Friday, February 12, 2010

The Simple Woman's Daybook ~ 2.12.10

So much for regaining my blogging groove, eh? I thought life was going to settle down a little after the holidays...apparently not so much. If nothing else, a little Simple Woman's Daybook...

Outside my window...
snow! Nothing compared to the East Coast, but still, more than we've ever seen since moving to Tennessee almost five years ago. Enough to make a crazy driver plow through our front yard on Monday night and completely take out our mailbox, which is still lying destroyed in the yard, meaning we've gotten no mail in four days.

I am thinking...
nothing profound, just several scattered, random things come to mind: how badly I need to reorganize the files on our computer, like I reorganized our paper files--and how long that's going to take...how I need and want to get back into the habit of writing/blogging...of fun plans coming up in the next few months...where I can get some Girl Scout cookies...

I am thankful for...
Steve's arrival home early today (he worked a little late last night)--meaning I got to run errands before places closed *without* having to take the little man out in the cold and get him in and out of his carseat four thousand times. It's the little things...

From the kitchen...
I'm in the midst of a pantry/freezer grocery challenge this month, trying to keep spending WAAAAY down and use up what we've got on hand. My original spending goal has proven to be completely unrealistic, but I'm still spending tons less than the monthly budget, which is nice. We'll be cleaning out the refrigerator for dinner tonight--but having steak tomorrow to make up for it. Haystack cookies (chocolate and butterscotch chips melted together and coating chow mein noodles) cooling in the fridge. Otherwise, nothing too exciting. Actually the next thing I need to make isn't food at all, but rather, homemade diaper rash cream.

I am wearing...
jeans, a silk long-sleeved undershirt (for warmth), a white t-shirt, a purple and gray zip-cardigan sweater, socks and slippers.

I am creating...
stamped cards--my friend Melissa came over last night (yay!) and got me going, so now my supplies are spread all over the dining room table. Since we aren't having any guests this weekend, I'm leaving it all out for a few days and hoping to get lots more cards made (we did more talking than stamping last night).

I am going...
to have to hide some of Elijah's books again soon. He has a handful of favorites that I don't think I can stand to read very many more times without a break :)

I am reading...
endless piles of children's books--and daily fighting to be grateful, not annoyed, when I'm interrupted with pleas of "read! read!" and a book thrust in my face :) Bible-wise, started the book of Deuteronomy this week (one of my favorite OT books), and I'm loving the first couple of chapters. Look for some blog posts soon, hopefully.

I just finished The House of Mirth this morning, and enjoyed it. Still in Soul Survivor and recently picked up Practicing Hospitality. Hoping to get into Nourishing Traditions soon. Also going through Love to Eat, Hate to Eat a third time, this time with my best friend. Aaand...I picked up Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era at the library this afternoon...not realizing it was going to be 800+ pages. Oy.

I am hoping...
that God will give me grace to talk to Him more and listen to myself less--to preach the gospel to myself and trust what I know is true, rather than letting my fickle emotions dictate my interpretation of reality.

I am hearing...
Shane & Shane's Psalms CD. That album never gets old!

Around the house...
finishing this up several hours after I started it, so these answers are a little jumbled. Just a quiet Friday evening, waiting for the little man's bedtime so we can watch a movie. Steve is in the living room trying to read--but not getting much done because Elijah has started taking him books instead of me :)

One of my favorite things...
cuddling with Elijah and his "wonnie" (lion) for a few minutes after he wakes up. For a while, the routine was to give the lion (who is huge--bigger than Elijah) a hug and a kiss before coming downstairs. Now the routine is to take his blanket out of his crib and go snuggle up with the lion. He sometimes lets me come snuggle too :)

A few plans for the rest of the week...
anticipating a quiet weekend at home with my hubby, after three busy and full weekends in a row. We've just started a two-week free trial of Netflix--we've been members in the past but have no intention of renewing past this trial; I simply wanted to be able to watch a few documentaries that we can't get through Redbox. So at some point we'll probably end up watching Food Inc, King Corn, and/or The Business of Being Born.

