Weekly Preview and Review - DOUBLE edition

Well, I didn't get a post up last week, so this is a double.

LAST WEEK:
Saturday - SCRAPBOOKING!
Sunday - SCRAPBOOKING!
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Lessons
Tuesday - WORK 5, Lessons, E-eye dr., D-drivers ed
Wednesday - WORK 5, Lessons, D-drivers ed
Thursday - WORK 5, Lessons, Bob dr., D-drivers ed
Friday - WORK 5, Co-op
Saturday - Book Club, D-painting

This was the last week of being able to work 5 hours a day. I was able to earn quite a bit extra during these last two months when we were able to work extra without having to speak up for the hours.

David started drivers education. I made him pay for it himself, which he mostly did by ebaying stuff. He was apprehensive about this, but has settled in, I think. He will begin getting behind the wheel probably the week of the 24th. His is a large class, so maybe it will be the week after. His class goes 2-3 nights a week until Feb 10th and then I can take him for his learner permit. He has to rack up hours behind the wheel before taking Segment 2 of drivers training later in the summer.

To earn the last of the money to pay for his drivers training by doing that for me, David did some painting in the kitchen on Saturday and Sunday. Eleven hours got most of the cabinets and all of the trim. I think there are a few more hours in that job and I will pay him cash for that. I don't know when I would have found the time and I KNOW he did a better job than I would have! James wants to paint for money too, but I am not sure he's ready for that. We do have lots more trim to paint!

Scrapbooking weekend was lovely! I organized it with my friend Darlene as a fundraiser for the Regency Ball. Emily earned the money to cover her hotel room and gas money. We had 13 women come for all or part of the weekend and 5 girls to help with the meals and carrying things. We are already thinking about repeating the weekend next January!

THIS WEEK:
Sunday - Church, Suzy to a party
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Lessons, D-drivers ed
Tuesday - WORK 4, Lessons
Wednesday - WORK 4, Lessons
Thursday - WORK 4 Lessons, Bob dr.
Friday - WORK 3, D-drivers ed
Saturday - No plans?

I have yet to manage adding any exercise back into my routine. I guess that the extra hour of work each day sort of eats that time. But I have been successful at eliminating sweets from my diet. I have had no desserts or candy or anything sugary in the last 3 weeks. It hasn't been too hard. I don't plan to eat like this forever, but I felt something drastic was in order to break the habit and to jump start the weight loss again.

Maybe if I only get my normal 20 hours this week, I will be able to add in some kickboxing. It's WAY too cold to do anything outside. I have not had any regular exercise since maybe November. I do still plan to train for a 10K, but I don't think I will be able to commit to that training until we have warmer weather and no slippery roads. Maybe next winter I will have a treadmill....

Bob had his pain doctor appointment again last week and they did a different sort of injection. It's outpatient at the hospital and I have to go since he is not allowed to drive home. If this works, then the doctor will explore further. The first two kinds they tried didn't help his pain.

Emily and James had friends over after co-op, Suzy went home with a friend for a couple nights and David spent Friday night at a friends' house too. Busy social night on Friday.

I've been doing a lot of swagbucks stuff lately - searching and surveys. I've earned enough for $30 of amazon gift certificates and have started redeeming them. I will just let them pile up in my amazon gift card balance and use that for Christmas gifts. If you aren't earning swagbucks, you really should be! It doesn't really add anything to your day, if you are already on the computer. And if you sign up under me, I get bucks for each buck you earn, too.

I cleaned out the back room on Saturday; that was satisfying. I've reduced my stuff back there by a whole file cabinet full! Downsizing! No point in keeping all those files since I always look online first nowadays.

Weekly Preview and Review

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

So here this is a day late. Or two, depending on how you are counting. But maybe you're not counting at all!

Actually I had the dollar. But I needed $4 since I was sending David up to the gas station for a gallon of milk. Since I went out TWICE and neither time remembered to get milk. So, I raided the stash of quarters and sent him out into the cold. Fresh air is good for him, right?

Saturday - Baby Shower & Thrift shopping
Sunday - Go to church, SOF planning meeting, and watch Downton Abbey
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Lessons, Gymnastics
Tuesday - WORK 5, Lessons
Wednesday - WORK 5, Lessons
Thursday - WORK 5, Lessons
Friday - WORK 5, No Lessons, SCRAPBOOKING
Saturday - SCRAPBOOKING!

Everything is all back to normal - no Christmas decorations in my house. The lights are still up on the porch, but that's not my domain. I love getting it back to normal.

Last week I went to Bob's doctor appointment with him. I used to do this regularly, after his accident. But once he was able to drive, I didn't go anymore. Maybe I should though. He never seems to know what the doctor told him. So, this time I went and asked her to give him some dietary guidelines for his high blood pressure. She said, no more than 4000 mg of sodium a day. Try counting that yourself sometime. lol

The kids had art class on Wednesday and after I dropped them off, I hit the Christmas clearance at Rite Aid. Got some LED lights we'd been hoping for and a few other odds and ends. I always look for clearance wrapping paper that doesn't look Christmas-y. I scored a few rolls of that.

Friday was co-op, but my co-teacher (and good friend Darlene) was teaching this week so I didn't have to prepare anything. We are reading Mansfield Park and it is SO MUCH BETTER the second time reading it. I enjoyed it! The girls like reading Austen too, which is so gratifying! We are well underway in planning the Regency Ball.

Saturday, I went to a baby shower for a book club friend. Suzy and Emily went with me and some other friends were there, so that was a nice time. And I didn't eat any cake.

I have not eaten any sweets in a week! That's amazing. And I lost 5 lbs from my high on New Year's Day. ACK - that was a shocker on the scale, seeing the number so high! LOL I still need to lose 20 to get back to my lowest weight. I hope to get back into the exercise routine this week.

I got all my pictures printed out for scrapbooking - the year of 2007 should be all scrapped after this weekend. I am working on powerplanning it right now to make it smooth as silk! Emily is going along as a teen worker - she gets to scrap too and she is over the moon with excitement!

Re-visited a church on Sunday. The kids all like it. I'm not so sure. Bob is probably going to take a while to acclimate wherever we go.

David has made dinner - brats and rice, so I better go eat it! Suzy set the table and picked a veggie. Wonder what it is? And James and Emily get to clean up! LOL

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - New Year's Day & Thrift shopping
Sunday - Relax & De-Christmas the house
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Lessons
Tuesday - WORK 5, Lessons, go to dr. with Bob
Wednesday - WORK 5, Lessons, Art Class
Thursday - WORK 5, Lessons
Friday - WORK 5, Co-op
Saturday - Baby Shower

Let's see - I posted about Christmas, so let's move on, shall we?

Monday my friend Darlene hosted a movie day for our Austentatious class of teen girls. We invited our book club ladies too, so we had a good turnout for watching the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice. It's a long movie - almost 6 hours, so it is definitely an all day event. We had a great time! I got up at 5:30 to get a jumpstart on my work hours, so I was able to still fit in 5 hours of work - before and after the movie day.

Tuesday I also got up at 5:30, though I didn't need to. I kinda liked getting so much done so early. So, when Darlene invited people over for an impromptu sledding day, we were able to take advantage of it since I had a head start on my work hours again. We spent the afternoon there - the kids did some sledding and some socializing, and the moms mostly just hung out around the dining room table and chatted. Alex came home with David and spent the night.

David turned 16 on Wednesday! Can you believe my baby is now 16? He invited a few friends to come over and watch the 1982 Tron movie and have pizza before we headed out to the Imax theater to watch the new Tron: Legacy movie. I was rather unenthusiastic about watching this movie. 1 - I haven't enjoyed 3D movies. 2 - The 1982 movie was very cheesy with dumb dialogue. 3 - I didn't have good expectations for the music and sound.

BUT - I loved the movie. The 3D was ever-so cool and the soundtrack was AWESOME and the sound was not too overwhelming. I did have trouble with my left eye. I don't think my prescription is correct as I have trouble with it daily. But that's not the movie's fault, nor the fault of the 3D effects. Anyway, I loved Tron: Legacy and I will see other movies in 3D, I think.

