Monday, August 17, 2009

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY -

Outside my window... blue skies patterned with wispy clouds. The humidity index has just gone up. I felt it change. It is 'clingy hot' although, as you will find later in the post, I have new reasons to be thankful for said humidity.

I am thinking... that God has a healthy and active sense of humor. :) I'm doing my best to join in the moments.

I am thankful for... rainy evenings as we've been without water in the house for going on 3 days with only intermittent trickling. Those rainy evenings have proven God's way of giving me enough water that I can collect it in the buckets, bowls, and broken cooler so that I can wash dishes, fill the filter, flush toilets and take bucket showers.

From the learning rooms... At the moment the kids are listening to the Spanish story program as I've been catching up on my cleaning as the water is trickling in. It's always on the schedule but normally this happens in the afternoons when my brain is too tired to think. I may have to make more coffee to keep my brain up for the math that will be happening later.

We are also enjoying the unit study I have that coinsides with the Sonlight core we're on. Honestly, crafts and art projects are the bane of my existence as a teacher and my poor children will be highly undereducated in these subjects.

*I am terrible at them.
*I loathe the mess they create.
*I want to fix projects so they are even.
*I can't think 'artisticly' so this element has sadly, I know, been absent.

Enter Home School in the Woods History Study unit on early 19th Century America. It's basically about the crafts and creating part. I don't think there is enough reading. THEY (those little artsy students) are loving the crafts and lapbooks they are slowly but surely building.

I'm doing my very best not to grumble about the amount of paper shnibbles and glue droplets we are creating. :)

From the kitchen...
Lunch will be hot dogs as this is the treat for Mondays. :)
Dinner - veggie stew with a potato base.

Another confession - I hardly ever follow recipes. I'm blessed to be able to 'wing it' in the kitchen and come up with things that are not only barely edible, but pretty darn good. This has served me well in a place where variety and availability are not always guaranteed. I'll throw together some biscuits and a salad (I FOUND SALAD GREENS (not just iceberg lettuce) IN SANTA ROSA!!!) and we'll be done.

I am wearing... Fancy clothes. I've felt a wee bit less than spiffy the last few days with our water issues so I resolved to dress up for 'work' today. Black slacks, turquoise shirt, heels, and normal bling.

I am creating... a method to the craft madness, which will hopefully result in artfully educated kids and a relatively sane mother by the end of it.

I am going... to pay bills later.

I am reading... Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Yes, still. It's very good; just slightly interrupted.

I'm also reading Shepherding a Child's Heart by Ted Tripp. This is in addition to my morning readings in the Bible and other quiet time literature. I figured this one would be a good one to add as the other day during clean up Natalie brought me this book (she had been using it for her play 'school') and as she was handing it back, very matter of fact, said, "This is for you. It's a book to teach parents to treat their kids better." Turn around. Walk out of room. After Alan and I picked ourselves up off the floor from our laughing fit, I decided maybe I should read it so I can help us all understand the REAL point of the book.

I am hoping... for water. For several hours in a row. For it to last long enough to take a real shower this evening.

I am hearing... Natalie 'invent' something behind me.

Around the house... Kids, pets, and me.

One of my favorite things... running water. :)

A few plans for the rest of the week:

Visiting with teachers newly arrived from the states for the bilingual schools.

Alan will be driving to Mapalaca for a two day overnight for delivery of and help with the installation of bridge materials. This is a 4 hour drive one way and so he'll be hanging out trying to get several things done in one trip. This was originally scheduled (haha) for last week but he was absolutely slammed with other elements of bridge projects so it was postponed to this week. There is also a trip to the closer bridge (1.5 hours one way) to see how they're coming along.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Creature feature....proudly brought to you by Riley...of course.

Faith

If you'd like to join the fun, here is a link to set up your own day book. The Simple Woman