January Daybook

Outside my window... It is foggy!  I love the fog.  It reminds me that I am really home, the place where my roots were put down as a child.  Foggy, west coast, mist.

I am wearing... My pajamas.  The baby is still asleep and I am NOT about to go into the bedroom to get my clothes, put on my contacts, anything.

I am thankful for... A few moments to blog.  A very kind, respectful and helpful oldest son.  I've been marveling at how pleasant his personality is lately.  I will admit that he has a stubborn streak the size of a 12 lane LA freeway, however.

I am thinking about... Possibly keeping a list of books I read this year.  I have generally been bad at doing that.  It's like keeping a diary, a great idea but something I rarely manage with any consistency.  However, I've enjoyed reading people's "what I read this year" posts, so maybe I'll manage a little list.

Learning all the time... Ok people. It's time to get real with this.  I don't do New Year's Resolutions (I mean, not the real kind), but I did promise myself that after the holidays were over, I'd finally spend some focused time studying and thinking about what we will be doing with Mr. Bluejay, who will be five this summer (and by default, his younger siblings).  I'm leaning toward homeschooling until he is six.  I had a fortuitous run in with the teacher of a tiny Orthodox school, someone I've known since I was the student, at the grocery store this week.  My friend handed me her big book of homeschooling resources out of the blue when we stopped by the other day.  My sister-in-law sent me a link to a lovely kindergarten curriculum a month or two ago.  I feel like someone is tapping me on the shoulder saying "hey, time to pay attention".

From the kitchen... Cooking again!  Slowly.  Does anyone else find that all the staples are running low after Christmas?  We had some stomach bugs over the holidays and didn't eat much beyond yogurt, egg and rice bowls, and frozen pizza for the healthy ones.  Right now I have plans for some barbecue chicken (yes, I will light up the Webber in January, we live in Northern California) and artichokes, because Bluejay has been asking for artichokes and a fire.

I am creating... Still crocheting Sparrow's blanket.  It is my first time doing basketweave stitch.  I really like it.

I am working on... working.  I have several clients now.  It's a blessing to have work.  I'm enjoying doing it.  Aaron is working four ten hour days so that I can have one "full" work day each week.  And my dad has been terrific at helping me out lately.  I'm also going to be doing a child-care swap one day a week, a friend from church is also a work-at-home mama and will be bringing her adorable little girl over here so we can take turns shepherding the younglings and working.  I'm excited to see how it works out.

I am going... to the usual places only.  It's nice to have a routine again.  I need to have a place to "go" on Mondays.  I struggle with that first day alone with the children after having my husband home for three days.  

I am hoping... to get up north to visit my brother's family sometime in the next few months.

I am reading... P.G. Wodehouse.  I finished Leave it to Psmith and started on one of the Jeeves books: Joy in the Morning.  I do love old Pelham Grenville, and it turns out that I'm more of an Anglophile than I realized. I lived in the UK for 2+ years during high school.  I can't wait to travel there with my family when the kids are a little older.

I am praying for... The soul of my friend Alan, who died one year ago this coming Sunday.  My family.  All of the little children.

I am hearing... The "big" kids talking to little Sparrow, who just woke up.   Sparrow giggling.  I love how they can keep him happy for a bit now, so that I can finish something (like a blog post)!

One of my favorite things... New coffee cups we got for Christmas.  Hand-thrown and kilned (is that the terminology?) by Bluejay's preschool teacher's husband.  They are so nice to hold and look at.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Working. Preschool. Cooking. Cleaning, and most importantly, putting away all of the paraphernalia from Christmas.

A picture thought I am sharing with you... 

We all look so serious!  Eating is no time for joking around, people.

OH MY GOODNESS I JUST SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED AN ENTIRE BLOG POST!  YIPPEE!!

