In an attempt to make up for the long, long silence, here are some pictures. First, the “man pit” that Craig build over the old (dug out hole in the grass) fire pit. It is now an oven and stove. I picked up the brick off the curb, in my church clothes, no less. Dad would be proud.
The roasted (in brick oven) vegetable quesidillas (cooked on brick stove) were really, really good.
We have done a little planting. We’ve had several dafodills bloom, and the tulips and iris are ready to bust.
I had been wondering where the burst of cleaning and ordering energy that I’ve had for the last couple of weeks had come from, and I now have a couple of theories. (For two pregnancies I looked forward to the “nesting” phase when I would actually want to clean – it never came. Maybe this is what it feels like!) Freedom from the requirements of a job has certainly helped, since I have hours back in my days with no commute, no papers to grade or lessons to plan, not to mention the time I actually spent teaching.
I’ve been thinking a lot about food lately. I like to spend time in the kitchen, making good food from scratch (or close to it). Unfortunately, that often means something else in the never-ending list of house and school chores is being neglected. As much as I know I would miss all my kitchen comforts, some days I envy women whose work for the day is almost exclusively involved in preparing food for their families.
Fly Lady? (the architect of my one hope of ever having a clean house) has a wonderful bit of philosophy: ? you can do anything for fifteen minutes. ? This is usually applied to dealing with piles of paper clutter, laundry, putting away holiday decorating, etc. ? But with a two-year-old and an infant, I’m learning how to do things for only? fifteen minutes, since that’s about the average length of time my hands are free before one or the other (or both!) is demanding attention. ?
Loyola Kids Book of Heroes: Stories of Catholic Heroes and Saints Throughout History by Amy Welborn
Metamorphoses (Penguin Classics) by Ovid
The Long Winter (Little House) by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Next to Godliness: Finding the Sacred in Housekeeping by Unknown