I had to work very late on Wednesday to get my work hours in, around David's activities. And I was not able to do my extra hour. Bummer, eh?

Dinner out with the leadership team of SOF was on the agenda for Thursday night. I got my hours done easily during the day since the kids had no lessons to work on. We were supposed to meet at the nearby steakhouse, but there was a long wait. So we went to a family restaurant instead and it was not a good experience overall. I had a really tasty chicken quesadilla, but the appetizers were cold and several of my friends got cold fries. The room was freezing too. But we had good conversation!

Friday was New Year's Eve. I slept rather later than normal - feeling the effects of three 5:30 AM days this week. Got the work hours in and then headed to Maryann's with the kids and one extra friend for a New Year's party. We had a very fun evening - games and movies and food! Stayed up very very late chatting with Maryann, but had to turn around and get up at 8 am on Saturday to drive home because I had plans to.....

Go thrift store shopping with friends to take advantage of the 50% off sales! We are all going to the Regency Ball in March and we hoped to find appropriate dresses in the Regency style - empire waist, floor length, sleeves. All of us were successful! I love my dress - it's plum colored and I like the neckline, though it's not square as it probably should be. I may end up modifying it somehow with ribbon. It's also quite lowcut, so I'll probably use some lace as a coverup. Now on to the accessorizing! I still have to find a dress for Emily and some appropriate clothing for David.

Today we slept very late and then de-Christmas-ed the house. THANK GOD! That's pretty much all we did, except try to eat all the sweets left from the holidays.

Because.... I am going on a No Sweets fast until Valentine's Day. And since I am on the fast, pretty much everyone else is too, at least while they are at home. I'm not making them promise to follow it, but I'm not providing any sweets during the next 6 weeks. :-)

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!?

Christmas Slide Show

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Family Christmas in GR
Sunday - Come home from GR (without Suzy!)
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Do Christmas Cards? Wrap gifts
Tuesday - WORK, Go pick up Suzy and then errands and visit a friend
Wednesday - WORK, Christmas cookies and go look at lights?
Thursday - WORK, Last minute Christmas stuff
Friday - WORK, Christmas EVE!
Saturday - Christmas DAY!

Mostly family reads this blog so I won't rehash Mellon Christmas. (Unless someone out there really wants me to.) Suzy stayed in GR with Mom and Dad for some special grandkid/grandparent time. I will get her on Tuesday.

Last week was a blur of work and Christmas preparations. I went shopping (online and in person). I much prefer online shopping. How easy is that!? And some really great deals! I worked almost 5 extra hours last week, which as I have mentioned really taps me out.

We did lessons a couple days last week and then moved to Christmas gift preparations. Each of the kids made some. David created a lovely watermelon pencil sketch for my parents, James made fudge, and the girls made ornaments.

Monday and Tuesday last week were very snowy, windy, and cold, so all of our activities were canceled and we stayed home. That was nice and relaxing.

I have traditionally served ham on Christmas Day, but this year Bob asked me to serve something else. No religious reason (lol) - he just wants some variety. I thought of a beef roast, but when I went grocery shopping last night at Walmart, I checked their beef roasts and some
of them were $50+! Of course, I could choose a regular chuck roast or something like that. But I went online to a Christian moms forum I am a part of and posed the question to them. One of the moms says she always just does snack-y trays of salami, cheese, crackers, veggies, fruits, sweets, etc.... When I mentioned that to Bob, he really liked the ideas. So I think that's what I'll do! EASY! Love that part. I will cook some pierogies my friend is selling at some point that day, or maybe Christmas Eve. And I want cheesy potatoes. So I will make that.

Also, I want a waffle maker. Walmart has one in their ad for $14.88 and Kmart has one for $20. I looked at the local Walmart but they didn't have that one. Thinking we will have Belgian waffles on Christmas morning.

I can't think of much else and I want to go get the Christmas cards done and watch a movie.

I miss my baby!

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Book Club
Sunday -SNOWED IN, Christmas Decorating

Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Christmas School, Gymnastics
Tuesday - WORK, XMAS School, Leadership Dinner

Wednesday - WORK, XMAS School
Thursday - WORK, XMAS School
Friday - WORK, Christmas Skating Party, Leave for GR?
Saturday - Family Christmas in GR
Sunday - Come home from GR (without Suzy!)

The homeschool meeting last Monday ended up canceled - not enough people RSVP'd. Which normally would have bugged me, but it meant I didn't have to rush from one meeting to the other. So, I stayed at the soccer board meeting longer.

We did "Christmas School" on Monday, but the rest of the week kinda bit the dust for extra Christmas-y things. Emily was working on something difficult in math and I needed to give her extra help which ate up a large amount of my day. Also David was called in to do computer consulting again at that private school two days this week. They paid him by giving him two computers, which he was geeked about, but isn't going to help him pay for his driver's training.

He's going to be taking his classes starting in mid-January and he needs to come up with quite a bit more money before then. I hope he has a plan, because I am not going to be able to bail him out of that.

I've been doing a bit of consulting for the company that provides our online foreign language curriculum and they set up an interview for me with a local newspaper. The article was about how technology is used in home education and I had a phone interview. Great! I don't mind ever talking about home education, especially with computers and technology. But then, he said he wanted to send a photographer out and really the article wouldn't run without photos anyway. So, I agreed, despite being very much out of my comfort zone. I don't have people over much. And these photos of my home and our learning would be published for anyone to see! But I bit the bullet. The kids weren't keen on the idea either, but they agreed and they were very co-operative. The article was supposed to be in Friday's Flint Journal. But it wasn't. Augh!

UPDATE (Sunday) - The article was on the FRONT PAGE of Sunday's paper. A big picture of Suzy (though they spelled it "Susan" @@) and Bob. Inside the paper, there was a pic of me and Emily. All in all, a nice article about technology in home education. When I can find a link, I'll post it.

Thursday night we were invited to go with friends to see the Christmas display a relative puts on - quite a spectacle!! Lights, wooden cutouts, elaborately designed wooden reindeer, piped-in Christmas music - it was like being at Bronner's - REALLY. Amazing display. Then we were invited in for refreshments - these people know how to entertain! What a lovely tradition. He starts decorating before Halloween!

"Gingerbread" houses were the plan for Friday. Friends invited us over to collaborate on gingerbread houses and we gladly agreed. The kids had a grand time and I enjoyed visiting with adults.

James spent Friday night attending a friend's basketball game and then spending the night. The rest of us had a low-key night. Well, *I* had to finish my work hours (still working at midnight) since I played all day.

The snow started early Sunday morning and when we got up (rather late, I'll admit), everything was white and sparkling. (Kind of like a Twilight vampire, only prettier.) It snowed ALL DAY. Monday it's supposed to start blowing. All the schools are closed, so I don't know if we will have gymnastics. But we didn't go anywhere Sunday. I was supposed to go to a movie and Emily was supposed to do a babysitting fundraiser - canceled.

Have a great week!

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - James' Gym & Swim party
Sunday - Nutcracker Ballet with Suzy (shopping with Suzy)
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Christmas School, SOF Meeting & Soccer Meeting (at the same time!)
Tuesday - WORK, XMAS School
Wednesday - WORK, XMAS School
Thursday - WORK, XMAS School
Friday - WORK, Gingerbread House Day, Babysitting Fundraiser
Saturday - Christmas Ladies "thing" w/Em and Suzy, Book Club
Sunday - Visit a church?

Sleeping in on Sundays - I just love it! Two weeks in a row now, we've done that. Argh - kind of at odds with our desire to find a church, isn't it? Then I spoke to a friend whose church meets Saturday night. Maybe that's what we should look for?

James turned 11 this week. He's just growing up so fast! His actual birthday on Wednesday was celebrated with family gifts, his choice of meals (pizza, and Hamburger Helper - yes, really), and cake and ice cream. On Saturday I took James and 4 of his friends to the local community center to play basketball and swim. That was fun (and low stress for me!).

David was sick this week; he slept most of the day on Thursday. He's feeling better but still congested. He got to spend the night at a friend's house Friday to celebrate that friend's birthday.