   

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Missing the old blog

Oh blog, how I miss you.  I've been thinking about blogging often these days, but not managing to find time for an actual post, so I'm popping in here on the last day of the year just to say this.  I have all sorts of ideas of things I'd like to post. Pictures of my favorite things, the things that make me happy these days when times are a little challenging.  Thoughts on Christmas and family.  The introduction of fight play, swords, and [ay yi yi] camouflage into my oldest son's experience - fortunately, he only knows it as a great way to hide right now, I literally could not see him hiding in a field in pictures my husband took.  But I need to spend every spare computer minute I have these days doing actual, paid work.  Times are tight.  Blessedly so as it keeps our focus on what's important, which is NOT shopping, or browsing through what passes as the "news" these days online. But tight none-the-less.  I have managed to find a few moments of rest over the Nativity season, and I've used them to sip a bit of champagne, read a little Wodehouse, and on one lovely evening, take a long soak WITH said Wodehouse.

I wish you all a marvelous New Year and St. Basil's Day!

Breakfast Burritos

My dear husband leaves for work at 5:30 in the morning. He needs a pretty solid breakfast to start off a long day of cabinet building, moving and installing, but it's not easy to eat a big breakfast at 5:30 a.m.  So I've been buying frozen breakfast burritos at Trader Joe's and he pops one in the microwave when he gets to work. Now, those Trader Joe's burritos are pretty healthy, and pretty friendly to the pocket book, and unfortunately pretty dry.  So I've been meaning to make some from scratch and freeze a batch so he'd have something a little more yummy and a little more homey to start the day.  I tested out the success of freezing homemade breakfast burritos as follows: the last time the little ones did not finish theirs, I wrapped them in plastic wrap and popped them in the freezer in a ziplock bag.  A week or two later, wrapped in a paper towel and about a minute in the microwave, I was happy to find that they were still very tasty.  However, it took me another couple of months to finally set aside the time to make a big batch.

I fried up some potatoes in a little sunflower seed oil.

Added finely chopped garlic.

Salt and pepper.

Sausages (I did everything in one pan for ease of clean-up, and also because it's my favorite pan).

When these were all done, I took them out of the pan and scrambled some eggs with a little cheese, in a generous amount of melted butter.  Oh, how I love butter.

I made sure to only lightly cook them since they'll get microwaved later and hopefully won't toughen up in the process.

I toast the flour tortillas on the open flame (if that makes you uncomfortable, do it in a dry hot pan).

And assembled!

You can of course put in as little or as much as you like of each ingredient.  I wanted them to be pretty hardy.  Also, I cut them in half so if an entire burrito is too much to eat at once, the other half can stay frozen.

Aaron stole my phone and got a picture of the actual action.  They're all off in the freezer ready for a quick meal.  I think they are pretty yummy with a little salsa.  We usually use this one from Trader Joe's, unless my mom or sister stops by Lola's Market and picks up the really good stuff.  That never lasts long enough to make it to the fridge though.  

Now I'm hungry.  Off to scrounge something up before bed.

Today, just go read this.  So wonderful.

September Daybook

Outside my window... It is warm and oddly muggy.  Late afternoon sun hits our backyard patio and makes me feel very lethargic if I sit there.      

I am wearing... A red knit shirt, a light brown skirt with green and peach flower pattern.  Bare feet.

I am thankful for... Confession.

I am thinking about... How hungry I am and how I am unmotivated to cook - related to the mugginess, I think.

Learning all the time... Bluejay is ready for some of the Thornton W. Burgess books.  I am so excited to start reading them to him.  We've just started with Bedtime Stories, but I need to get more Burgess books.  My mom has a quite large collection of first editions, but they're in line be given to my brother Gabe, as they were some of his absolute favorites, so I'll need to acquire my own.  If anyone ever visits Sandwich, Massachusetts, I highly recommend the Burgess museum there.  We visited it when I was nine years old, and if it's anything like it was almost 30 years ago, well, I can't recommend it enough.

From the kitchen... As previously mentioned... unmotivated today. So I'm heating up Coq au Vin from Trader Joe's and making mashed potatoes as a side dish.  I did make a delicious chicken tortilla soup earlier this week.

I am creating... I finished crocheting the blanket for Chickadee!  I'm using the leftover yarn to make a small matching blanket for her dolls.  I think she will love that. I just need to finish the edging but it's not easy to find time to work on it these days. I purposefully did not finish weaving in all the loose ends in Chickadee's blanket because I didn't want to be tempted to give it to her before I finished the doll blanket (or I would NEVER finish that one).

