My Heart's at Home Daybook~July 11

/

I've really enjoyed The Simple Woman's Daybook. It's nice to focus at the beginning of the week and stretch my brain just a wee bit to think about certain things every week. I find myself referring to it in my head as I move throughout the week. So, when I saw that Kara, at everyone's favorite crunchy blog, has a daily daybook, the wheels started turning. What would a daily daybook look like? Too much minutia? Too boring? Too binding? Maybe, but it's my blog and it could be whatever I wanted it to be, because my blog is one of the few things in my life over which I retain an illusion of control. So, I thought I'd take a stab at a daily daybook of my very own. If I could set about at the beginning of every day with some of those intentions in front of me, perhaps I'd get dressed every day rise to the occasion. Or maybe not. But it could be fun to try.

Dsc_0695


 

***
Outside My Window ...the pansies have truly petered out and do need to be pulled. My children are very attached to them and have protested every time I suggest that we yank 'em.
***
Towards a daily rhythm ... I've learned that the  daily schedules I created just last week are going to be rocked to the core. So...I'll ponder the revised version for a while. Can't re-write yet; too many variables still to be decided. But the nice thing is that iCal is like virtual post-it notes. Just keeping dragging and dropping 'til we get it right. And it might look a little differently every week if early movement is any indication.
***
I am thankful for ... wise counsel.
***
From the kitchen ...
for breakfast:
Blueberry scones using Gluten-Free Pantry mixes
farm fresh poached eggs
Lunch:
Grilled cheese
and for dinner:
 Spiced Pineapple Rice from Vegetable Heaven
Firecracker Beans also from Vegetable Heaven
Mixed Green Salad with Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese (my new obsession)
Fruit Salad of Watermelon, Canteloupe, and Blueberries

***

To live the liturgy...On the Feast of St. Benedict
God our Father, you made St. Benedict an outstanding guide to teach men how to live in your service. Grant that by preferring your love to everything else, we may walk in the way of your commandments. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. .
***
I am wearing ... a white eyelet skirt, a CAMISOLE (necessary for all maternity shirts these days), a pink shirt and strappy pink sandals.
***
I am creating ...a cookbook for Michael to take with him when he lives in an on-campus apartment this year.
***
I am going to breathe deeply ...20 minutes on the stationary bike today, while listening to talks from the IHM conference.
***
Bringing beauty to my home ...I'm seriously considering painting my kitchen yellow tomorrow. Going to bring home paint swatches today. And (shh...don't tell my husband) I might not stop with kitchen.
***
***
I am hoping ...for the house to stay as tidy as it did this week. It almost looks as put together as it did when we had company last Sunday. Almost. It's amazing how much more is possible when one feels a bit better. My glucometer is my friend. It's hard to function when your blood sugar is perpetually low.
***
Around the house ... I need to touch up spots Michael missed when he painted the basement.

One of my favorite things ...watching ten minutes of Sports Center in the morning with Nicholas so we can see yesterday's top ten plays and the morning's top headlines, all before Daddy, the sports producer, awakens.

***
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Day: I'm going to finish curriculum shopping at the Northern Virginia conference. I've just found out Gracie will be with us again this year, so I need to find a few things for her. And then I have a wee bit of list for the rest of us, too;-).
***
Here is a picture thought I am sharing~

Pointeshoes

These things wear out very, very quickly.

Serendipity Do- Dah!

/

Blogroll_2Way back when, we tried to put together a carnival of posts from folks who were using Serendipity. The links kept failing and we got frustrated and we gave up in favor of focusing on writing Serendipity. But we missed the idea of seeing and sharing all the ways people are bringing Serendipity into their homes. So...Cindy created a Serendipity blogroll. You can see it on the lefthand sidebar. Click to join and we can all see your serendipitous adventures.

Mary Moments

/

Remember the beautiful Loveliness of Rosaries Fair that Sarah hosted in May? She wove individual reflections of devotion to the Blessed Mother into a lovely virtual rosary meditation. I thought it an extraordinary post. That's why I was delighted when Sarah told me that an in-real-life adventure conversation with Heidi Saxton had yielded very sweet fruit. The first official Mary Moments Carnival will be at the Behold Your Mother blog on August 15. Thetheme is "Great Books about Mary." Submit by August 10, using the online submission form (or, if that won't work for you, email Sarah at peerybingle-at-gmail-dot-com).

Mary Moments is going to be our chance to sit down together with a cup of tea and reflect on and with our Blessed Mother. You don't have to be Catholic to participate, and you don't even have to have a blog - if you have a post you'd like to submit and you don't have a blog, Sarah would be happy to post it over at just another day of Catholic pondering and link to it at the Carnival.

If you have any questions, feel free to email Sarah at peerybingle-at-gmail-dot-com.

And while we wait for that first Mary Moments Carnival, you can bet I'll be clicking around Behold Your Mother. There's some wonderful inspiration there.

Serendipity Q and A

/

Molly writes:

How far in advance will you be putting out plans?

The history plans for the first twelve weeks are already written. They're plans we've used (and in some cases published) before. I just took the plan and re-formatted it to better reflect what works now. I last used them six years ago. I'm also adding new resources. So...it's going to be easy to put them up early for you to use:-).

You basically have the first week's plans already in the previews on Serendipity. We're going to add a few things, but they won't affect your ability to get supplies or to plan. You can expect to see the second week's plans in all topics on August 29th. Then, you can expect to see plans once a week on Fridays, for the first eight weeks. It's all pre-programmed. That will be all of the Colonial America plans.

Then it's Wiggle Week.

"Wiggle Week" is a built-in week at the end of each time period to give you (and us) time to catch up or do special projects or delve more deeply into something of interest. This way, there's no reason to panic if you feel like life is preventing you from following along. There will be a full week to adjust and regroup at the end of each segment.  After Colonial America, we're going to study the Louisiana Purchase for 4 weeks and then the War of 1812. Then a Wiggle Week. That will take us to Advent. Advent will be devoted to preparing for the Baby (and in my case, the baby). We're kicking around the idea of some art, music, and poetry studies for the Christmas season, but we plan to be fully immersed in the season and the schedules will reflect that.

Another note: if it's moving too fast, you can always drop a segment. Just don't do the Louisiana Purchase and spend 12 weeks on Colonial America. Or briefly touch on the War of 1812 because you meandered much longer with Louis and Clark. It's a very breathable plan if you let it be.

We'll pick up the regular pace again in January with Pioneers, followed by Native Americans.

By the way, the Teaching Company course is on sale right now.

That's a great tip, Molly. The only way I can afford those courses are the sales and the used market. Fortunately, they run sales quite often and they are pretty easy to find used..