Not Quite Ordinary Observations

For Today...Monday, April 8, 2013

In the great outdoors...spring! A freshly mown lawn (with several ruts from the lawn mower since it was still quite swampy when we worked out there on Saturday), signs of growth all around, the standard, stout, 10-15 mph breeze that is typical of a prairie spring (it’ll progress from a breeze to wind when it gets back above 20 mph tomorrow), temps just into the 70’s, and even some sunshine peeking through the clouds. Oh yes, and children! How desperately they needed to go out today! They were pinging!

Within our four walls...quiet for the moment. School clutter lying all around me.

A heart of thanksgiving...for tasks completed midday Friday so that we could truly rest and enjoy some peace last weekend. We needed that.

A heart of prayer...for so many friends, especially many of my  ministry friends. Health problems, family struggles, church issues, and so many other things seem to be hammering hard right now. So thankful for prayer support!

Random observations...I have a lot of pictures to sort. A whole lot. I believe that will be my first project when we switch to our summer school schedule.

My silly children...wear themselves out quickly the first day they get to play outside after being stuck indoors for a while. Mean ole Mommy makes them stay out there, though, instead of letting them come in and play on the Wii or just read. It’ll be too wet or too hot again soon enough. STAY OUTSIDE!!

Thoughts from the kitchen...meat! Oh, how I love meat! (I’m sure I’ve never mentioned that before.) Doug thawed 5-6 pounds of ground deer and beef for me, and this morning I put it all in the food processor to get it well mixed. The beef was less lean than we are accustomed to, and the deer was too lean for a meatloaf. The combination worked beautifully for a nice, big, cheesy crockpot meatloaf. Oh it was so good! Another crockpot (so thankful for TWO!) browned the rest of the meat so I can refreeze it and have it ready for lasagna, spaghetti, tacos, and whatever else we come up with.

On my bookshelf...just finished Larkin’s Journal yesterday. I enjoyed it – I was just late getting it done. Now I need to speed read my next book, once I look to see what it is!

Projects...I got the writing project edited and done last Monday night. I didn’t get up the nerve to submit it until Tuesday morning, but it’s so nice to have both it and the blog re-launch done. The normalcy of just school and my weekly writing is refreshing – and it just might let me sit back down at the sewing machine again very, very soon. Meanwhile, I’ve made progress on Olivia’s shrug, and now I’m contemplating her birthday presents. Wonder what I can come up with…

Sounds of the moment...a banging door. Must be Steven heading back outside.

A favorite thing from last week...the weekend. Sunshine. Rest. Peace. Time outside. Very nice.

The planner...Doug has a couple of things this week, but it’s just back to school for the rest of us. Six weeks left. YAY!

Because visuals are fun...Li’l Doug in Daddy’s shoes.