Our company is gone. It was a really nice visit.
I missed out on Frugal Friday this week, but hope to be back at it again next week.Our guest is due in the afternoon, so it may be the end of the week before I get the chance to make a proper post.
I hope everyone has a blessed week.
If anyone is paying attention to my new to-do list over in the sidebar, you'll see that I've not been able to get everything done every day. You know this because the same thing shows up day after day.
I try to get it done. But sometimes other things come up. Sometimes nothing more than my girls needing some quality talk-time with Mama. Sometimes (like with the Pastor's meal) I'm hashing it out with DH, as he'll be the one eating with him and he's changing him mind all the time. ;)
I'd love to be able to strike it all out, but the reality of it is that I just can't do it all every day. Sometimes my ambition is bigger than my ability.
So it stays there until I get it done.
Finally, a day at home! We have been literally out of the house most of the day from Sunday thru yesterday! And my house shows it. Ugh.
Yesterday was just one of those days that was so crazy that it was silly.
Julia had co-op at 10:45 so we had to be out of the house by 10:15. We took cupcakes to her class for Valentines so that was an extra step. Then I stopped by the grocery store to pick up the sale circular, then quickly home to homeschool my little one.
Before I could even get home, my cell is ringing. The other mom that I'm doing GirlScout cookies with this year just got back from Italy and we have all the minute' details to coordinate for the cookie pickup. So I finally get all that taken care of and I'm at home now, trying to get all of my homeschool stuff together for Jillian. I throw a load of laundry that I'd run before I left home in the dryer. And my phone rings. It's my oldest, she's *broken her drivers license.
Yes, broken.
And what should she do? So I hang up with her and after many phone calls find out what she should do, call her back and let her know. Then I have to dig out her birth certificate. I do, and she's off to get this taken care of. By now, it's past lunch time and I prepare lunch. We eat. Then I start to get the homeschooling stuff started with Jillian, and I get a phone call.
My oldest needs the *original* birth certificate. I had given her a copy. Which I found incredulous because she had her license, snapped neatly into two pieces. Easy to see who she was and all of her info. She had her SS card. She had her college ID. AND a copy of her birth certificate. And that wasn't good enough.
I digress.
So I look again through our stuff and sure enough, I find the original. I call her back and let her know. Now it's time to get the bread going for supper.
As soon as I get the bread going, oldest comes in and gets the paperwork. While she's talking, I start to get supper prepped. Then she leaves and the dryer dings. It's stuff I have to attend to right then (of course).
I give Jillian some reading to do and start to concentrate on the house. I have literally like an hour before I have to leave to pick up Julia. In that hour I unloaded the dishwasher (that I'd ran sometime in the middle of this chaos), load the dishwasher, do more laundry, shape the bread into rolls and bake them, get supper cooked, straighten the house, get all the food together that I have to take with me, and we hit the door.
We pick up Julia AND her two friends. I take them all to grab some fast food and then to the neighboring church where I take part of the homemade supper in for me and my friend. (My girls would have loved the homemade food, but her girls wouldn't have eaten it.)
We eat a quick supper and then she and I start setting up for the Valentine party.
Long story ... well ... still long, we get home around 8pm. I heat DH's supper and he eats. Then we change the sheets on the bed together and pretty much fall into it.
Hopefully, today will be a make-up day. And I can get all the stuff done that I didn't get the chance to do EVERY OTHER DAY THIS WEEK.
If my daughter can keep from breaking some other important, official document, that is.
*How the heck do you break a license? I mean really, have YOU ever broken your license? Me neither. She said she was holding it be each end in one hand and it just snapped.
:D
I've seen others put their "To-Do" list on their blogs, so I decided to give it a try as well.
Note that this is not all that I will do today. ;) I have my regular schedule that I follow each day of the week (which I fully intend to post at some point). This is the "extra" stuff that I need to get done today.
I normally have a list here (on sticky paper) of the extra things that need to be done on a given day (the routine things, I'm pretty familiar with and don't need a list anymore). This just makes me a bit more accountable with it posted I suppose!
Since Ash Wednesday is only 9 days away, I've been thinking about Lent a bit these last few days. Our church is having an Ash Wednesday service, and I really want to go, but I'm not sure we're gonna be able to make it. That is right in the middle of our company coming from out of town.
But whether we get to go or not, I want this time of year to be recognized. I think the girls are definitely old enough now to participate in a meaningful way.
