Not Quite Ordinary Observations

For Today...Friday, June 10, 2016

In the great outdoors...sunny and warm; humidity is definitely on the increase, but it’s still not too bad – not back up to the 95% of a week or two ago.

Within our four walls...Steven and Angie working through their morning routine. I hear Steven picking out a new piece on the piano, and Angela is tapping the computer keyboard as she practices some coding. Olivia is out for the day, working with some friends.

A heart of thanksgiving...for the pleasant breeze wafting in through the windows keeping my office area from getting too awfully warm this morning.

A heart of prayer...for June. I kind of chuckle when I say that, because Sunday morning when I was asking for prayer requests in Sunday school, one of the girls said exactly that. “Just, pray for June!” I couldn’t have said it better! This week has been the calm before the storm, and it hasn’t been all that calm!

My silly children...are just too grown up. Okay, so maybe not “too” grown up. It’s just that sometimes I go through life and watch them grow on a daily basis without thinking too much about it. Then I’ll go through a couple of weeks when I look at them and realize just how long it’s been since I’ve had littles! I don’t miss a lot of the challenges of having littles, and I really do enjoy the fun of having big kids. But, it’s strange, too. Time’s flying.

Thoughts from the kitchen...it’s homemade pizza day! We haven’t done that in a long while, and we’ve missed it. So, that will go back to factoring into the plan a couple of times a month.

We’re still enjoying branching out and discovering new recipes we might not have bothered to try had we not experimented with this menu plan system. Our initial subscription is close to expiring, and I don’t know if we’ll renew it or not. But, more than having someone else do the menu plan (because, really, I have to make a good number of changes each month, so I’m still menu planning), this has allowed – forced, even - us to be pushed out of the recipe/menu slump that has plagued us for so long. That’s been really good.

AND…this month we’ve discovered a miracle sauce! Oh my! Doug and I used to splurge once a month or so for date night and buy a PF Chang’s Home Menu meal. At $9-10 a bag, they’re a whole lot cheaper than going out, but that’s still steep. Unfortunately, they discontinued our favorite recipe – the Firecracker Shrimp. We’ve tried and tried to replicate it, with no success. But, last week one of our new recipes had a sauce that just screamed Firecracker Shrimp! We’ll be giving it a try this weekend for date night, and I can’t wait!

On my bookshelf...current review book is Elizabeth Camden’s latest, From This Moment. I also have one written by a friend of our youth minister’s family, so that will come next. Still reading Housewife Theologian by Aimee Byrd and taking a refresher look through The Big What Now Book of Learning Styles by Carol Barnier.

Projects...prep for the rest of June. The SBC, VBS, then sending Olivia off to youth camp. 

Sounds of the moment...lawn mowers. The piano practicing is apparently over. Never mind, it’s Angie’s turn now!

From Hibbard Academy...school planning for the new year, happening little by little. This morning I noticed a gap in the Scripture memory plan for Steven because of the way I’m doing his planning, so I asked him if there was a passage he particularly wanted to work on. “Psalm 117!” he grinned. Goofball.

A favorite thing from last week...spending some time with Almyra friends.

The planner...full. Just full.

Because visuals are fun...spoiled cat