Sn❅w Day!

"A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder."

--Susan Orlean

Are you getting snow where you are? We received fourteen inches of snow this week. Fourteen! What should have been a regular workweek turned into a few days off. Hubs dubbed me his "shovel buddy" as we had to go out regularly to shovel the drive. We wrestled a screen off an upstairs window so he could poke his head out and brush snow off the roof. My broom broke, but he got the job done.🤣We ate warm soup and homemade lemon oatmeal cookies and watched curling (his favorite Winter Olympic sport). And I had a breakthrough with a chapter that's been giving me some trouble. All in all, it was a pretty good week.

What I've been reading . . .

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

Children's

Re-read

"Rontu . . . tell me why it is that you are such a handsome dog and yet such a thief."

Mr. O'Dell was my favorite author as a child, and it had been many years since I'd read this story. I was so delighted when I searched for the book in the library catalog and saw the read-a-likes. Fable by Adrienne Young came up (and you all know how much I love her writing). It was this weird connection between an island/survival story from my youth and the present. I can't really explain it except to say it made me teary-eyed.

The Story Peddler by Lindsay A. Franklin

YA Fantasy

Re-read

"But as I stared around the Corsyth . . . at the beauty shaped by creation and by the hands that lived here--it tickled something inside me. Something that had been so long asleep I didn't even know it existed."

I Heard God Laugh by Matthew Kelly

Christian Nonfiction

". . . in the spiritual life we are continually invited into deeper places, even as the world seems to be luring us into ever-shallower experiences of life and each other . . ."

I visited a friend's church last year. She made sure to load me down with freebies before I left, including this book. It's an easy read with simple, profound statements.

Matthew has a YouTube video called "You Have the Heart of a Lioness". I adapted this as an affirmation, put it on my fridge, and read it weekly!

What I'm listening to . . .

"Leave a Light On" by Tom Walker

"Play With Fire" by Sam Tinnesz (feat. Yacht Money)

"I Will Trust" (Live) by Red Rocks Worship

Currently enjoying . . .

*My dry erase board. I got some new markers for it and moved it into my kitchen. It's getting so much more use there than it was in my office. And it's a lot cleaner looking than the scraps of paper I was using to keep track of meals and scribble running lists for groceries.

*The healing ointment I bought at the dollar store. It's basically Vaseline in a tube, but it's helped my hands immensely. Every winter I get what I call my "grandma hands". Basically, they lose moisture to the point of cracking and bleeding. It hasn't remedied the issue, but applying it nightly (and lotion during the day) keeps it at bay until evening.

Blessings,

J ♥