Restoration Place

Planner ~ The Well-Planned Day

Every year I search for a planner that will meet my needs as a home educator and stay-at-home mom, and never seem to find just the right one, so I buy a basic, not-so-attractive academic weekly planner and try to make it work.

In August I reservedly bought a planner created for homeschooling families: The Well-Planned Day. I didn't really intend to use it for making home education plans, but I like the format, design, and colors. It's perky, cheerful and I enjoy that it's made with someone like me in mind.

 

 

So far, my favorite thing is the tear-out shopping lists. Silly, I know. But this is the first planner I've bought in a several years that actually works for me. I'm sure I'll re-order for next year.

If you're still shopping for a planner, preview the full-screen view and see what you think. It's available in both printed and pdf formats.

Rainbow Promises

God is speaking through my children yet again, and I hear Him loud and clear:

They shared these drawings with me, made over the course of a couple of days, not knowing that I had just had a deeply moving dream which included a huge, beautiful bed covered with a colorful rainbow quilt. He said to me: Rest in my promises.

Yes.

Mama's Time Out ~ Toad Hollow 'Eye of the Toad', Good Cheese, Great Book

This mother had her own time out early this evening. While the children screamed with glee in a downpour in the backyard, I cut some fabulous local Broom's Bloom Creswell Colby, grabbed The Armchair Birder: Discovering the Secret Lives of Familiar Birds, and poured a glass of Toad Hollow: Eye of the Toad Dry Pinot Noir Rose, and had a few minutes to simply be.

At the wine store this afternoon, I grabbed the bottle of Toad Hollow because the label caught my eye. I like pinot noir. I like toads. I saw a big one today when we went strawberry picking at Brad's Produce. And that's where I bought the cheese.

 

Anyway, I like to try new wines. And this chance grab is a good one. It has a dry, tingly bite as it goes down, and that paired it with the buttery, tangy colby in just the right way. Not that I know anything about wine.

Curious about any winery that would call itself Toad Hollow, I checked into it. This particular wine I was enjoying was featured in May issue of Martha Stewart's Living Magazine. The winery itself won both gold and silver medals in the 2009 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Neat, huh?

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Those few quiet moments were cut short. There was a not-so-happy scream from the back yard. Everyone slid into the house in their wet, muddy clothes. Jacob had slipped and fallen on some landscaping stones and stumbled in with scraped, bloody knees. He was put into a hot bath. Everyone else needed to get cleaned up and into dry clothes. The phone rang and Karl told me he was bringing home pizza for dinner. It's a good Friday evening. ~smile~

It's Good to be Back!

My self-imposed and much needed blog vacation is over. What I needed to do during that time has been done, and I feel like a new person! It's interesting, though, how much this blog was ever-present in my mind while I was away from it.

There were so many things I wanted to preserve in this space for my own family and for you, the readers, that I began to realize how much I came to perceive moments, activities, and events in terms of creating a new post. Not that I felt compelled, but that I simply wanted to both preserve and share those things.

So here I am again, with so many things to share but so little time in which to do it. ~ grin~.

Karl brought me the beautiful lilacs when he returned from a weekend of turkey hunting in a different part of the state. They have always been one of my favorite flowers. Their scent fills the kitchen, even when I'm cooking.

A Few Moments for Mama Refreshment

I had to pause in the middle of this day to have a few minutes to myself. It was very necessary. Twenty minutes of tea and a few pages of a new book to savor and I was much better.

Ok. Back to the rest of the day.

Random Life Stuff

1. I had a bad fall on the ice on our driveway late last week and that led to three days' rest at home. It really rattled me, but I'm much better, though it may take a few weeks for the knot on my head to heal.

2. I joined Facebook (finally!) recently, thanks to my good friend Deb's encouragement (she gave me the nudge I needed to start blogging, too!) and I'm so happy to discover a new way to be connected with family (all of whom live elsewhere) and friends (many of them live far away, too). What took me so long?

3. I will soon gather with home educating friends for another much needed night of Restoration. We'll gab, laugh, encourage, listen, eat goodies, and be refreshed in one another's company. Deb and I came up with the idea (well, it was God's idea first) to create a gathering for smallish group of home educating moms for the purpose of being restored.

4. Just when I thought I had my children and their particular stages all figured out, they're changing on me again! It's challenging! Hard work! Sometimes I sneak off to the bathroom to hide for a few moments. I just have to collect my thoughts, take a deep breath, and PRAY. Then I come out, make a cup of tea, and do the next thing. Do you have to do that sometimes, too?

5. It's February, and that gives me such a lift. ~smile~

Makes me happy:

Good Queen Bess ~ We Have a Winner!

All the names of those who said they were interested in the book are folded up and dropped in a jar, then swished and mixed by 4-year-old Ben:

Ben should have had a nap, and does not want his picture taken, especially if "you're gonna put it on your blog, Mom!" Ok, I say, I will try not to show your face on the blog. Please just reach in and choose a piece of paper, ok?

The winner is Heather at An Untraditional Home! Congrats, Heather!

This was so much fun! I love the idea of passing along a good book to another home educating family. I'm going to be purging more of my shelves. I already know of several more books...

Movie Night ~ Prince Caspian!

It might be Tuesday night, but it's movie night for Karl and me! We've been waiting for Prince Caspian to be available on DVD, and I was surprised to see it for sale at a local grocery store this afternoon.

I snatched it up, made a stop for our favorite treats, made sure the children had their own fun videos to watch upstairs (they're not watching Prince Caspian until we've had a chance to pre-screen it), and we're all set.

Gathering Together ~ Homeschool Mom Restoration Night

A couple of months ago, my good friend Deb at As We Walk and I hatched an idea (or perhaps I should say God hatched it in us) to host a small gathering of homeschooling moms for a night of refreshment and restoration.

The idea was to provide a brief respite from the daily demands of our homeschooling/family lives and that each woman would go home feeling refreshed and encouraged and that life had been spoken to her. To that end, Deb and I prayed, chatted, planned, and prepared for an evening of restoration to bless our friends.

Last night was the night. We met in my home and the company and conversation were very sweet. Deb had made lovely favors for each one--a handmade card with a scripture and homemade tea bag with our favorite Pear Caramel tea.

 

I wish I had photos to share of the wonderful evening, but I was so absorbed I never gave it a thought (unusual for me, ~grin!~), but I have vivid pictures in my mind and memories of words fitly spoken that will continue to give fresh life in the days to come.

Visual Journal ~ Revisited

I've been making time to create and use my visual journal on a more daily basis and I'm really enjoying it. It's more than just a place to jot notes and keep me on target for the day--it's a place to collect images and ideas about home and family that inspire me or just make me feel happy.

On the table where I make my notes for the day:

Placed in the clear cookbook holder on the kitchen counter, where I can glance at it throughout the day:

 

A few random thoughts: I don't use it every day as it seems to work best for days when I'm home all day; every time I look at it I feel happy (that's worth a lot!); it's a slap-dash, imperfect collage of this season of my life, and I like that; Maggie will look at it throughout the day and keep me on track ~ smile ~; it's totally me.