It’s not a secret that I love to read. I read from a wide variety of genre, including the occasional jaunts into a series of novels. Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels were one such series. There are twenty complete novels in the series, and I’ve enjoyed each and every one of them. Unfortunately, Mr. O’Brian died while he was penning the twenty-first book. I have no idea how many more books the series might have included, and I will be sad to part company with Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin as I finish the final book.
 
I recently finished The Hundred Days, which is the nineteenth book in this fabulous series. I’ve taken my time working through these books, not wanting them to end, but end they must. This next-to-the-last book is every bit as good as its predecessors. Mr. O’Brian gives us characters that we love, and some that we love to hate; and his plot lines are always clever, interesting and include just the right amount of humor. Before reading this series for yourself, please read my cautionary review just to be sure that you understand what the books necessarily include.
Check out the widget in the sidebar on the right to see what I’m reading right now. If you’re reading this post in a feed reader, you’ll need to click through to my site to see all the good stuff in my side bar. Remember, too, why I think it’s so important that you read!
What books are you reading right now?
I’ve had a broken window in my schoolroom for several months. Oh, don’t worry. There was no broken glass involved. I’ve talked about the broken window concept before in this post. In brief, one broken window in a neighborhood, if left unrepaired, might lead to other windows being broken by vandals, leading to a slow, steady decline of the entire neighborhood. This can happen on a smaller scale right in our homes, too!
The “broken window” in my schoolroom was actually one broken bookshelf in the fiction section of our home library. Yep, just one broken shelf! The books from that shelf fell to the floor and were stacked on the shelf below “just for now”. My husband was sure he could fix the shelf properly, but he worked so much overtime that he was never home long enough to do it.
As the boys finished various books for school, we’d normally shelve them where they belonged. But it was Christmas time, and we were busy, so I told the boys to just stack them with the other books on that “just for now” shelf, thinking I would shelve them all just as soon as Copper fixed the shelf.
My husband fixed the shelf well before Christmas, but we continued to stack books there anyway. In fact, with the shelf repaired, we now had a whole new place to stack stuff. When both shelves were full, we started stacking on the floor in front of them. The couch in the schoolroom sits right in front of the Fiction bookshelves, so our stacking was out of sight and, therefore, out of mind.
As is usual with the broken window concept, this area quickly grew to be the dumping ground for all sorts of things. The shelves held not only misplaced books, but notebooks, a 3 x 5 card box, boxed software and the CDs for a Geometry textbook . The paper shredder, displaced by our Christmas decorating, ended up there. It was a great place for storing Size 12 Converse, too. All sorts of things ended up there.
The books, of course, didn’t stay neatly stacked. Eventually, they began to be strewn about and some even ended up under the couch.
Today I fixed that “broken window”. Because there was so much stuff there that didn’t belong, and so many books that belonged in various places around the room, the job took a couple of hours. It looks great, though, and I’m happy to have everything neat and tidy again.
Do you have any problem spots in your home that you’ve allowed to go for too long? Has that area began to become an even bigger problem because it’s been left unattended? Fixing these “broken windows” before they become a big problem is a great way that we can look well to the ways of our own households.
My husband declined the opportunity for overtime today because we had a birthday to celebrate. I love my kids’ birthdays. I always have! Celebrating their special day, taking them out to the restaurant of their choice for dinner (or lunch, as we did today), inviting extended family in, and watching them blow out the candles and open their gifts – I love it all!
I enjoyed Will’s birthday today, too, in spite of the fact that my youngest, my baby, is now thirteen. Thirteen!
You may, or may not, be familiar with Will’s story. This morning, I re-read that post, which I wrote a few years ago, and all sorts of emotions flooded my heart. I even laughed when I read how ravenously he nursed once his tummy was rid of the dried blood that had pooled there after this birth. He eats every bit as ravenously now!
I love this boy! I love having been a part of what the Lord has done in his life thus far. Even though the thought of my “baby” now being a teen might almost make me weepy, I didn’t shed a tear. I’m looking forward to all the wonderful things that the Lord has in store for this young man.
Besides, at almost six feet tall (he’s 5′ 11 1/4″), I can hardly keep calling him my baby.
Happy birthday, William!
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted our menus. I’ve been following more of a Flying By The Seat of Your Pants Approach to menu planning for the last several weeks. It works for me for awhile, but sooner or later I hit that brick wall of reality and need to get back to a system that works better for me in the long run. We’ve had too much wasted food, too many unbalanced meals, and too many trips to the local take – n – bake pizza joint.
This week’s menu is simple, and includes mostly family favorites. We also have a big birthday to celebrate this week as my “baby” becomes a teen. As things settle back down in my home, after an inordinately busy early January, I hope to try some new recipes. This week, though, we’ll enjoy just getting things back to normal, especially at meal time!
