Ratafia!

When I got 1/2 bushel of peaches and needed to get them taken care of as quickly as possible, I turned to one of my favorite cookbooks for preserving ideas, The Fancy Pantry by Helen Witty. The second recipe I saw was for peach ratafia. What Georgette Heyer fan could pass up the chance to make ratafia? So in about six weeks, I'll let you know what we think.

Peach Ratafia


1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed light-brown sugar
½ cup water
3 cups sliced peeled ripe peaches
Peach kernels (if you are able to get them out of the pits!)
1/8 teaspoon ground mace
1 quart good-quality brandy
1. Combine the granulated sugar, the brown sugar, and the water in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil and boil the syrup briskly, uncovered, for 3 minutes. Cool the syrup.
2. Put peach slices and the kernels into a 2 qt. glass jar or crock with a snug cover.
3. Stir the cooled syrup, the mace, and the brandy together until they are completely mixed. Pour the mixture over the the peaches and stir the whole business. Cover airtight. Set the containers aside for at least a month and preferably 6 weeks. Stir or shake the contents once in a while.
4. Strain the cordial through a fine-meshed sieve bottle it (if corking, use new corks only.) Refrigerate the fruit.

From The  Fancy Pantry by Helen Witty

Grandma's Bread and Butter Pickles

Soak for 3 hours:

2 qts. sliced cucumbers (Thin)

1/3 c. salt (Use pickling salt.)

2 onions (med.)

Add 2 c. celery last soaking hour

Bring to boil:

2 c. vinegar (Heinz is best. Really.)

2 c. sugar

1 t. celery seed

1 t. mustard seed

½ t. turmeric

Add drained pickles & let come to good simmer.

Fill clean jars. Process in water bath for 10 minutes. ( My grandma didn't do this, but, based on recommendations in the Ball Blue Book, I do.)

30 Years

This Saturday is my 30 year high school reunion. I am unreservedly looking forward to it. Facebook is largely responsible for this.

I didn't go to college with any of my high school friends and didn't really stay in touch with anyone, with the exception of a couple of guy friends. I was in contact with them during college and sporadically thereafter, but other than that, in the pre-Facebook world, I knew very little about what anyone from my class was doing. Once in a while I would hear a bit of news about a death, a divorce, or a promotion if my parents or in-laws knew the family, but I had moved away and, with some relief, had pretty much left Anderson behind.

A couple of times in the past I tried, out of a sense of obligation as a class officer, to pull together a reunion with varying degrees of success. But I really didn't want to be there. Then Facebook came along. I joined in January of 2007, a few months after FB opened up to anyone. I had a college-aged daughter who was on and encouraged me to join. I loved it. I had been living my social life largely online since 1996, so this was just an extension of that for me. It wasn't until a year or so later that I began connecting with people from high school. It has been great. I have really enjoyed getting to know people that I only knew slightly in school. I have enjoyed getting to see photos of the children of friends. I have loved reconnecting with my dearest friend from elementary school who I grew apart from in high school--after I lived out of state for a number of years and moved back--but always admired for her faith and her solid sense of herself.


The people who will be there are a mix: some of my best high school friends; people who I didn't know well then, but have gotten to know on Facebook and really look forward to seeing; and even a couple of people that I didn't know at all. I wish more of our class was going to be there. Only about a sixth of us will make it. We've lost what feels like a substantial number of our classmates to death. There are more that we've lost track of. Many, seemingly most--like many of my post-high school friends--have no desire to be there.

But I am looking forward to it.

My online garage sale

I'm going to try something a little different here. I'm going to list some things that I have for sale and link to this from a few places and see what happens. Normally, I pretty much give stuff away when we're done with it, but we had bad tax news this year and I'm kind of in recovery mode. However, I'm still hoping this is a win-win. I can get rid of stuff and someone else can get a deal on what they need.

So, this is how this works. I'm going to make a list here of what I have and what I'm asking for for it. You email me at j a c e 4 0 @ gmail . com (leaving out the spaces) and tell me that you want it and if you think the price is fair. If you are local, we connect. If not, I will ship it, but you will need to pay for shipping. If you have questions about any of these, feel free to ask.

I will put a line through things as they go. I will also likely add some things, so check back.

