Simple Woman Simple Monday

 What I'm hearing... Not much. Dan's in his office tapping away on the computer (but I can't hear the taps from here). Dawsey is sleeping in his guard dog perch next to the window on top of the couch (but he's not snoring at the moment). So, yeah. The empty nest life. It's very quiet here. Not the deeply muffled silence of the snowy days a week or two ago, I'm happy to report, but the brighter silence of  early early spring. May be trickster spring just teasing us, of course -- but it's been lovely. We've had a week of fifties and sixties here in Iowa, and lots of sunshine. (smilesmile) But there's no denying that winter is most likely not finished with us yet! It's all good, though. St. Teresa of Avila -- who taught about proper mind framing centuries before Jordan Peterson showed up -- tells us "there is no such thing as bad weather; all weather is good because it's God's." So I'm resigned; it's fine -- even if it does snow again before bona fide spring, snowy silence in March really is actually the priming for bird song and new leaves tingling to life outside. I begin to think I can actually feel that tingling. Sometimes the expectation is as good as the fruition. Almost.

What I'm wearing... My old tried and true grey skirt -- that is looking very raggedy in its old age. (I'm hunting for a new one. Exactly like this one. Which has been harder to find than you'd think!) And another comfy go-to, my old aqua corduroy blouse. And little grey sneakers. (And aqua-colored cheaters on top of my head. Probably perched up there crookedly.)

What I'm reading... Actually nothing! Crazy enough. I have the Sermons of St. Francis DeSales  and Thoughts of St. Augustine sitting by my reading chair and a healthy brain book on my bedside table, but I've been too busy to do much reading. We've been getting the house ready for Dominic and his girls to move in with us in less than two weeks from today! (Oh, my aching back!)

What I'm thinking... Dan and I have been devoting a lot of thought and talking about our big-picture goals for the next 25 years -- from now to meeting God face to face, iykwim. Retirement. Where do we want to place our priorities? Our stuff? Our time? Our selves? How much do we want to travel? Can we work out that goal financially? Realistically? Or would we rather stay mostly planted here at the homestead and spend more of our time building a secondary business for retirement? Or write a book together? Or what? The answer? We don't know yet. Probably all of the above, divvied out in percentages yet to be worked out.

From the kitchen...We found something new to facilitate our Lenten fasting diet: individual serving size packets of flavored tuna! Who'd have thought? Five years ago I would have walked right on by, seriously! Ounce for ounce, they're not a good buy if you're preparing tuna sandwiches for more than two people, but if you're like us -- and there are only two of you and you prefer different seasonings -- and have wasted way too many half bowls of tuna salad lost in the back of the fridge -- or if you just want a very easy and portable lunch for one, we highly recommend this new way of looking at an old Lenten stand-by.

Nice thing is that these packets are easily small enough to work for the ancillary smaller meals of Lent, and they are a good source of protein -- if not perfectly paleo, given some of the varieties have added corn syrup, sugar, corn starch, and the like (Not all, though! Be sure to read the ingredients if you have a strict diet.). Taste-wise, though, this tuna is more than passable, with flavors that I would never have thought to add myself, from chipotle to ranch to sun-dried tomato basil (and many more!). After so many years of preparing tuna the old fashioned way (the one and only way around here -- with dill pickle relish, mayo, S&P), these are practically gourmet. And they are easy easy easy! We found three brands doing this now at our local W-mart: Star-kist, Chicken of the Sea, and Bumblebee. They're all good, but we like Bumblebee best for consistency and range of interesting varieties -- and Bumblebee comes with the cutest little fold-up spork inside each package! (I'm saving them for the grandkids to use just because they fun!) Most are about a dollar a packet, expensive if you're feeding a family of twelve -- but a great deal for only one or two Lenten fasters!

Around the house... Piles of stuff that we know we'll never use again that we think the kids might want. Children's books, home-school books and supplies, craft supplies, linens... We had our first "free-for-all" yesterday, and Ben and Michelle came by and took a trunkful of stuff off our hands. I figure we do this a couple more times as we unload rooms in the Great Davis Downsizing Attempt -- and give the rest to Goodwill. By the time the kids and our boarder girls, etc,, have picked through everything, I'm guessing there won't be much worthy of the trouble of a yard sale...

Plans for the week... New chalk door design before St. Patrick's Day... Get Louis and Cathy to come get the bedroom furniture they wanted... Pare down my wardrobe and all the stuff in the tops of our master bedroom closets in preparation for new carpet in there shortly... Get back in a better writing groove again... Work on Sr. Antonia's literature studies... Clean the grout in the downstairs tilework (ugh)...

Picture thought for the day... And a question: If you were going to build a sunroom, would you want it all high-white and bright, or mostly warm woods and cozy, or a combination? (I'm still deciding! If you're wondering why -- go back a couple days to "Five Random" where I mentioned that we're buying an RV and looking to possibly build an RV shelter with bonus rooms.)

High white and bright.

Mostly wood and cozy.

A little both. I'm leaning this way. But the one thing I know
is that I want big picture windows like this -- and these exact
book shelves underneath!