Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Scripture Cards!

Hey friends! 

I thought I would share some Scripture Cards I've created. Posting Scripture in strategic spots in my house is one way I like to encourage myself and the other people who live in my house. 




You can go to the links below on Google Drive and print off these yourself. I printed mine on cardstock. They aren't exactly all the same size, but they will do. I eventually plan to run them through my laminator. 

Eventually. 

You know how it is.  

In the meantime, I have some big things going on right now and I need all the focus and comfort I can get. It is so important to put first things first. In my life, this means that my relationship with God needs to be first. 

I hope these will be helpful to someone. 




Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Mid-Week Update

Hello, sweet friends.

It's Tuesday evening here at the Parsonage. I'm wedged into my favorite spot on my comfy couch waiting for a pot of chili to finish the business of simmering. Today was an uneventful day....filled with our usual Tuesday happenings. We did have a visit from a sweet church lady. I think she had just gotten her hair done and was getting rid of some cabin fever while we have a few days before some more snow.

Yes! We have snow. It is the first significant snowfall of the winter. And from what these native Indianan's tell me (including The Studly Muffin) it's late. We have another weather event happening this weekend.

Yeah, buddy.

I thought perhaps I tell you a few things we are doing right now...perhaps provide someone out there with some mid-week/snow day inspiration.

Keep in mind that MOST homeschoolers would rather take their snow days in the spring. In our house, we have been known to mix it up with an impromptu winter nature study or a Tolkien binge-a-thon (which is happening very soon).

Anyhoo. It's how we roll.

Reading

We are reading Beowulf. I've taken the easy road and purchased Robert Nye's retelling of the epic poem.  It is nice and grisly. Listen to this.

"Out in the black fen something stirred. It was cruel and slimy and its eyes shone green. A part of the night it moved through, its wicked heart was darker than the darkest place in that night. Even the moon would not look at it."

Isn't that deliciously horrifying? We are going to watch The 13th Warrior later in the week and another movie adaptation next week. 

Listening

One of the best Audible purchases I've made in a while has been unexpected. On a whim I got Medical School For Everyone: Emergency Medicine from The Great Courses. If you aren't familiar with The Great Courses they feature university-lectures on many, many subjects. This one has been a huge hit with Josiah. It comes with a PDF that features all of the lectures in written form. I have been printing them out as we go and filling a notebook. Josiah simply reads along.

It's almost like watching Grey's Anatomy without all the icky relationship stuff.

Doing

Last year, I purchased a book called The Useful Book. It basically is a whole book of life skills everybody needs to know about. It is AWESOME! And the very first lesson? How to boil water. I kid you not. Josiah learned how to deep fry french fries last week using a lesson from the book. And that my friends is a dangerous thing. I'm not talking about the dangers of hot, boiling oil. I'm talking about plates of deep-fried french fries. I think this week we will focus on how to chop vegetables for salads. We need to counteract all of that french fried goodness with some green stuff.

Well, that's all I have for this evening. Sleep tight!




Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Random Thoughts: The New Year/Life Updates Version

I'm BAAACCK!

It's been a few days since I've posted anything on the ole blog here. A couple of reasons. I'm sure I'll get into them in what is sure to be a widely entertaining and often rambling post.

I'm sure you can't wait. Instead of boring you with my life's novel, I have decided to do all updating in an orderly fashion.

I love a good list.

1. The Big Black Dog


I have sad news. Solomon (the Big Black Dog aka the Rottweiler) died just after Thanksgiving. We knew he probably wasn't going to make it through the winter. He had lived an awfully long time for a Rottweiler.  His deep black coat had turned red and gray and he was painfully thin. He was still faithful to try and crawl into the car and sit on my lap when we first arrived for our Thanksgiving holiday. That was 169 pounds of Big Black Dog, by the way. I always had special feelings for Solomon. We were living with my parents when they brought him home as a puppy. It was a particularly painful and tough season in our lives. I was in active heart failure. We had resigned from our church and were basically homeless. Solomon would crawl into my lap and put his great puppy head on my shoulder. He was a welcomed playmate to a busy little Josiah. As he grew into that great massive dog, my little nieces would ride him around like a pony.  He was really the best dog. We're going to miss him.

2. 17! 


This baby turned 17! I can't even stand it. My mom took his usual birthday pictures. He spent most of his time trying to be cool about flinging his hair out of his eyes. That is a lot of hair to manage. I've mentioned his fascination with 80's rockers. He has dreams of glorious hair.

Me too, buddy.

The car belongs to my nephew. It used to belong to my brother and before that, it belonged to our great uncle. At least, I think that is the chain of ownership. At present, the car doesn't have an engine. But it is really great to lean up against when one is trying to look cool.

3. Surgery

When last we spoke, I had just had my surgery. I have really done well, but it has taken me a bit longer to recover than the average Joe (or Josephine).  This is one of the reasons I have tried to lay lower than usual. Let's be honest. 2018 wasn't a banner year for me as far as my health goes. I seemed to have hung on by the hairs of my chinny chin chin. By the time I had the surgery, I had about 3 functioning brain cells and even those were dodgy.  I wasn't even able to read a book....which left lots of time for Netflix binging watching. Which, I'm pleased to tell you, I am really good at.

Overall, the winter months are really tough on me. I am hoping that I can prevent some of the nastier effects by focusing on good habits.

4. 'Tis the Season

I always approach the end of the holiday season in two different minds. I am always a little sad it's all over. On the other hand, I am THRILLED it's all over. Thankfully, we had a great holiday season. Unfortunately, I have no photographic evidence.  You'll just have to take my word for it. We got to spend time with family. And I was able to rest when I needed to rest. And I got some really great stuff. One of my favorite things was a porch swing! I have been talking about wanting one for quite some time now. The Muffin and some of our sweet friends from church went in on one. It's red and hangs from the rafters of our porch.

I'm in love.

I do have one final confession about Christmas. I still have a small pile of Christmas cards that need to be mailed on my coffee table. And, yes,  you bet your bippee I'm going to mail them.

5. New Year's

I am always a big maker of resolutions. This year is no exception. I always think it's a good time to reflect on the direction of one's life and how one could live more beautifully and fully. For one, I need to focus on developing my routines and rituals. I have a tendency to fly by the seat of my stretchy pants. I have come to realize, however, that flying by the seat of my stretchy pants isn't necessarily the best plan for me or my "issues."

Plus, I want to do so much...I need a few routines in my life to accomplish what I want to accomplish. Our yearly Downton Abby "binge-a-thon" is quickly approaching. I need to be on my game!  One of our traditions for the past several years has been to binge-watch Downton Abby during the winter months.

It's the little things, my friends. 

I think I've said all I want to say for now. I've got a list of things I want to do today and time seems to be passing. I've got all of our sheets in the washer and a pot of coffee brewing on the counter.

Have a GREAT New Year!


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