CURRICULUM and BOOKS
--The Well-Trained Mind (excellent condition) $5
--Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Math (unused)  $3
-The Landmark History of the American People Volume 1 (Sonlight, 1987) (unused) $5
-Mathematics: A Human Endeavor by Harold Jacobs (excellent condition) with Instructors Guide (looks like someone set a cup down on it)  and Student Workbook (unused)  $20
--Introductory Algebra,( Lial, Hornsby Miller,) 6th Edition PLUS Student Solutions Manual (good used condition) $10
--Beginning Algebra, (Tobey, Slater) 4th edition $5
--Critical Thinking Book One (1998, Critical Thinking Press) and Teacher's Manual (excellent condition) $5
--Critical Thinking Book Two (1998) and Teacher's Manual (excellent condition) $5
--Kaplan SAT Strategies 2008 Edition (excellent condition) $3
--Chronological and Thematic Charts of Philosophies and Philosophers (1986) $3
--Bluestocking Guides (Great accompaniments to the Uncle Eric books) (All excellent condition)
                         --Ancient Rome $2
                         --Solving the Money Mystery $2
                         --Political Philosophies $2
                         --Justice $2
--Editor-in-Chief  Books B2, C1, C2 (1999, Critical Thinking Press) (unused) $2 each or $5 for all three
--Critical Thinking in United States History Series, Bks. 1-4 (Critical Thinking Press) $10
--Key to Percents, Books 1-3 and Answer and Notes Book (unused) $4
--Key to Metric Measurement, Books 1-4 and Answer &and Notes Book (unused) $5
--Key to Measurement (English Units), Books 1-4 and Answer & Notes Book (unused) $5
--Key to Geometry, Books 1-8 and All five volumes of answers & notes (unused) $15
--Key to Geometry Answers and Notes, five volumes $3
--Key to Geometry Books 7 and 8 (unused) $3
--Key to Geometry Book 8 (unused) $1


GAMES
--This vs. That (Unopened, shrink-wrapped) $5
--Sleuth (Unopened, Shrink-wrapped) $5
--Bookopoly (Unopened, Shrink-wrapped) $5
--Bang! (unopened, Shrink-wrapped) $5
--Bananagrams (unopened, Shrink-wrapped) $3
--Kuduk (Cards in box shrink-wrapped) $3
--Guillotine (Cards still shrink-wrapped) $3
--The Amazing Labyrinth (Ravensburger) ( Never Played) $5
--Go to the Head of the Class (Played) $3
--Trivial Pursuit DVD, Pop Culture 2 (Opened) $5
--Loco! Card Game (Sealed) $2
--National Geographic Flash Cards   $1 each pack
                        -Presidents
                        -United States Flash Facts

NEW UNUSED COOKBOOKS
Rachael Ray 30-Minute Get Real Meals $2
Fix it and Forget it Lightly $2

Figuring it out

If I am overly chatty next time you see me, please don't hold it against me.


It seems that in a world that is supposedly dominated by extroverts, (and yes, I realize that the technically correct spelling is "extravert," but that is marked as a misspelling and I hate those red underlines,) I seem to have an uncanny knack for finding the introverts.

Most, if not all, of my good friends are introverts, so I frequently read things that they share about understanding introverts. And I admit that, as an extrovert, I sometimes get a little annoyed by the caricatures of extroverts that are employed as comparisons. So when a blog post was linked on Facebook about introverts getting lonely I almost didn't read it. But I love my friends and I figured that if it was linked to, it was important.

And I'm glad I did, because it helped me figure something out. I am a basically happy person. My default is cheerful. I'm a realist about the larger world, but optimistic at the same time. I love my family, my friends, my job, my church. But for a long while now I have been in a funk. Crabby and short-tempered. I've had a couple of people suggest that I am depressed, but I know that's not the problem. I've been depressed. This isn't depression.

Reading that blog post it hit me like the proverbial bolt from the blue.

I am lonely. Horribly lonely.

I spend a huge amount of my time alone. My husband works in another state and is only home on the weekends. My daughter is married and lives out of state. My sons are busy with school, work, and friends, and when they are home they have homework and other interests. I have wonderful friends, but they are all busy with jobs and their own families, so I rarely see them. But, that said, I really don't think that this is about a lack in those closer relationships. (Except for my daughter, the deserter. ;) )

I have cut back on my activities, trying to ease some time pressure, but have lost some casual social contacts that I am now thinking might have been more important to me than I realized. I no longer haul kids to activities where I get to sit and talk with like-minded moms. I have left boards and committees. For fifteen years I had a succession of very social home-based businesses, but no longer. I'm not busy any more. And while I enjoy having time to do things around my house and having some freedom from time pressure, I'm not sure the trade-off is worth it.

