back in order after all the guests etc. The last one left yesterday

I am reading...I am NOT going to read my seed catalogs yet - I'm not, I'm not, I'm not!!!

I am hoping...my sore neck goes away quick

I am hearing...Daddy telling the little ones to slow down the game of tag they've got going on - lots of laughing and shouting.

Around the house...Things are getting back to normal - must get caught back up with the laundry (does that ever really happen or is it just a dream?)

One of my favorite things...Seed catalogs in January (I'm not going to read them yet!!!)

A few plans for the rest of the week...just enjoying the regular routine

Here is picture thought I am sharing:

I do enjoy a routine and I'm glad to begin again trying to keep one together. For more Simple Woman Daybook entries you can go to: http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Blessings,
Christine

Again!!!

Another snow storm has once again hit us. One snowflake is beautiful - thousands upon thousands covering everything with marshmallow cream is magical!!

It's supposed to turn to rain so I am going to watch it fall as much as possible tonight!!

Blessings,

Christine

Drawing To An End

We have had so very much fun the last couple of weeks. Playing in the snow, eating way too much, enjoying family and just general festivity. Today was really the last hurrah of the holiday season for us. My sister and her hubby who have been visiting from Washington DC spent their last day with us. She and I bummed around a local antique store and had lunch together. It was nice to spend some time alone with her!!!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon with my brother and his family. They live nearby but with our busy lives we don't spend much time together although they are counted as some of our most favorite people :0)!!! My brother and sis-in-law adopted 5 beautiful children - some of them with many difficulties. They have been presented with some awesome challenges in raising these kids but are doing an amazing job!!! God's grace carries them daily!! We often have the pleasure of their oldest daughter spending time with us. She is a delight!! She has spent a good portion of this week with us which has been great fun!!

This evening we needed some wind down time so my sweet hubby fixed dinner while I dozed on the couch (I was intending to work on my blanket but sorta fell asleep instead :0) Then we ate dinner watching the movie Wall-e. Cute movie. Just a fun quiet evening sitting together.

Tomorrow the Christmas pretties will be wrapped carefully and put away until next year. Since my computer was sick for a while I didn't get to post a picture of my favorite Christmas decoration in my home so I will now before I take them all down:

This gives me the most pleasure of all to see at Christmas time - EIGHT stockings hung by the fire - what a gift God has blessed me with - Eight wonderful children to raise for Him~~
This is my newest addition to my snowman collection. I rescued her from my favorite thrift store for only $1.48!! I am crazy about her. My daughter said it was because she is just like me - and the more I though about it I agree. She's short, soft and round and so am I! She likes skirts and so do I. She always has a baby in her arms and so do I! My nose isn't quite so orange but all in all we could be twins :0)!!

Just a picture of my beautiful niece and handsome son watching the movie this evening. I just love it when we have a few extras hanging around - just adds to the fun!!

So very soon life will be settling down to the slightly less busy routine we have. I'm looking forward to regular bedtimes some quieter evenings but the joy of spending time with family that we don't get to see very often is a delight that I wouldn't trade for anything!!

Blessings

Mom of lots

Happy New Year

Well, it's a New Year. The holidays are coming to a close. I am beginning to be ready to take down the tree and pack up my Christmas pretties and start our regular routine again. We have a couple more days of precious family time and then it's back to school and chores and daily life. I love both - the routine of regular days and the busyness of the holidays!!!

One funny thing though, is that I feel a little lost without a project that I must complete. My hands are empty of a craft at the moment. Well, not really - I have a blanket I'm working on and lots of ideas roaming around in my head for all the new yarn my sister blessed me with as a Christmas gift (what an awesome gift, too!!!!). But, I don't have anything with a deadline or some special secret I'm working on. I am enjoying getting back to my blanket and being able to work out in the open - but those secrets are so much fun to do!!!


Now I can share what I have been spending my time on - as all those peeping eyes now know what all the things hiding in my closet are. So here goes:

All the kids got pillowcases: One flannel one with fun pictures that reminded me of them
And one fancy one with their favorite colors or activity on them.

I made my hubby a new journal with a nice new pen (oops - got the picture sideways - I can't seem to figure out how to fix it now that it is on here - sorry about that :0)

And for my sisters whose names I drew I did a theme gift this year. The theme was WARMTH. So, I crocheted warm scarves for each of them. Then I made rice bags scented with lavender and some homemade lavender bath salts in very old canning jars. Each little gift came with a poem about being warm and cozy. This was a really fun gift to make!!! I loved every minute of it and spent a lot of time trying to match the style of scarf and fabric for their rice bag to their personality.

For my Parents-in-laws I made tiny picnic baskets filled with pictures of picnic foods and a poem telling them that as soon as the weather is warm we will be taking them on a picnic to the zoo. I think that will be a fun thing for each of them to look forward to.

It was fun making all these things and now it's time to get my hands busy with new things. New Year - new projects!!!

Happy New year to everyone!!!