that the weather around here lately wasn't very Winter-like? Well, somebody heard, and decided to remedy the situation.
We had some snow, just a little, which is a bit of a rarity around here. The boys were so pleased, and I must say, so was I. Snow is nice when your cupboards are full, you have no where to, and the fire keeps the house so toasty. We've been reading The Long Winter as a family, so I think I've been exceptionally aware and appreciative of our ability to be warm and fed.
Other than snow, I've been trying to get myself organized around the house. I think, sometimes, when you live out of the way, and you know that no one is going to be stopping by, it is very easy to just let certain things go, like the kitchen, and opt to surf Pintrest for longer than I would ever publicly admit. So I bought a new planner. It was very, very ugly, yet very, very practical. I sewed a cover for it. Now it's pretty, and I'm filling it with lists, like, "clean the kitchen, do the laundry, and school with the kids", but deep down inside, I'm itching to sew something else.
Now I feel very rambly. Daniel is upstairs trying to finish up just a little bit more work, then we are going to watch Downton Abbey. With a gin & tonic. Summer in a glass. I hope he's done soon.
I'm so tempted to go on about how frustrated I am with blogger. Does no one else have these problems? Seriously, the tool bar never shows up anymore - I have to simply guess and click tabs I can tell are there but don't really know what they are till I click them... Ok, I guess I did go on.
Anyways. Lent is upon us. Here is my Ash Wednesday story, to lighten the mood: After we had gone to church and all of us received ashes, James was cuddling with me on a chair. He then looked into my eyes, very seriously, and then moved his nose carefully to my forehead and made an audible, "sniff". He looked me int he eyes again and said, "I'm smelling your ash, mom." Sniffs again, and says, "Your ash smells good. Your ash smells like candy."
We made pretzels today, and it was like deja vu all over again. Actually, it was more than that. I was telling Dan, in a most unintelligible way, that I felt like I just remembered part of who I am, and what I do, and that somehow it got lost. I think sometimes with homeschooling (and maybe just life in general, but I think most specifically homeschooling lately), I will get lost in my focus - thinking mostly on bookwork and worrying about it getting done. So when we were all together, making pretzels, measuring, taking turns, talking about other things, I remembered: "This is who I am. I enjoy these little boys. We learn together all day long and we don't have to call it school. We don't have to call it anything. We are just living, and working, and praying together. This is what I do." So yes. That was making pretzels. I know in most parts of the country, it is still most definitely winter, but kids, I can hear frogs outside my window as I type this. There are blooms everywhere. It is beautiful. I read somewhere once that you should not keep any flowers in the house during Lent. I can't help it. The boys bring me blooms daily, and how am I to decline. And then there were the grape hyacinth that looked so darling when I put them into that little milk glass vase. There's this little hedge out front that is terribly thorny, but in the center, there are the prettiest blooms. I took several cuttings, and it's sitting on the dining table. I thought it just seemed a fitting arrangememnt for the season.
And now, I'm going to hit publish. But I fear that my formatting is going to get all messed up because that's what keeps happening when I try to preview it. This really makes blogging un-fun. I'm going to have to figure this out, or maybe just get a new blog. I'll let you know.
