Not Quite Ordinary Observations

For Today...Wednesday, December 5, 2012

In the great outdoors...cloudy. Gloomy. No rain, just clouds. Trying not to be whiney, but I either need rain or sunshine! Thankful, though, that it is cooler – in the 60’s today with a possibility of 50’s next week! Getting better!

Within our four walls...Christmas decorations are up! That does help with the gloominess. Also, we have a completely rearranged house. The kids’ rooms were untouched, and our bedroom was only slightly altered. But the rest of the house was totally rearranged over the weekend.

A heart of thanksgiving...healthy children, a husband who likes to rearrange as much as I do, a day to take a breath before another busy day tomorrow.

A heart of prayer...needs of church members, salvation of family members and friends.

Random observations...

- We bought Olivia new winter dress shoes two months ago. They are now pinching her feet. I thought we might get by if I let her share my black dress shoes since I’ll wear my boots most of the winter, but I think they’re going to be too small, too.

- It’s hard to feel Christmas-y when we have to run the AC just to be comfortable. On the other hand, putting up our few outdoor decorations was much easier in short sleeves instead of in cumbersome jackets.

- I gave in to temptation. Today is the last day of school til January. (We didn’t have school Thursday-Monday, so just three days last week and two this week.) I was trying, I really was! But, I was also praying that God would show me whether I was making the right choice in diligence or clinging stubbornly to “the plan.” I tried not to talk much about it, but Doug walked in one morning and twisted my arm really, really, really, really hard. Yeah. That’s my story. Oh wait…maybe he just made the suggestion and I jumped on it. Yep, that’s probably more accurate!

My silly children...had to be threatened today. We gathered for our last day of school and they were piling on top of each other and being frighteningly silly. So, I finally said that if they settled down to do school today, they could be off until January. If not, they’d do school every day except Christmas! (Yeah right!) It worked!

Thoughts from the kitchen...Doug flipped through the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day cookbook last week, looking for something new and fun to do for our deacon’s Christmas party Monday night. He found fruit-filled beignets. Soooooo easy, and they were quite popular! We did fill most of them with preserves, but we also made some chocolate. Yeah, that was the best, hands down!

On my bookshelf...I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll really get anything read this month. I want to…

Projects...Christmas presents are coming along!

Sounds of the moment...someone – probably Angela – practicing piano. One of the cats meowing at me as she finds a corner to hide in.

Last week we learned...how to process a deer. Two actually. I doubt all of our cuts are “right,” but we have 80 pounds of deer in our freezer now! Many thanks once again to Jimmy and Gary for helping Doug skin and quarter the deer!

A favorite thing from last week...watching the new arrangement come together and realizing we really like it.

The planner...Monday night was our deacon’s Christmas party, last night I had a lady’s recipe exchange party and tonight is church, but yesterday and today were mostly free for school and getting a few other things accomplished. Tomorrow I have Bernina Club in the morning, Olivia has art class in the afternoon, and then we have nothing until I get to join the Gleaners class for lunch on Saturday. It’s been months since I’ve been able to join them! I’ve missed that fellowship!

Because visuals are fun...I’m not sure I’d call him jolly.