I have deemed this a good day to wear bright colors and polka dots, just in case you were wondering what to wear.  And if you’re already dressed, it is not too late for you to wear BrIgHt CoLoRs and PoLkA dOtS tomorrow. 

I think what started this whole thing is that last night I snuggled up with Michaela in her bed and read my new issue of Where Women Create.  The next thing you know, we were fast asleep and I woke up this morning to the bright sun on Michaela’s bright green walls and her very tall doll house.  I don’t know.  Maybe that green just sort of put me in the mind to be BRIGHT today.  (Dear Jessamy, I see why you love this color.)

Tumbling through the closet and some drawers, I found bright polka dotted clothes. 

And a bright skirt.  Why not go wild with patterns while we are at it?  I don’t think anyone will mind as long as we’re not too shocking.

Out in the yard this  morning, this little crocus decided to be bright with us.  And I noticed that the daffodils are not quite so scrunched up this morning, as it is bright and less cold today.

It also seemed a good day to wear a new Women of the World pin.  And it seemed a good morning to drive to the little all natural food store to get a cup of coffee, and see if anyone noticed my pin.  (I do look for feedback, after all, and I was really wanting coffee this morning, which I don’t usually drink anymore. )

Imagine my delight when the cashier said, “Oooo, I like that button you are wearing.”  I was so thrilled.  She had to read it and then we talked a bit about Etsy.  I love seeing friends and being around people, so it was nice to start the day out at the little store, before I get started typing all day.  (We’ll just pretend like it’s not happening.)

I wore the Brave pin today.  Tomorrow I may be wearing Demure.  One just never knows.

If life could stand still, like a black and white photograph, with me ever moving in one little frame, I would want to be caught on a perfect morning.  A morning with an empty to-do list and new acrylics.  Gold and black and red and blue.  And white.

I’d want to be caught on a lazy slow morning with a yard full of birds, singing outside my window — serenading me and my hot tea.

I would be wondering what to do, with a tingly good feeling from my head to my toes, because the day is free and art supplies are plenteous.  Fabrics with texture.  Pinks and reds and robin’s egg blue.  Woven heavy threads that mean something as I hold them.

I’d want to be caught with stacks of old books and sheets of old music and plenty of glue and a colored pencil or two.  With my tea kettle whistling, I’d dream of what to do.

I’m quite sure I could make something pretty and be content, caught in a frame such as that.  My children would be there too, scattered about the house, their sweet voices not quite a distraction, but more like music. 

Yes, I’d like be caught there.  Would you?

I’m taking a break right now and was just wondering about something.  I’m going to list some pins on Etsy this weekend, and the more I look at the heart, the more I like it with just the heart trinket.  I like it with the key too, but without the key maybe it seems more balanced?  Would love any thoughts on this. 

And of course I should have put a picture of the before. 

My work day is half over.  Ahhh.  Won’t be long now.  Michaela has done all of her school work and is off for a play date with a homeschooled friend.  I’ll have to post an update on our workbox/cereal boxes.  They do work really, really well when I put effort into it.  A little effort on my part makes the school day effortless.  :)  

It’s a gray day here, and I’m finding myself feeling a bit gray as well.  Perhaps it’s been the thyroid all over again, seeing how the Levoxyl 75 mcg brought on palpitations and sleepless nights, then skipping medicine altogether for two days (on the doctor’s orders) made me a bit sluggish again, and now I’m leveling out again on 50 mcg.  I think it’s akin to jet lag.     Only I don’t have a fabulous T-shirt from anywhere.  Just a messy house.

To brighten my day, I’ve worked on a few pins.  I like this one, but what do you think?  Michaela thought it seemed a little long until she saw it pinned to a black velvet dress.  Then she said, “I do like it.”  I’ll try to get a picture of it actually pinned to a black dress when the sun shines again.

I have visited all my house plants to see if they had anything to say to me that might cheer me up.  The spider plant in the hallway is blooming right now.  That was a huge help.  (Mom, if you’re reading this, I love this plant.  Thank you so much.  Oh, and Oreo loves it too.)

I feel a bit out of control with scheduling these days.  I have had more errands and appointments than I can count lately.  A tire on the van decided to go bad the same day as I got my oil changed, so I spent two days visiting the garage last week.  This week I have two vet appointments, one dentist appointment and the usual stuff.  I’m not complaining, but when you work and homeschool, time off is precious with a capital P.  It goes by fast.  I must get grocery shopping done on those off days.  I must also plan errands on my days off.  And I consider my days off our big school days.  It can be done, but if I let my scheduling fall by the wayside, then much goes by the wayside. 

So this evening, supper will be easy.  My boys all pitched in last night to straighten their rooms a little better and put their clothes away.  (No, they don’t always put all their clothes away immediately and it drives me crazy.)

