
I had grand plans to finish all my Christmas to-do's this week, since we are finally on Christmas break from homeschooling. I was going to wrap all the presents, send out Christmas cards, finish baking, write Christmas letters, mail Christmas gifts...everything.
Instead I find myself reading a lot of books, and now sitting down to write this. Procrastination? Yes, I suppose so. I did get my Christmas cards mailed, and today I hope to mail a Christmas present and start the wrapping. I'm justifying taking a time out to write this because I can't really wrap until Derek is finished with work for the day, and I miss my blog.

I've been thinking a lot about changes I want to make in the new year, and one thing I keep mulling over is how I can tip the balance away from social media and toward this blog again. I've been struggling with social media for a long time, because while I think a lot of it is a waste of time, it is also the main way to connect with people online these days - including all of you, my blog buddies. So what to do? I don't know, but I figure just getting back in the habit of writing is the first place to start. My writing motivation has derailed big time in the wake of the election, but it's time to get back to the little things, simple habits that anchor my days. Blogging is one of those.
Anyway, what are you all baking for Christmas? We have our Christmas favorites, but I always find myself wanting to branch out and try new goodies around the holidays. My ideal holiday treat would be relatively inexpensive and basically fool-proof, which unfortunately rules out a lot of cookie recipes. I live at a high altitude, and can basically trust no cookie recipe ever. If you find a high altitude baking blog, send it my way, will you?

(One of the gingerbread houses we made with friends.)
On our list so far are the following: gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, Christmas fudge, snowdrop cookies, and chocolate-covered pretzels. And wassail on Christmas Day, of course. Believe it or not, I used to make more Christmas goodies than that, but these are our favorites. I'll probably just round it out with an experiment or two.
Instead of baking this week though, I've spent a disproportionate amount of time reading, which I do not regret at all. I've finished several books, and am hoping to still make my reading goal of 48 books this year, even though I'm woefully behind! I'm especially enjoying re-reading Lord Of The Rings during these winter months. Those book are winter books to me. I just got past the creepy marshes in The Two Towers, so basically we're getting to the good stuff now.
Despite everything going on, December has been as busy as ever for our family, with dinners with family and friends, Christmas light trails, and weekly Awana night dates for Derek and me. We went out to one of our usual places last night, but there was no room for us in the outdoor-seating tent, so we sat under a heat lamp on the patio while drinking our root beer and cream soda. We couldn't take our coats off (so I guess my careful outfit selection was a little pointless), but it was romantic sitting outside in the cold, eating our dinner and watching the traffic lights "blink a bright read and green". I enjoyed it very much. Sometimes things aren't ideal, but you make the best of them and find joy in it anyway. Hasn't that been the story of this whole year?

I hope you are finding the little joys this week, friends! I'll try to be back soon with photos of the fruit garland project I did with the kids, and hopefully a book post and some Christmas reflections in the next week or so!

This post is brought to you by my brand new computer!
It has been seven years since we bought my last laptop. It had a good long run, before yesterday when it started taking 10 minutes to do whatever I asked it to do. So we went out yesterday afternoon and picked up a new computer for me.
I still had to do school with the kids this morning, so I'm just now sitting down and getting it set up.
I had a bit of a decision to make when the Mac guy asked if I wanted to transfer my data from my old laptop to my new one. On the one hand, doing a transfer is the only way to make sure I don't lose anything. On the other hand, there seemed to be something really nice about leaving all that "old" on the old laptop, and starting completely new. Kind of like a drastic digital declutter, all at once.
I decided not to transfer anything. I put some files that I thought I'd want to keep on my external hard-drive, and I'll keep them on there. I'm getting a completely fresh start with this new laptop.
The keys feel different, and the screen doesn't have any dust on it, and it feels nice just to type and have nothing freeze up on me. I hope you'll allow me a chatty, nothing sort of post today. I feel like I'm still running to catch up with the week, and I don't have anything good to say surrounding my theme for the month. So let's just chat.
A Crazy Few Days
The last few days have been crazy. Our car broke down recently, so we have been driving everywhere in two cars, and we checked out a couple new car options to see if we can find another car that we can afford that will also carry us all. So it's been a lot of driving, and a lot of late nights driving all over the place, and picking up our car from the mechanic, and running out yesterday to buy me a new laptop. To make a long story short, we are sleep-deprived and tired of driving. But we're headed out to AWANA tonight anyway, and I think I need an afternoon cup of coffee to keep me awake for it. It's that kind of week.
On the plus side, we did go to a pumpkin patch in the middle of driving all over creation, so I have some cute pictures to share whenever I get set up to edit photos on here!
A Little Library Trip
Last week we finally took a walk to our little local library, which we haven't visited since everything shut down in March. I love that tiny little library. It smells a little musty, like old paper and glue. There is a tree with pretty leaves right outside, and it blankets the ground every October. For some reason when I rent books from that library, I actually end up reading them, unlike the books I get from big library in town. The little library books just feel more worthy of being read for some reason. Anyway, I picked up The Grapes Of Wrath and a story collection from an author I've never heard of, but the first story already made me cry. I'll do a book roundup soon and share more. But I've finally given up on forcing myself to read from a list, and I'm just reading whatever strikes me fancy. I'm a chronic reader of many books at once. It's incurable.
A Trip To Montana
This weekend I am flying to Montana with my mom for my cousin's wedding. I've never flown out of state for a wedding before, so it will be an adventure. The wedding is another reason why it feels like I can't catch up this week. I haven't even had a chance to do a test-pack (necessary since I'm trying to pack everything in my "personal item" so we don't have to pay for luggage). I haven't even decided what to wear. Our flight was pushed back by a couple hours, so my mom and I have to wear our wedding outfits on the plane, because we'll basically be driving from the airport to the venue. What does one wear to be comfortable on an airplane and look good at a wedding? It's a conundrum.
It's going to be a whirlwind trip, and I wish we had a little more margin to check out Montana. But I'll probably get to sit next to my mom on the plane, and that will hopefully be a nice time to visit with her. So it'll still be good I think.
A Hairdo Dilemma
Those of you who have been around a while know that I usually have short hair, but I've been letting it grow out some this year. It's now shoulder-length, and I like that I can pull it up when I want to, though the length is still slightly awkward and not quite long enough for a bun. But I kind of hate it down right now. It just feels like so much hair. I think I'll get a trim before I decide whether to chop it or give it another few months to get a little longer.
And I think when you start rambling about whether to get a haircut, it's time to bring the post to a close. I'm sorry this doesn't quite fit with my 31 Days theme. Let's just call this is a collection of "small things", the kinds of things you might ramble about to a friend over coffee. An afternoon coffee. Because it's been that kind of week.
How's your week going?


