Strawberries and random thoughts

I got up really late this morning and I don't even feel bad about it. Paul is home and he fed the boys leftover chocolate chip pancakes and milk for breakfast while I snoozed until, gasp, 8:30. It's been a productive weekend. Paul and I went to the nursery yesterday to buy things for our hopefully more-successful-than-last-year's- garden and we got the bunk beds up and Sammy moved into his new bed. The boys are now officially sharing a room! I remember how exciting it was when my sister and I got bunk beds. Since I was older, I got the top bunk. My mom installed a light up there so that I could read without disturbing my little sister. We're going to do the same for Luke. Now, we only have one child in our room! We'll dismantle the toddler bed later today and bring it back out when Tess it. Things are a changin' around here.

I admit that I'm a little giddy that our school year is about to wrap up at the end of this week. We're going to take a couple of weeks off in June and then start back with our Summer term of math review, typing, French and some casual nature study. We've got a nest above our garage and we know it belongs to a dark-eyed junco. We recently re-filled our bird feeders and are hoping to attract some new birds to our house. So, we're on our way with our bird-watching plans!

Today, I want to go buy strawberries. I have been craving them and I'm excited to make some jam. I saw this recipe linked at As Cozy As Spring and I have to make it! I guess I need to buy some blueberries too!

I just finished reading Nina Planck's new book Real Food for Mother and Baby last night just in time for Tess's first meal. I'm trying to decide whether I should feed her avocado or slightly cooked egg yolk first. I'm leaning toward the avocado since I just bought some delicious looking avocados last Friday and that's what I originally had planned for her first meal.

I love this time of the year. I just get so excited over all the possibilities of things to do and learn. Okay, we're off to have some Memorial Day adventures.

One of those days

...and it's not even over yet. I should have known when I realized that Tess had been sitting quietly in the swing. She seemed so content and I left her to swing while I got the boys and myself ready, but there was this nudge in the back of my brain. She never sits contently for long in the swing. So, I went to pick her up and discovered poop that defies gravity. It was all the way up her back and all over the swing. So, I had to strip both the baby and the swing and clean up that mess. I dropped Sammy off at my sister's house so that I could take Luke to paint a soap dispenser at the pottery place. We enjoyed a nice time together and afterwards we went to get Sammy. Apparently, he's just delightful for others, but lately he's developed a streak of disobedient behavior. He didn't want to take a nap and then locked me out of my bedroom and refused to unlock it. After finally getting him to bed, I took out my knitting (that I've already had to take apart once) and realized I made yet another mistake that I cannot figure out how to fix. I just feel bummed today.

She wants yarn

I can't really blame her though...

I wasn't always like this

I realize that I've posted pictures of my nightstand before and in the same condition as shown here. My nightstand is totally out of control and I decided that I had to do something about it and as I thought about doing something about it, I learned something about myself. I wasn't always like this. I mean, I wasn't messy...ever. I was a total and complete neat freak. People sometimes still joke about me being OCD about neatness and orderliness, but these days I'd have to disagree. I started thinking about how much time I spent in college keeping things orderly and how much energy it sucked away from me. The thing is that I have learned to relax. I always say that I have been mostly cured of my OCD tendencies by having small children, but the real shocker is that I like this more relaxed person more than I liked my crazy neat persona.
There was a time in my life when I wouldn't even open my books all the way so as not to bend the spines, but I finally learned that to fully enjoy a book, one has to bend and squish it and sometimes stuff it into bag and just let it be. It was a lot of hard work trying to keep things in perfect condition, but I didn't enjoy them as much as I do now that I've given myself permission to enjoy something without trying to keep it in "new" condition. Giving myself permission to relax has made all the difference. Does it mean my nightstand should like this? NO! It means I clean it up when it gets messy and I don't try to make it look perfect anymore. I'm quite enjoying my more relaxed outlook.


Here's the reading stack. At one time in my life, it would have bothered me enormously that this pile is huge, crooked and disorganized, but now I realize that this stack will always be there. The only thing that will change will be the titles.. I'm okay with it and that surprises me.

There's more books on the floor and two bags of knitting. Life is messy sometimes, but sometimes it's what makes life exciting. I like having a lot of projects going. It keeps life interesting.

