Peggy at The Simple Woman hosts this lovely excuse for visiting kindred spirits. Run over there to catch up on a cornucopia of Monday morning thoughts!Outside my Window.... we finally have a clear, sunny day and after several days of steady rain, the weeds are knee high in the north yard!
I am thinking... we will hear the melodic hum of the lawn mower today...
From the kitchen... I'm steeling myself to break the papertowel habit. The dang things are such an expensive habit, when I know dishrags will do the job just as well! Has anyone else tackled this objective? I may need help with coping techiques while we go through withdrawal...
I am creating... lesson plans and coordinating rides to fall classes for the girls.
I am going... to the open house at the homeschool cooperative program run through the city public schools tonight. They have a program where homeschool children take classes on Fridays with some of the best public school teachers (imagine them loving to teach our homeschoolers!) and complete a week's worth of assigments in their courses during the rest of the week. Michelle (13) will be taking geometry, literature and journalism through this source with several of our Catholic homeschool buddies. This is the first time we've ever tried anything like this, so Michelle is the practice pancake. We'll let you know how we like it...
I am wearing... blue jeans, brown and turquoise tee, brown sandals, my favorite gold earings with the moon and stars on them.
I am reading... Still plugging away at books already started (Ida and my Fr. Brown anthology), but mainly writing my own notebooks full of lists right now.
I am hoping... I can find everything the boys left behind when they left for school Saturday and send it with the traveling priests to Omaha next weekend ~ so I can have it over in one fell swoop and not have to mail things bit by bit as the boys remember things they forgot and text me their requests.
I am hearing... very little since the children are all miraculously still in bed ~ just the tapping of my fingers on the keyboard and the faint sound of the Olympics drifting out from my bedroom. (That has been the background music of our days this past week!)
Around the house... Our old homestead gets real, honest-ta-goodness central heat this week! Welcome to the 21st century little old homestead!
One (or, well, two or three...) of my favorite things... Cocoa and vanilla nondairy in my coffee, evaporated milk and sugar in my English Breakfast tea.
Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... Compiling school supplies and rounding up books. Setting up Michelle in her new school routine. Calling the piano and French teacher to make sure I have the right days and times for classes. Working on our perennial beds. Watching the plumber install our boiler and radiators.
Here is a picture thought I'm sharing with you...
Children playing with the camera on the way home from Mass:
See this little man with his tie?
We hadn't added a tie to Gabe's traditional buttoned-down Sunday attire for a while, until this stripy blue one resurfaced last week. And, though Gabey is always a good boy during Mass, I wish I'd gotten him a tie sooner, because wearing it had the sweetest effect. It turned him into a walking, talking miniature Daddy.
He copied his Dad, gesture for gesture, all during Mass yesterday, striking his breast at the mea culpa, tracing the cross on his forehead, lips, and chest at the Gospel, kneeling in deep contemplation after Holy Communion with his eyes closed and his missal on his forehead... Just like Daddy.
After four long years of going to Mass, Gabe was surely and truly in the groove. It was natural. It was right and proper. He could follow Mass like the big boys. Because, well, ya know. He was sitting next to his Daddy. And yesterday ~ they matched.
Thank you for visiting my blog! We both have farmhouses!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the paper towel habit. They are outrageously expensive. Good for you!
It seems like you and your family have so much fun together....your favorite thing the vanilla sounds wonderful.....yum yum.
ReplyDeleteI loved the pictures. There's nothing sweeter than a little boy (or teen boys) dressed nicely for church.
ReplyDeleteI have tried to break my habit of using paper for drying hands...some days are better than others. The key is to have lots of *clean* handtowels on hand.
thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting.
Hi and thanks for stopping by my blog. THANK YOU a bunch for the Blessed Beginnings link in your sidebar! I am just about to begin a new doll this week. By the way I love the picture in your title...just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteAbout the papertowels...we gave them up 2 years ago because they just cost too much and weren't very environmentally friendly. Here are some tips:
Get a TON of washclothes and dishtowels. You will be shocked at how fast you go through them. We have a little basket in the kitchen that we keep them in, and a small basket for dirty ones on the floor in a corner. I try to wash that basket every day if I can, because they pile up quickly. Let your family know that drying clean hands with one does not make it dirty, lol....it can also be used to wipe up spills or your counter or dry dishes. Good luck!
I had the same experience on a trip this year. I had a look at the photos and there were some self portraits lol.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog.
Giving up paper towels...Ya know they are a bad habit. It's so easy to just "wipe it up!" I think I'll be getting back to the way it was about 15 years ago when there were 4 of us in college at the same time. BITE the bullet...Great post!!! Cathy
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'm going to try the tie idea with our four year old. While he's quiet in church, his posture and overall demeanor could use some improvement!
ReplyDeleteHooray for central heat!
Lisa, I am all for using rags instead of paper towels. I cut up old towels and use them. However, my DH won't have it. He insist we buy the ones at Costco and they are so expensive. But since he does the kitchen cleaning, who am I to say anything ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe paper towel thing got my attention. Before I got married two years ago, I had already given up paper towels and started happily using my kitchen towels. The kids easily slipped into the habit too. My husband though, who had never apparently lived without paper towels just couldn't (and still can't) imagine us not using them. I tried to get him to get used to the towel idea. The only way he'll go for it, is if I just don't buy them after we run out and he doesn't have time to go to the store. I explain to him about stewardship, the budget, less waste, etc., but he says that they're so cheap, the benefits outweigh the small price. Even though I'm not a tightwad, I love to know that I'm doing what it takes to save where I can, especially when there really is an alternative.
ReplyDeleteI think if you just do this "cold turkey" before you know it, you'll wonder why you were buying them so much in the first place. You'll feel good about using your towels. Many blessings with your transition in doing this.
Interesting tie observation.I have been wanting our 8th grade boys to wear ties because I am hoping they will see themselves in a different light if they are more dressed up for school. (They are pretty good anyway I must admit.)
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm begging to be lectured here but don't rags just smear germs and juices all over the place? I use the cloth bags when I grocery shop; I try never to waste water; I shut lights off and use the "special bulbs."
ReplyDeleteI always thought that paper towels were used to stop from spreading YUK around.
Anyone want to educate me about this?
I noticed that with Gabe on Sunday myself. He is such a cutie, but then they all are cuties. I felt a little special that Theresa want to sit with me on Sunday. Yes, I am a bit bias about them all, but hey, and Aunt can be!!!
ReplyDeleteLove the pictures.
ReplyDeleteChildren no how to capture the moment don't they.
Lovely :0)
Have a blessed week Lisa!
Laura ~ believe me, I'm all for the easy sanitary papertowel method! But, with as many people as we have here, we can (and often do) go through a whole roll a day. We seem to have no control over the bad habit! I think you're right that it is a foolsafe way of keeping down germs, but it's just costing us too much.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I do at least one load of laundry a day here, so for negligible extra expense, I can easily keep a large supply of clean dishrags ready. That is IF I can just get up the oomph to do it.
We're on the last quarter of my last roll right now,though, and I'm committed to not buying more.... We'll see how we do!