Simple Woman Monday, February 23rd

Outside My Window ... there's a starling picking around in the branches of the old cottonwood that hangs over our front patio. It's a partly cloudy day and looks like it'll be chilly, but not cold. It's been unseasonably warm this month, but everything is still grey and tan. The green can't start coming soon enough to suit me! I'm waiting to catch the first glimpse of the meadowlarks perched on the fenceposts. Their song is the first herald of spring here on the high prairie.

I am hearing... No meadowlarks yet, but I can hear early-bird-William explaining to Theresa that he wants banana milk and honey Cheerios for breakfast.

I am reading... Nothing at the moment, but have a line-up ready for Lent. I just ordered a book our visiting priest recommended in the sermon yesterday, called Humility of Heart and am anxious for it to arrive! But, I also have some light reading in my book pile. I haven't read any Father Brown stories for a while, so I'm going to indulge in some Chesterton, and I was recommended a book called The Endless Knot, a Catholic mystery by W.L. Biersach, that I'm excited to dip into.

I am wearing... long, straight denim skirt with cargo pockets, white turtleneck, blue sweater.

I am hoping... we can sell our house for the price we need to buy the property we've been calling "hilltop farm." We only have a million things to do before we can plant that for sale sign ~ and the real estate market is in the pits, especially out here in the rural areas, but we're starting a novena to St. Philomena, and if she can't get a sale for us, nobody can!

From the Learning Rooms... Because we see so many of our favorite old actors in movies set during the forties, we've been enjoying a look lately into World War II, following a rabbit trail through Churchill's office in London to Guadal Canal and Nazi Germany. Truly fascinating stuff. And a wealth of movies to get to watch to enrich our learning! We really enjoyed watching The 1940s House, a PBS documentary about an English family that lived several months in a re-created wartime lifestyle. And we loved Mrs. Miniver (Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon were so good in this movie, but I like to watch it just to get to see the beautiful house their characters live in...). I've got John Wayne, Cary Grant, George C. Scott waiting in the wings to watch this week. I just love home schooling!

From the kitchen ...the lovely aroma of coffee is wafting into me here at the computer. Ahhh... I'm indulging these next two days in some of the things we're giving up for Lent. The kids have to eat up the rest of their St. Valentine's candy and we're going to have to 'choke down' (Ha!) that plate of cheesecake left over from my sistah, Nina's, birthday party Sunday (She'll be 29 on Ash Wednesday, we've decided. There she is, above, with her fan club).

I am creating... I finally finished my kitchen curtains! Here they are:

Now, I'm going to make a little cushion for this window, since it's the little boys' favorite spot to sit when I'm cooking.

I 'm thankful for... Coffee! And a few million other things...

Around the house... I tried a paint technique on the lower walls of our dining room, but I'm not happy with it. I was trying a faux effect using a sponge and a buffing tool, but I'm worried it turned out too orange and too "busy." I need to figure out how to tone it down or maybe I'll just paint over it in taupe. For selling the house, I'm concerned I may need to go more neutral and conservative. Bother. But, relatively speaking, paint is cheap. Here are a couple of pictures. What do you think?

(You can see in the pic below, we're replacing a bit of trim over the door and some cracked wallboard on the adjacent wall)Before we try to sell, we're also redoing our kitchen and bathroom floors and moving our laundry room. I hate the risk of putting a lot of money into these projects, but I figure that if the house doesn't sell, I'll have a nicer house to live in, anyway. And except for the money spent and the pain and heart-ache of all the work and then keeping everything clean for showings, it's a win-win, right? Right? (Actually, I think we must be crazy.)

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... Painting to do, tile to pull out, plumbing to move, movies to watch, candy consuming until Fat Tuesday, fasting starting Ash Wednesday.

Here is a picture thought I 'm sharing:

Gabe and William checking out the fuzz on Kevin's recently shaved head...

"It's almost as soft as the puppies, Kevvy!"

For lots more Simple Women's Daybooks, run over and check in on Peggy!