My Daybook: 6th October, 2016

Outside my window…

it’s promising to be a beautiful Spring day, my favourite season of the year

I am thankful…

for small but steady signs of improved health with a loved one. It’s been a long, hard journey but we’re inching forward

I am thinking…

about hosting a High Tea party. I often meet interesting women whom I’d like to know more, but in our busy lives today there aren’t many opportunities to stop and pause, relationships take time. So I’m thinking one big party could kickstart/deepen some friendships.  A Mother/Daughter/Grandaughter High Tea seems rather appealing.  First though we need to undertake a massive cleanup around here, the building supplies on our verandah need removing

Learning all the time…

in the laundry. Did you know it’s possible to get mildew out of clothes? A certain child hadn’t done their washing for weeks, despite my repeated reminders to bring washing to the laundry. When I opened that washing bin to discover three weeks of washing covered in mildew I’m sure you can imagine my response. Frantic googling informed me that washing in hot water and adding a cup of vinegar to the load would solve the catastrophe, with skepticism I tried it and it worked!! 🙂 In the conclusion only one T-shirt was thrown and hopefully the child learnt from this experience

Celebrating the liturgical year……

ah yes, I’m a dismal failure here. Does attending Sunday Mass each week count?

From the kitchen…

love, love, love my new kitchen!!! 🙂 🙂 Oh the huge expanse of bench, the storage space, the freshness of it all, how on earth did ever survive before! We just have a few ‘missing’ parts to add waiting on cabinet makers, I promise I’ll reveal all soon!!

I am creating…

I’ve begun a much loved project and am absolutely giddy with excitement about it. Finally I have found an avenue to share my passion and knowledge of …. well, not ready to share quite yet as I’ve still finer details to settle. However whilst planning how I’ll organise my notes for this project, I’ve been researching the merits of One Note vs Evernote. In the conclusion I settled on One Note as it’s far more visual and pretty, I like visual and pretty organisation

I am working on…

developing my photography skills, specifically how to achieve bokeh photos(blurred background). To this end I’ve been shooting lots of photos with a low aperture

I am going…

to rip the old built-in cupboard out of Michelangelo’s room. Well that was my plan, I had the thought, was ready to go when he says, “Wait, let’s think about the idea for a bit.” I guess a seventeen year old male is a man, cause it sure sounds like man thinking to me. For me to think is an immediate call to swing into action, he says, ‘let’s ponder some more,’ he sure is sounding more and more like his father. So for now we wait…I’ll give him one more day to think 😉

I am hoping…

to find a spare moment in amongst the many home-making projects I currently have bubbling, to draw up a new building ‘plan of attack.’ According to our previous Excel spreadsheet we actually kept close to our time schedule for the kitchen works. It’s now time to ease off the building focus a little and turn our attention to building a new garden and chook (chicken) pen. Then we’ll use materials we already have ‘to hand’ and lay and sand more flooring

I am praying…

so many petitions, so many needs at present.  At times we can feel burdened by the many needs and sorrows around us, so grateful for the gift of prayer, praying and leaving it in His hands

• our children and their varying needs
• for a young man who has been tragically burnt, praying for him, his family and all the others who have been affected by this tragedy
• a local boy whose family await his death, so tragic
• a young woman who has made some unwise decisions, impacting her future, breaking her family’s heart
• a dear friend, that her custody case for her grandchildren goes smoothly
• for three young men I’ve known since babyhood, praying for their needs, it takes a village

I am pondering….

about whether I’d classify myself as a lifestyle or documentary photographer, I’m undecided. Truth is I’m still finding my style, exploring who I am, stepping into an unknown place of discovery and I’m intrigued to see what evolves

I am reading…

I’ve just finished reading the latest Chief Inspector Gamache novel, A Great Reckoning – Louise Penny, as always never disappointed, just love Louise Penny’s writing.

I’m also branching out into a new genre, with various Australian authors, mostly modern fiction, normally my Australian reads consist of Australian historical fiction so this is a different genre. I’ve read lots of Kerry McGinnis and Karly Lane thus far. In fact Karly Lane is talking at our local library and I’m going to go, my first time at an author event.

I am listening to……

• Read Aloud Revival, I don’t think I’m ever going to ‘catch up’ as they keep producing more 😉 I only ever manage to rotate through my two podcast sites, there’s never enough time to branch out to others.
• On a recent car trip with only our younger children we listened to the science podcast Brains On! I thought this extremely well done and interesting.
• The younger children have been listening to lots of talking books from our local library and via librivox. Some talkers are far better than others, recommending you search for: Mark F Smith, Meredith Hughes, Elizabeth Klett, Kara Shallenberg, Karen Savage.

I am hearing…

the ‘house stirring’, children are beginning to awake. The younger children are over in the library, apparently they’ve sighted a mouse and are trying to trap it, yep can so see that being successful

I am struggling…

to ‘be in the moment’ and actually spend time with our children, this is constant school holiday struggle for me.  Holiday time is when I tend to tackle all the major home-making projects that I put off during term time as I focus on academics. For the past week I’ve been completely re-vamping five living spaces at once, a huge job but nearly completed, but then so are the school holidays. Actually we have managed a few fun activities; a couple of playdates, a day with cousins playing in the River and a couple of fun activities at our local library, followed by a treat from the local bakery

Clicking around…

The Lost Art of Printing Our Pictures – um extremely guilty.

10 Fresh Homeschooling Paths to Add Variety to Your Routines – lots of wisdom here

100 Best Video Sites for Educators – looks promising, just need time to check it out

Around the house…

whilst re-vamping those living spaces we have lots of ‘tossed’ items to be given away. Our old kitchen, hooray!! three large (2-3 metres) old school cupboards and a huge, growing pile for the op-shop. I’m certain every female reader can relate to my happy feeling 🙂 I always feel so much ‘lighter’ when we move possesions along

One of my favorite things…

my new kitchen of course! 🙂 🙂 Oh I’ve already mentioned how I love my kitchen, well I just have to say it again 🙂 

A few plans for this week…

the week and school holidays are drawing to a close. This week we’ve already:

• drove up the Coast a few hours, to spend a day playing in the River with our visiting Tasmanian cousins
• attended our library’s Princess Tales morning, dressed as Princes and a Princess
• older children attended a dress rehearsal for their upcoming Midsummer Night’s Dream, an all day event.  However as Michelangelo can now drive my life is so much easier
• I did have plans to do a deep cull in the shipping container these holidays but that’s just not going to happen now
• four days till lessons resume; I need to plan for next term, finish tidying the living spaces, mostly though I want to spend time playing with the children

A little peek at my day…

a day at home; planning for next term, finishing tidying the living spaces, playing with the children