What's In My Teapot?

March A blue day a blue jay and a good beginning. One crow, melting snow- spring's winning!              Elizabeth Coatsworth Elasa is doing a delightful lesson in her language arts this week that has us doing nothing but reading and talking about and illustrating children's poems for a whole five days! Today we had fun going through The Random House Book of Poetry for Children , and reading some poems by Walter De la Mare, and of course Elasa also wanted to look for some funny poems for us to take turns reading! It's enough to convince me to do this language arts  curriculum next year, too, since children's poetry is one of my favorite things! Spring Is Spring is when        the morning sputters like bacon            and               your                   sneak...

I am the type of person who feels a little lost if I don't have a good book (or two or three) on the go at any given time, and while different stages of life effect how quickly I get through my stack, it has yet to effect whether or not I want the stack there in the first place, for I always, always do! The purpose of these posts, therefore, is to give an overview of a few of the books that are passing through my hands during any given month, and by way of disclaimer, they are definitely going to reflect my personal interests and tastes, and not necessarily be ones I am choosing to please the greater populace at large! In other words, you should think of these posts more as " books I am currently reading " and not so much as " books that are in the top 100"...  although now and then, the two may just coincide!!! And now, shall we begin with my favorite from the month? The Snow Child , by Eowyn Ivey, I found this book to be truly fascinating! You kno...

Today I got an email from an online site that sends me reports regarding the progress and milestones I am undergoing with this pregnancy, and it informed me that I have  only 132 days to go... Apparently, the word only is relative. They think it means, "Hurrah for you! You've made so much progress, that you have only  132 days left to go! I think: Only 132 days of chugging down gallons of a water a day to satisfy someone's idea of what constitutes "enough"? Only 132 days of wondering if I have the energy to climb the stairs? Only 132 days of enduring this painful spot in my back that aches and complains (especially when I sit down to write!) no matter how much I shift and stretch? Only 132 days of eating this and not eating that to ensure maximum protein and minimum constipation? Only 132 days of standing sideways at the sink to wash dishes? Only 132 days of avoiding my stomach in bed when sometimes that's the very position I crave?...

In August, the thought of getting excited over a few daffodil sprouts would seem pretty silly, but on the first day of March, it makes perfect sense! In fact, these perky little sprouts and the sighting of our first two robins today culminated in an experience that is making me feel down right jaunty! Right now, the best of the season is the bated breath, the searching, the sweet surprises over signs of life discovered... Crocuses and  Eranthis  have us stopping in our tracks to point and gape on traipses through the neighborhood, and the changing light speaks of all the good things that are to come. I know perfectly well that Spring has not arrived, and that we are probably in for freezing temperatures- and possibly even more snow- over the next month or so, but having come out the other side of February (which has a way of feeling like  the longest month ever even though it happens to be the shortest!) I can't help but feel that I have fought a battle wi...

Things are getting better around here, they really are, and I can prove it with the fact that I ironed the Sunday pants & shirts today before they went back into the closets for the first time since, uh... probably November? Now, ironing is usually one of my least-favorite household chores, which may be one reason that I didn't get back to it sooner (that and the fact that ironing is not a necessity, like washing laundry or cleaning bathrooms!) but today it was almost refreshing to do something so long-neglected. Maybe no-one else noticed the members of our family who went to church in wrinkle-bag clothing, but I did, so getting these particular clothes looking decent made me feel a little more like an upstanding housewife again! Which brings me to another thing that has gone long-neglected, and which niggles at my mind in the fashion of a termite among wood... " What ," I wonder, " W ould make me feel like an upstanding keeper-of-the-blog again ?" ...

Today wasn't the first time I rewarmed my tea from breakfast after the children went down for naps & quiet time, and it certainly won't be my last. I usually drag the cup along in to the school table with me in the morning, but somewhere between reading a chapter out of Caddie Woodlawn to get our day started, and doing math flashcards with Elasa, the tea goes cold and unappealing. Cold iced tea is one thing, cold tea that is suppose to be hot is quite another. The cup sits neglected until I either rewarm it for another go or toss it down the drain so the children can wash the mug along with the lunchtime dishes. I am not very good with allegories, but in many ways, my cups of neglected tea are a pretty good picture of what my life looks like these days... I make little bursts of effort here and there to accomplish something and be the organized housewife that I want to be, only to realize time and again, that I am coming up agonizingly short of my goals. On Sat...

Am I glad to live in a spot in this great, big world that has the four seasons? I vacillate on the answer to this question... Some days I think to myself, " who needs winter? " and long for the tropical isle where you don't even need to own a winter coat, and where you could teach your children about snow the same way I teach mine about African Hippos- through the pages of a book! Other days, however, I think how nice this seasonal variety really is! Experiencing tulips in the spring, fireflies in the summer, pumpkin pie in the fall, and fires on the hearth in winter lend that predictable rhythm to life that I would be lost without! I have, therefore, decided that I have a love-hate relationship with winter! I love drinking tea by the fire and watching the snow fall from the warm side of the glass ( am I beginning to sound old? ), but unloading groceries while a bitter wind bites my back? Taking care of sick children in a cooped up house? Snowy puddles on my kitch...