Simple Woman Monday, July 27th

What I've been thinking... There's nothing like a hot day to make you appreciate a cool one; nothing like a lazy week (or two) to make you appreciate a busy one; nothing like being sick to make you appreciate being well.


I am reading... nothing right now, but beginning to think ahead to school time and thinking I'd better hurry up and take stock of my books and supplies.


What I'm wearing... a long, three-tiered skirt with several small pastel prints in the panels, a light purple tee, sandals.

What's new... I can make my rounds around the house, picking up toys, trash and debris, then wipe the counters down and change over a load of laundry -- without panting, breaking out in a cold sweat and having to sit down. Woohoo! Thank God for the little things in life!


From the garden... St. Fiacre's Cucumbers are bearing like crazy and St. Thomas' tomatoes are starting to take off. Needless to say, St. Zita's zucchini are still the leaders in the produce race, but St. Philomena's pumpkins are holding their own and Father Pro's salsa garden is threatening to pull ahead of everybody any time now.


I'm thankful for... all the kids' easy recoveries and nobody else coming down with swine flu (so far, so good, anyway), for being well, myself, and getting my strength back -- and especially for all those who have made these things possible -- our friends who have prayed for us, and the priests in Omaha who had us in their prayers during their meetings last week.


We're creating... a new pond and waterfall. It's the boys' big project of the summer. They'll only have a couple of weeks to finish it before they go back to school, though, and I'm so hoping they can do it. I'd really love to be able to put some aspen trees around it and plant some grass early this fall and have it looking nice in the back yard before Paul's October wedding.


A few plans for the rest of the week... The girls and I are planning to spend today and Tuesday deep cleaning the house. Then we have company Wednesday through Saturday. Two sweet girlfriends, teens from Minnesota, will be staying with us -- and I'm not sure yet what we'll do to entertain them, especially since I don't have a car big enough to take us all anywhere. (Dan and the boys have the minivan in the mountains this week.) I expect we'll do some baking and play some board games and walk down to our town library. And there's bound to be a tea party at some point. We're still working on our plans, though.


One of my favorite things... Knowing that our four oldest boys and Dan are spending the week in the most wonderful macho-bonding, soul-stirring, sacrament-filled environment imaginable. So good for them, body and soul! The Knights of the Altar Boys' Camp has been a life changing event for every one of our young men at different points in their teen age lives. It does my heart good that they all want so much to be there every year.

Here are some pictures thought I'm sharing...

Some of the things the kids have found digging the new pond in our backyard (except that horn that the dogs dragged in from out on the prairie somewhere.)

*The Simple Woman Daybooks entries are on hiatus for the summer, but you can still visit Peggy and see what she's up to.