A Simple Woman's Daybook

Thanks to Peggy at The Simple Woman for starting the daybook. For more entries, or to join, go here.


For Today: Monday, March 2, 2009

Outside My Window... Still dark. I've been noticing the sun is rising a little earlier. Next week is Daylight Savings Time. Spring forward!

I am thinking... about my new software programs. I bought Serif's PagePlus X3 this weekend (upgraded) and just am amazed by it's sophistication.

I am thankful for... the fact my tire hasn't blown out. Today I'm getting a new tire since I can finally see my one "old" tire somehow got worn in a lopsided way. I was ordered by hubby to get the new tire today pronto, before heading to work. Definitely!

From the kitchen... Coffee, a bowl of cereal and yogurt. Tonight we'll have the leftover baked ziti I made last night, salad with tomatoes, and garlic bread. Even though I bought "sauce in a jar," I "doctored" it up with onions, ground beef and ground Italian sausage, plus more Italian seasoning, basil, and a few shakes of red pepper flakes! I did it right because Mickey didn't say, "This sauce is spicy! What did you do to it?!!" Ha!

I am wearing... The usual. Nightgown and robe. :-)

I am creating... Ah, this is where I'm excited because I am FINALLY getting back in the saddle with my digital scrapbooking pages! It has been so long. I'm learning more about Digital Scrapbooking Artist and really enjoying the program. I'll be eventually posting some pages on my blog. Also upgraded to the newest version of Serif's PagePlus X3, a professional desktop publishing program. Another fine program!

I am going... to get my tire replaced this morning and then go in to work. It's snowing outside, which I didn't think would happen. I know New York is going to get slammed with a big snow storm today.

I am reading... Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyers. Quite frankly, I am disappointed by the series. I know so many love it but I feel she is exasperating me needlessly as a reader. Why did she wait until the fourth book to allow us a glimpse into the mind of Jacob Black? And the storytelling voice is now interrupted, at least for me. Before it was an intimate sharing of a young girl's secrets. Then, when she is at her greatest crisis, boom - the story shifts from first-person heroine to first-person secondary character. Arrgh! I'm not a novel writer but have read countless novels. It just felt disjointed to me. I also started the new book I "won" on Twitter by Peter Marx, (owner of Antique Mall Books), The Historian. Elizabeth Kostova, the author, has a good strong voice. I can tell already that I'll enjoy it.

I am hoping... to keep my promise to not criticize President Obama nor liberals during Lent. I have already been tested and my gosh, it is hard! But I'm trying to pray, instead, which is what I know I should have been doing all along.

I am hearing... silence. My husband just called me from work to let me know it is snowing outside and to be extra careful when I drive to the tire place, which is just a mile away. Very close but it was still good to hear his voice and know he cares. He's such a sweetheart.

Around the house... My jeans and sweater that were "air-dried," The popcorn bowl that needs to be washed, "Bangkok Dangerous" movie that needs to be returned to the video store.

One of my favorite things... Snuggling with hubby while watching a movie. We watched "Bangkok Dangerous" on Saturday night. We both preferred the alternate ending on the disc. We talked about how the younger generation is more fatalistic than we were at that age and it's sad.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: I may have a business networking event to attend but it looks like a low-key week. I plan on using my evenings to play with my digital scrapbooking stuff and getting started on my autobiographical book. Yes. I am going to eventually have my "True Confessions" in book form! :-)

Here is picture thought I am sharing. . This is Old St. Mary's in Cincinnati, Ohio. It's a historic landmark. My parents were married in this church and I just love it. It is the most gorgeous church I've ever been in. I have such fond memories of it. Growing up, our family would always go to my grandmother's home (my mom's mom) on Christmas Eve. The small row house would be packed full of kids and adults, laughing and eating. The older uncles would sit around the table after dinner, cracking roasted walnuts and filberts with nutcrackers while discussing everything under the sun. After dinner and after opening up our Christmas gifts, we would then attend midnight Mass, which was just a block or so away. I can't imagine what it would have been like to have been able to walk to church everyday, but there you have it. That was the life of many of our family members in the 1940's and 50's. Sometimes I wish we could have that again.