MISTY'S MORNINGS

And so it happens every year.  Mid-May the lazy days of summer stretch endlessly before me and I wonder how we will fill our aimless days.  Mid-June arrives and time seems to be flying by too quickly.  When I was a teacher I loved the month of June but by the 4th of July my thoughts began turning toward bulletin boards, new students and the need to begin lesson planning for August.  Now that I do not have a classroom to decorate or lessons to plan, I look forward to the month of July as the absolute pinnacle of summertime. Half of June is taken up by learning to settle down (I do have three very active boys) and settle into the new rhythm  of obligation-free days.  I must admit to having had a few fond memories of quiet schooldays during the first week of having all three boys around home.  But then the magic begins to happen.    They start to find their own quiet pastimes and to occupy themselves because they know there is nothing s...

Saturday evening we had a Pioneer Woman Cooks party.  My good friend suggested we actually cook something from the PW cookbooks we both have and bring our families together to enjoy the meal.  I chose a  meatloaf recipe as the main dish and my friend brought P-Dub's Twice Baked Potatoes as the side.  The meatloaf is my new go-to recipe (although I did change it up a bit by adding minced shallots and garlic and pre-cooking the bacon so it would get crispy on top).   The whole meal was delicious and memorable but my favorite part of the evening came when we spontaneously brought out some art supplies and my naturally artistic friend gave an impromptu drawing lesson to RW.  It was one of those heart-warming moments when you realize that your friend loves your children like family .  This counts for a lot when we both live hundreds of mile from our nearest family members.   Friends that become fa...

Remember when I posted recently that I have been looking into  art journaling ?  Well, I found a little inspiration to get me going through the month of November.  Dawn DeVries Sokol is hosting a free month of journal prompts called NaNoJouMo which stands for National Non-stop Journaling Month.   Here is some background on the idea and here is where you can go to join in the creative fun.  I am not planning anything grand, just a month of making time to scribble, doodle and jot in a small hardbound notebook I'll keep beside my computer. Also, for the month of December she is hosting Doodle 12:31 .  This is a paid class but I took a leap and treated myself to it for Christmas.   Another reason I am glad to already have my Christmas tree up - more time for doodling ! So if you are feeling the need to squeeze in some quiet creativity during the busy holiday season, gather up some flair colored pens and a simple journal or even a stack of ...