The newest member of our family. Isn’t she beautiful?

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Hosted by Peggy @ The Simple Woman

Outside My Window…the birdbath and the bird feeders need to be filled.  I better go do that now so that I can enjoy watching the birds bathe and eat breakfast while I am writing this post. Otherwise I will fret about their needs not being met while I sit here sipping a drink and thinking about what I want for breakfast….okay I’m back.

I am thankful that…my husband FINALLY bought a boat. As I mentioned in my Joyful Journal, now we need a vehicle to tow it and a backyard shed to keep all the extra gear that my husband THIS boat absolutely has to have.

From the kitchen…not much going on in there. I went to Wal-Mart this week and spent $200 on necessities which oddly enough did not include any food for humans. I should not have been surprised (but I was nonetheless) that the cheese we buy went from $2.50 a package to $4.98!!! And as you know, the list is endless of things that have increased in price.

I am wearing…guess.

I am creating…a mental wellness plan that includes writing more frequently on The Whippoorwill Chronicles.This is a password protected site but if you are interested in reading about the present journey I am on, email me at dbeverlyhills@gmail.com.

From the learning rooms…Miss Sam finished up on her Unit One studies and will begin Unit Two this week. We do the LifePac Curriculum which I love.love.love. It satisfies my educator’s need to document and track progress. I will let you know if she notices that I increased the amount to be worked on each day (any wagers out there??). Last week we went to an awesome class (at least I thought so) about Florida Friendly landscaping. And last night Miss Sam went( for a second time - yoohoo) to a new ‘teen church’. It’s the youth program of a ‘new church’ so the group is small and ‘new’ to each other. Which suits Miss Sam’s personality quite nicely.

I am going…to get a list together of all the fabulous places that have ‘festivals’ now that fall is around the corner so we don’t miss out on all the fun. Even though it has been extremely hot and humid these past few days, here in Florida you can ‘feel’ fall in the air. It’s hard to explain if you don’t live here. I think it is because the sun is leaving different shadows as it goes from morning to early evening.  It has me thinking about taking the ‘fall’ decorations down from the attic this weekend.

I am reading…

• Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke. It is not often that I read a book twice. I have just never been so inclined. Take Gone With the Wind for example and Little Women. Two of my most favorites books. Yet each time I pick them up to enjoy a second time I don’t seem to get past Chapter One. Love Comes Softly is different. It comforts me way down deep inside. I can’t wait to work my way through this series for a second time. I may have to alternate between this series (which takes place out in the old west) and The Redemption series (which is modern day).
• The Power of Praying Through the Bible by Stormie Omartian. I am not much for devotionals except for Oswald Chambers’ ‘My Utmost for His Highest’ (which took me several years to ‘get’). However, the simplicity of this book caught my attention and I am looking forward to it being one of my favorites.

I am hoping…that getting my husband’s boat registered this morning does not prove to be complicated and expensive. However as you know, any trip to the DMV will ultimately be complicated, expensive and did I mention frustrating???

Around the house…the bed linens need to be washed. When you have two dogs claiming your bed as their own, this household chore needs to be done at least three times a week.

One of my favorite things…is looking through scrapbooking magazines. Years ago I used to subscribe to them. Now, they are so expensive I very rarely purchase them. Yet last night this one called my name. It has pages of ‘ordinary’ life scrapbook ideas. Which really works for me and my quite ‘ordinary’ life.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: last week was just too. too. too. hectic. Keeping things simple this week. Only thing scheduled (besides registering the boat this morning) is Snickers’ appointment to be spayed. Even my classes are simplified this week. It is Exam week (their first one) and then I show the HBO documentary Addiction. Seems like a good week to scrapbook.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing…

Hope to get a photo of the much talked about boat up later this afternoon (grin).

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Photo Hunt Theme: Wild

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A memorable moment…when on the ride to the ‘bigger, bigger city’ Miss Sam reached over and wanted to just hold my hand.

I am grateful….that my husband has bought himself a boat. Do y’all hear me????? He FINALLY has his boat!!!!! Do I hear an AMEN?????

I laugh…at all the dishes that have piled up in my sink since before yesterday. I am perfecting the art of living in the moment and that does not include doing dishes.

I remember...my scripture verse I set out to memorize this week:

Lord, I will thank you with all my heart (Psalm 138:1a)

I love…that I was able to find the Janette Oke ~ Love Comes Softly series at the thrift shop for fifty cents a book. I had regrettably donated my own set a few years back to Goodwill in one of my decluttering frenzies. Perhaps this is my original set???? I absolutely loved reading this series. It filled me with such contentment.

Something new…while shopping for a ‘worry stone’ today, I found something even better. I bought myself a ’spinning ring’. This is the one I bought.

