Living

A Tuesday Night Daybook...

Happy Feast of St Bridget of Sweden!

{Outside my window}

It's dark out, but there is a beautiful crescent moon out

{Thinking about}

family, friends, children, God's will

{Thankful for}

Prayers, my awesome husband, my children, a visit to the fair last Friday

{In the kitchen}

Um, not really much worth commenting on ~ my husband grilled extra chicken over the weekend so that part is good, the rest is just normal - some roasted broccoli and cauliflower, fresh fruit, same old same old.  As it cools off, I am ready for some chili, soup, warm yummy smells throughout the day

{I am wearing}

Pajama pants, and a sweatshirt that is over 20 years old ~ I keep trying to find a replacement as it is falling apart, but nothing else is as comfortable as this

{I am going}

To bed soon is where I should be going.  Mass tomorrow evening and bookclub (I should try to finish reading the book)

{I am looking forward to}

Mass and bookclub tomorrow, visiting with my husband, an Oblate retreat on Saturday, and a Pontifical High Mass on Sunday that both my boys are serving at.

{Learning notes}

Love math u see!  Tanner enjoys his math lessons and does really well with it.  

We are enjoying some of the read alouds we are reading our way through - some that we are enjoying are Vendela in Venice, and Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

{Books being read}

I am trying to get read Twice Crowned Knight for our bookclub group tomorrow.  I keep getting distracted though - trying to complete dhs paperwork to do respite care for a friend, get all of our paperwork filled out for dhs to get through the process for adoption, and just trying to keep things moving here at home.

{Snapshot found}

the animals at the fair in the petting zoo really liked long skirts

A Friday daybook...

{Outside my window}

Rainy, drizzly day.  We have really needed the rain, so God's timing is perfect as always

{Thinking about}

My thoughts are on children who have no parents to take care of them.  Last night there were 20 children in our local shelter that were under the age of 6.  Children who should have parents to tuck them in with prayers and kisses are sleeping in a shelter with no family.  Praying what my part is in helping those children.  Praying hard!

{Thankful for}

Rain, God's mercy, my husband, my children, my faith, a morning of fun this week spent with friends at our local Greek Orthodox festival, dinner with friends

{In the kitchen}

It is Ember Friday, so not much happening in our kitchen.  I had fried egg for breakfast with some avocado, part of a leftover bean and cheese quesadilla for lunch, and I am not sure about dinner yet.

{I am wearing}

a cozy long demin skirt, white pullover cotton shirt (this style is my favorite, I have multiple colors), bare feet

{I am going}

Headed to the Monastery later in the afternoon for Vespers, quiet, and spiritual direction  

{I am looking forward to}

planting some fall flowers out front, and weeding flower beds in the backyard

{Learning notes}

3rd week of school, and plans are going smoothly ~ beans growing in jars, great short conversations on why we are reading Greek mythology, review of math done, and loving all the reading aloud going on here

{Books being read}

Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy (loving it), daily reading from the Commentary for Benedictine Oblates, and bookclub reading of Twice Crowned Knight.  I have to take a break from Kristin Lavransdatter so I can read the bookclub book

 

 

 

 

Seasons changing...

Even though it still has been in the 90's during the day, I can feel that we are slipping slowly into fall.  The mornings are nice to sit out front and sip on some double spice chai tea, say my morning prayers, and watch my son toss the ball up repeatedly to catch it.

After the summer months of simple, quick, easy meals, with not much new, I find myself looking for recipes, baking bread {which actually ended up very tough}, making yogurt in the crock-pot, and finally getting around to trying a cheese-making kit I bought a couple years ago.  

My youngest started 2nd grade, week 1 went great, then he ended up with fluid in his ears, fluid in his lungs, and on 5 different medicines.  Breathing treatments have become part of our days for now.  So, after 1 week of school, we had 1 week off, then started our 2nd week this week.  

After a day of uncooperative work, he has quickly learned that if he works with attention school is over and he has the rest of the day to play Lego's, watch a little TV, color with oil pastels {his new favorite thing to draw with} play on the computer a bit, play with a neighbor friend who is doing the local public school at home, and join some other homeschoolers for nature study.

Narnia drawing done with oil pastels

  Lessons learned again in gardening our small suburban garden...mark when you plant your sweet potato plants...although guessing did work out in my case.  14lbs of sweet potatoes have been dug, 10 butternut squash, cantaloupes have been gifted to friends, my stepdaughter has taken many back home with her, and we have enjoyed some here. 