I’m about to sit down with my home notebook and my Charlotte Mason notebook and my bible and just try to wrap my mind around what I should be doing each day, and how.  One of my prayers is often that the Lord would help me to order my days, because I don’t do such a great job of it when I wing it based on my own wants.

Michaela is working on a project for an art show this week, so I have to lend a bit of my focus to making sure she has what she needs for that today.  And here it is 4:31 p.m.  Where do the days go? 

Anyway, I just knew that if I sat down for 15 minutes and told all of you about this that you’d understand.

Thank you.

Friday.  Work day.  That’s all I have to say about that.  Now, let’s catch up.  Yesterday was a wonderful fieldtrip day at The Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh with our co-op.   The weather was a bit windy and chilly, but not really cold, and so we went to Umstead State Park afterwards for a picnic.  There was a nice shelter that all the families could gather under.  The children explored the woods surrounding while the moms talked.  Of course. 

The museum is pretty.  It really is.  I love the combination of natural light and electrical lighting going on.  I always feel like I’m on a stage set or something.  The displays look so real, but the large, high windows remind me that I am, in fact, in downtown Raleigh.

We mostly explored without any set schedule, though we did make time to attend a live animals class where we got to see and learn about and touch different reptiles.

You might know that my favorite part was the butterfly room, with its pretty creatures.  Ohhh, it reminded me of my garden in the springtime.  I could have stayed in there the whole day getting pictures.  I’ll add that to my list of things I want to do when the children have grown and moved out.

On another front, I know at least one of you wanted to see who was holding the basket of mushrooms on Wednesday.  Well.  Here they are, all three of them, the garden and forest people I’ve been working on.  The one in the middle is surely a sweet fairy.  The outer two are from much deeper in the forest, or farther back in time, which ever you prefer to think about.

I wish I had time this morning to take them outside and get proper pictures for you, but maybe you can get an idea of what they would look like in a more organic setting.  My Joseph said they reminded him of Cinderella and her two mean step-sisters.  When I look at them as a group, I can certainly see that, but looking at each one alone, I see all sorts of stories!  That’s a basket of sweet potatoes on the left, in case you couldn’t tell. 

I must get busy this morning working.  I’ve had a fine week, so I certainly cannot complain.  Before I leave I’ll show you my buckwheat blueberry pancake with chocolate syrup.  Gluten-free never was so much fun!  My lab work showed that I’m certainly not allergic to gluten right now, but could develop an allergy, so I’m still staying away. 

As far as the Hashimoto’s disease goes, I’ve been a bit nervous the last few days, on a higher dosage (75 mcg) of brand name Synthroid Levoxyl (I truly meant Levoxyl here).  My doctor just called this morning because my TSH came back at 1.050 (down from 4.06 a few weeks ago).  I could feel this happening, so I actually cut back down to 50 mcg for the last two days.  She is going to think about it and call me back and tell me what to take.  I had talked about maybe going on something more natural, such as Armour thyroid or Nature Thyroid, but my doctor said my ability to convert T4 to T3 is “beautiful,” so Levoxyl is working well for me.  She just wants me to avoid generic because the dosage you get can be variable with each new prescription.

Okay, now that I’ve rambled on about my thyroid, I’ll say good-bye for today.

Enjoy this day.

It’s been about a month ago that I found this book, The Quiltmaker’s Gift, at the thrift store.

Placed in a large stack of yet-to-be-read books, I actually forgot that I had it, until last week.  I’m surprised at myself over this, because as soon as I saw it I was in love with the illustrations and couldn’t wait to read the story. 

It also made me think of my sister, who is an amazing quilter.  I mean.  I’m always telling her that she should sell her quilts, and she says she likes to make them for people she loves and give them away.  It’s really something. 

Imagine my surprise, then, when Michaela and I began to read this story and found it to be about a beautiful, talented quiltmaker who will not sell her quilts.  She will only give them to the poor.  The quiltmaker is a lovely woman.  Her face is soft and gentle, but she is obviously a very strong woman.  It was a fabulous story and I thought of my sister through every word.   Which brings me to something I’ve been wanting to show you.

At Christmastime, I received a large box marked to “The Wilsons.”  The beautiful heart-covered quilt was in it.  From my sister.  Just look!

Some of the fabric has little paper dolls on it.  And the hearts!  How does she do it?  I cannot imagine.  She and I are so much alike, and yet we are so different.  She can do this.  I cannot.  It has always been like we walk to the same beat, but on two different paths.  However far apart we are, we are always close together.  I look at the squares and appreciate every single stitch.

So many memories…

By the way, the website to The Quiltmaker’s Gift was given in the book and is supposed to have games, stories of compassion, etc.  Michaela will be looking at it for school today.

