Daybook Musings: Sunshine & Pollen

Today: Friday, March 5, 2021

Looking out my window…the sun is shining but it is cooler today than yesterday. I need to go out and buy more birdseed for my feeders. I sent my hubby last week and he came back with a cheaper bag that has a much higher percent of millet (the little yellow balls) and the birds don’t like it nearly as much. The thistle feeder is also empty and I’m on my last suet cake for the suet feeder. I am cat-sitting for my daughter’s two kitty cats for a couple of weeks while she packs up and moves into a new apartment, and they are entranced by the birds and squirrels on our deck and in the yard. So close, yet so far away!

I am feeling…. icky because my pollen allergies are kicking into gear. Even before I saw the yellow powder on my car windshield, I could feel my eyes burning, my throat getting a little scratchy, my skin feeling a little tight and itchy. That’s what spring feels like to me, so I just added saline eye drops and Allegra to my shopping list. I’ve also been reading about natural ways to treat allergies, and not just mask the symptoms. Some of the things I will be trying, or doing more regularly are

• eating a tablespoon a day of local, raw honey
• taking a quercetin supplement
• diffusing peppermint, eucalyptus, or frankincense essential oils
• drinking oolong or peppermint tea
• increasing Vitamin C intake / drinking lemon water daily
• following an anti-inflammatory diet, like the Mediterranean diet, that include lots of vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, whole grains, fish

I am reading...a few articles that are very critical of homeschooling, particularly “conservative Christian homeschoolers”. My friends send these to me because they know that as a retired homeschool mom and former homeschool group leader, I am a huge homeschool cheerleader! I believe strongly in the rights of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children and have experienced first-hand the benefits of living a homeschool lifestyle with my family. Although there have been homeschool critics as long as there has been a modern homeschool movement [ starting back in the 1960’s ], the criticism has changed from “they aren’t socialized” and “parents aren’t qualified to teach”, to “homeschooling is child abuse” and “homeschoolers are creating domestic terrorists” ! I kid you not. There is a new kind of hysteria in these opinion pieces – which are poorly researched, full of hyperbole, gross generalizations, twisted thinking and outright lies. They point to “religious homeschool curricula” and “Christian homeschool organizations” as being extremist, racist, white supremacist, anti-science, anti-progressive, dangerous, polarizing, sexist, and on and on. Again, I kid you not. I started homeschooling in 1994. I have been part of a 300+ family Christian homeschool organization for the past 27 years, and live in a county where there over 8,000 registered homeschools. I have yet to meet a white supremacist or domestic terrorist in all that time. I will be fleshing this out in a separate post soon, as soon as my blood pressure settles down. whew.

I am planning.… for the personal enrichment class I am teaching at the local community college in about 10 days. It is a one day, 3-hour class called Introduction to Creative Bible Journaling, and will be in-person, with a limit of 9 students ages 16 thru adult. I really hope I get enough registrations to hold the class! Honestly, writing that reminded me to pray that my Father God would fill the class, because it is all for Him and by Him anyway. I have been Bible Journaling for about 5 years now, and I’ve loved that I can combine two of my loves in one activity – art and scripture. The class will cover why people Bible journal; explain various ways that people can creatively respond to scripture, either in their Bibles or in a separate notebook; demonstrate some of the supplies that I use in my Bible journaling; and give students a chance to try their hand at laying out a verse; lettering, coloring, and embellishing some pages of their own. I hope to offer additional class series on specific things like hand lettering, journaling with colored pencils and ink, painting on the pages, and adding paper embellishments, if there is interest.

In my kitchen…I will be baking six different kinds of cupcakes this week , to make a sample box for a wedding tasting. So far I am baking for two – maybe three – weddings this spring & summer. I have been baking cupcakes as a hobby business for about 8 years now, starting when my younger daughter needed money for a missions trip to Uganda. That was so successful that we baked cupcakes to fund other missions trips for my family, and then just continued, since friends and family enjoyed them so much. I thought I was a decent baker when I started this venture, but I have learned so much by researching various recipes and also trying to figure out why some batches failed miserably. I can’t count how many cupcakes have ended up in my trashcan! I have about 60 flavors on my cupcake list now. The favorites are probably Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Wedding Bells, Chocolate Peanut Butter, and Mocha Cappuccino.

Moments from my week ….

Quote to Share:

What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. ~ Mother Teresa

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