Currently

Reading ...  In the Bible this morning I read a few chapters in Jeremiah before reading my favorite Psalm.

In other books, yesterday I finished Will the Circle be Unbroken by Sean Dietrich. It's his memoir. I laughed and cried my way through it. Memoirs aren't my top genre of choice, but I enjoyed it quite a lot.

I started A Girl of the Limberlost last evening. It's been close to twenty years since the last time I read it, and as I'm becoming immersed in the story I'm wondering why I waited so long to do a reread.

Writing ... the only writing that has happened recently has been in my journals, planners, and text messages.

Watching ... the squirrels at their feeder. 

Listening ... to the birds at the birdfeeder. The feeder only has room for six, and there are dozens of them trying to have their turn. The finches especially, are being quite vocal about it. 

Then there's the comforting hum of the refrigerator, the wind whistling through the tree branches and around the corners of the house, and Sharon tapping away at her laptop. The weather is bad and her school has been canceled again, so she's doing it online today.

Baking ... I have some butter softening on the kitchen counter for a new recipe I'll be trying later this morning. Hatch Chile Chocolate Chip Cookies.

We love Hatch Chile but living where we do they're impossible to find in local stores. Instead, we order them from a farm in New Mexico. They always arrive frozen, packed in dry ice, but unfortunately each pack contains multiple peppers. So once I thaw a pack I have to make multiple things with them. 

I have four different recipes I'm using with this pack. One of them happens to be the cookies. I've never done a sweet or dessert recipe with them before and I'm eager to see how they'll turn out.

Cooking ... on the menu tonight I'll be doing a Spicy Chicken Risotto, Salad Cups, and biscuits and then the cookies for dessert. If Steven continues with his plan he will be making a fluffy fruit tapioca which will work nicely for those of us who enjoy fruit with cookies. 

Feeling ... happy and hopeful.

Disliking ... I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but here we go. The snow. I still like how it looks. I still enjoy the wintery projects etc. But I don't like that the roads aren't safe and what that means for us. And as a mother having your oldest child out there doing rescue, recovery, and repairs along the interstate it adds another layer or two of dislike to the snow and winter in general.

Loving ... grandbabies! We very happily welcomed another grandson last month.

Playing ... Steven received UNO No Mercy for Christmas from one of his siblings. We've been playing it daily. Multiple times daily. There's something about how merciless the game is that he finds hilarious, and for now it's his go to game.

We also played FickleFish, Stratego, and Dragonwood so far this week.

Cleaning ... I'm hoping to tackle the lazy susans in the kitchen this afternoon. I didn't take care of them in December and it's time. Somehow lazy susans are incredibly hard to keep organized at our house.