In my home...
This week, I shall be going quiet. I've worked hard all this year and I am determined now autumn has finally arrived to enjoy it a bit. No worries. There is work to be done. I am tired. There are multiple worries I must face, and little griefs I must experience due to current life situations with family. I hadn't quite realized all that I have been holding in a reserved corner of my mind until it began to filter out on Friday and again on Saturday. There is nothing for it but to experience my personal grief and wait yet again for a bad situation to come to a head.
It does seem of late that the hard things are harder than they have ever been. It is all part and parcel of a season of life I'd as soon would pass me by but alas it is one of those things I must just go through. This afternoon as I stood at the kitchen window thinking over one of these hard things, I felt helpless and asked "God, what do I need to do?!" "You could try prayer..." That's twice in a few days time now that the answer has been to pray. Not a coincidence. I'll lay odds I hear it a third time this week, a sure sign that indeed it is God I hear.
I will not be idle this week of silence. There will be zone work but no project work. My project work for the moment is stalled due to time/energy constraints. I plan this week to be in balance. Some work, some leisure. I plan to find a good book and lose myself. I just feel in need of that luxurious sort of respite.
Work:
This week bed and baths will be my work zone. The guest room requires a small amount of work. I have a few things out of place there. Our bedroom mostly requires dusting and cleaning of windows. With the current cool nights I need to consider bringing out the winter spread which is heavier and larger and air it on the line so that it can be ready for those nights when we really do want more cover than we have at the moment. I noted that the doorways to the bedrooms are looking pretty dirty and tattered. I don't know if just cleaning will help enough but it's all that I shall attempt this time around. Next month perhaps I'll see about a fresh coat of paint...another project to go on the projects page.
I have some errands to run outside the home in the week ahead and they will require time and a little effort and some clear thinking as I try to cram them all into one single morning. I have some mending that must be attended to as well.
And there are plants outdoors that really should be coming indoors. Orchids and ivy and Marantha should already be spending the nights indoors, not to mention the tiny coleus I've rooted and started hoping to get an early start on next summer's planters. I need to make a place for them to rest through the winter and the kitchen is the only room that is sunny enough to suit them but the orchids and the violets loathe the blast of cold air that hits them when the back door is opened. The violets stayed there this summer because they don't mind blasts of warm air at all, but it's not summer all year round, even here in Georgia. The master bath is the next brightest room in the house and the coldest as winter comes on, so that is out. Figuring out how where my plants shall go has me scratching my head...but it must be done. And then I must determine what surface will best work.
With routine work and meals and errands and mending to do this week, that will be all the 'extra' I plan to do.
Meals:
All my plans are just that: Plans! Truth is that I need to sort out my fridge and discover what hasn't been used in the last two weeks and what might be salvaged and what won't be. Meals crossed out are the ones we've had since the weekend began...
Braised Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Salad, Apple Cake (thawed from freezer)
on my own
Oven Baked Chicken Breasts, Wild Rice, Broccoli
Picnic
Steak, Baked potato, Salad
Fried Chicken, Sliced Tomatoes, Macaroni Salad
breakfasts:
Croissants and Yogurt for me, Cereal for John
Pancakes and Sausage
Oatmeal
Cold Cereals for us both, I'll have granola as mine
Western Omelets, Toast
Bagels and Cream Cheese
suppers:
Fried Chicken, (leftovers)
Toasted Cheese Sandwiches
Philly Cheesesteaks (using leftover roast beef)
Chicken Salad (baking an extra breast the day we have baked chicken)
Tomato Soup, PBJ
Hamburgers, Fries
Books and leisure:
I have the Eleanor Roosevelt, Autobiography that I continue to read but I am going to search over my bookcases and add a ficitional work and switch the two back and forth. I just need that fiction work to have quiet hideaway time. I may take a mix of fiction. I've been reading Emilie Loring books in sequential publishing date order and I've many Grace Livingston Hill books that I mean to read through and determine which to cull out. But those books generally go quickly as reading material. I feel the need for something a little deeper and more absorbing than a 24 hour read...so maybe some D.E. Stevenson or Elizabeth Goudge.
