Really AWOL

Not sure why I decided to check in, on a blog I haven't touched in over two years.  I am here though.

Things that have changed:

• Oldest is college age and figuring out what the future looks like
• Youngest is rapidly wrapping up Junior year of high school
• Covid-19 has radically changed how life is accomplished around here
• Husband has been working from home since mid-March and we are kinda liking it
• I have taken up photographing, with a dslr camera, and dabbling in watercolor
• I am figuring out what life will look like after the 2020/2021 school year as that is our last year homeschooling

Here are a few photos, of life around our house, as an update:

Resent watercolor& pen postcard

Last strawberry jam from 2019 batch

Theater kid being himself.

Covid schooling doesn't look to different from

regular home schooling.

Some of my favorite flowers. 

Charlotte keeping watch over the front yard.

Snow! And it was pretty!

We got measurable snow overnight; albeit, not a whole lot, couple inches or so.  Out the back of our house it looked beautiful.  The house backs up to acres of park land.  At times, would be nice if it were our land, but other times it is nice that it belongs to someone else.

• measurable snow
• wood brought it for a fire
• clear roads
• ideas for warm dinner
• thankful for days end

 Backyard, early morning.

 Just before a good shake.

 The colors are cool looking!

This was called, "Melty Dog".

With a good fire going, room can get well above

80 degrees.

What is blue and yellow?

The sky!!!!!!!!!!  At least for a portion of the day.  It did get gray during the middle of the afternoon but cleared up to show off a beautiful sunset.  Felt good to see the sky.

Thanksgivingn for the day:

• sunshine
• longer walk with Charlotte
• naps
• good dinner
• beautiful sunset

Know I promised the sky scarf today.  I wasn't able to fully catch up and decided to rip it out and start again.  Weaving the yarn, up the side, is a new skill for me and I'm trying to get it looking nice.  Soon is all I can promise at this point.

Yikes!!! A week!

I've had every intention of coming here every day to write.  Many days I had some great ideas, above and beyond just being thankful.  Cool ideas for photos, but didn't follow through on grabbing the camera and going.  Some days have been just flat out hard, really hard.  Days that were, "but by the Grace of God"!  Life's leveling out, feeling good, sleeping better, eating better, walking more, etc.  Amazing what all that will do for your well being.

Kevin and I spent a lot of odd times together today.  Shopping, cleaning the kitchen, walks, t.v., running errands.  Just weird life stuff.  I spent time clean up and cleaning out my desk today.  Found a lot of old photos and cards that were sent just because.  It was a lovely trip down memory lane.

Here is one that I forgot we had:

These are Charlotte's "baby pictures" we came home with

when we adopted her 5 1/2 years ago.  Her head has gone from

mostly black to a lot more brown!

One of Kevin's and my walks was through the woods and

down to the creek.  Took my shoes off and got in the

water.  Charlotte was happy to follow along.

It's times like this I'd love a 25 foot lead for her.  She'd love the water,

but is all hound and we have not done off lead training.

For the good and joy over the last few days:

• IRL friends
• on-line friends
• potato seeds sprouting
• walks
• rug cleaner
• two fridges (to thaw the main one)
• good food
• teen making brownies
• movies
• knitting
• naps
• fans circulating cool air
• Trader Joe Chocolate Crossaints
• Ikea Cinnamon Roles (for price, okay tasting)

Been thinking . . .

a lot about this blog the last few weeks.  Haven't made the time to come over to post, but have been pondering and thinking.  The intentional counting of joy was the intent of keeping the blog up and going.  I have managed to let life get in the way and not count the joy; not even jotting things down to  log a bunch at one time.  Things need to change!  My intentions need to change.  My focus needs to change.

How will things change?  Here are a few ideas I have been mulling over:

• Knitting ~ have been thinking of making a scarf based off of one years worth of weather.  Here is what I am musing:  5 to 7 colors that the sky might be at noon (sorry, no sunrise or sunsets), this would allow for a few shades of blue, gray, and white.  I'd note in my planner, after coming up with a code, of the color for the given day.  Then, on a predetermined day of the week, knit those seven days of color.  Think I know the yarn I want to use, but need to check availability of colors.  I will play around with size of yarn, pattern, and number of rows per day.  (Raverly has a "paatern" and videos already if you are curious!)
• Another area I want to pick back up is reading.  Think I read 5 or 6 books in January and then quit.  Not sure how I'd blog about that, but a good book should bring you to a happy place.
• Photography ~ either my own or a friends.  Know several folks who take some amazing pictures.
• Articles, videos, music, etc. that leave you feeling good or stretching your mind and heart.
• Possibly sharing of dreams (not literal night time dreams), the things hoped for, worked for.

That's about it for now!  Hope to hear from you.

A Stumbling Sort of Day!

Yes, stumbling!

        a definition of stumbling ~ to almost fall, to trip, to loose balance for a moment

That has been me finding the joy in the ordinary today!  So many things, probably more than I can recount today; probably more that I forgot than remembered because I haven't been noting them today.  Maybe I should do that, but probably won't.  (glimpse of a life with an easily distracted brain).

Big picture today starts with a lack of sleep.  My day actually started with a late night because we celebrated a birthday today.  There are things I like to do for our kids before they wake on their birth day.  Streamers put up, poster board decorated, few other things put out.  Man cub prayed for.

