The Simple Woman's Daybook

I have 101 things to do but I had an inspiration to write so I better take it! This outline from The Simple Woman's Daybook (not her exact outline) inspires me.

Outside my window…

 It is a wet, gray, chilly day. The leaves have collected thickly on the lawn. The younger boys have blown, raked and shoveled them into “fort” piles.

I am thinking…

…about how to organize my house and declutter. There is too much to see after. I need to simplify life. I would really like to know how and where to recycle- plastic, glass, books, foil, metal cans.

Just so you know my house CAN be quite a fright!

I am thankful for…

…a kind, considerate husband and five happy, healthy sons. It is a pleasure to work together as a family and learn life’s lessons.

From the learning rooms…

We are reading about slavery, the Alamo, Houdini, the Trail of Tears, wars for freedom, plant life, public speaking, bow hunting & etc. There is so much to learn about!

From the kitchen…

We are still baking sweet breads and pies for the market. An average gross income weekly is $200. The boys enjoy helping (or at least they make no complaint).

Last evening I made fried butternut squash. I sliced them fairly thin, cut the slices in half and fried them in plenty of coconut oil until they were nicely browned on both sides. Salted and peppered, they were a hit. The first time I’ve gotten the family to like fried butternuts. They really like the seed ends baked with a meatloaf filling and of course, they like pumpkin custard!

I should share with you a recipe I’ve made a couple times and have gotten “rave reviews” on. I chunk up peeled sweet potatoes to fill a 9 x 13 pan. Give them a good sprinkle of rosemary, either the leaves or the powder, then salt them with garlic salt and sprinkle black pepper over them. Pour a stick of melted butter over them, cover with foil and bake at 350 until tender. See if you like em. (I know that's rather vague instructions. What I call "Amish instructions". If you need to know more, comment below or reply to the email.)

I am wearing…

…a reworked dress of my sister’s. I have a good many cast-off dresses in my collection. You would think with 5 sons and no need to sew for daughters that I should have plenty of time to sew for myself. But somehow I don’t.

I am creating…

…order in the breezeway. Lol  Is that a creation?

This is the DIS-order!

I am going…

…to OH for a wedding this weekend, Lord willing. I hope to see my brother and my cousins in OH. Then from there we want to go to my parents to do some more helping with their move to our house.

I am reading…

 Anything I can set my eyes on or get my hands on, really.

I start way too many books

I am hoping… .

…that my brother and daughter make it safely up from Honduras. They are coming to help with my parents’ move also. I am also hoping that Thomas’ brother Caleb & his wife have a safe trip from Germany where they went for her father’s funeral. And that their further travels in the USA & to Haiti are successful.

I am hearing…

…Christopher singing. He is happy to be done with his Math lesson and going outside to play a bit.

Around the house…

Things were piling up on me drastically as I had a few weeks in a row of unrelenting activity. Thomas and the boys helped me on Sat with some cleaning and my mind feels free-er with some of the mess out of the way. Both of our dishwashers are on the blink now so the last few weeks when we were extra busy we ended up needing to do dishes by hand again. Then the one refrigerator gave up the ghost just after my big shopping trip when I needed all 3. (One holds gallons of milk from the milk cow.)

If you could take a peek into my house now this area would be much more orderly.

One of my favorite things…

Reading a good book with no guilt. So often I should be doing something else. Sigh

A few plans for the rest of the week…

Today we need to bake sweet breads (6 pumpkin, 9 zucchini) and pies (3 peach, 5 apple) for the market. Tomorrow I hope to give our room and bathroom a long overdue cleaning. I need to get the boys’ rooms ready for my brother & daughter to overnight in Thursday (or rather Fri morning) also. The expired fridge still needs a bit of clean-out yet. We need to pack for the trip. I am having the boys do their own laundry this week, hopefully starting a new rhythm here. I haven’t been able to keep up with it so we’ll see if they can. And, of course, every day includes school. On Thurs we need to go for Christmas program practice at the church school.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing….

11 lbs of Provolone cheese ($2.59 @lb from Sharp Shopper)

Writing from this outline makes one think in interesting avenues. It has been fun.