I find myself pathetically happy to have a five sentence conversation with a barista or electrician. Church council meetings are a highlight of my month.

Don't be confused; I'm not bored. I work. I read. I do genealogy. I scrapbook. I try to keep up with my house. I have plenty to do. I just enjoy every single bit of it more if I have someone else to do it with or talk to about it.

I need to figure out if, in trying to build some margin into my life I haven't stripped too much out. Getting my (introvert) husband back will make some difference, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon. When I talked to him about this he gave me lots of good ideas, if I were an introvert looking for a job. (To say he doesn't get it is a major understatement.)

 Any suggestions are welcome. This isn't a post to guilt my friends into more frequent coffee chats. I need to figure out some way to fill my need for that light social chit-chat that my introvert friends hate so. I need to find the balance between busyness and nights spent staring at Facebook wishing someone would say SOMETHING.

Margin rewind

So, after my last very optimistic post I found out how quickly margin can disappear: Emotional, physical, time, and money all in the space of about a week. Wiped out. It only takes a couple of unexpected events, plus some bad timing, a few sleepless nights, and suddenly BAM, you're back to square one. If that.

But I'm not giving up. If anything I am doubling down on creating margin in the areas where I have control. I have finished the book and--thank goodness--found some things that I am doing right already among the many things that I need to improve.

And I realize that if I hadn't already been working on creating margin, the couple of horrible weeks that I had could have been worse.

I have some steps that I am going to be taking to create more margin. More about that as I solidify plans.

Margin multiplies

Maybe the book will talk about this. I don't know. But what I do know is that margin multiplies.

It does. It is rather amazing.

It started with just thinking about margin and realizing that I needed it. Over a couple of weeks I planned in project time and empty time, among the hustle of work and other activities. Putting OPEN time on my calendar meant that when things happened during the week and ate up my project time, I still had my Sunday afternoon that was for whatever: a nap, a project, reading, cleaning. Whatever.

I chose to use the free time to clean my pantry, a task that had been bumped by a couple of unexpected trips across town earlier in the week. This picture is the after. The before had me embarrassed to have anyone in my house,  completely clueless about what was in my pantry, and completely incapable of finding anything that I was fairly certain was in there.

Besides, I LOVE this room. It holds some of my favorite things. It is a beautiful space. I'm lucky to have it. And I want to enjoy it.

But that isn't what this post is about. It's about margin multiplying.

Since I got the pantry cleaned and organized, I was able to fix dinner Sunday through Wednesday without making a trip to the grocery. (Which means I got to miss the beginning of the month food stamp crowd and the oh-no-a-snowstorm! crowd.)  This also meant that I didn't have to squeeze a trip to the grocery in and that I got to use the time for other things.

Since the pantry was done, my Wednesday afternoon project time was spent on paperwork. I got bills paid. Looked at budgeting for the next couple of months. Balanced the checking account. And I got most of the papers that we need for our taxes pulled together over two weeks before I meet with the accountant. (By the way, talk about a decision that gave me margin!) I identified two things that I am missing while there is still plenty of time to get them.

I have margin at work. I am now consistently working at least two weeks ahead.

Knowing what was in my pantry alerted me to some things that need to be used up. This is going to save us money in the long run. More margin.

For me, one huge benefit that I am already seeing is a reduction in worry. This means that I slept like a baby last night. Nothing was nagging at my brain. Good sleep means waking up ready to go. I was able to move through a very busy day feeling like I was firing on all cylinders. Today was incredibly productive. Productivity means that I got more done today than I had planned at work, so I don't need to work tomorrow. More margin!

For some of you, all of this is going to seem so obvious. But for me, with my ADD brain and my heretofore chronically over-committed life, this is a revelation.

Pray for me, that I will be able to maintain it.