Co-op is over for 2010 but will continue with 7 more session in 2011 (Jan-April). We keep the same classes all year, so nothing will change regarding the schedule. We are enjoying it; the kids love most of their classes.

Tried to take Suzy to the Nutcracker ballet today. I'd bought tickets through Seize the Deal, which is like Groupon (a website that secures a local 'deal of the day'). I got 2 tickets for the price of 1 several weeks ago. Printed out the voucher and took it to the theater today and was told (along with a large number of other folks) that the organization that runs the theater had sold the tickets but apparently did not communicate that to the theater itself, who then of course ALSO sold the tickets. Double-booked. And SOLD OUT. So, we were out of luck. We were shocked but then just sort of shrugged our shoulders, thinking we'll get our money back. They offered us Holiday Pops tickets - not quite a replacement to my thinking. One woman was standing there with a huge bouquet of flowers along with her voucher. Her daughter was in the performance. She was out of luck too, unless they found her a seat. She had her mom with her to see her granddaughter dance. Another woman was so angry that she was threatening to call the media. The people who worked there were rather nonplussed by the whole thing and started a list, taking our names. We'll see how this plays out.

But Suzy and I had a nice afternoon shopping for Christmas gifts and then eating out together. She was all dressed up and I curled her hair - she felt very special. I took a pic of her at dinner but had intended to take one at the theater with the Nutcracker background. Since that was all messed up, I never got a full length picture of her.

Last week I worked 3.3 extra hours. I can work up to 5 extra hours every week until the middle of January. That gives me a total of 25 hours each week. If I can squeeze the extra hour in, I do it. That extra 20 hours a month really helps when the paycheck comes. Did you know I get paid only once a month?

I just noticed that everything hanging on my wall above my desk is crooked. Lovely. lol

OK, I am way way past my bedtime. I don't know if I can get up at 6:30 if I go to bed at 1:30. Guess we'll see, eh?

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Writing and grocery shopping and chores
Sunday - Visit a church, look at cars, write
Monday - WORK 4-5 hrs, Lessons, Gymnastics, Write
Tuesday - WORK, Lessons, Write, NANOWRIMO ENDS!
Wednesday - WORK, James turns 11!, Art Class, NO lessons at the request of JPW
Thursday - WORK, Work meeting, Lessons?
Friday - WORK, Co-op, David to a friend
Saturday - James' Gym & Swim party
Sunday - Visit a church?, Nutcracker Ballet with Suzy

Scrapbooking last Saturday was a BLAST! Twelve hours with friends, yummy food, and scrapping photos.

That night, I got sick, though. The sickest I've been in about ten years. Thankfully it was only 8 hours in duration, but I was wiped out for all of Sunday, since I really didn't sleep at all during the night. Monday I was still feeling rather shaky, but I'm now back up to snuff.

Gymnastics Day was Monday. James and Suzy went and Emily opted out. I wasn't feeling up to arguing, so I left her home. She probably thinks she doesn't have to go anymore, but I'm not convinced that's a good plan.

Wednesday Bob wasn't feeling too well, but he went to work anyway. But he called and let me know that he wasn't feeling like he ought to travel to Grand Rapids for Thanksgiving. Too queasy for a long car ride and a big dinner. So, the kids and I left early and headed to my parents' house as soon as my work hours were done for the day. Roads were dry about half of the trip and then the rain started pouring. The older I get, the less I like driving in the dark and the rain does not help.

Thanksgiving was such a nice time! Mom had everything really well planned and the day was pleasant and not stressful. The cousins played well. We missed Debbie and Denise - I'm still not convinced this separation thing is the best way to handle the family holidays, though I don't have a more workable solution right now. More rain on the way home made for a white-knuckle drive.

A couple trips to the store recently made me realize I am not much of a shopper. Crowded stores and too many choices stress me out, especially with limited funding. Going to be ordering online as much as possible.Which means I really need to get to it!

My non-disclosure agreement for my work means I can't tell you a lot about what I do. That sounds awfully mysterious, doesn't it? It's really quite mundane, but the client doesn't want specific details about the project spread around. There are at least two slightly different projects I can be working on currently. Basically I have to look at search engine queries and categorize them. Thousands of them. One project is more about the query terms and the other project is more about the results. So there you have it. Or not, as the case may be. LOL

I've been writing a lot and I am about 2000 words from the 50,000! David is less than 20% from the end. I am sure we will both finish. The other kids have all met their goals.

File cabinets - yes, I have two; actually three if you count the lateral file cabinet. They are filled with books and folders and folders and folders of stuff I've saved through the years from teaching. I have come to realize I almost never take anything OUT of a folder and use it once I put it in. And 20 years ago when I started "foldering", there was no internet. Now I usually just google when I want a worksheet or a picture or an activity. So, I'm sorting slowly through my file cabinets - tossing some things (old weekly readers?? lol), using some papers for scrap paper for the kids, making a pile that I think others might find useful, and keeping only a little of it. I am hoping to get down to just one of the file cabinets, mainly for books. If I can get everything in the lateral file cabinet, I'd just be thrilled.

Emily and I both need Regency gowns for the ball in March. And yes, I am considering sewing them. ACK. Such a savings! I don't even have a sewing machine anymore, though. So, I'm looking at sales and craigslist. I need one that can sew denim for another project I've been wanting to do. And David's outfit is going to be even more challenging! Think Mr. Darcy mixed with Phileas Fogg and add a dash of Sherlock Holmes.

OK, clicking "publish" because I am bored with posting. lol

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Scrapbooking Day + some early errands
Sunday - Sick all night, sleep all morning, read all afternoon
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Lessons, Gymnastics
Tuesday - WORK 5, Lessons, Write
Wednesday - WORK 5, Write
Thursday - THANKSGIVING
Friday - WORK 5?, Write, Babysitting fundraiser?
Saturday - Write!
Sunday - Visit a church? Write - NaNo is almost done!

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Book Club
Sunday - Visit a church, Write, Movie/Dinner with friends
Monday - WORK 4 hrs, Lessons, Write-in
Tuesday - WORK 4, Lessons, Write
Wednesday - Kickboxing, WORK 4, Lessons, Write
Thursday - WORK 4, Lessons, Write
Friday - WORK 4, Write-in, Co-op
Saturday - Scrapbooking Day
Sunday - Visit a church? Write

Visited our 4th church today. Kids went back tonight for youth group.

Writing is going ok, but this is one novel that will likely never see the light of day. Experimenting with a lot of new things like writing in 1st person.

The weather sure was nice, though I didn't enjoy the outdoors much.

Trying to imagine how to add exercising back into my routine. Afraid of re-injuring my ankle.

Going to an all day scrapbook fundraiser. Need to go through pix and decide what to scrap on Saturday. And then order my photos. Anyone want to join me?

Bob got a great deal on a non-working laptop and David has brought it back to life. So he now has a laptop of his own. He is GEEKED!!!

Had a wonderful time at book club last night. Discussed Gone with the Wind and watched the second part. Then we watched Went with the Wind from the Carol Burnett Show. OH so funny. Look it up on youtube.

David earned his second year varsity soccer pin this fall and received it at the awards banquet on Friday night. A REALLY long program (including a sermon!?) also included a dessert buffet and presentations to the 3 girls volleyball teams and the varsity boys soccer team. Now he wants a varsity jacket.

Suzy and James went to a field trip this week at Petco, a large pet store. They saw all kinds of interesting pets, as well as lots of pee and poop. LOL My friend Donna took them so I could work.

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Free Matinee, James to party, Emily to Austen movie night, Write
Sunday - Visit a church? Or just write write write?
Monday - WORK 4 hrs, Lessons, Write, Gymnastics
Tuesday - WORK 4, Lessons, Write
Wednesday - Kickboxing, WORK 4, Lessons, Write
Thursday - WORK 4, Lessons, Write
Friday - WORK 4, Write-in, Awards Banquet for David
Saturday - Book club!, Write
Sunday - Visit a church? Write

Loved Beezus and Ramona - highly recommended.

