Simple Woman Day Book

For today December 7, The Feast of St. Ambrose



Outside my window...There is a dusting of snow on the ground with a snow storm expected beginning Tuesday night.



I am thinking...about what to do for an Advent devotion tonight.



I am thankful for...being able to spend time on my blog.



I am wearing...Jeans and a gold sweater with colored flecks. It keeps me warm.



I am remembering...That my son will be home soon.



I am going...to be more patient and loving with the help of God.



I am reading...Bible readings for Advent.



I am hoping...to get out this evening and buy some necessary clothes for the kids (like boots, jeans, long underwear, sweat pants, long sleeves and sweaters) in order to prepare for the coming snow.



On my mind... I want to purchase on-line presents this week and figure out what to do about Christmas cards or whether or not to send Christmas cards. I want to stay calm about this and not worry so Advent can be a time of reflection and peace...



From the learning room...I am procrastinating.



Noticing that...my sons jeans have holes in both knees and are too short.



Pondering these words..."Children are crosses of the most embraceable kind." I got this from Nadja at Patch O' Dirt Farm.



From the kitchen...Trying new recipes from Catholic Cuisine: honey-curry chicken for supper tonight on the feast of St. Ambrose "the honey-tongued saint" and blueberry muffins for tomorrow morning for the feast of the Immaculate Conception. I have never really cooked special meals for saints' days but these recipes are relatively simple.



Around the house...There is a teenager, a toddler, and an infant.



From my picture journal...



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Some Special New Touches for Advent

We are doing a few new things for Advent this year. We have done the usual Advent Wreath for a few years where we light the candle(s) on the wreath and then read the daily mass readings or another appropriate reading. We have a brass ring with candle holders for the candles and in past years I had put an artificial garland around it with a purple ribbon. This year, however, due to the inspiration derived from reading blogs such as this one , showing off homemade Advent wreaths, my husband went and cut some branches from one of our pine trees outside and used these to put around the brass ring along with pine cones (also collected from my husband outside). I haven't actually attached the pine branches to the ring but it seems to work just fine like that as it is mostly likely to stay in one spot for the whole of Advent. Adding in some purple ribbon or some wire to fix things a little more securely would be simple enough though.

Something else we are doing for Advent is a continuation of a Jesse Tree that ds1 and I have been working on the past few years. We started drawing Jesse Tree Ornaments two years ago and it is our goal to finish them this year. There are different events and persons that may be used that lead up to the birth of Christ for the Jesse Tree but we chose to use this version which starts December 1 as opposed to the very beginning of Advent and includes the O Antiphons beginning December 17. In previous years we taped the ornaments on our fire place mantle but this year we are using a branch that my husband cut when he was trimming the tree in our front yard.
It feels good to be able to do these easy, little homemade things that don't require purchase from a store.

Seven Quick Takes Friday Vol. 6

1. This weekend is another concert weekend. The program is the Dvorak Cello Concert and Shostakovich Symphony No. 5. When we get new music I have been looking for performances of it on You Tube for a free way to listen to the music. Lately I have viewed performances of such old greats as Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, and Mislav Rostropovich. I am so grateful that access to these historic performances as well as newer ones are so readily available right in our own homes. This is the internet (and You Tube) at its best!

2. I have had a sick toddler this week. She has a really bad cold and the runniest nose I have ever seen. She wakes up with her hair stuck to her face with snot. Her hands always need to be washed because she is always wiping her nose with them. Her little nose is chapped and she has some gunk coming from both of her eyes. She is one messy little girl. She has actually gotten better in the past few days in that she doesn't wake up crying like she did the first two days and she is sleeping better. She was still pretty messy yesterday though. If her eyes don't clear up soon I'll probably take her to the doctor.

3. I think I may have this breastpumping-when-I'm-away-playing-in-rehearsals-and-concerts thing down now. I arrive to rehearsal an hour early, bring my bass in and pump in the bathroom downstairs. I have learned to put a sticky note outside the door saying "done in 20 minutes" so that people know that there will be a wait and they can go find another bathroom if they like. For rehearsal breaks I feel self conscious using this restroom because I will be in it for the whole break so I use the multiple stall restroom in the lobby. I also feel self conscious about the noise of the breast pump but I gotta do what I gotta do, and once the bathroom gets busy the noise of the toilets flushing, and the people talking, and coming in and out covers up the sound of the pump. I didn't want to pump during break before because I didn't want to get back late, but I realized that I don't need to wash out the pump until after I get home and this saves a lot of time. I wasn't pumping as often as I wanted to last concert set and I was worried about milk supply decreasing so now I am pumping about as often as I think necessary. Ahh, the things shared on blogs.

4. So now that I think I have the where and when of pumping milk I decided not to play in the next two concerts in February and March. But that's o.k. because I am happy that I can forego the anxiety of going some place an hour away from home in the worst of the winter weather. On the other hand, once I do get to rehearsal I am usually as happy as a clam to be playing and I will probably miss it though I will have the last concert of the season to look forward to in April.

