Am I Crafty Yet?

This is the scarf that I crocheted for my sister.  I think I started it last year.  I ended up getting the yarn tangled and so I kept putting off working on it.  Finally I just picked it up again and decided to untangle the yarn (with the help of my husband.) We got it mostly untangled without cutting it, though I did end up cutting the yarn and adding it in  And that is the story of this scarf.  It is my first completed crochet project.  Don't look too closely.  I'm happy to say that my sister really appreciated it.

FOR TODAY, January 18, 2010

Outside my window...it is gray and cloudy.  The temperature is in the upper twenties so it will be relatively comfortable for going on a walk.

I am thinking...about dealing or rather not dealing with extended family who tend to drag me into their problems.  Screening calls, right or wrong, may be an important part of this.

I am thankful for...God's grace. 

From the learning rooms...My son is taking care of getting his work done on his own.  He has been planning his own days.

From the kitchen...Something easy like spaghetti for supper tonight.  I will also soak pinto beans tonight.  I will use some to make a bean casserole and we eat the others plain or with a bit of seasoning whatever suits our fancy at the moment.  It's a low cost nutritous way of eating...albeit somewhat penitential. 

I am wearing...Jeans and husbands green computer science sweatshirt.

I am creating...I gave my sister the scarf I made her on Saturday.  It was my first crocheted project.  I want to learn to knit. I want to make longies for the baby but am afraid this may be too adavnced.  We'll see.

I am going...focus on meeting the needs of my family by avoiding unnecessary anxiety.

I am reading...My husband and I are reading For better...Forever.  It is a book about marriage combining  both a Catholic and a modern psychological perspective.

I am praying ...for my brother and his family.

I am hearing...The baby is starting to fuss.  He is "playing" on the floor in the living room.

Around the house...I need to clean the basment.  We have a finished basement with computers and a large table.  It is cluttered with Christmas wrapping paper among other things.

One of my favorite things...is making a new dish that turns out well. 

A few plans for the rest of the week:  I need to keep working on getting organized by making a daily schedule that includes prayer times.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

Pumpkingirl standing by her new Christmas rocking chair.

For more day books click here: http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Doing Without my Dryer Revisited

Last month on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception I found that my dryer was broken and wrote about it here. I had decided to hang up my clothes to air dry until the dryer was fixed and indicated that maybe I would even continue to do so after the dryer was fixed. Well I told myself that, in an effort to save on utilities and to use less of the worlds resources, I would hang up at least one load of laundry each week to air dry.

Did I follow through?

Well... I did this exactly once since I got the dryer fixed. I hung up dish towels and other whites on my drying rack. There are three things I told myself as to why I was just going to go back to using my dryer for now:

1. My pesky cat insisted on sitting underneath the drying rack and that left me with cat hair on my dish towels, which would leave me with cat hair on my dishes if I used these towels in the way they were meant to be used. That is undesireable I'm sure even for the most ardent cat lover.

2. Even with my newly purchased drying rack, it is still difficult to find a place to hang everything and we end up with laundry hanging up all over the house.

3. I'll just wait until warmer weather and hang it outside then.

Next Day--Another Try--Another Perspective
I wrote the above yesterday. Last night, however, I did , once again, hang up my laundry to dry and it seemed so easy.  I moved my drying rack to the bedroom where my cat would be less likely to get it and I also hung up a lot of laundry on hangers on the shower rod. 

I have come to the conclusion that , once you work out the logistics, hanging up clothes to dry doesn't add any more work than using the dryer because, in the act of hanging up your clothes to dry you are also taking care of most of the work of sorting and folding.  Dare I say that taking the time to put clothes in the dryer is just an extra step that adds more work? 

For more on the subject of air drying your clothes here is an article and a web site on the very topic.  Isn't that a hoot?  There is a web site about this. 

Love is...

Love is saving the last scoop of ice cream for your husband for when he gets home from work. I am getting better at things like this, but have to admit that I did eat the last scoop of ice cream an hour ago.

Perhaps One Less Thing to Worry About

Thinking about making a high school transcript for Angelboy should we still be homeschooling next year, is a stress triggering idea for me.  However, after talking to a couple of homeschool mom's I know, I have learned that it may not be as bad as I had first thought.  Both of these mom's said they didn't really keep records.  This was a happy thought indeed and may have filled me with both feelings of relief and awe at their devil-may-care attitudes. 

