The temperatures are in the negatives outside right now (Fahrenheit, during the day), and I'm realizing just how leaky the windows are in this house. Windows have been on our home improvement list for a couple years, but when the warm spring air arrives it's hard to remember these frigid temperatures. I'm sitting directly in front of our wood stove, soaking in the warmth while I type.
It's been a crazy couple weeks for me, but it's hard to pinpoint why. I had a particularly busy span a couple weeks ago, and it's taken me this long to recover. Instead of getting better at juggling the busyness as a mom, I feel that I am getting worse the older my kids get.
I've also had the weird experience of recognizing my personality shifting again. When I was first married, I discovered my extroverted side, and was always full of energy after hanging out with friends or family. Now, it seems my introverted side is taking it's turn again, because at this time period in my life, staying home sounds the nicest. I have started to love those weeks when we don't have much going on, when we don't go anywhere and finish all the homeschool work I was hoping to do, when we have time for movies in the afternoon, or art projects, or extra chapters of our read-aloud. Maybe five energetic kids would bring out the introverted side of anyone, or maybe I'm just spending my extrovert energy on them more now, as they get older. Either way, family and home have a beautiful draw for me right now.
I am finally back into a reading groove again, thank goodness, and it happens to be a classics reading groove. I am just finishing up Huckleberry Finn, which I enjoyed more than I thought I would, and I'm halfway through Mansfield Park. I used to say it was the only Jane Austen I hadn't read, but I didn't know at the time about Lady Susan, and I don't actually remember anything about Northanger Abbey or Persuasion, so I'm not counting those anymore. Mansfield Park is also more enjoyable than I expected - I was unfairly soured on it as a teenager by a horrible movie adaptation, but the book is really working for me. I always say that Emma is my favorite Austen because I relate to Emma (ie. sticking your foot in your mouth, learning hard lessons about yourself), but I am also really liking Fanny Price. I think Fanny is alot like I was as a young teenager, so my inner youth relates to her insecurities. I eventually found my voice after graduating high school, and I expect that Fanny will find her voice before the end of the book as well. The rest of the characters in that book are just painful, at least at the halfway mark.
The freezing start to this week aside, it has actually felt pretty springlike outside lately, and I've started to catch a bit of spring fever. This is probably not a good thing since spring where I live rarely arrives until April, and even then we are at risk of snowstorms until well into May. Nevertheless, I am going through all my spring morning time plans, worksheets, etc., requesting Easter books from the library, and generally getting ready to dive right into pretending it's not winter. I even ordered a devotional for myself to read in the weeks leading up to Resurrection Day (this one). The urge to start looking at next year's homeschool curricula is calling, but I am trying to resist at least until all the websites start having spring sales.
I'll end this post with a few recommendations from the last few weeks, just for fun!
1. The Third Thursday Book Club. This is a classics book club over at the Daily Wire, led by Ben Shapiro. You have to be a member to watch the book club discussions, but you can sign up for the emails for free and get Ben's notes on the classic of the month. This book club is the reason I picked up The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, and probably also at least part of the reason I'm finishing it so quickly. Whatever you think about him, Shapiro is a very smart guy, and I really enjoyed his essay on Huckleberry Finn! He made some great points. I was also gratified to see that he mentioned many of the sections of the book that I had been mentally highlighting - I don't have much confidence in my literary analysis skills, so it was nice to see I'm not totally off track. I'm looking forward to seeing what they pick for March!
2. Humility And Doxology. Have I mentioned this website before? It's basically my favorite homeschool blog. I have a theory that different types of homeschool blogs are going to appeal to different personality types, and something about this one just works for my personality. I love all her booklists and poetry suggestions, and her writing style. I immediately click on her emails when they fly into my inbox.
3. Sweatpants. I'm not usually a sweatpants type of girl, but in this cold weather and current emotional season, sweatpants are bringing comfort in more ways than one. I like these ones from Target lately.
4. Mrs. Meyers Mint Cleaner. Have I mentioned that I have a limited sense of smell since being sick last fall? I haven't been able to smell any bad smells for months (not as good of a thing as you might think), and pleasant smells are very hit and miss. Last week I even had one day where everything - everything - smelled like butter, which was a little bizarre. Thankfully the next morning I was back to smelling half the things normally again (and still not smelling the other half at all). It's incredibly frustrating to be able to smell something nice one day, and not be able to smell it the next. That happened this week with the Mint cleaner, but nevertheless, on the day I could smell it, I enjoyed it very much.
5. This song. I put together a Spotify playlist for my kids the other day, basically a bunch of albums that I wanted to listen to with them, all in one place. It's probably not the best playlist for shuffling, but it's nice to not have to scroll through fifty albums on the app to find the ones I saved for my kids. Half of the albums I haven't even listened to yet, so I started the playlist in the background while we were doing school the other day. This song came on and made me want to cry. Maybe I'm just in a melancholy mood lately, I don't know, but I needed this reminder. It's so easy to let the worries and responsibilities of life overwhelm me, make me forget where my only hope in life and death lies - with Christ Himself.
"Unto the grave, what shall we sing?
“Christ, He lives; Christ, He lives!”
And what reward will heaven bring?
Everlasting life with Him.
O' sing hallelujah!
Our hope springs eternal,
O' sing hallelujah!
Now and ever we confess,
Christ, our hope in life and death."
Happy Wednesday, friends! Hope you have had a peaceful February so far!
I will check out Ben Shapiro's book recommendations. It sounds right up my ally! Mansfield Park was the last Austen book that I read- I liked it quite a bit. I read so many classic books when I was young, young. I know I have forgotten much of what I read 20+ years ago and am tempted to reread some classics. But there are so many books that I want to read that I haven't- it is hard to justify rereading a book. I'm glad you have your reading groove back. Stay warm!
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