I'd love your thought or ideas on how you observe Lent.
My pastor is amazing to me. I thought for a while that it was only me feeling this way, but it's not. When we discuss the sermon after church with friends, I'm still, after a year, shocked. The man truly has a gift. It's not like anything that could come of this earth.
We all hear him differently. Every week. I hear something that strikes a nerve with me. DH hears something with just the vaguest difference that allows it to strike a nerve with him. Our friends ask, but didn't you hear XYZ? That strikes a nerve with them.
And the fact is, of course I heard what they heard. But my heart interpreted it for my own life. Just as everyone seems to be doing.
And he's so humble, that it's, ... well ... humbling.
I can't tell you what a blessing it is to have this man in our lives.
Things are coming along here. But you know how mussed up everything is when you're in the middle of moving things around and doing major cleaning? Well, that's where I'm at right now. It will get better though. And I can see some parts of it starting to shape up.
Thank goodness.
I just wanted to quickly touch on a point that's been on my mind all day. Yesterday I caught a piece of Dr. Phil. It was about these 3 couples who were on the verge of divorce. As you can imagine, there was lots of drama. These men were not very nice to say the least. The wives definitely had their issues as well. And when I saw the (bleeped out) cursing and yelling that went on within earshot of the children, I just cringed.
Anyway, there was this particular couple on there that I'm talking about in this post. The woman, a stripper by trade, was having an affair. The guy, by his own admission, didn't treat her well before he found out about the affair, and now he sees what he's about to lose and his attitude (he says) has changed.
So Dr. Phil was asking her how this affair made her feel. She said that she had no idea why she even did it. Dr. Phil isn't screaming or cursing of course, but he has this dead serious look on his face and he tells her that he's going to help them to build their marriage from the ground up, and then he looks her square in the eye and says that he wants this man to go. She agrees with him. And he said that he's not just wanting her to tell him that this man is gone. He wants the man to go. He is going to bring him in and she is to tell the man that he is gone. Period.
This young woman looks at him with tears in her eyes and says, "Yes Sir".
Now, time will tell how this plays out obviously, but it was amazing to me how easily he got her to at least, and with great respect, vocalize agreement with what he was saying. She absolutely listened to whom she perceived to be in authority.
She alone is responsible for her actions. But she seemed so willing to obey authority that I wonder if she's ever had any authority in her life. And it made me really sad for her.
She just seemed lost to me.
Like so many women in marriage today. Stumbling around with no idea how to behave or treat their spouse. No idea what marriage means. Almost like no idea of right and wrong.
And that is truly scary to me.
(And before it's pointed out, I *know* the men were even more the focus of this show. I'm simply talking about one subtle thing that I thought was screamingly telling.)
They had told me when I made this dentist appointment that it wouldn't take 10 minutes. And it literally didn't! I couldn't believe it. Who goes into the dentist for 8 minutes? So with all the time left over, I made a monster trip to Sam's which is right next door to my dentist.
Anyway, on my way home, I heard this song that reminded me of the conversation going on over at Stephanie's Blog.
My husband is a Mr. Command Man if ever there was one. And this song *really* reminds me of him.
You enjoy it while I get back to my maniacal cleaning. ;)
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DH told me last night that a friend of his is coming up from FL for a few days, in a couple of weeks. Our guest room is so *not* ready. (Who am I kidding? We don't really have a guest room. We have a room that we are trying to make look like a guest room when we have guests, and a formal living room when we don't. Wish us luck with that one.) So the next couple of weeks will be super busy here.
I was all set to start tackling the tasks, but then remembered that I have a dental appt. this morning. So they will have to wait until the afternoon at best.
And I also have all these blog posts floating around in my head. Hopefully they'll marinate there and become better once I can get them all out. 'Cause you know, if I had all the time in the world, I wouldn't have a thing I could think to post about.
My kids are just *not* good at sleepovers. The somehow don't get the "sleep" part. At all. Now I understand staying up late and watching TV, eating a bit too much, but eventually you're supposed to sleep a little, right?
Friday night they went, after much agonizing on my part. I *know* it's not a good idea. I *know* it will ruin the whole weekend. But they want to go so badly. And I really don't allow them to do it often. Their older sister was in their corner. And when Dad spoke up that he thought I should maybe lighten up a little, it was settled.
And BOY, have we paid for it. They are *still* cranky. And lounging around. And just can't seem to feel rested enough to have any type of motivation.
