The Week Ahead: 4 January

Here starts my new thing for posts on Sundays — a look at the week ahead.  I have stolen this idea fair and square from my good friend Pamela.  She has an extra topic called “from the learning room” because she homeschools her daughter, but I’ve left that out as I am not homeschooling Grace.  Or maybe I will leave that in and just discuss what Grace is learning in school.  Hmm.  Thinking, thinking…

Off we go!

Outside my window… It’s already pitch dark outside, and there’s still ice and snow on the ground.  I found this out the hard way when I slipped and fell on the ice while switching car seats from my friend’s minivan to her truck.

I am thinking… that I really need to get back into cross-stitching.  I am hoping to begin work again on Caroline’s son’s birth record that I started when he was born fifteen months ago!

From the learning rooms… Grace goes back to school twice a week after going just one day for the last two weeks.

I am thankful for… all of my friends’ safe returns here to Newport, and that my parents were able to come visit for the holidays.

From the kitchen… Initially we were going to have a chicken-and-pasta stir-fry that I keep on hand for lazy nights.  But then I found this recipe for Pasta with Chickpeas and Garlic Sauce, but instead of chickpeas I will use great northern beans since that is what I have on hand.  I’ll also make homemade breadsticks and serve salad as the side dish.

I am creating… my menu for the rest of the week.  We’ve been rather remiss in keeping up a weekly menu over the holidays, and we really need to get back into a routine.

I am going… to root for the Minnesota Vikings in tonight’s playoff game!

I am reading… The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow by Opal Whiteley, edited by Benjamin Hoff.  Opal Whiteley grew up in the logging camps of Oregon in the early 20th century, and she became an acclaimed teacher of nature when still a teenager.  As she shopped around for a publisher for her first book, called The Fairyland Around Us, in 1918, she was asked if she had ever kept a diary.  She produced the pieces of the papers she had written her diary on, for it had been torn apart in the intervening years.  The first part of her diary, beginning when she was just six years old, was published in 1920 and immediately caused a sensation.  However, her assertion that she was adopted when her parents insisted she was their biological child began to cast a pall over the diary.  Because of this, people began to wonder if it had indeed been written by a child.  Within a year, Whiteley had fallen completely out of favor, and the rest of the diary was never published.  She was institutionalized in London in the 1940s, suffering from schizophrenia, where she died in 1992 at the age of 95.  Reading her diary is rather interesting, however.  It is clear that Opal had an amazing understanding of the world around her, and seeing nature through the eyes of a child who made friends with all sorts of woodland creatures is really amazing.  I am not sure what I believe about Whiteley’s life, but it is a fascinating read, nonetheless.

I am hoping… that things go well this week as we settle back into a routine.

I am hearing… the Vikings fans cheering after a successful interception!

Around the house… I still have my Christmas decorations up.  My friend Jen is an Orthodox Christian, and her Christmas isn’t until this Wednesday.  I am using that as an excuse to enjoy my festive home, as she’s mentioned in the past that everyone’s already taken their decorations down by the time her Christmas even happens.  Besides, I love my Christmas tree, filled with the cards that I have received from friends and family, and I’m not ready to say goodbye to it yet.

One of my favorite things… is to cuddle on the couch with my two girls.  Earlier ME was fussing, so I picked her up and snuggled with her on the couch.  Of course, Grace couldn’t resist joining us, so I had ME on my left arm and Grace cuddled around my right.  It was heavenly.

A few plans for the rest of the week… We’re jumping right back into the swing of things, with Kurt returning to work tomorrow, swim lessons starting back up on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Grace’s return to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I am also going to check out joining the Navy Choristers by going to their first rehearsal on Tuesday, and we have a night of excellent Filipino food and fun games with our friends Pamela and Vic scheduled for Saturday.  I also need to call to schedule ME’s four-month well-baby checkup, as well as send Kurt to have his final Hepatitis B booster shot.

Have a great week!