Anniversaries

It looks like today is the anniversary of two things, not just the one I was going to post about originally!

June 27th is my blog-iversary.  It has been 2 years today of blogging.

More importantly, today is the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and it's the 15th anniversary of the day I decided to make the Commitment and heed The Call to convert to Catholicism.  It's even the same cycle year, so the readings were the same:

Gospel

When the days for Jesus’ being taken up were fulfilled,

he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,

and he sent messengers ahead of him.

On the way they entered a Samaritan village

to prepare for his reception there,

but they would not welcome him

because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.

When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,

“Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven

to consume them?”

Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.

As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him,

“I will follow you wherever you go.”

Jesus answered him,

“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,

but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

And to another he said, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”

But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead.

But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

And another said, “I will follow you, Lord,

but first let me say farewell to my family at home.”

To him Jesus said, “No one who sets a hand to the plow

and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”    Luke 9:51-62


The words in italics are the ones that really got to me.  I had been inching closer to the Catholic Church for a while, both literally and figuratively.  Dh likes to mention that I inched closer and closer to the kneeler until one day I actually knelt!  He had been patiently praying and answering my questions without seeming too anxious.  As my doubts were removed one by one, it seemed that the only real stumbling block that remained was.....No, not Mary.  That was a pretty easy one for me!----it was my family.  


I asked God in prayer, repeatedly, to show me what I was supposed to do, and I'm pretty sure He answered all those prayers.  But you know how thick-headed we can be, and I ignored all of the answers until He beat me over the head with this one, which was pretty much exactly what I needed to hear.  


Our priest talked about "Capital C Commitment" during his homily.  I thought it was funny that 15 years later, my pastor today talked about Commitment, too.    I don't know, maybe that gospel reading screams "commitment," but I thought it was a nice coincidence!


I asked Him repeatedly to guide me.  Now, I thank Him repeatedly for showing me the way and giving me the courage and conviction I needed to Commit myself to Him and His Church.


And my family survived the shock.  


Thanks for listening and sharing my joy with me! 

7 Quick Takes

1.  Last night was our last swim meet of the season since we'll be leaving for the beach on Sunday.  It was a great meet, another win, and pleasant weather.  There was a storm in the area that passed us by, but it brought cloudy relief from the intense summer sun and cooling breezes.  Another bonus is that they had a smaller team so there were fewer heats and it was over extremely early.  It was still daylight which is pretty much unheard of.  A nice change from last week when we had the Longest Meet Ever.

2.  I haven't started packing yet for the beach, much to the shock of my neighbor who would be packed weeks in advance!  We'll spend today cleaning and organizing, so I can come home to a clean house, and tomorrow will be packing day.

Somehow it always gets done and we have it all together, except for those couple of times where we forgot to pack the youngest child's clothes.  Thank goodness she's big enough to pack her own clothes now and make sure her bag gets into the car!

3.  My SIL wants a lesson in sock knitting, so I've got that together.  In trying to find a project for myself, I've been combing through patterns that I have saved in a notebook and online.  I think I now have 4 projects on needles that I'm going to take with me!  Methinks it's a little much and I may have to commit to no more than 2 simple projects that don't require much thought.  Perhaps the lace that I had in mind may be too difficult for beach knitting with many interruptions.

4.  I had a scare this week when I got a blast email from American Heritage Girls saying "Are You Sure You're Registered for Convention?"  They said there were several "unfinished" registrations and if we didn't receive confirmation then we probably weren't registered.

Gulp.  That was me.  I just thought it would come a couple of weeks before the convention since we registered sooooo far in advance----like March.

After a couple of frantic emails, a frantic, pleading phone call, and a couple of anxious days, I finally got a message that I was indeed registered.  I still don't quite believe it's paid for since it hadn't shown up on the cc bill, but as long as they have me on the list, that's all that matters!

5.  My gmail account is swamped with Cathswap emails these days.  Do you know what Cathswap is?  It's a Yahoo group dedicated to buying and selling Catholic homeschool materials.  Everyone is buying and selling frantically to get ready for school.

No, not me.  Of course.  I did make up that list of books for sale, and sold a few locally, but I haven't posted them on Cathswap yet since I don't want people emailing me while we're on vacation.  I'll get to it in July, I guess.  But it seems like I'm so far behind already!!

