The Simple Woman's Daybook, February 23, 2009

FOR TODAY...

Outside my window...
Bright sun, and a dusting of snow, and cold!

I am thinking...
that I need to redirect a few kids toward schoolwork.

I am thankful for...
firewood, hot tea, and nothing scheduled outside the house today.

From the learning rooms...
Journey North class, Math, and trying to figure out what
needs to be finished up in the next 10 weeks

From the kitchen...
Not sure today. We've had a run of soups lately.
Might be time for something more solid.

I am wearing...
Jeans, a favorite turtleneck, and my softest,
most favorite flannel shirt.

I am creating...
A more peaceful place to learn and live.

I am going...
to run a few errands later.

I am reading...
The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket.
Love the colors!

I am hoping...
that we make forward progress today.
It's been a frazzled weekend.

I am hearing...
the fire popping, George Winston playing in the background,
and sick kids still coughing.

Around the house...
It's cleaner! More open spaces.

Two of my favorite things...
my tea mugs from Salmon Falls Pottery,
and my flannel shirt.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Wrap up some paperwork that needs to be tended,
grocery shopping at some point, and
school, always school.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing...
Can't get it to behave! ARGH! I will conquer this thing.....

Be sure to visit Peggy at thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com for more daybooks!

Because I probably should...

Update the blog occasionally. It's been a long week. It's been a long month. It's been a long year so far! We are getting good school done, except for the latest blip on the radar of 3 sick kids. We have a lot of activities going right now, including lots of good musical stuff for the Oldest CubKid. But I'm tired of snow and cold. I'm ready to move into Spring.

I've been crocheting a brightly colored bag lately, to hold my sock yarn, etc. I needed the color fix, I think. I should finish it tomorrow, then need to decide if I'm going to line it or not. I got the idea from a blog I found, Attic24. Love Lucy's pics, and I'm jealous of her view from her attic in the Yorkshire Dales. Wish I was there....

Anyway. I'm going to try to figure out how to play with some of the other blogs out there. I like the Simple Woman's Daybook idea, and also the uncluttering one. Boy do we need that about now. If I could just figure out how to clone myself, one of me could school the kids, while the other one cleans the house. Oh, wait. That would be the fundamental problem with my life, wouldn't it? There's only 1 of me.

Cute Cousins!

Because I've figured out how to upload images now...

Aren't they the cutest?

A couple of funnies

Since Smallest Cubkid is the best for funnies-

On the way home from Maine, we stayed at a hotel in PA. Since he's the smallest, his bed consisted of 2 armchairs, a pillow, and a blanket. In the morning, he popped his head over the side of the arm, and looks at me, and in a plaintive voice says, "Mommy, this bed is no good. It keeps hatching!". And indeed it did- the chairs kept separating in the middle, and he was in danger of dropping out.

And the other one was just this week, in the midst of plowing through the weekly grind of schoolwork, he was muddling through his phonics book, and sadly looks at me and says, "Mommy, I can't do this any more. My brain is falling apart!" Poor guy- the room erupted in gales of laughter at his expense!



A picture of him, hard at work, holding his brain together!

Freezing to death!

Brrr! In the last few days, the temps have plummeted, and the snow has fallen, and we finally hit double digits for the temperature this morning. And we have about a foot of snow. Unfortunately for my kidlets, it's just tooooo cooooold to sled for very long. We concluded this morning that it takes longer to get dressed in all the gear than they can stand to be out. On the flip side, our Christmas tree has never looked better.


Where, oh where, is my warm beach?

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay

Watching the tide roll away...

My apologies to Otis Redding, and we're not sitting on a dock, but a deck, in the Outer Banks. The kids and I came down last week and hung out in Duck, NC for the nor'easter that blew through. It was really cool to see it- lots of wind and rain, storm overwash on the roads, and the roads completely covered with sea water in spots. It was particularly bad in Kitty Hawk.

This week, we're back on Avon, our little town we like so well. We have a different house this time, since ours wasn't available the week we wanted to come down. It's a couple of streets over, has direct beach access, and we can also swim in the pool. I'm here with a friend and her 3 kids, so we're definitely a crowd. I also wrangled a deal, and she's doing the cooking all week, so I'm free as a bird. Nothing to do but contemplate the sand and sea, and look for the next photo op.

The disparity between this life and my real one is quite a shock to the system!

Mi Vida Loca

My wild and crazy life! We've taken an interesting turn. My mom had booked herself on a cruise some time ago, and was having trouble finding someone to go with her. A couple of weeks ago, she made an offhand comment to me that it was too bad I couldn't go, since we travel so well together. Well, I talked to The Lion King, and the upshot is I'm in London, heading for Dover, and then the Baltic Sea. The cruise covers the Baltic capitals. We've only ever been to Copenhagen, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the other sites, particularly Tallinn and St. Petersburg. How cool with that be? I am also going to particularly enjoy not having to distill the information I'm learning and reteach it. This is an information-for-me-only trip! I'm hoping to also go home with a good plan for the next schoolyear. I have no idea how this is going to go, not having ever been on a cruise before.