Forget school, its a blog day.

Blog holiday baby. Blog holiday all the way.

Sweetling got this book, 101 Places you Gotta See Before You're 12, from the library. We're going to look through it, type its list out and note which ones we've been to, and which ones we want to try to get to this summer.

(But right now, Sweetling and Toa of Boy are making a haunted house in Toa's room. Maybe I'll go grab a shower, and then come back to this.)

1. A lighthouse. Did this. Lake Erie
2. A landfill. Need to call Rumpke and see if they do public tours.
3. An artist's studio. Need ideas!!!
4. A Migration Path. Need.
5. A Skatepark. Need.
6. A Working Farm. Does Sweetling feeding and watering the cows and chickens at a friend's farm over Christmas count? I think so.
7. A Space Place. We went to the space exhibit at COSI. That might be as close as we get. And we went to a planetarium.
8. An Animal Rescue Center. Need.
9. A Superlative Place. Need.
10. A Faraway Island. Need.
11. An Antiquarian Bookstore. Need. Bet there's one in Cinci somewhere. Half-Priced Books doesn't count.
12. An Old-Growth Forest. We'll see what we can find.
13. A Ghost Town. www.ghosttowns.com
14. A Waterfall. Hocking Hills :)
15. An Olympic Trainer Center. Sweetling took lessons at Cincinnati Gymnastics, which trained some of our gold medal women. www.olympic-usa.org
16. A Swimming Hole. www.swimmingholes.org
17. A Kooky Capital. need research.
18. An Art Museum. We'll go again. Twist my arm.
19. A Rock Art Site.
20. A Wind Farm.
21. An Aquarium. Thank you Newport.
22. A "Little" Country. Can't we count the market in Guatemala? Sweetling says, "It was cool, but due to its geographical location, we can't count that."
23. A Crazy Dreamhouse. I hear Loveland Castle is going to do some mini-festivals over the summer.
24. The Place Where Your Parent(s) Grew Up. We go up to Nana and Bapa's house several times each year.
25. A Famous Field.
26. A Big Cave. Yeah, baby. Mommy wants to go to a cave! http://cavern.com
27. A Geyser or Natural Hot Springs. Hmmm.
28. Your Elected Official's Office. We might be going up to Columbus for a charter school rally at the State House in May. www.congress.gov
29. An Insectarium. "hey, there's one at the Cincinnati Zoo."
30. A Marvel of Engineering.
31. A Cemetery. We went for Memorial Day last year. I'd like to do that again this year. This year I'd like to order some small American flags from oriental trading company and walk around and put flags on any non-decorated military graves.
32. A Wildlife Refuge. www.fws.gov/refuges
33. A Long Trail.
34. A Supernatural Sighting Spot. Lake Erie, Vermillion OH
35. An Old Folk's Home. check, visits with women's bible study and with AHG
36. A Sculpture Park. Look kids, art.
37. A Farmer's Market. Was one at the pumpkin patch we visited last year.
38. A Wetland.
39. A Pigpen. Young's Dairy Farm. Sweetling says that that can "maybe" count.
40. An Ancient City. I've been wanting to do Serpentine Mound and Fort Ancient.
41. A Battlefield.
42. A Boardwalk.
43. A Repair Shop.
44. A Folk or Junk Art Creation. ("You *know* I want to go there.")
45. A Great Estate. Stan Hewet would be a good place to visit.
46. General Store. The dairy store in Sugar Creek "might" count.
47. A Forest Canopy.
48. A Gateway to the New World. We went through immigration in Houston. Susan says, 'huh'.
49. A Big Dune. "Dune is fun to say."
50. A Haunted Place. "What a coincidence, me and Toa were making a haunted house."
51. A Sensory Garden. www.kidsgardening.com
52. A Literary Location.
53. An Amazing Architectural Achievement. www.greatbuildings.com
54. A Living History Museum. Sharon Woods Historic Village www.alhfam.org/alhfam.links.html
55. A Place of Worship (other than your own)
56. A GreenWay.
57. A Very Big Thing.
58. A Fort. I think there's one a little west of Cincinnati.
59. A Dinosaur Site. Big Bone Lick in KY.
60. A First-Rate Secondhand Store
61. An Unusual Museum.
62. A Peace Place. Again, Cinci Zoo.
63. The Teacher's Lounge. You're sitting in it sweetie ;)
64. A Stargazing Spot. Planetarium was as close as we got, but I know there is also an observatory or two in Cinci.
65. A Newsroom. Again, I'll need to call and ask about tours.
66. Backstage of a Theater.
67. A Mint.
68. A Patissiere. Why can't Graeter's count? Boo hoo. Mommy likes the Graeter's.
69. A Radical Rock Formation. Now here, old man's cave might count.
70. A Floating Museum. Is tallstacks due back this year?
71. An Archeological Site. www.digonsite.com/guide
72. A Hall of Fame.
73. An Artist's Inspiration.
74. An Unusual Animal Farm. Woo hoo! Bring on the llamas!
75. A Courthouse. Been there. Done that.
76. A Working Port.
77. A Replica. Can you say Eiffel Tower at Kings Island? I knew you could. Its even better than the one they have in the book. And we're going to see a 40' Viking longship at the end of April.
78. An Inventive Place.
79. An Endangered Place. www.nationaltrust.org or www.wmf.org
80. A Special Place to Sleep. How bout the theme rooms at Wild Wood Inn, they have family themed vacation rooms? "That ice place looks cool." We're never going there. "Yes we are!"
81. A Place Where They Make Cool Stuff.
82. A Ethnic Restaurant. Dim sum. Mmmmm.
83. A Legendary Location.
84. Your Parent's Workplace. Been there done that.
85. A Subway. Not the sandwhich shop.
86. A Canyon or Gorge. Maybe Red River Gorge would make a good outing.
87. A Medical Museum.
88. An Airplane Hanger or Collection. Wright Patterson AirForce Base.
89. A Prison or Jail.
90. A Hero's Home.
91. A School That's Different from Yours.
92. A Famous Road. Maybe we can sell Daddy on a Rt 66 vacation before Obama puts a $2 per gallon tax on gas.
93. A People-Watching Place. Fountain Square might be good.
94. An Amazing Science Site.
95. An Eccentric Eatery
96. The Middle of Nowhere.
97. A Weather Spot.
98. A Recording Studio. We can ask Mr. Saxophone for some tips.
99. A Greenhouse.
100. A Street Market. Now I get to count Guatemala market.
101. A Really Cool Place that You Discover All on Your Own. "Yay!"