Update: Did a little more research, and it looks like only the HOST will not be able to see your comments until after they review you? If so, that's much better. The wording in the AirBnB emails is confusing.













My coffee is cold in the cup next to me as I sit down on my couch today, laptop perched on my knees. I haven't sat down just to write in a while! My fingers actually feel stiff and slow in typing. I'm asked often how I make time for my blog with the kids and everything, and the truth is that Derek usually gives me an evening or a whole afternoon at the library, and I knock out a few posts at a time. I obviously haven't been able to do that for a while. Even now, when our state has been slowly reopening for a couple weeks, our libraries are still closed.
But today, Derek and a friend are outside, building a treehouse for the kids. The weather has been just lovely for a few weeks now, which feels like another bit of God's grace to us amidst all this turmoil in the world. We may not be able to go to the park, but the mountains are unseasonably warm, and hot pine needles smell like summer. I can hear the kids shouting as they play on the driveway. And I'm sitting here, with my cold cup of coffee that I'll probably re-heat again in a minute, and a wilted little wildflower on the armrest of the couch, presented proudly to me by my golden-haired four year old a little while ago. The darn woodpecker is attacking the side of the house again, and the hummingbird feeder is swinging outside the window. It's a nice Saturday morning, and I decided today was the day to catch up the ole blog. I should make this happen more often.


