making me smile~

she woke this morning feeling a bit more like herself.  after another round with a stomach bug over the last couple of days, it's good to have my girl back.  today she is again ready to laugh, change out of her pjs, (which I don't generally use as a measure of wellness, but two days in the same jammies was a bit much..) venture outdoors (off the couch, at all, is an improvement) and even eat a bit of yogurt and fruit.  I don't know what it is that makes her so susceptible to this kind of bug, but here on out this girl is getting probiotics daily.  it seems to have been a bad year around here (maybe everywhere?) for stomach bugs, and she did attend three birthday parties within a week, which upped her sugar intake to way above our normal minimal amount.  I'm thinking that probably but her at a disadvantage when she was exposed to whatever this was.  anyway, hopefully this is our last bout with these nasties for a good long while.

we are saying goodbye for now to our next door neighbors, as travel and business are taking them elsewhere.  the rest of us, the surrounding neighbors that is, are very curious about who our new neighbors will be.  not up in their faces when they move in curious, but...... well, we are kind of a tight little block and our house is about 20 feet from theirs, so it is something to think about.  the lone good thing about our lovely neighbors departing is that I've (we've, really, but honestly Mike could care less I'm sure) acquired some really wonderful things, mostly furniture, through their moving sale and generous gifting on their part.  a tiller, a grow light set up, a large potted gardenia and a hazelnut tree (planted yesterday!), plant pots, a painting, a large wooden chest that we are using as a coffee table, shelves that will be perfect for Claire's little classroom and our in-progress new bathroom, weck canning jars, copper kitchen scoops, a lovely rocking chair, little side tables, and, I think perhaps the best one (although those copper scoops have me quite smitten) - this butcher block:

Mike carried it over last night and already I'm enjoying using it as a work space.  love, love, love.  it may sound like an awful lot of new furniture, but seeing as how we moved into our home just over three years ago and aren't really the 'new furniture' shopping type, it was a blessing to acquire these well loved pieces and I know just where each one will go.  and I love the fact that I know their 'story'.  

we bought some asparagus and rhubarb, a couple of thornless blackberries, and then there's the golden raspberry from my mama.  hopefully all of which will be planted this weekend, along with a new pear tree and plum tree.  papa will be busy playing with the FD pipes and drums band what with it being Saint Pat's and all, but there are always opportunities to squeeze in some family garden and yard work.

I'm enjoying my new copy of Sarah Napthali's Buddhism for Mothers.  this 'complete' printing includes all three of her books and is a hefty 800+ pages.  a bit much to tote around, but my goodness the wisdom in those pages is just what I need.  waiting on a few more books to be delivered today~ always exciting, new books.

I'm getting things in order to make Claire a set of number rods, similar to these.  I am no Montessori purist, which can be immediately observed by noticing the length of the rods.  they are not in increments of 10cm, because that's not what we had.  what we have are these gorgeous pieces of wood that were given to us (along with a truckload of other scraps) by a local furniture maker to help keep the sap boiling last month.  obviously (right?) I was not about to throw these beauties in the fire.  with some figuring, I found that I could indeed make her a set of 10 number rods.  they just go from 1.5 inches to 15 inches.  but we won't really need to focus on that.

these girls...... they are lucky to be so cute and (usually) charming, because their laying is weak!  but that's alright, we're getting some chicks soon, probably in three weeks.  2 ameraucanas and 2 black australorps.  or maybe golden laced wyandottes?  we'll see.

the sun is shining, it is Friday, and I'm off to carry over some furniture and check on the seedlings.  cheers!