AUTOHARP DREAMING

The autoharp is an instrument I never tire of hearing or strumming. Not that I am a musician by any means, I love music, but my natural talent is meager at best, and my inclination to make time for practice is weak. However, I have persisted in collecting several lovely instruments and wanting to play them in spite of myself. Enter Habitica. I wrote about this useful tool in another post here. On the site of Habitica, there are groups called Guilds. I joined a guild for people who were struggling. The premise of this group is to discover ONE … Continue reading

Home School Days, wherein I rant

What to do when your first grader is NOT an early reader? What to do when readiness is slow to arrive? What do you do when well-meaning friends and family fuss because it looks like this child is going to be behind? You take a deep breath and evaluate. Learning style of teacher and pupil.  It is a constant question–what curriculum do I use? I used Seton for a very long time. It was not the first curriculum I tried back in the day more than twenty years ago when I first embarked on home schooling. I tried Kolbe (classical) … Continue reading

Snarky Comments

Snarky Comments need not apply. Our moderators won’t post them. Now, if you actually have something to say that might contribute to a discussion of such ideas as those attitudes of the Saints who treat all events in their lives as having the will of God in them, and thus leading to their really laid back acceptance of difficulties and utter trust in God, then your comment is likely to be posted. Insulting comments won’t be posted either. Comments coming from persons whose name link goes nowhere will not be posted–even if they are good ones. Disagreement gets posted if … Continue reading

Planners and Journals

HOPE: I purchased a planner. A planner is an exercise in Hope. I hope to gain better control over my life and productivity. I hope to use this to keep everything in one place so I can feel less stress and anxiety. A new planner has so much hope riding on it. My two-pages per week, FranklinCovey Compass planning system I purchased at Office Depot, is quite simple as far as planners go. I get to fill in the dates, so I was able to set it up to start in May. I went ahead and set up the first two … Continue reading

HOPE

HOPE, a supernatural virtue. Back in January someone suggested choosing a word for the year. I chose HOPE. Everyone knows the verse about Faith, Hope, and Charity and I realized that I needed to dwell a bit on Hope. Hope is a big part of Trust, and trusting God is essential for happiness and peace. I get anxiety so growing in peace would be very nice. So I added the word HOPE to the insert that marks the weekly spread in my planner. It is in green, a color of growing things, and this urges me to be hopeful. It … Continue reading

Getting distracted vs. blocked

I’ve been blogging on the virtues inherent in “tidying up” which includes the goals of getting rid of clutter and excess.  When these goals are not being met, there are reasons. Sometimes we get blocked from the plans we make, sometimes we get distracted. Most of my plans are somewhat dependent on my husband’s work progressing and leaving me spaces to transform-that would be blocked. Sometimes I get distracted by tools I think I need but could probably work around–that is distraction. So, here I sit, still not doing much in the way of images for my blog and I … Continue reading

Everyday Beauty VI: Revisiting my office

I am now thinking about the effects of beauty on my workspace. At this moment, my workspace is a mess. I have a number of things I love on this desk. However, it is difficult to enjoy them fully when the space is so cluttered. I “see” my office without the paper clutter. I see my office with shelves. I see the cupboards with bins in them that make pulling out what I need easier. As it stands now I have to struggle to get to what I need. If there were bins, then I could pull whatever bins I … Continue reading

Ordinary Beauty VI: health

Our culture does not value beauty beyond its relationship to function or earning power. Girls are taught to pursue careers and earn good money; they are taught to develop a career before they consider marriage and family. Men seek wives who can add a solid second paycheck; men used to seek wives who had the skills to create a beautiful home for a family. There was a time when the beauty created by home makers was valued. Girls were taught the skills and could expect to have those skills valued.  Those days are long gone. Our culture glorifies the career … Continue reading

Everyday Beauty V: Tidiness is a result of aesthetics

An empty desk is functional but is it beautiful? A cup holding pens is functional, but a pen cup made from cut glass in a metal frame is beautiful beyond its function. So it is with all things pertaining to beauty including the art of tidying. Marie Kondo, in her book, THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP, writes of taking an object into one’s hands and asking, “Does this object bring me joy?”  That action is about aesthetics, not about function.  An object may be beautiful due to its function but what causes you joy is not merely function–it is aesthetics. … Continue reading