6.  My neighbor that I've been walking with this week has one child and is constantly asking "how I do it".   I think aside from the sheer day-to-day work, she's thinking in terms of $$.  Well, it's not easy, but it's just what we do.  We never thought in terms of the money when thinking about another child; we just thought about how much they would bring to our lives.

Now that we have 2 in private school and 2 in college, the budget is pretty strained.  But I wouldn't have it any other way.  One good thing about such strain is that the kids appreciate what they do get, and they know that they have to work and save if they want something special.

We're all getting better at bargain hunting, too.  There really is some great stuff at the thrift stores.  You've just got to haunt them, practically.

I was thrilled the other day to get some cheap schoolbooks for Tom at the used book and uniform sale.  We also got 3 uniforms shirts and pants for a total of $20.50.  That's a huge savings, and they're like new, too.

7.  My 7 Quick Takes aren't very quick.  It seems I should take each of these things and make an entire blog post about them!  I'm thinking over this whole blogging thing this summer.  There are lots of conversations on the internets about how it fits in (or detracts from) the primary job of being a mother.  Reading blogs, more than my own actual blogging, takes up a lot of time in my day these days.  But that's because my kids are bigger; and now they're at swim team for most of the morning.  So, I have the uninterrupted time.  During school, I do this stuff more in the early a.m. before they're up, but I can still be sucked into the Black Hole of the Internet during the day!  If I had lots of little ones, I wonder what I'd be doing?  How would I balance it?  Would I balance it, or would it tip the scales (and probably in the wrong direction)?

I'll have lots of time to think about these things as I watch the waves roll onto the beach and my family playing in the surf.

I'll let you know what I think of when I get back!

Love ya!

Lazy Blogging Day

Totally "borrowed this" from Kathleen, The Responsible One.

1. It's 2AM and you are not home. You are more than likely: Coming home from having coffee with a friend!
2. What's the last thing you spent more than $100 on? Textbooks.  Yuck.

3. What do your bank checks look like?  Plain blue, from Costco.

4. Where did the shirt you are currently wearing come from? Gap clearance, buy 2 for $15.  I got one and Katie got one.

5. Name something that will be on your Christmas wish list:  It's probably on Amazon already. ;-)  And yarn gift certificates.

                                                  
6. What color is your toothbrush?    Blue?

7. Name something you collect and tell us about it.  These days, I just collect projects to do it seems.  I don't collect "stuff" anymore because it takes up too much space.  

8. Last restaurant you ate at. Who were you with? How was it?  Cheesecake Factory for dessert after our Date Night movie last week.  My hubby, course.  Yummy.

9. Who was the last person you bought a birthday card for?  I hate Hallmark, therefore I always forget to buy cards.  Or do I hate Hallmark because they remind me that I'm so forgetful?  Either way, I forget.

10. What is your worst bad habit?  Not buying cards for people.

11. Name a magazine to which you subscribe? Nothing right now.  Waiting until the nieces and nephews start fundraising again.  :-)

12. Your favorite pizza toppings?  Olives, onions, peppers, pepperoni.

13. Whose number were you looking up the last time you used a phone book?  Probably a pizza place.  Why else would you use it?

14. Other than family, who is the person that you love most?  Jesus and His Mother.

15. What is the last thing you cooked? Meatballs.

16. Name something you wouldn't want to buy used?  Underwear & swimsuits.

17. Which shoe do you put on first?  Whichever foot is closer?  Who thinks about things like that???

18. What is the last thing you remember losing?  It was a patch I was about to sew on Meg's uniform and I couldn't find it anywhere.  I hadn't moved, but it disappeared.  We looked all over and finally found that it had gotten swept up into the facing of her vest!  Weird.  But was I frustrated and angry at being able to lose something so easily.

It was a bad day yesterday.  All the way around.

19. What is the ugliest piece of furniture in your house?  In my house?  You must be joking.  Oh, no, it must be the ugly Cargo dresser in the big boys' room.

20. Last thing you bought and ended up returning?  I never return things.  Well, at least so rarely that I can't remember what it was.