Also liked The Last Song though I have yet to watch the ending as my DVD was defective. I think it would have been better without Miley Cyrus though. LOVE Greg Kinnear.

Wonka Fruit Marvels (clementine) are TASTY!

We tossed a broken dresser and brought another one into service. We have junky furniture. lol

I love coffee with flavored creamer. Don't like regular coffee with powdered creamer and sweet and low. Or with milk and sugar. Or honey. Blech.

Starbucks is an odd place. Not sure I like it.

I love teaching my Austentatious class. And thanks to Darlene for leading the discussion this past week! Can't wait for movie night in just an hour or so.

James and David both had friends sleep here last night. That's different for us. We don't often do sleepovers here.

I hate my story and I am not sure what to do with it. So, right now? I am procrastinating. Which means I will be writing later tonight, if I can think of something to say.

I just about have my Evanovich collection finished. I am working on getting all the Gabaldon books (of Outlander) in hardcover - nearly there!

My enormous thesaurus makes me happy.

This is a nice sunny day. I should go for a run. I haven't been running since that 5K in September. I am a slacker. I haven't exercised at all in 2 weeks. But I am counting calories. I can't go for a run now anyway since I have to leave in 45 minutes.

We are still looking for a car.

It's the little things that drive me crazy. A dirty sock stuffed under the couch. A spill that no one bothers to clean up. A dirty Q-tip on the floor RIGHT NEXT TO the trashcan. Bickering. A sweatshirt not hung up. Again. Etc. Etc. Etc...

It's also the little things that make life worth living. The coffee maker timer. A card in the mail from your mom. (Thanks, Mom!) Seeing the kids excited about something they learned at co-op. (Thanks, Marla, Sarah, Darlene, and Michele!) An 80's song on the radio that I know all the words to. (Thanks, Journey! lol) Sunshine on a November afternoon. Diet Coke with ice.

I'm off to Movie Night with my Austentatious teens! Have a great night!

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Soccer games (J,S), My dad's 70th birthday party
Sunday - hung out with family, drove home, Trick or Treating
Monday - WORK 4 hrs, Lessons, NaNoWriMo begins, Homeschool Meeting/Write-in
Tuesday - WORK 4, Lessons, James soccer game
Wednesday - Kickboxing, WORK 4, Lessons, Art class
Thursday - WORK 4, Lessons, David soccer "party"
Friday - WORK 4, Co-op, Write-in
Saturday - James going to a party, Emily and Lisa to Teen Austen Movie Night
Sunday - Visit a church? Or just write write write?

Thought the last soccer games were the 3oth but it turns out James has one more - reschedule of a canceled game.

Trick or treating was COLD but fun. The kids got quite a haul.

My dad's surprise 70th birthday was very special. Glad we were able to make the drive over yesterday. We spent the night, hung out there this morning and then headed home this afternoon.

NaNoWriMo begins Monday. Yikes. Digging in for a month of computer stuff. LOL Have several friends writing again this year, including a couple newbies! Love that!

Went to a great book sale on Monday night with David and a friend of mine. Found a few great things.

My mind is rather blank at the moment.

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Soccer games (J,S), David worked on some computers, hung out with friends
Sunday - visited new church, carve pumpkins, youth Elevation event
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Lessons, Gymnastics
Tuesday - WORK 5, Lessons, James soccer game, Bob - doctor visit
Wednesday - Kickboxing, WORK 5, Emily field trip, David work again
Thursday - WORK 5, Lessons
Friday - WORK 5, Lessons
Saturday - Soccer games (S,J)
Sunday - Trick or treating, and the Night Before NaNo!

[Edited - Picked up 5 extra hours this week. Christmas money! YAY!]

No time for much of a review. James made a couple goals on Saturday and Suzy made a goal too! Her first of the season! I was so proud!

The Bill and Ted party was so fun! David dressed as Ted, Emily was a historical babe, and I was Abraham Lincoln. There were a few kids from the church the hostesses go to, as well as us and another family we know that goes to their church. Lovely bunch of teens. See the pix on facebook if you haven't already. We watched the movie together, played Apples to Apples, and Mafia, and some kind of nickel nickel passing game and Twister, ate pizza and pudding and chips and Twinkies, and took bunches of photos. Oh yeah, and danced to 80's music. A TOTAL blast! Thanks bunches to Bill and Ted1 for hosting!!!

Was a very nice relaxing weekend - spent some time watching soccer, some time hanging with friends, carving pumpkins, and visited another new church.

GTG! Have a great week. I'll try to post something mid-week. We'll see how that works out.

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Soccer games (J,S,E), Rollicking Readers!
Sunday -
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Soccer practice (D), AYSO meeting (L)
Tuesday - WORK 5, Lessons, James field trip, Soccer game (D-away)
Wednesday - Kickboxing, WORK 5, Lessons
Thursday - WORK 4, Lessons
Friday - WORK 4, Co-op, Bill & Ted party
Saturday - Soccer games (S,J)

Well, I meant to finish this over the weekend and just never got to it. So, now it's Tuesday and we've had a soccer practice, a soccer game, 10 hours of work, a grocery trip, a field trip, several LONG hours in the car to Brighton and back, a meeting, and lots of other stuff too.

James scored three goals in his Saturday game. Other than that, soccer last week was uneventful. Emily's last game was Saturday and David's last game was tonight. Suzy has finished practices and has two more games. James has practice yet and two more games.

Last week I managed 5 extra work hours, racking up those bucks for Christmas. This week I am aiming for 3 extra.

Book club was awesome, though it was a small group this month. Several were sick and several had other plans. A first-time hostess and a new member made the evening memorable.

I've adjusted to my bifocals now, but there is a blurry spot when I read. So, I need to call back the eye doctor and see about that.

Bob did some work on my van's brakes as well as some on the barn roof. It really needs to be redone, but that's beyond his scope of activity. The pitch of that roof is far too steep.

I'm exhausted so that's all you're getting from me tonight! LOL

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Emily soccer tournament
Sunday - 10-10-10 party with friends
Monday - WORK 4 hrs, Field trip, Soccer practice (D)

Tuesday - WORK 4, Lessons, Soccer games (S,J)
Wednesday - Kickboxing, WORK 4, Lessons, Soccer Game (E-home)
Thursday - WORK 4, Lessons, Soccer Practice (J,S), Soccer Game (D-away)
Friday - WORK 4, NO Lessons, Soccer practice (D)
Saturday - Soccer games (J,S,E), Rollicking Readers!

Yep - here we go with another week FILLED with soccer. LOL I am getting ready for it to be done, though I love watching it. I truly do. I'm just tired of my weeks being so full.

Anytime extra hours are offered, I am taking them - Christmas money. So, last week I earned 4 extra (tried for 5, but it didn't happen) and the week before I got 2 extra. It's amazing how that one extra hour a day can really max me out.

Hosted Suzy's belated birthday party this past Friday. She wanted a scrapbooking party so we had 9 little girls join us. We also had cake and ice cream outside since it was LOVELY weather (accompanied by one or two apian visitors) and visited the playground down the street. Dinner was pizza and there was a lot of playing outside. Good thing it was nice out. Some scrapbooked most of the time and a few scrapbooked only a minimum. My dear friend Maryann stuck around and helped me out. She was a LIFESAVER! Thanks, MM!

Went to Warren on Saturday for Emily's soccer tournament. They played 3 short games (half the normal length) - tied two, lost one. They were invited back for Sunday's playoff, but Emily had injured herself on the playground between games, so I didn't take her back for the games Sunday. She was having trouble running and bending over. It was perfect weather for a soccer tournament. We had never had the opportunity to attend one before. I know; hard to believe after 10 years of soccer, isn't it?

Suzy went along to the tournament and between games, the girls and I went to lunch and went shopping. We got long white gloves for Emily's regency outfit and a top hat for David's. I bought short white gloves for myself, but now I wish I'd bought the long ones. If you need these items, now is the time to go buy them. Where? A Halloween store, of course!

Was thinking of scheduling an essay class before Christmas - more Christmas money, you see. But I think it may be too ambitious a goal, along with NaNoWriMo.

