9.08.2014

Daybook Monday {September Edition}

  
September 8, 2014
Outside my window...

Still somewhat dark, and still. This week is supposed to bring a fall-ish cool front and I can't WAIT!


I am thinking...
 about last night's sermon from Revelation 2. The Church at Thyatira was a church full of "love and faith and service and patient endurance", a growing church, and yet they were condemned by Jesus because of their tolerance. They were turning a blind eye to, and even accepting, sin. Our society sees tolerance as a virtue, but when it comes to sin, tolerance is condemned as evil by Jesus. 



I am thankful...
 for my husband's leadership in our home and care for our family, for the growth, spiritual and otherwise, that I'm seeing in my kids, for our dear church family, for praying friends.



In the kitchen...
Finally feeling like I'm getting a grip on menu planning again! 
On the menu over the next two weeks:
Quinoa (Trying this for the first time; would LOVE to hear any tips or great recipes in the comments!!)
Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken and Rice Soup 
Crock Pot "Rotisserie" Chicken (Can you tell I got a great deal on chicken at Sam's yesterday?? :))
Sausage/Potato Skillet
Twice Baked Potatoes
Saloon Beef
Salmon Burgers
Enchiladas



I am creating...
Working on a new "bullet journal" notebook for the rest of 2014. I've been wanting to try this for a while, and my current "daily lists" notebook is almost full, so with the beginning of fall semester, I decided that it was time to "bite the bullet" (LOL!) and put this together. 



I am going...
I am not going anywhere today (that's the plan, anyway!) 
I used to really carefully protect our Mondays. Mondays were intentional "home days". We've gotten away from that in the last year or so, but I've decided that for this season, we need to move back to that as our plan. We have to "go" the rest of the week, and we really need one long, uninterrupted day at home. 
Mondays may become my favorite day of the week! :)



I am wondering...
about the week ahead. Usually when I get a good schedule in place (on paper), some catastrophe occurs. Praying that that isn't the case this week and that we can have a good, solid, productive week! 



I am reading...
A Woman After God's Own Heart
GTD for Homemakers (The "Getting Things Done" system tweaked for SAHMs)
Educating the WholeHearted Child
Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home
and I plan to get back to Wresting Prayer this week.   


I am learning...
about Swype texting. Now, realize that up until a little over a year ago, I didn't text. At all. Then I activated an old phone of Peter's so I could text the kids and others when needed. I didn't have free texting and the keyboard was HORRID. Every other letter the keys would stick and either not type at all, or type 3 of the same letter. Ugh! I was so excited when I got my new phone, not only to have unlimited texting, but also to have a great, responsive touchscreen keyboard.

Then a few weeks ago, I discovered that my phone has Swype texting. OH. MY. Where has Swype been all my life??? Aside from the fact that there are a few words in my usual vocabulary that Swype doesn't begin to recognize (homeschool being one of them, along with two of my daughter's names...giggle), Swype is amazing.


I am hoping...
that we have a really pretty fall this year. It looks like it's going to cool down this week, and we've had a rather wetter than usual summer, so I'm hoping for a long, gorgeous fall! (It's my favorite time of year!)



I am looking forward to...
spending some time Scripture journaling this week. I've had a wide-margin Bible for several years, but I've just recently been inspired to jump into art journaling in it. For more on Bible Journaling, see Shanna Noel's blog and Bible Journaling on Pinterest. 



Around the house...
Hoping to do some serious "fall cleaning" over the next few weeks. 



I am pondering...
Ann Voskamp recently posted that "September 1 is the new January 1". A quick Google search revealed that she's not the only one who's said that lately. :) I've always felt like I have three distinct "re-start" times during the year, when I spend a lot of time assessing, planning, and preparing: the last week of December, the start of our fall semester (usually the end of August or first of September), and the week after homeschool testing in April.

This year I'm running a bit behind on our fall planning, but revving up from our soft start the last couple of weeks to more of a hard start this week. I had great plans for September 1 in lots of areas, and then the first week of September was just non-stop "hamster on a wheel" (keep running so you don't fall off!)  So...in reality, September 8 is the new January 1 for us this year. :) Stay tuned for updates!



A favorite quote for today...
This quote is quite different than my typical favorites; however, it is apropos for our week this week and frankly where I am in life right now. I have no idea where I got it or where it originated; I saw it online yesterday and wrote it on an index card that is sitting in front of me on my desk:


Reminding myself of that often this week!


One of my favorite things...
Waking up to sweet notes from my kiddoes... :)



A few plans for the rest of the week:
The usual school, chores, work, TKD, gym, church stuff, and hopefully a smooth week settling into the draft version of our new fall schedule. :)
Cool field trip Friday with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, plus Billy took off to be able to help with the field trip, so it will be a vacation day for us...yay!!



A peek into my day...

New journal, ready to be transformed into a super-tool for productivity, aka my bullet journal. :)

Linking up with The Simple Woman's Daybook here. Thanks to Peggy for hosting!!



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