Summer Weather in My Heart

I love the book The Valley of Vision. It's a great prayer tool.  You can use it when you know what to pray and especially when you just don't. Organized into different sections such as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Penitence and Deprecation; Approach to God; and so on, you can easily find a prayer to inspire you to go deeper with your communion with God.

My reading today ended with "...and when I am restored and rest in thee give me summer weather in my heart." That might elicit a silent guffaw with folks considering how hot it can get in summer.  But when you realize what used to happen in winter, the heat of summer was probably a welcome relief.  When the prayer was written, people still contracted pneumonia with no hope of recovery. Disease during a winter that was often long and miserable wasn't the only depressing thing.  Lighting was not what it is today. The nights were long & dark. A candle or oil lamp would be the only light in a room of most common people.  Houses often burned from logs falling out of open fires or candles carried too close to draperies. And if you've never lived somewhere that gets truly cold and snowy in winter, and where people use wood or coal for heat, you probably don't know about the smell.  It smells of smoke, always.  The air inside the house, the air outside the house.  Everywhere you go it smells of smoke.  Your clothes and your hair always smell of smoke.  When the first sniff of spring comes it is truly a breath of fresh air.

Life is like that.  Especially life in the darkness of mental illness.  For those who don't know me I have suffered for the most part of the past 14 years with post-partum depression, with occasional bouts of post-partum psychosis.  It has only been within the last year that I have finally been released from this.  There is no feeling like it in the world except, perhaps, the feeling one has when they are first born again. It is truly summer in the heart.

"...then take away my mourning and give me music;

remove my sackcloth and adorn me with beauty;

take away my sighs and fill my mouth with songs;

and when I am restored and rest in thee

give me summer weather in my heart."

Lots of Swimming

The middle boys started swim lessons today. They were very happy...mostly.  HF decided a few minutes into his lesson that he wanted to be afraid. He acted like he'd never been in the water before.  Fortunately, he's the  lowest level & there are only 1 or 2 swimmers allowed in that class....and he's the only one in it. :)

Then we came home and, because we had surprise company, got to swim some more instead of do our chores.  I haven't heard a lot of complaining.  And, since the chores involved dusting and vacuuming, two chores Thing's 1 & 2 still like, I won't hear too much tomorrow. :)

Saturday, July 16, Whereon Babycakes Finally Has a Birthday Party

Where Were You at Midnight?

Well I, along with The Teenager & his buddy, C, and about 1,000+ other folks, was at the local Edwards Theater waiting to watch the long-anticipated HP7.2.

We arrived to the line about 7:30 but still ended up in a pretty good spot.  We got great seats, all the way in the back so no one was behind us and I could lean the seat back as far as it would go. :) We did have to wait outside this year; but, aside from the wind and the cold (yep, it's cold here in SoCal--stupid "global warming"), it wasn't unbearable.  I took an old pillow to sit on this time, instead of a blanket.  When we figured out we were going to be outside until right before the movie I did call my dh and have him bring a blanket to wrap myself in. A sweater wasn't cutting it anymore.

The best thing this year was the people in our line were much more sociable than last year. We were in a weird situation where our part of the line had the same 8 people for a long time before anyone else came and none were people opposed to engaging strangers in conversation.  I like that kind of people. :)  Eventually there were three of us who were avid readers of all books so we discussed books made into movies and what we liked and disliked about them.  Yes, I brought up my disgust with The Lord of the Rings movies. :D

The Teenager & C played with some older guys who had a hacky sack and, fortunately, these guys were not far enough removed from their teen years to forget when they were annoying and obnoxious and took it all in stride.  The Teenager learned a new "game" that kids are taught on the playgrounds these days that involved hitting people when you saw a certain type of car pass by.  Needless to say I will not encourage it. LOL.

