Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Christmas!
Sunday - Relax
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Pride & Prejudice Movie Day
Tuesday - WORK 5
Wednesday - WORK 5, David's 16th b-day, Go to see Tron
Thursday - WORK 5
Friday - WORK 5, New Year's EVE!
Saturday - New Year's DAY! (Thrift store 50% off clothing sale! YAY!)

Last week Suzy stayed with my parents when we were in town for Christmas. She had a great time visiting Suzy's donut shop, scrapbooking, seeing Megamind with Aunt Janet, and much much more. We met up with Mom and Dad on Tuesday afternoon to get her back. She was SO TIRED! lol

We went on to Maryann's for the evening. On the way we stopped at Kmart and bought a wafflemaker since I had the bright idea of making waffles for Christmas. We also stopped and bought a used Singer sewing machine I'd seen on craigslist for $30. The person lived only a mile or so from Maryann, so that worked out great. The sewing machine needed a bobbin case, but I found one on ebay for about $5. So for $35 I now have (hopefully) a working sewing machine. When the part comes, I'll let you know for sure!

Weeks have passed, maybe months, since we'd spent any time at the McDowell's, so it was great to visit there! We just hung out, made dinner, chatted, and then watched Knight and Day. Well, that was Maryann and me and Erin (her adult daughter). The kids played with toys and video games, and outside in the snow! So fun! I knew I had to work the next day though, so I cut it off earlier than I'd have liked and brought the whole crew home.

Christmas cookies took up most of Wednesday. I didn't make bunches, like last year. Just some sugar cookies - all for us! LOL

I think it was Thursday I went to the grocery store and it was already pretty crowded. Can't imagine what the lines and parking lots were like on Friday (Christmas Eve) since I didn't go anywhere! We had thought about going to church Christmas Eve but we pooped out. Wish we'd have gone though.

Our Christmas dinner was a non-traditional nibble tray feast and it was a HIT! I think we'll do this from now on. I did cook a ham on Thursday since we got one unexpectedly as a gift. But on Christmas Day, I did trays of: cheeses, summer sausage, deli ham, cut-up veggies, pickles, shrimp, chips, fruits, jello, cookies, candies, etc... I changed up some of it as the day went on. Most of the food was left out all day and the kids just ate as they wanted. Next year, I'll prepare it all on Christmas Eve day rather than waiting for Christmas Day and then all I will have to do is pull it out of the fridge! Everyone loved it and there was virtually no cleanup. I did make cheesy potatoes because *I* wanted them. But those are easy anyway. So, I think we have a new tradition! And I'll be thinking all year things to put on our nibble trays.

I had planned to make waffles on Christmas morning, but we had some muffins and fruit first thing and no one was hungry for waffles at the time we'd planned them. So I figured we'd do it much later in the day. But still no one was hungry - nibbling all day! LOL So, we had it for breakfast today instead (Boxing Day).

This is how our Christmas Day looked:
Sometime between 7-8 am James got up, but no one was up so he went back upstairs, I guess.
Sometime before 9, I got up and made the coffee. James heard me and came down. The rest came down eventually, except David who had to be pried out of bed with a crowbar, almost. Once everyone was upright, we opened our stocking gifts - youngest to oldest (kids only).

We'd planned waffles after that, but as described above, that didn't occur. So I got dressed and Bob too, and then we moved on to the gifts. We decided to have everyone open 2 gifts and then move to the next person, youngest to oldest. (We don't do a chaotic tearing-into-the-gifts thing, here.)

So, that took a while, to get through all the gifts. What a blessing that I was able to buy so much this year. All those extra hours paid off! It's been a long time since we've been self-reliant at Christmas.

After the last present was opened, I put out the food and people began nibbling. Bob napped, the kids played with gifts, and eventually we played Apples to Apples. (We did that on Christmas Eve too.) In the evening, we read the Christmas story aloud from the Bible, sang some Christmas hymns and had our birthday cake for Jesus. We take it outside and He "blows out the candle".

We settled down to watch a Christmas movie. I was hoping for It's a Wonderful Life, but the kids had the idea of watching the new Veggie Tales, It's a Meaningful Life, so we watched that on Netflix instant. It's kind of a take off on the Frank Capra movie, but also with elements from A Christmas Carol and The Polar Express. My verdict? Not a movie for repeat viewings, sadly. Too much sappy singing, and not funny enough, though it was explicitly Christian unlike some of the more recent Veggie Tales. After that we watched another Netflix instant movie - The Missing Lynx. Stupid. Don't bother.

The kids settled down in the living room to sleep "under" the Christmas tree. This was the 1st year that David asked if he could sleep upstairs instead. :-( Made me sad, and I said NO! It's tradition! Sleep in the living room! They had a bit of fun with some lighted glow sticks I'd purchased and then settled down to sleep. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Can you believe David will be SIXTEEN this week!?

Weekly Preview and RECAP

Saturday - Spent the morning working on at the soccer fields, the afternoon with the kids, and the late evening working on soccer registration
Sunday - Home
Monday - WORK (4 hrs daily)
Tuesday - WORK, Soccer conditioning (E,J,S)
Wednesday - WORK
Thursday - WORK, Beach Day
Friday - WORK, Soccer (D)
Saturday - Spend with friends?

Well, this last week seemed to get sucked into the vortex. July has come and gone now. I spent a LOT of time working on soccer teams and they are created now. I am processing a few late registrations and have the uniform order just about ready to go - just need to figure the quantities. (That sounds easier than it is. lol)

David went to a friend's house this afternoon and will spend the night. The others are supremely jealous. Well, kids - call a friend and make some plans!