Ok, that's a lot more unvisited places than I thought. What a busy summer we will have!

Interview with Toa of Boy (all about Mommy)

This is cute. Copy this note, ask your child the questions and write down exactly how they respond. Tag me back if you do this, I'd love to hear your answers.

(Toa of Boy is agreeing to participate if I print him a picture to color after this.)

1. What is something mom always says to you?
I don't know. I don't know. Bedtime stories? I don't know.

2. What makes mom happy?
I listen. Listen to Mommy.

3. What makes mom sad?
Not listen to Mommy.

4.What does your mom do to make you laugh?
Funny noises.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Um, I don't know. Cause I've never been to Russia and see what your favorite thing to do.

(interjection: "That's a long word!")

6. How old is your mom?
Um, 39.

7. How tall is your mom?
Um, I don't know. Is it five inches?

(interjection: "How many answers there are?")

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Um, um. Tell me Mommy. Um, go to the family factory, what's it called? the thing we went to your birthday? The thing we went to your birthday to? The conservatory?

(interjection: "That's all the words I said?")

9. What does your mom do when you're sleeping?
Um, sometimes if I cry. And sometimes I cough and my leg hurts. And that's all.

(interjection: "That's all the words I *said*??")

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
I don't know.

11. What is your mom really good at?
Um really good.....art!

12. What is your mom not very good at?
uh....running.

13. What does your mom do for her job?
School.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Chocolate!

15. Why do you love mom?
Because she gives me all the stuff I ask.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Uh, that's not real. That's not real.

17. What do you and your mom do together?
School!

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Um, because we ...because we both have the color blue shirts.

19. How are you and your mom different?
Because we have different kind of skin, different color hair, different kind of, different, um, different sizes. That's all.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Because she takes care of me.

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Um, the Krohn conservatory. That's the last answer. Let's go.

Interview with Sweetling (all about Mommy)

This is cute. Copy this note, ask your child the questions and write down exactly how they respond. Tag me back if you do this, I'd love to hear your answers.

(Sweetling, of course, is going to type in her own answers. She needs no help from Mommy. Mommy go away now. Go get thyself some hot chocolate.)

1. What is something mom always says to you?
"Do the chicken dance!"

2. What makes mom happy?
Chocolate.

3. What makes mom sad?
Not having the computers cooperate with her.

4.What does your mom do to make you laugh?
If she gets Toa of Boy to laugh, I sometimes laugh too.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
I have no idea.

6. How old is your mom?
38? 39? Oh, I keep forgetting!

7. How tall is your mom?
about 52 inches

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Talk to her friends on Facebook.

9. What does your mom do when you're sleeping?
Then SHE gets ready for bed.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Her writing, I bet.

11. What is your mom really good at?
Being a Mommy :)

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Computer stuff.

13. What does your mom do for her job?
She teaches me and Toa.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Chinese

15. Why do you love mom?
Because she's nice and she takes care of us.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
(I'm leaving the other kid's answer in here, 'cause it's so true.)
Ms. Frizzle from Magic School Bus

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Algebra

18. How are you and your mom the same?
We both like snuggles.

19. How are you and your mom different?
Oh, we are different in many ways. For starters, she's orginized and I'm not. She likes being warm and I like being cold. I can do lots with the computers and her.................... really.............. not that much.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Because she always takes care of me.

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Parks. She likes parks.

Labels, love em or leave em?

Why label my posts? Cause then I could categorize them for gardening, homeschooling, scripture, etc. And you all know I'm such an organized person. Why not label my posts? Cause I got three years worth of unlabeled posts. The likely hood of me going back and labeling all those posts are slim and none.

But that's not why I'm writing. I'm writing cause it's 4:36 am, and I've been awake since 2:45 am. Joy. The thing about Sudafed is, I can't sleep when I take it. On the other hand, if I don't take it, I'm too congested to sleep anyway. Yay.

Joy and Yay are working their way into being labels for this post.

The clarity of my thought processes must provide simply riveting reading matter for a blog.

Gardens. I lay in bed for an hour and a half and thought about a compost system and a way to make a grid for our square foot garden. Yes. yes I did. And then I thought, I should get up and share this fascinating subject matter with the world. So here I am. Behold the power of the internet.

I was online a few days ago, looking for info on composting for beginners. And I saw an add for a commercially marketed compost bin that looked essentially like a large plastic garbage can with holes drilled in its side and cover. And I thought, I have large plastic garbage cans which are currently holding leaves and other yard waste. And I thought, the Jedi has a power drill. I too can have a compost bin system.

What I need are three large, predrilled garbage cans. I fill one up with leaves and layers of grass clippings (I bet the Jedi will need to mow the yard soon. While I hate to wish that chore on the Jedi, I need layers of green matter for my compost.) After we rototill the former strawberry patch, I can save a couple bucket fulls of dirt from there to throw into the compost layers as well. I soak it down with the hose. I pick up a dozen earthworms from the local pet store (they sell them as food for other critters) and toss those on to the top of the compost.I put a predrilled cover on it. And I do nothing to it for two weeks. This will be Pile A.

Meanwhile (back in the batcave), I use some of the roll of chicken wire still in the garage from Vaya's rabbit, Moofi. I make it into a nice wide cylinder, and I fill it up with leaves still left over from autumn. (Yes, we still have leaves kicking around our yard. I lift Toa of Boy up and put him in it and tell him to stamp around and crush the dry crumbling leaves up as much as he can. No, I'm not kidding. Now I have a "leaf hopper" which will contain just brown materials.

I put one layer of brown material in the second garbage can "bin". As we generate green matter, from fruits and vegetable kitchen scraps or other grass clippings, I through those into this "in progress" bin. Sweetling can have the job of taking kitchen waste out to the compost (no meat or dairy, of course.) She adds a handful of crushed leaves on top of each little addition of kitchen waste to keep flies and such from being attracked to the bins. We add layers of grass clippings, followed by layers of brown leaves, as the spring goes on. This will be Pile B.

By now, two weeks should be up, and I can return to my first bin, Pile A. I shovel, scoop, and then pour the contents of this bin into the empty third bin. I wet it down again if it needs it, and put the cover back on. I repeat this proceedure every week or every two weeks, cause I'm in a hurry to make some compost for my garden. If I weren't in a hurry, I'd only turn it every month. But I'm hoping to have some nice compost by midsummer, to side dress the vegetable garden. Nothing new gets added to this pile that I'm turning every other week or so. All the new material goes in the "in progress" pile B that I've started in another bin.

