Outside my window...
Dark. The sun hasn't even peeked up yet and the house is so quiet. I love the morning. By the time this thing gets published it'll probably be much much later in the day because that's the way blogging works lately. (True.)
Thankful for...
Brian. Friends. Fall. Health. A new baby boy born to a client Saturday night.
Thinking about...
Balancing the internet world with a real life world. I'm noticing a lot of bloggers lately struggling with this and with what they call "blog envy" and not feeling good enough or feeling pressure to perform. I've dealt with that as well but can I tell you? I got off Facebook a few weeks ago and poof. Gone. All that static, that noise in my head just...gone. It's been so very good. I am such a fan of social media for many things but I have to wonder if many of us are way over stretching ourselves and trying to be in all. the. places. and in the process taxing our families and spirits as well. I know I was.
Learning...
I realize I'm risking something by saying this but our year has gotten off to a really strong start. I'm happy with our plans and so far, I've been keeping my discipline up to get the core done. We do core subjects in the morning and I bounce like a ping pong ball from one boy to the next tending to whoever has the moment's greatest need. Afternoons have been getting a little bit more structured as the weather has started cooling but I've still been lax about pulling them inside if they are happily playing out there. Once the colder cozier weather hits, we'll set aside more of the afternoon for history and read alouds. They'll be winter enough for all that.
From the kitchen...
I'm not a fancy cook by any means. Breakfast and lunch are pretty much the same every single day. And dinners are simple but (I think) relatively healthy. My current meal planning system is simply to figure it out a month at a time and write it on a dry erase calendar attached to the fridge. I don't always follow it but like many of my systems, it just eliminates so much stress if I have a plan to fall back on if needed. It works for me.
Oh, and hopefully a new sink soon! We found one on Craigslist and Brian picked it up a few weeks ago. But things have been more than a bit crazy with lots of things going on so who knows when we'll get that baby installed.
Creating...
I asked for blog printing money for my birthday and got it so I've been spending time fixing up a whole bunch of old posts from this here blog where the formatting went wonky. I'm really excited to get it printed out year by year and have a tangible chronicle of this here little life of ours. Problem is there are only two services I can find that specialize in blog printing, Blog2print and Blurb, and they both pretty much stink. Seriously, why is this market so untapped and why are more printing companies not doing this?? Blog2print is extremely limited in formatting choices and every choice I tried just looked silly (they separate pictures from text so if your text is about your pictures it no longer makes sense) and Blurb you have to reformat every. single. post. yourself. Why can't they just print it like it is right on the original? Anyhoo, if anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know!
Going...
Camping this weekend! My brother-in-law took the lead back in the spring and organized a family camping trip. Just a couple of days but I'm looking forward to it. And praying that the little ones are able to sleep there. I'm a little nervous that the cabins lack electricity so there will be none of my fancy sound machines happening and it could get interesting. But we shall overcome and prove that we are strong and brave and can camp with four children like the pioneer people we wish to (not really) be.
Hoping...
To keep this simplicity thing up that I've had going on. It feels good and right. Back to the basics.
And for a very very very cool thing that may be happening. But I can't tell you yet :)
And for a very very very cool thing that may be happening. But I can't tell you yet :)
Reading...
Katie graciously sent me her copy of Hiking the Camino and I cracked it open to read the first few chapters and am looking forward to finishing it maybe this weekend.
John Paul and I finished reading the first book of The Mysterious Benedict Society and my thoughts are mixed. He loved it. There were several times I questioned the writing and plot line and it's not likely to become one of the ones I'll encourage but not likely one I'll discourage. Thoughts?
John Paul and I finished reading the first book of The Mysterious Benedict Society and my thoughts are mixed. He loved it. There were several times I questioned the writing and plot line and it's not likely to become one of the ones I'll encourage but not likely one I'll discourage. Thoughts?
Praying...
Around the house...
There has been so much going on lately that I haven't had much time for house projects. But there's been lots of learning and playing and reading and organizing.
Worth a click...
Whining Whiners and How to Cure Them: A Checklist (Like Mother, Like Daughter) So. Good.
Media Buries Psychotic Drug Connection to Navy Shooter Once again.
Widower Submits a Song About His Wife of 73 Years to a Songwriting Contest (22 Words) Tears.
Media Buries Psychotic Drug Connection to Navy Shooter Once again.
Widower Submits a Song About His Wife of 73 Years to a Songwriting Contest (22 Words) Tears.
A Healthy Dose of Birth Fear (Sarah Clark) "Birth is big and it is wonderful and it will probably bring you to you knees." Yes.
A few plans for the rest of the week...
Recuperating the family from a little cold and camping. Which is enough.
Picture thoughts to share...
The boy likes his pasta.
Yes I agree with you about the static from facebook. I stopped it years ago just for Lent and it was so refreshing and wonderful that I closed down my account. No regrets here.
ReplyDeleteThe camping will be FUN! I too had the same concerns but we went camping in May with the boys and I loved every minute of it (and the boys were beyond excited!).
Oh good! We've camped before and it is so fun but that sleep thing is hard with the littler ones! Pray that we sleep, please :)
DeleteAnd I'm hearing that a lot from ex-Facebookers which is really interesting. I still have an account so certain people can get a hold of me and because I'm in a few networking groups but I'm staying far away from the compulsive feed checking!
prayers coming your way.
DeleteRegarding the blog printing - I thought I remember you Pinning this... but I found it through Meg in case you hadn't seen it. The woman had all the same formatting concerns you do and she said her best outcome was with a company called Lulu. Here's the link to the post she wrote comparing them all...
ReplyDeletehttp://jocelynandjason.blogspot.com/2012/06/why-i-decided-to-print-my-blog-with.html
hope it helps :) I'll be anxious to see a finished product and see what it's really like!
Yeah, I was the one who pinned that :) I tried her tutorial and found it pretty laborious. Not as bad as Blurb but taking every single post and reformatting it in Word and then uploading that to Lulu which is just a normal printing site as a book. I just want a site like Blog2print that goes onto your blog and sucks it up and prints it out but not all changed around like they do. But if I can't find anything, I may have to go that route. I really don't get why this isn't more of a thing and why normal printing companies like Shutterfly and others don't do this!
Delete1) You won't find a bigger fan of 'the facebook' than me, but I'll admit, this last week of postpartum bliss has given me a much needed break. Social media, the double edge sword.
ReplyDelete2) Hiking the Camino is one of my favorite books. It's actually funny, because my homies make fun of me because of the enthusiasm with which I speak of it. I learn best through real life story telling/drawing lessons from the day to day...so this was my jam!
3) camping. yikes.
LOL re: the sound machines. Totally something I would worry about even though you will be camping IN a big sound machine with the crickets, cicadas, whooshing trees and all. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are working on using your birthday gift. I pictured it as an easy process. Enjoy the outdoor time as much as possible especially the camping. You are much better cook than you give yourself credit and you are over the top on nutritious meals,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the prayer requests. They are greatly needed.
Grandma in Chicago
Praying for your in-laws right now. It's too bad you aren't coming out here again - it was about this time last year, wasn't it?
ReplyDeleteI've never been on facebook...I've peeked at my mom's account a few times and knew it would be overwhelming for me and I would be way too glued to it. I'm glad I've not given in to it. My life is noisy enough with all the blog reading I do (and instagram can be noisy sometimes, too).
I tried to print out my blog a couple years ago but was astonished at the cost. I don't remember having to reformat anything though.
Have fun this weekend!