MY HEARTS' HAVEN DAYBOOK 2008

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My Monday musings will almost always be from the Sunday before.........

or it will never get done. :)


My Hearts' Haven Daybook

August 17, 2008

Outside My Window..........I see a cooler looking sky than I expected to see today. We even had a few sprinkles when I was out hanging up a few clean swimsuits at 7:30 am this morning. The expected high is 91*..........it may well get there, but at least the sun is not glaring like it has been. I also see the trees moving with a lovely breeze................and can feel it coming in through my bedroom windows, which I have not had to close yet. yay.

I am thinking.........about how I dread TOMORROW. I am pretending it is not going to happen. but it will anyway. Tomorrow our summer basically ends...............that is, our free time is OVER. Anne starts the fall semester at the JC tomorrow. Matthew, Sarah and Maddelyn start beginning voice class at the JC tomorrow. Piano lessons start tomorrow...........and unfortunately voice is in the middle of piano lessons.........both of which are in different towns...........so I have to run to one town, then to the next.........and back again. And, this all gets more complicated first week of September, when we add play rehearsals........which were supposed to be in the same town as piano......but are now switched to the other town......so I go back yet again. And then, it will get even worse in October, when the JC play rehearsals start for the two oldest that begin at the exact same hour the other rehearsals end. ugh. Oh, and I forgot, Maddelyn needs violin lessons somewhere in there. This is my Monday........every single week for the semester. Do you see why I dread tomorrow??? I am so not ready for it. I think I better make up a master plan for the day. Oops.........and Matthew will have math tutor, too. Enough already.

I am thankful for........the time when I was 8 months pregnant with my second child and my first was newly two, and my husband said: I'll go do the shopping for you so you do not have to go out so pregnant and trying to manage a two year old, too.



Then, when the wee critter was born, my husband said: I will go do the shopping for you, so you do not have to manage a newborn and a toddler. And, with that, he promptly took over the family shopping.



That baby is a few months shy of 18 years. I am SO grateful to have had that chore lifted off of my shoulders all of these years. Yesterday on the way home from our Crater Lake camping trip, we dropped him off at the local airport to pick up a friend's car, and he did the family shopping for us on his way home. Today, my family with the good appetite devoured 4 pounds of fresh strawberries in about an hour. Yikes.....but, you know......you have got to eat them fast.....they start to go bad after a couple of days.

And the last decade, the shopping is not just stopping by the local grocery.......but a 2-3 hour round trip for just the driving, depending on if he goes south or north to do the shopping...........and a huge ordeal. He needs to stop by Costco, WinCo, for chicken feed supplies, Wal Mart or Office Depot, if needed ......and anything else we can think of....... He does this every 2 to 4 weeks, depending on how low our supplies get. Which is unusual except for the fresh produce. We have a very well stocked pantry......he likes to keep it that way......always staying ahead. And, he is SO generous with the fresh produce........this is what our family eats the most. He usually tries to double up other needs for the trip, like building supplies or things need for his job.

From the kitchen..........on the menu for lunch today: whatever you want. For dinner: We have pulled from the freezer some of our Lebanese food from our annual Lebanese Feast, which took place in May this last spring. Jiddee (Arabic for grandfather) made the kibbee (baked ground lamb stuffed with ground hamburger, pine nuts and bulgar wheat) and we all made several hundred stuffed grape leaf rolls. There is only one more batch of each left in the freezer. :( We will round it out with a Lebanese salad and some kind of squash dish.........since our garden is prolifically producing different kinds of squash, including the coosa (Lebanese squash).

I am wearing........should I admit I am still in my summer nightgown? I think I can........seems most posters are either still in jammies or shorts. I guess most of us write in the morning. Mostly I am still in my nightie because I need to take a bath before my big day begins tomorrow......and who wants to dirty extra clothing.

I am creating........hmmmm......not sure if I can think of anything.....oh, I know! I am going through the dirty laundry so fast, I am creating a mountain of clean clothes for the kids to fold.......excuse me while I go tell them they need to get folding while they watch a movie.