I have the soccer teams all created & doublechecked for things like "fall only" players and siblings who need to be on the same teams. I am waiting for several important emails/callbacks. Don't people know I am on a schedule?? lol I have the uniform colors all chosen (one of the fun things) and just need to input the quantities of each size - for about 400 people. The teams obviously have to be set before that can happen, so I have waited until the last possible moment. I registered 3 late players today and am waiting on 2 more.

We skipped church today - slept in way too long. We didn't go last week either due to our spontaneous trip to Port Huron.

Thursday night, a friend hosted a Moms Night Out. She has a lovely backyard pool and hot tub, and a tiki bar. She made drinks for us and we chatted around the pool, in the pool, in the hot tub, and around the fire. It was lovely. Came home at about 1am! Wonderful night.

This week is a low-key week for us. I do plan to have the kids do some math and reading and probably some of their other subjects as well. Next week too, most likely. Then we'll take off the rest of the month - a week to get ready for camping, a week of camping, a week to recover from camping and get ready for lessons to begin. They'll begin the week after Labor Day probably.

Camping week is the last full week of August and that is our homeschool camping week. Our favorite week of the year, I think!

Soccer practices will start in there as well. David starts his this Friday and I imagine the other three will begin soon. Emily is playing again this year - with AYSO, on a travel team. James and Suzy are also playing AYSO - U12 and U10 respectively. David is playing for the same team he played for last year - FAITH Falcons, also a travel team, comprised solely of homeschooled boys. This year he will have several friends on his team - which also means *I* will have someone to watch games & practices with! LOL Or carpool with, which is even more important.

The little Easy Set pool in the yard has been great this summer. I think it's the one Mike and Michelle gave us a couple years ago. If we continue to enjoy it, I think we might consider upgrading to a larger pool next year. This one is not very deep. But it's so nice for them to be able to just go get wet for a while without it being a huge deal to drive somewhere and/or pay money. We have yet to go to the waterpark this summer. We should go, as it almost closed this year due to lack of patrons last year. The other county waterpark DID close.

Next week is the County Fair. We tend to go to that every other year, and this is our "on" year. So, need to budget for that - both time and money.

No summer reading program for us this year, though there has been plenty of reading. I just couldn't face the thought of keeping up with a program. The kids went to one of the very first library programs but we haven't made any of the others. And the one we really wanted to attend is this week and I forgot to call and make reservations, so all the spots have been taken and there is a long waiting list. Ah well. There's always next year.

I am blowing my way through Eat Pray Love. The writing is delicious! The woman has a beautiful way with a phrase and I can almost find myself in her life through her descriptions. However it's also deeply disturbing in some ways. Can't wait to discuss it with my book club, but also afraid of discussing it as I think the book may offend some people. It will be interesting, no doubt!

Inception is top of my "to see" movie list. I want to go see it this week! There are others I want to see as well, plus a slew of films that slipped away before I could. Added them to my Netflix Q.

Going to cut everyone's hair tonight. Except David, of course, since he is gone. I think he planned that rather sneakily! LOL

The hot dogs are ready, so I'm going to go eat!

Weekly Preview

I think the only reason I keep writing these Weekly Previews is that it helps ME to keep my week in order. But that's a good enough reason. I hope you still find them useful.

Saturday - Chores & book club
Sunday - Father's Day (decided against the day away due to the long drive)
Monday - WORK (4 hrs daily), Swim Lessons (J&S)
Tuesday - Lessons, WORK, Swim Lessons, Soccer conditioning (S,J,E)
Wednesday - Lessons, WORK, Swim Lessons, Meeting
Thursday - Lessons, WORK, Swim Lessons, Beach Day
Friday - Lessons, WORK, Project Day
Saturday - Wedding

This is VBS week at our church (and a whole lot of other churches); however, I am not sure we will be attending. I did put our names on a list, but the week is hectic enough and VBS is only 90 minutes long. They can't go Tuesday night and probably not Friday anyway.

James and Suzy will be doing Swim Lessons this week and next. Suzy has never done any and it's been about 4 years for James.

We went to some yard sales this week. Two of them had all the clothes for a quarter. I got quite a few things for Suzy. Bought a Japanese dictionary for David for 50 cents. My kids found a Legolas pen for me for a dime - I think that was the best buy! I used to have one (different design) that I bought at Hot Topic years back. I kept it so long that I wore all the design off the outside. LOL So, now I have a new one. It writes! The same garage sale had a Legolas binder filled with Legolas notebook paper (and some POTC paper) for another dime. That paper was about $2-3 for 50 sheets back in the day. OK, I know I am a geek fangirl.

Took the kids to the dollar matinee in a nearby town to see Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief. Love the dollar movie. Enjoyed the show, but it was far too intense for Suzy. I should have thought about that ahead of time, but I just didn't.

We also picked strawberries at a nearby farm this past week and I put some (not enough!) in the freezer. Our freezer is small though, so I guess that's OK. The kids were not all that excited about the picking and I remember all those fruit picking outings we used to go on and wonder how in the world the adults dealt with all our bad attitudes! Or did we just enjoy it because we were with our friends?