Of course, I'll be NaNo-ing again this November. You should do it too!

LAST WEEK'S SOCCER REPORT
David - Mon: TIE 0-0 That was an intense game. Fri: TIE 0-0 again! I missed this game.
Emily - Wed: TIE 1-1. I missed this game too. Sat Tournament: Game 1 TIE 1-1, Game 2 LOSS 2-1, Game 3 TIE 0-0. The team went back the second day, but Emily did not go along because she got hurt (not during a game).
James - No games this week.
Suzy - Tues: WIN 2-1 (I think). Suzy played hard and was ever-so energetic, turning cartwheels on the field before (and once during) the game!

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Soccer games (J,S), Austentatious Movie Day
Sunday - Church?
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Lessons, Soccer game (D-away)
Tuesday - WORK 5, Lessons, Soccer practice (E,J), Soccer game (S)
Wednesday - Kickboxing, WORK 5, Lessons, Soccer Game (E-home)
Thursday - WORK 5, Lessons, Soccer Practice (J,S)
Friday - WORK 5, Co-op, Soccer game (D-away)
Saturday - Emily soccer tournament

[Note on Oct 4 - Picked up 5 extra hours this week - earning Christmas money.]

Check it out - more soccer! Every day - go figure!

Let's see. Austentatious Movie Day was a hit! Thankfully! I was a tad worried that the teens wouldn't "get it" but they do! No worries. We watched Northanger Abbey which is one of my favorites! Lots of giggling and squealing as well as some good discussion.

On my birthday, I woke up to no internet, which really put a wrench into my day's plans. I had intended to knock out most of my work early so we could go to lunch and then David and I would head out to his game, which was about 90 minutes away. Didn't work out. And I didn't handle it well. PMS. Library not open til 11, so can't work there. Opened cable bill (internet) and error on bill and raise in rates for service that I can't use today. Blech. Called and "discussed" it with customer service, in no uncertain terms informing them I would not be paying for error on bill. Out to lunch. Asian buffet (wanted Mexican). Ate too much. Behind 2 hours on work.

But the kids made me beautiful cards. I need to scan them. I had purchased the new Diana Gabaldon graphic novel as an early birthday gift. Lots of lovely facebook wishes. David's team won. We went out to eat at a Mexican place and I had a delectable chicken quesadilla. Made up my work hours later in the week.

The kids loved their gymnastics class. I will post about that on Cornerstone though.

Other than that, the week was mainly lots of working, lots of soccer, some rain, and cleaning house. Oh, and lessons. Bob has been working M/W/F/Sat lately. Not liking the Saturdays. Especially for soccer season. BAD.

Last week's soccer report:
David - Tues: WIN (7-0) David was a forward briefly in this game, but mostly defense. & Fri: WIN (1-0) Defense.
Emily - Wed: WON (2-1) Defense. One or two really good kicks.
James - Sat: LOSS (0-4) Forward 2 quarters, Defense 1 quarter, Sat out last quarter - He is relentless in his pursuit of the ball.
Suzy - Sat: LOSS (1-2) - Played goalkeeper one quarter, one as midfielder, 2 as forward. She was energetic today!

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Soccer game (E), J & D at a friend's, Running a 5K, Fall Festival in town
Sunday - Church!
Monday - WORK 4 hrs, Lessons, Gymnastics (S,J,E), Soccer practice (D)
Tuesday - My birthday, WORK 4, Lessons, Soccer practice (E,J,S), Soccer game (D-away)
Wednesday - WORK 4, Lessons, Soccer Game (E-away)
Thursday - WORK 4, Lessons, Soccer Practice (J,S), Clothes Swap?
Friday - WORK 4, Soccer game (D-home)
Saturday - Soccer games (J,S), Austentatious Movie Day

Helped rescued a little guy today. Downtown at the Fall Festival, the girls and I were looking at some antique cars and saw a guy about 3 or 4 years old trucking down the middle of the street, which was closed off for the festival. He had no shoes on, which caught my attention, but he seemed like he knew where he was going. But when he got to the barrier, he kept right on going! By that time, I knew something was wrong and I was trying to catch up. A woman on the opposite side of the street ran out and grabbed him before he got too far into the road. She and I conferred and neither of us knew him or where he was going. He was very insistent that he should continue, but I told him I'd help him find his mom. So, we went back uptown and talked to the guys running the stage. They were getting ready to make an announcement when a lady waved at him and came running. He'd apparently been in the inflatable game and come out and headed "home". LOL Glad he found his family!

Ran the race today. Was NOT prepared, but did it anyway, thinking I'd walk if I had to. Still got it done, despite the hills, the under-training, and the gravelly last mile and a half. Kickboxing on Wednesday had done a number on my hamstrings, so I've been limping about for two days due to sore muscles and my back was sore when I woke up today. But I pressed on. Not a great time, though at mile 2 marker, I was on my regular pace. The last mile kicked my butt. Understandable though, since the most I have been running lately was 2 miles. I need to train for a 10K. Wonder if I can find one for Thanksgiving. More importantly, can I find time to train?

Bob's van once again is giving him trouble and he thinks it's time to replace it now. We let it limp along for a couple months. Anyone know of a good car or van for sale under $3000? The cheaper the better, in my opinion.

Worked through David's thoughts and my desires on the Washington DC trip and the upshot is that he is not going to participate. I want him to. He doesn't want to. He most emphatically does not want to do fundraising. Well, then. Do I want to push for 6 months entreating my balky son to do his fundraising or do I just let him miss out? I went for the "miss out" path. Sorry, son; it's a battle I'm not going to fight. Someday I think you'll wish you'd gone.

Bob had some kind of a procedure done at the hospital on Tuesday morning. I had to drive him. It was something for his back pain; some kind of injections. More on that later, especially if they help.

Heard Hugh Jackman was back in Michigan filming. Just an hour or so from me - argh! Wouldn't that be something to see?

Last week's soccer report:
David - Mon: LOSS 2-1 (David played defense, I think. I sent him with another family.)
Emily - Wed: WON (1-0) & Sat: TIE 1-1 (Emily played defense.)
James - Thurs: LOSS (5-0) (Way out-matched and two of the goals were kicked in illegally. James played his hardest, but it was just unbelievable.)
Suzy - Tues: LOSS (she says 0-9?!)

They sure lose a lot. LOL

Oh yeah, we visited another church on Sunday, though it was far enough away that it's not really a contender for our regular church-going.

Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Soccer games (E & J), Suzy at a friend's, Movie/Dinner with friends
Sunday - Church!
Monday - WORK 4 hrs, Lessons, Soccer Game (D-away)
Tuesday - WORK 4, Lessons, Soccer pix (E,J,S), Soccer game (S)
Wednesday - WORK 4, Lessons, Soccer Game (E-home)
Thursday - WORK 4, Lessons, Soccer Game (J), Soccer Practice?
Friday - WORK 4, Co-op, Soccer practice (D)
Saturday - 5K (Lisa), Soccer Game (E-home), Soccer practice (D)

Another week of soccer every night! LOL Last week, soccer pictures were canceled due to rain and I got Emily a ride to one of her away games, so I actually wasn't as harried as I expected to be.

I now have bifocals. Progressive lenses, to be exact. They were fully covered by my insurance, which was unexpected, but a huge blessing. I didn't have too many frames to choose from, but I'm not picky. Getting accustomed to them has been a little disconcerting though. At least now I can read with my glasses on!

Our pastor resigned recently and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. We are now actively church-hunting. No, we haven't been to church much over recent months, but that had nothing really to do with the church itself. But I don't have the wherewithal to endure another pastoral search - he was the 4th pastor in the 7 years we have attended there. I have a short list of churches to visit and will be making reports.

Some friends and I went to the movies last night to see what we thought would be a cute romantic high school comedy. Um. No. It was not. It was a highly sexualized FAIL. Some funny moments and a lot of good acting were wasted in this distasteful film. Do not waste your time on Easy A.

