Happy Monday! Our week is off to a good start and I’m starting the blogweek by linking up to Diary of a Stay At Home Mom for Homemaker Monday.  We’re working our way back into somewhat normal routines this week, as we readjust to my Superman being gone to work during the day.  Starting out this week….

The weather: Gray now, but warm! It’s supposed to rain later but this morning the sun was out and we all got outside for a little airing.  Fresh air does us all good, but Eva seemed particularly enthused by it–she just laughed and laughed! 🙂

On my bedside table: A phone charger, haha.  Not much else.  I do all my morning and evening reading/writing/planning in the living room.

On my reading pile: Still working through The Anti-Federalist Papers and Robinson Crusoe, very slowly, but I’ve started reading them at the odd moments when I feel inclined to scroll through facebook. Also reading American Cake (ah.maz.ing.), Experimenting With Babies, Anne of the Island, The Life-Giving Home, and the Read Aloud Handbook. Our family read aloud is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but I think we’ll be finished with that in another night or two.

On my TV: Nothing… I want to watch Victoria, but haven’t started it yet. I have the Mount Everest of Laundry piled on my bed right now though, so maybe I’ll get to start it while I work on that.  I’ve been really into podcasts lately, and have taken to listening to them more than watching tv, partly because it’s easy to put an ear bud in and still get stuff done around the house, but also because I get kind of (unreasonably) annoyed at the way my kids act when we watch tv during the day.  It’s as much my issue as it is theirs, but it’s something that I don’t want to become habit.

On the menu: I’m cooking a massive pork roast today, and planning to use that over the next several days.  So tonight will just be pork roast with salad and mashed potatoes (for the kids), tomorrow it will be pork carnitas, Wednesday will be a stirfry and rice.  The rest of the week is unplanned so far, because whatever we eat the rest of the week is dependent on what I get while grocery shopping.

On my to-do list:

Monday: Clean up the house, wash the van, finish laundry, writing, fold and put away laundry, make cupcakes and decorations for                                                                                           Tuesday: Valentines party with my siblings and mom,writing, menu plan and grocery list Wednesday: Grocery shopping and Library, writing,                                                                           Thursday: Maybe a visit with some friends from church, writing, at-home catch up day         Friday: Clean up the house for the weekend and work towards those writing goals

I have some big projects that I’m trying to work on around the craziness of everyday life, but each day has its own set of obstacles to that!

What I am creating: Hopefully whipping up a cute little crochet hat for Eva before it gets too warm to wear it any more, and working on final edits of my next novel.  Also working on a cover for it too! Exciting…

Looking forward to: Being able to move onto a new book project!  The final editing process of a project is my least favorite part.  There are so many little things to tune up, and my brain wants to just skip it and race ahead to new projects.

From The Camera: my favorite picture from this weekend

Looking around the house: It’s pretty clean, actually.  I still need to vacuum, and I have books out on the couch, but that about it.  Oh yeah, and Mount Everest-Laundry on my bed… >.>

Something Fun to Share: This parody of “Closer” by The Holderness Family

Because you neeeeed a parody in your Monday, right???

Simple Pleasures: Watching that parody in the last two seconds before the kids got up from naps.  Really, it was almost perfect timing…

Bible verse: Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him. ~Job 13: 15-16