There was apparently a home intrusion that turned into a stabbing of a teen girl here in Dryden. I only know the details from facebook (!) so I don't know the official version or the outcome, but the girl surprised an intruder and he grabbed up a hunting knife and stabbed her then she fought him off and he knocked her out. In Dryden village, people. Dryden! Eeek! We are a bit freaked out.

Only two more weeks before we go camping! We are borrowing a camper since we have not found a suitable camper for the money we have. We may decide to save up a little more money through the winter and buy a nicer one next spring.

The daylilies on the west side of the house are in bloom. I just love those, and they are no work at all! LOL

We may be putting up our pool this week. Today?

Lisa

Weekly Preview

This week is going to be a busy one! Something every day, but at least some of them are relaxing events.

Sunday - Valentine's Day, Church, Northanger Abbey on PBS!
Monday - Lessons, Valentine Party (no Spanish)
Tuesday - Lessons, Keepers field trip (E,S), Homeschool Support Meeting (L)
Wednesday - Lessons, Essay Class (D,L), AYSO Board meeting (L)
Thursday - Lessons, Movie with a friend (L)
Friday - Lessons, Youth Game Afternoon (E,D), RR Movie Day (S,J)
Saturday - Something together as a family!
Sunday - Church, Youth Group (E,D)

For Valentine's Day, I bought candy for the kids and will give them Valentines. We will attempt to make it to church. For dinner, we will create heart-shaped pizza. We did that once before and it was fun. There is no youth group and Northanger Abbey is on PBS - one of my FAVORITE movies.

Monday is the homeschool group's bowling party, which seems to have a low turnout this year. Hmmm.... I wouldn't bother with it, but the kids have been looking forward to it for WEEKS already and the three youngest have created Valentine boxes. Pix coming soon!

Since I now have a job (!), I think my friend and I are going to go see Valentine's Day on Thursday. My self-imposed moratorium on spending money on entertainment is over! I really want to see Sherlock Holmes, but that's only playing in one nearby theater and it's not so nearby. Maybe when it comes to the cheap place?

This past week, I once again did 3 Tae-bo workouts - one long, two short. I find it's too hard on my knees to do any activity two days in a row. I am ok with alternating running with tae-bo, but I can't do either one on consecutive days. And since I can't go running.... Well, I guess I COULD, but I am not inclined with the weather and the snow.... Wish I had a treadmill. I lost two pounds since I weighed in last week!

Working twenty flexible hours a week shouldn't be too much of a challenge, but I will need to streamline things around here a little. Meal prep can be handed over to the kids and Bob will have to take up the slack on his days off. Hey, maybe I can teach the kids to do laundry this week!

Fantastic Friday & Satisfying Saturday

Homeschool Co-op is held every other Friday and yesterday was the occasion. Since I am one of those in charge, each co-op date brings challenges and joys. I got to walk around and take some photographs during one of the hours and had to work through a couple issues during another hour. Ate lunch with my good friend and chatted with many nice people. Saw some cute babies!

Sent James home with a friend and packed up to head out to Maryann's house for the night. We got there earlier than I had thought we would, even with stopping at a new bread thrift store on the way. Another friend arrived, unexpectedly to me, bringing her sons ages 9&10, making me rather wish James had come along. I try to find him some other activity when we go up there because there is no one for him to play with at her house. Usually.

We watched a movie & some Doctor Who on DVD (Maryann's new obsession), while having yummy food and stimulating conversation. We always solve all of our problems in chatting. LOL The kids had an awesome time together.

Slept in on Saturday then relaxed over coffee and more Doctor Who and a couple other movies and eventually moved on to some lesson planning and curriculum chatting. Such a nice relaxing day.

Bob had to work Friday and Saturday so he wasn't missing us, and James had a great time with his friend, as they went to a couple AWANA events and played together all afternoon.

Came home a little later than we had planned, but with my Spanish lessons and Essay writing class plan done!

Oh, and Bob bought another dryer at work, so maybe this will be the one that does the trick for us. Tomorrow we will find out!

The Scrap Report

Scrapbooking Weekend has come and gone. Once again, I'd call it the best Scrapping weekend ever! Every one seems better than the one before. The last one I went on was just about a year ago.

We gathered at Maryann's house on Friday night to start our fun. Maryann's garage was converted into a room several years ago and it's called "The Scrap Room" although it's used for other things too. However, scrapping was one of the main uses and every now and then, we take it over for that again. Here are a couple photos of how we had it set up. I had intended to take a photo mid-scrap so you could see how messy it gets! lol But that photo never happened so all you get is the beginning photos.

Six of us (Lisa, Maryann, Darlene, Carrie, Donna, and Ann) were there to start off and a couple (Jen, Marla) more joined in that evening. Some (Marla, Donna) had to leave Saturday and we missed them terribly. One more friend (Linda) joined us for a while on Sunday. Did I miss anyone?

Maryann's daughter Erin turned 21 Saturday and she commemorated the day in the usual way. A couple of her friends came over for dinner and very tasty cake and then they went out on the town. We joined Erin in a margarita. Happy 21st, Erin!

Each of us signed up for a meal to cook up for the weekend and we had lots of snacks available all weekend. My meal was Taco Pie and salad.

I scrapped 37 pages (mostly two-page spreads) and was stymied by the poor printing job Meijer (Snapfish) did on my photos. I have to return a large stack of them. We shared ideas and Cricut cartridges and paper and stickers and quips.

