The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY, 18th January 2010...

Outside my window... dark... can't wait until the lighter evenings come in...


I am thinking... I would like to be able to be full of energy in the mornings again, not lathargic and taking ages to 'get going'... 'tis just a season, and it will pass as the lighter mornings come in...


I am Remembering... the lovely snowman we made last week... he is just hanging on in there by the skin of his teeth!


I am thankful for... tickly children!


From the learning rooms... the 3 R's; lots of good books; science - the 1st and 2nd laws of Thermodynamics & starting to look at the human body; history - restarting Mystery of History (long story behind that!), creation, Adam & Eve and Jubal & Tubal-cain; art/geography - Italy; music - Haydn; Art - John Singer-sargent


From the kitchen... today, baked potato, cheese, tuna mayo and salad; tues, tinned spag/saus or soup, veg; wed, rice, beans, veg; thurs, Pizza Hut (due to 50% off voucher!); fri, cottage pie, veg; sat, roast chicken, veg; sun, frozen food of choice


I am wearing... trusty old denim skirt, denim coloured shirt, fleece


I am creating... chaos everywhere! a couple of 'light' mornings have made me want to re-organise lots of things and I've been shifting boxes and 'stuff' around and generally 'recreating' various areas... I daresay I'll be exhausted in a couple of days, but hopefully all sorted! What I really could do with doing is making a quilted draft-excluder for the patio doors in the lounge, as there is quite a draft coming in... maybe I'll be inspired to start this week...


I am going... to try not to get frustrated when the internet does not work in the evenings and I can't 'play' on the computer... maybe it's the Lord's provision? there are, after all, far too many other things to be getting on with...


I am reading... Romans (we are going through this at church, and it was suggested we also read through it at home)


I am hoping... that the kids might suddenly be inspired to help around the house without having to be asked! (do pigs fly??!)


I am hearing... ticking clock, occasional car passing, slight music beat from next door...


Around the house... it is feeling quite nice and cosy...


One of my favorite things... A short video... "That's My King"... a prayer by Dr SM Lockridge


A few plans for the rest of the week... Tesco shopping; monday club for the kids; tues group for Bubs; Drama for Bubs; appointment at the Occupational Therapist for Spike; watch 'Monsters vs Aliens' dvd; visit T for his birthday (age 2!)


A Scripture...  "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer" Psalm 19:14 (NASB)

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

... the simple things in life...

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To The Skylark

Ethereal minstrel! pilgrim of the sky!
Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound?
Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye
Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground?
Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will,
Those quivering wings composed, that music still!

To the last point of vision, and beyond,
Mount, daring warbler! -that love-prompted strain,
('Twixt thee and thine a never-failing bond),
Thrills not the less the bosom of the plain:
Yet mightst thou seem, proud privilege! to sing
All independent of the leafy Spring.

Leave to the nightingale her shady wood;
A privacy of glorious light is thine,
Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood
Of harmony, with instinct more divine;
Type of the wise who soar, but never roam;
True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home!

[To The Skylark ~ Wordsworth]

Weekly round-up

What the week has brought...

... lots of Canada Geese and ducks on the banks of the River Stour, next to Tesco...

... icy play in the park with cousin T, before the fresh snow fell...

... a fresh fall of snow to make the garden pretty again...

... dressing up like bandits to go play in the white stuff...

playing... and making... snowman McWallace... built in honour of Auntie Jill whose birthday it was, this fine snowy Wednesday...

... a cuppa tea and a Sudoku challenge to warm the toes, fingers and noses... but we had a good final snowball fight, as it may be the last of the snow...

... art, a la Grecians... Fresco making - painting on wet plaster...

... guess where?!... it's become a bit of a habit on a Thursday afternoon...

... digging out the Scoubidous, and trying to remember what to do with them! we remembered quite well... though I doubt it will ever be one of my most favoured crafts!...

(see Bubbles air-bourne?!!)

... so, when there's no snow to play in, what's the next best thing to do?! splash in large puddles of course!! and there's always a huge puddle just down the path from us whenever there is lots of rain around... we're a big fan of muddy puddles!...

... our 2009 photo scrapbook is finally finished (well, it ended up being in 2 books as we just couldn't quite squeeze all the pages into 1!)... I'm SO glad we've done this, as it's lovely to look back through the year in photos... having a digital camera means that generally all the photos end up on a disc and not seen much, so this has been something we've really enjoyed doing (me and Bubbles making the pages, and Spike looking at them!)... we would like to keep it going this year...

... trialing Muzzy... so far Spike only wants to watch it in English, which isn't really the idea! but I guess that he'll know the story so well before long that it won't phase him watching it in one of the other languages! Bubbles is quite excited and thinks she'll be able to pick up some useful words in another language in no time...

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY, 11th January 2010...