I will celebrate….that Mr. John has FINALLY bought his boat. Now all he has to do is buy a vehicle to tow it. I will think about that tomorrow.

A joyful picture from this week…

Hope you join in the fun of the Joyful Journal and bless us with this week’s blessings in your life!!

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Almighty God, September 11, 2001 will be indelibly inscribed in our memories. We looked with horror on the terrorist attacks on that day. But we looked with honor on acts of courage by ordinary people who sacrificed themselves to prevent further death and destruction. We shed our tears in a common bond of grief for those we loved and lost. We journeyed through a dark valley, but Your light has led us to a place of hope. You have turned our grief into determination. We are resolved to do what is good, and right, and just. Help us to remember what it means to be Americans ~ a people endowed with abundant blessings. Help us to cherish the freedoms we enjoy and inspire us to stand with courage, united as one Nation under God in the midst of any adversity.

Lord, here this prayer for our Nation. Amen.

This prayer was adapted from a prayer compiled by a Navy Chaplain for The White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance.

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Kimberly from That’s My Answer has some interesting questions up for today. The one that caught my mood was:

 If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

For me it would seem that the answer is not simple. It would become complicated. It would get tangled up in the rational and the irrational. It would change as my perspective changed. My perspective would change as I would shift from the rational to the irrational. As I would shift from the forgivable to the not the forgotten.

But today, it came to me simply.

What I would change about how I was raised was how we were taught that, as siblings, we were not each others’ friends or confidants. We were conditioned to view each other as the enemy. We were (and continue to be) pitted against each other by a woman who needed (and continues to need) us individually more than we needed (and need) each other as a family.

That’s what I would change. My conditioned definition of family.

For another question of the day click here.

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Hosted by Peggy @ The Simple Woman

Outside My Window…it is pitch black. The phone rang early.early.early. this morning. It was a reverse 911 call. Do y’all have those where you live? This one was announcing a missing adult. I pray they find this person. My best friend’s Dad has Alzheimer’s Disease and he went missing while on his way to Lowe’s. He ended up in South Florida.

I am thankful that…I was able to ’swiffer’ the house this weekend. Today Miss Sam will vacuum.

From the kitchen…we had hard and soft tacos yesterday. I love to mix re-fried beans in with the hamburger. My two peas in a pod tend to disagree. However, we had re-fried beans mixed in. When they make it, they can leave out the beans. Do I hear an amen????

I am wearing…an over sized t-shirt and pajama pants. As I said, it is very early.early.early. Yawn.

I am creating…a photo system for my scrapbooking. Walgreen’s had a special where the digital prints were .10. Therefore, I have stacks of photos without a home. Which as you know, is not a good idea with photos because they can get out of control quite easily if they are not dated and categorized. It’s like they had a party in the box.

From the learning rooms…Miss Sam has done really well with getting the hang of making study guides for her Unit Tests. My friend Miss Sue (she is a first grade teacher) has a computer program that will make ‘games’ from vocabulary lists. Miss Sam had a list of the vocabulary words from all her subjects for unit one. She went through it with a highlighter and marked the ones she is still having difficulty with. Once that was done, she made a new list with those words and added the definitions. Miss Sue is going to make up some crossword puzzles and word finds with them. How fun (at least I think so).

I am going…to read the whole ‘Redemption’ series. The first book was awesome and quite unpredictable. I highly recommend it. I have never been a huge fan of Christian fiction but Redemption by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley is a ‘keeper’ book.

I am reading…Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman. This is the second book I have read by this author. The first one was ‘Here on Earth‘. I absolutely love how she paints her story with words. She is truly an artist. Next to Susan Wittig Albert and the China Bayles mysteries, she is one of my favorite authors.

I am hoping…by keeping our bedroom door closed during the day Snickers will begin to get her days and nights straightened out. At the moment she is sleeping all day and playing all night. Not fun.

Around the house…things are fairly clean and organized. After being gone most of the day Saturday boat shopping (ack!!) I spent Sunday ‘nesting’.

One of my favorite things…is that Miss Sam and Mr. John have taken over bathing the dogs. Yippee!!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

• scheduling therapy sessions for my clients and continuing therapy sessions with my therapist (doesn’t that just crack you up…it does me)
• meeting with the ‘backyard shed’ guy…the reason our garage got cleaned is that most of the ’shed’ stuff is being stored in our most generous neighbor’s garage until we get a shed. Which has to be by October because that is when our neighbors will be returning (they are snowbirds)
• picking up flea and heartworm meds
• scheduling Snickers’ appointment to be spayed
• Miss Sam and I have a Florida landscaping class we are going to on Wednesday
• Miss Sam has her first ‘bowling’ meet Friday with other home school kids her age
• a hair appointment for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is picture thought I am sharing…

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