5. The baby has been taking his binky regularly, and boy has this been a help in getting him to take longer naps. Thank you to my husband for getting him to this point.

6. It is as cold as it has been in a while today. It is not supposed to rise above freezing for a while and it is flurrying off and on. It was peaceful lying in bed and nursing the baby while watching the snow fall gently from the sky.

7. I am finding that if I make writing my blog a priority over reading blogs I feel a much better sense of accomplishment. It is really tempting to spend a lot of time reading blogs and then feeling like you have no time to do all the other things you wanted to do leaving you resentful about not having enough time to yourself. So making use of the time that I have given me is what I am working on.

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A Simple Woman's Day Book November 30

FOR TODAY... November 30 Feast of St. Andrew

Outside my window... It is sunny and relatively warm. What were we thinking by staying inside all morning?

I am thinking... That it will be nice to get back into the normal routine as husband is going back to work today after taking off a week.

I am thankful for... a good cup of coffee in the morning


I am wearing... Jeans and blue cotton knit shirt with three quarter length sleeves

I am remembering... that I need to call and make my annual doctor's appointment

I am going... To make an effort to start getting up earlier.

I am reading... mostly blogs. I need to start another book.

I am hoping... for an Advent that truly prepares me and my family for Christmas

On my mind... It would be fun to make a ton of cookies for Christmas but I have a tremendous sweet tooth and little self control so am wondering if this would be wise.

From the learning rooms... I need to make a plan for 2nd trimester which starts in January. During December we can try and have more fun by baking cookies and maybe make a Ginger bread house. We will also work on typing which will be fun because ds1 will get to work on the computer.

Noticing that... the baby is crying. I better go.

Pondering these words... Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. Tradtionally this prayer is started on the Feast of St. Andrew and said throughout Advent until Christmas.

From the kitchen... An attempt at fried rice using leftover rice for lunch. Heated oil, threw in tsp. minced garlic, rice, and eggs. Not bad.

Around the house... There's always something that needs to be done.

One of my favorite things~ Finding something to make using leftovers.



A picture to share...




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Seven Quick Takes Vol. 6

~1~

We are going to my mom and dad-in-laws for Thanksgiving. They live about an hour away on the farm where my husband grew up. Then we are going to go to my aunt on my mom's side. She also lives on a farm in the same are. I am going to make whole cranberry sauce and sweet potato casserole to bring. We've been making cranberry sauce for the holidays for a while. I remember going to my aunt and uncle on my Dad's side and having home made cranberry sauce and just thinking that it was the homiest thing ever. I love cranberry sauce.

Sweet potato casserole was something we just discovered last year. I was looking up recipes for sweet potatoes for Christmas Dinner and happened to run across the recipe that is linked above. I had never heard of sweet potato casserole before. Both of these things are something that no one else makes in our families so we are always proud to bring something that is our very own.

~2~

There is always the temptation to be a little anxious about Christmas or more specifically about preparing for Christmas. I always want to make sure to use my time well and make the most of it for preparing for Christmas spiritually and materially. In theory, I think it is important to do a little each day and keep things simple. For example, I think it would be fun to do crafty things with the kids in preparing for Christmas. When I think of all the options there are for this I get overwhelmed, but if I just make a decision to do a particular thing and do it then I feel good because we accomplish something and create good memories. So, for me, I guess it's important not to get hung up on trying to make the right decision and just make a decision.

~3~

We need a new vacum cleaner. I'm thinking off a Eureka Boss. I did some research on line and it looked like this one may be the best for the money. I'm excited about getting a new vacum cleaner as the one we have now is about 15 years old and has lost a lot of its suction capacity. I love the rattling sound of dirt being sucked form the carpet into the vacum cleaner. It's very gratifiying to clean entry ways where this is particularly noticeable.

~4~

Hmmm ...let me think of Thanksgivings of childhood. In the morning we would watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Santa Claus was always at the very end. I remember that my Grandpa bought us a color t.v. especially so we could watch the parades in color. (That makes me sound old.) I also remember watching this at Grandma's house some years but when we got older we would go to my grandma and grandpa's house in the afternoon. There was one Thanksgiving when there was a lot of snow and we brought our sled. I ended up getting a bloody lip from falling off the sled I think.

~5~

I'm not going to read anyone elses's seven takes before I do mine. I think it makes it easier to think of things that way without being influenced by someone else's style or content. If I read some really good quick takes (and I usually do) it tends to make me feel self-conscioius about what I am writing and things don't flow as well. Does that make sense? I'm sure there are other seven quick takers out there that feel the same way.

~6~

My husband is taking next week off from work. This means a vacation for me as much as it does for him. I will try to get some ideas in mind of what I would like to get done around the house (Christmas and homeschool planning?), and of course some ideas for doing some recreational things as a family too (don't want to be all work and no play).