I hope that next week's plans will include coffee with a friend, a playdate with a friend I haven't seen since before Christmas, and maybe one or two other hospitality opportunities.

A picture thought I am sharing...
none today, unfortunately...I don't have pics on this computer. I tried to take a new picture of Elijah and the lion this afternoon (we've been taking them periodically to show how he's growing), but discovered my camera battery was dead. If I think of it, I'll come back and post that once I take it. It's time for a new one--my little man is officially two and a half. Wow.

Happy weekend, everyone!

10 comments:

Danielle said...

Good for you to finish anything by Henry James. Only ever read The Turn of the Screw. Everything else I ever tried fell by the wayside. I watched The House of Mirth and found it completely depressing. But then the movie is always different and not as good as the book.

Finished So Young, Brave and Handsome and really enjoyed it!

Amy said...

Henry James? Maybe there are two books titled "The House of Mirth" - the one I read was Edith Wharton.

Danielle said...

Ha, that's embarrassing for a Eng. major! I did know that, actually, but confused the authors somehow. Let's blame it on pregnancy brain. I've actually never tried reading Wharton. I've only tried reading "The Wings of the Dove" and got to about page 5.

Amy said...

ha--pregnancy brain AND mothering toddlers, you've got plenty of excuses :)

Wharton is one of the few classic authors I am somewhat well-read in...just because of college lit classes. I think one of my favorite profs did her doctoral dissertation on Wharton. so we read Ethan Frome for one of her classes and The Age of Innocence for another. I liked all of them well enough--though yes, The House of Mirth was depressing. I kind of think that's typical for Wharton.

Bethany said...

Oh I want girl scout cookies now. Are you still doing your CSA? We use to do netflix too but felt like we spent to much time in front of the tv...to get our monies worth and also watched things we normally wouldn't so I understand....I do miss it for the hard to find movies. We just rent from iTunes now...they don't have everything but enough and we have a cord to hook our iPods into the tv to watch.

Love the love to eat hate to eat book. I met her when I first moved here and was so glad to. I did her more than bread workbook in college when I had a bit of problem. And read love to eat hate to eat later. Such good stuff.

Can't believe our kids are 2.5. Can't wait to see your big boy with his lion !!!

Amy said...

hey, Bethany! no, our CSA only ran May-November...good thing because it was really a ripoff. not sure what we are going to do this summer.

we aren't Netflix members for the same reason--it can be a great deal, but we end up watching lots more movies than we otherwise would, just b/c we were paying for it already. works out better to do redbox once or twice a month--but this little trial is awfully nice to catch a few movies we can't get! I'll have to keep the iTunes thing in mind.

Zoanna said...

Not a fan of Henry James, but I think I remember liking Wharton (but couldn't take a steady dit of her dark themes).

I came across this quote in an online bio that included her friendship with Henry James:

"When Wharton learned of the death of her friend Henry James on 28 February 1916 she wrote “We who knew him well know how great he would have been if he had never written a line.”

I didn't read it the quote the way it was intended. I interpreted it as, "He shouldn't have written a line. He could have been great if it weren't for that." Oy, my opinions are egregious, huh?

Anyway, as for Elijah, I do remember the days when "read! read!" was annoying, and I can see wisdom in rotating out some of the ones it's nearly impossible to read One, more. time. But there will come a day when you wish he'd bring you one book and sit in your lap and listen to you read. I don't mean to sound like an old sap, but I am. My baby turns 8 tomorrow. The sweetest thing we did this week was read together on the couch (I made him, but in the middle of a book, he twirled my hair and said "You're the best mom I've ever had."

Danielle said...

I love Redbox for recent films and the library for older stuff. We've never had Netflix but I have thought it would be fun for harder to find stuff.

Maybe I should give Wharton a try, since you and Zoanna both like her. I really should, to round out my Victorian/Edwardian repertoire of novels.

Kim said...

Wow- you've been busy. How do you find the time to do it all?

Amy said...

ha! Zo, I totally read the quote the same way the first time :) seems it's missing a little word: "EVEN" would have made it a lot less ambiguous!