Simple Woman Monday, December 15th

Outside My Window ... It's pitch black, except for the square of light on the snow right outside my window. It's perfectly still ~ no wind, but I think I can hear the trees shivering. It's -14 degrees outside right now.

I am hearing... the little box heater under the kitchen sink puffing away, preventing frozen pipes.

I am reading... Finally got my Maisy Dobbs book back! It was being held hostage in Burlington, Colorado, where the traveling priest accidentally dropped off my overnight bag. My boys had inadvertently unloaded my bag with all of theirs when I dropped them off in Omaha back in October, and I've been trying to get it back ever since. I was beginning to think I'd never see it again! But, finally, I can finish my murder mystery! Well... Maybe I'll have time to pick it up again after Christmas, anyway!

I am wearing... pink plaid pajamas over a turtleneck, my purple queen's robe,

I am hoping... our boys and all the school kids and teachers make it safely back to Omaha today! (They were here for the weekend on a field trip.)
From the Learning Rooms... Plugging along. It's hard to be motivated when there is so much to do outside the schooling realm! But there are lots of ways to incorporate the season and its busy work into schooling, thank goodness. Baking is Home Ec, for instance. (Sure it is!) Also, this week marks the Ember Days for the season.It's a good opportunity to do some history study on the Ember Days with the children. And I found a wealth of fun preschool projects over at Joann's this morning that I'd like to do with the Littles.

From the kitchen ... We're gearing up for some Christmas baking. Michelle found a recipe for the best chocolate cookies I'll have to share. (I'll type that out later today!) We have some whole cranberries I want to make into bread, too.

One of my favorite things... Crockpot Peppermint Mocha.

I am thankful for... Central HEAT!

Around the house... We're behind on our Nativity Scene and other decorations, due to an unforseen trip to Omaha last week. Hope to really get on top of it this week, though!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing:

Covering your ears, Kevvy?

Could this be the reason?

Son, Jon and friend, David worked on this duet for hours last night. Well, it seemed like hours, anyway. No matter how much you like a tune, after about the fourth or fifth rendition, it begins to wear...

All their effort got me to thinking about duets. Waxing philosophical, ya know, to bear the drumming of the bass in my head.

Marriage is a lot like a duet. Which sounds very lyrical and romantic, until you've actually heard two people practicing a duet. The boys got this tune pretty close to perfect maybe one time out of many. And they discussed and fiddled and fumed through Jon being off beat and missing notes, then David being off beat and missing notes, and sometimes both of them messing up at the same time. Then, they also delighted in the passages that they hit perfectly. But overall, all the effort, missed notes and hit notes, was worth the time spent.

Even though the rest of us in the house witnessing the whole thing thought they were nuts and wanted to strangle them.

For a visit with more Simple Woman Daybooks, run over and see Peggy at the The Simple Woman!