Simple Woman

Outside my window…
Cross country weather.

I am thinking…
about the homeschool mass we had tonight for the Nativity of Mary.

Rosie brought up the gifts.

For the first time ever, Noah did some public speaking by reading the petitions.

It was a lovely mass and just the right way to commemorate the nativity of Mary.

I am thankful…
for our homeschool group, although a little nostalgic for the days of yore I guess.  All of these families are new, only two  of the women I homeschooled with 20 years ago were there.  The newer moms have a different attitude about homeschooling as well. It’s as if education is a color palette, and homeschooling is one color on that palette that is available to them.

This is my 19th year of homeschooling and I feel analagous to St. Polycarp, who knew the original apostles.  I homeschooled with some of the original homeschoolers and I read books by the homeschool authors who risked prison or losing their kids just to get the right to homeschool. The new homeschoolers are like the early Christians perhaps – the ability to homeschool is there and available to them, and the stories of how that came to be,  are part of the ancient history.

It just has a different vibe to it.

In the kitchen…
Turkey breasts on sale this week so I got two of them!  Planning to try this on Wednesday.

Slow cooker turkey

I am wearing…
black palazzo pants and a black T shirt.

I am wondering…
how long it will take me to get proficient at shooting.  Calvin took me to the gun range to day and I got to fire a hand gun for the first time. I did pretty good too – once I started actually hitting the target!  Calvin tells me that to get my concealed weapon permit, I’ll need to be able to make a grouping within a 6 inch radius.  That’s going to take more practice – and more ammo.  It was scary, but I think it will be more fun once I’m used to firing and get better at aiming.

I am going…

• to walk Monday – Thursday and try get some arm workouts in too.  
• Let Noah have some big driving time!
• Take Rosie and Noah to their cross country practices.
• Pray the office with the children in the morning with divine office. com a habit!
• Make it to confession this week hopefully!

I am pondering…
in 1983 I moved from my home in Michigan to Ohio because Mr. Pete got a job here. It was exciting and scary, but being with my husband made it an adventure. In fact, one of the reasons I married so young was that I wanted to face all of life with him beside me because sharing those things with him just made my life better.

One of my son’s girlfriends is moving three hours away.  They aren’t breaking up but she’s moving for a job.  They have been “together” for about seven or eight years.  I thought she would be my daughter-in-law by now.

It’s certainly her life and her choice – but I can’t wrap my mind around it because it is so different from my experience.  When I met Mr. Pete, I did everything I could to make sure we would be together, and if we couldn’t be physically together, there was that bond of matrimony that held us strong.  What my son is experiencing is foreign to me.

**********
Having just finished my Robin Williams movie marathon, I’ve started watching everything about Joan Rivers on Youtube.

I thought she handled this talk with her daughter about her own death wonderfully well.

I am reading…

Joan Rivers hit rock bottom in her 50s – and came back to have a great career for 30 more years.  I find that fascinating.

From the Learning Rooms…