As He Leads Us

Check out my new button.

It's on the right side and down a bit. It's to direct you to Megan over at Sorta Crunchy. She and a friend of hers are researching and writing a book on their parenting styles. It is an awesome project that I wish she would have written 14 years ago.

You can check out the foundations of their philosophy here.

If you would like to get in on their discussions, please check them out each Monday.

See you there!

Thousand Words Thursday

Hi. Yes, I am still alive. Barely. The crud is back and I can't breathe very well. But we are returning to normal slowly.

So here is my attempt to slowly rejoin the bloggy world.




My daughter has very long hair. Very. Long. Hair. Although it is the perfect palette for all kinds of twists and braids and things to make a momma swoon, she prefers to wear it down. Always down. Except when Mommy insists that she do something extra for the wedding she is getting ready to be in. She pouted, but got the job done. Unfortunately, it was all for naught. Besides being long, her hair is as straight as it comes and the curlers did nothing at all. Well, not for more than about 10 minutes.

Not Just Another Day

I have a lot of thoughts and feelings today. And while I could express them here, so many people have already done such a great job. I will direct you to a few of them.

• Missy at It's Almost Naptime hit the nail on the head for most of us. And she had a cool video that I hadn't seen before. Check her out.

• Our dear Beth Moore has opened her blog for people to pray for our new president. Read other's prayers and add yours here.

• Maria at Jubilee on Earth is never one to mince words and today is no different.

• And while this is not directly related to the inauguration, I think it fits right in. Check out this from Kisses of Sunshine.

That should keep you busy for awhile. I'm going to Bible Study!

Thousand Words Thursday

So I was checking out things over at Sorta Crunchy and Megan had this going on. Since I am still running around like a chicken with my head cut off (Or sitting and staring at a blank space on the wall in a semi-catatonic state. Exhaustion does that to you.) I thought I would play.



This was taken during a beautifully clear but slightly chilly day at the park a little over a month ago. She was playing by herself in a pile of pea gravel. So much sweetness and contentment on her face. I was quite a distance away. I'm not sure she even realized she was being photographed.

If you want to play, too, it's Cheaper than Therapy.

A Tag

YD over at her Little Bit of Everything Place posted a photo game and tagged all who read it. I peeked, so I'll play.

You are supposed to post your 4th picture in your 4th picture folder. Here's mine.


It is one of the first pictures I took with my camera I got last Christmas. I don't know if the girl was freshly awake or just vegging at the TV, but she looks kind of half there. She's still my Sweetness Baby Girl.

If you want to play along, consider yourself tagged. Leave a comment to come look at your photo.

Making Do

I have a cold. A miserable, awful, snotty head cold. And we had a cool front roll in this morning, so it's a bone-chilling 50 degrees outside. (Sorry. A little Houston humor there.)

Even though it is not too cold outside, I wanted some soup for lunch. Some onion soup. While I often make a big pot of soup and freeze it into individual portions, I didn't have any onion soup. I'm not even sure if I have ever made onion soup. But I have eaten plenty of it and, well, there is a first time for everything.

No one else wanted onion soup, so this was going to be a small pot of soup. What sounds good? I know, start with some onions and garlic. You can't go wrong there. I sliced some onion very thinly and added it to a giant, minced clove of garlic in a skillet with some butter. Mmm. Smells good already.



Since this is my soup and I can make it anyway I want, I decided that I wanted to add some sliced, golden fingerling potatoes that I had on hand. As soon as I noticed a little brown showing up on the onion, I threw them in, too.


Looking good. When I was convinced the potatoes were tender, I added a little of the leftover beef broth I had in the fridge. I just wanted to get up all the yummy brown bits from the bottom of the pan.



I had the rest of the broth in a pan already. Just wanted to heat it up and add some thyme. When all the brown bits were up, I added it to the rest of the broth and let it simmer for a few minutes.

I took one of my little Corning Ware bowls and grated a little Gruyere cheese in the bottom. I had some leftover from a holiday meal.


I added the soup to the bowl.


Now, I didn't have any French bread handy, so I just trimmed a regular piece of whole grain bread to fit the bowl and made do.



Then I sprinkled some more cheese on top.



Put it in the toaster oven to broil.


Doesn't it look all toasty and warm in there? Watch it carefully. It doesn't take too long to brown.

And here is the finished product.


It really hit the spot. I will say that, if I ever to do this again, I will leave out the potatoes. They didn't add anything to it and their texture probably took away from it. But it was good and warm and soothing.

Go forth and make do. And make soup.

New Year, New Look...

...whether I like it or not.

As much as I love and appreciate The Cutest Blog on the Block, they have apparently ditched my before Christmas design. I liked it. *sniff*

So, I have been playing around with a few different choices and I, quick frankly, am tired of it. What is here won't be here long, but I'm tired of messing with it right now.

*****

I'm sorry I have been so scarce lately. First, there was the whole removing Christmas here and abroad mess. Now, I am filling in for the new cook at the day school who doesn't start until February. It is going to take me awhile to get into a groove, what with adding 6 hours to my schedule every day. I'm not in that groove yet. I'm guessing that about the time I find that groove I will be finished. Such is life.

*****

I am feeling like, what we call around here, a poo-poo face. I think I am just tired. And the boy is being difficult. And Beloved Nephew and his wife are leaving tomorrow. And I'm tired. And my blog template is gone. And I'm tired.

I think I will just go now. Back to your lives, Citizens.