Weekly Preview

Sunday - Sunday School & Church, D & E have youth group at night
Monday - Lessons, Spanish class, D soccer practice, My BIRTHDAY!
Tuesday - Lessons, J & S soccer games
Wednesday - Lessons, Art class for E & J
Thursday - Lessons, Clothes Swap?, Soccer practice for J and S
Friday - Field Trip to Orchard
Saturday - Suzy and James soccer games

I don't know Bob's work schedule. He's been working evenings, usually 4-5 hours. If I get any work, then of course everything changes! [Update - Bob's schedule this week seems to be M 4-8:30pm, T/W off, Th/Fr 8:30-5]

Planned Workouts - S - None - resting, M - Jog 2 miles, T -Tae-bo video, W - Jog 2 miles, Th - Tae-bo or kickboxing class, Fri - None? Or make up a missed workout, Sa - jog 3 miles hopefully, Su - rest

Workout Log

Completed Workouts -
S - ran 5K (3 mi),
M - None - resting,
T - 1 mile jog, but hilly,
W - Tae-bo video (30 min),
Th - 2 mile jog,
Fri - ran out of time,
Sa - 2 mile jog,
Su - wanted to bike, but didn't have time, so rested

13 Things I Have to Do Today (minus 2)

I thought I'd follow my friend Michele's example and detail 13 things I have to do today.

1 - Return DVD's to the library. I watched The Soloist (Robert Downey Jr and Jamie Foxx) which I adored. The kids watched Hotel for Dogs which was predictable and sappy, but they liked it. [DONE}

2 - Dig out my essay evaluation paperwork so that I can speak to the SAT prep class at co-op tomorrow. [Found the stuff I need. But what am I going to tell these kids about writing their essays? I feel clueless.]

3 - Read a whole bunch of The Count of Monte Cristo. I have about 400 more pages to read before Saturday! [Read to page 333]

4 - Take Suzy to her soccer practice this evening. We'll probably ride our bikes there; it's just two blocks away. James doesn't have practice tonight. Bob will be AT WORK. [Took her and brought James along. He was invited to practice with his last year's coach's team and I sat and read Monte Cristo. D & E stayed home and cleaned up dinner and got ready for tomorrow.]

5 - Hang two loads of laundry on the line, or actually make the kids do that. I hang out all of our laundry, only doing laundry on days when I can do that. Not looking forward to cold weather but I will still hang out the laundry if there is a breeze, until there is actually snow on the ground. [Emily hung out and brought in the laundry.]

6 - Follow up on some job applications. [Applied for one job, printed out info for several for Bob to apply at tomorrow. Still need to send a few emails.]

7 - Call a couple places that we owe money to and tell them why we haven't paid the bills. Hard to pay when you have no money and payday is a month away and the check will be really small. (Oh, I am really not looking forward to that one.....) [Update - this is done. Did the most distasteful task first. Made small payments so that our internet, phone, and cell phones will stay connected. Important, so potential employers can contact us and so we can job search and apply online for work!]

8 - Take some chapters of Fiery Cross and A Breath of Snow and Ashes off my MP3 player and load new ones. I am trying hard to finish ABOSAA quickly so that I can start An Echo in the Bone, Diana Gabaldon's NEW book that just came out this week! [DONE!]

9 - Push the kids through their lessons - an uphill battle (especially when I am blogging! lol) [STILL WORKING ON THIS! ARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH - Later - I gave up on the lessons for today. Next week is a fresh start. Right? RIGHT????]

10 - Watch pointless videos like this one. [Watched those, but no more. See? Not so much a time-waster! LOL]
Jackie Chan's On Me
Or this:

11 - Run 2 miles [OK, I already did that. And James went with me and ran part of the way.]

12 - Weigh myself since it is Thursday. [OK, I already did that too. And I lost another 1.4 pounds! 30 pounds lost now.]

13 - Figure out where to put all the board games since we moved stuff around upstairs and those no longer have a home. [This can wait until the weekend. I am whipped.]

Bob Goes to Work

OK, I know some of you have wondered about Bob's new employment. I didn't say anything much about it before it started for a couple reasons. First, he wasn't all that excited about it. It pays minimum wage and it's not full-time. Second, we were hoping he'd get something else before this job started.