Okay, I managed to straighten things up a bit and consolidate the knitting into one bag, but I just can't reduce the stack of books on or in the nightstand. It does look better, but not perfect and it pleases me that I don't need it to look perfect. Isn't it amazing how we slowly transform ourselves and become people we didn't expect to become even if it's only in small ways?

My Day Book

Outside My Window

Earlier it was sunny and dare I say, almost hot, but now it looks a little overcast. I see some big puffy white clouds. There won't be any rain today.

I am listening to...

Tessie breathing. She's been flipping onto her tummy really well now for the past two weeks. Now, she's on her tummy and I can hear her sucking on her hand. I have the front door open and I can also hear some birds twittering in the distance. I'm beginning to recognize the sounds of some birds like the robin and chickadee. Right now, I'm not sure what bird I'm hearing.

From the learning room

We are definitely winding down for the year. Mostly, I have Luke doing a lot of math review and copywork. He's working on memorizing the vocabulary words from Lessons 1-5 in his Latin workbook. I don't want him to go on until he memorizes both the noun and verb endings. He's starting to spend more time outside and he reads in the afternoons. We worked on fraction skills as we made peanut butter cookies today.

I am thankful

that I seem not to be getting the cold that Tess and Paul have. I had two mildly stuffy days, but I have been taking a lot of Emergen-C- and I'm sure that helped lessen the duration of my cold.

From the kitchen

I couldn't bear to let two almost black bananas go, so I baked a loaf of banana bread and a batch of peanut butter cookies with honey and whole wheat flour (with Luke's help). I've had to do some major grocery shopping for days now, but I am happy that we are using what we have to create some simple eating. I've made a menu for this week that includes Greek turkey burgers on pitas and cheesy potato soup.

I am wearing

jeans and a white tank top. I was wearing a blue hooded sweater over the tank, but it just got too hot. I am wearing light pink Crocs and my hair in a clip...pretty comfy.

I am reading

as usual, too much. I'm reading Revolutionary Road, Simple Food for Busy Families: The Whole Life Nutrition Approach, Real Food for Mother and Baby and I just started Journey to the River Sea. I'm really enjoying the young adult literature this year! I think my hubby picked up my book hold at the library and now I'm looking forward to Jane Austen Ruined My Life. I will definitely be updating my GoodReads page today.

Holiness in the every day

I'm striving daily for just a little quiet time for both prayer and reflection. My days are smoother when I make it a priority. I am also waiting for Karen's book to arrive as well!

I am creating

a sock. I'm still working on my second sock. Tomorrow I start a new knitting class and I just ordered some fat quarters of fabric featuring the Hungry Caterpillar. I'm thinking about making Sammy a quick quilt since he really loves this book!

Home Comforts

There's a lot to do this week indoors, but my hope is that it's warm enough to do some outdoor clean-up. It's time to clean up the deck and the yard. Now that the snow is melted and hopefully melted for good, Luke and Sam can go back outside again and clear twigs and pinecones from our property. We're trying to reduce the fire danger around the house.

One of My Favorite Things

My friend Steph is so good at inventing new drinks. She makes really yummy coffee treats for me. Well, the other day she bought those Starbucks Fraps at the grocery store in the dark chocolate mocha flavor. She poured about a quarter of the frap into a glass and then filled it with milk. Seriously, it would have never occurred to me to dilute it with milk. It's so simple and yet I would have never thought of it. Usually, I don't like those bottled Starbucks Fraps. They're just too sweet, but just a little with lots of milk...yum! Also, I love robin's eggs. Luke and I have been reading a lot of bird picture books and I think robin's eggs blue is just one of the happiest colors!

Plans for the rest of the week

I have got to start some seeds. I have minimalist goals when it comes to the garden this year. I want to try to grow sunflowers, green onions, pumpkins and some cucumbers this year. It's already too late for strawberries. So, I'll just buy strawberries for jam-making this year. I hope to finish reading at least two of the books on my current reading list as well. I'm going to organize my sewing, knitting and crocheting and try to priortize my projects. It's already out of control and then I went and ordered Hungry Caterpillar fabric!

I'm getting my daybook published so late today that I think I will skip the picture though for this week. Be sure to visit Peggy for more daybooks!

Have a great Week!