Outside my window...

the scent of wood burning into charcoal in a can in the side yard.  My husband and oldest son working hard to clear the space for our new "firehouse"- the home for his blacksmithing forge and my outdoor earth oven.  I'll definitely be posting photos when the time comes for that.

I am thinking...

about getting dressed at some point today.  I don't want to rush things though- it's only 3:10 in the afternoon.

I am thankful for...

three-day weekends!  It's like getting an extra Saturday.  All day yesterday, Honey and I kept thinking it was Saturday and then remembering that it was only Friday; it was great and worth the day of lost pay (as long as it doesn't happen every week :D)

From the kitchen...

wafts the savory aroma of GARLIC- three head of it, to be precise, in the buttermilk brine for my fried chicken.  I am testing out a recipe from Cook's Illustrated's American Classics cookbook, a thrift store find from week before last.  $2.99 is often more than I want to spend on a used book and if I had noticed the cigarette smoke smell in the pages of this one I probably would have passed it up.  I'm glad I didn't now because I don't notice the smell any more and it's a great book.  I think I'm going to try the thick and chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe next.  I also have peach puree in the fridge and freezer that needs turning into more jam.  Not my favorite chore but a satisfying one nonetheless.

In the sewing room...

that baby quilt is still waiting to be basted.  I bought one of those new-fangled basting guns at Walmart recently, the kind that insert those little red plastic hang tag thingies into the quilt sandwich.  I have to test it still to see if it will make holes or if I can use it.  That must get done this week- baby is due on 7/11 and lives 3000 miles away.

I am reading...

Clifton Fadiman this week.  Also several volumes on keeping goats, Max and Ruby books, a new-to-me Annie Dillard (we go way back to my high school AP English days) at a leisurely pace, Jeremiah.  I always have time for reading- it's not optional.  Oh, and Woe is I - brushing up on the grammar I never learned in that AP English class, or any of my other English classes.  Blasted school systems anyway. 

I am hearing...

the dulcet tones of Coldplay's X&Y album (yes, I still call them "albums")  Coming up next on the ole iPod is Death Cab for Cutie's Marching Bands of Manhatten.  Man, I love my iPod.  Who ever said that was a frivolous gift??  Not me!

Around the house...

the laundry is ganging up on me.  I really need to get it under control.  I might have to resort to the dryer since my forecast shows a cloud with a nasty lightning bolt for each of the next 3 days.

I am looking forward to...

cooking in my earth oven.  It's so hot in the summertime here and I have been really good about keeping the AC off for most of the warm weather so far this year.  If  I could keep the cooking heat outside with the rest of the heat, I might be able to keep our power bill under control.  Despite a rising price per kilowatt in the past few months, I have actually kept the bill BELOW our budget amount. 

One of my favorite things...

is folding dish towels, napkins and cleaning cloths.  Those are my favorite loads to deal wtih, I think because they stack up so nicely into just a few piles and they all get put away in the same spot.  No running hither and yon around the house to put away one measly load. 

A picture thought to share...


Don't forget to head on over to Peggy's blog and read all the other Simple Woman's Daybook entries.  Maybe you can make one of your own!!