On a final note, my little old man pin found a name.  Algernon.  Thank you, Audrey!  It’s the perfect name.  And into the shop this weekend went Old Man Mushroom and his baby.

It’s a work day for me today and I must get busy!  Have a lovely Monday.

Ohh, it’s Friday, and you know it’s a work day for me.  I’m fine, though.  Really.  I’m fine.  Well, on second thought, I would love to be off today, but we can’t have everything we want.  Can we?  I am being really slow about getting to the work desk this morning, but I always have a routine I dance through before I start my work day.  Hot tea, quiet time, taking care of animals, and checking the blog.  Today I want to show you the newest pin I’ve been working on.

Do you think he’s as adorable as I think he is?  I’m just wondering what to call him.  Father Time?  Old Man Winter?  Rip Van Winkle?  The Medicine Man?  The possibilities are endless!  My sons really enjoyed seeing this pin and they think I should make these little things not as just pins, but as decorations, like something you would just sit on a shelf to look at.  Hmmm.  We’ll see.  The next pin will have an Herbal Medicine Woman.  I am just working on her little face.  These pins are just a touch over an inch tall, so sort of tedious working on the little bodies, but I do love it.

Meanwhile, this man needs a name, and when he’s done he’ll go in the shop. 

I’m off to work now.  I’ll be typing words like choledocholithiasis and esophagogastroduodenoscopy and about such things as robotically-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomies and lumbar fusions with instrumentation.  I do love words, so I cannot complain.

Enjoy this day.

I took a little walk in the garden this morning. There was a tiny birdie there.

We were doing a photo shoot for the Etsy shop.   It was a bit chilly, but I was wrapped in my bright red shawl, and, well, Ms. Bluebird has feathers, so we were both fine.  Annie, on the other hand, was trying to pull my arm out of its socket, which made it impossible to get a clear picture, so in she went.  Just want you to know what a photo shoot here is really like.

We spied a little snowdrop in the garden this morning.  So sweet and bright and pretty in the midst of so many dead leaves.  The cycle begins.  I feel the need to order mulch, rake up the dead stuff and begin to brighten up the garden.   After all, there should be daffodils next month.

Dear Snowdrop, you help me hang on.  I love you, Little Snowdrop.  Uh…

I hope you have a lovely day.  Ms. Bluebird is sitting here with me this morning as I type, but I have plenty of hot tea and Annie to curl up in the chair behind me, so I am not lonely.  Just wishing I had the day free to sculpt little birdies and make pins and play outside, but there’ll hopefully be another day for that soon.  I cannot complain.  I can hear my mother-in-law say sweetly, “Count your blessings.  Name them one by one.”

Enjoy this day.

Okay, I wasn’t going to post this morning, but I had to share this amazing loft video from Etsy.  I love this space.  Can you imagine…well, not living there, ’cause then you’d have to leave your home, but imagine maybe having it as a get-away to spend a week or two working in.  Wow.

Happy Friday.

I never know what to say about how I feel on Thursday evenings.  I don’t know if I’m winding down after three straight days off work, or winding up to work for two straight days.  I guess it always depends on how the week went.

This afternoon was actually warm enough to go to the park and play for an hour.  Michaela and a friend wanted to just get outside and run, I think.  It was fun watching them on the swings and, believe me, these two always have plenty of ideas going on in their minds about adventures and what not, so I doubt they were just swinging without there being some fantastic imagined  scenario clouding the swingset.

I sat on a bench, reading mesmerized by the most current issue of Victoria magazine.  (Hey, I noticed on their website that they are offering a trial issue right now.)  I could sit and look at the pictures in this issue over and over and over again.  I know, ’cause that’s what I’ve been doing.  On the way out the door to the park, I reached for a magazine.  I almost grabbed something I hadn’t looked at recently, and then I said, “Nah, I’ll just look at that Victoria again.”  I had prepared a thermos of piping hot Guayaki Mate Chocolatte tea and I was wrapped in a warm shawl, so I was fine on that park bench for an hour.  Yes indeed.

Once I got home, I fixed a quick supper — breakfast casserole with venison sausage, some black-eyed peas that had been simmering all afternoon, and a big pot of noodles with cheese.  It was one of those thrown-together meals that turned out yummy after all.  Then I worked on some pins and a couple of other new things for my Etsy shop, which I am having way too much fun with, by the way.

Well, I better wrap things up and go to bed.  I better wind down.  Or I better wind up.  Whichever thing it is that I’m trying to do.

I probably won’t post in the morning, as I’ll be at my desk all day, then tomorrow night is karate night, so Fridays are crazy busy, but I’m thankful to be able to enjoy a crazy-busy day.