Then it occurred to me that, considering we live in a state where recordkeeping for homeschoolers is at a bare minimum, that maybe this isn't that crazy after all.  Perhaps keeping track of subjects studied and knowing that they have a good understanding of the concepts and subjects studied are the most important things.  This would be something that I can do and perhaps even enjoy. 

These mom's had only first year high school students so it is possible that they will start thinking more about recordkeeping further along in their child's high school career.  In the meantime I feel that I don't have to let this stand in the way of homeschooling Angelboy through highschool.  I still feel I need to do more looking into what is required of me for homeschooling highschool but for now I feel less daunted.

Okay, With a Few Adjustments---Maybe It Won't be so Bad After All

Well, we are back to the dreaded homeschooling.  That's right. Dreaded. 

I was not looking forward to starting again.  I was seriously thinking of sending Angelboy to the public Jr. High full time as soon as Christmas break was over. 

I dreaded the task of organizing the week and telling him what we were doing and when.  But you know what I did?  I gave him the books and had him organize the week and what we would be doing from each book.  This included: math, science, and language arts so far.  I'm giving the resonsibility (well a lot more of it anyway) to Angelboy to make sure we get schooling done.  He just tells me what to do and I will do it.  I'm here to help out if he needs me.  Well it probably won't be that simple but the idea is that I need and expect him to shoulder more responsibility for his own education.   I think he will do well with this.

O.K. the other reason I was dreading it was because he is fourteen and sometimes it seems like he has an opinion about everything which means that it seems like he contradicts me on everything.  When did this start to happen? It has become more and more apparent that the teenage years are here. 

There does seem to be a glimmer of hope though.  We both agreed that everything seemed much clearer after the break and we actually enjoyed the schooling that we did together.

Maybe we can do this.

Seven Quick Takes Volume 8

1. I had a beautiful Christmas. Although there were disappointments like my sister not coming and not being able to get very much alone time in with my husand, I felt that the consistent practice of our Advent devotions had the effect of making a little bit more room in my heart for Jesus. For me this meant things such as being touched by the fact that Almighty God became a helpless baby subject to human care. God is truly humble.

2. Here is a picture of the dutch oven my husband gave me for Christmas:

It's really beautiful. The picture doesn't do it justice. My husband also got me the cook book Soups from a Monastery Kitchen by Brother Victor-Antoine. Here is a picture of my cut-up vegetables, carrots, celery and turnips, that I used for making soup out of the book:

Many of the soups have relatively simple ingredients and are surprisingly tasty despite that.

3. I find myself looking forward to Monday when we will begin homeschooling again after a looooong amount of time off. I am having Angelboy plan what he will do next week with Math, Science, Language, and Geography. I may plan history, religion, and whatever else. I hope having him plan his own work and take more responsiblity for his own learning helps cut down on what I have to do. I was seriously thinking about having him go to public school full time after Christmas break because I didn't feel I was doing a good job of keeping on top of things and was worried about him getting a good education. We will at least finish this year at home. Next year is high school so we will see.

4. I think Angelboy would probably do well with keeping his faith and morality if he did go back to public school. I think having him home for the past 3+ years has been wonderful for grounding him in the faith. It's also been 3+ years since I have been in public school teaching. I am certain that much has changed in that short amount of time. They were just beginning to deal with the cell phone issue back then, but now I think that cell phones among teens is much more prevalent. Face Book is also much more widespread than it was just a few years ago. I know there is a lot of bad things that go on in public schools but there are also a lot of good kids and teachers. Its difficult deciding what to do.

5. One thing I would really like to do this year is get up earlier in the mornings on a more consistent basis. I would exercise and blog among other things and have time to plan my day. I need to reflect on what I would like to accomplish this year and make plans. Some solid plans to change certain behaviors and attitudes would certainly be a good idea. I need to work on patience and accepting times when things don't go as planned.

6. Last year I made the resolution to go to monthly confession and followed through even when I really didn't want to go. I need to make another commitment like this. First Friday Mass? Weekday mass at least one day a week? Daily rosary? Any ideas?

7. Well I need to get ready to go to church now. My husband is making blueberry muffins. Yum! One of the accomplishments I can claim for this year is more regular posting on my blog. Granted it started later in the year but it happened none the less. I look forward to another year of regular blogging. It is certainly one of my favorite things.

For more quick takes go to conversiondiary.com