Outside my window...
A sunny mild summer afternoon. I should be out there. I will be in a bit, I think.
Thankful for...
Three older boys who have been playing outside nonstop for the last week. From breakfast time to dinner they've been outside sidetracked only by a quick break for lunch. They've been making up games, building treehouse additions, playing on the slip 'n slide, hammering and nailing things I probably don't really want to know about and getting all dirty and sweaty just as little boys should.
Thinking about...
"Not many people can cut a really good new joke, but anybody can be trained to speak as if the good things of this world were ridiculous. "If prolonged, he [Screwtape] says, "the habit of Flippancy builds up around a man the finest armour-plating against the Enemy that I know, and it is quite free from the dangers inherent in the other sources of laughter. It is a thousand miles away from joy; it deadens, instead of sharpening, the intellect, and it excites no affection between those who practice it."
Therefore flippancy is to be indulged. It can accomplish remarkable feats with very little effort - just as it takes only a wrecking ball, or a kid with some gasoline and a match, to destroy in one night a town hall or a school or a church that dozens of craftsmen and laborers took a whole year to build. Flippancy - the habit of sneering at what is great or noble - is that sneak with the match." - from Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of your Child
Oh, and what's for dinner tonight.
NOT thinking about...
Just how many bats are likely living behind the chimney of our house. Last night, I heard a very ominous squeaking when I went to brush my teeth in the upstairs bathroom before bed. Sure enough, there was a bat stuck in the bathroom fan vent. As I waited in the hallway hearing Brian's sighs and grunts and not-really-screams (just kidding, he didn't scream) as he attempted to trap it I watched dozens of bats flying into and out of the space behind the chimney which was RIGHT next to my head separated only but the window glass. Nope. Not thinking about that at all.
Learning...
I believe my curriculum choices for this year are made and my IHIPs (Individualized Home Instruction Plan for you non-New Yorkers) are complete! I do need to nail down a bit more of how exactly I'll be doing history and how I will use a few things I bought that I'm not sure I love, if I even use them at all. Oh, I'm also on the lookout for this Chemistry 101 DVD and I would love to hear any of my reader's reviews on it if you are familiar with it. That price is ridiculous but I'm gonna keep my eye out for a used copy, I think. John Paul's looking to learn more about chemistry this year and I reeeeaaalllly am quite sure that I am not the best vehicle for that happening.
As far as my own learning, I have been watching Father Barron's Catholicism series with my prayer group and it is exquisitely done. Really really superb. I'm definitely going to make sure these DVDs are in our home in the near future.
From the kitchen...
Simple dinners.
Brian and I have also been on an ice cream kick. Almost every night but it's raw and homemade and we only take about a cup (and load up our favorite toppings) so I don't feel that guilty.
Tomorrow I plan on making this zucchini lasagna from some of our zucchini harvest but probably meat free. I'm really hoping it comes out okay as we're having a guest for dinner. I'm bold and crazy and reckless like that.
Creating...
My latest knitting is a few more eggs for a friend, finally making good on a promise from a few months ago. These are fun to make because I can often knit one up in a free evening while watching something with the husband on the computer. I know the pattern by heart now so that helps (though sometimes I change it up a little). It's also a clever use for scrap yarn of which I have plenty.
Going...
To have to make a flexible lesson schedule for this new year. I had thoughts of starting school in August but just this very moment realized that August is, ahem, tomorrow so we'll see how that plan takes off and crashes. Astute readers will note that I also said I would begin school in July and well, read above to see how well that worked out... But at any rate, I need to figure out how I will get mom-required lessons done with both John Paul and Michael when there's a Luke about. It ain't going to be easy, that much I know.
Hoping...
For a miracle for our mama hen. Her estimated due date was this past Sunday. The internet taught me that you can give about 36 hours on either side of that for a hatching date. Well, it's been long past 36 hours and still no hatching. We candled the eggs to see if we could tell anything and it looks like one is empty and never developed. The other three look full. So I think we're going to let her sit until the weekend and if there are no chicks by then, we'll have to take them from her which is all sorts of sad. But on the bright side that means she'll start laying again soon. We've been missing the eggs.
Also hoping we can plan a little one or two night getaway this summer, perhaps?
Wondering...
About the things you like to read about in this here internet home of mine. My blog content is all over the place, I know. It's supposed to be, really. I have too many interests and loves to be able to narrow it down all that much here. I like that you get to know me here and part of that means you get a small glimpse into the wide array of things that take up my brain space or you get privy to things I just really really want to remember but know that I won't if I don't record it here. But I still get curious as to what types of things you like to read about. Or if there are things you'd like for me to write about. I'm all ears!
Reading...
I am almost through with Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of your Child by Anthony Esolen. It is so good and thought provoking that I plan on reading it again with highlighter and pencil in hand as soon as I'm done. It took me a little bit to get used to his style and muster up the brain power I needed to process his words as he is quite more learned than I am but I'm really getting a lot out of it now. Part of it makes me realize how much I was a victim of modern psychologies, agendas, and cultural experiments and how much it affects me to this day. It makes me a bit sad and angry, to be honest. But it also makes me that much more motivated to make sure my children receive the opposite.
Want to hear something fun? I mentioned how intriguing the book is to some friends and now a bunch of them are getting the book (which makes me all sorts of nervous, by the way. I mean, WHAT IF THEY DON'T LIKE IT? It's like sharing a recipe and they may very well never speak to me again if they don't like it. Or something.) Anyhow, we're organizing a little informal book group to discuss the book and I am very much looking forward to hearing others' thoughts on it. We have way more interest than I thought there would be which is also fun. If you're a local and are interested, send me an email and I can keep you in the loop!
Praying...
For Baby Avery to come home soon.
For sleep and patience (oh so very very related).
For the conversion of those in the abortion industry.
Hearing...
boys playing, a sweeper truck idling outside our house (lunch break?), the nap time hum of the monitor, and chickens clucking.
Around the house...
There aren't many house projects going on except for the hopeful selection and installation of windows. Half of our house has windows that don't open and it would be a glorious glorious thing were the day to come that they were replaced.
At some point we need to get started on the last room to be done...the supply/utility/sort of pantry room that for some reason gets called the school room. I have no desire to do it but it really is ugly and is beginning to bother me.
A few of my favorite things...
homemade raw vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and peanuts
Luke kisses and David hugs
those first few sips of coffee in the morning
A plan or two for the rest of the week...
this weekend we'll be going to Laura Ingalls Wilder days at a local historical village. We went once before and it was so much fun but will be even more so now that we've been reading so many of the books together. Prepare yourselves now for mucho photo dumping.
A(nother) picture thought to share...
I have no idea what they're doing but it sure looks fun, doesn't it?
hehe - the photo looks like what our backyard has been like the past two weeks. I have no idea what they're doing back there either. But this coolish, non-humid weather is awesome for whatever it is!
ReplyDeleteLoving the book! Realizing too how much I feel was robbed from me. Oh, and Jeff caught another bat here last night too.... I feel your pain.
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