Curried Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

5 med (12 oz) sweet potatoes, baked and slightly cooled
2 T vegetable oil (I used coconut)
2 lbs ground turkey, chicken, or beef (we've only used beef)
2 t salt
1/3 c flour (we used coconut flour to avoid the wheat, and it worked well)
1 T curry powder (we use Madras curry)
1 3/4 c OR 1 14 oz can chicken broth
1 1/2 lbs carrots, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 lbs parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 med onion, chopped
1 T grated fresh ginger
1 package (10 oz) frozen peas
1 c milk, warmed
2 T butter

1) Preheat oven to 375. Heat 1 T oil in 12" skillet over med-high heat. Add meat and 1/2 t salt; cook until no longer pink.
2) Stir curry powder and flour into meat; cook 1 minute, stirring. Add broth and heat to boiling. Cook 1 minute or until mixture thickens slightly. Divide between 2 1/2 or 2 quart baking dishes.
3) In same skillet, heat 1 T oil. Add carrots, parsnips, and onion, and cook about 15 min, until vegetables are browned and tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in ginger, frozen peas, and 1/2 t salt. Divide vegetable mixture between casseroles.
4) Coarsely mash sweet potatoes. Stir in milk, butter, and 1 t salt. Mash until well blended, and spread over vegetables.
5) Bake, uncovered, 35-40 minutes or until top is browned.

Makes 2 casseroles, of approximately 6 servings each.

From the Good Housekeeping Cookbook.

Sauerkraut Soup

This was really, really good. Fortunately, I had enough requests for a recipe that I can't procrastinate getting this written, or I might never get it down. This recipe is an approximation. I read about six recipes and took elements from each, but didn't actually use any of them. I measured nothing when I made it. This makes a really large amount of soup, but this is the only way I can do this for right now. And remember, this is the kind of soup that is good for using what you have.

Melt 2 TBS of butter in a large stock pot. Add 1/2 chopped sweet onion and saute until just softening. Add stock. (I kept adding more stock and broth as I went, but altogether I used about 3 cups of homemade chicken stock and 4-14oz. cans of Swanson Chicken broth. So about 10 cups of chicken broth total.) Add four big carrots, in bite sized chunks, two parsnips, also in chunks, two ribs of celery, sliced, and about 3 pounds of redskin potatoes, cut in chunks with the skin on. I also added about six cups of water at this point. Add sauerkraut. I am guessing that I had 8-10 cups of sauerkraut. (This was leftover kraut that had been cooked with pork and caraway seeds, so it was really good. If I was starting with fresh kraut I would probably add some supplemental pork to the soup.) I had five brats that had some nice carmelization that I cut up and added, but kielbasa or smoked sausage would be awesome. Add about 1 t. black pepper and 1 t. white pepper.
Cover and simmer for a couple of hours, until the potatoes are getting soft.

In another pan, melt 3 TBS butter. Add about 1/4 c. chopped mushrooms and 1 t. salt. (I will probably use more mushrooms next time, but I wasn't sure that I wanted them.)  Use your flour of choice to make a roux. I used 3 TBS rice flour because I had a bag that had a little left in it that I wanted to finish. Add about 1/2 c. white wine or beer. (Again, more would be good, I had about 1/2 cup left from a box of chardonnay.) Add 1 qt. 1/2 and 1/2, and then, because it doesn't look like enough, add a cup or two of whole milk. Stir until slightly thickened. Add (don't hate me foodie friends!) about 8 oz. of Velveeta. (Because that's how much I had.) Add all of this to the pot and simmer for another 15 minutes, at least. Throw in about 1 TBS of dried parsley.

Makes a lot of soup. :)

Enjoy with crusty bread.

One problem with time management books

" The goal of much that is written about life management is to enable us to do more in less time." Jean Fleming, quoted in Margin. "Perhaps we need to get less done, but the right things."

YES. Oh yes.

The things that happen

When I'm overwhelmed I get more absent-minded. This week I was distracted. Busy. Andrew, who often helps me keep my head on, was very busy working and getting ready for a D&D weekend.
I tried to fit in a few household tasks on Thursday. One of those was making some stock with the carcass of Monday's roasted chicken.

I made the stock.

And then I went to work, made salad for 50 people, went to church, went home exhausted, and went to bed. Friday I was at work almost all day, except when I was running errands. I was gone last night. I went to work this morning, then to the grocery, then did laundry and worked on cleaning the upstairs.