21. What perfume/cologne do you wear? If none, why?  Chanel No. 5 or White Linen.  Love them.

22. Your favorite board game? Settlers of Catan, but not enough people here like it.

23. What was the last board game you played? Chutes and Ladders, fortunately Meg won.

24. Where did your vehicle come from?  Carmax.

25. If a movie was made about your life what would the theme song be?  Wow, No Idea.

26. You're sad, who can cheer you up easily?  My hubby.

27. What was the color of the bridesmaid dresses of the last wedding you went to?  They were each a different color.

28. What house cleaning chore do you hate to do the most?  Putting away the laundry.  If I were to put away all the laundry after folding it, Purgatory would be empty!  And what kind of person am I that I don't do it and let all those poor souls out?

29. What is your favorite way to eat chicken?  ChickFil-A chicken nuggets.

30. It is your birthday. You hope the cake is?    Plain, old yummy cheesecake!

Anyone else having a lazy blog day and want to link to me?  Come on, it's mindless fun!! (Well, except for the part about finding a theme song for your life!)

Summer Daybook

FOR TODAY
Outside my window...It's gorgeous out there!  Beautiful, blue sky and fluffy, white clouds.  But looks can be deceiving!  Yesterday the humidity was a kill, and it seems the same today.  I can't even remember when it has been so bad here.  We definitely have the A/C running again, although we keep the temp fairly high, usually 80.  Part of the reason for that is that we basically just use it to cut the humidity and we're comfortable there.  Yes, sometimes it's warm, but our HVAC guy says the indoor temp shouldn't be set more than 15 degrees cooler than outside!  So, that's about right except on the very hottest days of the year.

I am thinking...About plans for the beach next week and what I need to do to get ready.  I'm also debating whether to add a few scheduled blog posts to my to-do list for this week.  As I have no blogging ideas just now, it may be pretty quiet here next week!

I am thankful for...Air Conditioning.  I can handle a lot of things, but not super-high humidity!

From the learning rooms...I've been trying to sell a few schoolbooks and will get into that more seriously in July when we're back from the beach (Yikes, but that seems sooo close to school starting!).   I've also been making notes for how I want to school my last. two. homeschoolers.  Kind of sad, but there are so many opportunities for fun.

One of our plans for today is to go to the Used Book and Uniforms sale at Tom's new school.  That will be exciting.  I know he'll enjoy having the books in hand, but he's already a little nervous about the summer assignments he has!

  
From the kitchen...We made a big batch of meatballs last night to take to the beach.  The kids Love these meatballs and ate quite a few of them.  I like to use grated parmesan cheese instead of bread crumbs in them.   I think it adds a lot more flavor.

I am wearing...Summer Uniform.  Capris and a scoop-neck tee.  No shoes!

I am creating...Plans.  Plans for beach, plans for school, plans for knitting at the beach.  I'm thinking about creating a tie-dye project.  I ruined my favorite khaki capris last week.  They got splashed with strawberry juice and I put Oxyclean on them before washing, but it left behind bleach stains!  Does that happen to anyone besides me with stain remover???  So, I'm thinking about dyeing them for the beach.  I can't imagine ever wearing them anywhere but the beach, but it sounds like fun.

I am going...to buy those school books today.  It's also my day to stop by our community garden and take the donations to the local charity/food bank.

I am reading...Too Many Books.  I just can't even go into it, I'm so overwhelmed.  :-)

I am hoping...To get lots of good deals today at the book/uniform sale.  I'm hoping to get everything done patiently this week.  I'm really, really, hoping that Pete will get a job today at Chik fil-A when he goes to his interview!  Say a prayer, will you?

I am hearing...A fan running.  It's the box fan we bought when we turned off the A/C, but I find it makes a nice breeze on the front, hot side of the house in the a.m.

I'm also listening to a podcast on SQPN while I type.  Listening to Catholic Weekend today.

Around the house...Not nearly as energetic as some of my fellow bloggers, I'm trying to keep the mess under control as we're in and out all day long.  Especially the kids.  They're either running in and out, or I am as take them places or pick them up.  It seems we're in constant motion here.  

One of my favorite things...Sitting at the pool, in the shade, reading a good book, with a nice, cold beverage at hand.

A few plans for the rest of the week:  I think I mentioned getting ready for the beach?  There's also piano, an AHG meeting, a home swim meet.  And then on Friday, the real prep work starts!

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...Not sharing today!  Every time I do, it's a nightmare of restarting Safari and re-typing my post.  Plus, I'll miss the podcast if the system crashes.  Next time.  :-)

You can find more daybooks here:  http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/ 

Two Hearts

Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in which we consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart and ask her to lead us to Her Son.  Since yesterday was the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, our family's big feast day, I made a big cake!

In the original plan, this one was supposed to be Red Velvet, but I goofed and used the yellow cake with buttercream frosting.  We made it red with red sprinkles and used chocolate-covered pretzels for the crown of thorns.

Mary's Immaculate Heart was made from the Red Velvet, and I used my cake pan to trace around it and cut out a section so they would fit together.

As it was late, I was running out of time, or I would have frosted that one with a crumb coat and made sure that inside curve was frosted.  But, alas, there was no time for that as we had to eat and get to Mass. We used hydrangea flowers to decorate her heart.

We added the requisite "sword" through the Blessed Mother's heart and it was done.  (Don't mind the cookie sheet for a cake board---I'm sure They don't!)

7 Quick Takes

~1~

Today we honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus (read more about this devotion here). If you haven't consecrated your home by Enthronement of the Sacred Heart, today is a perfect day to do so! If you've already done so, it is a good day to renew the consecration! It is also a good day to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart. You can download the Litany, in Microsoft Word .doc format, inEnglish and in Latin.

A plenary indulgence is granted to those who, under the usual conditions, publicly make an Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart on this day. 

~2~

Last night was the Longest Swim Meet Ever.  One more for the year, and we're done.

~3~

I made Strawberry Freezer Jam yesterday since I picked up a bunch of strawberries at Trader Joes.  They were a deal, so I thought I'd do something fun with them.

I had no idea how sweet freezer jam is.  Just a taste from the bottom of the bowl made me dizzy and lightheaded!

Today, some of it has separated, leaving a layer of sugar on the bottom.  Can you say, "Too much sugar?"

~4~

Yesterday I also made a batch of homemade yogurt which, for some unknown reason, didn't work very well.  There was a ton of whey in it when I took it out after the meet.  Well, since it was so late, I decided to let it drain overnight, and I woke up this morning to Cheese.  Or Quark, as you may recall.  I'm sure Dear Husband will be fine with that, but now we a) don't have yogurt, and b) have a gallon of whey to use.

~5~

I had a very yummy breakfast of quark with strawberry jam on top.  

~6~

I'm ready to get out of the house and go shopping so I can prepare a Feast for my family with a cake honoring the Two Hearts.  Maybe I'll show you how it turns out.