So, anyway, that wasn't God's plan. Bob started at the Salvation Army yesterday. He was hired for a new store, but is training at an existing store (that is farther away). He is working 7 hours 5 days a week this week. I guess we'll see if that continues or changes. He is a back room worker, at least thus far. (One day in, lol)

At least it's a job, eh? Some income is better than none. And he's out of the house doing something. And hopefully a stepping stone to something more lucrative.

Workout Log

Here was the workout plan for the week: - S - none, M - Tae-bo video or none?, T - jog, W - kickboxing class?, Th - jog, Fri - kickboxing class, Sa - none?, Su - 5K race.

Here's how it panned out:
Sunday - none (gone all day for family reunion)
Monday - none (resting from long jog on Sat)
Tuesday - jogged 1.5 miles (only about 1/8 mile of walking in that, after the first mile!)
Wednesday - kickboxing class (30 min Cardio Kick and 30 min abs and strength training)
Thursday - jogged 1.5 miles (only about 1/8 mile of walking in that, after the first mile!)
Friday - Tae-bo basic kickboxing video (27 min) (instead of class)
Saturday - Watched soccer for about 90 minutes. (Doesn't that count? no? Darn! lol)
Sunday - Ran my first 5K!

Don't miss the new weekly preview just below this post. Sorry my blog is so boring lately! lol

Weekly Preview

Sunday - Skipping church to run 5K, D & E have youth group at night
Monday - Lessons, Spanish class, Bob starts his part-time job
Tuesday - Lessons, David, James & Suzy soccer games
Wednesday - Lessons, Soccer board meeting
Thursday - Lessons, Soccer practice for J and S
Friday - Co-op, David soccer practice
Saturday - Suzy and James soccer games (Suzy has pix), Wedding to attend, Book Club

I need to read a LOT of The Count of Monte Cristo this week - about 35 chapters! I don't know Bob's work schedule yet. If I get any work, then of course everything changes!

Planned Workouts - S - run 5K, M - None - resting, T - easy jog, maybe a mile?, W - kickboxing class or Tae-bo video?, Th - jog, Fri - Tae-bo video, Sa - jog, Su - rest (I wish I could do the T/Th Kickboxing classes instead of the morning ones but they conflict with soccer for now.)

Weekly preview

So tired, but must look at the schedule for the upcoming week so as not to miss anything.

Sunday - Family reunion
Monday - First real day of lessons, First day teaching Spanish, David soccer practice
Tuesday - Lessons, Emily - eye dr, James & Suzy soccer games, Emily - girls club (Suzy will miss it)
Wednesday - Lessons and that's all. Does AWANA start tonight? I sure hope not.
Thursday - Lessons, Soccer practice for J and S
Friday - Lessons (or Ren Fest, on the off chance I decide to spend the $$), David soccer game
Saturday - James soccer pix and game (none for Suzy this Sat!)

Workouts - S - none, M - Tae-bo video or none?, T - jog, W - kickboxing class?, Th - jog, Fri - kickboxing class, Sa - none?, Su - 5K race.

OK, SOOOOOO tired. off to bed.

Workout Log

Well, these were the workout plans were: S - Bike ride, M - Jogging, T - kickboxing (evening), W - kickboxing (AM), T - Jogging, Friday - OFF, S - Jogging

What actually happened was:
Sunday - Walk with family (instead of bike ride)
Mon - Sick, so no workout
Tuesday - Jogged 2.5 miles instead of going to kickboxing
Wed - Did Tae-Bo video instead of going to kickboxing (she changed class time and it's later in the AM - messes up my day!) + 100 crunches
Thurs - Nothing! Way too hectically busy!
Friday - Tae-bo video
Sat - Jogged 3.1 miles! WOO-HOO!!! Longest ever, and I ran 1.5 miles before I stopped to walk!

On the Road Again

I've been in the car too much this week!

Tuesday - Drove to book sale and back - about 60 miles round trip
Wednesday - Drove to ANOTHER book sale and back - about 82 miles round trip
Thursday - Drove to David's game - 64 miles round trip
Friday - Drove to co-op and back, then to David's game and then to Maryann's - 120 miles
Saturday - Drove back from Maryann's and then to the kids' soccer games - 52 miles
Sunday - Heading to family reunion and back - about 316 miles round trip

More than 700 miles this week! ARGH! If it weren't for The Fiery Cross audiobook, I'd have been sorely bored during all that driving!

Teaching Sunday School?

So, I came home today to find a message on the answering machine.

