Simple Woman's Daybook

For today...

Outside my Window... are piles and piles of leaves, despite the fact that Mr. Studley mowed with the mulcher mower this week, as well as raked bags and bags of them. It will be an ongoing job until all the large trees around our house have finished shedding for the season. I do love the feeling of stomping into a big pile of leaves. It brings out the kid in me.

I am thinking... about how we'll handle the holidays this year. I hate that this is so, but the holidays always prove stressful for me. With blended families, sooo many people, and a house not big enough to house them all, it can be a bit tough to decide how best to handle it.

I am thankful for.... the fact that my mom had the first pain-free day yesterday that she's had in a long time. She was taking pain pills, but they seemed to actually work yesterday. I pray this continues.

From the kitchen... I read the various Simple Woman daybooks, and most have delicious sounding dishes mentioned as coming from their kitchens. I'm always a little envious, and a little ashamed. I guess I'm not that simple. It's a good thing Peggy doesn't require some sort of test to prove one's simpleness (simplicity?) before letting one participate in the weekly Daybook, 'cause trust me, I am very simple. I don't have any scrumptious dishes baking in the oven, filling my house with mouthwatering aromas. Some days I do, but it seems I never do on Mondays when I write my Daybook. Don't you worry, though, the fam will get fed!

I am wearing... my favorite, most comfy, winter knock-around-the-house pants. They're made of sweatshirt fabric, but don't have elastic around the ankles (which I hate) like most sweatpants do. Best of all, I found them one year on a clearance rack in Big Lots for $1.98. I'd say that certainly qualifies me as simple! My lovely (not) teal sweatpants are accompanied by a short-sleeved tee, and my slip on Obakashis.

I am creating...for charity, a Special Olympic scarf.

I am going...to my weekly ladies group night at church tonight. They're going to start having a weekly men's group at the same time. Pastor announced yesterday that the men will share the meal with the ladies, then go to a separate room for their meeting. That means, of course, that the ladies will need to bring a lot more food!

I am reading... a Chronological Study Bible I'm reviewing for Thomas Nelson Publishers.

I am hoping... some doors will open for increased income soon. I realize Christmas isn't about gift-giving, but I do enjoy giving gifts (nothing extravagant) to our children and grandchildren this time of year. Unless something changes soon, I don't see it happening. I am not sitting around stressing and worrying, though.

I am hearing...nothing but the jingle of the tags on Leyna's collar. No air-conditioner humming, no heater humming, no fan humming. I love this time of year when the temperature is perfect, which translates to a lower electric bill, and that makes me happy.

Around the house... Ish. You don't want to know. It's messy. I seriously need to do some housework. Everytime the front door opens, new leaves blow in, then get scattered and crushed underfoot. It doesn't help to sweep off the porch, as the wind scoots them right back up the walkway just as soon as I turn my back!

One of my favorite things... is gazing up at the inky sky each night as I'm out dogwalking. I am a stargazer. A star lover. I seriously love looking up at stars. I don't know anyone (personally, I mean) who delights in it to the degree I do. We don't get the best view of them here in town due to street lights, but lately, they seem to be showing up better. One fall, a few years ago, I got Mr.Studley to drive me out to a nearby lake to view a predicted meteor shower in the wee hours of the morning. We took blankets and lay on the hood of the car and watched the stars shooting across the sky. It was almost romantic, except that we had also taken along a neighbor friend who'd very recently lost her lovely husband to cancer. She professed to loving star gazing, too. I'm not sure if it was the star gazing she craved so much as merely human companionship, escaping a house that had suddenly become far too quiet and too lonely to bear. The three of us and our coffee-filled thermos did have a good time that night.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... is to get serious about my knitting gifts. I have too many UFO's (unfinished obects, for my non-knitterly friends), and not enough FO's (finished objects).

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you... This picture I took on a hike in Arkansas last week isn't a particularly pretty picture, but I was struck by the seeming tenacity of this little plant growing right out of a wall of rock. Sure, I imagine there was some hidden dirt beneath the rock's surface, but it wasn't at all visible. I believe it's a Beauty Berry (isn't it, Tracy?). It's as if the plant grit it's teeth, pushed it's way through the wall of rock, and announced to the world "I am here, I am a survivor, and I will let my light shine! ". Okay, that may be a bit much of a declaration for a plant, but it's what went through my head at the time. We could all learn from the little Beauty Berry.

~Visit The Simple Woman's blog to see how you can participate in the weekly Daybook on your own blog. Click on The Simple Woman's Daybook icon in her sidebar for instructions.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. ~Matthew 5:16 NKJV