Daybook --1/23/12

Outside my window... Warm and wet and squishy. OK, 45 degrees isn't WARM warm. But it is for January in Michigan. Yesterday there was more than an inch of snow on the ground. Tomorrow ... who knows? This IS Michigan.

I am thankful for... our upcoming long weekend in Stratford. We weren't sure the budget would go there this year, but it did, so we are. Four days of pure relaxation!

From the kitchen... Pork Sausage Casserole. Tomorrow will be leftovers, and Wednesday tacos. I am going for easy for our dinners, because for most of those two days Roger and I will be in a large church kitchen making 300+ servings of chili for the local Pregnancy Care Center fundraiser in February. He's the chili chef; I just chop whatever he tells me to.

I am wearing... tan cotton pants, an amethyst-colored ribbed cotton sweater with more-or-less-matching cotton socks, black loafers, and a fuzzy rabbit-angora shawl to keep my shoulders warm. Inside our house, the only difference between a 45 degree day and a zero degree day is how often the furnace runs. The thermostat stays at 70 in the daytime and 55 at night.

I am creating... Christmas presents for Miriel and Tirienne. I didn't have time to knit ahead before Christmas, so I gave them each a certificate good for one item, with a trip to the yarn shop for pattern and yarn. Tirienne's beret is done. Next is Miriel's scarf.

I am going... well, aside from the previously mentioned chili-making, this week I have knitting group and choir practice. I thought I was going to need to read for another Quiz Bowl meet, but the organizing teacher found enough readers closer to home (about 45 min. from here.) In this case, I really don't mind not "getting" to go and read.

I am reading... Twelve Drummers Drumming, by C.C. Benison -- a pen name of Douglas Whiteway. This is a mystery featuring British Anglican vicar Tom Christmas. It's not a bad read, at least so far, but it's fairly obvious that the author chose his character's profession so that he could be called "Father Christmas." The book is full of similarly punnish ideas and names, and apparently is the projected first volume in a series (Eleven Pipers Piping, and so on.) But although the protagonist is likeable as a detective and a man, he's not very believable as an Anglican priest. Jan Karon fans shouldn't bother.

I am hoping... to finish this post fairly quickly, since I have a couple of other things to do before bedtime. Which needs to be relatively early, since the chili-cooking begins at 8:30AM.

I am hearing... Bruce Springsteen singing Glory Days. Kelson has discovered the joys of vinyl recordings, and Born in the USA is spinning away on the newly dusted turntable.

Around the house... my weekly schedule is all jumbled up, because the church kitchen is only available to us for two days, and which two days they are has changed a couple of times. My day planner is full of scratchouts and arrows, but with any luck all the laundry and cleaning will get done at some point.

A few plans for the rest of the week... um, I think I've mentioned them all.

Words I'm pondering : "Sanctity of Human Life is about trusting God." This quote is from a blog I read regularly, and really sparked me to think more deeply about the root causes and solutions of this country's romance with killing our unborn children.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... Not a picture this time, but a link. You won't see this on the news, but go here to see Twitter's photo gallery with the hashtag #marchforlife. I went two years ago, and will go back as soon as I can afford something more than the red-eye bus. I can do the bus or the March, but not both.