A Simple Woman's Daybook~July 27, 2010

To join in focusing on the simple things and pleasures of your daily life or to read other people's entries, you can click here.

So, For Today...Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Outside my window...it will soon be dusk. We arrived home @10:30 pm last night and pretty much exhausted from the month we have had. So my normal early morning Daybook was bumped up about 36 hours but here it is...

I am thinking...In three days Jim will have been retired for a month already. What the heck? Time is flying faster than ever now. All the way home he kept saying..."Wow, I cannot tell you how happy I am that I do not have to rush off to work in the morning." Then he'd add..."You have no idea!" Um, yeah I do! So 'hip hip hooray' for joint retirement. One of the best kept secrets on the earth but I am sharing it with you!

I am thankful for...the fact that I enjoy spending time with my husband because we are doing a lot of it and it feels so natural and right and good. So far I am feeling no adjustment period. Weird but I am not. Him either, as far as I can tell. Maybe we are still in the vacation period but I don't think so.

From the learning room...Every period of life has its joys and this may be the best stage yet.

I am reading...Book 4 in the Zion Covenant Series by Bodie Theone, Jerusalem Interlude. And the Thornbirds and The Book Thief. I know it is taking me forever to read through this series and the other two books but I am in no rush...for the first time in my life and I am loving it!

From the kitchen...I am starting to think about cooking again and picked up a few bags of groceries today. Jennifer made kabobs one night and she had coconut rice on the side. We are in love! If you haven't tried it, it is very simple. 2 cups rice, 2 cups coconut milk, 2 cups water. Cook as you normally would cook your rice. Heavenly! I may never make ordinary rice again.

I am wondering...if the kids are missing us...after 16 days of company they are undoubtedly enjoying the peace and quiet of being back to normal again.

I am hearing...music from the kitchen, someone pounding nails in the neighborhood, kids playing next door mingled with the sounds of a summer evening. I love summer evenings. Even the barking dogs add to the enchantment.

Today if I could change one thing...the distance between Utah and California.

I am quoting..."Fail to plan, plan to fail!" Anon

My spiritual thoughts include...no one is perfect in this life but it is in the striving to become better and more like Christ that our character develops and is refined. I am thankful for the gift of agency and our ability to choose between good and evil. I am thankful we are all only responsible for our own choices. That seems to be enough for each person to handle.

Around the house...mild chaos with laundry to fold and clothing to put away still. But the rest is pretty good. Just need to finish getting the stuff out of the van tomorrow (tools mostly) and then we can wash it and things will start to be back to normal again.

I am missing...blogging, I have never had a month with so few posts. I am coming back. I have some catching up to do. It is one of my goals for the week to get all catch up and back in the groove.

I am hoping...my paper work that is piling up will just magically take care of itself.

One of my guilty pleasures..avoiding the above.

One of my favorite things...a barbecued hamburger with lots of red onions, ketchup, etc.

An enjoyable movie I have watched lately...Salt. Quite suspenseful and a good story. I wish they would just dial down the car racing and the destructive, reckless driving scenes in every suspense movie. They are really over done don't you think? Aside from that the movie was great for guys and actually held my interest. Angelia Jolie was good in it. We went one night on the spur of the moment after a nice dinner out with the adult kids.

I am curious about...how Laura and the family are enjoying their historic journey with the boys to RI from Virginia. Traveling with Robert is like taking the world's best tour guide along so I know they are loving it and learning so much. Yesterday they were in NYC and went to see the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, the Empire State building, etc. Soon the party will be over they will be unpacking boxes yet again and getting settled. Cannot wait to see them in their new home in September/October.

A few plans for the rest of the week...tomorrow get the rest of the things put away from our trip and do a little light cleaning, mostly dusting and vacuuming, Thursday do some church work and hopefully get Visiting Teaching done, make some plans for next week, Friday we are giving a tour of SF to Lowell's boss and his family that are visiting for the first time from Scotland. Really looking forward to that. Saturday night dinner with our old friends from the Singles' Ward...Sunday church...and the beat goes on.

Here is a picture and thought I am sharing with you...


Jim and I had our pictures taken professionally for the first time in a beautiful setting in Utah. I thought we should have a real photo of what we look like as we begin this new phase in our lives. This is one proof of about 30 we had taken. It was nerve racking but our photographer (Traci Hartman Photography, friend and photographer extraordinaire) put us at ease and we had fun. We had these taken at 7:00 am. Beautiful lighting that time of day. Thanks, Traci!