Sophia Grace.  Let's see I think that makes 42 grandchildren for my parents as well as 2 great grandchildren with one more on the way!!!!!

My shower this morning was disturbed by a rather unusual phone call.  My husband was calling.  When I answered he said, "Silver had a calf.  What are we going to do about it?"  Now that is unusual for him to do.  What exactly are we going to do about it?  It is after all a done deal.  It turns out that he was just repeating the message that Matthew had left on his voice mail. 

So I called Ian, since Silver is his heifer anyway, to tell him that his herd has expanded.  His reaction was a rather dull, "I guess we got the dates wrong."  He was busy at work so he can be excused for being rather unimpressed with the state of his animals expansion. 

Is this a sign that spring is on the way?  I like to think so.  Every farmer breeds his animals so that they start freshening in the spring of the year.  Even the term freshening is a hopeful and spring-like term that makes you think of warm days and lemonade.  It is scenes such as this that are why I like living on a farm.  So, although Silver won't let me get close to her, I will continue to go out and watch her mother her calf and marvel at the wonders of God's creation and the instinct of motherhood in animals such as these. 

Can't wait until my pigs have some more piglets.  Let's see.............3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days from now is?

2:30 this afternoon Matthew went out and checked; Oreo is a bull.  Later this week or next he will become a steer.  The down side of being a beef animal. 

Read the other daybook entries at http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com .

Outside my window........... it is a cold and dreary day.  Yesterday was so sunny and the temp. got up into the 40's.  Maybe today will be so nice.

I am thinking...... not much.  I overslept this morning and now I have to collect myself and plan my day.

I am thankful for ............. a husband who shuts off the alarm when I have a migraine in the night so I can sleep it off.   And a son who gets himself up in the morning and gets things done.

From the schoolroom...... piles of things for me to grade and reports to write.  Matthew will be gone to Baltimore this week so that is my goal, to get all that work done.

From the kitchen.......... all is clean and bright.  Matthew got his own breakfast and cleaned up after himself.  I think leftover roast beef from yesterday for supper.

I am wearing........ a grey tee shirt and long johns.  (I haven't even gotten dressed yet!)

I am creating.......... baby quilts.  I have a new niece plus two friends who are having babys. MK and I spent some time this weekend getting out fabric and patterns.

I am going........... to call my surgeon today and see if he wants me to come in for xrays today.  I fell on the ice Saturday and I am afraid that it still hurts way too much not to get some attention.

I am reading........ A Model for the Future by Kim Alexis

I am hoping........... that I get all the paper work done this week with lots of time for sewing on my baby quilts.

I am hearing........ Matthew in the upstairs bathroom taking a shower.

Around the house........... it's way too quiet.  We need more people around here to make noise and chaos like it used to be when they were all home.

One of my favorite things....... is the walk that hubby and I took yesterday.  It was brisk but it was great to be outside for a change.

A few plans for the rest of the week.......... paperwork, sewing, keeping the house clean and the laundry under control.  No need to cook since it will only be me here during the day.  Doug said to keep it simple

Here is a picture thought that I am sharing with you.............

I can't get enough of looking at this picture.  The expressions on their faces says so much about their personalities.  And to think that the idea came from the big guy still gets to me.  He hates to have his picture taken.  I can hear him saying "At ease the camera!" to me whenever I take a picture of him.  I love those boys.

Yesterday I heard of a little seven year old boy who is in trouble for shouting out in the cafeteria, to a fellow student, "Hey, how come you have only one arm?"  The boy not only has only one arm but his reaction to the question was to answer back, in equally loud tones, "Because I was born that way."  Thus ended their conversation, and their it should have stayed ended.  But no, the adults in the cafeteria couldn't let it alone.  They had to call the parents of the boy who asked the question to come in so they could "talk" with them about their son.  And the parents of the boy who was questioned were called also, so that the school could "run interference" should their be a problem with the incident.

What is wrong with people today?  Is tact something that we are born with?  Have we lost sight of the fact that "children say the darndest things"?  Was there something wrong in the natural curiosity of this little boy?  I know of a lot of adults, as evidenced by the postings here on Xanga, who lack tact.  Who think that the lives of others are fair game for the curiosity of all who wish to comment and discuss.  And those who do so on these blogs are much more relentless than that little boy. 

What is that school afraid of?  A lawsuit  based on the innocent inquiry of a child who just wondered why another child is a little different than he is?  I remember when my youngest was little and we were fostering a set of colored twins.  One of the first things that he did when he was playing with them was to rub his finger on one of their arms, look at his finger to see if the color had rubbed off. When he had determined that it hadn't, he gave it not another thought.  Was he violating a right of that child?  No!!!  He was just exploring the differences between himself and his foster brother.  No different than when I brought home my daughter and my son, on observing her having a diaper change, called out in distress "she's broken, take her back!"  Was he making an inappropriate sexual comment?  No!!!!  He was just making an observation about the difference between girls and boys.  After that he gave the whole situation not another thought.  He merely accepted the fact that girls are built differently than boys are.