Because tomorrow is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

~7~

And I'm looking forward to going to Mass tonight.  

~~~~~~~~~~

Have a Glorious Day!

You can read more 7 Quick Takes at Jen's.

Wordless Wednesday

Before

After

TuesDaybook

FOR TODAY

Outside my window...The birds are chirping like crazy.  As they do in the mornings!  I awoke to them today because my windows were open, thanks to Leila, and her post about living without AC.  

I am thinking...about what useful things I can accomplish today when there is nothing on my calendar, and I'm tempted to just lie on the sofa and read a book all day.

I am thankful for...I'm always, always, thankful for my dear husband who gets up and goes to work after not-enough-sleep no matter how he feels about it.

From the learning rooms...What?  Learning in the summer?  It's all I can do to tie them down and make them listen to a chapter from The Hundred and One Dalmations.  They haven't quite learned their father's work ethic where you do your duty whether you like it or not.  I'm still trying to teach them, though.


(Greatly edited Grumpy Daybook follows since Blogger shut down on me while trying to upload my photo at the end.  I don't usually lose half my post when that happens!!  Grrrr.)

From the kitchen...Looking for ideas for cool summer recipes that won't heat up the house and won't make my football player feel as if he's being starved to death.  Please submit.

I am wearing...My favorite linen skirt from Gap and a white tee.  I read somewhere, long ago, that an article of clothing shouldn't cost more than $1 per wearing.  I got this on clearance and reluctantly paid about $20 for it.  But I think I'm well below $1/wearing now.  Special occasion clothing can cost up to $2 per wearing.  Maybe $3, if you're rich.  You're doing really well if you buy another lovely, linen skirt at Goodwill for $4.

I am creating...lists in my head of projects my jobless 16 yo can do over the summer.

I am going...To the library and to the garden today.  I might not make the garden since it's in the opposite direction, and I don't think I'll have anything to harvest yet.

I am reading...The 101 Dalmations to Meg and Pip.  Not much time for my own reading, believe it or not.

I am hoping...I can't decide whether I'm hoping to GO to jury duty tomorrow, or be excused from it since I'm on stand-by.  Of course, it could cause days of inconvenience, but I'm interested to see what it's like.  And I'd like to have finally done my duty now that I'm not breastfeeding and it's summertime.

I am hearing...Just the fan running because the young'uns are at swim practice and Pete is still asleep.  But it's time for him to get up and start moseying toward the pool.

Around the house...Lots of little things in progress, and big things that we want Pete to work on.

One of my favorite things...Quiet summer mornings!

A few plans for the rest of the week:  Jury duty, or not.  Library.  Garden.  Selling and buying schoolbooks.  And preparing for American Heritage Girls recruitment at church this weekend.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...
Happy, happy toile valence from Goodwill for $5!

More daybooks here:  http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/ 

Green Thing redux

Before

Notice anything different?

After

The other day when I had a spare 15 minutes before picking up Madden from football practice, I got the urge to glaze the Green Thing.

TMax and I emptied it; I put it on a drop cloth (good thing, too!) and went to town  work.  I used the same method I used on the lamp, but this wood sure soaked up the glaze a lot more!

Naturally, I didn't finish in 15 minutes, or 25 for that matter.  So I left to pick up Pete and came back to finish the legs.    I turned out a lot darker than I expected.  I sanded and distressed it a bit to deal with that.  It has taken me a few days to get comfortable with it, but I'm liking it a lot more now.  It actually looks a lot more like it did in my childhood.

I should have taken a picture of the mess on the kitchen table.  You'd be amazed at how much stuff we pulled out of there!  It was, of course, our Whole School Year since we use the Green Thing to store our daily schoolwork (instead of using the schoolroom, which might be a more obvious choice).

Naturally, it became the perfect opportunity to sort through the books:  Keep, Toss, Sell, or Put Away (in the schoolroom).  It took a couple of days to do that, and I found I had a big pile To Sell, to add to the crate of stuff already waiting to be sold.  So I spent all of Saturday morning making a long list of items and prices to post for sale on Cathswap.

I'm happy to report that my Green Thing is glazed and contains books for summer school and the coming year; my kitchen table is cleaned off;  and I've sold a lot of books this weekend!

What will you accomplish with a spare 15 minutes today???

7 Quick Takes

~1~

WooHoo!  2 swim meets down; 3 to go!  Only 2 to go if you count the fact that we'll be on vacation for the last one!!  Last night we won our meet against one of the huge "city" pools.  There are 3 gi-normous swim clubs, and we usually only swim against one of them in a season.  And it's usually our ONLY loss, but last night we WON.  

What's really nice about that is that our team has the reputation for being really good sports.  Our coaches have stressed sportsmanship over winning for the past 12 years.  They make sure that every kid who gets out of the water shakes the hand of the swimmer(s) next to him and congratulates him on a good race.  That makes all the headaches of swim team worthwhile to me.

~2~

My two oldest are back in College Town, so it is quiet here again.  I miss seeing their faces and chatting with them, but it sure makes grocery shopping a lot easier!  :-)

~3~

The poison ivy misery is abating.  Thanks for all the tips and tricks.  The best tip is the benadryl at night so I can sleep!!  There's nothing like a good night's sleep.  I've put Domeboro compresses on; I've kept Caladryl lotion on the spots; and I've taken an oatmeal bath.  I can't say what has done the most good, though.  I should have been scientific and tried one remedy on each limb (because there are 4 affected limbs!), but I'd rather just have them all better instead of one still-super-itchy limb!  If you know what I mean.

If you want to know what my case was NOT like, you can check out the Poison Ivy Hall of Fame.   But don't look at the Mother of All Rashes whatever you do!  If you do, though, you have to check out the "after" pick.  It's almost as bad!

~4~

While I was suffering through the poison ivy, I was reading Adrift, and thinking about what a total wimp I am.  That man suffered some serious skin sores from being in the salt water so much.  Not to mention everything else:  the fear, the loneliness, the hunger, the exhaustion, the thirst.  

I find it incredible how strong the urge to survive is in the human being.  What gives someone the will to survive when it would be so much easier to just go Home to the Father Who created us and live in eternal peace and happiness?  Aside from the obvious desire not to leave your loved ones who depend on you, what is it?

~5~

Betty Beguiles has Harry Connick, Jr. on her blog today.  Who do you have a music crush on?  For me, it's Michael Buble.  My current favorite, and not because he's cute.  I could (and do) listen to him all day long---at least when I'm in the car.  This is the best song; Little Princess asks for it repeatedly and I oblige because it makes me think of my hubby.  Not the part about "just haven't met you yet" but about how we're gonna be so amazin' together and work it all out!

~swoon~

I love how everyone in the video is dancing about true love!

~6~

Number 6, but it's really an addendum to Number 5.

One of things I love about that song is that he says he's going to "give so much more than I get." It reminds me of all our years of teaching Pre-Cana wedding preparation, and telling young couples that marriage isn't 50-50, but 100-100. You've got to give 100% or 110%, and not count how much your spouse is giving. Keeping score is never good for a marriage.

I hope Michael finds the right girl and has a lasting marriage. He has a good chance if he really believes what he's singing about! Too often you hear couples saying they don't do this or that for the other because "he doesn't do it for me!" That's sad.

~7~

I'm glad I'm at 7 here. I don't know what this will look like when I'm done, but from where I'm sitting, Blogger is separating words in the middle. No hyphens. No moving the word down to the next line as usual, just splitting it up wherever he feels like it. Making me look stupid.

Oh, all those spelling errors and obviously missing words? They're probably Blogger's fault, too.