I am working on... having less stuff.  It is a big goal of my husband and I to decrease the things that we have, so that our life can be simpler.  I am not jumping on any minimalist bandwagon.  But, there are a lot of things in our house that are neither useful, beautiful or meaningful.  The children have too many toys to clutter up their space and minds.  Yesterday, I asked them to pick up the balls in the back yard.  They picked up two balls.  Therefore, I think two balls is all they need.  This is being largely driven by Aaron, but I am finally really on board.   

I am going... to preschool co-op three times a week with Bluejay.  To a feast-day party for our little goddaughter's first name day.  Hopefully nowhere else.  Trying to simplify our life too. There are too many things to do these days. And they're only babies!  I sometimes question preschool. But he does love it so much.  

I am hoping... to see as much of my family as possible and that all our visits are smooth, as they have been lately.

I am reading... The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.  Really enjoying it too.  I still need to pick up Everyday Saints and Other Stories.

I am praying for... My big boy going to preschool.  Some relatives.  My husband.

I am hearing... Pete Seeger singing the Tree in the Ground. Chickadee narrating her life to me.  Man can that girl talk.  She's gone through a phase of fake baby talk for the past month or so, which I find very annoying.  I try to ignore, I try.  But these last few days she's gone more and more back to her real voice, and that voice? is adorable.  Her speech is quite sophisticated too, as spoken through her raspy little two year old voice.  Everything has a "shh" sound in it.  Today we were looking at an animal book and there was a picture of a macaw. She has most of the animals memorized but when I asked her that one, rather than saying "I don't know" she said "It'sh boo (blue).  It hassh a back (black) beat (beak). And yewwow awound it'sh eyesh."

One (ok two) of my favorite things... Reading my favorite books to the kids and seeing them learn to love them too.  Seeing how delighted Sparrow is when he sees me.  He has a killer grin.

A few plans for the rest of the week... One of my brothers is coming over today to play with the kids.  Working from home tomorrow.  Bluejay's second day of preschool.

A few picture thoughts I am sharing with you... 

   

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Important Children's Books

I've seen many lists lately of good books for children.  Most of them have some of the books my siblings and I grew up loving, and that were very important for the foundations of a love of literature, but most miss some of what I consider the essentials.  So, I'm starting my own list.  Thus far it is VERY roughly categorized by "age" or rather readiness.  I am not including a lot of books that I think are decent, or even quite good, but rather the ones that I think are the most important, in terms of a good literary foundation, and perhaps a few that are nostalgically important to me.  I plan to continue to add to this, and when I have time, even put in links to the books.  

For Little Ones:

Little Golden Books

• The Friendly Book
• Scuffy the Tugboat
• Busy Timmy
• The Tawny Scrawny Lion
• The Saggy Baggy Elephant
• Pretty much anything illustrated by Eloise Wilkin

The Maggie B

The Little Moon Theater

Make Way for Ducklings

One Morning in Maine

Blueberries for Sal

The Frances books

Molly Brett books

Good Night Moon

The Runaway Bunny

Mother Goose

A Children's Garden of Versus by Robert Louis Stevenson

Frog and Toad series

The Seamstress of Salsburg

Winnie the Pooh and other A.A. Milne

A Sick Day for Amos McGee

Ready for a little bit more:

The Brambly Hedge series

Thornton W. Burgess

• Old Mother West Wind and many many others

The Chronicles of Narnia

Mary Poppins series

The Little House of the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder (except for The First Four Years)

The Wind in the Willows

Bambi

Pippi Longstocking

Peter Pan

Getting bigger:

George McDonald

Frances Hodgeson Burnett

• The Secret Garden
• 
  

Anne of Green Gables series

Louisa May Alcott

• Little Women and others

The King of Ireland's Son

The Sword in the Stone

The REAL Grimms Fairy Tales

Heidi (and sequels)

Caddie Woodlawn

Corrie Ten Boom

The Black Stallion

Black Beauty

The Incredible Journey

National Velvet

Linnets and Valerians

Tolkien- The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy

The Jungle Book (Kipling)

Things I want to do

• Learn to play the guitar (at least some simple chords for folksongs)
• Improve my handwriting
• Read more poetry