Weekly Preview and Review

Cirque Shanghai was FABULOUS! Suzy and I were amazed. Chinese acrobats - 10 young men and 6 young women skillfully entertained us with feats of balance, strength and beauty. Afterwards we went to Cici's Pizza Buffet, which I like very much. First time we went, but not the last!

Dental visits for the girls this week. Emily - no cavities. Suzy - two cavities. Hmmm.... The boys have their turn this coming week.

David finished his drivers ed makeup classes and passed both the tests in class. Now we visit the Secretary of State. He first needs to connect with his teacher and get his certificate.

Took Emily and some friends bowling today to celebrate her birthday. Had the party room at the bowling alley beforehand for cake, ice cream, gifts, and a craft. Then two games of bowling with 7 girls. I bowled too. One strike, lots of gutter balls for me. No gutter balls for the girls because they all used the bumpers. lol

After the party, Suzy, Emily, and I went out to eat and then shopping for Regency Ball shoes and then to the thrift store. Then a white-knuckle ride home in the blowing snow and on the untreated roads. Man, that was awful. The blowing stuff kept freezing on my windshield and I could not see.

I've been working hard on getting the yearbook done for Seeds of Faith and it's just about finished. Hopefully we can get it delivered before the next co-op. I want to get it ordered tomorrow.

Thinking about signing up for homeschool karate. We are about done with gymnastics, I think. Just this month left. But we are gearing up for soccer which should begin mid-April and run through the beginning of June. Do I want to do karate too? Well, since I can participate in the karate for free, I think maybe so. They are having a signup special, so I probably will take advantage of that.

A little lingering cough and wheezing is all that's left of my illness. The kids too are doing tons better. Only James seems to have a lingering cough.

On Monday, there wasn't enough work loaded, so I spent some time typing in some books I had set aside for sale. And I sold about $90 worth. So that was time well spent.

I finished reading Persuasion for my Austentatious class. Loved it this time through. Funny how the Austen grows on me. I disliked reading my first Austen a lot; it was Emma. I've since read it twice more and now I love it. Book club is reading another Gaskell - Wives and Daughters. I've started but I am still in chapter 1.

Sunday - Church?
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Lessons, SOF meeting
Tuesday - WORK 5, Lessons, Homeschool rollerskating
Wednesday - WORK 5, Lessons, Dentist-D,J,S
Thursday - WORK 5 Lessons, Mammogram-L (funfun)
Friday - WORK 5, field trip
Saturday - Book Club Movie Night (Jane Eyre)
Sunday - Church, Contra Dancing!

Gotta work 5's this week to make up for 2 weeks ago when there wasn't enough work to keep me busy. And this is a busy week with something every day! Better take a deep breath on Sunday night. (And maybe start with a little extra sleep, eh?)

I also need to get moving on the soccer registration plans. It'll be here before we know it. Oh, and SOF co-op stuff for NEXT year already too. And make sure everything is in order for the Regency Ball.

Quite a few Regency Ball-related activities are on the calendar for March.
March 13 - Contra dance at Flint school
March 17 - Dance practice
March 21 - Persuasion Movie Day & Regency Hairstyle Practice (girls)
March 22 - Regency Portrait Day (wear your costume and do your hair!)
March 25-26 Regency Ball trip!

So, you can see, there's a lot involved. David and Emily and I will be attending, along with about 20 other people from our homeschool group. And it's in South Bend, so we're spending the night.

We'd love to see any of you at our co-op program on Friday, April 1st in the evening. David will be sharing a computer script he wrote. Emily will be dancing and in a skit. Suzy is doing a cheerleading routine. And James will have a very nice art exhibit. There will be other stuff too, but I'm not sure what all. And you won't want to miss my Austentatious class; they are doing Pride and Prejudice in 100 seconds. I get to play Lydia. LOL

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