Movie-watching goes hand-in-hand for my scrapping crowd. Twelve movies found their way into the DVD player this weekend. If you can't imagine scrapping while watching movies (or talking through the films), you would probably not enjoy our weekends! LOL

How do we pick what to watch? Well, anyone who wants to brings a stack of movies they think would be good and we usually take turns choosing. If someone has strong negative feelings about a movie, they get veto power (usually, lol). We often search for films featuring our favorite actors and actresses and pop those in.

These are the films we chose this weekend:
Adam (Hugh Dancy)
The Proposal (Ryan Reynolds)
Confessions of a Shopaholic (Hugh Dancy #2)
Someone Like You (Hugh Jackman)
School of Life (Ryan Reynolds #2)
Australia (Hugh Jackman #2 - notice a pattern? lol)
North and South (BBC, Richard Armitage)
Robin Hood Season 3 - episodes 4 & 5 (BBC, Richard Armitage #2)
Lars and the Real Girl (Ryan Gosling)
Juno (Ellen Page, Michael Cera)
Easy Virtue (Colin Firth, Ben Barnes)
The Hangover (Bradley Cooper, Justin Bartha - rated R & not for the easily offended, or even the not-so-easily offended)

Between Christmas and New Years

Er, um. Been rather silent, haven't I?

The kids had no lessons this week and I was busy writing on my Egypt story. Which I mostly finished. I read a couple books. And I spent time with friends. Oh and I ate whatever the heck I wanted and didn't exercise, not even one abdominal crunch or roundhouse kick.

Wednesday night I went over to a good friend's to watch movies - just her and I. First up was Adventureland. Then we chatted for a while and had naughty snacks. lol Then we watched (500) Days of Summer. We liked both movies, despite one being R-rated (and a tad out of our normal comfort zone and the other being NOT a love story (even though it looked like one). Came home REALLY late and then read the rest of one of my books.

Bob had to work Thursday and Friday, so I made plans with another good friend. I took the kids and we headed up to spend Jan 31 there and then sleep over. Sleepovers aren't just for kids, you know. Our New Year's Eve was rather low-key, or as low-key as it can be with three women, 4 teenage boys and 5 children in a house. We watched some BBC Robin Hood and some other movies, chatted long into the night. Also graded some papers! Yes, really. And I planned out 10 weeks of my high school Spanish class. Hit the hay really really late.

New Year's Day I had planned to go half-off shopping at the thrift store, but instead we just spent time with our friends. Finished watching the 3rd Robin Hood season, including the finale which was quite something. All we could say was "wow". Arrived home in time for the kids to head to bed and me to put in Julie and Julia.

Tomorrow someone is supposed to come look at our camper. We're trying to sell it to pay some bills. Bob is off tomorrow and maybe we'll take down the tree.

The week between Christmas and New Years is so relaxing. And New Year's Day is my very favorite holiday!

Tomorrow.... some resolutions and the progress on my 101 in 1001 challenge.

Updated the blog layout tonight too. You like?

Oh and A HAPPY PROSPEROUS AND BLESSED NEW YEAR to you!!!

Getting it DONE

I haven't been blogging but I've been doing quite a lot. And none of the things I actually HAD planned for the week happened, like Movie in the Park. lol But here's what DID keep me occupied....

Soccer

• Returned an AWFUL LOT of soccer phone calls and then returned even more
• Updated the soccer coach list and the website
• Registered several new soccer players, several of them in person
  
• Ordered a batch of soccer uniforms
• Downloaded Openoffice and Firefox onto the soccer laptop (yes, this job comes with a laptop!)
  

Homeschool Group

• Arranged a field trip (free!) to see the King Tut exhibit at the Indianapolis Children's Museum
• Dropped off a couple books to co-op teachers
• Organized the homeschool group's storage area at church (along with two friends)
• Updated the homeschool group's policy statement (with one of my co-leaders)
• Called several people on the co-op waiting list to confirm their interest
  

Exercise

• Went to kickboxing class two mornings (one hour each) - Anyone want to come along?
  
• Jogged/Walked two mornings (2.5 miles each time, can now run ONE MILE without stopping - Can you believe it?)
• Went for a four-mile bike ride with some of the kids (all good except for that last hill - eeeeeek)
• Bought an exercise ball at a yard sale for FIFTY CENTS! Whee!
  

Errands and more!

• Bought David a pair of running shoes and a pair of soccer cleats
  
• Ordered a wireless router and then set it up (now we have a wireless network! Whee!)
• Called David's soccer coach to let him know he'll be missing practices next week
  
• Called Verizon Wireless to arrange a back-dated text messaging plan (now you can text me!)
  
• Went grocery shopping at Meijer and Walmart
• Did a MILLION loads of laundry, all of it hung on the clothesline except one load
• Sent a resume for a teaching job
• Stopped at Arby's Thursday (TWO times) for FREE sandwiches because the Tigers hit three home runs in their last game (Thanks to Maryann for the tip! You have to print out the box scores.)
• Went to a lot of garage sales
• Got David all packed for his missions trip
  

FUN!

• Watched Slumdog Millionaire and King Arthur and Knowing and one episode of John Adams (The only one I really liked was John Adams.)
  
• Listened to several disks of The Fiery Cross (a couple of them while grocery shopping). LOVE IT!
  
• Went to two libraries
• Spent Tuesday afternoon visiting with two friends (and our 12 kids)
• Visited another friend overnight on Wednesday and spent all day Thursday with her and another friend (and our 11 kids)
• Saw a movie at the theater Thursday night with a bunch of girlfriends (WITHOUT our kids, except for one aged 20 lol)
• Spent Friday afternoon at the beach with a couple friends (and our 12 kids - Notice a trend?)