Last, I need a large plastic storage container with a lid that seals it closed. (A big rubbermaid tub will work nicely.) When I have a finished batch of compost, I empty it from the bin into the tub. I can take what I need from the tub to add to the vegetable garden. Now, Pile B gets wetted down, some finished compost and some earthworms added, and a cover put on. It now becomes the pile that I will turn every other week through the summer. I'll start a new pile going in place of Pile A. Same routine, layer of brown stuff...hope I have some left... and layers of green stuff, and a few scoops of the finished compost.

And in the fall, will refill our leaf hopper. And through the fall and winter, I'll switch to only turning a pile from one bin to another every month or so.

So, I'll have
--a leaf hopper made of chicken wire to hold my brown materials
--a pile that I don't add anything to that I turn back and forth between two bins
--a pile that I'm slowly building as we generate green materials
--a tub for holding finished compost until its needed in the garden

That should work, right? And even if it doesn't, what's the worst that can happen? I won't have any compost? I don't have any now. It's not going to cost me any money to try, cause I've got all the equipment I need on hand already. And if I get lazy (really, sometimes it happens) and I don't turn it regularly, so what? It should break down eventually.

And that was my grand, cold-meds induced plan for composting. Now I just need to convince the Jedi that I can be trusted with his power drill.

The other idea I lay in bed kicking around was how to mark off a grid for our square-foot garden. The garden itself is up against a wall of the house. It's two feet wide and seven feet long. Mel says to make a nice, semi-permament grid, and I think he's right. Without a grid, it will be more difficult for me and the kids to make sense of what's growing where and to weed and tend to the garden properly. Mel suggests making a grid with the slats of a old venetian blind or such. BUT, the outer raised edge of the garden is formed by wooden logs salvaged from some of the large branches that came down in last fall's windstorm. And I don't want white plastic strips next to the cool, natural looking logs. If dowel rods aren't to expensive, I could pick some up and stain them green. Though, I don't know how I'd fasten round dowel rods together to make a grid. Cause they're rolly and all. Really, I need one long, seven foot strip and then six shorter cross strips to form my grid.

I also thought of using white landscaping rocks (you know, the kind you can buy in big backs) to lay out on the dirt in neat little rows to make my grid. But then I'd have to carefully take them off and then lay them back down anytime I needed to dig in more compost. And I'd have to police Toa of Boy's friends when they come over to play so that they wouldn't mess with the rocks. Cause cool rocks are just irresitable to young boys. So, white rocks, pretty and natural looking. Not quite so practical.

I could beg for free paint stirs from the hardware store. I could let the kids paint them with cool patterns and designs and then we could seal them with polyurithane and fasten them together, somehow, perpendicularly in groups of four. but I'd need 24 paint stirs, I don't know how I'd fasten them, and painting and sealing them would be a pretty involved process.

And now I'm feeling really sleepy, so I think I'll try to head back to bed for an hour or so.

Monday Blues

Yesterday I wore shorts. Today I'm in a turtle neck, sweater, gloves, and indoors with the heat on.

Yesterday I had all my windows open. Today I watched the snow flurries through the kitchen window.

Yesterday my week could have been full of promise and possibilities. Today I'm frustrated, tired of whining, and wondering why its three oclock and we hardly have any school work finished.

Yesterday I felt like I could conquer the world. Today I just want to let the world spin around me while I wear dark sunglasses and pretend not to notice.

Yesterday was Sunday. Today is Monday. And that has made all the difference.

5th Sentence Game

Rules:

* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note to your wall.

Left Mr. Atkins at ten o'clock for Lincoln, with Mr. Nathan Perkins and his son Thergal and a Mr. Baskins.

Can this week just be over yet?

Be warned. A truckload of whining is about to commence. A huge pity party. With snacks even.

Ok. I'm skipping the whine session. I'll just sum up. Mom was sick, Toa of Boy has been really sick for three days, the Jedi's car is in the shop, and Sweetling is being referred to a hematologist for vascular issues with her feet. Her toes are purple. Sadly, the hematologist office needs a referal form faxed to them from our dr. Then they send the referral to an office coordinator. The office coordinator makes arrangements for medical records to be sent to their office. THEN, after they receive those records, they call me back to begin scheduling an appointment. Its two weeks of paper work before we're even looking at scheduling an appointment. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I was going to use this as an escape to write about my plans to build a fairy house for the garden. But I don't feel like writing. I don't feel like reading. I don't feel like watching tv. I don't feel like gaming. I can't go anywhere or start a huge project with the kids, cause neither of them are up for anything. But I'm nervous and restless and need to focus my energy on something.

Good news (garden wise). Mango says I can go up with her to her mom's farm and raid the stream there for flat stepping stones for the butterfly patch. And we can steal compost from her mom too. And we found bags of cheap vermiculite for a square foot garden. But, the site where I was going to put my square foot garden is pretty small, even for a square foot garden. I'd love for the kids to each have their own small garden plots for veggies, but don't have any other sun in the back yard. I don't want the kids' gardens in front, necessarily, because then they can't go and tend them on their own. I could put my veggies in front, and the kids in back I suppose. Hmmmm. Or I could build two small boxes right beside the walk way that goes from the patio to behind the garage. That shouldn't cut too much into what little lawn space we have. hmmm again. Sadly, the area behind the swingset is far too shady for veggies.

I need to price either sod or seed mats for redoing where the strawberries where and fixing the sorry, unwelcoming weedpatch behind the swingset. That's what I'll do. I'll order plants, and see if I can price sod or seed mats. I'm not planting grass from seed ever again.

I'll order plants, and then make a chandelier for the fairy house with a little light bulb (burned out of the hall night light) and some decorative wire and some beads. Then I'll feel happy.

What I Do

I feel like I should start by saying that I'm not at all a Bible scholar. But, I'm betting if you had wanted a Bible scholar answer, you would have asked a Bible scholar. You want an everyday, ordinary woman answer. I might be too weird to be be ordinary, but I can certainly share what I do.