~~~~~~~~

I hope y'all have an amazin' weekend!

Check out Jen's for more philosophical Quick Takes

Daybook

FOR TODAY
Outside my window...
It's very dark.  I've been up since 3:30 a.m. itching with poison ivy on my arms and legs.  It's not a lot of bumps as these things go, but boy is it miserable!  I'm a newbie to the whole PI thing, you see.  I had No. Idea.

I am thinking...about going to the drug store when I drop off the Little Princess for swim team today!

I am thankful for...I'd like to say I'm thankful for modern medicine and poison ivy remedies.  Maybe I will be later, after that trip to the drug store.  Right now, I'm thankful for my hardworking hubby and my kids and the month of May that we've all gotten to spend together.

From the learning rooms...Summer workbooks!

From the kitchen...Last night we had a salad made with 2 different kinds of my homegrown, organic lettuce.  Today, some kale chips and the big zucchini we harvested yesterday!

I am wearing...pajamas.  Arms and legs exposed so nothing touches them and makes them itch!

I am creating...I'm not working on them much, but I did start a pair of socks.  The pattern requires knitting through the back loop quite a bit which I don't enjoy.  At. All.  And as I don't see the point, or the effect it has on the pattern, it feels a bit pointless.  Therefore, I'm not picking them up much.  

I am going...Did I mention the drug store?  Swim team.  Piano lessons.  Library.  Church to pick up and sign papers for AHG.  And probably the garden to put some diatomaceous earth on my eggplant that is being eaten alive by some kind of flea.  

I am reading...Adrift by Steven Callahan because Melissa was reading it.   Good, if horrible, story of being adrift in the Atlantic for 76 days after his boat sinks.  Finished The Hundred and One Dalmations by Dodie Smith.  That's the next read-aloud after we finish Ramona, Age 8.  It's adorable and even has a little religion in it, which you would never know from the Disney version.

I am hoping...I'll stop itching today.  

I am hearing...Total silence from the sleeping house.

Around the house...My 2 big kids are going back to their college town today to start their summer jobs after a month off.  It will be a lot quieter here!  And not in a good way.  We'll miss them.


One of my favorite things...Scratching.  Do you know how great scratching is?  You probably don't appreciate it until you have that itch you can't scratch.  Scratching is awesome.  Scratch your child's back today and see if they don't love it!  


And isn't 'scratch' a weird word?  Say it a few more times:  scratch. scratch. scratch.
Yep.  Weird.


A few plans for the rest of the week:  American Heritage Girls paperwork!  Signing, copying, sending.   Swim meet Thursday:  I have a better, less exhausting job this week!  Yay!

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

A bouquet from the lovely wedding we went to on Monday!

~~~~~~~~

Lots more Daybooks at The Simple Woman's Daybook!