Friday, February 22, 2013

The Simple Woman's Daybook ~ 2.22.13

Because I find myself alone in a quiet house, because the blog has been quiet, because I haven't done one since before Christmas...a little Simple Woman's Daybook to end the week... 


Outside my window...
dark and quiet. An orangey streetlight, a tiny red airplane tower light blinking, the occasional car driving by.

I am thinking... 
that after I finish this, I should go curl up in the armchair in the living room and do some catch-up journaling/Bible reading. 

I am thankful for... 
two new moms who have shared with me recently that my vulnerability and honesty in talking with them about my struggles adjusting to motherhood has proved helpful and encouraging to them. It is still hard to put myself out there and have those conversations, but hearing tearful thanks from struggling mamas makes it so worth it. 

From the kitchen...
I almost never buy zucchini and summer squash anywhere but the farmers' market, in season, but it was on sale at Kroger this week so I picked some up. That sauteed with onions hit the spot for a side dish (to go with grilled salmon) at dinner tonight. Last night we had Thai chicken tacos, and tomorrow night I might try these similar-but-different black bean tacos. Tonight and tomorrow morning I'm doing some cooking for a friend who just had a baby. She needs breakfast foods, so I'm making zucchini muffins and bacon, egg and cheese cups. Steve's going to contribute our favorite oatmeal pancakes.

I am wearing...
I'm in sweats now; what I was wearing earlier was more interesting: a black button-down shirt; a red cashmere cardigan which has a giant hole in the sleeve that I pretend doesn't exist because I love the sweater so much; my first-ever pair of skinny jeans, which unfortunately don't fit right; and these red flats I'm in love with. I've wanted red shoes for ages and scored these before Christmas for less than $15 from Kohl's. So fun!

I am creating... 
digital scrapbooks, for the first time in my life. I've made a photo book online only once before, when I needed to write a social story to prepare Elijah for the birth of his baby brother. I used to be really into scrapbooking, but that fell by the wayside long ago. With the advent of digital photography, making books digitally, too, just seems so much more practical. Friends of mine make a book every year, and I love the idea but have never done it until now. I got my first one (January-April 2012) in the mail last week and I love it! It's nothing spectacular design-wise, but I'm thrilled to have all those pictures printed and captioned and preserved. Now Shutterfly is running another sale, so I'm uploading pics to work on the rest of 2012.

I am going... 
to two private school open houses next week. Our school decision is looming. Elijah will start kindergarten in the fall, and we have absolutely no idea what we're going to do. All options (public, private, homeschool) are still on the table, and we continue to think, read, talk and pray about what will be best for our family. 

I am reading... 
my old journals from college. Love looking back on my life, seeing how far God has brought me, thanking Him for the amazing people He put in my life back then, remembering answered prayers and fun experiences. I recently started 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, which I think I need to read very slowly--like a chapter at a time, then put it down and let that topic marinate for a while, do some related fasting of my own. I finally picked up Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series but am totally overwhelmed (any recommendations on which parts to hit first?). And I was excited to find The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge--a book I've been wanting to read since our walk across the bridge last September--on a friend's shelf recently...but 140 pages in, I'm bored out of my mind. And since it's a 600-pager, I'm about ready to give it a tl;dr. Not at all impressed with David McCullough thus far. I also recently finished Going Public: Your Child Can Thrive in Public School, which I found helpful.

For my Bible reading, I'm in Exodus. I'm liking how I decided to flip back and forth with my reading plan: Acts, Genesis, Romans, Exodus, 1 Corinthians, Leviticus, etc.

I am hoping... 
to find someone to watch Jude a couple of times a month so I can volunteer at the elementary school where Elijah would go next year if we choose public school. I really hate not living closer to our families or our church family!

I am hearing... 
the oven buzzer, and blissful silence. Love late nights when everyone else is sleeping. Sadly I do not get to indulge my night-owl preferences very often. Just isn't good for me or my family, most of the time.