This is what I try to do every morning. Now, it doesn't always happen, but its the goal I shoot for. I like to do my devotions while I'm having breakfast. Toa of Boy is usually watching pbs kids at that time, so few distractions there, and Sweetling is off getting her morning stuff done. There's something about sitting at the kitchen table by myself with a cup of hot chocolate, an egg on toast, my Bible and my journal that just appeals to me. I don't think it matters what time of day you pick to read the Bible, as long as you can do it without many interuptions and you aren't so tired you'd be lucky to remember your middle name. For a mom, those are two pretty big preconditions! When I was working, in those prekid years, I did my devotions during my lunch break....not in the morning when I was rushed and frantic and trying to get up and get out the door on time!

So, I sit down with my breakfast (and hot chocolate...I haven't found a scripture to back this one up, but I'm sure it's pretty spiritual!). I have a little journal, nothing fancy, and a Bible that is easy to read. The NIV is my favorite, but find one that you can read and is pretty clear. I also like a Bible with footnotes, cause sometimes if I don't get it, there might be a footnote that can help clarify.

Everyone always says over and over that the most important thing to start with is prayer. I'm going to repeat it, cause I'm sure they know what they are talking about. I'm going to confess that I'm not the most consistant or prayerful person in the world BUT I do find that I get more out of what I read, more insight, on the days that I do remember to pray. So pray :)

Then I open my jounal, before I open my Bible. I jot down the day and the date, just because it seems the thing to do. Here's the part that makes a huge difference to me.... I start my devotion time making a list of seven specific and unique things that I'm thankful for. They have to be slightly different every day. No fair just writing "my husband" every day. Otherwise it becomes a rote list, not something reflective and beneficial. I do this for a few reasons. It puts me in a positive frame of mind both for the morning, and for the rest of the day. It helps me focus on my blessings and not my "to do" list. It helps me notice, as I go through the day, specific details that I can store up for tomorrow's list.

After I've written my list of blessings (and I put a little heart in front of each one, cause I love cute things!), I'm ready to start my Bible reading. Personally, I have a pretty short attention span. So, every few weeks I found myself changing how and what I'm studying about the Bible. I think the important part here is to find something that works for you. However, here are a few things I've found helpful. I'm just going to put them in a list, cause I like it when things look organized, it helps me focus. If I knew how to add a heart in front of each one, I totally would ;)

Keep your daily reading selection "bite sized". Dont try to read too much at once. Some Bible reading plans will list several chapters to read each day. When I try to read through multilple chapters, I totally don't absorb what I read. I read the words, but they just go in and right back out, and I may as well have not read anything at all.

Keep your daily reading selection in ONE PLACE in the Bible. Don't 'skip around' and read from three different places in one day. Some Bible reading plans have a reading from the old testament, from psalms, and from the new testament for each and every day. Talk about confusing. Its like trying to watch tv with someone who can't stop flicking through the channels on the remote. You get bits and pieces of a ton of stuff, without ever having a clear picture of any one program on any of the channels.

Keep your daily reading selection interesting. Don't get bogged down in the begats and in the levitical law of what can and can't be eaten or how many measures of wheat and oil make a sacrifice. Yes, I'm sure they are important...but they need a whole lot of digging and digesting to make them meaningful. The Gospels are a good place to start (especially John and Mark). After that, Acts, then Genesis and Exodus. Reading one or two gospels, Acts, Genesis, and Exodus will give you a very good overview of the story of God's love for his creation. By then, you'll be practiced and able to chart your own path on where you think God is leading you next in His word. Beware, if you're reading the Bible in bite sized chunks, that's a lot of chapters! Just the few books I mentioned will take you a few months to get through.

Keep in mind that this isn't a race. You're making a comment for a life time habit. Don't worry if a month from now, you're only half-way through the book of John. You are growing deep roots, and deep rooted trees grow slowly, but they are strong and well grounded! Avoid the habit of comparing yourself to what others may or may not know. God is working on you. You are his masterpiece. Be patient and content.

Keep in mind that the Bible doesn't "read" like a regular book from cover to cover. It's more like a library of separate books. It was written by many different people, in different languages, over the course of a couple of thousand of years. Its not even completely chronological. It took me a while to figure that one out (or to come across that information.) I kept thinking that if I started in Genesis and kept reading, the Bible would read like a story book. Then I'd get to Kings and Chronicles and get totally confused, cause it jumped back and forth. And THEN the books of the prophets were actually written during the life times of some of the Kings mentioned in Kings and Chronicles...and so on and so on. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend picking up the Bible and trying to read it from cover to cover.

SOOOOOO...

All that being said, I've made my list of seven blessings, and I read a little bit of the Bible, depending on what I felt called to study at that particular time. Then I jot down a sentence or two, or a couple super quick notes about what I've read. This helps me make sense of it and retain it. But I don't let myself turn this into an essay assignment. As you can probably tell, I like to write, and I write A LOT once I get started. But the point of this is just to remember the key point or the main application of what I've read. Not to start developing my own commentary book. When I jot a few words down, I make sure that I don't just read and let the words wash over me and away, like so many waves on the beach.

Last, I pick one verse from what I've read that I thought was particularly poignant to me. I copy it to a little yellow post it note, and I put it somewhere where I can see it through the day. (I put mine on my bathroom mirror, cause I'm home during the day, and I see it there often.) This helps, because I found that even when I did my devotions in the morning, and even when I'd make a couple notes in my journal, by 4pm...I often had NO IDEA what I had read that morning. Glancing at a key scriptue through the day helps me remember, reflect, and hopefully apply what I'm learning. Plus the yellow note is a little reminder for me to shoot a quick "popcorn prayer" to God about what he's trying to teach me that day.

Anyway, that's what I do. It doesn't happen every morning. And it doesn't happen perfectly on the mornings when it does happen. But every day, that's my goal. And more often than not I met my goal. Let me leave you with a couple other bits of advice. First, don't be afraid to try something new...and don't be afraid to change how your studying the Bible if one system or plan isn't working for you. God makes us all differently. There is no one "right" way of reading and learning His word. Second, if you miss a day, or two, or three....don't beat yourself up over it. This isn't a diet that you can "blow". He makes His mercies new every morning. Just open up your Bible and start again where you left off. Third, if you possibly can, get involved in a Bible study with other women. I'm not always in a group Bible study, but I do make an effort to "complete" at least one group Bible study once a year. Its hard for me to fly solo all the time, and I find that participating in a group study really refreshes my learning time and my perspective.