Notice there is NO writing or querying on this list of completed tasks. NEXT WEEK FOR SURE! (Someone hold me accountable instead of inviting me to do fun stuff! lol)

Weekly Preview

Still having a very difficult time working on the online scoring I am (supposed to be) doing. I am mostly NOT doing it. There's still a few days left in this scoring period for me to try to prove myself. But this may be the end of my involvement with that project. Not only is the scoring itself more challenging to master than I imagined it would be, it's also very difficult for me to arrange time to work on it without distraction. It requires TOTAL concentration. Needless to say, that's very hard to find around here.

Finished the taxes last week, so that looming task is no longer weighing on me. I have to finish reading Daniel Deronda. About 28 more chapters to go! Can't wait to see the movie too, since I have heard so many great reports about it.

Went to see 17 Again at midnight Friday (Sat. really) night with Debbie and Darlene. SO FUN! We laughed all the way through. I didn't really expect it to be so full of laughs and charming moments. Darlene was the one that mentioned she wanted to see it, and I am usually up for a good night out. It's your typical "if I had my life to live over again" theme, but done humorously and, as is usual with such movies, it had a good message. I'm sure I'll watch it again.

Bob and the kids have been edging the sidewalks and those look good. As soon as the weather is reliably warmer, we will start painting the exterior of the house again. It needs its second coat.

This coming week has 5 days of lessons, 3 soccer games, 1 soccer practice, 2 meetings, 1 book club, and as much work as I can stuff in.

Sunday - Sunday School, Church service, Raingutter Regatta and Carnival
Monday - Lessons, Work, IEW meeting?
Tuesday - Lessons, Work, Soccer Practice (S), Last Keepers Meeting (E/S), Soccer Game (J)
Wednesday - Lessons, Work,
Thursday - Lessons, Work, Soccer Games (J/S)
Friday - Lessons, Work, Youth Lock-in (D)
Saturday - Soccer games (S/J), Book Club (Daniel Deronda)

Soccer Starts, Sunny Saturday, Sing-Song

The first day of spring soccer dawned sunny and in the FIFTIES! Wow! Sometimes we have freezing mornings for spring soccer, so this was a treat! It was a bit windy at the field, but sunshine is wonderful!

Nine o'clock was the time for James to play, so he and I woke up before anyone else and headed out. He played all four quarters, but seemed to lack energy today. Perhaps he's still recovering from his illness. I hope he plays more vivaciously at the next game. (Tuesday night. I'll miss it.) The score was 0-2.

Bob brought Suzy and David up to the field for her 10:30 game. She played well. Three quarters went by with no goals for either team, but in the last quarter, the other team scored 3 goals. That poor goalkeeper. Suzy has practice Tuesday night and both kids have a game Thursday night. David was the referee for Suzy's game as usual. Very helpful!

I was tired (and revved up with coffee) because I went with a couple friends to a midnight showing of 17 Again, which we found hilarious and extremely entertaining. We both needed some fun time after a very long co-op day yesterday - last co-op followed by the program.

This afternoon is sunny and supposed to hit 74. I should work, but I probably won't. (Thus, the 'slacker' appellation.....)

Why oh why is James repeating everything three times in a sing-song voice? :::covers ears and shrieks:::
"Shall I put them in here? Shall I put them in here? Shall I put them in here? Go look at the fridge. Go look at the fridge. Go look at the fridge." :::runs screaming::::

Ramblings of a Cold and Gloomy Tuesday

Tuesday already!? How did THAT happen?

Yesterday we took an extra day for Easter vacation, so I could do the taxes and the lesson plans. (Yeah, you know, the public schools had the day off too.)

Success on the taxes! E-filed. No problems. Money coming back. S'all good.

Success on the lesson plans too. All complete through the end of April. David's were already done, but I had three weeks of plans for the others to complete.

Worked an hour and a half on scoring tests yesterday. (Eleven hours between Sat/Sun!) Today I got up early and worked for an hour on that before anyone else got up. Worked another hour and a half after lunch and hoping to stuff another 30-45 minutes in before dinner. (But I have to stop blogging to do it! lol)

Watched the dumbest movie last night - Duplex, with Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore. Never heard of it before and it must be fairly recent. Stupid movie. But I was doing other stuff while I watched it, such as trying on ALL of my clothes. Culled 2 paper sacks worth of clothing, mostly too big! yay! Have a medium size stack I am still considering what to do with - mainly stuff I like, but size is not QUITE right, or Size is right but I don't really like. Will deal with that tonight as well as pick the elastic waistband out of a sweatshirt that I adore otherwise. Going to watch Yes Man tonight.

Need to read seven or so chapters of Daniel Deronda tonight to stay on schedule. Book club members have been less than happy about this book choice. Several have just decided flat out they aren't reading it. But I'm enjoying it - truly - and my co-leader Darlene is farther along than I am and said that she can't wait to find out what happens next. And I'm told by many that the movie is wonderful!

Went to a couple libraries yesterday and the grocery store. Have been buying clearanced flowers at the grocery store lately. They make me happy. Yes, the ones in the picture are the same kind I got recently. (Although that's not my pic.)

On my 3rd cup of coffee for the day. Had about 5 hours of sleep last night. Should get more tonight. Don't wanna get sick like most of the other people living here.