And I'm keeping my "I told you so" attitude to myself. For the most part.
Oh, and the best part? We were informed that our girls were the *only* ones that didn't sleep a wink.
The only ones.
Makes a Mama proud I tell you.
UGH!
In other news, DH and I watched the Superbowl together yesterday! I made many snacks and it was a lot of fun! Being from TN we had to root for the Colts (Peyton Manning was from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville).
Off to get this day started!
I've wanted to start doing "frugal Friday's", but it seems this isn't the week either.
This has been an absolutely insane week. Insane I tell you! DH has been busy literally from darkthirty in the morning until 10ish every single day. He even had things that had to get done on this past Sunday, and ended up busy 3/4 of the day!
And we all know that when our husbands are busy, usually the same goes for the wives. I've been up early with him (though not always as early as he is) and then trying to make things as easy on him as possible, while working my crazy schedule as well.
Last night we got more furniture moved. The furniture in the girls room was poor quality and old, old, old. A friend gave us some furniture they had no space for, and it happened to be perfect! I thought changing out the dressers and chests...how hard could it be?
The question is, how silly could *I* be?
It took us (all of us) about 5-6 hours (we stopped and ate in the middle, so I'm not sure exactly how long) to get it all done. And there is still things that have to be reorganized in their room. And there is still a desk that needs to be moved upstairs and some computer stuff, but other than that...we're done!
And it looks so lovely. I'm so grateful
We have a busy day today. Homeschool stuff and then the girls have a sleepover and we need to make some munchies for that.
And because I'm gettin' things done, here is a picture of the Christmas picture (I snapped a digital image of the 35mm Christmas picture that we sent out with our cards, excuse the poor quality) that I never blogged. Better late than never, right?
(We have another dog, but he's old and cantankerous and wasn't in the mood.)
Okay, I know it's not a huge deal to most of you, but it's a *big deal* for us to get some snow. They were calling for snow last night, but it wasn't supposed to start until around 3am. So my youngest set her alarm (I'm not kidding) and was up before 6! My middle daughter slept with her nightgown turned inside out (??) for (snow) luck? And this is what we see well before the sun was up!
Just the first thing I snapped from my covered porch.
This is something you don't see often, a pool surrounded by snow!
A close-up of snow on the railing to show how much we got!
There is a plant under all that. That little blob in the middle? It was green yesterday.
Our magnolia tree. I brightened this picture. It was made when it was still pretty dark.
My poor strawberries.
My youngest who played on the deck for at least 30 minutes first thing this morning. She was so excited! To tell the truth we all were!The preacher talked on Sunday about God's will. And I'm not talking about what God wants us to do. Not that kind of will. I'm talking about the kind of will that is read by the executioner of your estate.
Have you ever been to the reading of a will? I have not. But it was so interesting to hear the stories of different people who had. They didn't know if they would be in the will. They didn't know what they would be left, if anything. And some people simply refused to go, maybe for fear of being humiliated.
You may never be called to the reading of a will in this lifetime. But we can guarantee that we will be called to the reading of Jesus will. And we are promised *everything*, beyond what we can hope.
Have you ever thought that Jesus left you *everything* in his will? And how sad to think of someone now showing up to claim it.
Did anyone watch 20/20 Friday night? It was about childhood poverty in America. And particularly in the town of Camden, NJ.
Now, I'm no where close to New Jersey. I'm in southern TN, just on the northern tip of GA. So it's not like this was in my backyard.
I know that we all know in our logical minds that there are poor in our country. But something about this particular program touched me in a way that I can't seem to get out of my heart and mind.
I've watched programs before about the poor. And I've always felt God trying to tell me something when I've seen them. I'm still not sure what God has been whispering to me, but I do know that my interest in those less fortunate has grown over the years.
There was a little boy on the program. They showed him hungry. Hungry! Can we really imagine? Can we imagine what his mother felt? Her *child* was hungry, and she had nothing...nothing... to feed him. And he was in clothing that was entirely too big for him (and grateful for the clothing!). He was homeless and they showed the family preacher taking them to different houses that the church was trying to help them get into. And the excitement overwhelmed this little guys face as he looked around these places that would, most likely, scare the pants off of any of us. The places were pretty awful. Dirty. And the child's face shown with hope at each one. And each one was denied him for various reasons.
He ended up in a single room with nothing but a bare bulb, and he was all smiles from ear to ear.
