Currently

Reading ... I'm reading through the book of Mark in the Bible. In fiction, I picked up Akin to Anne by L.M. Montgomery, at the library. It's a  book of short stories. Each chapter is its own little story with new characters to meet. It's written in true L.M. Montgomery fashion which I enjoy, but somehow this book is beginning to wear on me. So many orphans, so many impossible happy endings. I'm sad to say it's beginning to get to be too much for me. In non-fiction Steven and I have been enjoying reading through a world atlas book that is filled with fun facts. He chose it as his bedtime story book instead of one of the many children's books he could have chosen from. Who am I to argue his choice?

Writing ... so far this week the only things I've written are two blog posts, a few words on Instagram and Facebook, answered an email, and created several schedules and to-do lists.

Watching ... nothing at the moment. There was a baseball game going last night, but I think I may have only taken a handful of short glances at it.

Listening ...  to the rustling of pages being turned, and the fun scratchy noise of pencils traveling across paper. We have started our new year of school.

Cooking ... we're not having much for lunch today. A nice salad and then I'll heat up some left over fish.

Drinking ... lots and lots of water.

Wearing ... a pink and black top, and a slate gray skirt.

Loving ... the roses that are blooming right now. We have numerous rose bushes, but somehow they seem to take turns blooming. Last evening we had quite a bit of rain, when it had slowed down to a fast sprinkle I dashed outside to take a picture of the roses while they still have raindrops on them.

Playing ... Steven found an old Chutes and Ladder game board. I have no idea where it comes from, but it's missing the box and all the playing pieces. That didn't deter him though. He set it up with toy animals for games pieces, dug out a die, and asked me to play. I set aside what I was doing and helped him play. I am decidedly not a fan of the game. It goes on and on and on and on. Every time the end was in sight we'd land on a chute and go sliding way back. I may have finally invented some new rules that made that his toy animal was strong enough to climb up chutes as well as the ladders. Surprise, surprise! He won!

Wanting ... some fun journaling supplies.

Needing ... to get some things thawed so I can make supper tonight for my hungry family.

Crafting ... some fun little projects that tie in with Steven's history.

Feeling ... happy, hungry, and just a touch sleepy. My alarm clock got me up half an hour earlier than planned this morning. The idea of missing that sleep is making me sleepier than the actual loss of 30 minutes of sleep.

Disliking ... this ugly virus that is making its rounds through our area. Currently four out of the six of us have had a turn. Here's hoping the remaining two will somehow be able to escape catching it.

Thinking ...  about the whole blogging thing. When I started nine years ago the blogging world was filled with tons of fun blogs that I loved to visit. They shared their life, their thoughts, ideas, tips, encouragement, and anything else that happened to be on their mind when they sat down to write another post.

That type of blog is getting harder and harder to find, being replaced by those who have carved out a specific niche for themselves and stick firmly to it hoping to earn a living through the ads, product reviews, and affiliate links they share. That's perfectly fine, but I miss getting to know the writers and I will usually not visit those regularly.

That said ... I've felt somewhat confined with this blog ever since I wrote my first book. I need to keep it Amish related I was told. It took some of the joy out of writing when I had so many things tumbling through my head, and I had to sift through them all to find something more "niche" related.

One day I decided to start another blog. One where I can be just me, and write anything and everything I feel like. I have loved it. But this blog, A Joyful Chaos, is still the dearest to my heart. I was considering this for a while already, and this morning as I sat down to write another post for my other blog, instead of posting I closed it, shut it down, it's over.

So in the future you can expect much more of a variety of posts here. Yes, I'll continue sharing memories of growing up Amish and the journey that brought us to where we are today, as well as other Amish related things. But there will also be anything and everything else.