7 Quick Takes: April 24th

One
Just started a funny little book called The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald about a "city" girl who gets married and moves to the country to start a chicken ranch. It was written in the 1940s, I believe. Quite funny and sweet. I love a book that causes me to laugh out loud. The last book I read that did that was In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson.

Two
My son got an "A" on his Latin final exam! Not only an "A", but the highest grade in the class! I wish I could take any credit for helping him achieve that, but with the adoption craziness, my Latin lessons with him went out the window. He's done that on his own this semester. I'm so proud of him!! It is the one area I required him to keep up with at all costs...guess it paid off.

Three
Our landscaping project is coming along. The beds in the front and to the right of the house have been laid and mulched. Yesterday, we went to buy a load of rock for the other side of the house and the back yard project. We are coming to the place where I can start planning flowers and bushes and trees. I've got my mind set on a few for varoius spots: dogwoods, azaleas and hydrangeas, but I need to branch out a bit, too. Any ideas? Keep in mind: southern, middle-class, suburb, small lot.

Four
Ok, I'm home from Ghana, baby is settling in, couple weeks of homeschool under our belts, hubby goes "back to work" (he works from home) Monday...life is getting back to normal. All except my housekeeping! I think I need to start FlyLady again. Any flybabies out there? How oh how do you jump back on the wagon after being off it for so long!?!

Five
A couple years ago I inherited quite a bit of silver (placesettings, serving pieces, trays, even a champagne bucket. Some of it was in pristine condition and some of it needed serious polishing. I polished my little heart out for a few weeks (I enjoyed it so much that I even started taking in friends' silver to polish!). Then I found these little 3M silver strips that you put in with your silver to keep it tarnish free. The strips treat the air (much like silver cloth does) to reduce the tarnish - ingenious! They have kept my silver beautiful for two years and have only been replaced once. However, I think I let them go too long inbetween replacing the old strips with fresh ones. My silver is getting black again. Time to polish...luckily I kind of enjoy it. How, you ask? I get a really good book on tape and polish away.

Six
So, we are approaching the teen years with our eldest. He turns 13 in May. Wow. A couple years ago hubby took him away for a weekend to have the "talk" with him and that included discussing dating and our family's approach. Recently, we've seen lots of "boy and girl" stuff going on in various groups church, co-op, etc. All innocent, but we feel it might be time to readdress this with him and as a family. There are some other families we are close to who are in the same place. I'm wondering what resources out there might be available to help us in that conversation (with our kids and among each other). Anyone have suggestions for DVDs, books, etc that discussing a Christian approach to dating, courthship, etc.?

Seven
I have another new blog (I know it is a bit of a sickness, no?). I love the idea of a commonplace book, but I find I won't keep one unless it is online. So, I've started an online commonplace book. I'm really enjoying it and having it online makes it so much easier to sort and organize. Come check it out: Forest of Things.

Have a lovely Friday! Go enjoy some more Quick Takes.


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