Looked over the bookcases and these are my chosen companions for the week ahead:
Emilie Loring Hilltops Clear unless it proves I've read it then whatever book is next in publication order.
Grace Livingston Hill, The Man of the Desert
Elizabeth Goudge, City of Bells
I'll also be journaling throughout this week. I've a desire to really consider what I want to see change in my life, at least those portions over which I have the ability to render change. Like buying more bulbs to plant in the yard for spring blooms and figuring out how I can incorporate some more annuals and perennials in my life.
I can be as stringent as I like with my budget but my soul requires beauty and creative work and I need to explore where savings can manifest and where I need to invest in future lovelies that I can afford now.
The there's a plethora of lists to be made: purchases to be made in the coming months, for instance and wardrobe needs, skills I want to add to my skillset or old ones I want to refresh, etc. I typically do this sort of thing in November each year but I am ready to assess my Roman Calendar new year now...and what better time to do so than when I'm choosing to take leisure time anyway?
At least that's my plan. I've had many and many a plan altered from my thinking but we shall see how it goes. What's on your calendar for the week ahead?
11 comments:
Whether it is your kids or not, I find this season of being parents of adult children to be the hardest of all. Now that we are quiet at home so much because of my husband's brain injury we pray and pray and pray. Throughout the day we pray for anything that comes up and we are so blessed to be able to be together to pray at anytime of the day. I pray that you have a refreshing week of praying at the Father's feet and come back healed and ready to face the world again.
We are working to go to the lake for two weeks. It is so much work to get everything caught up here to go but so worth it to be able to rest.
Bless you Terri. I have been reading a biography about Geo. Washington and it is good but it is not an escape so I have started The Enchanted Barn by GLH. I am on page 83 and it is just lovely. It is about the dream of making a home- in a barn! I can't wait to see how the main character does it! I pray for your peace dear.
I'll miss your posts during "radio silence", but I truly understand. I took some time off from blogging more than a year ago, and now since my knee surgery and other stuff going on, I still have't gone back to it yet. I miss blogging, but right now I can't seem to get myself focused enough to get back to it.
May you enjoy a cozy week of calm and accomplishing everything that you'd like to. I imagine that the cool weather we are having here will probably be in your area this coming week, I hope you will be able to savor some of the cooler Fall weather. I'll be looking forward to next time you post.
Take care.
Susie D.
Sigh... 1 of my adults children is having the worst time with the in-laws. He, and daughter in law are giving it their best, what with their first new baby, and him just coming out of the Navy. I'm trying to be the safe place for them both to land, but her mother( and I use that term loosely) has tried to subvert their marriage left and right. I have to stay quiet, for their sake. Only thing to do is PRAY.... so I really understand the need for you to hunker down, and figure out your next move. It's really all we can do, as parents of adults. Sending light and love your way...looking forward to reading your next chapter... best, Liz from New York
Lana...and wouldn't you know a third need came to surface today...sigh. Yes it is my children or their spouses that is of concern and indeed it is harder than ever to go through these times. But I do believe God is quite right to direct me to prayer!
Liz, yes, I do feel the need to hunker down in prayer for a bit and I can be too easily distracted by other things, namely technology, to fully focus. Thank you.
Angela, AWESOME book, one of my faves is Enchanted Barn.
Susie, my project list is not a page filled to capacity and starting on the back. I am going to have to apply that 'in little bites' approach!!!
Bless you Terri. When you feel the need to refresh and regroup you should. You recognized your need and I am glad you can do this. Never hurry a time like this just take it a day at a time. You sound like you were getting somewhat 'empty' and frazzled by circumstances and God can help fill you back up during this time.
I especially loved the Enchanted Barn too. I know I read the Man in the Desert but can't remember the story line now. DA. LOL Sarah
Not sure what your tastes in fiction are but if you like mysteries set in other time periods, Victoria Thompson has an 18 book series set in NYC in about 1900. The woman is a midwife and she partners up with a policeman. Easy but absorbing reads. Unlike many writers, I like the earlier books in the series.
Terri Dear, I, too, will miss you during your week of silence but again, I, too, understand. Prayer is the most important thing we can do for our adult children, unless they ask for advice, or at least that is what we've found. Dear Farmer has discovered he is wisest in offering advice only if he is ok with it not being taken and then to be quiet. These children learning their way through life just as we did. They will only get wisdom from allowing Father God direct them. So we take our hands off the situation and close our mouths of "how it should be done" and allow them to stumble a bit.
I was delighted to see you are heading to GLHill and E Goudge. I've only recently found Ms. Goudge and while she is a little hard to "slog" though at first, the depth of her writing is worth the effort. I am so used to my usual quick scan/reading of my fluff, relaxation reading that I had to consciously slow dow to take in that wealth. I took 4 hours today (a winter snow storm kept us home!) and read "Pilgrim's Inn" Oh what a lovely book! If you haven't read it, you really should. Such peace in between the lines. It is 3rd in the series of the Eliot Family but it a stand alone story as well.
Our weeks have been so jumbled lately with so much rain here on the Plains that we are weeks behind on harvest. Now 3+ inches of wet, wet snow today. Thankfully the forecast calls for 10-14 days of sunshine. Farmer has had a bout of gastro distress and I'm battling a nagging cough since I had a bad cold a month ago. And general business with family, church and off-the-farm work. My house has suffered but there is little time to get it caught up. I'm hopeful for these next weeks as the weather is nice.
My mind and spirit need a rest as well. I admitted to the Farmer yesterday on a drive that I really need a day away from all the men in my life (work & family). With no disrespect but I NEEDED a girl's night out. And Father God as always, hears unspoken prayers and desires of our heart. I had a family meeting of sorts with my siblings and mom and was able to spend 2 hours afterwards with my favorite sisters. And yet that gave me some painful insight to how our lives will never walk a parallel path.
God loves us so much; as I was spending time with my sisters, my best friend called to invite us over for the evening. She & I don't share a close a path as I would like but it was a comfort.
This week, I will try again to better myself Spiritually, Emotionally and Physically.
And I will be praying for you, Friend. *hug*
Sarah, that is exactly what I asked God to do in this week: fill me back up!
Mable, I haven't read mysteries in years. In fact the last mystery books I read collectively were the Mrs. Pollifax books. I'll look into this series. It wouldn't hurt me to get out of my routine neighborhood and stretch my mind a little.
Kay, I've been following along with you on facebook and knew the weather was a hindrance to BEF this year. I am so sorry for that and hope the sunny dry days come right along and he can relax for a wee bit before calving season.
Elizabeth Goudge is indeed a deep read, for all that she was classed as a romance author all her life, lumped in with the likes of Dame Barbara Cartland no less. Well the latter did provide some history lessons Miss Goudge just goes that one step deeper into the spiritual matters and I've found great comfort in her books over the years. I've chosen the very first of her books I ever read, way back at age 18, A City of Bells. I'm always curious to see how my perspective has changed when I read books as a much older adult but it's true evidence that she has been on my life's journey with me!
Advice...I say what I have to say as I am provided the opportunity, not condemning nor condoning but doing my best to guide and instruct. John tells me I'm wasting my time. I say I am sowing seeds and one is going to take root and change everything.
My gracious dears I have enjoyed the long notes this week, both in comments and in personal emails. I think I needed these as much as I needed to return to my prayer warrior status. Hugs to each and every one of you!
It seems like everyone I know is dealing with family things out of our direct control. Spectating can be pretty hard. Lots of praying.
I see that you've been given several book titles to enjoy. May I add to the list and suggest The Darling Dahlias series by Susan Wittig ….oh, rats, her last name is escaping me!! They're set in about 1930 Alabama. Small town. The Dahlias are a gardening club and there's always a little mystery brewing. They were recently suggested to me and they are the perfect escape to clear my head each night before sleep.
I'm a crime story junkie and things can get pretty dark. I didn't think a twisted murder plot contributed to good sleep so I set my darker books aside for afternoon reading. I read my bible & current faith book A Woman after God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George in the morning. (this is my 3rd time through this book, as it's packed with great stuff).
I'll get back to you with that last name.
Okay, it's Susan Wittig Albert and the first book is called The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree.
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