The weather sucks, to be totally honest. I cancelled my soccer practice for this evening since it's rainy and in the low 40's. Isn't this MID-APRIL? James' coach cancelled his practice as well. I wouldn't have sent James anyway, since he still isn't 100% after his week-long illness - coughing mostly.

Chess Club was cancelled for today too, so we ended up with a commitment-free day.

The boys rearranged their room. I haven't gone up to look, but they're happy with having more space on the floor. David's bed is up high, and he's not that thrilled about that. James is using a bedframe we got on freecycle. It's elevated just a bit higher than a normal bed. Enough to store stuff underneath.

I need to buy an armoire for my clothes, so they can be downstairs instead of upstairs in the boys' room.

Ok, enough rambling and avoidance of work. Dinner will be ready soon!

Do I Know How to Party or What?

I had the MOST fun last night! My original plans changed. Instead of visiting one friend, whose family was ill, I ended up going out to dinner with an awesome friend.

A DELISH dinner at Don Pablo's was first on the agenda. Afterwards we went to a bookstore - one of the big ones, with a coffee bar and live music in the store, some good, some just so-so, and some really bad. But it was entertaining all the same. We browsed around together for a bit, looking for books for our book club and just good books in general. Then we split up and browsed on our own for a while

A few treasures in hand, we headed back to her house for a movie. It turned out to be TWO movies, a Dove bar, and a really late night. Into the wee hours, in fact! Among our exciting pasttimes was looking up words in the dictionary. Yes, we both find that intriguing. lol Did you know "telephonically" is really a word but "crabbily" is not?

At a time that I'm embarrassed to tell you, I stepped outside to drive home only to discover the world had been dusted with a coating of cold white stuff which made driving somewhat treacherous. I made it safely home, only seeing 3 other vehicles in the half-hour journey.

So, my big night included buying books and looking up words in a dictionary. ROFL Do I know how to party or what?

Relaxing Time

Friday was homeschool co-op. I will write about that on Cornerstone.

I went to Maryann's for the night Friday night, taking David and Emily along to hang with her kids. She and I and Erin watched a couple movies Friday night and relaxed with Mexican food and rum and Coke. :-) (Not Erin, she's not yet one-and-twenty.) Movie reviews on Mirkwood. I guess David and Alex and another friend stayed up into the wee hours, playing video games. I turned off Emily and Gabby's TV at about 1am. LATE NIGHT for all the kids.

This morning we watched Someone Like You (Hugh Jackman) which I own and enjoy a lot, but hadn't watched with Maryann yet. Watching movies with my friends is usually a time for conversation and discussion. lol Then we had lunch and chatted. Another friend came by and used Mare's Cricut machine for a couple hours, then she left and another friend came by to pick up her son. A nice relaxing day. I needed that!

Left there about 3pm and stopped by Meijer on the way home to get the week's groceries. I should make up a menu for the week. Heated up pizza rolls for dinner, resulting in everyone's happiness.

There are four loads of laundry waiting to be folded - everyone does their own and puts it away. Chores are done, dishes are being washed, baths and showers are happening. Need everyone to lay out church clothes. I have to finish planning my Sunday School lesson. I have new curriculum which uses lots of hands-on stuff. Not sure how it'll work out, but I'm glad to give it a try! Can't be worse than what I WAS using, I don't think.

No plans tomorrow except to take David to youth group. I was thinking about my story off and on all weekend so I may be writing, since I need to get back to it. It's calling me!

I'm reading a book that's caught my interest - two actually. A Christian romance by Robin Lee Hatcher and Blue Like Jazz, which is another book on post-modern Christianity, to sum it up in 3 words which doesn't do it justice.

Oh yeah, and I wanted to say that it was NICE OUT today and it smelled like spring! I know it's not going to last, but at least it's a tiny break from the unrelenting wind chill and below zero temps we've been experiencing.

The Nitty-Gritty

I did watch the inauguration, about an hour of it anyway - the actual swearing-in ceremonies, Aretha singing, Rick Warren's benediction (which was the best part, imo), John Williams' music, etc... The kids and Bob watched too.

Bob has been a little better every day. He can sit up and sit down by himself now, which he couldn't do for about 4 days. Today, however, he has a migraine, which has pretty much flattened him. He spent most of the day in bed resting. I also have a headache, but a couple ibuprofen took the edge off. My back is about the same - just a nagging ache, especially when I bend over, at which time I groan like someone's sticking me with a knife. Not that I know what that feels like.

Have tried and failed to get into a number of books lately. Gave up on a few. Read the intro part to The Shack and it didn't grab me. I do intend to finish it, but I'm not in the mood. Reading The Jane Austen Book Club now, which was made into a movie. The movie version was the impetus for Dar and I starting OUR OWN Jane Austen Book Club, better known as The Rollicking Readers. Anyway, the movie wasn't all that good, and to be honest, so far the book is worse. Blech.

Watched Waitress last night. Though it made me cry, I didn't really like it. Not big on movies that condone extramarital affairs, even if the husband is mean and nasty, or senile and drooling. Whatever. Also watched Panic Room this week, which was better, but quite scary. Jodie Foster is always good. And, no, neither of those star Hugh Jackman . I can look beyond my current obsession, you know.

We have also been watching Planet Earth DVD's and they are awesome, but they'd be better on a TV that isn't all washed out like ours is. There's no way of fixing it. It's just the way the darn thing is. Old and stupid. At least it works. I'd like to replace it with something NICE AND BIG but Bob resists.

