The Simple Woman's Daybook * 1-8-12

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Outside my window...It's dark & the moon is big and shining bright.

I am thinking...that this sheet music wreath is reeaally neat! - and simple enough that even I could make it.

via

I am thankful...that Strike was accepted into our local vocational-techinical high school. It is such a good fit for her. She's doing well there and has explored Welding, House Carpentry, Cabinet Making, Graphic Design, Business Tech, Cosmetology, Masonry, and Auto Body so far.  She's  brought home some impressive projects too ... an end table w/ magazine rack, wooden toolbox, metal tool box, etc. ... :) I'm anxious to see what trade she lands in.  If she has it her way, it will be Cosmetology.

I am creating...a quilt that must be finished by Friday...

and three of these...

via

My husband is helping me make them. He salvaged some wood and we hit the jackpot when we stopped into a discount store and found fun drawer knobs for $1 each. 

I'm going ... to make up some blessing bags to keep handy in my car. I looooove this idea! And  I'm wondering..."Why didn't I think of that?!".  Just today we passed someone I could have given one to - if only I had one with me :/   I'd love to tuck in a small Bible too...as it seems that so often when, for any number of reasons, people are so far down that they finally look up  ...  God reveals Himself.

via 

I am reading...

Yes, it's a children's story :) 

I am looking forward to...going on at least 12 picnics in 2012.

I'm hoping ... That my son likes his birthday present. Something he is totally not expecting - but that I have a hunch he will really enjoy. Stay tuned  (there's a hint :) ... for further details. 

A few plans for the rest of the week ... I'm rather systematically working my way around the house - cleaning and purging about one or two cabinets, drawers, closets, etc. per day.  Just a few more to go in the kitchen before I can move on to another room.  

I am pondering...that Friday was Epiphany - and if someone hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known it. I've never regularly attended a church that observed occasions such as Lent and Epiphany.  Christmas and Easter we celebrate - but that's about it.  Yet I can't help but consider that in their purest form many, if not all, of the seemingly endless observances on the Christian calendar were likely initially intended to encourage Christians to keep their focus on Christ - on His goodness and faithfulness - amidst the continual change propelled by incessant immorality destined to unfold as countless rotations of the earth would relentlessly roll into revolutions around the sun. And - well...I can just appreciate the constant comfort that commemorating Christ would likely convey if I were to be a bit more consistent in that regard. 

A quote for today...

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." C.S. Lewis

In the kitchen... is one of my favorite things...

Jule's Gluten Free All Purpose Flour 

via: www.JulesGlutenFree.com

It can be substituted cup for cup in recipes that call for regular (wheat) flour.  

I love this stuff. If you didn't know you were eating something that was gluten free - well - you wouldn't know it :)  My first and only attempt at making homemade bread with it was a flop tho'  - but that can be challenging even with regular flour too. I learned that Jules also makes a special gluten free bread flour and I want to try that next.  Other than that tho', I am sooooo thrilled/pleased/tickled/giddy with excitement over this product! :)

Happy New Year - SWDB

Please join in with us over at....

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Outside my window...Cold. Bright Sunshine. Clear blue sky.

I'm thinking...about using this planner to help me better manage my home & my time:

via (where you can find a free/blank/printable template)

I'm thankful ... for a fantastic year long celebration of 25 years of marriage to my best friend. Yesterday we enjoyed our last hurrah in that regard by taking the family to a nice  old restaurant:

- and - I'm also thankful for ... the past week and a half where we were free to do almost nothing (key word here) that we normally do :) 

I'm creating ... still working on the quilt that was supposed to be a Christmas present for my son - which is now slated to be a birthday present instead. 

I'm wondering...Do you know what is black and white and green all over??

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Answer: 

For the tutorial to make your own, click HERE

From the learning rooms... I really want to learn how to make the newspaper gift bags above. It doesn't look too difficult. 

I'm reading ...

 Well - actually, I'm just waiting for it to arrive in the mail.

The following caption introduced me to it and motivated me to begin 2012 by placing this children's story/fairy tale at the top of my reading list.

When we read this book , there’s this character that puts on her “habit.” A little hand here pats my shoulder and asks, “What’s a habit?” The amaryllis on the sill, it’s swelling in hope. And I tell Shalom this: a habit is something that is worn. She flickers recognition, nods, turns back to the page. She waits for me to read the next line. I’m sort of struck: A habit is what we wear. A habit is the way we wear our days. Wear new habits and your life gets a makeover. Consistently do things at the same time everyday and find yourself a new person.

via

&

"The theme is as old as the fairy tales, and it is written with a haunting beauty of wording and atmosphere . . . A book to cherish, to read again and again and again." (The Saturday Review )

via Amazon.com

I am looking forward to ... getting back into a routine of sorts.  The fact that I'm actually feeling kinda ready for this is one indicator of how restful our Christmas staycation has been!   :) 

Around the house ... is where I plan to spend most of the day - tho' I think we're gonna head out later for a hike.

