Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Waiting

Saturday:  I swear that since the first of November we have been in the most frustrating holding pattern of all time.  Well, no, not of all time, but it's a continuation of something I've noted in our lives in the past.  The waiting room is a long session where one season is neither here nor there and the other is nowhere to be seen.  

This pattern started about the end of October.  We were waiting for Katie to move and then getting the house up on the market.  We've waited and waited for various things related to the house, waited to know who was coming for Thanksgiving, waited to do Christmas shopping, waited to know when we might gather as a family.  Today we are waiting to see if the promised repair man is going to show, and if we get to attend the Christmas program at church for which we have tickets.  As it's now 11:30am, its looking like we're going to just be hanging in mid-air.   We're also waiting to see if family returns tonight or if it will be sometime tomorrow.  We don't know a thing!  And it is soooo frustrating.

Coffee Chat: A Season of Grief

 

Hello dears.  Do come in.  Won't you have a nice warm drink?  I have Christmas blends of coffee: Santa's White Christmas and a Vanilla Caramel blend and oh yes, that Peppermint blend that Samuel bought for me last winter.  I feel the need of something festive, whether I'm in the festive mood or not.  Won't you have some with me and let us sit down and have a heart to heart today?

Autumn is nearing an end and Winter will soon be here.  I think people mentally accept winter's beginning as December 1.  Thanksgiving, which seems such an autumnal celebration for us here in the States, is over.  December ushers in winter.  This year the leaves were on the ground, no longer fluttering upon the trees well before December 1.  We've had frost and honest to goodness cold and somehow it feels winter has already arrived.  It's not a solstice thing.  It's a recognition of seasonal signs really.  People are ready for the next thing, aren't they?  For the gifting season and the turning of the old year into a new one.

The Homemaker Plans (?) Her Week: Jingle Ling A Ling

 

In my home this week, I am waiting.  We are currently waiting on a local man who apparently works on plumbing.  He said he 'might' come out today.  No hurry...It's just cold showers and heating water on the stove.

We are waiting on many things.  People to set dates for finishing up things.  To be paid.  To see if we can actually go to the Christmas program for which we have tickets or if we shall have to forfeit them.  To see how long I must put off Christmas gift shopping...And more.

A Homemaker's Diary: All I Want for Christmas

 

Saturday: I was scrolling through a blog this afternoon and saw photos of Christmas cocoa stations.  For the first time I felt twinges of interest in Christmas decorating.  I thought of how much I'd like to create such a station in my own kitchen.  I probably won't, since it would take space, I don't have at present, but I thought about it and was interested.

That made me feel a bit restless, and I went off to my room and picked up my Bible and began a self-guided study on the birth of Christ.  I began with Matthew 1.  I didn't get to dig and do research, but I have begun and will take time over the days ahead to study further.  I find that in times of trouble, while I might instinctively want to hide, that it is always best to not turn away from God but turn inward towards God and hide within Him.  I can do this by prayer, study and reading His word.

The Homemaker Plans Her Week: I Try My Best

In my home this week, I am trying again.

Pilar brought me a lovely red sweater for holiday wear, and it came in a cute Christmas shopping bag.  The front of the bag was a checklist:  Nice/Naughty/I Tried My Best.   It was the last that was checked.  I laughed, a rueful laugh for sure, but a laugh, nonetheless. I feel like I've done nothing but 'Try My Best' all year long and I'm uncertain I've done a thing right or well.  John has a saying, "Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."  And we all know that in either one, you lose.

But I keep trying.  "E" for effort, right?

Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Slowing Season?

Saturday:  We had Caleb today.  We were a little nervous about this since the day also involved meeting John's brother and sister-in-law for a meal out.  Needn't have worried.  Caleb was as quiet as a mouse and perfectly well behaved.  And why?  Because we took the Kindle with us, connected into the restaurant's Wi-Fi, and pulled up a Spider Man cartoon, a most recently discovered obsession that none of us were aware even existed in his little life.   Worked like a charm!  

It's been a very quiet day overall which has been appreciated in many ways but also a sad sort of day, too.  John never does goodbye very well and to say goodbye to his brother today was difficult.   I think he had bleary eyes all the way home.  He talked as though he was afraid this was the last time he'd see George.  His brother is in perfectly good health, but he is 76 and I guess at this stage of life, we all must expect that eventually our age will catch up with us.

I Wonder as I Wander: November's Rambling Thoughts

 

I was watching a vlog the other day and the narrator found the most stunning grove of trees in a park.  They were such beautiful colors!  She said, "I wondered what it would be like to just see things in black and white..." and then that portion of the film was in black and white.  The wonder and awe of the scene dulled.

I remember as a child, we watched tv in black and white.  I was in third grade when we got our first color tv, but a lot of reruns of old programs and movies were still shown in black and white. And most all of the photos in our photo albums were black and white.