How many of us, given so incredibly much more, smile when we look at our homes and lives? How many of us literally beam when we look at our blessing every day? How many of us go to bed having eaten just a little too much to snuggle down in our fresh sheet and down comforters? How many of us have the luxury of not wearing a coat in our house in the winter because we have lovely heat with no more work than a touch of a button? How many of us thank God for our blessings when we turn the shower on and hot water comes out? Or we push a button and our garage opens so that we can park our *cars* in more of shelter than a lot of God's *children* have at night?
I turned the TV off and felt true shame for every *want* I've ever had. And then I looked around me and noticed my abundance. Really noticed it.
And my heart has been so full ever since.
My glass is more than half full. My cup truly does runneth over.
Sharon wrote a beautiful post on contentment. I urge you to read her post and see if God speaks to you as He has to me.
Since both Eileen AND Sharon did this, did I really have a choice?
Aprons - Y/N? If Y, what does your favorite look like?
Absolutely YES! I love aprons. I suppose it reminds me of my Great Grandmother who raised me. She always wore an apron. I only have one. It's bright red and I needed a pocket so I sewed a dishcloth onto the front of it. Yes, I really did.
Baking - Favorite thing to bake
I really like to bake, but my favorite right now would probably be the nutritionally void, feather lite, white rolls that always makes the family come running.
Clothesline - Y/N?
If an inside clothes drying rack counts, then yes.
Donuts - Have you ever made them?
When I was a little girl, maybe 12 or so, I was making doughnuts and had poured the oil into a metal container. While cleaning up, I picked up the container before the oil had a chance to cool and it burned my fingerprints off for a long time. So, short answer, yes. But not since then.
Every day - One homemaking thing you do everyday
Dishes
Freezer - Do you have a separate deep freeze?
Yes, a small one.
Garbage Disposal - Y/N?
Yes. Love it.
Handbook - What is your favorite homemaking source?
Home Comforts : The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson. I've never seen a more thorough book. Ever.
Ironing - Love it or hate it? Or hate it but love the results?
Don't love it. Don't hate it. Only iron what is necessary. I air dry most of our clothing and shape it when it's drying.
Junk drawer - Y/N? Where is it?
Of course, in the kitchen, just like everyone else. ;)
Kitchen - Color and decorating scheme
I don't really do decorating schemes in my home, but the majority of the room is oak and stainless.
Love - What is your favorite part of homemaking?
Knowing that I have blessed my husband and family.
Mop - Y/N?
Yes.
Nylons - Wash by hand or in the washing machine?
Machine
Oven - Do you use the window or open the oven to check?
I *try* to use the window. But I usually end up peeking inside.
Pizza - What do you put on yours?
I'm not picky. DH loves tons of meat and the girls like cheese. I can do either (or both!)
Quiet - What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?
I like to sit with a cup of tea and read the bible. Sometimes I'll read new blogs! Or do a meme. ;) Quiet moments don't come too often yet.
Recipe card box - Y/N? What does it look like?
No card box. I have a HUGE folder. I definitely need a new system. It takes me forever to find anything.
Style of house - What style is your house?
A 1980's tri-level.
Tablecloths and napkins - Y/N?
No cloth on the table. But cloth napkins, yes.
Under the kitchen sink - Organized or toxic wasteland?
Reasonably organized.
Vacuum - How many times per week?
I try to vacuum the den several times a week. The rest of the house, at least once a week.
Wash - How many loads of laundry do you do per week?
10-15
X’s - Do you keep a daily list of things to do that you cross off?
Only if there are things out of the ordinary that need to be done.
Yard - Y/N? Who does what?
Oh yeah, love the yard. We garden a little. DH and I are in the planning stages of planting more fruit trees and berry bushes. DH usually mows. Though I did it for years. I don't mind it a bit. He cares for the pool.
Zzz’s - What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed?
Loading any last items into the dishwasher and running it.
If you're reading this and haven't done it yet, consider yourself tagged! Please leave a comment so I can come read yours!
This is my 11th year of homeschooling. I'm pretty fortunate to live in a place that (now) is moderately tolerant of us homeschooling families. Years ago, when I first started homeschooling Jessica, it wasn't so easy. Curriculum was hard to find. I'm not saying "good curriculum was hard to find". I'm saying "curriculum was hard to find". It was there, but certainly not like it is now.
And the extracurricular activities? Forget about it. There was almost nothing. And that was hard on a child that had been in both private and public schools through 3rd grade. She really did miss having kids her age around.