Outside my window... dark; melting snow; some cars passing; street lights


I am thinking... I should go to bed!


I am Remembering... what fun we've had in the snow and how I'm a little sad it's all thawing now...


I am thankful for... God's unending GRACE... it keeps my head above water


From the learning rooms... have changed things a little again, as I want to include some of the other materials on my shelves that I managed to dig out over Christmas!... 2 days of the week for our 'reading' selections for History, Geography, Science, Literature and Natural history/science; and 2 days for the more 'practical' aspects of those with hands-on activities... as well as the 3 Rs of course


From the kitchen... today Baked potatoes, tuna/cheese, salad; Tuesday, heinz spaghetti and sausages, veg; Wednesday, sausages and mash, veg; Thursday, McDonalds?; Friday, spag bol, veg; Saturday, rice, beans, veg; Sunday, something from the freezer


I am wearing... PJs, fleece, slippers


I am creating... have just sorted out and re-organised all my 'creative' supplies.. and one of my goals for the year is to try and squeeze in more time to 'create' lovely things


I am going... to take Spike to see the Clinical Psych again this week...  maybe soon we won't need to see quite so many 'professionals'...


I am reading... Romans


I am hoping... mum and dad make it up to Scotland ok


I am hearing... the yatter of the tv... it's keeping me company tonight... not that there's anything decent to watch!


Around the house... all is quite sane, and feeling fresh after the Christmas decorations have been put away... back into the housework routine again now


One of my favorite things... laughing with the kids


A few plans for the rest of the week...  no plans actually... just taking it a day at a time

A Scripture... "Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah" Psalm 46:10-11

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

love this satellite image of the snow over GB from the past week

Click here to read more from "The Simple Woman Daybooks" posts for today.

Daily Links

Some great links, to sites to feed the mind...

Geography:
The Big Picture
24 Hours in Pictures

Literature:
Word a Day
One Word, So Little Time

History
This Day in History
Today in History
Christian History Timeline

Science
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Daily Nature and Science News
Botany Photo of the Day

Facebook

So, these past couple of days I have leapt into the realm of FaceBook. I'm not entirely sure about it... I've not totally got to grips with it... I'm finding it rather time-consuming (and that will have to stop as I've more important things to be doing!)... and I'm sure I'll be totally bored with it come the end of this week... but I've rubbed "Walls" with friends past and present... and caught up with their lives to a certain degree... and thats been quite good.

I  much prefer Blogging and e-mailing though... maybe I'm just more comfortable with them... FB scares me somewhat as I just do not know what I'm supposed to be doing!... and there are WAY too many things to look at - it confuses my brain! I'm not even going down the route of games on there!

How did all this come about? Well, the kids have been getting their toys to use pretend laptops and on those pretend laptops they have been tapping out messages on FB! Where they got that idea I just don't know... as I've been adamant that I would most definitely NOT go down the FB book route! So, inevitably, the question arose of 'what exactly IS FaceBook, Mum?'... er... not sure actually!... ok since we're all pretty much visual learners, let's try and get a 'page' up on FB so we can actually find out what it is... and that's pretty much how I got into it. The camp is now totally divided... on the one hand there is Bubs egging me on to 'just have another look at your page, Mum and see if anyone else has become your friend'... and on the other there is Spike who, after seeing me attempt to grapple the basics of FB over the last couple of days, is now saying 'not FaceBook AGAIN!' I don't think I'm in either camp... I'm somewhere inbetween - not fed-up with it *yet*, but definitely not wanting to go on it too often!

(There's a link to my FB somewhere toward the bottom right-hand column of this page... in case you wish to join me there... not that I'll be there, but I will pop in from time to time!)

Weekly round-up

A week similar to most I guess!....

Week started with the familiar hard and cold frost... and the snuffles... but we went out for a quick and refreshing walk at the Wyre Forest to set us up for the week... I'm glad we did, because the next day...

...the snow finally came! It fell very quickly and we tried to make the most of it...

Snow Angels!

... in case we didn't get much snow, Bubs put together a wee friend... ok, she didn't have the stamina to make anything bigger!... snowman building soon descended into snowball fighting!

... preparing for battle... (let me say that, by this time, Spike had retired into the house... he's not one for cold fingers and toes...)...

Just a couple of random pics

Bubs decided to label our new map with the names of people we know in different parts of the world...

... and decided it was important to photograph her most favourite meal... Heinz spaghetti and sausages!

Then, of course, we had to do some of this... lots of walking and no car this week... ah, well, looks like I was doing the walking, and the kids were, um, sitting!

Ah, here's some walking... and, look, the Canal is frozen!

... sledding... swinging... and investigating the frozen, snowy paddling pool in the park.

And then a lovely hot cuppa, with candlelight to take the edge off the darkening skies...