My Hearts' Haven Daybook

Written on Saturday evening, November 14th, while sitting in an old dance hall, built in 1906, while my four younger kids and their friends enjoy open ballroom dance......





I can only write these daybook entries when I can.....as you may have noticed......


Outside My Window.......it is a clear, freezing cold evening.....it was 28* when we left the house for the dance hall. BRRRRRRR!!!!

Last night, we had our first snowfall......we got perhaps a half an inch......maybe 3/4....

It was so beautiful this morning......everything all white. The snow in the shade never even melted.





I am thinking........that I love having kids who want to go out every Saturday night.......ballroom dancing!!

I am thankful for.......a woodstove to heat up our house.......with wood cut by my husband and sons.....and HOT TEA!!!

I am especially grateful as I sit freezing, with steam rising from my mouth, in this 1906, NOT heated dance hall!



From the kitchen.........Gloria and John are here for the weekend, from San Francisco.....and tonight we ate lamb loin chops (mmm, good, Gloria!), roasted diced root vegetables.......including carrots and turnips from our garden......Lebanese salad......steamed spinach with peanut sauce and steamed kale. For dessert, the rare pre-packaged treat....Ghiradelli's double chocolate brownie with ice cream.



I am wearing......let's see...leggings, knee socks, shirt, sweater and winter coat.....I am trying to keep warm...not doing too bad.....except for that numb nose :)



I am creating........a writing workshop using IEW and a Shakespeare Club.

Hmmm....I think I need to add those two items to my daybook.....

Ah, and an essay as a college reference letter.......





I am going.....to get a good night's sleep tonight! And every night! How is that for positive thinkin'?



I am reading.........I am over halfway through Walden; Or Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau. Reading Back of the North Wind aloud to the boys......not much...we need to get back into our reading habit.....

I wrote that above not too long ago....and it is still true :/

In the meantime, since the last DayBook post..... I have also read, finally, Betsy and Joe's Wedding by Maud Hart Lovelace, Neonatal Resusitation, Bride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith and Jane Austen, Tis by Frank McCourt and who knows what else.....

I am about 150 pages into my first Dickens' novel, Bleak House. I had read about 50 pages before I realized it was about 850 total! I had assumed about 4-500. Once started, I was committed. Maddelyn recently read it and we want to see the movie. So, I have got to read it first...or I never will.





I am hoping.............in a week, to go see my 88 year-old grandma who lives on the Northern California coast



I am hearing......music: Swing.....Tangoes......Waltzes......Salsa......and more! And laughter, too!





I am wondering.......if we can get passed a long-term fall project shortly.....





Around the house.......I am sure not much has changed since the last time.......except, I did take care of a huge pile on my desk...now it is a very small pile of things I need to do related to a computer.....I am wondering how fast that small pile will double...or triple.....I have got to find some self-control!

Oh, actually, as I write...my house looks like I have another family visiting who has five young children :)

Now Showing..........still watching James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small......we are just starting the third, of seven, seasons. We have also recently re-watched Dan in Real Life. That movie is so funny. We also re-watched Meet the Parents. These movies have similarities. There are language and occasional adult themes or rude teenager behavior present in these movies...not for the kids.

In the schoolroom.....I don't really feel like writing this tonight....suffice it to say there is ballroom dancing, IEW writing workshop lesson 1, piano and math going on....and reading.

In our IEW Writing Workshop.....we have covered Lesson One in the B version of the Student writing Intensive....which covers Units I &II. I am doing this as a weekly co-op with my friend Maria's oldest four kids and my oldest three, of those still at home. The kids loved it! All of them, from age 10 years to age 17 years are pleased with the method. Me, too! I wish I had started this when Anne and Matthew were younger. I may even love this as much as Math-U-See. :)

In our Shakespeare Club.....we are scheduled to begin on Monday night. We will start with Much Ado About Nothing. We are going to try to think of a better name than "club"...any ideas? This group of kids will pretty much be the same group that is here dancing. And, practically the same group that did the last play in the spring, The Gazebo. These kids enjoy each others' company well. They are so good.





One of my favorite things......knowing that when we go to see Grandma......we will also be going to see the ocean. Having been raised in So. Cal...and having once lived for three years a few houses from the Boardwalk in Venice Beach.......I am quite attached to that ocean.





Signs of the seasons......snow on the ground, but not much. Freezing temps. Coats, gloves, scarves, leggings, and hot chocolate.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week........Writing Workshop.......our first Shakespeare Club gathering.......teach a childbirth class....help Matthew finish a series of seven essays for a college application........send the younger boys to play at Shawna's for the day.....see Romeo & Juliet at the local high school.....take Malachy to see a new-to-us orthodontist for his difficult dental issues.....and then drive to the coast afterward to go see grandma through next Monday, when we return home to face Thanksgiving Week.......and a visit from Anne!



Special prayer requests on my mind this week.........for a very special intention, for our priest who is recovering from a herniated disc in his back.....job issues for several men I know.....for the grieving homeschool moms.....



St. Gerard's List..........

Here is the list from the last Daybook:

Tonia, Suzanne, Jody, Suzanne, Clara.......the last two are nieces......

Tonia has delivered baby number 3, her first boy, Nathan...all is well!

Suzanne delivered baby number 5, a little boy: Ephraim....all is well!

Clara delivered baby number 5, a sweet great-niece, Eden Rose, on Anne's birthday!!

Jody is due in December, baby#5, sister to Suzanne above...and Gloria way above :)

I have no idea if my niece Suzanne has had her baby...anyone??

To add to my list here: a local friend, Shirley expecting in July.

And, especially all of the woman in my last childbirth class....several have little to no support for their pregnancies, their lives.....



I am currently scrapbooking......I was just thinking today that I cannot even remember what I was last scrapbooking, it has been so long...still since the last week of June, at Willa's home.......sigh...I may need to go visit her just to get myself jumpstarted again :)



I am exercising.........uh, I am?? I am hoping to remember to start later this week.......



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

THE THREE COUSINS!

Passed out together are Hudson, aged 7, Malachy, aged 7 and Avery, aged 4.5

visiting Geogie-Pop's house in December 2007.

love & blessings,

chari