a house warmed with coal, you haven’t lived!!!

Long, long ago my house was heated with coal, and there’s dust to prove it.  I pulled down one of the storm windows upstairs this morning to wipe some of the condensation off.  It was really looking bad as it streaked through the coal dust.  I have mentioned before that you can tap on the walls here and get a shower of coal dust from between the walls and ceilings.  Coal dust is hidden everywhere and probably always will be.  In fact, I dig up coal when I am out in the garden, evidence of a time when coal was kept in good supply for heating through the winter.

Dust in my house is black.  That’s what it looks like!

All the rain we have had lately, combined with my new pond pump, has made my goldfish pond clearer and clearer.  My little spot by the goldfish pond is such a respite these days.

It’s a tiny spot, but the reflection of the sun on the water is magical.  It is so relaxing to watch the fish.  If only you could hear the water.  I’ll try and come up with a little video.

I took a picture of one of the goldfish eating.

I am off to work soon.  There is a kielbasa stew in the crock pot and a pot of brown rice for my family to eat tonight.  Today is my “Friday,” so I look forward to a couple of days off.

Last night I read to my two youngest children from Real Life Stories and Literary Selections.  We read Hunting With The Eskimos taken from a book by the same name by Harry Whitney.  We learned a lot from this very short story — traits about the Eskimos that warmed my heart, and traits that I am sure kept the Eskimos warm in the middle of a very cold environment. 

I am gonna make it to work today even after being so sick yesterday.  I have slept a total of 26-30 hours since I first closed my eyes on Friday night.  I think it helped me get well quicker, though I still feel a bit weak.  I cannot wait to get my hands on some Kombucha tea when I get to work in a little bit.  If only I had had some here this weekend. 

Thank you, Emily and Michele, for your get well wishes.  ~:-D

If ever a reminder is needed of just how weak and frail the human body is, sickness will do it.  Just a couple of weeks ago, my daughter was sick for several days.  About a week later, one of my sons was sick.  Today was my turn.  Only the virus hit me pretty hard.  Maybe tiredness and age were factors, or maybe it was a different virus entirely.  Suffice it to say that I have slept for 16 hours today and nearly fainted when I stood up for the first time this morning.  Really.  I felt like my entire body was draining away.  I don’t know if it was blood pressure related or what.  Then I began to have chills and sweats.  All I could do was lie there and hope my husband got back home soon.  He was out doing Saturday morning things. 

I had to miss work tonight.  I just hope I am able to go back for my shift tomorrow night.

This evening I have done just a few light things that required only sitting up in bed.  I have cut out some pictures for scrapbooks.  I have been looking at a couple of books I found at the thrift store on Thursday.  I am glad to have them in my collection.

They are in good shape.

There are plenty of things here I want to read to the children (and just read myself!).

I am going to bed again soon.  Maybe 10 or 12 more hours of sleep will get me up and going again.  I just hope I can sleep well all night.  Like I was saying, there’s nothing like illness to bring into perspective just how weak and frail our existence really is.

My husband wanted me to try and eat tonight, so I had some chicken soup.  My daughter said, “Wait, you have to have a placemat!”  She returned with one that we made in our homeschool years ago when we studied Lentil.

There wasn’t anything better she could have chosen to make me smile.

Do you know how glorious it feels to look out and see this:

That, friends, is a rain barrel overflowing.

We live in an area in the south that has been severely affected by drought.  We have not had a rain like this in months!  Literally, months.  My plants are singing.

This morning’s school lessons were awesome.  My 11th grade son is really not a boy anymore.  He’s nearly a man.  We learn together, like we always have, but I can’t really steer him like I did when he was little.  We talk and interact.  I am so very thankful, however, that he has an obedient spirit and he continues to indulge me in teaching him the things I think he should know.

We are into a more classical bent these days.  The early years were relaxed and fun and pretty much unit studies and hands-on fun.  Now, I am pushing Joseph harder to focus on languages and history.  Our greatest gap is probably math, but I know we can conquer that as well.  Perhaps math will be the icing on this delicious cake that has been the privilege of homeschooling a child.

We watched a VHS this morning about Greece and Rome. 

I am itching to put a new timeline on the wall that highlights the great ages of history, but it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.  I have to head out in about half an hour for work.  I can go to work rejoicing over the rain and all we accomplished this morning.

I found a shelf at the thrift store that is exactly what I have been looking for.  I have bookshelves all over the house, but I needed one area to unify the books and sheets and movies that we are working through currently.  I love this tablestop shelf, which gives me a bookcase on top and a place to lay things underneath.

I look forward to reading with all the children tomorrow about history.  I have an old text that I want to read to them from.  We’ll learn more about all that today’s world took from the Greeks and the Romans.

Gather, girl, the roses…

was dumb.  At least that’s what I was thinking earlier this morning. 

It’s because when I think of “carpe diem” I think of “seize the day” and picture myself literally sprawled out on the coattails of a fleeing slice of my life with me yelling, “Wait!  Don’t go so fast!”  It doesn’t work people.  And I’m really upset about it.

So I clicked over to Wikipedia to check on the meaning of carpe diem.  I mean, maybe it doesn’t really mean “seize the day.” 

Ahhh…

It would seem that carpe diem has more than one meaning.  And I’m relieved that I was instinctively confused over the fact that carpe diem does have more than one meaning.  Those coattails will run away with you.  There’s no stopping them.

