Top 10 Food Related Posts for 2013

#1 -- Garden Chicken Pasta

#2 -- DIY Pancake Mix

#3 -- Tomato Kale Basil Frittata

#4 -- Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

#5 -- Easy Cheesy Grits

#6 -- Ham and Cheese Quiche

#7 -- Winter Sangria

#8 -- Banana Pear Bread

#9 -- Apple Oat Crumble

#10 -- Hurricane Oatmeal Cake

Top 10 Non-Food Related Posts for 2013

#1 -- Simple Woman's Daybook

#2 -- Haunted

#3 -- Simple Woman's Daybook

#4 -- I Thought I Was Fat

#5 -- Last

#6 -- I Am a Survivor

#7 -- What's in a Name?

#8 -- Presents with a Purpose

#9 -- Breathing

#10 -- Nyctophobia

The Simple Woman's Daybook -- 2013

FOR TODAY . . . January 1, 2013

Outside my window . . . it is very overcast. We are in the low 40's but hoping for a little sunshine this afternoon.

I am thinking . . . that being sick over the holidays was the pits. 

I am thankful . . . to be coming out of the coughing fog. I am also so thankful for my precious family members who have cared for me through it all.

In the kitchen . . . dd has been handling cooking chores for a week or more now. And doing it so well!

I am wearing . . . sweat pants, a t-shirt, a sweat jacket, and my house shoes. It's become my go to outfit.

I am creating . . . my stripey afghan. I actually felt like working on it yesterday for the first time in a long time.

I am going . . . to buy a new calendar . . . maybe today. I haven't left the house since the Friday before Christmas, so this could be a BIG outing.

I am wondering . . . how long it will take for this cough to go away completely.

I am reading . . . a new book I got for Christmas. Journalution has been on my want to read list for a good long time. Finally started it last night, and I like it so far.

I am looking forward to . . . feeling better! It's amazing how much I miss being able to take care of my family. Maybe this has been a gift to remind me that I love what I do.

I am hearing . . . computers humming and clicking keyboards as dh and I are both typing this morning.

Around the house . . . dd has been gathering the remaining Christmas decorations so we can get everything put away. She has also been scrubbing floors for me. What a jewel!

I am pondering . . . why television can be such a bad thing for me. I buy into the idea of television as reality pretty easily. It would be easy to convince myself that I'm the only one with a messy house right now -- but I know that television is NOT reality.

One of my favorite things . . . is talking! And with this coughing thing, talking has been in short supply. Dd and I were communicating via hand signals and mother/daughter telepathy last night. Quite amusing!

A few plans for the rest of the week . . . maybe a trip out of the house this afternoon; an appointment tomorrow; and Bible study starts on Thursday. Let's hope I'm up to all that!

Here is a picture for thought I am sharing . . . 

goodies from Seeds of Blessing

for more visit The Simple Woman's Daybook

2012 Wrap Up

December 31st . . . 

How did this happen? Not really the end of the year as much as the end of the holidays. I've been sick for the past 10 days. Really not the way to spend your holidays let me tell you. Curled up in bed tossing back codeine laced cough syrup and antibiotics that made me feel worse than the disease. No Christmas dinner. Alone in the house while the rest of the family went to celebrate. Then assuming the worst was over and I'd be feeling much better -- NOT. Still stuffy and coughing a week later. 

So what have I learned from this experience? Christmas is just another day in the year. There is no right way to do Christmas. I have an amazing family -- husband, daughter, and son -- who all took up the slack and made sure presents were wrapped and delivered. Important food items were prepared and eaten. And in the midst of it all they kept the kitchen and laundry mostly caught up, all while checking on me, feeding me, getting me drinks, and meds, and just visiting me as I coughed my way through bags of cough drops and boxes of tissues.

Oddly, the other lesson I learned is how much I do for my family. I don't really think I do that much as a rule. Sure I wash clothes and dishes. I prepare meals and do the shopping. I pick up around the house, but somehow it doesn't seem like that much . . . until I couldn't do it. Until they had to handle it all themselves. Perhaps I'm not just taking up space. Perhaps I serve some useful purpose after all. 

So on this last day of 2012 I encourage you to look back at the year and recognize what you do for others. Maybe you already know this, but maybe you're like me, and tend to assume the world would function just fine without you in it. You might be surprised.

Blessings of the new year where we all can find our purpose.