I hope that was more helpful than it was lengthy (which is a pretty tough measurement!) I've heard of several people who also use their devotion journal as a prayer journal, writing down specific prayer requests and then coming back and writing down the date when God answered those requests. I'm not that consistant, but its a neat idea, so I though I'd pass it on ;)

Finally, I like examples. So, I'm typing out for you my devotion journal from yesterday and today.

Tuesday, April 1
--squirrels building a nest
--Toa of Boy's cough is better
--got to sleep in this morning
--Jedi says every day he looks forward to being with me
--our cupboards are so full
--Easter dance coming together
--God gives me many creative outlets

(read Psalm 119:33-40)
We need to ask God for understanding. Even the esteemed author of 119 beseeched God for insight!
Post-it verse: Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Ps 119:33-34

Wednesday, April 2
--Mom's car is done and covered under warranty
--Jedi's car didn't need towed
--both squirrels still there after hawk visit
--time reading and talking with the Jedi
--song with Sweetling
--snuggles with Toa of Boy
--the golden light of morning

(read Psalm 119:41-48)
true liberty comes from following God's plan
"Doing whatever I want" is really bondage!
but since God is my crator, I am in perfect freedom when I am fulfilling my purpose. When I do what I am designed to do, my spirit leaps and bounds, full of joy and life :)

ooo! book prompts!

This week, I took the first sentence in 6 of my favorite books...you fill them in...with the right words or even better, ones of your own.

And...here we go!

1. "In a hole in the ground there lived _a family of bunnies of course! (And this family of bunnies was not in danger of the predators that run amok in SimAnimals)."

2. "_I got a bruise on my foot and one on my knee, but that ain't no matter, cause I scored a point during King of the Ring in Tae Kwon Do."

3. "After dark the rain began to fall again, whispering me to sleep with its gentle lullaby."

4. "With shouts of triumph, the cursed treasure was unloaded from the hold of the Spanish galleon."

5. "There was a hand in the darkness, and I screamed like the little girl I am. I so don't do horror movies well."

6. "Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, but comedy ambushes the Xuan."

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to taking Sweetling to a Webkinz sleepover and then hanging out with the Jedi, tomorrow my plans include gardening if the weather is nice or Wii if its cold and rainy. Hey Vaya, are you still coming down in the evening? And Sunday, I want to do lots of nothing followed by watching the recorded episodes of Extreme Makeover Home Edition!

(And just to make the copying and pasting easier, here's the original prompts.)
1. "In a hole in the ground there lived _____."

2. "_____ but that ain't no matter."

3. "After dark the rain began to fall again, _____."

4. "_____ from the hold of the Spanish galleon."

5. "There was a hand in the darkness, and _____."

6. "Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, _____."

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _____, tomorrow my plans include _____ and Sunday, I want to _____!

The Path

It's my Birthday and I'll play if I want to.....

The Jedi knows me well.

Every night, after prayers have been said and kisses have been given, each of my children ask, "Mommy, what are we doing tomorrow?" I think it has something to do with being "J"s. Neither of my children can relax and drift off to sleep unless they know what the schedule for tomorrow holds. Being a "P", I don't have this issue, so I'm only speculating.

Last night, Toa of Boy asked "What we doing tomorrow, Mommy?"

And the Jedi, who knows me so well, replied, "Tomorrow is Mommy's birthday, so its probably going to be like an all day party."

Other, responsible adults go to work and do chores and such on their birthday. Either I'm not responsible or I'm not an adult. Or both. It might just be both. Cause its my birthday. That's automatically a day off school, a day off cooking, a day off cleaning, a trip out to lunch, and a trip to the Krohn Conservatory....with sketchbooks and cameras in tow of course.





And...here we go!

1. Why do we have to_go to work on our birthdays? I think a person's birthday should be an automatic holiday.

2. _Sadly, I can think of next to nothing to go in this blank. I throw the covers up over the bed when I get out of it. That's about it, the only behavior that are now habits.

3. I have _a deep fryer and I'm not afraid to use it!

4. I had never heard the phrase "live like you mean it" and it puzzles me. Does it mean play hard or work hard?

5. Still have unrealistic spring garden plans the way I always do.

6. How was I to know rug burns could bleed? I fell trying to execute several reverse side-hooks. My kicking foot skidded across the rough floor. It wasn't really bleeding till I followed it up with a long series of speed round-house kicks into the big pad. Then I looked down and had blood all over my foot. I got home and the Jedi said "that's not a rug burn, that's a rug bleed."

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to dinner from Panda Garden and deep fried twinkies, tomorrow my plans include testing for my green belt in Tae Kwon Do and Sunday, I want to watch more Star Trek:Enterprise!

Getting Dirty

I knew that would grab your attention.

I wasn't going to do today's reset material just because I wanted to do something else. I didn't know what else. Just something else. Blogsurf maybe. Or look through plant catalogs. I had a short story idea on my mind, things that I wanted to wrap up in my writing project, and garden visions. By the time I had made my hot chocolate, I had settled on the garden ideas. I really need some more stepping stones and some rocks to help retain soil on the far side of the sandbox. The Jedi has said many times that we are not buying rocks, so where can I get them? Oh sure, if I wanted to be really rude I could drive to Winton Wood, park my car by one of the streams, and help myself. But there's something wrong, and probably illegal, about pilfering landscape materials from a county park. What other streams can I help myself to?

But definitely gardening was the topic du jour, at least in the instant I, more out of obligation than anything else, opened up my reset journal. Don't get me wrong, I've been really digging the reset material. But I was grumpy and feeling selfish. I used to get exasperated with Toa of Boy when he would refuse to do something just for the sake of saying no, but really I'm the same way. I wasn't going to do it simply to be contrary. I was going to sit down and flood the blog world with inquiries about rocks. See, the area on the other side of the sandbox could be a lovely shade garden, but I can't plant anything right now because there isn't any topsoil there. Its just hard packed clay. Even the weeds can't grow. But if I had some rocks, I could build a couple of raised beds to fill with peat moss and compost and make good topsoil for hostas and ferns and other shade lovers.

And that is exactly what I was thinking about when I opened my journal and read...

"Ever try to grow a garden? Its all about the soil."

The scripture verses are, of course, the parable of the sower. Luke 8:4-8 and 11-15. And the journaling prompt is...

"What in your own life right now is enhancing or preventing you from receiving God more fully? Consider this for a moment then describe the condition of your own soil, or draw a picture."

Which I wrote about in my journal. I might come back and type it out here, but right now I'm going to hop in the shower.