~7~

I am always encouraged by all the good people who blog out there. I can't get over the fact of how cool it is that blogging allows regular people to express their ideas in a somewhat public way. It is amazing how many talented people are out there who we would never know about if it weren't for blogging.

That does it for this week. Happy Thanksgiving and for more quick takes click on the logo above.

Mostly Happy Sunday Dinner

Yesterday I made pork roast for supper. It was a good old-fashioned Sunday dinner. Was it picture perfect? No. There were fussy children and I became a little stressed and grouchy when the food was done and I was trying to get it set out in a somewhat attractive manner while it was still warm. We had invited my brother over and he was holding the baby (one of the fussing children)and singing Billy Joel songs (loudly). This was sweet, but in my state of mind only added to the chaos.

We didn't really eat the meal together either. I had to go up stairs and feed the baby as soon as I was done eating, and my husband couldn't eat when I was eating due the need to get his blood sugar where it should be first (he is diabetic). My two-year-old daughter had a cold and seemingly little appetite and was the other one of the fussing children so my husband put her to bed early (while I was feeding the baby) which seemed to be fine with her.

However, I did get to see my husband eat when I was done feeding the baby. This meant I watched him while he was eating to see if he liked what I had made. He did. He's easy to please and it did turn out pretty well if I say so myself.

So I made a meal that I was proud of (I wish I had photographed it) ,but at the same time I once again got to practice letting go of the things I had no control over. Children (especially very young children) are good at helping us with this.

Seven Quick Takes Vol. 5

~1~

Dh has been getting into country music recently. He can't get the station he normally listens to on his radio at work any more so he is listening to the country music station along with his classic rock station. He never liked country music before and always disparaged it in his younger days. I on the other hand, while not super country music fan, have always enjoyed listening to country music every now and then, especially on my way home from symphony rehearsals. So country music has been the new thing that we have in common these days. When he gets home from work he tells me about a new song he heard and I usually know exactly which one he is talking about. I'm kind of amazed with how many country songs I know from my minimal listening. We even watched the Country Music Awards on Wednesday.

~2~

I finally took a nick out of baby's thumb when I was cutting his fingernails this week. I had done the same thing to my two older children and was trying to be really careful so the same thing wouldn't happen to baby boy. But alas... I was cutting his nails while he was nursing. He didn't cry at all but he did look up with a little bit of surprise and he did bleed quite a bit. (poor kid)Their fingers and fingernails are so little and their fingernails are so sharp when they need to be cut.

~3~

Last night I tried a new recipe. They were Jacques Pepin potatoes via Rachel Ray. Apparently they were a recipe he grew up with. They use baby Yukon Gold potatoes but any small potato will do. It turned out pretty well but I think its one of those things where you need experience to get things the right consistency. The trick is to get them soft enough to slightly "pop" them open a crack but not so soft that they completely turn into mashed potatoes. I tried cutting the larger potatoes to make the potatoes all the same size but it works better to have whole potatoes because they are less likely to fall apart. Don't get me wrong, even the potatoes that fell apart were scrumptuous but they look fancier when the potatoes stay together I think. Here is the picture from the recipe web site. I should have taken a picture of the ones I made but I didn't think of that at the time.

Anyway, it is always invigorating to try new recipes. I had the usual chicken with these but taking the time to try something a little different always makes me feel so much more creative.

~4~

We had a basement waterproofer come and look at our problem egress window yesterday. He says there are no guarantees but he was for starting with the cheapest solution first and adding more pricey things if they were needed. Dh and I were thinking more along the lines of going with what is more sure to work even though it may be more expensive. What the basement guy considered more pricey didn't sound that bad to us as we were thinking that things could get much more expensive. However, we forgot to tell him about the problem of sometimes water coming in at a particular angle so that it shoots directly into the basement window itself which is one of the worst problems because you can't do much but roll up the carpet in that area and put towels down until the heavy rain is over. A fix that included draining water out of the window well like a sump pump wouldn't work with water coming directly into the window so we may have to talk about putting in a new kind of wall for the window well that doesn't allow water to come in through the cracks like the railroad ties do. I still think it might not be as expensive as we were thinking at first but we'll see.

~5~

Last night I went to my every other week Thursday night adoration at the perpetual adoration chapel. My husband and I take turns going every other Thursday night. This has worked out well for us. We have chosen a night and we stick with it for the most part.

~6~

Yesterday I took my toddler to the library musical story time for kids under three. I left the baby napping at home with my oldest. It was nice to take this time to be alone with her. She was somewhat interested in the story time but she wanted to play with the puzzles which were right next to where the story time was happening. So she played with the puzzles while keeping an eye on what was happening at the story time and would participate when it interested her.

~7~

On Sunday we visited my husbands mom and dad. It was a nice visit. They are in their early eighties and I am so thankful for each moment we get to spend with them. I always pray that they will be around for a while longer.