December 2011

We painted.








We praised.













We toured. (The Biltmore.)








We imagined.










We baked.










{this moment} happening every moment.
January 2012 for redeeming {the moment} with or without a blog post. The minutes they fly by. They are gone in a blink. Being present is one of the greatest gifts I hope to give my family this year.
Happy New Year~ Love, Joy & Peace to you and yours.

House Renovation & Care

The home we bought and now live in had been empty off and on for about 5 years. It had been a family home which turned into a rental. Eventually it became a foreclosure. A house that hasn't been lived in comes with less than joyful delayed surprises. However, this house after 6 months seems to be in pretty good shape. The obvious issues were resolved within a few weeks. We refinished the floors, removing old carpeting, and changed all the door hardware. Many of the locks on the windows were busted, which we have slowly changed, as cold air was coming in at season change.

We also have some issues with air conditioning equipment access. Eric has a vast HVAC wealth of knowledge, along with his other areas of mechanical engineering. So he knows exactly what needs to be done. We had a drain in the attic which terminated into the eves of the house. Inside the house. This was an all-nighter in the middle of the summer. But now it's fixed. Also the access to the attic, where the monthly filter change is located, had no access steps or stairs. Eric installed a telescopic ladder for access.

Few cosmetic changes have been done, although the hardwoods and the door hardware were incidental cosmetic upgrades. The floors were a mess. The door hardware was mismatched and completely beaten up. Painting has been a minimum, but now it's becoming a necessity.

Enter Pinterest.

Like everybody else, I've been enjoying Pinterest the vortext of creativity & magazine page enjoyment. But I've been using for purpose as well. Yesterday when it came down to deciding exterior paint colors, I searched it and came up with this. The colors aren't up-close, but I could see how the darker color & the trim would work together. Our house is so pale and washed out, and we both want bold colors. The color is a side benefit of the protection it offers from the elements. (All this discussion reminds me of John Grisham's book 'A Painted House'.) So far I've chose 7545 Pier by Sherwin William. I am fortunate that SW has a store closeby, but I've always preferred them for paint.

I've also finally selected a paint color for our anemic bedroom. Silvermist one of SW's new colors in the architectural series, is a nice diversion. More on that later.

Off to paint...

Merry Christmas

Snug in their beds, cookies & milk waiting, let the morning come. Merry Christmas!

December Details #40

Simple plans, books, recipes from magazines. And everyone's new best friend-- Pinterest.

Here it is.

School. CC is over till January, but we're still Reading, Writing & practicing our Mathematics.

Reading. We have a wonderful version of The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Robert Frost's Poetry are rich with winter illusions.

Right after Thanksgiving - It Was a Dark & Stormy Night by Janet & Allan Ahlberg.

and The Snail House also by Allan Ahlberg.

FIAR presented to us The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills.

The Runaway Dinner is truly comical along with The Pencil.

At night, we've been reading a couple of passages from The Book of Virtues by William Bennett.

These need to be selected with some care, but most are perfectly appropriate for my boys. Last night we read a story about a man who saved a woman from a the plane crash into the Potomac in 1982. Courage demonstrated. Tonight we read about Abraham Lincoln. Honesty personified.

We also read from BOV, the story of Esther, Queen of Persia, ancestor of Jesus. Also our reading from the Jesse Tree, December 18. (Henry knows what a scepter is now.)

Our Reading from Our Spiritual Heritage brought us to the story about grumbling & complaining. The children of Israel not liking what they had, and wishing they could go back to Egypt.

The crossover is in reading comes in two books, and leads to my personal reading.

Carry On, Mr. Bodwitch by Jean Lee Latham has been recommended academically as well as bearing the Newberry Award. We've made it through the first 3 chapters and found it interesting

My Reading.

Echo in Celebration, by Leigh Bortins. She recommends 'Bodwitch' for purposes of seeing a classical education. Thank you Marianne ( my director at our Classical Conversations community) for your gracious gift mid-year.

Started a new Alexander McCall Smith series - 44 Scotland Street. I loved his 'Ladies Detective Agency' series. It is excellent.

'In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving' by Leigh Anne & Sean Tuohy. Exellent. Inspiring.

'Gluten Free Girl' Shauna James Ahern. Extremely interesting and thought provoking. She has a blog. http://glutenfreegirl.com/

Listening. Handel. Before the Christmas season, we started with Bach because we are currently enjoying an academic program(Master's) focused on the Baroque period. We then moved into Handel, 'The Messiah'. But started with Handel Cantatas. Our cd is from the library, the artists are Magdalena Kozena & Marc Minkowski. Beautiful.

Baking. Country Living December 2010 Tea Cookie Dough & Jam Thumbprint cookies. I used Cherry Jam instead of Strawberry Jam.

Mrs. Field's Cookie Book. Kelley my sister-in-law gave me this at one of the shower's I was given. She was so creative, and gave me trays and all. But this is my go-to chocolate chip recipe. I'm finally going to venture past the one page and make the Refridgerator Thumbprint Fudgy Cookies. Because I've been invited to a cookie exchange & I'm all out of butter! I've got 3 dozen made of the Thumbprints, but I need 3 more dozen.

I made my Appetizer tho. Just a mix of the usual suspects to make shrimp dip. Cream cheeze, sour cream, mayonaise, grated cheddar cheeze. Garlic salt, diced red onion, stalk of celery diced and shrimp in small pieces. The shrimp is medium & I cut it down. Not small canned. Serving with crackers.

Growing. Amarylis. Red. One saved from Baton Rouge, and 2 purchased at Publix. So not really growing, but doing alot of raking/burning leaves in preparation for soil for the backyard garden.

Loving. My life. Peace abounds. Something to do, people to love, hope.

**Picture courtesy of Pinterest. When I find the actual source I'll credit. But this is the picture of inspiration Eric & I are considering for our livingroom/schoolroom. love the order. *sigh*

343- 350 I stopped counting & posting in August/last 1000 gifts post #39, but our school has been much more intense this year. Blogging has been put on the back burner. But as Christmas has come, I'm seeing the fruits of our labors and the gifts of God. Following our plan, seeking His. So I will assign these numbers to above. Looking forward to a week of counting God's blessings with kids as our assignment is to turn our grumbling into thanks, learning from the Israelites in the Wilderness. Lesson's abound in God's Word. Counting with others at http://www.aholyexperience.com/2011/12/3-gifts-you-really-need-to-open-right-now-love-comes-down-video/ . I think I'll print Ann's list for the boys. We saw blue birds in our bird house. They'll love the eggs & birds for places to write gifts. 351.

December. Joy.

I'm missing my boys about now. They are away, while we take a belated anniversary get-away. We are going to the Biltmore in Ashville, NC while they boys enjoy some 'cousin time.' I am still missing them. Homeschool life is a very intense exsistence. When they are not here, there is silence. But it's not a peaceful silence, it's a mysterious silence. It's almost like the drywall relaxes. As tho it's fear of destruction has subsided momentarily. But it will tense up soon enough. The steps will grab hold of the pounding and bounce back a cheery exuberant symphony of boy's life.

Meanwhile.... we catch up on conversations we can't savor without the ever-present listening ears. I think I actually concentrated today. For more than 5 minutes. Consecutively.

Thanks be to Ann at Holy Experience for her years of sharing the Jesse Tree. I have finally found the book and the ornaments in the same month. I usually find the book about ... June.

Of course this is our first year in this house. Joy. December. Emmanuel. Lord be with us.