I just decided to get started on the chili for tomorrow's lunch for the D&D players. Grabbed my stock pot from the back of the stove, where I assumed it was sitting clean, having completely forgotten that the stock ever existed.

Oh yes. It's still there.

Andrew usually makes sure all food is properly stowed before he goes to bed. But he probably assumed that the stockpot, sitting on the back of the stove with the lid on, was clean, just like I did today.

Now I need to get rid of wasted, yucky, beginning-to-smell stock before I can cook. This is why I need margin.

Being derailed

Every time I  make a new attempt to get organized, get control, or anything else of the sort, I get derailed very quickly. Something happens--life, my raging ADD, busyness--and knocks me off the tracks and instead of hopping back on, I just chuck it all.

This week I have had my schedule thrown off by a bad headache and sore throat, which wiped out my cleaning day, and a couple of unproductive days at work caused by too many interruptions one day and grief over the death of an on-line friend's husband the other. (If you are not already, please pray for Rhonda. Her husband's death leaves her a widow with six children from four months to 10 years.)

So today, which was to be my catch-up and project day at home, with a little scrapbooking for good measure, is, of necessity, going to be spent mostly at work. But instead of chucking it all, I am determined to regroup. I'm going to sit down with my calendar at lunch and plan next week, shifting a few things around to make up for this week's lapses.

How do those of you who plan your time make up for lost days? I have no problem being flexible; flexible is my middle name.  That is what has always gotten me into trouble with any kind of plan. I'm so flexible that any sign of the plan is soon gone.

And as the week ends I am still behind on my house; I still haven't done a thing with my pictures this year; the laundry is piling up; the refrigerator is a disorganized mess. . . .

Time to get moving

Most of the time one part of my body or another hurts. If it's not my neck and head or my ankle and knee, it's my shoulder and arm or my back. It slows me down. It makes it hard for me to sleep.

The chiropractor helps, but the one I like is thirty minutes away and our budget--tightened as it is by increases in taxes, insurance costs, deductibles, and copays, plus college tuition and the myriad other expenses that accompany it, not to mention the rising cost of gas--really can't handle too many visits.

I've known for a while that I need to do something. A while back--okay, months ago--I ordered a series of DVDs that looked good. I also have a good yoga CD. Part of my new effort at gaining margin and getting my time under control is a commitment to actually use these things.

You see, I have a problem. I am LAZY. I would rather sit in the chair and read than get down on the floor and exercise. In the summer I walk and I swim, but even with that exercise I know that I need to do more if I want to be able to move when I'm 65. Let alone 80.

So tonight I did the first of the DVD's. It was focused on the neck and shoulders. There are exercises and also aspects of body movement that I need to focus on. It felt good. I'm going to start doing these exercises daily, mixed with the yoga.

Saying yes, saying no

My dear friend Mary commented, on Facebook, on my last post, and it immediately provoked another post.

For some of us, even when we are already drowning in busyness, it is very hard to say no. For me it has always come from two things, one weakness and one strength.

The weakness is that I don't want to disappoint people. I don't want to make them sad. I don't want them to be mad at me. So I do things that I don't really want to do and for which I don't have time because I don't want to upset the asker. This is where I need to continue to learn to say no.

The strength is that I like to do things for people. I like to help people when they need help. I like to feed people. I like to host people and events. I have no desire to learn to say no to these things. If you need a meal, if your kid needs a ride somewhere, if you just need a break and need to have something done, ask me.

Learning to distinguish between these two has been tricky. Once in a while they are hard to tell apart. A couple of the people who push me to say no don't understand that all requests are not equal. But they aren't.

The other difficulty that grows out of not being able to say no is not being able to ask for help. I don't want to burden someone else who can't say no by asking them to do something, so I tend not to ask for help. I do, now, have a couple of people who I am pretty sure will tell me if they can't or don't want to do something. And that helps. I can ask them. Sometimes. But that is still really hard for me.

First thoughts about margin

A couple of posts ago I wrote about gaining control of my time. As part of that effort, I ordered a book that a friend recommended several years ago. The title is Margin and it is about giving yourself some space in all of the aspects of your life: time, finances, physical energy, and emotional energy.