Monday
Breakfast – Waffles
Lunch – Will’s Birthday Lunch Out @ The Local All You Can Eat Pizza Buffet
Dinner – Homemade Tomato Soup (the birthday boy’s favorite), dinner rolls
Party Time – Baseball Birthday Cake, Ice Cream & Soda
Tuesday
Breakfast – Cereal
Lunch – Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Left-over Tomato Soup
Dinner – Parmesan Chicken, Candied Baby Carrots, Stir Fried Green Beans with Bacon
Wednesday
Breakfast – Cinnamon Raisin Toast & Scrambled Eggs
Lunch – Quesadillas, Baby Carrots
Dinner – Spaghetti, Green Salad
Thursday
Breakfast – Oatmeal
Lunch – Ham, Cheese & Spinach Panini, Chips
Dinner – Mac & Cheese with Andouille Sausage, Green Salad
Friday
Breakast – Pancakes
Lunch - Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwiches, Chips
Dinner – Herbed Panko Crusted Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes & Pan Gravy, Lemon Garlic Green Beans
Saturday
Breakfast – Cereal
Lunch – Chef Dani’s Choice
Dinner – Nachos & LOST (Nachos are the perfect TV Dinner!)
Sunday
Breakfast – Cinnamon Rolls
Lunch – Pizza with the Pastors @Church
Dinner – Wild Dinner (my youngest son’s term for our Sunday evening, every-man-for-himself, snack fest)
What’s on the menu at your house this week?
It’s interesting, I think, when a friend who blogs links to to a post I’ve written in the past. It’s humbling, too, especially when I go back and re-read the post and realize that I’ve not followed through as I’d hoped I would, or, as in this case, that I’ve not made any forward progress since the time the original post was written.
My friend Fletch, of The Mango Times, wrote a terrific post last week about Feeding the Hungry. Please take the time to click on over there and read it. He linked to a post I wrote more than a year ago. I’ve handed out a few more McDonald’s gift cards since that day, but what humbled and challenged me most when I read Fletch’s post, and then re-read my own post, is that what we’re really called to do is love. Plainly, simply love. Fletch got it, but I think I missed the mark.
Dani and I were approached by an older gal in the parking lot at WalMart one afternoon. She was asking for money, and I told her that I couldn’t give her any cash. I asked if she was hungry, and she said she was. As I went to the car to get a $5 McDonald’s card, Dani mentioned that she’d seen this gal with a man earlier. I looked around and he was standing close by. They were both sun burned and very thin. I ended up taking her two cards, one to share with the man. The look on her face as she showed the cards to the fella was priceless. She was so full of joy! As we finished loading up our car, they made their way across the parking lot towards McDonald’s.
While I think that it was a good thing, and a loving thing, to feed those two, I think I might have done more. I really could have asked to join them at McDonald’s. I could have taken the time to sit down while they ate, ordered a coke for myself, and chatted with them. Perhaps there might have been more that I could easily have done for them. I certainly could have prayed with and for them, and I certainly should have told them of the God who loved them and was providing for them. But I didn’t.
On another occasion, and at a different WalMart, Dani and I were approached by a fast walking, fast talking guy. This particular WalMart is in a rather scary part of the big city my husband works in, and I’m always cautious walking in and out of that store. This man, dressed in attire that might be considered gang-related, walked right up to us and, rather than ask us for money, he asked us if we knew about Jesus!
He didn’t know us. He didn’t want anything from us. What he wanted was to share his faith. He wanted to share the gospel and he was willing to approach complete strangers to do so. That’s love! When he discovered that we were Christians, he asked if he could pray for us. We, of course, said yes, please. The three of us never stopped walking, but it’s not been often that anyone has prayed over me and for me quite so boldly and joyfully! He showed his love for us through his boldness, through his concern about our spiritual condition, and through his joyful prayer for us.
I have no trouble striking up conversations with strangers. In fact, my kids have always given me a hard time about it. For some reason, folks I run into when I’m out and about will, quite often, end up sharing their cares and troubles with me. They never ask for anything, and I suppose the fact that I take the time to stop and listen is enough for them, but I can do more. I’ve prayed with one or two of these people over the years, but not with nearly enough. I’m usually in far too great a hurry to take care of my own business in town, but shouldn’t my business really be about the people that the Lord sends to cross my path? Shouldn’t I be showing them love by praying with them, promising to continue to pray after we’ve parted (and then actually DOING it), and sharing the hope of Christ with them?
