Outside my window... Wow, did it snow today! There's so much snow piled up outside, the plow got stuck cleaning up the access road behind our house. There's so much snow, the kids could go sledding on the hills the plow made along our backyard! There's so much snow...you get the picture.

I am thinking... I wish I was thinking something bold and exciting, inventive even. But I am really just ready to go cuddle up in bed and watch a movie, and just let the brain turn off.

From the learning rooms... all the kids were sick, one after another, for the past 2 weeks. Even so, Amy and Sarah are still plugging away at their word families and we're working through the E's (it goes A, E, I, O, U, beginning with AD and working through the consonants. We just finished EG). Andrew is struggling with math still, but thankfully Paul has stepped in to put more of a fun spin on it. He also studied early U.S. explorers, this week, concentrating on Captain Cook and Daniel Boone.

I am thankful for... the chance to cocoon a little bit. I'm sorry the whole family was sick, including Paul, but we really did need some intense family time with him home. So if the only way to get him to take a vacation with us and chill out is to catch a yucky bug, I'll go ahead and thank God for those mixed blessings.

From the kitchen... I made a yummy batch of chocolate chip cookies today, and Paul simmered up one of his famous soups; cabbage and potato for dinner tonight. It was of course, delicious!

I am wearing... This is the Alaska girl I am...pink capri shorts and a flowery t-shirt. I didn't go outside today, though. I have just been scrubbing the house of all its little germs, and I hate to crawl around on my knees scrubbing floors in my pants--it wears the knees out too quickly.

I am reading...I just finished Anne Rice's Road to Cana, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was so afraid to read it, because of her history as a writer, which isn't to say I haven't enjoyed her earlier works, but I just don't think I could have borne the same style done to the story of Jesus. Thankfully, she was very respectful in her creation of historical fiction. I loved it!

I am hoping... that all these little people get well soon. It's too beautiful outside for them not to be out there enjoying it. They should be making snowmen and sledding, not wiling away the hours watching cartoons they've already seen a hundred times.

I am praying... for health, for so many people I care about, and for their loved ones. It seems I've gotten so much news lately of broken bones, torn muscles, aching joints, and so many other ailments. Paul's kidney has been quiet lately, but I know that struggle isn't over yet, either.

Around the house... I got rid of a lot of unfinished projects this week in my quest for a clutter-free home. The hardest to toss was the braided rug I had started about a year ago, which was really taking the shape of a basket and would have been so much work to fix, I had crammed it in the bottom of my mending basket, which has been looking more like a mending mountain lately. All gone, now! Mending done, hopeless project trashed, looking better around here every day. And, Paul put frames around the kids' bedroom door. I'm loving my house more every day.

One of my favorite things... Mmm, chocolate covered Macadamia nuts.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Scrubbing up the house, plugging away at the home school. Oh, and bummer, I have to take CPR/First Aid on Saturday. That class always leaves me at this weird cross between boredom and nervousness, and I always come out with a headache at the end. I'm going to have to think of something positive to motivate myself through it.