My Daybook: 10th May, 2016

Outside my window…

there is the most glorious sunrise, I’ve just spent several moments outside trying to capture the colours, I’ll try again tomorrow with the tripod

I am thankful…

so extremely thankful for my talented husband who has just finished creating the most incredible home library a book loving girl could have 🙂 Several times throughout the day I wander in just to gaze in amazement and appreciation, I’m blessed, so blessed

I am thinking…

about our eldest son’s birthday this week, he is turning twenty-one, where have the years gone!!! Excited as he’s talking about a visit home sometime this month, as we spent Christmas with our lads in the City it’s been over a year since he made it home

Learning all the time…

it’s now Week 3 of Term 2, and little tweaks to the routine have already occured. Whilst we all thoroughly enjoyed our Reading Basket, little ‘table work’ was achieved in our first week. Routine now is, focus first on ‘table work’ before relaxing with our Reading Baskets. Whilst our children would be happy reading all day long, progress in maths and language arts must occur

Celebrating the liturgical year…

we’ve gotten into the habit of reading about ‘the Saint of the Day’ again. It’s been a few years since we’ve enjoyed this practice and it is indeed rewarding

From the kitchen…

finalising plans for our new kitchen; ordering windows, then to gut the kitchen, tear down walls and rebuild. We will need to set up a temporary kitchen for several weeks elsewhere, thinking the laundry will be a good solution

I am creating…

taking my photography up a notch, I’ve just purchased these ‘cheat sheets’ so I know how to take ‘my’ (daughter’s) Nikon DS3100 off ‘auto’, stretching myself by hosting a 31 Day Photography Challenge, do join us

I am working on…

successfully keeping everything on my plate spinning, alas I keep forgetting the existence of some plates and there is a resulting crash

I am going…

• to my brothers engagement party next month, so excited, he and his fiancee suit each other perfectly, looking forward to having a new sister 🙂
• the following month another brother is getting married, down south in the winter, the hunt is on to find a dress that simultaneously will look glamorous but be warm, warm is vital

I am praying…

• in thanksgiving for our City sons’ employment, both recently gained fantastic salary positions and are extremely happy
• for another’s health, an ongoing prayer
• for my brothers and their fiancees; the newly engaged, the soon to be married
• in thanksgiving for my sister’s safety, she was in the epicenter of the recent Ecuadorean earthquakes

I am pondering….

no head space for pondering lately, my mind is consumed with building thoughts. Just switching now from our new library to planning for our new kitchen. I vacillate between worry whether our kitchen will be large enough, to making decisions on how many lights will be needed and what size windows to order. I also urgently need to transfer our plans onto the ikea kitchen planner to finalise details there

I am reading…

tried a few new authors this month, some on the recommendation of ‘What Do I Read Next?’ including:

• Run by Ann Patchett – beautifully written but rather slow, not sure if I’ll try more Patchett or not, perhaps her other’s aren’t the same?
• read a couple of Nicholas Sparks’ books, including Safe Haven. Sparks has a powerful way of engaging the reader’s emotions, I’m definetly reading more of Nicholas Sparks
• for the first time I tried an ‘old’ author Danielle Steel, I really enjoyed Blue, then read Honour Thyself, which was so boring I never finished
• loved as always Inspector Gamache in Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny‘s. The characters, the plot, the writing itself, terrific

I am listening to……

on my morning walks I alternate between my two favourite podcasts; Read Aloud Revival and What Should I Read Next? I have a line up of other recommended posdcasts but I haven’t made it past these two

I am hearing…

silence as the household is asleep, I do enjoy having the mornings to myself, my time to recharge

I am struggling…

to lose weight, I need to be more consistent in, what I eat; no carbs or sugars, and how I exercise; daily walks and tummy tightening exercises, I’ve made a little progress so incentivised to keep at it

Clicking around…

I have about thirty blogs in my feedly, some are regular writers, some not.  Keeping up with reading and commenting in my blogging community is all I’m managing at present

Around the house…

since before Christmas we’ve had 7000+ homeless books spread throughout the house, Sunday these were all moved into the new library 🙂 This of creates a domino effect, every living area in the house has been turned ‘upside down’ as we clean the debris left behind. This weekend is also last chance to put out ‘goodies’ for our council’s annual kerbside pick up, hoping we may find some time to support PC in cleaning his shed…treading softly, many a marriage flounders when wives venture into a man’s shed 😉

One of my favorite things…

my new library, I sneak in there several times a day to just soak in and admire. Our first fully finished room, it’s amazing how it looks. There is still some organising to complete, furniture to purchase and picture book display shelves to build but I’m thrilled, so very thrilled, check back Thursday for the picture reveal

A few plans for this week…

standard Term activities; lessons and after school sports. Also throwing in some deep cleaning as our house has been ‘turned upside down’, then this weekend is our local home education group’s annual concert and hopefully a shed/yard clean for the kerbside pick up

A little peek at my day…

the usual; an early morning walk followed by lessons in the morning, deep cleaning in the afternoon wrestling this home into order, then out the door to after school activities, soccer training for two this afternoon