*~*daybook*~*

FOR TODAY

October 4, 2010

Outside my window... it's still dark, so early still that there is not even a hint of a light peaking above the eastern horizon. It's also quiet, the donkeys must not be hungry yet...

I am thinking... how it's was almost exactly one year ago that I made my first daybook entry.

I am thankful for..the weekend going well with S here.

From the learning rooms... R had to have an academic assessment done as part of the COVA enrollment process. The results were interesting, and I've been tweaking her school work to focus on those areas that the testing showed she is having problems with. The interesting part of the assessment results was seeing how her scores, even in just one general area, were all over the place.

From the kitchen... the gardens are still producing, so I'm still canning. I bought a little bookcase at a garage sale to hold all the home canned food, and it's getting pretty full. We have a ton of pumpkins in our little pumpkin patch, so many that yesterday we invited all the neighborhood children to come over and pick pumpkins out of our little pumpkin patch. It was so fun to watch the kids picking their pumpkins... I still have a few left, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them... maybe cook and freeze a little bit more.

I am creating... I just finished up re-doing the chalkboard wall in my kitchen. When I originally painted the wall with chalkboard paint I just painted over the texture that was there, not thinking about how the texture would hold the chalk dust. I've been meaning, for months, to smooth out the wall and paint it again. Finally, last week, I got it done. I smoothed the wall with joint compound, sanded a little, then primed it with magnetic paint, and put a topcoat of chalkboard paint on it. It looks pretty much  the same as it did before I started, but the wall is much smoother now and it's a magnetic chalkboard... which is really fun!

I am going... out to the barn as soon as I'm done posting. I'm trying to keep up better with the barn work, and an early start will help.

I am reading... Eat, Breathe, Love at a good friend's recommendation. I haven't decided yet if I like it as much as everyone else seems to.

I am hoping... that M settles down again soon. We are on week three of some fairly significant instability and I'm wearing out. I've had to increase his haldol, and the pdoc seems to have dropped out of sight... It would be really nice if M just settled back down again.

I am hearing... nothing but the tick of the clock. How wonderful!

Around the house... I've got some plans for the loft, I think I'm going to turn it into a bedroom for S. She's not here all, or even most of the time, but given all that's been going on in her life recently I think she's needs her own space here, and the message of our committment to her that creating that space implies.

One of my favorite things... a nice sweet cup of tea on a cool Fall morning. Thanks for the Barry's, Steve... I'm enjoying some right now.

A few plans for the rest of the week... a trip to the stable, a trip with our homeschool group to tour the county courthouse (this is really perfect timing, with the guardianship hearing coming up!), celebrating K's (dd#3) birthday, and probably a few more things I'm forgetting.

A picture I'm sharing...

Some of the bounty of the garden... I think the different colors are so pretty, and love that we'll be continuing to eat from the garden for at least part of the winter.

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