And so we will slip into fall and the rythym of our days will change right along with the season.

*I am slowly moving posts over to this blog ~ I started with 2008 posts, then quickly bored of that so I moved forward.  At times I feel silly keeping a blog, like I think I have something worthwhile to say...but I do, for myself and my family.  I have enjoyed looking back through those old posts, seeing what we were doing, and looking at the pictures.

Related articles

Planning and a quote...

Living...

The start of a new blog.  Since I believe 2008 I have had many blogs - some private, some short lived, but all from my heart.  I have blogged to journal for myself, and my family.  I take lots of pictures - not beautiful pictures with a fancy camera, normally they are snapshots taken with my phone ~ but to me they are beautiful.  The pictures are of my day, my family, my life.

My life is full of joy!  The joy I want to remember, I want my kids to remember, that is what I hope to record here.  Just know that this is for my family, I am not a writer, and will not pretend to be one.  Some posts might be short, just a photo, a quote, a prayer, others might be longer ~ my ideas or thoughts on things that are on my mind.  Why have this blog public?  Why start over?  I enjoy the community I have found in the blog world.  Starting over sometimes is just simplier.

I am a traditional Catholic wife, a mother who homeschools our youngest, a mom who cares for a handful of children who's parent's are kind enough to allow me to be a part of their lives, a step mom who loves even when it hurts, and a hopeful Benedictine Oblate {I began my noviate May 29th of 2013}.

Planning and a Quote...

I am working on planning Tanner's 2nd grade school year.  It feels like Christmas around here as the UPS man or postman come ringing the bell bringing more books.  I love it!

This year we will mainly be using Mater Amabilis with minor changes.  Hopefully I will make the time to list out the resources we are using, but tonight is not the time.  My house is quiet as the guys went downtown to catch a baseball game tonight and I opted to stay home, enjoy the quiet, go to bed early, and work on a little school planning.  Have to take the quiet moments while I can.

A friend sent me this quote today, and I didn't want to forget it....

We have a great garden growing this year ~ cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, sweet potatoes, peppers, basil, rosemary, lavendar, butternut squash, and these cantelope that my step daughter really wanted to grow

 

Sixty Seconds on Tuesday...

 

A minute of my day

This was right after he was trying to start a fire with old sunflower stalks from last year...just likeMan Vs. Wild he told me - Thanks discovery channel!

Square Foot Gardening Started...

I'm so excited - last year I actually grew some food and hopefully this year we will have more food from our garden and less from the store / farmer's market!

I have flipped through and read from The Square Foot Garden and I love every page of it - I'm kinda nerdy like that.  I love planning out a garden, digging in the dirt, and luckily I have a husband who is awesome and indulges me with things like raised beds with an awesome mix of peat, vermiculite, and compost, and builds really cool vertical growing towers. - he even has a conduit bender which I have heard is a cool guy tool :)

 

 
I get to stare at my awesome garden from my window in my front room where I spend most of my day - LOVE IT!

For now we have put seeds in - beets, chard (lots of it), corn, green beans, radish, carrots, broccoli and I have one more box to plant plus my regular garden area from last year.  I can't wait to see little seedlings peek their heads out!

**I had a neighbor bring me  a bunch of tomato seedlings that are about 4" tall anyone know if that is tall enough at this time to actually produce some good tomatoes in Oklahoma?

Sixty Seconds on Tuesday...

 

Savoring the view of our grapes growing!

Shared Scraps...

MONTHS ago, Jennifer at Cozy as Spring had a give away for fabric scraps and I WON! I was so excited!  When I received the fabric in the mail I was even more excited...it wasn't small scraps, there was some good size pieces of fabric in the bag.

The fabric sat and sat.  I didn't want to cut it, I didn't know what I wanted to do with it...then I decided...

 
 
Log cabin quilt block for an envelope pillow...two of them live on our couch very happy and I still have a pile of scraps :)  Hopefully they won't lay around as long before I decide what to use them on.  I'm loving the patchwork pillow on her blog today!

Jennifer thanks so much for the fabric! 

**pattern for envelope pillow with log cabin front found here

Sixty Seconds on Tuesday...

 

 

Just taking a minute to remember a minute from my days...why the little one loves lemon juice I will never understand.

Have a blessed Tuesday!