Watching the Macy's parade
Scrubbing dusty cookware
Peeling lessons
The dining room table
The kids' table
Close-up of the dancing turkey banner
The centerpiece Worker made with my teapot
"Go Bobby!"
My Mom and Bob
Buddies - Snuggler with his cousin Patrick
It was a great, relaxing day. I have so much to be thankful for. I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving too.
FOR TODAY November 29th, 2009...
Outside my window... I am writing this at night. I can see pretty Christmas lights on our bushes.
I am thinking... about nothing in particular, which is really unusual for me.
I am thankful for... my family, my home, my friends, and God, who picked me up and put me on my feet, and who is always here for me.
From the learning rooms... I just made up checklists for the entire month of December for everyone's independent work. Together we'll be doing Jesse Tree readings, singing Christmas carols, baking, listening to books on CD, making some Christmas ornaments, taking nature walks and watching movies.
From the kitchen... I ate a Thanksgiving wrap for dinner. To make one, you take a tortilla, put some leftover turkey on it, add some stuffing and some cranberry sauce, roll it up and heat it in the microwave for one minute.
I am wearing... a long sleeve purple (for the first day of Advent) v-neck T-shirt, a long denim skirt, black leggings, and gray wool socks.
I am creating... very slowly... a new blog about living more simply. But mostly I'm freewriting on lined paper whatever thoughts come to mind about minimalism, letting go of stuff, of fears, of control, etc.
I am going... to bed past my bedtime tonight. Ooops.
I am reading... a few blogs, articles about Tiger Woods' accident, the Magnificat, and the Bible (occasionally). I've been on a movie kick this week.
I am hoping... to start cleaning out my basement, but only if my regular daily chores are caught up.
I am hearing... the humming of the PC and nothing else. Yes!
Around the house... decorating is in full swing. The tree is up, electric candles are in the windows, the Willow Tree nativity is out on the hutch, and the air smells of Balsam & Cedar, Home for the Holidays and Christmas Cookie. (Sorry, I'm too tired to link to those Yankee Candles.)
One of my favorite things... is my husband, who cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for my family, and who watched the kids this weekend while I enjoyed my birthday facial, manicure and pedicure, went to breakfast with a friend, went to the adoration chapel, went here and there and everywhere.
A few plans for the rest of the week: Wow, this daybook is long. Let's see... I'm going to see A Christmas Carol with my sister, Bobby and I have a Christmas Dinner on Friday night with friends from our parish's PreCana team, and Saturday night will be the boys' birthday party.
Here is picture thought I am sharing...
The other daybook (or, if they're like mine, nightbook) entries can be found at The Simple Woman's Daybook blog.
1. I spent about a half hour yesterday holding Hannah (who's 16 months old now), while she made a sound like mmmm-moi and then gave me a wet kiss. Over and over. It's definitely a benefit of my job.
2. Almost every morning when Bobby (my dear husband) leaves for his office, I stand in the doorway of the garage while he gets into his vehicle, and he says, "Have a great day at your awesome job!"
3. Bobby and I have been talking about things like high ideals, never reaching perfection, always trying to improve, not settling for mediocrity, and being satisfied with patient progress. These are the kinds of topics that come up in conversations with people with blog names like My Thoughtful Spot.
4. I joined twitter just to ask Leo Babauta from Zen Habits if he knew of any blogging minimalist homeschooling families. I was psyched that he responded to my question, but his answer was: No, but if you find blogging minimalist homeschooling families, let me know. Bummer.
5. Bobby gave me a gift card for a spa treatment for my 40th birthday. I have plans on Black Friday to go to this spa with a new friend of mine, who is also turning 40 soon. I'm so excited!
6. I've been unsubscribing to business emails all week. And my inbox currently has 5 messages in it. Can I keep it current now? We'll see.
7. I was pretty grossed out by the soft boiled eggs I made for breakfast Thursday morning. Hannah, on the other hand, enjoyed them. She was an egghead, literally.
See more Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary.
We were on vacation in Plymouth, MA last week during the Outdoor Hour Challenge #7: to learn about squirrels. I didn't pack The Handbook of Nature Study or the Squirrel Notebook Pages, and we didn't really learn much about squirrels, BUT (you knew there was a but, right?) we had one AWESOME nature walk!
The kids were spotting squirrels wherever we went. We'd stop and watch them, and I'd try to take a good picture of them, but those little buggers are quick. This guy lives at Plimoth Plantation.
One of the kids spotted this one while I was parking our van at Brewster Gardens.
The Jenney Grist Mill. Here we saw a squirrel running away with an apple core. (I couldn't catch him with the camera.)
It was windy and cold. I was happy that we didn't get all the rain that was predicted. Some of the kids were whining and complaining until I reminded them that we don't necessarily have to come on trips like this anymore.
They were really fun after that.
Someone yelled, "Cattails!!!" (It wasn't me.) Can you see them in this picture? I took an assortment of blurry close-ups of them that I'm going to delete.
The girls collected some pretty leaves. I don't know what happened to them. We ended our morning at a playground by the sea. We could only stand the wind for about 15 minutes, but it felt so good to be outside.
And this photo makes me want to go back.
Bobby took a CIC (Certified Insurance Counselor) course in Plymouth last week, while the kids and I enjoyed a vacation. I'm grateful that he wanted us to come along with him. I'll post a few favorite pictures here and I think I'll make a photo album on facebook because it's so quick and easy.
OK, so I couldn't post just a few favorites...
We're getting back to our usual schedule this week. Or trying anyway. I went to bed by 10:30 p.m. last night. I got up at 6:00 a.m. and I didn't even press the snooze button. Not even once! I stuck with my prayer times so far... Now it's time to wrap up the school day, fold laundry and make dinner. Worker is moving Hannah's crib from the school room to the playroom, which will be her temporary bedroom as of tonight. I haven't decided where blogging fits into my Rule, so I'm doing it in bits here and there. I have loads more to say, but not much time right now. Posts always take longer than I expect them to. I hope you're having a great day!
It was lovely. I received so many happy birthday wishes from my family and friends on facebook, in cards and through phone calls. My mother and her husband called and sang to me. My brother in Tennessee and my sister called. They never forget my birthday. My Dad and Cheryl joined us for Chinese food. Here's my loving family. It looks like the girls wanted the big cookie.
As for the purging party, it went as well as can be expected with five kids. We cleared the girls room, boys room and playroom of so much clutter. Unfortunately, most of it was moved into the basement. I will continue to pick away at my own stuff a little bit at a time. Minimalist ideas have been swirling around in my head. Maybe this happens to forty year olds. I think I'm either going to write about them in a paper journal or start a new blog, because this one is just too cluttered for me. Of course, I'll still post here about my family and homeschooling.
Challenge #5, observing pumpkins, was posted a couple of weeks ago at the Handbook of Nature Study blog. Although I'm late in posting this, we did go out that week and enjoyed being outdoors in October. We met some friends at Fletcher Farm, where we walked through the pumpkin patch and picked our own pumpkins.
We saw more than just pumpkins. Hannah loved the little goats and baby cows. These were my favorite.
And this, found in my camera, is always attractive to Worker.
Some of the kids drew their pumpkins this week when we were ready to carve them. It turned out that they were decaying, so I bought a few more. The new ones were rock hard. Bobby used a power tool to help the kids carve them on Halloween. We saved the seeds, for what I'm not sure. Maybe we can plant them next year.