I am pondering ... 

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

Sally Edwards

& 

... I'm considering some things I might like to do for the first time in 2012.

In the kitchen...is where we cooked lobstah for the first time evah on Friday evening :) Note to self:  Do not name them before you boil them :/

One of my favorite things...

A few plans for the rest of the week ... Deep cleaning

Here is a picture for a thought I am sharing...

December 19 SWDB

Please join in with us over at....

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

It's a fun way to journal once a day, once a week - or once a month....whenever!

TODAY, 

Outside my window...It is SO cold - but no snow.


I'm hearing - Playmaker playing the piano. 

I am thankful...for hot water, hot coffee, & heat 

I am looking forward to... having Strike's girlfriends over for a Christmas Party after school later this week.

I'm hoping... for a white Christmas. 

I am reading... this book around the dinner table with our family. 

I'm pondering...  a chapter in the book above that talks about the manger. A few things that struck & stuck .... Luke mentions the manger three times in a just a few verses. The manger points to Jesus' humble birth - but the author of "The Journey" believes Luke mentioned the manger three times to communicate the image of Jesus' first bed being the place where God's creatures come to eat. He explains that Jesus was born in Bethlehem (a town that means "House of Bread) & that John would later describe Jesus multiplying the loaves of bread and saying , "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry" (John 6:35). The author notes that Jesus was speaking of a spiritual sustenance the world would receive from Him and reminds readers that Matthew, Mark and Luke record Jesus taking bread at the Last Supper and saying, "This is my body, which is given for you." (See Luke 22:19) - And there's more....but, if you want to know - well, you'll just hafta read the book! :) 


I'm thinking...What a great idea (not sure who thought of it) it was to give a blind friend from church, who is moving away, a comforter from our congregation ...so that every time she wraps it around her she will feel the warmth of her church family here who loves her. 

One of my favorite things...

Monday, Dec 12 2011

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

TODAY, 

Outside my window...Brrrr! It's dark and 24 degrees. 

I am thankful...for Romans 15:12–13, "And again Isaiah says, 'The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.' May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."

In the kitchen...I should bake something later to cozy up the place. 

From the learning rooms...I'm learning that Gluten Free living is not so bad or difficult....just different - and generally healthier overall. No more traditional Sunday morning cinnamon rolls :/  - but my daughter made some really yummy GF chocolate chip cookies last night! :) 

I am looking forward to... wrapping up our year long 25th Anniversary Celebration next weekend. Hint: Where we're going and what we're doing begins with the letter "Z" :) 

I am  wondering...Whose birthday is it that we're celebrating anyway?!  Well I know whose birthday we're celebrating - but - you may not know it if you didn't know it. This post caused me to (re)consider what I'm going to give Jesus for Christmas - and so - I'm creating a list (and checkin' it twice ;) .... of twelve unsuspecting people I want to bless in celebration of Advent and these, the Twelve Days of Christmas.

I'm hoping... for a snowday before Christmas. We like to celebrate them by doing anything other than what we normally do (Note:  The only rule - No TV!)  Could mean staying in our PJ's all day long - &/or working on a fun project - or bundling up and heading outdoors to build a jolly happy soul ...

2007

 I'm hopin' this fella will come back again someday soon! 

I am reading... this book around the dinner table with our family. 

Around the house...The kids finished decorating the Christmas tree last night. Good thing Big Mak doesn't have hands or he probably woulda un-decorated it :) ...or at least "adopted" any stuffed ornaments and searched them for squeakers!  No worries.. Winnie the Pooh is in a safe spot :) 

I am thinking... about how much fun each of the girls had shopping with their big brother this weekend. Spokes spent the weekend with us and took each of his sisters out Christmas shopping separately. 
  

One of my favorite things... Oooohhh - this is much too good not to share...

I am pondering...something I heard this past week ... to the effect that:

 beauty and seduction are nature's survival tools 

 because we protect that which we fall in love with.

via

Hmmm... well - it just seems so opposite of survival of the fittest if you ask me - and that this is yet another way that the nature of God is revealed in nature.

Let heaven and nature sing!

edit.  Well - I DID say I'm pondering this - and as I do, well - more thoughts:  in God's "upside down" kingdom and in His Word, love and beauty are defined quite differently than our society "defines" them.  And I'm reminded of 1 Samuel 16:7b ... The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  And from 1 Corinthians 13, among other things we know about love, we do see that that love always protects.