We still have a supply of McDonald’s gift cards or certificates on hand. Dani’s good about buying those and keeping them in the car. I still want to give them to folks who really and truly are hungry and in need of a meal. Now, though, I want to share more with them. I want to show them how great and how wide and how deep God’s love for us really is by taking the time to love them the way Jesus would have. Listening to them. Talking with them. Praying with and for them. Perhaps sitting down over a meal with them. I don’t want to be in such a hurry, when I’m in town, that I fail to show love to others, whether it’s the homeless woman on the street or the well dressed, but hurting woman in the check out line whose daughter is in trouble with the law.
I think that this is one more area where the Lord is teaching me hold my own plans loosely.
photo credits for this post:
fotosergio/photoxpress.com (woman)
ma510na/photoxpress.com (burger)
niDerLander/photoxpress.com (crowd)
Today was Copper’s day off. It’s been quite a long while since he’s been home with us on a Monday. All of the overtime he’s been working has been directed toward some needful things in and around our home.
Our big couch was in fairly good shape, the love seat only in fair shape, and my husband’s chair and ottoman…..well, let’s just say he was in grave danger every time he chose to sit down in that chair. I was sure he would sit down one day and end up in the middle of a pile of wood, foam and upholstery fabric.
We spent an entire day furniture shopping a few weeks ago, just to see what was out there and what we wanted and what fit into our budget. God blessed us not only with the overtime to buy some new things, but also timed a “we’ll pay the sales tax” sale with a great deal for paying in cash.
This morning, the guys took all the old pieces of furniture out to the driveway, and moved the coffee and end tables out of the way. Dani vacuumed the almost empty room.
Yep, it’s red! I love it! We’re still playing around with furniture placement. The guys have settled in to play some games this afternoon, though, so things will stay where they are for now.
It was great to have my husband home for the day. He’s been working hours and hours of overtime, and I am so grateful for his working so hard to provide for his family. I know he’ll appreciate being able to sit in his new recliner in the evenings to relax without worrying if he’ll wind up on the floor!
I’m a home body by preference. We’ve made some choices in the last few weeks that mean I will be spending more time out and about. William is trying out for baseball this weekend, which means practice days and game days will take me to town a few times a week. I am also taking a couple of classes a month at the Apple Store so that I can really learn how to use my laptop to its fullest potential.
Baseball practices, waiting for games to begin, waiting room time during medical and orthodontic appointments, and waiting for my appointment times at the Apple Store all give me a bit of free time. It’s my practice to take a book or craft project along in these sorts of circumstances. A book or my Kindle. Knitting. An embroidery project. These are all great little take alongs to help the time spent waiting pass more quickly and profitably.
A couple of weeks ago, the mailman brought me another call to be away from my home in the form of a jury summons for next week. Our county courthouse does not allow knitting needles or scissors (for embroidery, etc.) to be brought into the courthouse. Reading in the jury lounge is difficult due to TV sets loudly playing. As it turns out, this is a blessing in disguise.
One of my goals for this year is to learn to crochet again. I learned as a teen, and, apparently, taught Dani, once upon a time, but I’ve not crocheted for years. With several occasions for being out of my home on the horizon, and the necessity for a project that will occupy my time at the courthouse, it seemed like a good time to check “learn to crochet again” off my 2012 goals list.
I found a pattern I liked on Pinterest, chose eight different colors (plus ecru) in a nice, acrylic yarn , and gave it a shot. Dani was on hand to help me get started and answer my questions. I think I’m off to a good start. (note – I’ve since added a rich, deep purple to the seven colors shown above.)
I guess once you’ve learned to crochet, you can always pick it back up again, just like riding a bicycle.
For several years, I’ve enjoyed reading Girltalk, the blog Carolyn Mahaney writes with her three married daughters. The girls are down to earth, sensible and friendly. Mrs. Mahaney’s book, Feminine Appeal – Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother , is filled with the same common sense and practical application that I’ve enjoyed from the blog.
Like a conversation with a wise friend over coffee, the book unveils the womanly virtues found in the early verses of Titus 2 , and then devotes an entire chapter to each. Plenty of real life examples are given, many from Mrs. Mahaney’s own marriage. The chapters include the themes of loving our husbands, loving our children, self-control, purity, the honor of working at home, practicing kindness and the beauty of true, biblical submission. The books ends with a beautiful tribute to the author’s mother, who modeled all of these qualities in her own home, teaching her daughter by her own good example.
One chapter in particular, “The Rewards of Kindness”, was especially beneficial to me, as I often struggle with displaying kindness to the members of my own family. Mrs. Mahaney’s practical advice on exercising kindness in the home was spot on, and her encouragement to plan ahead for dealing kindly in difficult situations was especially helpful.
Feminine Appeal was a great read for the beginning of a new year. Recommended!