Two Scared Squirrels

I scared the bejeebers out of two squirrels this morning. I didn't mean to. I regularly throw the crusts of my morning toast out on the back patio for the squirrels and birds. This morning, I opened the door and two squirrels who had been within a couple feet of the door took off like the crack of doom had been sounded. Lest you feel sorry for them, they recovered and made off with the crusts in the few minutes it took me to unload the dishwasher. Fast furry little pirates that they are.

I know my blog posts have been rather formulaic of late. I'm either writing to a prompt on one of the weekly memes or writing about my devotions for that day. The truth is most of my creative energy is going into another writing project right now. I have a friend who is working on developing his own fantasy world. I'm doing some background writing for him on a few of the cultures of the world. He would like to publish his work eventually, and so has asked me not to share the portions I'm working on. The Jedi is excited about the project and sees it as a viable business venture. I'm excited about the project cause I'm excited about the world and the cultures. So, no creative writing from me here. When he gets a website up, I'll post a link to it. But that might be a long time in coming cause things are still in the developing phases right now.

Three 5s, Two 4s, and Two 3s.

This is from the Reset Journey we're doing at church. I'm actually not sure what week I'm supposed to be on. I missed a couple of weekends and lost track of where we were. But me personally, I just did the journaling exercise for Prompt 3 of Week 3. Week 3 is all about surrender.

Day one was to journal about your fears. (Not the "spiders" or "dark" or "heights" type fears.) Day two was to think through your day from beginning to end and think about all the things you tried to control. Then, after you had made that list, to go back through and list the underlying fear that motivated that need for control.

Day three, which i just did, was to return to the day two's list. To rewrite the items and to rank them from 1 to 5 according to how tightly you try to hold on to them, with 1 meaning "you care about it, but it doesn't consume you" and 5 being "the thought of anything upsetting that one would really stress you out". I almost skipped the prompt, cause you know, its Friday and I'm not only a couple days behind, but I don't even know if I'm on the right week. And, here's the kicker, I was pretty certain I'm not real big on control anyway, so didn't figure the prompt wasn't going to mean that much to me.

But I did it. I looked back at my list and rewrote it. And put a five next to the ones that really, really stress me out when something upsets my feeling of control. A four next to the ones that are still pretty critical. A three next to the ones that were important, but not as stressful. And suddenly I didn't have any items left to rank. Really? Really? I'm not an uptight person. Oh sure, I'm "high maintenance," as Christopher Robin would be quick to point out. But I'm far from uptight. So I look back over my list, seeking items that I could downgrade. Yet I'm fairly confident that they are all accurately ranked.

huh.

BFS: Apples of Gold

A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

This week's blogger friend school assignment is to share prayer requests and to visit each other's blogs and pray for each other. A few weeks ago, I was reading the love dare book, and blogging about some of the devotions and memory verses. One of the days challenged me to examine my speech and my patience with my family. I blogged about how I'm less patient and tender with Sweetling than I should be. Over the weekend, I also felt convicted on the tone of voice I use with Dear Mama. I tend to be way too sarcastic and cutting.

So, my prayer request for myself is that I consistently seek to be more loving in my speech with my family.

When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say,
and she always says it kindly. --Proverbs 31:26

Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. --Ephesians 4:29

Simple Woman's Daybook, March 9th

I am thinking... that although I have a million and one thoughts about the Weekend to Remember marriage conference the Jedi and I attended this weekend, I'm not blogging about any of them right now. It was truly, truly, a wonderful experience, and I highly recommend it to any married or engaged couple. (Except you Smurf, you would hate it...it's way too conservative for you.) But other than Smurf, if you've been thinking about attending one, they hold them all over the US, by all means do! It's well worth the investment of time and money.

From the learning rooms... let's face it, the mommy and the teacher has lost interest in school around Christmas this year. Every year in January or February, I want to throw out the entire curriculum and do something different. And no, it isn't because of the curriculum. The curriculum is a perfect fit for Sweetling, and so far for Toa of Boy, but it's because of the seasonal affective disorder that strikes the Mommy every winter. I get restless, I start to lose motivation and interest, and feel like I'm just plodding through life. But spring is almost here. I'm re-instituting the weekly field trip policy. It works like this: I print out Sweetling's assignments for the week. As soon as they are finished, Sweetling picks a field trip for us to take either on Friday afternoon of that week or on Monday afternoon of the next week. It's a wonderful tool to keep us both focused and productive.

I am thankful for... my husband. People who know the Jedi only casually can never picture him as sensitive, but he is, oh his so much is. I'm thankful that he planned and initiated and prioritized the marriage conference this weekend. I'm thankful that our marriage is important enough to him that he is always seeking for ways in which it can grow. I'm thankful that I am important to him.

From the kitchen... my fridge needs cleaned out. Over the weekend Dear Mama found a cucumber on the back shelf that I had completely forgotten about. (Then again, maybe if we get bored with school, we can just use what's growing in the fridge for a great science study unit.)

I am wearing... jammies and a bathrobe again. Silly you. Am I ever wearing anything else on a Monday morning? I got up at 7am, had a prayer and quiet time and did some stretches. By then it was 7:45. Dear Mama wasn't in the shower yet (see what happens when I fail to follow through on Maven's device?). I can't hop in the shower at 7:45, cause Dear Mama *needs* to get in the shower so she can be out the door to go to work at 8:30. Rather than fret and fuss upstairs, I just came downstairs to blog a little while.

I am reading... For Women Only. Actually, the Jedi and I are reading it together because within the first three pages I had to stop. No way, I thought, no possible way. So I asked the Jedi, and he said, yes, yes indeed. It goes like this. The Jedi has always said that respect is important for a man. I thought I understood that. I respect the Jedi, so you know, I can just check that off my list, right? I'm reading this book, which was assembled after interviewing and professionally surveying over a thousand men. The author states that most men would rather go through life alone and unloved than feel inadequate and disrespected. Nuh-huh, thinks I, who in their right mind would chose that? Apparantly the Jedi would, and he isn't at all surprised by this statement. In fact, it makes perfect sense to him. You know those stories of husbands who say "my wife should already know I love her, why should I have say 'I love you?' " I felt like one of those husbands. I figured, I respected the Jedi, so I didn't really need to worry about the details of this need he had. I suddenly realized I had no real idea what he meant by respect, what respect looked like to him, or whether or not I was meeting this emotional need or not.