Speaking of the treehouse, the kids are so excited for it. It's really more of a playhouse than a treehouse, a little shed on a raised deck, with an even higher balcony-porch that wraps around a tree in our yard. Derek wanted to make something sturdy and enduring, something they can enjoy now and when they are teenagers. I think it's going to turn out great! We are also toying with the idea of making a teepee further down the hill, but we can't quite figure out where to get or how to make a full-size teepee covering.
Other house projects-in-progress involve a lot of plants. Derek decided to try to grow our own flowers for our outdoor pots this summer, and he's been baby-ing little flower sprouts for a few weeks now. The flowers we chose don't seem to be happy, and we aren't quite sure why. The vegetable plants he got from a coworker, on the other hand, are thriving. He ordered a greenhouse, and I consented to have it set up in corner of our back deck. Our deck is a little funny, with a long, semi-narrow strip right off the back of the house, which takes one step down to a wider area where we have our table set up. So the greenhouse will be on the upper section of the deck, next to the house. I was hesitant to let the greenhouse live there, because I want the deck to feel clean, but I think it'll be alright. I'm planning on hanging some flower baskets on either side to make it look...fancier? More lush? I'm also a little concerned about the draining, but Derek says all the plants will be in trays. The greenhouse may move to the side of the house if our plants outgrow it. It's a pretty small greenhouse. We are gardening newbies (though Derek has a greener thumb than me), so any tips are appreciated!
I've been trying to grow herbs in our kitchen windowsill as well, and the basil and chamomile is thriving, but the lavender and rosemary have yet to sprout. Did I get dead seeds? Do they just need longer to germinate? Or did I drown them? I don't know. I'm disappointed that the two herbs I wanted the most seem to be rebelling against me, but I'll give them a little more time.
Derek is still working from home, from the closet-office, and he probably will be for a while. Our governor is encouraging those who can work from home to do it, and I can't say we completely mind. Working from home cuts out two hours of commuting time for Derek, which means more time for movie nights and house projects.
Homeschooling exclusively at home, on the other hand, is getting wearisome. We are itching to go on a field trip, or a library trip, or a park trip, or something. Over the weeks when we were required to stay home, and there was nowhere to go anyway, I did lessons with the kids on the weekends to knock out a few extra days of our school year. So we are on track to finish our required number of days by the end of this week! I would love to do a field trip to celebrate the last day of school, but I'm pretty sure most of those type of places will still be closed. Maybe a "field trip" to Barnes and Noble for some books to read over the summer, perhaps? I just saw that our local Barnes And Noble is open, and I'm extra excited about it.
Speaking of books for the kids to read, Gwen is reading pretty solidly now, so I went ahead and ordered some of the original American Girl books on Ebay. I was aiming to gather the Felicity and Addy series, and just happened to also get the Josefina series in the process. Probably my three favorites of the original American Girls, so that worked out! Did any of you read American Girl books as a kid? Which were your favorites? I never did get one of the dolls.
As our state and county has started opening, we've enjoyed visits with my sister and parents last week. It is so good to see family, and especially to be around people who feel similarly about this whole crazy mess the world has gotten itself into. As I've been following the virus news and shutdowns the last few weeks, I've been reminded of the fact that an economic depression is going to have horrible ripple effects in so many less fortunate countries too. I read in an article that the number of people in the world who face starvation is expected to double this year as a result of the economic shutdowns around the world. Double. That just breaks my heart. What have we done to ourselves? Opinions run the gamut about this whole situation, and I am trying not to get into mine here, but it can't be denied that some of our actions in response to the virus have been much more devastating than many expected.
(On a related note, my friend Bethany - another childhood penpal! - is trying to sell bows to help with relief in the middle East during this coronavirus crisis. She's sold out for now, but it's a cool thing she's doing, and you might consider following if you are interested.)
Anyway, to try to get back to a happier topic before I close this out, I'm still working through East Of Eden by John Steinbeck. It's a long book, okay? I'm most of the way through it though, and I still have no idea where it's going. How's all this going to end? I'll probably go curl up with it on the porch as soon as I'm done typing this. When I finish that book, I'm going full-steam ahead on The Lake House by Kate Morton. I also started Unknown Valor by Martha MacCallum. The cover caught my eye, and I kept seeing it everywhere, so I grabbed it at Sam's Club last week. I'm already getting sucked into it, so that's my current nonfiction read! What have you all been reading? I have a full post on what I've read so far this year in the works for later this week!
I'm typing this on Saturday, you'll probably be reading this on Monday, which means Mother's Day was yesterday. Our plan is to drop by Derek's mom's house in the morning, and then I think Derek has a picnic lunch planned for me and the kids. They went Mother's Day shopping for me this week, and the kids are so cute, telling me not to look in their closets so I don't see the presents they got me. Then I'm hoping to see my mom for dinner. It should be a lovely day, and the first Mother's Day in a while when we'll get to see both our moms on the same day.
I'm feeling especially blessed by my mom this year, as I've seen her here and there during the shutdown, and she's dropped off little notes for the kids, and I've made more of an effort to talk to her on the phone regularly. I've never been good at making those phone calls, I've never been much of a phone-talker. But I'm starting to change my tune. It's undeniably better to hear someone's voice and have a real conversation than to poke out characters for a text bubble. And I've especially missed getting to see Derek's mom - we've sent letters to her, and Derek continues to talk to her regularly, but I hate that we had to miss seeing her on Easter. I have a really wonderful mother-in-law, and it's not lost on me what a blessing that really is. It'll be good to see her face.
The sunshine on the porch is calling my name, so I think I'll go grab that book now.
How have you all been? What have you been up to? Any restrictions lifting in your states yet? Or for international friends, how are things going in your country right now?