As for the day and the counting, it goes like things:

• another year celebrated with our oldest, now 16
• having enough, various forms of chocolate, in house to make ice cream, cake, and frosting
• a good attitude from children (mostly, with only minor correcting) pretty much all day
• easy to fix dinner
• realizing how much food we have in the freezer and pantry (just need to meal plan off of that)
• keeping the house warm without much electricity
• a child bathing our dog for me
• cake and ice cream before dinner
• commiserating, with a friend, over raising boys
• body holding out, as a lot of time spent standing and washing dishes
• watching the smiles on 16 yo as he opened gifts and mail today
• husband coming home early to celebrate life as a family

 Yes, more York Peppermint Patties!

 What's left of his cake and ice cream.

Also visible is a Celtic Thunder CD; one of his favorite groups.

It's been awhile since I took photos regularly.  Took a number of them this afternoon, but most turned out blurry.  Need to keep on taking them and learn the settings on my camera better!

What Brings Out Your Focus?

Your drive?  That "Type A" side we all have to varying degrees.

    My "A" side strikes every once in awhile, but not nearly often enough.  It's here this afternoon though.  In just a couple hours at home, alone, I'm able to get chores done in crazy time.  Though, those two hours are not enough time to get the WHOLE house done, it is just enough time for noticeable progress, and that will have to be good enough.

As is my "nature", I enjoy taking pictures of things that strike me as cool, beautiful, or unique.  I've also been know to take photos of things that tie into a blog post that is rattling around in my head.  That is what happened with today's writing and photos.

 Just warm enough for Charlotte to hang out

on the deck while I cleaned.  As I was focusing on a good

vacuuming, things got moved of the floor.  I took

her bed outside and she slept half on, half off.

 My desire for cute planner.  Making my own or finding one to down

load and print, just didn't happen.  I wanted to much out of a home made

and it was taking to long.  Store bought, with a plastic front and a place

change change out a cover, to the rescue.  Bonus ~ under $8.00.

 Must have ~ month view with just enough room to get a good over view

of what is going on that month.  Yes, April is still blank, will be updating that soon.

 Week view ~ again, enough room for all that needs to be in there.  I will still have a 

homemade school calendar (via Donna Young's website) with detailed notes on that.

I'd hate to see how big the calendar would be if I combined home and school on one calendar.

I also tied ribbons on the top spiral loop, to further personalize it and to add in finding the 

exact page I wanted.  When I do fill things in, some will be in pen, some in pencil.

I'll color code, either with highlighters or colored pencils, so a quick glance

I can see who's items are who's.

My list of joy and thankfulness (today and random last few months):

• store bought planner to personalize
• time to clean
• talent show for 5th & 6th graders
• warmth and sunshine
• boys earning their advanced red belt in TKD back in February (next belt is black)
• boys getting second stripe, yesterday (two more to go)
• breakfast for dinner

Odd day for photos

So let me just jump right into the photos today:

 odd combination of things, on the smallest counter

in the kitchen.  Something from each of the three members

at home!

 Mentioned some time before Christmas that we needed

new kitchen hand towels to my MIL and showed

her the ones I really liked.  She

picked these out for me.  I like how

bright and cheery they are.

They seem super absorbent too.

 Passing into the kitchen, saw a cheek needing to be

kissed.  It made him laugh.

 a visiting lady bug!

 The owner of the blue water bottle, busy at school.

Not sure if he was aware I was taking photos.

What is that, Jennifer S., the "Mamarazzi"?

Someone was so excited by the

word cheese, she came with her blanket

and begged awhile.

Even though the day was long; lots to get done; things to wash, dry & fold; there is much to be thankful for.  Counting it all joy.

• leftovers for lunch and dinner
• fun picture day
• starts of a new play
• getting most of a to do list done
• being okay with what didn't get done
• feeling tired at the end of the day (both physically and mentally, in a good way)
• looking forward to the last of the celebrations tomorrow
• thankful for a teen keeping laundry going

What has brought you joy today?

All Over Kind of Day

All sorts of stuff, all over the place today.  We started back to school; which, all things considered, wasn't to bad.  One got finished fairly quick, the other still battling a cold and took a nap.  Alls well that ends before dinner!  Woo Hoo!  Even managed laundry, worked briefly in our bathroom (pealing paint issue), and a trip to a couple stores.  The good for the day:

• pretty sunrise
• more organization in basement
• organizing a party for our almost 15 yo
• getting use to not having tv on most of the day
• today's date ~ 1/5/15

What I'm missing today:

• all the Christmas lights ~ house feels dark!

What happens to a pretty view when taken threw a screen!

Joy in Photography

Little things happened during the day that were joyful.  Things like:

• oldest taking Algebra 1 final and getting a 96%
• youngest feeling better with ibuprofen
• watching "Girl Meets World" as it actually aired

Fun things happen when you take a moment, with a dog and a camera (till said dog gets bored and moves on):

 Someone wanted to be supper close!  Did not want to have

picture taken from a distance.

 Her coat looks more reddish brown, from this angle!

 Sunlight in the woods behind our house!  The blurry sunlight

is kind of cool looking!

 Beams of light flooding the woods!

Blue skies after a week of clouds and rain.