"So, Lisa, this is your Sunday School Superintendant, just confirming with you that you're teaching 4th/5th grade Sunday School starting on Sunday. I want to stop by and drop off your curriculum, so give me a call back."

ACK! What?!

Um, no.....

Remember all the problems last year? Remember her asking me last spring, "So, do you want to teach in the fall?"

And me snapping back at her, "NO!" - this after the VERY WORST teaching day of my life. Ever!?

So, why in the world she thought I'd want to teach again - the same class - this fall, I have no clue. But I called her back to clear up the clouded situation.

"Um, I think we have a miscommunication. I wasn't planning on teaching this fall."

Thankfully, she didn't try to persuade me, although she did ask me who I thought might be good.

This is TUESDAY. The fall session of Sunday School begins on, well, Sunday. Five days away. Sigh.

A Week of FIRSTS

I haven't done a weekly preview for a while now, but it's time again! This is a week full of FIRST DAYS!

Beside the scheduled events listed, I need to go through the fall clothes, finish my homeschool planning, get my sale books together,

Sunday - Church
Monday - LABOR DAY
Tuesday - Book Sale (as a seller), Suzy & James soccer practice
Wednesday - Book Sale (as a seller)
Thursday - FIRST DAY of lessons, David soccer game, James Soccer practice
Friday - FIRST DAY of co-op, FIRST DAY of James Science Club, David soccer game (yes, 2 in a row)
Saturday - FIRST DAY of soccer games for James and Suzy, maybe watching Robin Hood!
Sunday - Family Picnic/Reunion (FIRST DAY of Sunday School, but we'll miss it.)

Exercise plans are: S - Bike ride, M - Jogging, T - kickboxing (evening), W - kickboxing (AM), T - Jogging, Friday - OFF, S - Jogging

Home Again

We're home!!!

Packed up in the rain Friday morning and pulled our rig up to our house around 1:30 pm. After dragging the dirty laundry and coolers into the house, we all collapsed in a heap. Then we realized that David's first soccer game was in a town farther away than I had thought and he and I hopped into the van and headed out, stopping on the way for a part for the water heater, since we have NO HOT WATER now.

David enjoyed his first game (WHEW!) and said he wants to work on his sprinting, so he can play better. I am SO GLAD to hear him say that. I was afraid he'd dislike playing since he really hasn't enjoyed practice. He told me I guilted him into playing. lol

Their team of all homeschooled high schoolers played against a team from a Christian school. The score was a 1-1 tie. David played midfield and forward. It didn't rain!

I will upload pictures from the trip as soon as I can find the USB cord for the camera. It's gone missing.

Fitness Log

You can skip reading this if you are not interested. :-) It helps me to see it in one place and to let others know that I've been working out (so that you can keep me accountable.)

This week's exercise:
Sunday - none
Monday - none
Tuesday - Jogging (1/2 mile); Walk 1.5 miles
Wednesday - Kickboxing class 30 minutes; upper body exercises/crunches 30 min, also walked to the playground (8 min) and biked to the library (8 min)
Thursday - Bicycling 25 min; Walking 6 minutes; Crunches and leg lifts - 15 min
Friday - Kickboxing class 30 minutes; lower body exercises/crunches 30 min
Saturday - Jogging (1-1/2 miles); Walked (1 mile)

My hips are feeling pretty good. I've been doing some long stretching and I will probably ice them today. That's inconvenient though. lol

According to sparkpeople.com, that is a total of 171 minutes exercised and 1690 calories burned. My weekly goals are 160 minutes exercised and 1220 calories burned.

Note - the pic is not from my kickboxing class.

Next Door Real Estate

The house right behind us (back yard neighbor) is now listed for sale. This is the neighbor that was foreclosed on. It's listed at 42,900. Sigh. Property values are so low. She bought the house for about 80K. More pix on the link. You can see our house at the far left of the pic.

Power-less

12 hours without power = a bit of an adventure
24 hours without power = a minor inconvenience
30 hours without power = Ok, now it's IRKSOME!
36 hours without power = Way too hot and I can't sleep....
42 hours without power = Wondering if the power will be on when I get home... or EVER
45 hours without power = [insert profanity here] Nope, it's not.
46 hours without power = Bemused by that funny glow coming from those formerly useless things in the ceiling - oh wait, I remember. That's ELECTRIC LIGHT!! WOO-HOO!!!!

