Anyone else feel like this?

When will she be potty trained?

I just changed a diaper that was ammonia-y enough to make my eyes water.  (I love using cloth for many reasons, but the thought that I have to smell this one again makes me yearn for disposables!)  Oh Universe, please tell me she'll be potty trained soon!

Do they not realize cheese is expensive?!

I was looking today for a recipe for some kind of casserole with chicken, rice and frozen vegetables. But almost everything had cheese in it. I finally found a slow cooker soup recipe that looks good. Good grief. Even the recipes on the "budget" sites had a cup or more of cheese in them. Really, have they bought cheese recently?

That's my tirade for the day. Okay, now I promise to be more calm and balanced.

Mother in training

A couple of days ago, Anne asked to wear her baby. So I tied up a scarf for her to use. She is loving wearing her baby! I love that she knows that slings are where babies belong. And I love that she's really getting into imaginative play.

Doesn't she look cute?

One day watching a video, she was lying like this. I thought she just looked very cute. :)

One day she looked up on the top of her dresser and saw my big doll. So I got it down and she's really enjoyed sitting next to her on the bench in her room.

Father, I know that all my life

An article I read a couple of days ago referenced this hymn. It's by Anna L Waring, a Quaker turned Church of England, 1850. I can hear the Quaker upbringing in her writing.

Father, I know that all my life
Is portioned out for me,
And the changes that are sure to come
I do not fear to see;
But I ask Thee for a present mind
Intent on pleasing Thee.

I ask Thee for a thoughtful love, isn't that nice? a thoughtful love
Through constant watching wise,
To meet the glad with joyful smiles,
And to wipe the weeping eyes;
And a heart at leisure from itself, I like this line, too. Rest from the cares of my heart. Rest.
To soothe and sympathize.

I would not have the restless will
That hurries to and fro,
Seeking for some great thing to do
Or secret thing to know;
I would be treated as a child,
And guided where I go.

Wherever in the world I am,
In whatsoe’er estate,
I have a fellowship with hearts
To keep and cultivate;
And a work of lowly love to do
For the Lord on Whom I wait.

So I ask Thee for daily strength,
To none that ask denied, none denied. none!
And a mind to blend with outward life
While keeping at Thy side;
Content to fill a little space,
If Thou be glorified.

And if some things I do not ask
In my cup of blessing be,
I would have my spirit filled the more
With grateful love to Thee,
More careful, not to serve Thee much,
But to please Thee perfectly.

There are briers besetting every path
That call for patient care;
There is a cross in every lot,
And an earnest need for prayer;
But a lowly heart that leans on Thee
Is happy anywhere.

In a service which Thy will appoints
There are no bonds for me;
For my inmost heart is taught “the truth”
That makes Thy children “free.”
And a life of self renouncing love
Is a life of liberty.

My first real sale!

I made my first real sale on Etsy today! To someone I've never met and lives in another state! Yay! I mailed it to her today. I felt very successful! Congratulations to me!

If only this weren't true...

Changing Diapers

This morning Anne was playing with her teddy bears in her room. Then she got up on her bed, pulled off the changing pad and put it on the floor. Then she walked out of her bedroom. It didn't occur to me that she was doing something in particular. She came back in with a cloth diaper wipe she had gotten wet -- and proceeded to "clean" her teddy bear. And tried to put a couple different diapers on the bear. She was too cute! Besides pretend talking on the phone, this is the first creative/imaginative play I've seen her do. Very cool!