Keep your face to the sunshine
and you cannot see the shadow.
~Helen Keller

Tuesday nights are a big deal around here.

Everyone in our house has decided they’re really into “the singing” show.

Dancing to the Singing from One Ordinary Day on Vimeo.

For Today… April 27, 2009

Outside my window… sunshine….and a yard full of “to do” stuff.

I am thinking… I want breakfast…but I don’t really want to make it

From the learning rooms… back on schedule…finally!!  Thinking about buying stuff to make a pill bug terrarium…our backyard is overflowing with them, and I think the girls would enjoy it…and we have this book from the library right now. 

I’m thankful for… slow days…and the girls being healthy again after a week of quarantine.

From the kitchen… I keep hearing about/thinking about/wanting to have some sweet tea.  I don’t know why.  I generally don’t even like tea, but for some reason it’s sounding so good to me…maybe I’ve got some kind of deficiency that’s making me crave it ?

I am wearing… my favorite warm weather pajamas…i love gray!

I am reading… our latest book club selection is Alice in Wonderland….waiting to get my copy…one of those books I’ll probably either love or hate.  We’ll see.

I am creating… plans to sew things…we’ll see if it ever really happens. 

I am hearing… Toy Story…picked it up at Goodwill on Saturday for a dollar…yay for half off days!

Around the house… still lots of yardwork…hoping to make a dent in that today.  After being tied to being home the last week due to sick kids, my indoor housework is suprisingly caught up…I’m happy about that.  It’s been a while.

A few plans for the rest of the week… stawberries are on sale…hopefully making some jam with my mom.  Maybe hanging out with some friends…I don’t know..we’ll see.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you…

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
~Psalm 19:1

For more daybooks, or if you’d like to participate, click here.

Or leave me a note in the comments… I’d love to hear about your day

Here it is.  Finally.  The long anticipated post detailing my glorious solo trip to the land of cows.  I know you’ve all been so desperate to hear it.

About a month ago (I know, I’m ridiculously slow at getting to this) I went to visit my sister, who just had her first baby.

In the ever-exciting state of Oregon.

It was my first time there.  Sadly it was exactly as I expected.

If you’d like to see a visual of my worst nightmare, check this out….

That’s right.  No sun anywhere. 

Maybe if I hadn’t spent the last 27.5 years in the dessert this wouldn’t be an issue.  But I find that when the sun is not shining I kind of feel the need to crawl in a hole and hide until it’s back.

Luckily I had a good distraction.

Princess Darling was so happy to see me!

I think she basically loves anyone with two arms, because that means less time that she isn’t being held.

Which was fine with me.

Of course as a newborn, little P.D. spent a good amount of time sleeping, so we had to entertain ourselves in other ways.

I’ve been an obsessive follower of the Pioneer Woman for about a year now, so of course it was so  thrilling that I was getting to spend time on an actual cattle ranch.

Our first outing was to watch the bulls get checked for some sort of disease.  They were really into it.

One note: all those fabulous cow pictures PW shares….yeah, you just don’t get the full effect until you’re there in person. The smell really takes it to a whole new level.

Here’s me and my sister, keeping our distance from the angry bulls.

Anyway, this was when I decided to be brave and make the most of my PW adventure.

Didn’t you know I’m total cowgirl?  Oh wait.  That’s right, I’m not.

But it was fun to pretend for a little while.

After that grand time, I got to see “town”.

This would be the store/post office/bar.  Pretty efficient, right. ?

It took me a minute to figure out that this deranged looking animal was actually a dog.

Pretty scary.

The decor inside was super impressive.

There were at least a dozen of these lining all the walls.

Though town was thrilling, for obvious reasons we didn’t hang out there too long.

So what is a restless auntie to do with a new mommy and baby who are asleep more than awake?

This was my project:

Of course we all know they picked the right person for this job.

It only took me one afternoon. (amazing what can be accomplished without three crazies interrupting you)

Isn’t it a sweet little room?  I was so happy to have something productive to focus on.  Took my mind off of the increasing vitamin D deficiency.

Minus the weather, I loved the feel of the ranch life.  But honestly, I don’t know if I could handle being in the middle of nowhere like that indefinitely.  My sister’s sister-in-law also lives on the ranch and it takes 15 minutes to drive to her house.  I just don’t know if that’s for me.

But it is pretty.

I’m told it’s much more impressive in the summer when everthing’s not dead.

And I love the little farmhouse.

And of course, if you’re bored…you can always go looking at cows.

Because you know they’re so exciting.

Or you could just park yourself in front of the tv and hold a baby.

You know that’s guaranteed to satisfy!

Until you have to leave and go home anyway…then it’s just depressing.

I’m glad I got to spend this time.  I know she’ll be completely different the next time I see her.