the lonesome gods

My mom read Louis L'Amour a lot when I was a kid, but I had never read anything by him until I read The Lonesome Gods in October. It was on the Thomas Jefferson Education reading list, and I loved it! Yes, it is a western, so there is a certain amount of gunfighting and horse wrangling. I loved it, and Erin loved it.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I usually take my time decorating for the holidays, doing a little bit each day. This year, my friend Angie was in charge of the annual Christmas dinner for the ladies at church, and asked if we could use my house. I said of course, and then panicked when I found out that it was scheduled for exactly a week after Thanksgiving.

So, with the help of Eric and my sister and her family, we busted out the garland and lights and ornaments and got it done!

My entry way, with my very favorite Goodwill purchase, the peacock front and center. He inspired my dining room ceiling and niche paint over. And I love these battery operated candles from Costco! They turn themselves off after 5 hours!

I used burlap liberally. It's cheap and chic and doesn't need hemming.

My living room. This room is very hard to take pictures of during the daytime, because of all the sunlight (not complaining!) It's my favorite room in the house.

I am frequently accused of having too many decorative pillows, but I don't think there is such a thing.

My favorite new Christmas vignette. I bought the moravian star online, then Eric rewired it with this cool pendant adapter I got from Lowes, then I spray painted it to match. It was a tight squeeze getting all the wisemen, shepherds and beasts in the picture, but we managed.

Another wreath in the dining room and some plug in candles.

And my mercury glass ornaments in glass bowls on the dining room table.

The hand I got in St. John decked out with some holiday ribbon and since I needed something to go in the other cloche...

I took two of my little bird ornaments off the tree (they were very hard to see) and hot glued their little clips to the base. I think they're adorable.

A few more mercury glass ornaments and some tiny old books I found on ebay in a basket on the coffee table.

My mantel. Burlap stockings, two turtle doves (actually, quail from Eric's grandma) and capiz shell garland.

The tree. It's hard to get a good picture of a Christmas tree. I have a love/hate relationship with mini-lights.

I have a few more little things here and there, but keep forgetting to take pictures. Although it was stressful getting it all done in a short amount of time, it is so nice to be able to focus on other things and really enjoy the holiday season! I think I'll set myself an early deadline from now on!

Happy Birthday to MEEE!!!!

I have been EVER so busy lately, and have not blogged in a very very long time. With all of the traveling and stuff going on this fall, it has been 3 months since I've worked out, and almost as long since I've had my legs waxed (TMI? Sorry.) So that was my birthday present to myself. Treating myself to an hour of excruciating agony. Oh, but, since today was sheet-washing day, I am going to be loving it at bedtime tonight. There is really nothing better than freshly waxed legs on freshly washed sheets, and on one's 38th birthday, too.

And I was so confused as to how I could have 47 new messages in my inbox, but they were mostly from facebook buddies wishing me a happy b-day, so thanks all! I am loving it!

The church ladies are coming over for a dinner on Thursday, so I have been busting my hiney getting the house all Christmasified, (except for the last hour or so that I have been reading blogs, after all, it's my birthday). I've still got some work to do, I just have to remember to take pictures on Thursday day so I can show them!

Eric and I are going to a fancy schmancy black tie thing in NYC this weekend for important people like him. So I have to go get my now modest dress from the tailor. And get a mani-pedi.

The gift shopping is pretty much done for the kids, but I will worry about all of the holiday things to do after this weekend.

Chinese food for dinner, yay, no cooking and no dishes!

Thankful for....

(in no particular order)

my wonderful husband

my awesome kids

amazing friends

good health and dental insurance

my Savior

my sister and brothers, mom and dad, in-laws, cousins, aunts and uncles, EVERYBODY!!

good schools for my kids to go to

great kids for my children to have as friends

music

art

beauty

creativity

good books

a wonderful ward with awesome people

a warm, beautiful, clean, joyful home

cars that work

electricity

running water

HOT running water!!!!!

my treadmill

my sewing machine

opportunities - everywhere I look, I am growing and learning!

Wow, I could go on and on. I tend to grumble a lot more than I thank. I think the thing I am most grateful for right now is abundance. Sometimes it takes the form of busy-ness, clutter, laundry, meetings, appointments, homework, stress, dishes, distractedness, a messy car, unfixed hair, runs in my nylons, but it all boils down to the abundance that I have in my life. I have people to love, places to go, things to do, and thoughts to think.

My cup runneth over.

the chosen

This book was on the list of the first five books to read in the Thomas Jefferson Education. I read My Name is Asher Lev when I was in college, and it was really good, but a little darker and sadder than The Chosen.

I highly recommend this one - Erin finished it last week, and Annie is reading it now. It is appropriate for all middle schoolers and above, although younger readers may miss some of the subtleties and may miss out on some of the history and politics that is referred to throughout the book.

I'm a frugal housewife...

Annie was in the middle school's production of Charlotte's Web last weekend. She played a teenaged townsperson, and her costume was a poodle type skirt with white shirt, bobby socks and flats, and ponytail. In the midst of my flying to California twice, she needed to show her director her costume, and had none.

I didn't have time to go all the way to JoAnn's, so we headed to Goodwill to see what we could find. No skirts, but I found a tablecloth, round and purple, and I cut the middle out of it and made it into a skirt, per the super easy directions I found here. Actually, it was even easier than that, because I didn't have to hem it!

And it only cost me about $4 for the tablecloth and $2 for the elastic!

thomas jefferson education

Two of my sisters-in-law homeschool their kids, and this book outlines a large portion of their curriculum. I've looked for it at the library, but wasn't able to find it, but as luck would have it, my father-in-law had two copies, so I brought one home for myself.

I recommend reading it, and then supplementing your kids public school education by reading and then having them read the books listed.

A Thomas Jefferson Education

I don't homeschool, but I've decided to implement this at home, nonetheless. The purpose is to teach our kids to be great thinkers and leaders. A lot of the time, the things they learn at school are just facts that are memorized and then regurgitated for a test. Or, they are trained how to do a job, but not how to think and form opinions.

So, I've started reading the books suggested, and I've had the girls read them too, in addition to their regular homework. They both love to read, so I've just asked them to alternate one of these books with a book of their choice in their recreational reading. We don't have formal discussions, but we talk about the books as we are driving in the car, etc. I've also started reading some of the books for younger kids to my boys, and they love it.