We’re pouring candles. The whole house smells like beeswax!

The cold is finally breaking up here, and tonight is supposed to be in the single digits! I’m so excited after a long week of nights in the negatives. We’ve been staying up late, feeding the fire, and eating piles of homemade cheesy-fries.

Now the the deep cold is ending, though, I’m hoping to head into a refreshing week of clean eating: lots of tea, water, and homemade tonics. I’ve been collecting my thoughts and focusing my attention as much as possible today on what I hope to accomplish this first week of February.

• Ordering Bees from a local bee supplier. We’re so excited to finally get going on beekeeping this year!
• Making new napkins. I have an adorable new fabric, and most of our napkins are pretty tired looking.
• Finishing The Discarded Image, by CS Lewis. One of my Christmas gifts! It’s so good, but distracting. I keep leaving it to chase down long neglected books like Shadow Play, The Consolation of Philosophy, Paradise Lost, and others..
• Starting an exciting new science curriculum with the kids. They’re looking forward to having a more varied school day. We’ve been doing more Latin, more grammar, and more arts. This should fit right in!
• Finishing an exciting new writing assignment..more on my writing journey someday soon, I promise!
• Mixing a detox tonic for the pre-Lenten Season.

  ..and settling back into the daily rhythm of life without those late, cold nights. Because it’s been so hard keeping a consistent rhythm while fighting the cold! I can’t even imagine how much more of a struggle it is for those of you in the heart of the polar vortex.
  

That last bit is the most important this week. My Refresh Week. But you can’t refresh order and structure by laying about thinking about it, you have to live it out. So I’ll be living it out. Slowly, gently, intentionally.

I’ll also be jumping back onto Facebook.

I know, I know..why??

Well, I’ve been doing a lot more writing for a few different outlets, and it seems like it’s going to be a necessary platform for a while yet. So, either Seth is getting off Facebook and I’ll be taking over our account again or I’ll start a new one. It’ll be under my nickname, Masha, instead of my full name.

Fun times. If it isn’t worthwhile, I’ll be dropping it again in the summer, but hopefully it’ll help me share my writing in a more direct way.

Despite all that, I feel like I’m getting a handle on social media. I’m on when I need to be, and not when I don’t, which is relatively healthy for an inherently unhealthy system, right?

Now, I’ll be spending the weekend tidying the house, planning my schooling and writing week, writing about growing milkweed for bees and butterflies, and blessing candles. Have a beautiful, joyful Candlemas!