I went to check Peggy's site to see if she was linking Daybooks again and saw this:
"I am feeling… a bit looney after looking over too many links of late…must delete about half of those blogs, especially the ones that leave me feeling hyper by soo many links in their entries, not-up-to-date with so many crafts, sewing and whatnots they are doing or less than what I am because of all the "showiness"…so, a new mantra or perhaps revised one for my blog takes place…ah, slow, simple, quiet, restful are watch words I want to show here at the simple woman blog."
I agree. Slow, simple, quiet, restful is what I am after. Good watchwords for the new schoolyear as well. And we are moving slowly this week. So slowly I am not even properly formatting this entry. : /
I am wearing….. heather gray yoga pants and charcoal tee. Still have my glasses on even. Trust me this is not a visual you want today. The next paragraph explains why.
I am thinking about….. In sickness and in health. But last week mostly in sickness. I was flattened with a massive viral infection. Completely, pitifully flattened. I summoned all the oomph I had to get more Olive Leaf Extract and Grapefruit Seed Extract and boy was that a good idea. 36 hrs of misery and then it was like the sun came out. Still haven't hit 100% but I have been functional and productive at least. Some of the kids have had it but not as bad and this has helped. Must buy boxes of this stuff….
One of my favorite things…. Skates. Its all about skates this week. We live on a ranch. We have a gravel drive leading to a less graveled dirt road. What do our boys want to do all day and night? Skate. Two have roller blades and one has had his heart set on a skate board. That wish came true. The tiled sunporch has seen a lot of action in recent days. There is a city park near the piano teacher's home. We have been taking lunch there and letting them skate on actual concrete on piano day. They are a cheap date I tell you. : ) Happy as clams. Husband was pretty amused to see Mama give it a whirl too – with a helper alongside. (And the gray yoga pant sick-day uniform) It is possible I may be short of oxygen since being sick….
I am reading…. The Secret of the Rosary and the Crate and Barrel catalog. Seriously.
In the learning room…… We are prepping to start school again. We have to file our paperwork this week and go through the grade level boxes to see what must be filled in.
The Montessori trays stand empty. We will do something about those this week. Funny, I went looking for my preschool books to have the girls help me and read some of them in the process. All I could find (since dear daughter #1 shelved for me earlier this summer : )) was the Hainstock books. I sat with Abbie last night and read through the preschool book again and thought, you know what, despite the plethora of web sites and resources available, I STILL think this is the best thing I have ever owned. Simple, quiet, restful. Deliberate but not frantic. That is what I get from Elizabeth Hainstock.
I plan to have the girls help and we will begin to restock our boxes and trays using the Hainstock ideas. They will have to be on higher, by-request-only, shelves this year because look what happened this weekend :
Abbie, Abbie, Abbie! You are a baby! Why do you think you must be upright as you begin 9 months and we begin school again? <g> And why did your mother not fix your red eye?
Around the house… Got four kitchen cabinets emptied and reorganized. Go Kim. <g> Now dusting is another story on a dirt road. It's like shoveling while its still snowing.
From the kitchen…. cream cheese brownies twice this weekend. Twice they have not lasted long enough for a picture. Take one recipe worth of brownie and one half a cheesecake recipe. Put 2/3 brownie batter in pan, then all the cream cheese mixture, and spoon rest of brownie batter over top. Bake at 350 til they look done LOL. I think its like 40 minutes. Cream cheese should be just golden but wont set hard til it cools.
I am hearing….. Coyotes. Husband called down the stairs late last night while he was putting Tess to bed and ready-ing his work clothes. Said they sounded very close. We have these little fuzzballs in the barn so we rushed outside to check.
Sure enough. Coyote calling from the north lot. They rarely come this close but mama cat was hunting and the kittens may have been crying loud enough to draw a passing coyote's attention. They will test the water before coming in close as they avoid confrontation as a rule. The dog chased it/them off and came home triumphant as only a ranch dog on the prowl can be. It was quiet after that.
We have heard them more often than not lately, though. Had a neighbor's cow go down (read – kick the bucket) a couple week ago. They left it in the pasture and it is pretty much a rack of ribs now. That must have attracted this pack. And yes, it WAS pretty gross, that whole circle of life thing, if eco-friendly. Ok on that sorta creepy note I better wrap up and get to work. Hope your day is delightful.
A picture thought I am sharing….
(Brendan's first children's choir. Yes he is in tennies. We could not find his good shoes before church. Shoes, the bane of my existence ; ))
Starry Sky Journal 
Brendan’s face reminds me of a cherubim. 🙂 He was soo cute with the other kids. What a blessing it was to hear their sweet voices.
I’m right there with you on Hainstock.
Hainstock works well for me too…I don’t have tons to plan and work out. Simple. I am SO into simple and BALANCE since Peter James has been born. …otherwise I get kinda overwhelmed.
And the best developmental toys for the little guy are the ones he makes when we don’t clean up so well. He makes his own order out of our chaos. What is that saying about messiness and genius?….
Abbie is such a cutie! What kissable cheeks!! I really like that dress too. I so miss pink and all things girly! My lil guy isn’t so little anymore either…sigh! He is now just 10 months and climbing and walking. Yesterday he came towards me walking with his arms out scrunching up his little fingers wanting me to pick him up and calling me…and I ran towards him with my arms out…and he turned and ran the other way giggling…I thought I had more TIME before this happened!!
I am sorry you weren’t feeling well! I swear by Olive leaf extract too..helped my 13yo ds with an icky viral infection this past week. I know it knocked it out real fast. I was soo glad to have it on hand!
I hear you on the dress shoes…John Paul 6 went to church like that 2 weeks in a row…I ought to put some kind of beeping device on them so I can have some reasonable expectation of him actually wearing them. One day we were late to Mass because he was 1 shoe short He had been all dressed and ready early and still!!….one mysteriously disappeared! I asked him what happened. Evidently, he kicked his foot and it came off….somewhere….airborne dress shoes go far…must be the extra shoe polish….;o)
Oh baby Abbie’s knees! They are just adorable. Love the post.
I love Abbie’s chubby knees sticking out from under her dress. 🙂
Oh I know. : )
On Sep 4, 2009, at 6:22 PM, typepad@sixapart.com wrote: