The Week Behind: Clear Skies?

Saturday:   We had a meal plan in place this morning when the boys woke up: their choice of eggs or cereal, bananas and donut sticks.  They weren't so sure of the donut sticks oddly enough (a Little Debbie's favorite).  I know that it's a weakness for their daddy so not likely something he keeps at home but he was pretty pleased when I held up one I'd reserved for him when he came to pick up the boys.

Found Josh's library book when I finished clearing up the living/dining room. I  called Sam so he'd stop back by on his way home.  He and the boys had headed off to get haircuts and go to the grocery store.  He's commanded Bess to stay home unless escorted and she stayed home today.

Worth Sharing This Week: Washington Square

A few years ago I stumbled upon several movies, all based upon novelist Henry James works.  I knew nothing of James, but I was intrigued enough by the movies to purchase several of his books.  It was the way James portrayed the complex and often frustrating societal guidelines single women faced that captured my attention.

Henry James is considered by many to be one of the greatest English language novelists of the 19th century.  He was born in 1843 in America but moved to Europe as a young man before settling in England and becoming an English citizen in 1915.  He died in 1916. 

The Week Ahead: January's Last Week

The boys left this morning after a rare overnight visit.  I'm afraid we weren't quite prepared for what is  their normal nighttime routine, even though I was at least a little familiar with it.  Poor Grampa was fully surprised by it all and felt a little put out, lol.

The Week Behind: Cold!

Saturday:  A quiet morning at home that passed quickly.   This afternoon I went off to Macon to Bess' Baby Sprinkle.  John encouraged me to download an app called WAZE which led me along odd back roads but talked me through the whole ride.  That was fine...but when I arrived WAZE didn't stop talking.  In fact, it began to tell me every single touch on my phone screen and every move I made and chattered at me constantly.  I'm afraid my first words at the door were "Where's Bess?!  I need her to fix my phone!"  It eluded her and we ended up cutting  off the phone entirely while I was at the party.

Worth Sharing This Week: Winter

This week we had a bit of winter weather.   For us it means that we were cold with nights below freezing.   I'm not complaining..  We live in a fairly temperate area and any change from warm is usually welcomed with cries of joy from nearly everyone.  What we miss in snow and cold, we generally make up for with plenty of wet weather.  Last week we had rain every day for seven days.  It didn't rain non-stop but it did rain at some point every day or night.   This week we had three lovely very cold sunny days and then it warmed up and rained again and is still raining.

Coffee Chat: Winter Returns in the South

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home. ~ Edith Sitwell

So let us have a cup of hot cocoa or hot tea and spend a few hours enjoying the beauty of winter and the bliss of home.   We'll take our cups to the living room. You can choose a sunny spot near the window or pull your chair a little closer to the propane heater if the chill air got to you as you came through the door.

The Week Ahead: Brrr Winter Returns

We had a lovely weekend.  It was sunny and cooler but not cold Saturday.  I went to a baby 'sprinkle' for Bess, thrown by her aunts.  It was such a nice gathering, small and intimate and lovely, filled with laughter.  Bess looked beautiful.  She doesn't even have to try hard.  Considering how I've played with makeup and hairstyles all my life trying to look half presentable, Bess is one of those who doesn't much care.  I mean she really doesn't.  Appearance rarely comes to her in thinking of what is important.  She is a self-proclaimed tom-boy and loves to hunt.   When the children are all here Bess is out in the yard amongst them.

The Week Behind: Mostly Fair

Saturday:  Gave myself a mani and pedi this morning.  I've been using the Jamberry wraps once again, mostly as accent nails.  I figure I have all this stuff I may as well use it and enjoy it, right?

I have enjoyed using the Clinique products but since winter came along, my skin has not been happy with them at all.  I'm switching slowly back to Cetaphil as products run out.  I'll save a little money and I know that I'm getting a fragrance free sensitive skin product.

Worth Sharing This Week: Tea, Anyone?

If you are cold, tea will warm you; if you are too heated, it will cool you; if you are depressed, it will cheer you; if you are excited, it will calm you. -William Ewart Gladstone

In January, I purposely choose to drink tea, temporarily giving coffee a rest. I find I'm quite liking it and while it was meant to be a discipline for me, it's not such a terrible hard one, after all.

Truth is I came late to drinking hot tea.  It took a little getting used to but as I said, my third year in and I find it's really not that difficult to embrace this month or so of hot tea.

2019 Purchases in Review (and One Hack)

I've showcased a few favorite purchases this year and wanted to revisit those posts and give an extended review now that I've had a period of time to fully use some of the household products.  I'm not including a review on the personal care items I purchased this year.  It is enough to say that they were all used up, so obviously they worked just fine.





The carpet sweeper.  LOVE this.  We often use it following a meal and it's light enough that the grandchildren love to volunteer to 'clean up' when I take it from the closet.  It's best for low pile rugs and doesn't seem to work as well on the tile floors but it's a whiz at getting the carpet clean.

