Winter Days – Daybook

For today, January 22, 2009

Outside My Window… It is a gloriously sunshiny day! That makes up for the very cold temps of late. There is a crystal clear blue sky and right now our friend, Tommy Thrasher (the Brown Thrasher) is gingerly stepping down the big rock that acts as a small ramp into the pond for a sip of water this morning. He is a delight to watch. He scampers so very quickly around the gardens and we can always tell where he’s been because the mulch is picked and flicked and fluffed by his long beak every time he visits. The children have been fastidious about walking out and breaking up the ice in the pond (it’s small and shallow – no worries!) each morning so the birds can sip. Isn’t that kind of them?

I am thankful for… beautiful words and ideas of inspiration on your blogs. I find no need to compare or covet. I simply love observing the simple expressions that beauty takes in different families. I’m so grateful when you share the simple things about your days because in those posts I find tiny treasures that I can make my own and use here in my home and it brings me such delight when we can all share together in this way! This is the good in the blogging world!

From the kitchen… Brownies tonight!!! My beloved decided at 9:15 last night that we would both benefit from a generous sampling of Ghirardelli Brownies. Scrumptious!!! I cannot think of a better way to spend an evening than on the couch, in front of a fire, with a gigantic and decidedly overloaded plate of warm Ghirardelli brownies in front of me. Alas, my story does not end here. He announced from the kitchen (after inspecting the box) that the brownies took an hour to cook and was thus abandoning the idea of making brownies in favor of a bowl of cereal. Much sadness. And I cannot tell you how much I interiorly lamented this announcement! So, I resolve today to remedy the situation and make a large dish for all of us to share and tonight…I SHALL curl up around a plate of warm brownies! 🙂

I am wearing… A denim skirt and a bright red sweater over a white non-descript t-shirt with my hair pulled back.

I am creating… well, besides Brownies 🙂 ….I’m creating some multiplication mini-books for Sparkly to work on and I’m hoping to get around to pulling together some of my St. Martha’s Apron Strings Plans for Sweet Pea. She’s been working through my plans, but I’d like to get something together that offers us a bit more coordination…you know, something like you would use if you were pulling together a Unit Study that lists all of your resources and booklists, etc. I’ll post it when I come up with something in case it’s helpful to you.

I am reading… I’m flitting about from book to book right now…and several favorite magazines that have been languishing in my reading basket. Sometimes, I just don’t want to invest all of myself in one book, so I flit. Sometimes, I just like looking at pretty pictures and drawing inspiration from short articles. Do you ever feel like that?

I am hoping… that Rob puts up his new and very lovely looking bird feeders soon. 🙂 Big grin! Please, Rob!

I am hearing… Peanut is singing in my ear right now. He likes to stand behind me in the chair and sing to me. He wants to know if lunch is soon…so I better wrap this up!

Looking to the rhythm of the liturgical year… We enjoyed celebrating Our Lady of Altagracia yesterday! I think we’ll have another orange and vanilla yogurt smoothie in her honor tonight!

Around the house… I really need to put away the last remnants of laundry and I absolutely must mop the kitchen with very hot water this weekend. There have apparently been a few too many juice spills and I stick everywhere I walk in there now.

I will claim a moment for myself… hmmmm…tonight I’m envisioning a date with that plate of brownies and Mr. “I’ll just have this bowl of cereal instead”!!! 🙂

Edited to say that today the US Catholic Bishops have called for a day of prayer and penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life. My brownies move to the back burner for a few more days.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Maybe put up the new birdfeeders, mop the kitchen, and hopefully unpack a much anticipated box of lovely Peterboro Baskets that I splurged on!

Here is picture thought I am sharing…

I had to show you our pretty rainbows! Nothing is as cheery as rainbows painted everywhere in a sunny room. We have prisms hanging in every sunny window – and since there are 3 of them in my kitchen…you guessed it, there are multiple prisms hanging there! 7 to be exact! 🙂 My favorites are lead crystal and they come from Van Dykes Restorations! You’ll have to check them out – they’re really not that expensive and they add so much cheer to an afternoon lunch when rainbows are dancing around the room. I’ll admit that Rob is flustered when a rainbow blinds him in the kitchen…so…fair warning for husbands who are less wrapped up in the sentimental schmaltz of pretty rainbows!

Peanut loves reading quietly on his own…I caught him today and had to snap a picture, but there was a price to pay…

…he insisted that I show you the picture he took of his very favorite page of this book – “da big gween fishy”! 🙂

Hope you’re all having a lovely day….filled with rainbows or not!