Let's see - what else. Lots of soccer, obviously. The report:
David - Mon: LOSS 2-1 & Fri: LOSS 4-1 (David played defense in both those games.)
Emily - Wed: LOSS (score?) & Sat: LOSS 1-0 (Emily played defense.)
James - Sat: Tie 7-7 (James made one of the goals. He played forward and midfield.)
Suzy - Did not have a game this week.

I got to chat with an old friend for a while during David's Monday game. She is the administrator of the school his team played against. We taught school together for 4 years back in the day. 'Twas nice to catch up with each other.

I am supposed to run a 5K on Saturday. I feel unprepared for that. I ran two miles on Tuesday and walked 3 miles two other days last week. I suppose I can run and walk if I have to. There's just no time to focus on fitness. I should go running right now. But I don't WANNA.

Well, I have a book to finish and some lessons to plan. So, I've got to go! Have a lovely week, everyone!

Weekly Preview and Recap

Saturday - Soccer games (E,J& S), David at a friend's, Book Club!
Sunday - Church?, AYSO meeting
Monday - WORK 4 hrs, Lessons begin, Soccer Game (D-away)
Tuesday - WORK 4, Soccer practice (E,J,S)
Wednesday - WORK 4, Soccer Game (E-away)
Thursday - WORK 4, Soccer pix (E,J,S) and practice??
Friday - WORK 4, Park Day, Soccer Game (D-home)
Saturday - Soccer Games (J-home, E-away)

This week just BLEW PAST me. Lots of soccer. Lots of uniform problems - which makes me want to find a DIFFERENT company to deal with next year. Planning co-op class (which went over well, I think!). Lots of work - still trying to make up my missed hours from camp week.

I just looked at the week ahead and we have soccer EVERY day. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. LOL That has never happened before in my life ever. At least that way it's spread out enough that I can attend most of the events and/or make sure the kids get where they're supposed to be. I do love watching soccer. I do mean that!

Last week's soccer report:
David - Tues: WON , Fri: TIE 1-1 David is a starter and plays defense most of the game.
Emily - Wed: WON 2-0. SAT: WON 1-0 Emily has a strong kick. She plays defense.
James - Sat: LOST 5-4 James made 3 of those goals though! Played forward 1 quarter, midfield 1 and goalie 1. We know he needs to work on his goalkeeper skills! lol
Suzy - Sat: WON 3-1. Suzy seemed very tired and not her normal aggressive energetic self.

I did manage to read a book this past week and I think I watched a movie, but now I can't remember. LOL I am looking forward to reading Mockingjay - but just when, I am not sure! lol (It's the 3rd in the Hunger Games series.)

David is going in the spring on a class trip to Washington, D.C. and will be doing a number of fundraisers. We are starting with fall bulbs - anyone need any? The sets are almost all $10.

OK, I better go get something done before I have to leave for book club. Thought about a run, but I am EXHAUSTED. Maybe tomorrow?

Weekly Preview and RECAP

Saturday - Dropped J off with my parents, headed to MM's for LOTR and fun!
Sunday - Yard Work
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Peach Festival (Bob has to work)
Tuesday - WORK 5, Soccer practice (E,S), Soccer Game (D - away), Pick J up
Wednesday - WORK 5, Soccer Game (E - away)
Thursday - WORK 5, Soccer practice (E,J,S)
Friday - WORK 5?, Co-op, Soccer Game (D - home)
Saturday - Soccer Games (S,J,E - home), BOOK CLUB!

Trying to remember last week - can you say BLURRRR? Lots of soccer details and the ever-present work!

Let's go backwards, shall we? Saturday I woke up far earlier than I would have liked to pick David up from a friend's where he'd spent the night and go straight to meet my parents halfway between our homes to give them James for a few days. Then the other kids and I trekked north to Maryann's to spend the day. It's been far too long since we've had uninterrupted time together. We both did some lesson planning while we watched FOTR and half of TT (Lord of the Rings, in case you're part of the uninitiated). Then M's daughter downloaded (LEGALLY, mind you) a British movie with Robert Pattinson (The Bad Mother's Handbook) and we watched that too. We also made a trip to the discount grocery where I stocked up on goodies. Came home at midnight! Thoroughly satisfying day.

Friday - hmm.... Oh yeah, I had an eye doctor appointment. Guess what? I need bifocals! More on that once they come in. Also had to start a new procedure at work with not enough training. Very stressful. Training coming up on Tuesday!

Thursday - Several kids had practice and David had an away game. Bob took him to that and the team WON! First game they won!

Wednesday - I went to a friend's house to sort soccer uniforms. Suzy went along. This woman has the most ADORABLE detailed murals on her kids walls. The girl has princesses and the boy has Lego stuff. The kids' bathroom is all SpongeBob. She painted it all herself. Took Suzy out for lunch after.

Tuesday - Took David and 3 of his teammates to their away game. Soccer practice happened here while I was off on my adventure.

Monday - Our longtime friends, the Bowmans, are moving to Texas and today was their farewell picnic. Suzy and James are close friends with two of the Bowman children so this is toughest for them. We brought their friends home with us after the picnic and they played the rest of the day with us. David had soccer practice in the evening.

Loving my new phone except for two things. 1 - I talk on it more than I thought I would. Maybe that's because of the newness of it. I had to add minutes already. 2 - I can't use free ringtones!!

Working on planning my Jane Austen class. Northanger Abbey is up first.

Bought David a pair of soccer shoes at Play It Again Sports because his new shoes fell apart during Thursday night's soccer game. Those are the FIRST pair I ever bought new. @@ <--rolling eyes Usually I have been able to find good used cleats, but I couldn't find any for David before his season started. I highly recommend Play It Again Sports; David's shoes are nice quality, barely used (if at all) and were only $9.99. We went to the one on Miller Road in Flint.

Making some plans for fall - Renaissance Festival in Holly (moms only?), Renaissance Festival in Vassar (with kids), maybe the Wolcott Mill Civil War Skirmish, and of course lots of soccer!

Oh, my friend Pam's family welcomed their foreign exchange student this week. He's 15 and from Spain.

Weekly Preview and RECAP

Saturday - Just hanging out mostly
Sunday - Family Picnic
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Farewell Picnic, Soccer practice (D)
Tuesday - WORK 5, Soccer practice (E,J,S), Soccer Game (D)
Wednesday - WORK 5,
Thursday - WORK 5, Soccer practice (E,J,S), Soccer Game (D)
Friday - WORK 5
Saturday -

Work was completely messed up last week. Remember the plan? I was going to come home every day and work 3 hours?

Well, Monday, I came home at 6am and worked 2 hours 40 minutes and then there was no more work. OK, well, that was almost 3 hours, so I called it good and headed back to camp. Tuesday I arose at 6 and headed home to find that no work had been loaded! I did some other things for a while waiting for work, but none arrived, so I went back to the campground. I checked later in the day and work had been loaded but the Mi-Fi connection was too slow for me to work there. But I was confident that I could make things up on Wednesday. Especially when I woke up EARLY at 5:15 and headed home to find.... NO INTERNET service here. Argh - several hours of troubleshooting later, I called the cable company only to find that they'd have to send a tech the next day.

Back to the campground where the internet connection was still too slow. No internet at home until Thursday afternoon nixed my plans to work that day, but I figured I'd work at home once we came back. Well, we came back later than I planned and then the lesson plan for my interview consumed me. So no work Wed or Thursday either! Friday, however, went as planned and I completed 5 hours of work.

My boss said not to worry, however, but to make up the hours over the rest of the pay period. So - WHEW!

David's first soccer game was Friday night. He played defense. They lost 4-3, but held their own until the very end. He has two games this coming week on Tuesday and Thursday. The rest of the kids all have practice on those two nights. Good thing Bob doesn't work on Tuesday.

My library interview went really well, I thought. There's a point in an interview where I think the interviewers either dismiss you or begin to imagine you in the position and I think we managed that connection. They said they would decide in about a week.

I love my new phone! I changed service plans from Verizon to Virgin Mobile. My 2 years of Verizon are up and I decided a new provider would be a good choice since we never ever got good service inside our home from Verizon. Virgin Mobile's $25 Beyond Talk no-contract plan is perfect for me! I have a QWERTY phone now with a slide out keyboard so texting is simple and I have unlimited internet too. So, text me! The only thing I'm annoyed with is I can't figure out how to get free ringtones.

