10 on 10

Hi Friends, 

It's the 10th of the month (already!)

That means 10 pictures on the 10th day of the month.  

{ Document a snapshot of your life and find beauty among the ordinary things in your day! }

so here was my day.

/ 1 / But first, coffee!  😉

/ 2 / currently working my way through the book of John.  I love my new prayer journal. 

The reference is from Hebrews 6:19 - a favorite verse of mine.

/ 3 / Ellie's hens have begun laying eggs!  

/ 4 / School time.  Learning division among other things. 

/ 5 / I had a cookie craving like nobody's business so I made the flourless cookies.  SO GOOD!

/ 6 / Listening to this while on my way to a super fun appointment.

/ 7 / For Christmas Matthew gave me a coupon for a massage with a friend who is a student at a massage school.... today was the day!  😀

Oh, what a blessing it was to combat the bit of extra stress lately. 

 / 8 / The drive home was lovely with sunshine and blue sky!  It's been a while since we've seen either.  Isn't this "tennis shoe tree" jolly? .

/ 9 / Pizza dough in the making.  Tonight's was Garlic white sauce with Isesrno's chicken sausage.  It smelled soooo good.  Two pizzas gobbled down with no left-overs!  I think they liked it.

/10/ Did I mention the BLUE sky?  😍

. . . . .

And a bonus...(no photo though)
We just finished watching The Help.  Have you seen it?
Sooo good! So sad! So true!  And rather shameful of our American history!
I highly recommend it, but be forewarned of some language.

. . . . .

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

- Carol

10 on 10 'cept only 8

Hi Friends,

You'd be so proud of me, I remembered on the 10th to take 10 pictures to document the day.
It started out pretty well.

My days start out best this way.  I'm currently reading in the book of Luke.  I finished Tozer's The Pursuit of God, and am now reading, The Attributes of God by Arthur Pink.

The 10th was on Friday, which means Cheerios for breakfast for the kids.  This was my breakfast. (Not ALL those sausages, just a few, but it's easier to cook them all up and refrigerate the leftovers.)

Thinking through the weekend, and Caleb being here (YAY) I took food out to thaw.

 I wrapped presents.  One for a bridal shower the next day and others for birthdays this month.

THEN, this happened.
Mary had been complaining for a day, or even maybe two, that her eye was hurting.  I looked, but didn't see anything so thought maybe she just rubbed it too hard.
But it was REALLY red inside!

Come to find out a group of those long, luscious lashes at the corner had curled up under her upper eye lid.  (not just one - a group of them!)

I tried a few things, but I could not get them out.  I debated about whether it was time for the doctor, but instead we prayed.  I asked the Lord for wisdom.  I tried to think what the doctor would do for her in the office.  Hannah had the idea to look it up on the internet, and low and behold she found the answer....Vaseline on a Q-tip.  It took a little bit of working and coaxing, but we got them free!  
Mary was such a good patient, and the Lord was so faithful to answer our prayer so quickly. 

After all that, I forgot about taking photos, until way late in the day.

This was the last of the 5" of snow we got on Monday.  Bye for now, Frosty.

If you've read here for any amount of time, you probably know that Friday night is Pizza Night in our house.  So there's my dough for two pizzas raising in the oven.

and that was our day.  Netflix arrived in the mail that evening.  The girls were thrilled to find that it was My Little Pony.  Eric watched it with the little girls, while they loved it, Eric said it felt like one loooooong commercial.  😂😧
Meanwhile, the older kids and I cleaned up the kitchen from dinner and then just sat and chatted.

And that was my 10th... with 8 pictures. 😉.

10 on 10

10 pictures on the 10th day of the month!

{Document a snapshot of your life and find beauty among the ordinary things in your day!}

I think this is a fun idea, but usually the 10th of the month comes and goes, before I remember, "oh yeah, I should do that 10 on 10 thing".  Anyway, I finally remembered! 

First things first...breakfast.  

I love me some sauteed red bell pepper and onions with my eggs. 

We made snowflakes on our last Funday Monday.  They needed to dry overnight and then we could peel them off the parchment paper.  The peeling off took a long while, but... Ta Da!  Snowflakes.

 While doing school with Ellie, these two got a bee in their bonnet that they needed to vacuum and mop (at the same time!) the whole house.  You GO girls!  Always happy to have the extra help. 😀

Snack time.  Hannah whipped up these No Bakes.  It's so hard to have just one, but they are healthy so there is that!