I am also reading.... the Book of Luke. Our church is participating in a Reset Journey, along with a few other local churches. The challenge for week one was to read through the Book of Luke. I read through most of that gospel in the children's museum last week, and realized I didn't really understand all of the symbolisms in several of the parables and speeches of Jesus. The Jedi and I did a brief Bible study together on the way to the marriage conference. The Jedi brought his Jewish commentary on the New Testament along so that we could get more of a cultural perspective on the symbolic language.

I am hoping... for a productive day! I really want to get school and laundry done so that after dinner we can watch Little House on the Prairie together. (The recent mini-series done my Disney, not the old TV show. The Jedi has an elder meeting tonight, so Mommy picked out a family movie for the rest of us to enjoy.

I am creating... plans for the garden. Yes, yes, I am. Stop shaking your head. It's going to be different this year.

I am hearing... the shower running! Woo-hoo! (It's 8:30 now, but I've had a nice morning.)

Around the house... the living room has been picked up, and the entire house has been vacuumed. I only have two more loads to push through the machines, but lots to fold and hang. Toa of Boy still has his December artwork on the school room door, and I have a pile of his stuff to hang sitting on the corner of my desk, so I think I shall add that to my list for the day.

One of my favorite things... I am God's perfect provision for the Jedi. This means I bring something into the Jedi's life that the Jedi would never be able to provide for himself. This something I bring certainly isn't organization, so I need to stop measuring myself and finding myself lacking on that standard. This something I bring has to do with who I am in my innermost being. Creative, spontaneous, fun, child-like, gentle, and lovely. I need to nurture and enjoy who I am, and stop fretting about not being a typical Suzy Homemaker. (No offense to any Suzies out there. You know I have the utmost admiration for the name Susan.)

A few plans for the rest of the week... school. Tae Kwon Do. Co-op. Church. FIELD TRIP. Garden planning. Creative writing. Being myself.

Here is a picture thought that I am sharing...



It's 8:37. Dear Mama has just left the bathroom, so I'm off to shower. Peace out.

Five Minutes to Post and SPRING IS HERE

There are cups clunking and the sound of the fridge door opening upstairs, but I'm ignoring that. There are more fish sticks in the toaster oven and an empty saucer beside me, but I'm ignoring that. The lunch timer is set to go off soon. And so help me, I'm posting today.

Hooray spring. Blessed spring. Wonderful spring. Happy spring.

This morning we went outside, me joyfully, my children happily as well. We got the garden beds cleaned up, the sandbox raked, and the the patio swept. Again, I was joyful, now the children were not as joyful. Spring, apparently, is meant only for free time on the swingset. And they had five minutes of that during a water break. It only took us an hour or so, and I'm so thrilled we got it done.

All my windows are open. My patio door too. There is a wonderful, glorious, spring breeze blowing.

We are going to fly through the rest of school (phonics for Toa of Boy and composition for Sweetling.) Then we are going bike riding.

Yesterday we went to the park by Winton Lake.

Hooray for spring. Wonderful spring. Fabulous spring.

I can not type that enough.

The Jedi has approved the plan to cut the grocery budget to $400 a month so that we can have $50 a month for gardening. And by "we", I mean "me".

Spring is here. Daffodils are pushing up through the soil and the dry, brown leaves of autumn. The ground is cool and moist. My sedum autumn joy and my daylilies are making an appearance as well.

Spring. Spring. Spring.

Timer has just gone off. I'm leaving to go do more spring things.

Back to Blogger Friend School

I found blogger friend school a year or two ago and really enjoyed their assignments. Then, being me, I lost track of them over the summer. But Google is a wonderful thing, is it not? So, here I am again. (And this time, I know how to add a link in my sidebar.)

Assignment: Try to think of one thing you can say to the glory of God- one thing to thank Him for, a positive thing you can say about Him, or one of His Names-using each letter of the alphabet. You are allowed to make up words- if you can justify them by making it clear what you mean- and you may also use any foreign language (but please explain what it means) - and you can also use a thesaurus or dictionary if you get stumped. I’m putting my list below so you’ll have to copy and paste this then remove my answers. It’s a bit of a challenge but I think you’ll enjoy it. Have fun with it!

Now, I'm a sucker for ABC memes, so this is a perfect "first assignment" for me.

Awesome
Beautiful
Caring
Daring
Excellent
Family-minded
Great
Higher
Intimate
Jesus
King of Kings
Loving
Magnificent
Neighbor to the homeless
Omnipotent
Perfecter of our peace
Qualified
Regal
Sovereign
Thought-provoking
Unbridled joy
Veil was torn
Warrior
Xuan's lover
Yodeling cucumbers (you can thank Veggietales for this item)
Zenith

Garden for my Dreaming

All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey....

I'm making an executive decision. This is my blog, and if I can't dream big on my own blog, where can I dream? There shall be no raining on my blog parade. I already know most of what I'm about to write is unrealistic. So hush already. I'm writing about it anyway.

This is what I would like. I would like to be able to step out of my patio door onto a brick patio. On the brick patio is a comfy yellow and white chaise lounge with a small white wood table beside it. Two child sized chaise lounges are across from it. They are both white and green and there is a child sized table between them.

To the left of the patio is a butterfly garden. It is full of pink and purple blooms. A little stepping stone path creeps through it and strawberry plants fill in the spaces around the round stepping stones and to their sides. The white wall of the garage behind the butterfly garden is hung with a trellis up which a trumpet vine grows and blooms. A brick walk departs from the fall left corner of the patio and passes under an arched trellis hung with wisteria.

Another stepping stone path departs the far right hand corner of the patio. It crosses a few feet of lawn and leads to the large mulched circle that holds the swingset. A narrow garden of lilies and black-eyed susans grows to the right of the patio, between the patio and the large sandbox. Above the blooms of the little flower garden, colorful wooden letters float on narrow garden stakes and spell out Sweetlings name. Nearer the house is a hopscotch path that runs the length of the large sandbox. Each square of the path is gaily painted and the spaces between the squares are filled in with colored aquarium gravel. Right against the wall of the house is a square-foot garden which is lovingly tended and yield a rotating crop of fresh vegetables.

The far side of the sandbox has another small garden. This one is in shade and is planted with black magic caladiums, Japanese toad lilies, and other unusual plants. Here, large painted letters rest against the ground, framed by the exotic leaves and spell out Toa of Boy's name. Meanwhile, the hopscotch path terminates in a corner of the yard carpeted with a green indoor/outdoor mat. The play corner contains a plastic battle mountain and a big castle. Waterproof storage containers hold dinosaurs, plastic army men, or knights and horses. Lava rocks frame off this corner.

