It was a lovely birthday week. Well, lovely as birthdays in your 50's go. Family and friends lavished me with gifts and flowers and ecards and phone calls, cheering me and assuring me that I can still say I'm in my EARLY 50's. Next year, not so much...I'll have to succumb to that "mid-" designation.

So this will be the week of the great upheaval. Just thinking of every single thing in this house being moved as we replace all the flooring makes me jittery. On the other hand, I can hardly wait to see the effect and to get everything back in place before we leave on vacation! And at that point I will post more pictures. I haven't wanted to do that yet because the trim is still not painted and much of the furniture and other belongings are still out of place, waiting for the inevitable chaos of the recarpeting.

This week will also be my big push to get the last of the curriculum orders done. I've come a long way since my May malaise, but there's still work to be done!

My heart is heavy for the family of Jessie Davis, the young pregnant mother found murdered this weekend. The circumstances are murky and disturbing, but no matter the situation, a young woman and her unborn daughter are dead, a two-year old is left motherless (and fatherless, it appears), a loving family is left grieving and a community stunned. May God pour out His grace In Ohio.

The odd weather around here continues. Here we are at the end of June, and we have no days in the next seven forecast higher than the 80's, with rain predicted every day. We are still relishing our wildflowers and generous green fields and yards, not to mention the lower electric and water bills!

The Papa has taken our three youngest to the lake this afternoon, renting a boat and planning a relaxing day together. I will enjoy the quiet here, putter, nap, and gather strength for our coming week...

I love food blogs. I've been finding some great recipes as well as thoughts about food on blogs lately. If you are a lover of eating and baking homemade bread, here's one that should inspire you as well as make you salivate: A Year in Bread

And speaking of blogs, if you haven't discovered Lifehacker, go give it a look. It's one of the few I visit every single day, or multiple times if my Bloglines alerts me. It moves fast, with sometimes 30 or 40 posts a day so it's a little hard to keep up with everything. But once you get used to it, you learn how to scan for the things that will interest you and skim over everything else. The contents almost defy description so I won't even try. Just go visit for a few days in a row and see if you aren't hooked. If you aren't already a geek, it just might make you one. (I just bought the book to read on vacation, written by the major contributor to the site. Can't wait! Lifehacker, the book.)

If you have some available slots on your prayer list, I'd appreciate your remembering our three middle kids, CJ, Nathan, and Bethany. All three have important decisions/plans regarding college coming up in the next few weeks and life and health circumstances affect all these. Pray for God to make very clear what they are to do and how we're to encourage and help them.

Here's where I snip the snippets for today. It's time for a nap :-)

Labels: Blogstuff, Decorating, Food, Homeschooling, News, Weather