Decluttering Isn't Just Throwing Things Away

This week I'd planned to begin decluttering.  It's chronic with me.  Something about a new year makes me very conscious of the excess in my home.  Someone surmised it was due to the lavish abundance of things which come into a home with the Christmas season but I think it's more than that.  We had a very modest Christmas season and only a few items (all very useful) came into our home.  However, as we neared the beginning of the year my fingers itched to dig into the spaces behind closed cabinet doors, to straighten drawers, to plunder the shed and let go of many things.

The Week Ahead: Fair Weather or Foul

Well we finally have an answer about our income for retirement.  It's a little lower than what we've had with John's work  but not so much lower that we need panic.  We'll manage and that's all I really wanted to know: 'Can we manage?'  Yes, we can.  Good enough.  Truth is I can pretty much do whatever must be done once I know what I have to work with and this won't really be a hard struggle.

The Week Behind: The Only Looking Back I Want to Do

Saturday:  Katie called mid-afternoon yesterday to ask if I'd take her to get Taylor for the weekend.  I prepped today's dinner yesterday in the late afternoon.   The morning was pretty routine stuff.  The weather was, thankfully, dry and sunny though clouds increased on our way back.

We made a stop at Ingles for some necessities that Katie required.  I picked up something for Taylor (Frozen toddler serving set) and Yoohoo to drink on the way home.  I checked out a couple of items I want to stock but found the same selection I've found elsewhere, so no purchases for me much.  But the bargain came as I started to the exit.  There was a stand full of umbrellas for $4.97 each.  I've been in need of a newer umbrella since mine is tearing and has pinholes but I balked at the $15 price tags I've seen.  I won't be sliding this new umbrella into my purse as I did my old one but at least I have one that won't let rain come through it onto me.

Worth Sharing:The View from Here

The Nester shared a short four point article about keeping a clean house this week.  She shared this image, which is worth saving and printing and displaying somewhere you will see it daily.

Fair warning, the author apparently has some affiliation with Grove Collaborative and the third paragraph is a sales pitch, really, but scan through for the gems.

Did you make a resolution to declutter or to keep a better house this year?  The Nester's first mention is right on and a trick I employed when  I used Flylady in the first days of this last sojourn to be an at home wife and mom to get my house under control and it helped tremendously.  22 years ago she was just a daily email and message board.  Now Flylady has become a recognized homekeeping expert and a worthy one at that.  I found her constant reminders irritating and motivating at the same time and it truly was because of her that I am the housekeeper I am today.

Coffee Chat: Restless Hibernation

Come in dears, and have a cup of coffee or tea with me and let us chat for a little.

I'm struggling.  I try to write but can't.  I try to get to the tasks I've assigned myself but find them boring and uninteresting.  It is the same with cooking, reading, studying.  I've lost all inspiration.  I want only to hibernate, and yet at the same time I am very restless.   I rest and relax and do a small task or three and then I feel worn down tired.   I long to be doing something, but the pull of doing nothing is equally as strong...Can anyone else identify?

The Week Ahead: 20-20 Vision

Along about my late twenties, my eyes began to weaken slightly.  I needed glasses for reading.  As time went on I needed corrective lenses so I could see clearly.  As I approached my 50's I needed bi-focal lenses, a double correction of vision, so to speak.  I'm very grateful for the ease with which vision may be corrected these days but I think now and then, wouldn't it be great to have 20/20 vision once more?   Well I'm hoping that this decade will have us all seeing things more clearly, that our vision is 'corrected'.  Idealistic perhaps but that's my desire for the decade ahead.

I know the year is just 4 days old but I feel very optimistic...

The Week Behind: Ringing In a New Year

Saturday:  I made sure to light our tree this morning in the gray light after letting it sit unlit all last night.  I couldn't bear it!  Here we've only got a few days left until the New Year and I want to enjoy the  tree a little while.  I've made up my mind to wait until Tuesday afternoon to take it all down.  The little boys are coming to stay while parents attend to something and since they had no tree at home this year I thought they'd enjoy one more time seeing ours.

Worth Sharing: New Year Ponderings

I love this little paragraph from The Golden Journey by Agnes Sligh Turnbull...I often wish for an open fire to sit near but no fireplace in this mobile home and I'm quite all right with that!  but just read this little bit with me:

"It's delightful to see a wood fire," he said aloud, somewhat  at random.  "So few have them nowadays. I wonder why?"

"Because," Anne said promptly, "they think only of the warmth which they don't need with modern heating.  They forget all the other things that go with an open fire.  Cheerfulness, for instance,  and companionship  Burning logs can carry on quite a conversation!"

"Oh can't they though!  Have you ever heard apple wood talking?  It's the most loquacious of all.  You really can't get a word in edgeways.