Around the house... 
I discovered some sort of teeny tiny bug in my dry-goods cupboard...gross, right?...so I get to spend tomorrow emptying the entire cupboard, figuring out what they've gotten into, throwing out tons of ruined food, cleaning, and repackaging things into airtight containers. FUN TIMES.

One of my favorite things... 
Elijah being a kind big brother--and his eagerness to please his daddy, wanting me to tell Steve about how he was kind or how he obeyed. 

A few plans for the rest of the week... 
heading to a baby shower tomorrow afternoon; possibly having dinner with friends on Sunday.

A picture thought I am sharing... 
Clifford the Big Red Dog is Jude's BFF. As in, Jude won't go to bed without Clifford, insists that Clifford sit next to him at breakfast, and likes to read books to Clifford. It's irritating at times, but also really adorable:

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ahhhhh..... very nice snapshot of your day. :-)

Zoanna said...

Enjoyed this daybook of yours, as always. It really is like peeking into your home life without being creepy right? I can't guide you on the Mason series because I wasn't into her method back in the day, and I'm not sure why.

As you consider your school choices, remember that you will give up what and how your kids are being taught for however many hours they are in the care of others if you send them to school. They will get your leftover energy when they get home from school, not your primary daytime energy. They will also become more like their peers the longer they're exposed to them, which is fine IF they choose good peers. I found it easier in homeschool co-ops to get to know the kinds of families I wanted our young kids to hang with. If you homeschool, you have to know for sure you're called to it and you have a vision for it because it requires your whole self. I don't regret the first 14-15 years of it for a second because i was fully engaged. However the last 2-3 I had no zest or vision, I had basically an "only child" who wasn't surrounded by sibs and who needed a social life, as did I. I think homeschooling is the best option if a mom feels called to it. And that's not to say she feels adequate to the task==who does?==or that she'll have failures. Hey, even public and private teachers feel THAT way, and we move on to the next day, no big deal. But your kids will learn the most at their pace from their mom, and if she is loving school, she will pass that love on. If she doesn't particularly want to teach academics, if she is good at letting go of control over what they learn and at what pace and surrounded by whomever is assigned to the class, then private school is a good second option. For us, public school was never on the table as an option, even though we moved to "better school" districts (ie better drugs or parents who drive their kids to succeed under a great deal of pressure). We have a niece and nephew who teach in public school and they would say, "Aunt Zo, keep doing what you're doing at home!"

Danielle said...

Red shoes! Nice. I've kinda wanted some ever since I saw "Chocolat." And I'm so glad you did a digital photo book and like the result!

I've never read Charlotte Mason, so I can give you no tips there. My mom has her books and if/when I feel around to reading them I may try. I know I've adsorbed a great deal of her philosophy, but I should probably still read a bit of her. I read a book called "For the Children's Sake" that quoted her a lot and based on her work, although it was by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, Francis Schaeffer's daughter.

emily said...

love this!
such a heavy, difficult decision to make about schooling choices ...
may i offer our experience? mama to three: 12 year old daughter and our 2 boys, ages 22 months and 5 months (!!). our sweet girl attended private christian school kindergarten - 3rd, and we started homeschooling in 4th grade. it's been beautiful, difficult and absolutely the right path for our family. my hubby and i feel certain that we are called to be the primary influencers of our girl - not same-age peers (a relatively modern phenomena). an additional, huge motivator for me was really experiencing my daughter (shy, reticent to raise her hand) getting lost in her class, her teachers (after spending a year together! all day!) didn't *know her, and then i realized: how could they? and why should i expect them to? they have a full class! and yet without tapping in to the uniqueness of *her* learning style, giftings, strengths and weaknesses - how could we expect her learning to be ideal?
having these two precious boys in the past two years has certainly shaken things up and many days i feel unable to do the best job ... so there are seasons. :) (i remind myself of this! hee hee ). we just started in classical conversations this year - an *amazing* classical community where the kids meet once/week for seminars then are home the rest of the week.
it's a good fit for our family, for now. i always leave the door open and want to not ever be too attached to any style or method but always be open to GOD's direction for us.
blessings and hugs!!!