bread and presidents and snow~

Today: Snow all around. "Like Narnia" Jess says.
Snow and sun meet. Snow is of the heavy variety. Children go out to play and roll in snow. Return to small, upstairs abode. Mother strongly advises against undressing in the house. Has everyone undress on stairs. Stairs was very WET.

We worked on a large poster we are making of the presidents of the USA. I found an old book on the presidency in the thrift store and we are cutting out pictures of the presidents.
Yeah we could buy one, but would that be as much fun?
Recently we were playing Dinner Games and realized the presidential knowledge in these here parts was baaaaad!
So I searched out resources and got to work. Soon along came the gang. Wanting to help.

Time: late,late o'clock. I just put a batch of oatmeal bread to rest and rise on the counter. Recipe from More Home Cooking, A Writer Returns to the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin.

Must hit sack. I have a deadline to have a handmade journal ready by tomorrow afternoon and I should do it early in the morning.
                                                                    ~humming feelings,
                                                                        Pilgrimama

learning amidst it all

I can say that this New Year has been mostly issues with sicknesses of one kind or another. Just now it's sinus issues.
Lee recently broke a sinus infection with really spicy Thai food.

He says he will get me some if I'm still sick by the weekend. I do not want to be sick on the weekend.
So I have been sleeping in because of low energy. The children have been getting up to play school in the livingroom. They're quite peaceful and really practicing great skills which is a major plus ( instead of wrestling,ugh) so I feel a bit better about the lost morning time while I'm resting late...
This morning we all hung out and wrote letters at the dining room table. I found a pack of varied stationary while I was thrifting the other day and set that out, as well as our rainbow mug with writing implements in it. And I started writing myself and announced we'd be writing to a penpal today. And they all gathered 'round!
Actually, playing school all started with a pack of chalk I picked up the other day, intending to use in my sewing suitcase. Well, some of it got into the hands of the small people and much "school" play has happened.

We had company over last night so I am slowly working on the left dishes right now. Jess is feeling sick so he is in his room, listening to music and resting. Alex is sewing some project he dreamed up in his head and the girls are playing around and now watching a movie.
There's a wierd rain falling, looks suspiciously like freezing rain. The house is cozy and Lee just brought us a bunch of yogurt.
I thinkI shall finish my tea and resume some household puttering...
                                                                  ~         happiness,
                                                                           Pilgrimama

thankful list

Things I am thankful for today:

1. Father God's mercy
2. Eating Pancakes with important people in my life.
3.  an abundance of eggs
4. a godly music teacher for the children
5. an offer for the children to join in with our neighbor writing to a Compassion child
6. the ability to do a bunch of laundry
7. Prayer time and tea by candlelight (mostly!) with people that inspire me to love, contentment and the ability to appreciate creativity and beauty in humble circumstances.
8. Rest

simplicity,redemption and serving others and what do they have in common?

I have a feeling that this post could be difficult to pull together in a coherent way. But the day has wound down, the children have had thier bedtime rituals performed and here I sit holding my cup of orange tea laced with honey.
Iwas thinking about all the ways I keep seeing that I am able to help serve my fellowhumans and how this knowledge keeps pulling me toward a simpler way of life. Simplicity  intertwined with the beauty of serving others in the name of my Master fills my soul with joy.
I like to think that this simple yet abundant joy emanates from the homes of those who are filled with this spirit.
And then what can seem somewhat less simple as I keep asking myself how we can simplify in order to to have more time for service is how to fit in the sweat and elbow grease required sometimes to redeem objects that many would cast off as garbage. And yet it often seems to fit in somewhere with a redemptive outlook on life, the stewarding of what is already, if possible, rather than waste and running to aquire something new. But this doesn't always seem simple...
Ok,here's the gist. I am sorting and sorting and embracing the experience.
Anyway, incohesive as this piece is, know that I keep seeing brilliant pieces of beauty bursting out of it, the wonder of love amidst the broken places of this world.
And I know this love will live both here and forever Beyond!
                                                                              Smiling,
                                                                           Pilgrimama

talking about exercise and color..

I just got back from a couple hours by myself, which involved some fast walking, stopping at the thrift shop (we all know it's really called a store)  but I can call it a shop, and running into the store store for Important Stuff like stain remover and rubber bands.
I bought 2 exercise videos  at the thrift shop. I might have a real Collection soon....

Squirrel girl and I have been doing kid yoga in the evenings. She's way more flexible than me.
I am pleased to say my bathroom shelf is finished. It is now the color plum. Today I picked up orange Q-tips to put in a glass jar that will set on my plum shelf. I am gleeful. Might I actually beat these cold, grayer days?
Well,Squirrelgirl is fairly squirrely these days and wants lunch. (I wish I could get rid of the leftover Christmas sweets as fast as possible.)  So, adieu!
                                                                    Energetic and busy,
                                                                  Pilgrimama

in which I paint the bathroom shelf plum!

hooray!

Hooray,hooray!  The tree is down,down,down and mostly burnt up in the woodstove!
The pineneedles are swept up. What time of year is this ? I ask myself.  Myself is not too sure but myself knows it is the time of year when mothers get AFRAID. Cabin fever lurks.

So yesterday I started painting my tall bathroom shelf PLUM.
     Good-bye!

                                                      ~Pilgrimama