Camp week was wonderful. The weather was cooler than average, but not cold nor rainy. I think we had about 12 families camping together and the kids often "slept over" at someone else's site. One night, I was the ONLY ONE in my camper. (Bob slept at home so he could leave early for work.) We had great activities like rock painting, scavenger hunt, beach volleyball, ice cream social, playing cards, toddler time, and so much more! Can't wait for next year!

I'm working on plans for my Jane Austen class for co-op - it's called Austentatious! I have 9 girls taking the class and we'll read all 6 of Austen's novels and watch film adaptations.

Weekly Preview and RECAP

Saturday - Soccer practice (D), Packing for Camping, Book Club
Sunday - Packing and Leaving for Camping
Monday - Camp, WORK 3 hrs, Soccer practice (D)
Tuesday - Camp, WORK 3
Wednesday - Camp, WORK 3,
Thursday - Camp and Come home at bedtime, WORK 3
Friday - Interview, WORK 3, Soccer GAME (D @ Lapeer East)
Saturday - something niggles at the back of my mind.... but what???

I took 5 hours off this week, so I can work my hours several ways - five 3's, three 5's, four 4's minus 1. There may be extra hours so I can make them up if needed.

My interview was supposed to be Tuesday, but they rescheduled it to Friday. I have an hour time slot. Five-ten minutes of that is to be a sample storytime lesson. Christy has shared some of her files with me since this is what SHE does at her job. I LOOOVE the thought of working in a library. Absolutely adore the idea. How I can do that full time and continue to homeschool, I am not sure. I guess I'll take it one step at a time - I have not even INTERVIEWED yet. LOL But it's funny how just about every homeschool mom I talk to has the same response.

Me: I have an interview for a full time library job.
Her: What are you going to do with the kids?

LOL - Not "wow, cool." Or "Do you think this is God's provision for your family?" or even "I know you've always wanted to work in a library." Nope, just - "Will the kids go back to school?"

I don't WANT to send the kids to school. But I DO want to pay our bills and have money for things we need. Like a new roof. Or a replacement vehicle. Or soccer shoes.

What I do think is that I can't homeschool, work full time, and be the soccer registrar. That job eats up too much time, even though I really enjoy doing it despite the headaches. Maybe I can find someone to be an assistant registrar.

Hmmm..... thoughts, thoughts.....

David will go to his soccer practice on Monday. One of the coaches is camping with us and 4 or 5 of the boys camping are on the team, so they will all go together. His first game is Friday afternoon - it's a home game at Lapeer East. Come out and watch!

The other kids won't be going to their practices this week. I already will be driving back and forth so I can get my work done in the mornings. I'm not coming back every night to bring them to practice and besides, they don't want to miss out on the evening activities at camp.

Ok, the kids are bugging me to get moving on the packing. Maybe I can come back and blog some more later. To be honest though, probably not. LOL

Weekly Preview and RECAP

Saturday - Just hanging out mostly
Sunday - Church
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Soccer practice (D)
Tuesday - WORK 5, Soccer practice (E,J), Port Huron
Wednesday - WORK 5,
Thursday - WORK 4, Beach Day Soccer practice (E,J?)
Friday - WORK 4, Soccer practice (D)
Saturday - Soccer practice? (D), Book Club!

Soccer is starting in earnest. James and Emily both have their first practices this week. Have not yet heard from Suzy's coach. David continues with his practices.

One more week left before we camp with the homeschool group. Thankfully, we can use a lot of the planning we did for Family Camp. Also, since this camp is close to home, I will be coming home each day to work instead of doing it at the campground. That will make things easier since if I forget anything, I can just bring it and also bring the stuff we are done with back home (dirty laundry especially).

I had more stuff typed here, but it didn't save! Argh....

We visited my friend Gina's church this morning. Her husband is the new senior pastor there. What a nice service. We may visit again.

I managed two runs this week of 2 miles each. If the weather is ok tonight, I may run again just before it gets dark.

Had a spontaneous Girls Night Out Friday night - movie night at a friend's house. One woman had never seen the Bridget Jones movies and was saying she had borrowed them from the library, so we watched those and also The Proposal (NOT my idea, I promise! But I surely did NOt complain! lol). Yummy snacks and lots of laughs. I didn't bring any kids, but there were 5 kids there and by the time we wound down at 2 am (!) all the kids were sacked out on the big bed like a pile of puppies! LOL

Going to try really hard to find Bob and I some kind of a manager couple position. Campground, resort, park, anything.....

I am waging an Anti-Apathy Campaign with the main target being my teenage son.

OK, I better just post or this will never get done.

Weekly Preview and RECAP

Saturday - Spent the day at home (car-less), then went out to do a bit of shopping when Bob got home
Sunday - Church, then Lake Huron with some friends
Monday - WORK (5 hrs daily), Soccer (D), Homeschool Mtg (L)
Tuesday - WORK 5, Library program, Soccer conditioning (E,J,S), Coach Mtg (L)
Wednesday - WORK 5, AYSO Board Mtg (L)
Thursday - WORK 5, Youth Event (D,E), Soccer? (D)
Friday - WORK 5, Soccer (D)
Saturday - Soccer? (D)

Last week was a BREEZE compared to this coming week. We have commitments EVERY night of the week. Some nights there are two.

We have only one operable vehicle. Bob's van is having transmission issues. Once he evaluates it, we will know if it is fixable or if we are moving on. Seeing as how we bought that van for $900 a couple (three?) years ago, I think we've got our money's worth.

I have the soccer teams all organized and rosters printed for all the coaches, collated with their player registration forms. I have a coach list all nicely organized. I've processed a few late registrations and I am sure there will be more. AND I've ordered all 395 uniforms. I got to pick all the colors - that was the fun part. Now I get a little break, of sorts, at least until the uniforms arrive. Imagine my living room filled with boxes containing 400 jerseys, 331 shorts, and 662 socks.

I am caught up on both book club books - all the way through September - YAY! I've actually been reading for fun! LOVED the new Elizabeth Berg. (Mom - you might really like it!)

What haven't I been doing? Have NOT been exercising. Have NOT been counting calories. Have NOT been lesson planning. Have NOT been going to bed on time.

Next week, I will need to get up rather early each day in order to get more work done in the AM. I committed to an extra hour each day, so I need to fit in 5 hours of work. I also MUST go running three times.

David had his first soccer practice Friday night. He will practice Monday and Friday nights all through August, with optional practices on Saturday morning. His first game is August 27th. His team is a travel team.

Emily will also be on a travel team through AYSO and her practices begin August 17th. She will also practice twice a week until games begin, which is after Labor Day. Her practices are not in Dryden any more, since she is on a team that combines girls from three towns.

Have not heard from James and Suzy's coaches yet but their schedules will likely be similar to Emily's, except they are both on Dryden teams.

Trying to think of something to say that ISN'T soccer-related. Having no luck. LOL

Oh here's something - if we go to the Fair, it will be Tuesday. That's the only day Bob has off, thus the only day I will have a car. Wednesday is Kids Day, so that's the day most of my friends tend to go, so I don't know if we will go on our own or not.

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

Saturday - Groceries, Book Club
Sunday - Beach
Monday - WORK (4 hrs daily), VBS (J,S)
Tuesday - WORK, Soccer conditioning (E), Library Program?, VBS (J,S)
Wednesday - WORK, VBS (J,S)
Thursday - WORK, VBS (J,S), Youth Event (E,D),Movie in the Park?, Moms Night Out
Friday - WORK, VBS (J,S)
Saturday -

This past week didn't look exactly as I had expected. David went home with a friend on Tuesday after the book sale. I had planned to get him back Thursday night for a pick-up soccer game. However, his friend invited him to go to Michigan's Adventure (amusement park), so our plans changed and he headed over to Muskegon with his friend's family. He's still with them now. I MISS HIM - will get him back tonight.

Both of the youth events from last week ended up not happening; I assume due to rain.