I sat down this morning to write a chatty post and realized that each mini-section was ending up too long for my typical "tea on a Tuesday" type post, so I'm going to try something different this week. I'm splitting up what could be a very long post into "short thoughts" posts. So expect a few of these posts this week, because I've had enough on my mind lately. Here we go.
Yesterday, while not feeling well because of some sort of ear infection I have brewing, I picked up my phone to zone out for a while and somehow found myself looking up people that I used to know on Facebook. Not to friend them, just to poke around and see what became of them.
I know I am not the only one who does this, right? But after looking up two or three people I suddenly became aware again, and asked, "Self, why are you doing this?"
I didn't really want to be friends with these girls again, so I had no intention of adding them on social media. And it's not like they were the mean girls and I needed to prove something to myself either (well, not too much anyway - maybe a tiny bit).
I was mainly just...curious.
What a weird world that we live in, where we can remember someone from 15 years ago and immediately go spy on them on social media. It's the kind of world that makes high school reunions obsolete, and that kind of makes me sad.
I think I would rather go 15 years without the ability to know anything about a person at all, and then run into them in the flesh at a reunion. Catch up on their life all in one go, hear it from their own mouth, make note of the look in their eyes as they tell you what they've been up to. Physically and emotionally see if there is any hope for a friendship left there, or if it was a good thing it faded in the first place.
And then I thought, I wonder if people that I used to know are spying on me.
That is a weird thought.
In many ways social media and blogs are a blessing - they let us keep in touch with people that we care about who may have faded away otherwise. But they also allow us to keep people in our lives that it might be better to have fade away.
Perhaps it requires a lot of wisdom to know the difference, and to know how to handle these current times. It's hard being the first generation to really figure out how to navigate the social media era with wisdom and grace and proper boundaries.
And as my little exhaustion-induced spying proves, I clearly have not figured it all out yet.

I guess if I have anything else to say about it, it would just be to encourage you (and myself) to evaluate whether it's worth reconnecting with the people that come to your mind - and if it is, reconnect! Send a quick message and say hi. Social media can be a wonderful way to naturally rekindle friendships.
And if you know that person you are curious about is not the kind of person you should reconnect with - well, try to pretend social media doesn't exist, mind your own business a bit, and let it fade. Some people are only meant to be in your life for a season, and with social media now, sometimes we have to actively choose to keep it that way.
Have you ever spied on someone you used to know on social media? (Come on, guys, 'fess up. I know I'm not the only one.)
Why did you look them up? Do you think it would be better if we didn't have that option?

















Update: Please read this blog post on more about how we lost old-fashioned blogging, and how to get it back!

Listening . . . To Clyde complaining at me from the living room - he wants me to pick him up so I will be typing most of this post one-handed. But if we are talking music? I have been listening to Taylor Swift radio on Pandora. I'm trying to get a sneak peek of her new songs, since I want to wait until after Christmas to buy 1989. I've heard three of them so far - thumbs up to two of them, and thumbs down to "Blank Space". Singing about purposely letting a player take advantage of you? Really Taylor?
Eating . . . Caramel Brownie Cheesecake. My own invention. It's really rich, and really fattening, and really good with a cup of tea.
Drinking . . . Water? Not as much coffee lately, because I'm trying to wean myself off the caffeine. I skipped my weekly Starbucks before work the other week, and I felt like I was in a fog all day. That's when I realized I may have a problem. I did drink a little tea today though, in my fancy tea cup, because I felt like it.
Wearing . . . Jeans, a green sweater, and a plaid infinity scarf (see, in the picture below? I thought we needed a visual). I was never much of a scarf person before, but I am really into them this year! It helps that I got an amazing deal on some clearance scarfs at Charming Charlie earlier this fall - 4 for $10!
Feeling . . . In limbo. I feel like I am just waiting for situations to change, waiting for things to make sense, waiting for some direction from the Lord on what we're supposed to do next. I feel like this in-between stage has become my new normal right now, and I have never been good with uncertainty. The stress is getting to me. I found a gray hair the other day and promptly plucked it out.
Weather . . . A gorgeous fall day, though a little on the windy side. Good sweater weather. And hopefully good hunting weather since Derek is elk hunting as I type this.
Wanting . . . To get all my Christmas shopping done. It's a tight budget year, so I want to get everything bought and wrapped and off of my to-buy list. That way I can start putting something aside for those unexpected Christmas expenses that always wreak havoc on our bank accounts in December. I really sound like a scrooge right now. I love Christmas, but I hate budgeting.
Needing . . . I don't know. To quote Wyatt and Gwen's Little Angels movie "Wanting and needing are not the same thing." (Can you tell we've watched that one too may times this week?) I suppose I need some time to finish some researching and writing, and I need to buy milk.
Thinking . . . I can't wait for my friend, Heather, to get married next weekend! You might remember me mentioning Heather and Hazel before. We grew up together in the same church, and even though they moved 3+ hours away, we still try to keep in touch. I was so surprised and happy to get a letter this summer from Hazel telling me Heather was engaged! We are driving out on Saturday for the wedding, and I can't wait to see everyone.
Enjoying . . . A lazy Saturday afternoon. The kids are still in that mellow mood left over from nap time (though Wyatt didn't really nap - I think he's just tired). They are laying all over the floor, playing and talking quietly. The sun is streaming through the blinds right now and shining on my face. Harvey is barking at something outside. The plan for the rest of the day? Watch a little TV, read a little of my book, and make something hot for dinner since Derek will probably be hungry when he gets home.