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Today was the day that I planned to sign William up for baseball. He’s never played baseball, nor have any of my kids participated in any sort of team sports. We’ve all been excited, but nervous, about the whole thing. The early registration discount expires in the next couple of days, though, so I knew I needed to get busy. The registration was a simple, on-line form. I knew this because I peeked at the form on the web site the other day. Just before lunch today, I sat down to sign my boy up to play ball.
The simple form I spied on line the other day? Turns out, that was just the first page. I typed away, filling out the necessary info, running here and there to pull insurance numbers and debit cards out of my purse, opening new browser windows to find the address of the Kaiser facility we use, eating my lunch, giving a spelling test , checking the box that I will agree to sign a medical release form at try outs, assigning questions 1, 2, 4 & 5 in Will’s Bible lesson , checking the box that I agree to work some volunteer shifts for the league, eating more of my lunch, answering questions for Aaron, hitting the “submit” button on the form, reopening the second browser window to get the zip code for the Kaiser facility we use, hitting the “submit” button again……success!
As you can see, life continued to happen all around me. When it was all said and done, my schoolroom work area was thrashed. In all truthfulness, it wasn’t in great shape when I started the registration process, but it was chaotic when I was done.
Just fifteen minutes later, with one homemade peppermint mocha at hand (with whipped cream, thankyouverymuch), the desk was in good shape again. Yes, I still have a small pile of things to scan into Evernote for safe keeping and a couple of new issues of Taste of Home magazine to skim, but things are in MUCH better shape.
The mess seemed HUGE, but in just fifteen short minutes, things were put back into their proper places. The desk was cleared, sprayed and wiped clean, the mocha was sipped, and things were put back in an orderly fashion. In fact, when I went to the laundry room to get the spray and a cloth to clean my desk top, I folded a load of laundry, too.
You can accomplish a lot in just a very short amount of time. I wrote more about that in this post.
Is there a big job in your home that’s bugging you? Try setting a timer for fifteen minutes and see if you can make a dent in it. You might surprise yourself and finish the whole job in that length of time!
Re-entry is always tough. We’ve been off the normal schedule of home life for three weeks. My husband has been home on vacation. We’ve slept in and played games and stayed up late watching movies and eaten way too much of all the wrong sorts of food. Today, though, we were to going to get back to normal – normal meals, homeschooling, normal chores. I was resting in the fact that my husband was still home on vacation and would be here to help keep us on task. A little after 5:00 a.m., the phone rang and my husband was called in for an overtime shift. You already see where this is going, don’t you?
Breakfast was served, more or less on time, but the rest of the morning found us falling right back into “holiday mode”, despite our attempts to stay on track. I had to head outside to irrigate the orchard because we’ve had no measurable rain for months. The hose, which hasn’t been used for weeks, was coiled neatly and needed to be stretched back out to reach the end of the drip line. It kinked. Several times. I had to flush the hose carefully to be sure that no little critters had taken up residence.
While I was outside, I greeted our good neighbor as he fed his horses, and we struck up a conversation. They’ve been hurt by the people of the church they’ve been attending. They’re wondering if they should go back or move on. We chatted. We talked about God’s grace in our lives. We talked about the gospel. I invited them to join us at the church we’ve been visiting, but he was non-committal.
I tripped over our love starved cat as I made my way back to the house. He trotted along ahead of me, only to throw himself to the ground, belly up, in hopes of some attention. I bent down and rubbed this chest, then scooped him up and carried him with me. He purred his gratitude.
I came in, saw that it was 11:30, and sent a text to my husband lamenting the fact that it was not yet mid-day and that we were failing, miserably, at reclaiming normalcy. He texted back that he was praying for us.
I appreciated my husband’s prayers, of course, but I was so discouraged. The day felt rather irredeemable at that point.
So, at 11:45, I sat down to read what should have been my early morning reading from Jerry Bridges’ Holiness Day by Day: Transformational Thoughts for Your Spiritual Journey , and this is what I read,
“We can begin each day with the deeply encouraging realization, I’m accepted by God, not on the basis of my personal performance, but on the basis of the infinitely perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.”
I’m accepted! I’m accepted by God because of Jesus!
The text said that I could begin each day with that “deeply encouraging realization”, and that changed my outlook on the day entirely.
At noon, I started the day all over again. Encouraged! Uplifted! Accepted!
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About Cheryl 
I'm Cheryl. I've been Copper's wife for 33 years. We have two grown daughters, two teen sons, a wonderful son-in-love and six grandbabies. Copperswife is a place to find encouragement as you joyfully look well to the ways of your own household. Subscribe – Connect – Contact
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In My Reading Basket or On The Kindle Right now
2012 – Books Read This Year
The First Five Years of Copperswife
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