As I've started reading it, one of the things that has struck me is how many different directions we have things coming at us from and how many different directions we are pulled by things. I started limiting inputs a couple of years ago. I dumped an email list that was made up of people for whom I cared, but that was--overall--mostly a source of stress. I left a couple of others that had ceased to be useful to me. We got rid of our satellite television service. (That deserves a whole post of its own!)

I have also tried to limit things that are pulling at me. I left a board of directors that made huge, largely thankless, demands on my time. I still serve the group, but in smaller ways. And since I'm no longer on the board, it is easier to say no to those things that I am not inclined to help with. I have avoided the temptations of several other opportunities to be heavily involved with various groups and instead serve, when I can, from the periphery. We also finally found someone to take on my treasurer position at church, which all too often seemed to be the proverbial straw on this camel's back.

There are more things like this that may be jettisoned soon. Nothing is off the table right now.

This room needs margin.

I have a former business that I have left in limbo. I am still spending money--just a small amount, but still money--each month for tools that I am not currently using. I need to come to a decision about the place of that business in my life. Right now it is mental, emotional, and physical clutter. All useful if I return to being active in the business, but if not, there really needs to be a period put to it.

I am also looking for ways to simplify and help to clear out even more of the stuff around here. I have promised myself weekly scrapbooking time, but this year I need to use up the supplies I have. So, that means no new paper. (This truly is not a hardship.) This will save money and force me to use some of the thousands of sheets of paper and cardstock that are taking up space in my extra room.


Anyone who sees me often knows that I wear the same clothes almost all the time. Yet I own a lot of clothes. That fit. And are nice, stylish clothes. I need to figure out what I am going to use and allow the rest to be useful to someone else, instead of hanging in the closet torturing me.

There's more. And I have more of the book to read. But the campaign for peace and sanity continues.

A little sea air

If the doctor thought outside the pill box, this would be just what the doctor ordered. My cough is better than it has been all winter. Almost gone. And nothing cures the winter blahs like sunshine, white sand and palm trees.

Now I can make it to spring.

Time control

With January coming to an end, it seems like it's high time to make some decisions about what I'm going to do differently this year. I've been thinking about it a lot, but I've just been either too busy or too wrapped up in being sick to really think about it.

The timing for reading this blog post was good.

I have cleared some things off my plate over the last couple of years. Some due to decisions and some due to kids getting older--like becoming adults--and not needing the same kind of time. But I don't feel like I'm making good use of the time that I've gained. I do manage to get things accomplished, but there are also a lot of things that I just never seem to get to.

Until this month, I have done pretty well protecting my Tuesday. It is the day that I have decided that I don't work. In fact, I try to not even go into the church. It has been the day that I know that I can at least get a nice chunk of housework done and catch up a bit on the laundry. But this month because of being sick, going to visit the hubby, and trying to make up for being gone, I have not had a single entire day at home. (Except when I was too sick to do anything.)

But I need that day. And I'm going to start planning one minor major project for each Tuesday. Tasks like cleaning the refrigerator that need to be done regularly, although not weekly. Things that help other aspects of life stay under control. (In the case of the fridge, the current level of disorganization impacts meal preparation and the food budget. We have waste. We have duplication.) I also want to schedule some time each week for house projects, instead of just hoping that there is time available. We still have a long way to go on this house. There are things like painting, curtains, and minor repairs that I can do.

My work time is already on my calendar. But I need to plan some time for my other potential income sources. I need to plan time for eBay & Craigslist listings. I need to plan time to continue the work that I have done toward being certified as a genealogist. And I need to keep trying to figure out how I can contribute more to the family income so that my husband can come home.

I am going to schedule some time for scrapbooking. I don't know if it will be weekly. Maybe I would rather have a longer time less frequently.

And finally, and possibly most importantly, I am going to schedule time for people, starting with my husband. For too long our relationship has been crowded into weekends that are full of house projects and church activities. I spent a week at his apartment in January. We're taking a vacation--our first in several years--together in February. I am going to plan time with him each month outside of the weekends.

I am also going to schedule time for my friends. I do pretty well keeping up with my local friends, although once in a while I realize that I have hardly seen one of them for months. I'm trying to figure out exactly how I want to handle making sure that time happens. The larger task is getting some time planned into my schedule to spend with out-of-town friends. I have been very lucky. Because of events in Fort Wayne I get to see my out-of-town friends more often than I deserve. I am spoiled. But there are several of them that I have wanted to visit. Some for YEARS. None of them live that far away. This year those visits need to happen.

