The Simple Woman's Daybook

 FOR TODAY June 11th, 2013

Outside my window...
I think we've had a gloriously sunny and warm week, but that is changing with today.  It's very overcast and bleak looking.   I think we're in for some rain!  But then again . . . the garden does need it.  It will help to hydrate all the flowers and make those berries nice and plump!

I am thinking...
"I discovered that searching can be as interesting as finding, as long as you overcome your fear."
~Paulo Coelho

My father always said you have nothing to fear but fear itself.  Smart man.   We often discover in the end that what we were afraid of wasn't so bad after all.

I am thankful...
I am thankful  that I belong to a church which values all of it's members.   We are not all alike.  We are not all at the same level in our progression.  God is love, and that love is unconditional.  It matters not where we are on the road, it matters only that we are ON the road and striving with purpose to get to the end in the best way we know how.  If we have any shortcomings the Saviour will make them up, has made them up.

In the kitchen...


Pasta with Courgettes, Tomatoes and Lemon Cream.  You can find the recipe over in The English Kitchen.


I have the Sister Missionaries coming for their tea tonight.   I will no doubt be cooking something scrummy for that!  I just haven't made up my mind yet what I am going to do.

I am wearing...
Nothing new here!  Except today it is a light cotton nightie.  I've put away the flannel for now!

I am creating...


Another painting I did when I was at my mom's.   I did another one as well, but haven't scanned it yet.

 

Loving this inexpensive and easy idea of using cereal boxes to organize your drawers from The Stonybrook House. 



Fabulous re-use of an old suitcase over on Elements of Style. 



Loving too, these fabric covered journals, with the pockets from Craftsy.  I can do that!

I am going...
I have an appointment at the Dr's this morning with the Phlebotomist.  It's a follow up on the blood tests I had before I went away.  I hope that they aren't going to tell me I'm a diabetic or anything.

I am teaching the Young Women at the church about Illustration tomorrow night.

I need to get in some Visit Teaching and Home Teaching with Todd.   I also need to get cracking on the Ward Newsletter . . .  NOW!

They do say idle hands are the devil's work!

I am wondering...
I have an enquiring mind and sometimes find myself pondering things . . . like . . . who was it that learned that if you took butter, sugar, eggs, flour and leavening, mixed them together and baked them, you would end up with a cake?   Who was it that decided that eggs would be a good thing to eat for that matter?  Not quite earth shattering or life changing questions, but then again . . . if we never questioned things there would be no progress. 

I am reading...




The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson
 As teenagers Poppy Carlisle and Serena Gorringe were the only witnesses to a tragic event. Amid heated public debate, the two seemingly glamorous teens were dubbed ‘The Ice Cream Girls’ by the press and were dealt with by the courts.

Years later, having led very different lives, Poppy is keen to set the record straight about what really happened, while married mother-of-two Serena wants no one in her present to find out about her past. But some secrets will not stay buried – and if theirs is revealed, everything will become a living hell all over again . . . 

I guess there was a television mini series of this book whilst I was away that I missed.   I would have liked to have seen it.

I am hoping...
My mother continues to improve.  I see a difference each day in her strength.  I am still praying very heavily that she gets her short term memory back.

I am looking forward to...
 We are thinking that we may take a couple of day trips into Mid Wales this summer.  We can't afford to go on a real holiday as such . . .

But Mid Wales is an area of the country I have not been to yet and as we are on the Welsh Border now, it would not be that far to go and explore it.



It's a stunningly beautiful part of the country.  

I am learning...
I am taking on board the five principles that President Uchtdorf gave to the women in our church in his "Forget Me Not Talk," a few years ago at the General Relief Society Broadcast.


Around the house...


Love this idea for an outdoor kitchen.  In the old days it was quite common to have an outdoor kitchen away from the house.  It's a way of keeping your cooking and keeping your cool at the same time!

 

I love this very vintage looking craft room as well.  I am thinking I could do that very easily.  We shall see!

I am pondering...
"The stuff of our lives doesn't change.  It is we who change in relation to it."
~Molly Vass

We cannot change the past . . . the things we've done that we wish we hadn't, the things we should have done but didn't, etc.   We need to learn to put them in their proper place and move forward.  Hanging on to these things hold us back from becoming who we were meant to be.

A favorite quote for today...
“I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing, than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance."
~E. E. Cummings

One of my favorite things...



I love Brooches.   New, old . . . and everything in between.   I don't really like necklaces . . . they don't feel right hanging about my neck, and I am not fond of bracelets for the same reason, but a brooch . . . those I can do.  I love accenting  what I am wearing with a nice brooch.  I don't have a lot of them, but I love the ones I do have.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Docs today, Missionaries tonight, Young Women's meeting tomorrow night, a bit of work, a bit of play . . . just normal stuff.  Normal is good.

A peek into my day...



I try to do some of this every day.  It's like exercise.  If you don't exercise your muscles you can't stay in shape.  If you don't use it you lose it.  By painting every day I am growing and improving, learning new things.   It's an important part of my day, every day . . .

A thought to carry with you through today:

"Who's to say the effort to be real isn't the beginning of wings?"
~Mark Nepo

Have a wonderful day everybody!