A blue indoor out door carpet simulates a little stream and runs between Toa's shade garden and a few hosta plants growing at the edge of the yard. Beside the little stream is a little island of white gravel. A gaily painted bench rests there in the shade and two kitchy pink flamigos frame either side of the bench. A hanging pot of hot pink begonias is suspended above one of the flamingos. The little stream terminates at mulched swing set circle.

A club house wants to be part of this design. Originally, it wanted to be a cute little playhouse on the space of lawn on the far side of the swing set, but I think Sweetling and Toa are beyond that. Now I think they need a club house built at the base of the hill that has a "Keep Out" sign proudly nailed to its front door.

Oh, and the horrible hill? A wooden deck is built out over the worse of the unmanageable slope. It has a grill and a table for outdoor eating (and school). It has a flight of steps down to a small subdeck that holds a hammock.

The brick path that left my patio goes along the back of the garage. The obnoxious foot between the walk and the garage wall is planted with caladiums in a variety of colors and types. The narrow side yard holds a two bin rotating compost tumbler. The ground is covered in the chartreuse leaves of sweet potato vines. Going through the gate, which is painted in shades of teal and aqua, the sunnier strip of yard near the driveway is planted in butterfly weed and daisies. There is another narrow brick walk along the edge of the driveway (replacing the mud that is currently lurking along the driver's side of the van.)

The lamppost at the end of the driveway is painted a teal that matches the side gate with the actual lantern painted a bright reddish orange. Honeysuckle climbs the lamppost and daises, black-eyed susan's and tiger lilies sway at its base. A sundial decorates the center of the front yard and a bird bath occupies a nest of ferns and hostas growing around the base of the maple tree. Tall sunflowers cheer the front of the house and screen the air conditioning unit. Miniture pumpkins grow near the front porch and iris, daisies, and mums bloom in season. Herbs grow in large terra cotta pots and a stone angel holds a dish of bird seed in her hands.

Simple Woman's Daybook, Mar 2nd

I am thinking... that the Jedi and I have scared three of the youth boys into eternal bachelorhood after last night's class about marriage and communication. The sad part is, I think the Jedi and I do communicate, but we surely didn't communicate that well last night!

From the learning rooms... a well deserved field trip to the Children's Museum today! We're picking up Pinkie on our way down.

I am thankful for... my friend Mango, who is my lost birthday twin and an ENFP just like me. I was feeling pretty down and sorry for myself at 4:50 am this morning. Then I got an email from her, and without even trying, she perked me right up!

From the kitchen... my entire house smells like badly, badly burnt popcorn. Dear Mama heard from someone at work that the way to make perfect microwave popcorn, down to the last kernel was to always set the microwave for five minutes. So she did that and then walked away. The Jedi was downstairs in the computer room. I was in the bathroom giving Toa of Boy a bath. Sweetling was in her bedroom reading a Babysitter's Club novel. So, no one knew what was happening in the kitchen until the smoke alarm started going off. Sadly, the smoke alarm going off is not that unusual, so no one immediately responded to the beeping. Eventually the Jedi came upstairs to discover smoke pouring out of the vents on the side of the microwave. By that time, the entire house reeked of the burning. We opened all the windows, despite the sub-freezing weather and artic gusts of wind. At 6:15 this morning, when the Jedi got up for work, the first thing he said was, "The house still smells burnt." And it does. I have two candles going to try to override the nasty smell. I have also finally discovered something that Magic Erasers don't clean. The inside of my microwave is forever discolored. I haven't tried turning it on to see if it still works.

As soon as I get my shower, I'm going to make a batch of mini- blueberry muffins to take as a snack for the car ride home from the museum.

I am wearing... jammies still, even though its 11am. I finally fell back asleep at 6:30 am and then slept till 8. By then Dear Mama was just getting in the shower and I needed to get breakfast for the kids, do devotions with Toa of Boy, get the new March calendar with all its magnets on the fridge, bandaid a thumb that Toa of Boy scraped trying to get scotch tape from the dispenser, respond to emails, etc, etc, etc. I did stretch this morning though. Points for that.

I am reading... the Love Dare and Nzingha:Warrior Queen of Matamba. I need to update my shelfarie (however it's spelled.)

I am hoping... that spring happens soon!!!!! I'm so done with winter!

I am creating... plans for a garden. Yes, I'm a glutten for punishment. This year, I need to weed the butterfly garden/strawberry patch; move the rest of the strawberry plants to somewhere else (where I don't know). Finally order black-eyed susan's for my Sweetling (she's been wanting those for years now. Reseed the former strawberry patch with grass and hope it actually grows. (Yes, I am so gardening challenged I can't even grow grass.) And maybe start a small square-foot vegetable garden. Oh, and try again with sunflowers and miniture pumpkins in the front. And divide the daisies.

I am hearing... Super Smash Bros from the living room. I'm not pleased with that game. It has no redeeming qualities. It is pure mindless video game. But Toa of Boy has his morning list done, and I'm still writing. I think I'll chase him off of it soon.

Around the house... four baskets of dirty laundry in the living room. Two burning candles. Scraps of paper on the kitchen table from making the March calendar. Clutter on my sewing machine. A baggie of coupons that need sorted and filed. A half plate of fudge. An unplugged microwave. Blankets from last night's snuggle time crumpled on the couch. Art from church on the table. Webkinz also on the couch. But a new calendar on the fridge.

One of my favorite things... hot chocolate, my Mango, the Jedi who loves me anyway, laughter, the Jedi still has a job, sale on packs of infant onsies at Big Lots this week (I'm stocking up for Vaya and for another young lady yet to be named here), being able to break the rules occasionally, blue blue skies, a freezer full of food, croc sandals, three pair of earings my ears don't react to, comments left on my blog, craft in preschool church yesterday, Sweetling's awesome taste in clothes, Sweetling's awesome taste in music, theological discussions with Toa of Boy which includes "Mommy, did God make aliens?", and curly brown hair.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Museum today. School and groceries and Tae Kwon Do tomorrow. Mango's kids coming over here on Wednesday, and church Wednesday night. Co-op on Thursday and Tae Kwon Do again that night. Friday, our kids are going to Mango's and the Jedi and I are going to the Weekend to Remember marriage conference!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...