I started this post on Saturday, I believe, but never published. Oops. Gonna do so now, though I did have more I could write.

Weekly Preview and RECAP

Saturday - Fun Stuff!
Sunday - Church & a movie?
Monday - WORK (4 hrs daily), Soccer Board Meeting, Set up for Book Sale
Tuesday - WORK, Soccer conditioning (S,J,E), Youth Car Wash (D,E), Co-op Registration & Book Sale (L,B)
Wednesday - WORK
Thursday - WORK, Beach Day, Pick-up Soccer (D), Movie in the Park
Friday - WORK, Movie night at an area church?
Saturday - Book Club

This week I have to finish listening to part 1 of Little Dorrit (Dickens), which is more interesting than I thought it would be (but not as interesting as Sizzling Sixteen will be! lol).

Also, I have to whip the soccer stuff into shape. I better start on that today because during the week, I get so busy that I just don't have time.

I've been taking extra hours every week (except camping week) but it really maxes me out when I do. If they are offered this week, I don't know what I will do. The extra money is very helpful, but extra time is vital too.

I was so exhasted this past week. There were times I just wanted to crawl into bed and nap which is NOT like me. I didn't nap though, because I just did not have time to do it. Hopefully that was just a carryover from my UNrelaxing camping trip and this coming week, I will have my normal reserves of energy. Teenage struggles tapped me out too but there are no guarantees with that.

I want quite earnestly to read Sizzling Sixteen (Evanovich) this weekend. It would be ever-so wonderful if the library would call RIGHT NOW and say it is waiting there for me. I'd run right over and snatch it up. But I am #163 on the list (as of yesterday) so it isn't too likely.

I'm going to go to some yard sales now with James and Suzy. My teens are still abed. They miss out. They can do their chores when they arise. And maybe they'll miss the other fun stuff!

Weekly Preview and RECAP

Saturday - Camping
Sunday - Camping
Monday - WORK (4 hrs daily), Farewell Party
Tuesday - WORK, Soccer conditioning (S,J,E), Library Program (J,S,B)
Wednesday - WORK
Thursday - WORK, Youth Program (D,E), Running Club?, Movie in the Park
Friday - WORK
Saturday - No plans!?

Thankfully this is a rather quiet week. I am having trouble mustering energy to accomplish anything other than work. The laundry is nearly caught up from camping and most of the camping stuff is put away.

James says his ear is bothering him. Hopefully that stops.

I have a mound of soccer stuff to get done this week and co-op registration is next week, so I have some things to get ready for that. (though the bulk of that prep belongs to someone else now!)

I picked up 4 extra hours this week to make up for the 4 I did not work last week. We were only required to work 16 last week because of the holiday Monday, but that shorts my paycheck of course. I had hoped to still work 20 last week, but I just couldn't. I ended up using my friend's Mi-Fi hotspot and another friend's home internet connection to work at camping. Thank the Lord for good friends!

Hoping to do a camping post on Cornerstone, but no promises. :-)

I could say tons more but I am done with my first cup of coffee and I need to get a shower and some work done. I didn't manage a run this morning - soooo exhausted.

Weekly Preview and RECAP

Saturday - Chores & wedding
Sunday - Church & church picnic
Monday - WORK (4 hrs daily), Swim Lessons (J&S)
Tuesday - Lessons, WORK, Swim Lessons, Soccer conditioning (S,J,E), Dr Appt (L)
Wednesday - Lessons, WORK, Swim Lessons,
Thursday - Lessons, WORK, Swim Lessons,
Friday - Lessons, WORK, Leave for Family Camp
Saturday - Camping

We are going to Family Camp the next week, so this week will be filled with camping preparation. Getting clothes ready, making menus and shopping lists, finding everything we need. We are borrowing a camper thanks to a very generous friend.

I will be working still while we are camp and I am stressing slightly over how that will work out. Thankfully there are kids and youth programs there to keep the kids busy. I will likely be working during those programs (meaning I also will miss my programs, but oh well). Bob is not staying for the week this year; he will come home and go to work as usual. And hopefully get some stuff done around the house.

James and Suzy did one week of swim lessons and have another week to go. Suzy stayed in the level we chose for her, but James moved up to the next level after the first day. They are both doing very well. I took some photos yesterday, so I will try to post those.

VBS was this past week at our church. Suzy went three times and James only made it once. Nighttime VBS is just so hard for us. I totally forgot to send them on Monday. Special thanks to my good friend Sarah who picked them up and brought them home.

James spent the night with a friend last night and will be there all day. David will babysit the others as Bob and I are going to a wedding for one of Bob's nieces.

Beach Day last Thursday was lovely. We really enjoyed the day, even though we got there late due to swim lessons and errands. It's always so nice to get together with our friends.

I need to go get ready, so enough rambling....

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

Saturday - Spending time with family
Sunday - Spending time with family
Monday - WORK (4 hrs daily), Soccer Board Meeting
Tuesday - Lessons, WORK
Wednesday - Lessons, WORK
Thursday - Lessons, WORK, Suzy has a party to attend
Friday - Lessons, WORK, our anniversary, Church youth event,
Saturday - Book club
Sunday - Father's Day, Going to an Alumni picnic for Spring Arbor (at their resort!)

One of the days this week, I will take the kids to the dollar matinee to see The Lightning Thief.

Soccer registration is over and now it's on to creating teams and ordering uniforms.

Time to go!

Weekly Preview and RECAP

Sunday - Relaxing Day (party being rescheduled)
Monday - WORK (4 hrs daily), Homeschool Support Meeting
Tuesday - Lessons, WORK
Wednesday - Lessons, WORK
Thursday - Beach Day, WORK
Friday - Lessons, WORK
Saturday - Nothing on the agenda! Lots to do!

Whew, the week went by in a blur. Memorial Day was really nice. Bob did have to work, though, which was kind of a bummer. We went uptown to see the little parade and watch the ceremonies - one at the four corners in which our pastor gave a short message, and another at the cemetery with a 21 gun salute, some spontaneous patriotic singing, and a (slightly delayed) flyover. The rest of the day was just relaxing. I could have worked, but I just didn't want to.

I was able to pick up 4 extra hours throughout the week though, which made up for Monday off. So Tues-Fri, I worked 5 hours each day. That extra hour really does max me out.

Twice this week, I helped the new Seeds of Faith coordinator work out the fall class schedule. Since this is her first year in the saddle (solo, anyway), she wanted some help from me. We have some exciting classes coming up! And I am very pleased to leave SOF in such good hands!

On Thursday, we were signed up to attend a field trip about 90 minutes away, but another more local opportunity arose on Friday and I took the time to organize a group to attend that instead. So, we passed on the far-away Thursday trip, though James was able to attend with a friend.

The opportunity I organized was the chance to attend a Civil War Encampment in Lapeer - a great experience. I will post more about that on Cornerstone, along with some photos.

What else? Bought a new shower curtain. Got it out of the package and part of it is transparent, which one could not tell from the photo. Can't have that. We have only one bathroom, so bathroom-sharing is a regular thing here. So, back to the store for a white liner to go behind the see-through curtain. Going to put that up in just a few minutes.

Bob and James (and a little of David) got the sidewalk mostly finished in the backyard. Looks nice!

David is mowing right now. He and Emily take turns every other week. Next year, James will learn how.

Bought some new socks, since mine seem to have mostly vanished.

Got a notice from the library - return Echo in the Bone MP3 or pay $65.00. Sigh. I am Not Done Yet. I need to finish it - just about 17 chapters to go! I listened to it all the way through the grocery store on Thursday night. LOL Got some odd looks, but I don't care. Better than Muzak and store announcements.

Rescheduling my Tomboy Tools party - apparently everyone in the world has something to do this Sunday. (except me and Christy - LOL)

Made reservations for homeschool camping week. We have two camping weeks on the schedule again - family camp with the church and homeschool camping. Yes, we sold our camper. No, we haven't bought a new one. However, a friend said we could borrow her pop-up if we haven't found something suitable. We may need to spend the camper $$ on a vehicle for Bob, or maybe we should save a little more before buying one.

My fitness blog - go visit!