Daybook: On a Glorious October Day

Outside my window... October is putting on a show!   This is the view out of the back of my house and this is what I see 

 from our pasture.  The colors are so beautiful, I can hardly stand it.  I love, love, love fall!

I am wearing... a tiered peasant skirt, blue t shirt and tan jacket.  I'm heading out of the house today.  Oh, and I have on 

gold flats.  I'm not going barefoot.

I am listening to... the dryer  humming along and the fan on my computer.  I should put my laptop in the shop and have it 

checked out, but I don't want to go days without it.  Amazing how dependent I am on this computer.

I am thankful for... colored leaves, apples and pears, time with my children, and a weekend with my husband.  It was a "stay-

cation" and we spent more uninterrupted time together than we have in years.  Maybe next time, we will leave town, but I was

happy for what I could get.  

Around the house... lots of things going on around here!  In the kitchen, we've had tile work done behind the cook top.  It 

looks great (pictures coming soon).  A new heat pump and water heater aren't nearly as exciting, but were a necessity.  The 

painting of the kitchen island has begun and is a little scary.  But we're committed now!   It's going to be a big change for

my kitchen and will lighten things up, which will be good.  After talking with friends who had a house fire, we've put up new

smoke detectors on every level.  We've been terribly negligent about checking those and when we finally did, we found only

one that still worked.  We've been cleaning out the basement and are getting ready to put down new carpet there.  After kids

and animals have called that area home for the last fifteen years, it's time to clean things out and spruce it up.  And we're 

shopping for new furniture for the family room.  Also, very needful.  

I am loving... Lark Rise to Candleford.   Thanks to a friend who told me about streaming tv shows through Amazon, I've been 

catching up on this BBC series.  And I'm hooked.  The characters are delightful and  oh, so British!  I find myself thinking about

taking tea every afternoon.  Anyone like to join me?

I'm not a fan of... presidential debates.  They completely stress me out.  I'm not going to watch anymore.  I know who I'm voting

for and a debate just gets me anxious right before bedtime and messes up my sleep.  And I need my sleep!

I am hoping.... to see progress for some struggling young adults.  I pray.  I pray.  And I pray.  Not sure if there is anything else I 

can do right now.

I am reading.... Happiness at Home by Gretchen Rubin.  I loved her first book, The Happiness Project and am a regular visitor

to her blog.   Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind, by Ann Ross for the Relief Society Book Club and just finished selections from Montaigne's

Essays for the Great Books Discussion Group.  Miss Julia is fun and light and the Great Books have the potential to give me a 

headache, as I have to think so hard to understand them.   But I wanted to challenge myself, by reading things over my head and 

this works.  Oh, and I'm taking my own advise for life long learning of "hanging out with people smarter than yourself".  The nice 

folks in my discussion group are retired college and high school English teachers and man am I learning tons from them.

I am creating... lots of knitted dishcloths.  I like this project, because I can start and finish pretty quickly.  Plus it's good practice

for basic stitches, increasing and decreasing.  

I am pondering... some great thoughts from yesterday's Sacrament Meeting on the law of the harvest.

  "Gardening and farming call out the best qualities in us,  hard work, patience and tender care."

Mary Hyder

I am learning... to let go.  Well, I'm trying, anyway.

From the kitchen... pumpkin bread, soups, chicken pie and other hearty, yummy foods.  We had a pan of brownies (my mom's
recipe, which is my kid's favorite), every Sunday for about six weeks.   While Dillon and Jantzen were here, I  cooked a lot. They
sure appreciated mom's food.  Now I'm cooking for two again, so we're having salmon for dinner tonight.  Salmon with cherry sauce,
roasted sweet potatoes and sugar snap peas.  Makes me hungry just thinking about it.

Living my faith by... visiting primaries throughout the stake and watching their primary sacrament programs.  Absolutely 

precious.  We just completed our fall leadership training meeting.  That's always a relief.  I'm beginning to listen to the conference

talks from the last general conference.  "A conference talk a day, keeps satan away."  Mark and I are reading scriptures together

before bed each night.  His idea...and I love it.

In the garden... I planted garlic (blog post coming soon).  The lettuce and cabbages are growing, but slowly.  I think I planted

them a little too late, but I'm hoping they will still produce some good food.  I need to clean out the beans and the okra, both 

ready to go to the compost pile.

Around the farm... still working with the chickens to try to eradicate the mites.  Tara helped me for weeks with the dusting, until

she ended up infesting her own chickens, compliments of mine.  I felt really badly about that.  Because this is not a battle for the

faint of heart.  Fortunately she has lots of fight in her, I on the other hand am getting worn down by it.  We extracted one super

of honey and it is delicious.  Now we're feeding the bees hoping they will make it through the cold months ahead.  

A few plans for the rest of the week... Republican Women's Club Luncheon, book club meeting and three doctor's 

appointments.  I'm not sure how I let that happen...

A picture thought...

When I asked for help with the chandelier, I didn't expect him to do it this way!