I am going.........to the other room to tell the kids to fold the clean clothes......and then I am going to go get that other load off of the clothesline.....and the one out of the dryer to add to their pile. :)

I am reading.........Random Harvest by James Hilton and looking through Lasting Moments magazine, the scrapbooking magazine put out by Creative Memories.......and through Willa's blogs:

Schola et Studium

Every Waking Hour



I am hoping........tomorrow is not as bad as it seems like it should be......and that my breathing issues will soon be cured. Please, God.

I am hearing......the train going slowly by......screech........chunk........bang.........more screech.....sounds like home........the sprinklers in the garden........the fan from the bathroom........quiet chatter of the kids..........the hum of the sewing machine...........Anne is sewing eight tablecloths as a volunteer effort for a fundraiser evening at the local crisis pregnancy center later this week............the kids are listening to the music of the Jekyll and Hyde musical. It is good music. Anne and Matthew and I saw the movie of the play starring that "hunk" from Baywatch. What's his name????? Hmmm.......David Hasselhoff, Yeah, that's him. He acted this part splendidly. It is one of the best filmed plays I have ever seen. Very well acted, very well sung and very well filmed.

Around the house.......lots of things on a to-do list........oh, what happened to the summer??? Oh, where to start????

One of my favorite things.........is visiting National Parks. Hope to share more about our visit to Crater Lake National Park this week. Can't promise anything! I'm still me. :) No way around it.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week........ Well, let's see.........piano lessons, classes at the JC, math start this week.......translated: I become one serious chauffeur. Hope to scrapbook in the evening on Tuesday at Louise's lovely home. I am scheduled to work on Thursday. In addition to the tablecloths above.............we have promised 40 cupcakes for the Crisis Pregnancy Center Fundraiser evening........which takes place on Friday evening.........and I believe Anne and I are going, for at least part of it. And Saturday? Well, I just checked the calendar and it is empty.....oh, shoot! I forgot.........that evening Matthew needs to go recite a poem at the local county arts council.....since he was the county winner for Poetry Out Loud last March. It is their big fundraising gala. But, that's okay........at least it is in the evening, and we will not stay the whole time. I need to email his committment. So, I guess the whole DAY will be free...........I will probably work on homeschool stuff.

Special prayer requests on my mind this week..........Those two expectant moms I keep mentioning (Jennifer and Gloria) and I want to add my friend Maria who is expecting her 8th baby in October. All three of them think they are going to go early........and I do, too. Esp the first two as they have higher risks...........and babies just like to get out of those high risk environments as soon as they safely can (and sometimes sooner!). Cool the way the body works.

Also pray for my oldest as she has a chronic disease that seems to be harder to deal with in the summer.......and as she starts her last year here at the local JC and tries to figure out where to go to school to finish her degrees. She has some ideas...........now, where does God want her to go?

For our new school year.............I wanted to be more ready than this. :/ I repeat: Where the heck did the summer go????

Also, a special private intention is on my mind.

Please pray I can persevere with the Rosary Novena I started last Thursday. If you read my blog......your intentions are covered as well.

I am currently scrapbooking.........not anything done in this last week, except the reading of the magazine above. I am going to put an order in soon to Creative Memories. Look here to see the paper set I am going to use for the first page of Our Star-Spangled Adventure 2007 scrapbook, which I am almost ready to start........just need some of the new pages CM just updated. I LOVE these new papers! Don't you? they are made just in time for me!

NOW SHOWING........."Love Letters".......rated PG-13 for a reason.........came recommended. I don't, even with the good acting and filming. The kids are watching "The Thin Man" in preparation for a whodunit musical they are auditioning for next week. And somewhere on the list is "Sunset Blvd"........a couple of us saw it last year. The next set of kids wants to see it now.......to see what the musical is based on.


Here is picture thought I am sharing........

One of the flowers from our garden, planted along the edge.

I may have a hard time getting back here to journal anymore this week........it looks too busy.........so, now you know what to expect. :) And, you are not surprised.

Blessings this week,

Chari