he Simple Woman’s Daybook
is hosted by Peggy at the Simple Woman.
Thank you Peggy.

FOR TODAY : July 28, 2008
My little girl turns seven this week.  

Outside My Window… One of those horrible evil crows has showed up.  He is a noisy bugger.  Usually they don’t stay around long.
I am thinking… About apples, my apples are looking ripe.
I am thankful for… My new sourdough starter.  My father in law gave me a starter yesterday I need to start playing with it.
From the kitchen… Sour dough pancakes for tomorrow will be fun and make my husband happy.  Today I am making some more apple sauce and some pie filling for the freezer. 
I am wearing…  Brown capris and a purple top.  
I am creating…  I have some old code that stopped working with PHP5 and I need to fix it.  Not quite creating, but unfortunately that might end up being the case if I can’t get it to work the way I want it to — yeah drawing board.
I am going…  Nowhere today.  My sister in law is heading to Guam in about a week.  Now I find this endlessly humorous because Guam is the place I use instead of Timbuktu.  Send her to Guam for all I care.  Makes me laugh.
I am reading…  Laundry, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell and It’s All Too Much. 
I am hoping…  That the code I need to fix is an easy fix.
I am hearing…  The evil crow and his evil friend. 
Around the house… I am preparing a new garden bed.
One of my favorite things… My laundry line.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:Hannah turns seven this week.  We will be having a double deck-er birthday party for her and her cousin and a going away party for my SIL and her family this weekend.

Here is picture thought I am sharing…

This has been a VERY busy week for me.  I have apples coming out my ears so far I have made apple sauce to freeze and picked out some very fine apples to make apple dumplings.  Then my sister-in-law gave me about 5 lawn and garden sized bags of clothing for Hannah and Josh mostly that I have been sorting through.  And I have had three projects (my web development stuff) make their way to my front burner.  So I haven’t exactly been ignoring my blog, but it haven’t had time to write much either.

This weekend we are going to my nephew’s wedding.  This should be a lot of fun.

The Simple Summer Fling Day 7 – I have two windows in my office with deep sills and they end up accumulating stuff.  This is the other half of the second window

here is the result so far.

before

after

Next I am cleaning the whole thing off and making it lovely.

Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovsky – Figures In A Coastal Landscape At Sunset

 
On reflecting on what she looked forward to in heaven St. Therese of Lisieux said:  “Oh! it is LOVE! To love, to be loved, and to come back to earth to make LOVE loved.” 

Reflecting on this I see that so often love is not loved.  Too often it is seen as a weakness or maybe even a commodity.  For some people love becomes a  severing quest for personal gratification.   Cutting us off from each other and God.  But in reality we are all connected. Each and everyone of us is of infinite worth and incalculable beauty.  One of my favorite quotes is from Thomas Merton, his famous “Fourth and Walnut” epiphany   “I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun. ” 

It is these types of reflections that make me thankful for the community of saints and the faith that they and I share.  That we are all in our muddy, ramshackle brokenness beautiful to God, it is only our own fears and despair which pull us away from Him and each other.  We are made, crafted by God, to love and to be loved.  Our beginning and our end should be entirely wrapped in love for one another and for God. 

The Simple Summer Fling Day 4 – today I cleaned off one more shelf in the office it had a bunch of computer hardware boxes and other random stuff.

before

after.  Tomorrow I will be doing another shelf and stuff from that shelf will end up here.

John LaFarge – Wild Roses and Irises

Lucky room of the day: The kitchen
Special project: Simple Summer Fling

Three loads of laundry
fix the desk rails
menu plan
work on “room by room” checklists
work on homeschool plans
go to the library
garden
read
sew
piano lessons

Today we did a few loads of laundry, went to the pool, worked in the flower beds.  Really a very nice day.  Much too nice to sit inside and blog.  I will have some new stuff up over the weekend.

God bless.

Today I am starting my Simple Summer Fling I will be updating here and on the 4real learning forum.

To start I am going to hit one of the shelves in my office.  I will be posting before and after pictures this afternoon.

Before

 
And After

the Simple Woman’s Daybook
is hosted by Peggy at the Simple Woman.

FOR TODAY June 23, 2008

 
Outside My Window…Beautiful, blue sky.  Looks like it will be a wonderful day.
I am thinking… It is so nice that Ashley is back home from here retreat.
I am thankful for… My very comfy blue slippers.
From the kitchen… My husband made scrambled eggs this morning.  He is the best.
I am wearing… Brown capris and a white top.
I am creating… I left my knitting at my Mother-in-laws over the weekend… sorrow.
I am going…  To take the kids to the park or the Grotto today, I haven’t decided which yet.
I am reading… The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Laundry, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell and It’s All Too Much.  Same as last week.  Omniovre should be done this week.
I am hoping…  That my sinuses clear up.
I am hearing… Just the computers running so far… very quiet morning.
Around the house… My summer Fling Starts today. Today is the Kitchen’s day.  I need to menu plan.
One of my favorite things… My pooh-bear coffee mug
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Not sure yet, I need to come back to this one.
Here is picture thought I am sharing…