Advent

For the past several years, I've attended an event called "Advent by Candlelight" hosted by the mom's group at my kids' Catholic Elementary School.  It is a great way to begin the season, a chance to sit with friends, eat appetizers and desserts, and listen to great music and speakers. The speaker last night said at one point that she appreciated all of us coming to hear her speak, and that she knew that for many of us it will be the last time we sit and relax with friends until the holiday season is long over.

Last night's speaker was fabulous, but as I told IM last night, she, like last year's speaker, was very "intellectual".  A great speaker, very scripturally sound.  She connected the prophesies of Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah, through Matthew and Luke, to Revelation.  It was a great talk, reminding me that Advent isn't just waiting for Christmas, but also waiting for Christ to return again.  As I listened, I thought to myself that I kind of miss the year that a mom of six (seven?) spoke to us, more along the lines of "how to survive the holiday season", it seemed like a much more relevant lesson.  But maybe that's the real message--that sometimes we get so caught up in the moment, in the surviving, that we miss the big picture.  As we move through this season of waiting let's all help each other find ways of not just surviving, but also purposefully waiting and using our wait time for what it was meant for.  For helping others, for spreading God's love here on earth, for making Christmas every day not just one day a year.

If I had Instagram in High School

Interesting

So I was scrolling through Facebook, looking at pictures of my nephews and other littles and thinking about when my Facebook feed had photos like this:

You see, if you don't follow me, these days it looks more like this

(Weird fog, right?)


















Or this....

 (This one didn't actually make it on to Facebook, its a photo of my students working for a class I'm taking--notice no faces..and want to know a secret?  Its' totally staged, because I forgot I had to turn in a "visual diary" and asked them to please pose (with their faces hidden...)











And occasionally this

(Notice he is walking away from me...)


















And while my Facebook page certainly looks different these days, I am thankful for my healthy children and their growing independence.  While The Girl is at a friend's house, the Boy, Mr IM and I went to a movie and to dinner--even though we had to wait, there were no crayons and no bribery (although The Boy did drink about 5 glasses of lemonade...hmmm.). The dishwasher is usually emptied by someone other than me, trash cans emptied, pets fed, bathrooms are cleaned.
 (well, not cleaned right now, but technically are cleaned by the children)...leaving me a few minutes this Saturday night to share this brave new world with all of you.  Enjoy where you are, my friends, but don't lament when you reach the next stage...each one so far has its own challenges and joys!

Bonus video from 10 years ago (!!!) this week when we moved into this house
YouTube November 2007, Tissue in the washer

A Garden Update? In November?!

Yep...we have things growing in November....

I'm still working on a better mechanism to keep the greenhouse warm..if I could find a solar powered, ceramic tile chicken house heater I'd be done. The current system is successful enough though that it tempts me to build a bigger greenhouse in the current garden location and have growing things year round (that would require a better heating system though...probably one with actual wires and so forth.

Here's what we have:

 Not in the greenhouse..and not growing..but still pretty!

 Kale and green onions

 Potatoes (from potatoes in the refrigerator drawer that grew legs)

 Beets! (Yes, they need to be thinned out)

 Onions (from onions that grew feet in the refrigerator drawer

 The heat conservation system (bottles and jugs of water covered by a black plastic bag) and buckets of dirt, being kept warm for additional projects)

Outside, low 60's, inside greenhouse, 70...that will work for now...

What I read in October 2017

I'm writing this on October 30--it seems unlikely that I'll finish the 528 page book on the top of the pile by tomorrow night since I'm only on about page 50....

Here we go:
1.  Audio CD in Car--Laughter of Dead Kings (Elizabeth Peters).  Still love it, still good, read the rest of the series first if you haven't or you'll be lost.
2. Close to Home (Robert Dugoni)--I do like this series, it hasn't failed me yet. Mystery/suspense set in the Pacific Northwest.  Female lead character.
3.  The Proving (Beverly Lewis)--probably never a top ten, but Amish romantic fiction is always entertaining. In this installment, a girl comes home from the English world to run her family's bed and breakfast.
4.  The Alice Network (Kate Quinn)--bounces between World War I and just after WWII.  Two female lead characters, lots of twists.  Good book and seems to be historically accurate for a fiction book.
5.  The Deep Dark Descending (Allen Eskins)--I was impatient to read this and was a little disappointed--it is a slightly different book than his earlier ones in the series.  I still liked it, but not as much as the others.  This one focuses on a police officer investigating his wife's death.
6.  Dead Stop (Barbar Nickless)--Set in Denver, a female railroad police officer and Iraq War Vet solves mysteries with her service dog.  This one was very good--the first was free on Amazon, I think this is the 3rd.
7.  When I'm Gone (Emily Bleeker)- Saw it recommended somewhere (the newspaper?) and thought it looked good.  Follows a man whose wife has just died of cancer and who is trying to solve a family mystery.  Pretty good story, a couple plot surprises, a few predictable.  Probably will look for other things by her.
8.  Haunted Hikes (Maren Horjus)--Recommended by Backpacker Magazine when I read a preview there.  Has the actual hikes (a few for each region of the US) and legends to go with each.  Hikes vary from "easy walk" to "expert only".  A fun, quick, read. Might pick it up used in a few months (when it isn't as new) to have for hike reference.
9.  Haunted Colorado (Charles Stanfield, Jr.)--I feel like I've probably read it before.  It was a quick read, not very exciting or spooky.  Arranged by regions, but appeared to be organized by someone who hadn't spent much time here.  Stories were mostly typical urban legends, very few facts.

Happy Reading!