As always, when one thing is figured out there are usually two more things that need to be accomplished.  Like my to-do list was not already long enough, I have now added

• Teach Joseph Latin
• Read Horace
• Read Virgil
• Read basically everything hard and complex and old
• Study more philosphy, including existentialism

My ignorance is shining here, I know, but let me save that for another post.  Please.

I feel better about carpe diem, and I think I am able to better comprehend some other Latin phrases that are connected to what carpe diem really means.  Like Memento mori.  It means “remember you are mortal.”  Isn’t that beautiful?  I get that.  I get it.  We are not promised another day.  Not even another minute.  Love the present and do all you can in it!  It’s all we have.

Another is collige virgo rosas.  It means “gather, girl, the roses.”  I have not read (yet)  De rosis nascentibus which is attributed to Ausonius or Virgil, but I am inspired to do so, and I already find myself loving the little phrase “gather, girl, the roses.”

There were roses I should have gathered last night but didn’t.  With me working like I do, my husband and I rarely get an evening together.  Last night was supposed to be an evening together.  Alas, we had unexpected company and ended up with only an hour to spare for ourselves before bedtime.  My husband seemed put out.  He was pouting over not getting enough time with me.  Me.  He was strewing roses around my feet. 

Did I gather them?  No.  I didn’t like what I felt was an attitude on his part and I let him go for a drive rather than seizing the moment and gathering the roses.  I need to pay more attention and put forth more effort.

Whoever said carpe diem was a smart fellow.

I went out today for one of my favorite mental health breaks: thrift and antique store shopping.  It was great.  I found some unusual things.  First, I found a primitive sort of shelf, obviously handmade, that is large enough to probably stand on the floor, but I put it on my sewing table for now.  It is already housing some little things that didn’t really have a home.

I like the shelf, but my hands-down favorite find today is a set of three jars of old buttons and thimbles.  These are just so pretty! 

Actually, purchasing the buttons caused me to want the shelf, because the buttons would need a place to sit.  Besides, I already had a jar of buttons that was sitting lonely in a bookshelf.  These jars were really fun to go through.  In fact, I did not realize there were all these thimbles in the jars until I opened them up at home.

Jar #1:

Some of the buttons are large.  Some are cloth.  Some are metal.  Some do look really old.  Each jar had a little something different.  Jar #2:

And, jar #3:

Jar #3 was definitely the most fun!  The boys were excited about this little metal man hidden in jar #3.  I measured him.  He is 2 cm tall, but look at the detail!

He was a lost in a jar of buttons, but now he’s out!

I know, I know.  I should go straight to bed when I come in from work at 10 p.m. or so, but who can come in and just slam their eyes shut and go right to sleep after waiting on customers all night?  I know I can’t.  Anyhoo, I’m sure I have about 500 junk e-mails that I will gently fling into my virtual trashcan.  Then there’s the fun stuff — the real e-mail – funny things from my sister, notes from friends, forwarded jokes and pictures, and comments from people who have come across my website.  I like those the best.

I was pretty overwhelmed before I left the house for work earlier today.  I had been noticing (again) the clutter around the house.  Oh my goodness it’s overwhelming if I let it be.  I use the big basket idea.  It’s a perfect way to keep things looking neat, but I still sometimes feel like my mind might explode if I have to look at one more pile of clutter and figure out just what it is and where it came from.

Then I had an experience that made me think I’m gonna miss this clutter one day.  I should be embracing clutter.  In fact, it was such a sweet moment today to go to the file cabinet for the stapler (the place where the stapler should be) and find that the stapler had grown legs and walked off, but there in its place was Bitty Bear, a toy gun and a broken Strawberry Shortcake camera.  Who cared about a stapler anymore???  I just flung whatever it was that I was going to staple into the file basket, which will probably also explode some time soon, and had a few tender moments with Bitty Bear.  Does life get any better than this?

is loving and giving.  ~:-D

Today my family is going to a get-together, but I have to work.  It’s okay.  I probably could have (should have) asked off, but it’s really not a convenient time for our staff for me to do that. 

I had to get some things together for my hubby to take to the get-together.  I made some candied carrots.  My own recipe.

Candied Carrots

• 5 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 4 tsp ground sea salt
• 3-4 TBSP coconut oil

Heat coconut oil in skillet over medium-high heat.  Mix cut-up carrots in mixing bowl with all other ingredients to coat well.  Add to hot oil and stir well.  Turn heat down to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until carrots are tender — can easily insert a fork.  Do not overcook.  Remove from heat.

I think the carrots turned out really well. 

For desserts, I just bought some things from Whole Foods.  One is a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Cake by Just Desserts. 

The other is a chocolate pecan pie from Whole Foods.

I think they’ll do fine.

Happy Saturday!!  Enjoy your family!!

I am about to run out to work — literally!  I have spent a lot of time with Joseph this morning.  We were working in Paint Shop Pro to make a header for his blog.  I am not sure this is the final header.  Actually, I’m sure it probably won’t be!  Anyway, we like it for now.  Joseph is supposed to be writing at this blog every day, but we’ve had a slow start with it.

Today we began reading about the Vikings.  I know he’s in 11th grade, but we still enjoy reading together.  I think my husband descended from the Vikings — you know, just based on the way he acts sometimes, but that’s another post entirely.

I have cooked for the family before I head out.  I have some maple sweet potatoes — basically sweet potatoes slow cooked in some water and covered with a bit of maple syrup.  They’ll be sticky and sweet by dinnertime.  I also cooked a whole turkey.  My Viking should be happy.

More tomorrow, which hopefully will arrive, and if it does it’ll be a brand new day!