David on Missions Trip

As some of you know, David is gone this week on a missions trip. Twelve teens from our church went to Nashville with several adults from our church (and one toddler!) to work in a missions program there for 4 days.

They left early Sunday morning and the plans were to work Mon-Thurs in the missions program and spend Friday at a waterpark before heading back.

I've gotten a few texts from David since he's been gone. He let me know he was having trouble finding a signal. I asked him to tell me what his day looks like and here's what he said:
"Our day is on a set course. Eat, work in this homeless place moving stuff, lunch, paint a house, dinner." That was Wednesday's schedule. The days could all be the same or each one could be different.

I haven't called since I don't want to disrupt the flow of the experience there. Plus it's probably "not cool" you know. But I am sure I'll hear a lot when he returns on Saturday. He has his cell phone, obviously, so hopefully he's taken some photos with it. A friend is going to email me a pic of the whole group that was taken before they left.

Please continue to pray for their experience and for their safety. I am sure he's doing just fine, but prayers are an added blessing.

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)

Vacay Pix

Some pix from our vacation.

Four Days Away and Three Days Back

Oh, I've ignored this blog! Just a quick recap of last week. We were gone camping/visiting Monday-Thursday.

Monday we dropped the kids off to my parents and sister and Bob and I headed to Muskegon for a night away together, to celebrate our anniversary. (See, Debbie? No kids.)

The next day (Tuesday), we collected the kids and we headed to Lake Michigan for the afternoon then back to the rustic camping cabin we'd rented.

On Wednesday, we made the short trek back to my mom and dad's for lunch, then spent the afternoon with my sister Denise and her kids at their new house. We spent the night at my parent's house.

Thursday we relaxed with Mom and Dad for the morning and headed back home after lunch. I'm still not caught up with the laundry!

Friday we had Beach Day with our homeschool group and the weather was PERFECT. In the evening, I delivered David to a friend's for an airsoft birthday party and I hung out there for a while, then headed to the grocery store. Emily and James also spent the night at friend's homes.

Saturday was busy - gathering the children back from their respective friends and then heading out to a wedding - Bob's niece got married. David babysat here while Bob and I went to the wedding. Arrived back here, changed clothes and tidied up then headed out again to book club. WHAT a lovely evening THAT was. See Mirkwood for my book club report.

Today was finally a relaxing day. Church took up our morning, but the rest of the day was unscheduled - a little time online, a little newspaper reading, a little laying about, then a 4 mile bike ride (the last hill just about killed me), then we watched Pink Panther 2. I'm going to watch Slumdog Millionaire as soon as David goes to bed.

I'm ready for a new week with not much scheduled, but a lot to accomplish! I have a to-do list with 16 things on it right now and more tasks are bubbling to the surface of my mind as I write down others. This will be catch up week and also a week to get David ready for his mission trip next week. And there's still a LOT of laundry to do!

Monday - Writing, Bob and kids gardening
Tuesday - Lord of the Rings marathon (or will it be rescheduled?)
Wednesday - Writing, Veggie Tales Premiere
Thursday - Writing, Movie in the Park
Friday - Writing
Saturday - Writing

Keepers Camping - Rustic, but Awesome!

I went with my girls on their Keepers at Home campout this weekend - just one night of rustic camping, so they can earn their camping and hiking pins.

We had a great time camping at Holly Recreation Area in their organizational campsite. (It's a nice campground in the regular part, too though. We toured it to check for leftover campfire wood, but were unsuccessful.) Nine girls, four moms, a bit more rain than we'd have preferred, and a whole lot of fun!

We arrived at 3pm on Saturday, set up camp amidst intermittent showers, made a fire, cooked dinner in a Dutch oven, went on a hike, ate dinner, let the girls play, had banana boats and S'mores, sent the girls to bed, and let the adults stay up as late as they wanted.

Sunday morning, of course the girls got up way earlier than the moms would have liked. Breakfast over the fire, breaking camp, and a hike. We were home before noon.



As always, if the slideshow won't load for you OR if you'd like to see bigger versions of the photos, just click on the slideshow and it should take you to the album in picasa where you can view the pictures.

Oh, if you'd like to see all 263 photos we took, click HERE. The girls were playing Paparazzi (wait, you didn't play that when you were a kid? LOL) and took a zillion photos. I put the good ones of MY kids in the slideshow, but if you know the other kids who went or just like looking at kids being silly, go take a gander at them.