The younger two have no idea what it was like back then. They have this tremendous support system. They have been in a YMCA homeschool program for over 6 years. Lots of the same children are there that started with them. They are also in a GirlScout troop that has several homeschooled kids. They are in a brand new youth group formed at our brand new Church. They started this incredible co-op this year. The teachers are unbelievable. And lets not forget all the new "strangers" they've gotten to meet there.
I love homeschooling. I love that I get to spend the majority of time with my girls. I love that I know their friend and their friends parents. And I love that I can trust what they're learning, even when they're not learning with me.
It seems that kids that are homeschooled get to be kids longer. As a generalization, they're kinder in nature. They seem to value home and family in a way that is, unfortunately, not so common anymore. They seem perhaps more vulnerable to me, because they've not had to deal with many things that children have to deal with in school settings. Their hide hasn't had to "thicken up" so to speak.
Which brings me to the point of this ramble.
As the girls get older, they do more things with their friend or groups (like GirlScouts, youth, etc). I have 2 daughters, almost 3 years apart, that I still run around (and one that runs herself around :)) so I can't possibly be with both of them on every outing they have. And I'm finding, especially with the older one (and her older homeschooled friends), that she's asked to "prove" herself maybe a little more than other (not homeschooled) children. Nothing harsh, don't misunderstand. But it's like there are adults "out in the world" that seem to want to push these girls a little harder.
I have a friend, a homeschooling mom, who adores her children (like we all do). And she seems to think that this isn't a bad thing. She says that her children need that conflict from positions of authority to learn conflict resolution. They they need to learn to deal with someone who might be in a bad mood, or grumpy, or maybe just doesn't particularly like them for whatever reason.
I just couldn't disagree with her more.
There are some downsides to homeschooling for the children. There is no prom. There is no lunch line. There is no school bus. There is no football games.
At the same time, there is no bullying, or cutting in the lunch line. No unfair grades because the teacher was in a bad mood, and there should be no adult in a position of authority asking more of my 12 year old simply because we homeschool. She should not have to prove herself beyond the scope of what's she doing at that moment, or beyond other children whose parents choose to school outside the home.
I *like* that my 12 year old has "thin skin". I like that she's not world hardened.
Isn't there plenty of time for that once they are adults? I'd love to hear any thoughts on this (even if you *gasp* don't agree with me!)
Reading the heartfelt comments from my last post has got my head just swimming with thoughts. I wish I had time today to hash out these thought into a coherent post, but, of course, I don't. Julia has co-op in just a little bit. We have youth this afternoon. Girlscout cookies are due today and **I'm** one of two "cookie moms", and our OWN cookie sheets are not yet done. I promised Mike I'd find a place for some things I'd left out in the bathroom *today*...and it's my precious Jessica's 20th birthday (and I don't yet have her gift).
Chaos reigns today.
:D
Julia, my 12 year old, is in a GirlScout Cadette group. Jillian, my 9 year old is in a Junior GirlScout group. They both meet at a neighboring church, together and at the same time, but in different rooms of course.
Julia's troop had an outing yesterday at the Service Center. Downtown. Not at all close to the church. So the leader graciously drove them, knowing that many of us had to be at the church with younger siblings.
We met early to drop Julia off and then Jillian and I went out to dinner. Pretty nice. And then came back for her meeting.
A couple of the moms had asked me if I could hang out at the church after the Junior meeting with their girls until the Cadettes got back from their downtown outing.
No big deal.
But the moms *kept* asking me if I was sure. Did I really not mind? Did I feel safe? Finally I got a clue and asked what was going on. Seems that the church parking lot has been a place of crime lately. That people have been breaking into cars and stealing whatever. With the last happening in broad daylight!
I did notice that they've been locking the doors more lately, but didn't really think anything of it.
After the Junior meeting was over, and the parents started slowly leaving, I started to feel weird. So I took the extra girls and we sat in the van. With the doors locked. And the van running. We were there for over 30 minutes waiting on the Cadettes to get back. It was fine. There was a basketball game going on very close and people were out.
But what on earth? Shouldn't we feel safe in a church? I know I'm being naive. I know it doesn't work like that anymore. People who are looking to do criminal behavior won't limit it for reverence of God's house more than likely. But something feels awfully wrong to me about having to scoop up little girls and watch your every step *AT CHURCH*.
I just don't remember things being this way when I was a girl.