And then, of course, I need to make sure that I allow for time to visit my daughter and enjoy being Grandma.

I am hoping that getting more organized about how I'm spending my time will make my downtime feel more relaxing. Most of the time when I am not actively accomplishing something I'm feeling like I should be. Guilt is not relaxing.

We'll see how this goes. Being organized has never been my strong point. But I do love calendars and lists.

Thinking about homeschooling

As is wont to happen in this crazy brain of mine, suddenly, as our homeschooling is winding down, I find myself thinking about it all of the time. And wanting to write about it.

So I've added a couple of posts to my homeschool blog.

I can almost guarantee that there is more to come.

Updated to-do list

Thanks to Susan visiting and commenting on my almost-forgotten to-do list, I did some updating today. A lot has happened in the last four years that wasn't on that list.

It didn't say get a job.
It didn't say graduate two sons from our homeschool and send them to college.
It didn't say find your husband an apartment in another city so that he can spend five days a week elsewhere.
It didn't say plan and host a wedding. Or become a Grandma.
It didn't say buy a money pit and invest huge chunks of your timeinto tearing apart and fixing up.
It didn't say take some time almost every day in the summer to enjoy your pool. Or have a beer with your neighbor, or go for a walk with your sons. But I'm glad that I've done these things.

The Litany

I love The Litany. I love the rhythm of it. I love the words.

And although I love praying it in church, surrounded by my brothers and sisters in Christ, it is good to pray alone, too. Often, on days like this when I feel anxious, I turn to this prayer.

P: O Lord,
C: Have mercy.
P: O Christ,
C: Have mercy.
P: O Lord,
C: Have mercy.
P: O Christ,
C: Hear us.
P: God the Father, in heaven,
C: have mercy.
P: God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
C: Have mercy.
P: God the Holy Spirit.
C: Have mercy.
P: Be gracious to us.
C: Spare us, good Lord.
P: Be gracious to us.
C: Help us, good Lord.
P: From all sin, from all error, from all evil; from the crafts and assaults of the devil; from sudden and evil death; from pestilence and famine; from war and bloodshed; from sedition and from rebellion; from lightning and tempest; from all calamity by fire and water; and from everlasting death;
C: Good Lord, deliver us.
P: By the mystery of Your holy incarnation; by Your holy nativity; by Your baptism, fasting, and temptation; by Your agony and bloody sweat; by Your cross and Passion; by Your precious death and burial; by Your glorious resurrection and ascension; and by the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter;
C: Help us, good Lord.
P: In all time of our tribulation, in all time of our prosperity, in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment,
C: Help us, good Lord.
P: We poor sinners implore You
C: To hear us, O Lord.
P: To rule and govern Your holy Christian Church, to preserve all pastors and ministers of Your Church in the true knowledge and understanding of Your wholesome Word and to sustain them in holy living, to put an end to all schisms and causes of offense, to bring into the way of truth all who have erred and are deceived, to bless the Church’s life-giving message that Jesus is Lord, to bring comfort to the sorrowing and hope to those living in fear, to beat down Satan under our feet, to send faithful laborers into Your harvest, and to accompany Your Word with Your grace and Spirit,
C: We implore You to hear us, good Lord.
P: To raise those that fall and to strengthen those that stand, and to comfort and help the weakhearted and the distressed,
C: We implore You to hear us, good Lord.
P: To give to all peoples concord and peace, to preserve our land from discord and strife, to give our country Your protection in every time of need, to direct and defend our president and all in authority, to bless and protect our magistrates and all our people, to keep in safety the members of our armed forces and to give wisdom to those in command,
C: We implore You to hear us, good Lord.
P: To forgive our enemies, persecutors, and slanderers and to turn their hearts; to give and preserve to our use the kindly fruits of the earth; and graciously to hear our prayers;
C: We implore You to hear us, good Lord.
P: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
C: We implore You to hear us.
P: Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,
C: Have mercy.
P: Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,
C: Have mercy.
P: Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,
C: Grant us Your peace.
P: O Christ,
C: Hear us.
P: O Lord,
C: Have mercy.
P: O Christ,
C: Have mercy.
P: O Lord,
C: Have mercy. Amen