Outside My Window::

::hot, stifling, muggy, yuccy night air.

I am Listening to::

::the refrigerator hum.

I am wearing ::

:: a pretty pink top. Too hot for shorts (or, just never got around to getting my jammie pants on. Sorry, TMI).

I am Thankful For::

::

~finally being able to make it to pray and play today. I so dearly love that group.

~a dear friend that let us swim in her pool today. What a joy seeing all my children have such a good time.

~a hard working husband, who shares with me his joys, and troubles.

~maybe a light at the end of the kitchen tunnel. maybe.

~a dear, dear, dear nun-friend whom I just love. So nice to get to see her in person, talk at length, grow a deeper friendship.

I am Pondering::

:: stuff in 10 habits for happy mothers. Really good book so far, and it really must be the timing of it. I really want to believe what's in that book. I really want to believe these are steps I can take toward my happiness. Happiness- something that's been very distant to me for some weeks, has found it's way back in my life, and I'm, well, so happy! So it's nice to have this book kind of nudging me to really practice these things in order to keep happiness around.

gratitude lately. Having a heck of a week last week is helping me to really focus on things in which to be grateful.

I am Reading::

::10 Habits of Happy Moms, and One Thousand Gifts. I've heard so much good about both. I bought 10 Habits right off, grabbing anything to squelch my depression. I say it's doing a good job.

One Thousand gifts has been on my mind a lot, but I didn't buy it long ago, even when it was on sale!!! I just have too many books. I randomly found it at the library the other night. Yes! Thank you God!

Oh, and A Mother's Rule of Life, with a bookclub. Really like the book, and the club doing the study. I feel like I could be doing better at applying the concepts in the book. Really need to do that. Baby steps.

From the Kitchen::

::Ha! My makeshift kitchen. I am so proud of myself this week. I made 'real' dinners every night. Every. night. I even, out of necessity and partly to escape the heat, went to Meijer on Tues. We went right after noon Mass, I bought all the kids a lunchable and banana. We got water at the little 'cafe' and sat there and ate our lunch. For an hour. Then we wandered through the store. No list. No coupons. No worries. Just creating meals in my head, and buying tons of veggies. So we feasted this week on meat. And lots of veggies every night. I used my electric skillet one night, the grill the next, and Dad's roaster oven last night. It sounds nutty to have scalloped potatoes when it's 100 degrees out. But it cooked outside in this awesome roaster oven. I just love it! And they were so yummy! Tonight- cold taco salad. Tomorrow-microwaved leftovers. I do so want a kitchen, though, because I feel a cooking bug coming on, which has been lost for, well, months, seasons, now. I don't want to lose it!! Plus I want to make yummy meals for that slew of mama's I know that just gave birth! Ah, in time.

I am Thinking::

:: trying not to!!!! :) Trying to live in the moment. Not think about things of the past, or worries of the future. Just here. Just now. God's will.

I am Creating::

:: Oh, I finally got my sewing machine out!!! I told myself that Thursday afternoon, Rose and I would sew. Living in the here and now. Realizing the unfinished sewing projects and dreams of mine for my daughter can remain dormant in the past. For now, we are going to learn on the machine. My girl is eight, and I have hopes of coming home from the fair this year with a Hello Kitty sewing machine to stash away for Christmas. I want her to know she can use it and create with it.

So we made this skirt. No pics to post because we still have to do the hem. She preferred to make iron-bead-animal things today. Okay. We're still creating. It feels so good. Now to get some of MY projects accomplished...

On my iPod::

:: Randy Travis today. Forever and ever, Amen.

Towards a Real Education::

:: Reading Little House books at night. I'm amazed at how quickly the chapters are going! I can be one of those moms that reads to her kids every night!! It is just between the hours of 9 and 10.

I thought we do more structured math this summer. I guess not. Not too worried, for some reason.

Lots of ideas for next year, as far as organizing, and curriculum, and planning, and schedules, and planning, and real lesson plans. I'm excited, and a bit whelmed, but not intimidated. I kinda am putting it off till after Kelley's Island, though. Or at least our kitchen completion. Whichever comes first. :)

Towards Rhythm and Beauty::

:: Beauty is a Land's end swimsuit. Yup, I said it. I forgot that in my list of things I'm grateful for. Sorry, I will never purchase a wal mart or meijer suit again. Enormous, wonderful, flattering, good-feeling difference.

Sorry, that felt a little vain.

Hard to find too much beauty with cabinet drawers in stacked in the living room. The cabinets themselves are beautiful. The tile, and countertop will be as well.

We have been trying to keep the living room clean by picking up the things before we eat (since we eat in the living room) and before bed. I like that.

To Live the Liturgy::

:: A family rosary this week!! A taste of the rhythm we started before discord set in from remodeling...and heat. BUT, a family rosary is great in 100 degree weather! It's too hot to really move and do anything else!

My dear sister-friend being in town this week was an excuse to take my kiddos to noon Mass. Haven't done that in a while, and I want to keep it going. I tend to lose sight of the liturgical year in the summer, as if it gets shelved with the school books. So I tend to miss really big saint feast days that fall in the summer. Not so for the rest of this summer. I want to get a calendar and mark all those feast days I want to celebrate by at least going to Mass. Starting with dear St. Anne.

Waking up before the kids and getting prayers in: definitely a good thing.

Talking about and teaching my children gratitude.

I am Hoping and Praying::

:: for family members that have left the church, or are precariously on the brink. My the list seems long.

In the Garden::

:: a groundhog!! We have nothing but tall weeds and dill, and I still see that stinking groundhog run when I go outside. My herb garden is overflowing, needing weeding. Needing harvesting. Not this week.

Around the House::

::LOTS of library books. Boy, when we go to the library, we really stock up. Thank you, little computer that I have to scan all my own books on. 49 books is quite enough.

On Keeping Home::

:: A consult with a designer about what colors would look good in the kitchen, given the tile, countertop and cabinet colors. Light Muslin wall paint. And how delightful- a lavendar/lilac/light purple to accent. This could be fun.

(I have to confess, that sounds so cool- a 'design consultant'. Watch out, we're living large now! Not really. Dan's brother is a designer. And he does, in fact, deserve all the cool words out there that describe him, but it's not like we 'hired' a designer. Lucky for us, he's in the family. :) And we are grateful for his help).

One of My Favorite Things::

:: electricity. Air conditioning. Kids quiet and sprawled out in the living room amid buko books, because it's way too hot outside to play.

Blaise this week::

:: Oh, what a poopy week for him. Potty-wise. We're trying, but just not hard enough. He's fairly happy to sit and read books on the potty, though.

Dan taught him how to flash a cheesy smile. It's so adorable. His eyes squint up, and those dimples come out. We'll have to take him to get his pictures done, and have him pose like that.

A Few Plans for the Rest of the Week::

:: I'm sure you can guess (involves a countertop. And maybe paint.)