Thanksgiving Day Book

{Outside My Window}  Cloudy and a bit dreary.  I can live with the cold, but dreary just makes me want to crawl back into bed and stay there!  Good thing I have a lot to do and something to look forward to!  And a cold can of Dr. Pepper doesn't hurt either. ;)

{I Am Listening To}  The girls are upstairs packing, so I hear little peeps now and then, but mostly just the heater running.

{I Am Thankful For}  God's provision.  It doesn't always happen the way I want it to or even exactly when I want it to, but He always provides what we need.  It's funny to be reminded of this in November.  We've been writing things we are thankful for on paper leaves and taping them to the window, I've decided we will do something similar all through December too.  I think we'll cut out some mittens to write on.  It's a good exercise for all of us.

For our upcoming trip South.  Maybe the sun will be shining there.  Even if it's not, it will be nice to have a change of scenery and a little break from the normal routine.

{I Am Thinking About}  Something I shouldn't be.  Did you know that I will be a mere 4 1/2 hours from the Gulf Coast?  I will.  I really need to stop thinking about it!!

{In The School Room}  Things are going well.  My idea of having a Thanksgiving re-enactment didn't  really work out and that's okay.  I knew it might not.  We've done something else instead.  Every morning this year the girls and I have started out together on the couch.  We work on memorizing, read from The Child's Story Bible (which I absolutely love!!  It's simplified, but not dumbed down with dumb changes or dumb pictures), and then we will read something else.  We have read some classic fairy tales, some missionary stories, just various things.  I try to alternate whether it's geared a little more toward Kate or Callie.  It's okay if Kate doesn't "get" every word and Callie benefits from hearing some things again after several years anyway, so it's all good.

So, last week, we added various Thanksgiving scriptures, hymns and poems and then Kate chose from the stack of Thanksgiving picture books.  We have about 5 or 6 so it works out just right to do it this week before the actual holiday.  Either today or next week I'll help Kate make some corn husk dolls.  Callie used to love doing that and I know Kate will too.  She loves crafting as much as Callie loved (still does on certain days) dolls.

{In The Kitchen} I've been trying some recipes from It's All Good by Gwyneth Paltrow.  We've tried about  four recipes and liked three of them.  At least Cameron and I did.  Even Callie, the adventurous child, has not been a fan.  I think she would have liked the chicken chili if I had cooked the red peppers longer and they would not have been a bit crunchy. Cameron and I think Avocado Toast is the the best!

{I Am Creating} Several things in my head mostly. :)  I am making a cover for an old foot stool that we bought for Callie's room.  I'll show it soon.  I'm hoping to be able to make some Christmas presents for the girls, we'll see.  Still knitting on the sweater and loving that.  Although I'm not to the sleeves yet.  I hope I still love it after that. LOL

{I Am Reading} Cameron informed me that he wants to leave at night for our trip (not surprised, he's weird that way) so I decided I was going to go ahead and start my Southern novel since I won't be able to read much on the way down.  Yes, I have a book light, but I won't be able to stay awake that much.  Anyway, I love it so far!  The author writes like they talk.  Some exact phrases that I remember my East Tennessee Great-grandmother using or maybe is was Mammaw, anyway, good memories!

{Around the House} Just packing and the daily chores.  Thinking a little bit about Christmas decorating, but I'm not going to get anything out yet.  When we pull out those Christmas decorations, I hope to also give that closet an overhaul.  It is the largest closet in the house (which is not saying much) and so it gets a lot of use.

When I see magazine articles about people taking closets and making them into little reading nooks or little offices I just have to laugh.  I can't fathom having an "extra" closet.

{One of My Favorite Things}  Knitting and listening to a book on CD or a podcast.  Our computer is old and on it's last leg, so I only get to listen to podcasts on Cameron's phone.  But about once a week, I manage to get a little time to do this and it's so refreshing.  If you are a home schooler (spell check says that's not a word), there are tons of great links here for encouragement.

{Plans for the Week}  Pretty much what every other person in the United States is doing.  Visiting family and celebrating all that we have to be thankful for.  The list is so very long, even when times are hard.