Tea with Milk

Understated chaos going on here. I’m planning a week-long puttering session with easy meals, lots of dusting and rearranging and just some calm after the frustrating times we’ve just been through. Finally got completely paid from the folks who dallied, and it’s funny, the timing of their paying (though late) was just on time. I won’t go into detail, but the Lord was even involved in those late checks. I know He always is, but it continues to be startling to me when I see His plan work out so smoothly. So, it surprisingly worked out better for them to be late than if they’d been on time. Figure that one out. Glad I’m not in control.

For perks today, oldest daughter taped Nigella Feasts for us this morning, and we have yet to see today’s episode of Jamie Oliver At Home. I do have a weakness for British cooks, I guess. Put ‘em alongside The Barefoot Contessa, and I’m in high cotton. Another treat was being able to spare some bucks and buy 1/2 pound of that Irish butter they sell at Fresh Market. I only go in there for the indulgent way that store makes me feel. It’s too pricey and extravagant for regular shopping, but for Mrs. Meyer’s lavender cleaner, an occasional cute potted plant, tea I can’t find anywhere else, and butter—it’s a worthy shopping experience. Love that butter on fancy toast in the morning.

Not much else going on. Just feeling a bit smooth and relaxed. We had a nice shower this morning, hard enough so my boys who do yard work were able to skip the work today. So, a rest for everyone. Gonna rinse the hair color out of my mop top in a minute and finish my library book. A nice day, yes?!!

Just one bit of news. Or maybe a bit more. Gary and I went out tonight to find a book he’d been searching for, and in our travels, I was able to find MaryJanesFarm magazine. The first I’ve seen. I think I know what I’ll be doing while the kids spend the afternoon at my mom’s tomorrow, eh?

Pages full of delightful deliciousness and homey goodness. I need this because our house is in disarray. Girls’ room is in the process of having bunkbeds put in………..tonight. Bottom bunk will be full-size futon, since middle daughter is a bit anxious about top-bunk-itis. Scary up there! So she and the very least one can continue to sleep together (they’ve been cozily sharing a twin bed, suited out like sardines). Hope they can get it finished tonight. Can’t remember the last time the living room was vacuumed. With bed part cartons and that huge futon filling the room, cleaning has gone by the wayside. There’s so much dog hair swirling about, I’ll probably have to change the NEW vacuum cleaner bag after one use!

Will be nice when the bed’s finished. Part of our IRS money at work. Yeah, we’re stimulating the economy. Bought mattresses for the middle boys’ room too. Our poor, neglected children. Not!

Off to look up book on the library search site. When I go bookstore hunting, I rarely buy, but makes short lists of what I’d like to get at the library. Love that.

Spending a quiet day getting caught up here at the house. With my knee acting up, I’ve had to take it easy, which is a good thing. It is wonderful, though, to be able to be up and around today. Slow is good, and that’s the key word for the day. The windows are up for now, the nights have been wonderfully cool and in the sixties, and even now at 11am, the temperature is just at 80 or so, but it’s nice and breezy. The fans are whirling around and the curtains are catching a bit of wind.

Slowly but surely money’s coming in now (still waiting for one customer who’s promised twice to send the deposit), and there’s relief in sight. I don’t want to get to the point of worshiping money, but it is necessary, and frustrating when the amount we need/want is lower than what’s filling the bank account. Truly there is a thin line between want and need, so maybe my needs are being met, but my wants are larger than necessary!??! But that old adage about the Lord always being on time is accurate. I sure don’t always get it, but He is right all of the time.

Now off to putter. Have put together some bread dough for today’s lunch. What a sacrifice, huh? There’s no ready-made bread so we HAVE to have homemade. Such a laugh. Sometimes I actually enjoy the times when the cupboards have an echo in them. That way they get scrubbed out! See. There’s a blessing in about any corner you choose to peer into. Today mine is getting the fridge and cupboards tidied up so I can go to the grocery store and stock up tonight. Definitely a hallelujah moment!

At the off chance that I offend someone with my new Blogspot angst, I need to clarify something. For me, to associate with Google now would be a trial. Censorship in any form is abhorrent to me, and maybe I do tend to go overboard in some folk’s estimation, but I do try to stick to what I believe.

The lines sometimes get blurred as to what’s right and what’s actually wrong. This Google trick of limiting access to certain blogs is likened to book burning, and I’ve always had a horror of that, no matter what the publication is we’re censoring. While certain materials don’t deserve the honor of being published, they still have the right to be out there.

The whole point of this post is to say that I’m not expecting anyone to join my bandwagon. Just because I won’t use Blogger/Google products online if I can help it, doesn’t mean that I’ll be judging those who do. My goodness, I’d be cutting off my nose to spite my face if I did that. The majority of online friends I have use Blogger. It is a super product, but for me, it’s just not one I want to associate with for my own usage.

No hard feelings, OK? Now I’ve not heard from anyone about this, and maybe I’m jumping the gun, but wanted to play it safe. It’s so easy to offend with words, especially with blogs and emails.

Hope this makes sense.