Let's see. I've been exercising three times a week in the mornings. Long ago, I taped some fitness shows off ESPN - the Fitness Pros. (See how long ago that was? I had CABLE then. It was when David was a baby, I think.) I liked them then and I still like them now, so I dug out that old tape and put it back into service. Once I get a month of this routine down, I'll take it up a notch, perhaps by adding a 4th day to my routine, or maybe by adding strength training on opposite days. Not sure yet. Once it gets warm enough (April?), I'll add walking to the routine.

I've also been counting calories and staying within my calorie limits almost every day. (I went slightly over a couple days and on scrapbooking weekend, calories are free, or so I've been told.) Candy has an amazing amount of calories in it! ACK! So anyway, hopefully results will follow.

I'm getting rather discouraged that we haven't heard the results from Bob's disability hearing. Apparently it doesn't matter to them that our whole LIVES hang on this decision and we really can't move ahead until we know. The hearing was September 16th, so that makes it over four months we've been waiting now. I hope there is not some simple reason why, like they don't have a report from a certain doctor, or something. Those things we could hurry along IF we knew about them!

David's bronchitis is a little better, I think. It's hard to mother a sick teenager. He resists at almost every turn, but then is surprised when he isn't healing.

And no one wants to play Word Twist with me. Wah!

OK, laundry needs folded, dinner needs worked on.

Ten Women in a Cottage

Scrapping was a TOTAL BLAST!!!

My good friend Donna mentioned several months ago the possibilty that she would be able to borrow her sister-in-law's cottage in Houghton Lake (about 2-1/2 hours north) for a group of us to scrapbook for the weekend. When she was able to arrange it, I was thrilled, especially because it was a weekend that would work for me!

So, on Friday, ten of us found our way "up north", as Michiganders often say, our minivans loaded to the ceilings with suitcases, folding tables, and scrapbooking supplies. The van I was in with 3 others arrived sometime in early afternoon. (I did not bring a watch and did not much care about time the whole weekend). Three other women arrived at just exactly the same moment, although we had not been caravaning.

We hauled our enormous amount of gear into the "cottage", which is really a huge A-frame house with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The doorwall on the back of the house looks out over the lake. I ended up with 2 other ladies upstairs in the master bedroom. We dragged the furniture around and set up our folding tables in a long row right down the middle of the living room/kitchen (open floor plan). Quite soon the room was a bona fide scrapping palace! We had THREE Cri-cut machines and about 9 (10?) different cartridges for them.

Scrapping was the only order of business for the whole weekend, although we did make a couple trips to Walmart and a field trip to a huge craft store. On Sunday, several of us went for a walk to enjoy the gorgeous fall day.

I love scrapping with this group of ladies - we share, we tease, we chat, we sing, we work far into the night. We cook amazing things and we eat candy like there's no such thing as calories. A fair number of us adore watching movies while we scrap and so the TV was playing most of the weekend.

Movies we viewed included: Sahara, Martian Child, Penelope, Dan in Real Life, National Treasure, Pride and Prejudice (new one), No Reservations, Speed, 13 Going on 30. Maryann and I had our Colin Firth fix by watching selections from Then She Found Me on a portable DVD player. lol I would recommend any of these movies. The whole room pretty much stopped scrapping to watch Penelope, Dan In Real Life and Martian Child.

Every time someone broke out into song, Darlene or I tallied it up and I believe we broke 50. That's fifty different songs that were sung at least in part throughout the weekend. We also wrote down a bunch of memorable quotes that people said throughout the weekend. They won't make sense to people who weren't there, so I won't subject you to any, but trust me, they were FUNNY. lol

By Sunday afternoon, we were winding down, packing up, cleaning the house, and driving away. I arrived home about 8:15pm to several very excited children. Before sending them off to bed, I took time to show them each of the 51 pages I completed over the weekend. They were duly appreciative!

I think that this was the best scrapbooking weekend I ever attended, and I have been to quite a few!

Monday Musings

The clothing is now tidily tucked away in 3 dressers in the back room, conveniently near the washer and dryer. Except for, of course, the mounds of DIRTY LAUNDRY that were playing hide and seek with us in corners, under beds, and just smack in plain sight upstairs. That is mostly awaiting laundering, although a couple loads made it onto the line to take advantage of the sunny day. Upstairs remains only the PJ's, undies, socks, and some church clothing. Hopefully.

Got the COBRA info in the mail today. OUCH. Gotta decide what to do about health insurance.

Wrote 1272 words this afternoon before getting stuck on my major conflict. How to finagle it just so??? Can't figure it out yet. Gotta do it yet today. ::::bangs head:::: Nope, nothing yet. ::::bangs head again::::

Have a roast in the slow cooker and some potatoes boiling on the stove. In just a few minutes we will eat a satisfying dinner and then move on to bath night. No other plans tonight!

Watched three movies this weekend - Speed Racer (FINALLY! - reviewed at Mirkwood), What Happens in Vegas (kinda funny and romantic, but I am not real fond of either Cameron Diaz or Ashton Kutcher), & Then She Found Me (Colin Firth and Helen Hunt in a "what else can go wrong" sort of R-rated romance - liked it! Cried!). I would love to review both of those, as well as Penelope, which I watched some time ago and would recommend. Also read a book by Tess Gerritsen - The Keepsake (a suspense thriller). I've been starving for some media input! lol I'd love some movie recommendations from NEW DVD releases.