Most of my day is spent in school time with the kids.  Currently Ellie is using the 10 Days to Multiplication Mastery.  This is a little gem and gets those facts solidified!  Also I'm really liking Spelling You See.

I took a little break from school to try to snap a couple of pictures for the photo challenge. (the prompt was "looking down.")

I couldn't help but smile at the millions of beautiful sparkles in the snow.  Like tiny little diamonds.

For dinner I made a recipe I found on Pinterest called "Jared's General Tso's Chicken".  (tweaked a bit for us, but so delicious!)  I served it with sides of brown rice, steamed carrots, and steamed broccoli.

I looked out my kitchen window to find this amazing moon-rise!  Even though this looks like a full moon, my little Susan Branch calendar says that Thursday is a "wolf moon."  It reflected on the snow and cast such a lovely hue. 

Recently Eric painted downstairs. It's a basement, so years ago I chose a warm-ish color thinking it would make it feel cozy instead of dank and dark.  This time we just went with the color we have throughout the rest of the house (Benjamin Moore Butter Pecan.)  WOWSA.  What a difference.  It looks so nice and clean and bright!
While Matthew and Hannah went to the movies [Passengers, which they say is very well done], and the little girls were all snug in their beds for the night, Eric, Daniel, and I hung some pictures downstairs.

 And that was my day.

Here is the recipe for the "no bakes" if you'd like to try them.

Chocolate No Bake Cookies
2/3 c. maple
1/4 c. oil
5 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. almond butter
1 c. oats
1 tsp. vanilla

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine maple syrup, oil, cocoa powder, and cinnamon.  Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in almond butter, oats, and vanilla until well blended.  Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper lined cookie sheet or plate and chill in the refrigerator to set ~ about 30 minutes.  Makes approximately 2 dozen.


Even though this "10 on 10" was a simple exercise in documenting my day, it made me more aware of just how blessed I am to be able to be home with the kids just "doing life" with them.

- Carol

10 on 10

10 on 10  | August 2016 

10 pictures on the 10th day of the month!

{Document a snapshot of your life & find beauty among the ordinary things in your day!}

Here are a few photos of what I've been doing lately. 
Do you remember when Eric spiffed up our bathroom mirror?  I finally got around to painting the vanity and bathroom trim.  I'm loving the fresh look for our tiny bathroom, and super happy because this was on my "to do" list of projects for the summer.  

I know that I've mentioned more than once about there not being much of a summer here this year.  This is how much rain we got in just one night!  The empty tuna can, meant for recycling, was left on the bistro table on the back deck.  2-ish inches of rain.  Thinkin' I need a trip to Cali to warm up and dry off!

But when we do get a warm sunny day, I've been enjoying this smoothie I came up with. 

3 ingredient smoothie

1 can coconut milk - a couple of handfuls of frozen organic mango chunks - a couple of handfuls of organic strawberries.   In the blender, share and enjoy!

A goal of mine is to have Ellie cook in the kitchen more.  She makes delicious scrambled eggs. (She claims that Caleb taught her how.  :-)  Yay for older brothers!)

A friend gave me some plums from her neighbor's tree.  Plum jam is the plan. 

We have one hydrangea bush where the blooms are just so blue.  :-) 
Hydrangeas to me are the epitome of summer and beach cottages.

Because soon we will want warmth radiating from the woodstove...

Eric and Dan spent a full Saturday working together.  Eric cuts, Dan splits, and they repeat.  

Susan Branch is a favorite of mine.  I've been enjoying her latest book, Martha's Vineyard, Isle of Dreams!  (which is actually part 2 of her 3 part life story.)

I'm been reading this book because I want to learn how to make cultured vegetables.  It looks so simple to do and super good for our guts (if you read my daughter's blog then you know we have a few challenges in that department. 

I've been in school planning mode.

Planners are everywhere, and I desperately need one for the new year, but I can't seem to find what I am looking for within my budget. I recently read this article and I laughed out loud because it is so me. (I'm the "melancholy" if you wondered.)

In the meanwhile I will continue to make the lesson plan books for the kids and one for group subjects.    

So these are my ordinary days.  Happy 10th.

~ Carol 

... Linking with these fine blogs.