This boy, when encountering a child with a handicap was doing the same thing.  He was doing his own bit of investigating.  When his curiosity was satisfied he dropped the investigation and went on with his lunch.  Okay, so this other child was made differently than he was, he just needed to know. 

Maybe we adults should be a little less shocked by these things and take a leaf from their books and start being a little more accepting of these differences.  Stop averting our eyes when we see people who have a handicap of some kind and learn to accept them in the same way that children do.  After all they are God's children as we are the only difference is that their handicap is obvious, ours are hidden in our hearts.

I have a new washer.  I am speechless.  Let me start from the beginning.  Every Tuesday for as long as I can remember I have washed the sheets of all the beds in this house.  I also do a load of the big towels.  Each person has a towel that he uses all week long for showers and once a week I wash them in one big load.  Today was no exception.  Matthew and I came home from Mass and I opened the washer to take things out and put them in the dryer.  You can probably set your watch by that habit.  When I reached in, however, the laundry was still way too wet.  As in dripping wet.  So I thought that maybe I had loaded it wrong and something had been sticking up above the top of the drum.  That does, on occasion, keep the laundry from spinning out properly.  So I turned the dial around to let it spin again, just for good measure. 

The machine started making an awful noise.  Like it was grinding itself up.  When I opened the lid to look I noticed that it wasn't coming up to full speed also.  I then did what any good wife would do; I called my husband at work to tell him that the washer was broken.  He advised me to call the repairman and schedule a time for him to come and look at it.  That done I gave it not another thought.  The sheets and towels could be spun out in the barn washer and then dried and we would be good for another day.

Then Ian became involved.  I really don't like to involve Ian in these type of problems.  He takes everything so personally and so to heart.  But there was no hiding it from him.  He knows that I only use the other washer for really dirty barn clothes.  So he takes it into his head to pull out the other washer and look at it.  The next thing I know he is driving out of the driveway and I am thinking "good, he is going back to his apartment to get some sleep before work tonight."   A half hour later the phone rings and he is asking where the repair shop is located.  My next thought is, "okay, he has diagnosed the problem and is getting a part."  An hour later I hear his truck pulling in and I give it not another thought until Matthew wants the keys to move my car.  Why would he need to move my car?

There is Ian's truck in my driveway with a new washer in the back of it.  He had decided that the old one, 18 years old, was too rusted out to warrant repair at this point.  He took it upon himself to go and replace it.  Knowing full well that we cannot afford a new one right now, repair on the old one would have been tough, he decided to do this thing for us.

That is love.  All the talk about love today.  It has nothing to do with feelings.  It has nothing to do with hearts and flowers or candy.  It has everything to do with seeing the face of God in others and serving him by serving them.  Love is a decision.  It is an act of the will.  It is the head telling the body that I will serve no matter what.  I want what is best for others and I will do it no matter what it costs.  Even if it costs a new washer for my parents.  That is love.

Outside my window.........it is sunny and 36 degrees outside.  I went to town this morning and had the car washed!!!!! I love to have a nice clean car.

I am thinking....... I am going to spend the whole rest of the day making up for the fact that I went to bed too late last night and got up too late this morning.

I am thankful for....... good friends and for family.

From the schoolroom........ Matthew and Brett are done and now Mattew is getting ready to do the rest of his work.  I hear the strains of the Latin Mass being chanted.  I bought a new CD and we are listening to it.  What a relaxing sound.

From the kitchen........ the smell of a chicken in the crockpot.  I think I will make oven roasted potatoes to go with it and maybe broccoli casserole.

I am wearing........... Grey long sleeved tee shirt, blue jeans and slippers

I am creating.......... quilt blocks for two baby quilts.

I am going.......... nowhere today.  I have already gone out and now I have the pleasure of staying home for all of the rest of the day.

I am reading........A Model for a Better Future  by Kim Alexis   and  Those Who Love  by Irving Stone

I am hoping.......... to get to the scrapbooking workshop this coming weekend

I am hearing........... gregorian chant.

Around the house......... things are getting done.  Doug has to work some strange hours today so he has been home fixing things that have needed fixing for the longest time.  Everyone should have a husband like him.

One of my favorite things.......... is having my daughter home on the weekends.  Actually, I'd like to have her home all the time but I need to be adult about this.

A few plans for the rest of the week........ stay on top of my work so that I can go to a friend's house on Friday when she comes home from the hospital.  She is having a hip replaced today.

Here is a picture thought that I am sharing............

My son Jason in a rare moment when he is actually with the family.  Please, dear Lord, keep him safely in your care and under your mantle.  Protect him from the influences of the world, the flesh and the devil.