I'm linking up again with Amy of MomAdvice to share three little things that are making me happy this week! Then, going back to my Simple Homemade roots (where I did a weekly weekend links post), I'm going to start sharing a weekly list of favorites with you-- links to articles/posts, books, music, etc. that I'm enjoying that week. Welcome to what I hope will become a weekly tradition that you enjoy... and that I stick with!
I'm calling this series Weekly Surf Report because it will include lots of places around the web you can surf on over to if you're interested in what I'm up to, and well, because my blog is named after Gidget after all. ;)
3 Little Things making me happy
1. Baseball! Our family's favorite pastime is back and it always feels like we're back to normal mode during the baseball half of the year. It's the soundtrack of summer to me, and anything summery warms my heart (literally and figuratively). I'm happy to have Vin Scully's voice on in the background for a few hours most days, between April and October.
2. ¡Español! We just got Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish for Gigi through our charter school, and I'm thrilled to see her drilling away learning my second language. I feel like I've been a slacker (like the shoemaker's kids not having shoes?) not teaching her more Spanish sooner, and I think she'll really enjoy having a special computer program that she gets to use.
3. Feeling loved... and heard. A few weeks ago, David started a new job. As he's trying to get to know the guys at work, he's gone out to lunch more than normal, and even experienced a department BBQ and a catered meeting. At one point I (half-) jokingly commented something like, "Must be nice! I wish my company would take me out to lunch!"
Well, sure enough, last night David asked me if I had plans for lunch and proceeded to tell me that "the company" was going to deliver lunch to me. Such a sweet, thoughtful (and playful) thing for him to do for me, knowing how I "work" long hours each day with the kids. Gigi was pleasantly surprised when I shared my pizza and salad with her while the others naps today. What a treat!
Weekly Surf Report
- I'm Done Making My Kid's Childhood Magical over at Huffington Post is a fabulous post that made me take a big sigh of relief.
- I've had this post by the Nester, on having guests when your house isn't perfect, in my OneTab for a couple of weeks and finally read it, coincidentally the week after we had houseguests in our imperfect little home. I love what Myquillyn says (about the same friends we had visiting actually!), "So basically, the Simple Guru of the Internet is coming to my unfinished, fixer-upper, chaotic house. She actually came a few months ago, when our house was in even more chaos. So that helps me remember the words I write in this post. Because I too, have to remember that THIS is so worth it and that Tsh can be trusted with my imperfections. I know she can."
- The Extended Family of My Two Open Adoptions at The Atlantic-- since we have an open adoption ourselves, I loved reading about another family's experience with this kind of "extended family."
- My friend Haley of Carrots for Michaelmas wrote a lovely defense of Fanny Price, and upon finishing my second reading of Mansfield Park, I wholeheartedly agree with her: "Developing a friendship with Fanny is slow going for the reader, but it’s worth it. She’s like the quiet girl in class that you didn’t talk to until halfway through the year and then turns out to be your new best friend. She’s the friend you can talk to for hours and who really listens. She remembers to call on your birthday and brings over a meal when there’s a crisis. Fanny knows that charming people only care about how others perceive them, not about what’s really inside."
- Speaking of Mansfield Park, you can join us for the second live chat of the book club next Wednesday, April 9th at 6pm PST.
- We're reading Persuasion next, and I'm also starting a few new books on my Kindle: How She Does It by my friend Anne, Mom Seeks God, and Baby Steps (which looks to be very funny) by a friend from high school (!).
- I had a guest post this week over at Pick Your Portion, where I wrote about Psalm 5, and my experience with spending the early mornings with the Lord.
- I also wrote a post over at The Art of Simple about the thrilling topic of insurance. ;) Seriously though, selecting insurance has been a definite learning curve, and I share in that post some of the lessons we've learned over the years.
- Don't forget - you can still share your blog post or comments with what you've been doing with your pins on this month's edition of Pinterest to Real Life.
What's making you happy this week?