I am feeling better, maybe 90%. Bob is not quite himself either, but he has been working on scraping paint today. He also went out to the farm and picked some veggies and taters from the garden. David and James STILL have coughs, which is quite annoying. I keep thinking I should take them to the doctor, but then I think - well, they'll just tell me to give them an antibiotic and I don't really want to. I should increase all of our immune system remedies - Vitamin C, orange juice (in my opinion, the BEST home remedy), echinacea, garlic, etc...

I posted my Daybook over at Cornerstone.

Weekend Ramblings

Sunday already? Where is the weekend going?!

Friday has vanished into the sands of time - I can't recall what we did! lol I do know that I sorted fall clothes to see what we already have and what we need. Oh, and the kids did a bunch of chores - the ones we usually do on Saturdays.

On Saturday morning, the kids tried on the sorted clothes. After lunch, we headed over to a friend's house. Her husband was hosting a gaming party - David participated in that - and the rest of us just visited and played the Wii off and on. We walked around the property and the kids caught several toads and frogs. Towards evening, we sat around a fire and chatted. Very very pleasant day! (THANKS SO MUCH for inviting us, S!)

Today we went to church and afterwards we had a short meeting for Financial Peace University. Bob and I will be taking that class on Wednesday nights. We're going to walk to two garage sales on our street and then head to the waterpark. It's sunny and 85 today! After that, we'll likely go out to visit Bob's parents as it is their 54th wedding anniversary today.

For Labor Day, we will be heading to the thrift store to take advantage of the 50% off clothing sale. A nearby town is having a festival this weekend and maybe we'll head over there and see what's going on. A used book sale at the library sounds tempting! We'll probably visit the waterpark one last time - Monday is the last day. And what else? No idea!

Can you believe summer is on its way out? It went far too fast!

We thought about camping this week Tues-Fri instead of starting school, but then I remembered - soccer. Oh yeah, I have to hold soccer practice. Yippee. But the weather is going to be soooo NICE. But then again, responsibility is a valuable trait as well. Sigh.

Tonight, I'll be posting my August reads over at Mirkwood - quite a pile of books this month! Not quite done with my latest Austen read. Ok, ok, I'm not even halfway. But that's not a problem as there are still a few weeks until our book club meeting.

I also have watched movies I'd like to review - Attila, The Last Legion and Catch and Release. I have a few more movies here to watch - some Horatio Hornblower DVDs, Amazing Grace (already watched once around Christmastime, but would like to see again, paying more attention, lol), and Casino Royale (have seen 2 or 3 times, but have had a hankering to see me some more James Bond!).

Movies the kids have here to watch: Nanny McPhee, Short Circuit, Thunderbirds.

February Reads

Oh wow! Internet at the speed of light. Ooooooh, I'm loving it.

Posted my February reads over at Mirkwood Reflections. I DARE YOU to go and leave me a comment. DOUBLE DARE! Come on, don't be a chicken!!!

I am SOOO very tired. I'd like to stay up and play on the internet, but my head is aching from exhaustion and I think I'm going to go to sleep.

Tomorrow I HOPE to go see a movie with a friend. I told her to pick it and tell me when to be there.

Below Zero

Oh my goodness, it is COLD. Less than ZERO. BELOW ZERO. Yikes!

And guess what? MORE SNOW IS IN THE FORECAST!!! Those are exclamation marks of HORROR not joy.

I bought some groceries on the way to work. Exciting, huh? I went to a store I don't usually go to and was shocked at the prices of a lot of the items, cereal being the most obvious. I much prefer my SuperWalmart and my Meijer stores, or even Kroger. Yessir.

I watched a couple of movies this weekend that I've had sitting here for a LONG time waiting to be watched. It was a movie weekend - no other plans and VERY VERY cold out.

First was The Green Mile, based on a book by Stephen King and starring Tom Hanks. I really liked it much more than I thought I would. The circumstances of the movie were thought-provoking and the movie was really well-done. A friend lent me this one and I'm glad she did!

The other long overdue movie was The Whale Rider. This wasn't actually as good as I thought it would be, from all I've heard about it. I kept waiting to love it, and that didn't happen. I'm not all that fond of movies where children defy the wishes of their parents or elders because the children so obviously know what's right. I'm also not all that enamoured with the Maori culture. But the film was beautifully photographed and well-acted.

I watched one more movie; actually it was on in the background while I did some work on the computer - How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. This is one of my favorites - Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson have awesome chemistry and are a joy to watch. Yes, they have a new movie, which I heard was a dud - Fool's Gold. (Anyone see it? I hesitate to waste $8 on it if it's as bad as the reviews say. Although a couple hours of McConaughey couldn't be all bad, right?) Anyway, reading about their new movie put me in the mood for this one. I actually put the commentary on since I'd never listened to that and I also watched the deleted scenes. For some reason, that never occurred to me before!

I am cancelling Netflix this week; hoping to get one more movie out of my month before I cancel. I've had a Netflix subscription since before Suzy was born - nearly six years. But lately, with my schedule, the movies just sit here for a couple weeks before I have a chance to watch them. I'm going to use the library more (esp. the interloan) and hopefully borrow more movies from friends! If I get really desperate, there's always Blockbuster. (Or I could just start watching Lord of the Rings again. That's a good 12 hours right there, and then there's all those special features! I haven't watched that all the way through in more than a year.)

Wow, it's 2:00 am and I am now rambling, so I guess I'll click "publish post" and go to bed.