As for the movie, it was better than the last.  I always have issue with even guys changing shirts in film because I know it is only for the exploitation of the person they include it so I find it disgusting.  Hey, what can I say, I just don't think anyone ought to be exploited.  I'm so narrow-minded that way. :P But that's about all I had to say negative (aside from the things they changed from the book but I think that should go without saying. ;D)

COURAGEOUS Movie Trailer

Saw this on Mom Life Today this morning. I didn't watch Fireproof (not a big Kirk Cameron fan) but this one looks good.

And So the Week Is Finis

As I watch the sun come up through the trees across the street I realize...Oh, my gosh, it's Friday!!! Already?!? Oh, and, I had better go shut up the front of the house coz it's gonna start getting hot now.

OK, we're safe now.  Well, at least until it gets so hot it doesn't feel like it made a difference. :D

Basically this week, and it's goals, was affected by the heat.  It's darn hot. It's not a little hot, it's way too hot.  It's so hot I was considering air conditioning. 8O! Yep, sinuses be, um, darned. I'll take a sinus infection over this heat. OK, so I've already forgotten how horrible a sinus infection is, but seriously, how bad can it be compared to not being able to move? :D Yes, I was thinking how much easier housework would be with a little (or a lot, rather) a/c. I probably would have emptied far more boxes, cleaned far more dishes, etc. I think I only made the bed one day the whole week. Ugh.

I did realize though, that I need to get started at least on a Morning Routine. I've put it off waiting for the normal school year to start but I think it would be far more effective if I got that part going now.  I can probably even get a basic evening routine going, though, let's face it, I might have to throw the whole evening part out as soon as August arrives.

I *did* get one important thing done.  I cleaned off the dreaded corner on the kitchen counter.  Honestly, when I went through the 31 Days Challenge I didn't have a problem with the counter, but it's since started to bug me so I went through everything in the drain and got rid of half of it. 8O!! Now I have to wash up all the sippy lids we are keeping (that's the main component of the corner) and match them with cups.  So I got half the kitchen done.

So here's my view of my goals:

1) eh, not so good. I did do it several times but I think 10 minutes is too short a time for me.  It gives me an excuse to take a break too often. :D But I think it is good to show me just how much I can get done in 10 minutes.

2) um, slow and steady wins the race? Well, I got the kitchen started.  I think it might be easier this coming week when there is not even a threat of triple-digit temps.

3) uh, well, I uh, it was HOT, OK?!? hehehe. Oh, and there was a holiday weekend.  We actually weren't home much. Yeah, that makes me feel better. :) This one is going to be more difficult than I thought.  Even three boxes a day, when trying to maintain everything else and get everyone where they need to be when they need to be there, is daunting.  I will give it another go this week, though.  It really must get done. And swim lessons start the following week...**wimper**

Independence Day 2011

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Stars

So I found this somehow. I never remember how.  It's usually one of those six-degrees-of-blog-separation things. :D It looked like great fun.  I bought some sticks & glitter & decided to save money using fingerpaints we already had, which means they didn't turn out red, white, & blue. (Take that UO Style Guide. :P)

Thing 2

H-F

Thing 1. For those who don't know, and those who don't remember: Thing 1 has NEVER used finger paints.  He has tried twice and both times he refused once he touched them.  He did still talk about how weird the paints felt but he did the whole project. :)

In true Thing 1 fashion, though, he had to use a different finger for each color.  Good thing he used only two colors, that might have been a bit confusing. :D

The finished products.

I'm "Challenged"

OK, I couldn't think up a spiffy title. At least it's not the date again. :D

This month I was led (via Apologia's Facebook) to 3 in 30 Challenge.  I've been trying to figure out how to mix this with the Homemaker's Challenge ever since. So here's my go at it.

1) Clean a messed up area for 10 min 3x/day.

2) Incorporate the new cleaning "challenges" from 31 Days to Clean.

3) Clean out the garage by cleaning out 3 boxes/day.

Yeah, I'm good, I know. </sarc> After this I will not be clicking on any more links to cleaning challenges. :D