Okay

Today is payday.
Paid the bills.
Double-checked the math.
Paid off a small debt. (YEA, GOD!!!)
Put gas in the van.
Bought & put a month’s worth of groceries in the pantry.
Separated and vacuum-sealed the beef into portions.
Cooked the chicken.
Baked the breakfast bars for Mr Wonderful’s lunch this week.
Did dishes.
Did a load of laundry.
Supervised a 1/2 day of school.
Updated the family calendar with celebrations of church activities, Upward cheerleading practices and football games, and a doctor’s appt.

Still to go:
Shred, portion and freeze the chicken.
Entertain a friend who’s coming to pick up her yard-sale leftovers.
Supervise #1 trying on some hand-me-downs we got from a friend yesterday.
Second load of laundry.
Make quesadillas for dinner. (Thanks, Rootie, for an easy, delicious recipe- today, I need it!!)
Supervise #1 and #3 at chores. #2 has not only finished her schoolwork and her chores, she has helped in the kitchen and EARNED a couple of hours with the LooneyTunes that came from Netflix today.

I’m tired, but I am so, so happy to have paid the bills and paid off a small debt. Next month we should be able to pay off 2 more small debts!!

In Every Bowl of Alpha-Bits

Just found out next month’s outing for the JVers will be spelunking. Sounds like fun!!!
LOTs of activities planned for this group- with and without the Varsity-aged teens….
I may even end up athletic!

High Speed

Thursday classes were a blast- I’ve done a lot of research this morning to stimulate the students’ thinking. Next week should be even more fun, now that we’ve got the administrivia out of the way! I’ve got some handouts to help them focus on the main points of Macbeth and Of Plymouth Plantation.

BTW, it’s a hoot to teach 2 classes: Freshman/Sophmore English (covering Act 1 of Macbeth and a short story by Tolstoy this week) and American Lit (Plymouth Plantation). Very disorienting to come out of Macbeth and land in Bradford’s journal… More paradoxical readings will follow- “Black Beauty” and “Fall of the House of Usher” simultaneously, perhaps?

I’ve made waffles for breakfast, baked potatoes for lunch, potato salad for tomorrow’s Home Group picnic, and #2 made the brownies for Pizza Scream tonight. (Sadly, the Loony Tunes movie didn’t come. Happily, the kids are still enraptured with the Beverly Hillbillies videos Mr Wonderful picked up at the library last week.)

#3 is finished with his schoolwork for today (#1 and #2 did theirs on Thursday). Sadly, he wasn’t able to focus well on his math quiz- he seemed to have forgotten how to do some concepts (like writing 8/29/09 as August 29, 2009) we covered thoroughly last year. Also, he didn’t get a full 20 minutes of typing, since some weird “Green AV” keeps popping up and trying to get us to pay ONLY $99.99 to keep pop-ups and viruses off our computer…

So, all that’s left is making pizza for the Scream, praying for the Sunday School class, and driving across town to pick up the van (the brakes needed work) and separating the clothes once they are dry….

I’m trying to imagine 6 years from now. #1 and #2 are graduated high school and off on their own. #3 has 2 years of homeschool left, and a part-time job, and a driver’s license. I’m 51, debt-free, and teaching 3 classes each Thursday.

What would I do with all that time? Bike like Crazy Trace? Cook like Rootie? Write like Bloggin-Daaz? It has been suggested that I get my Master’s degree, and I would like to learn more about Antiquities, but to what purpose? Would I enjoy returning to the corporate ladder if there were no financial pressure to climb it?

So far, the only thing that sounds fun is walking. Taking grown-up sized steps, without having to carry supplies for a brace of kids. Climbing the hills of Georgia. Swimming daily.

Let’s go!

Why take Latin?

Class begins 8 a.m. tomorrow!

see more Lol Celebs

Reason #452

why we homeschool: When “Life is a Highway” comes on Pandora, #2 grabs the broom (guitar), #3 grabs his harmonica, and I grab a coupla pencils (drumsticks) and we suddenly have a PARTY! (#1 watches from the couch.)

Homeschooling: it works for us.

Thankful

Blessed is the man whom God corrects,
So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
For He wounds, but He also binds up.
He injures, but His hands also heal.
Job 5:17-18

The day I became a Christian, I gave my life to God. Everything I had been doing had failed, so I asked God to run my life. There were no reservations in my mind, no “Well, of course my love for my boyfriend won’t change- it’s already perfect”, or “I have a great job, of course I’ll be keeping that!” Anything God wanted to take- or give- I was, that day, willing.

About 5 years after I became a Christian (around 1993), I studied a lot about what the Word of God has to say about handling money. I did my level best to use the money -all the stuff, actually- that passed through my hands in ways that would please Him.

About 3 years ago, for some reason I forgot all that and started making stupid decisions about buying things I wanted. Most of my spending was in retaliation for the ways I felt Mr Wonderful was hurting and disappointing me. Revenge spending. Talk about cutting off your own nose to spite your face- I am truly capable of great, great stupidity.

Of course we’re in a fairly deep hole now, financially speaking. But every day I think about using the money- and the “stuff”- in ways that would please my Father.
There may be a miracle coming down the road that will blast us out of this hole. There may not. It may be years before we are on level ground again.

I. don’t. mind.

God loves me. He is powerful. He will not discipline me out of anger, spite, revenge, or pettiness. He will discipline me for exactly as long as it takes for my character to become conformed to that of Christ.

Meanwhile, little pleasures abound in my days. The kids sit home with me and play cards and laugh at #3’s puppet shows, because we don’t have money to go out to dinner and the movies anymore.
We are all thankful for every meal that is put on the table- there is never an “Ewww, I don’t like that!” from the kids. One liter of Coke split between the 5 of us is enough, and we smile as we receive our glasses.
With no spare money to repair the dishwasher, we hand-wash the dishes in teams. The kids are learning to work together with a minimum of fussing. My nails have never been cleaner. We look out the kitchen window and laugh at the chickens’ antics.

There’s a small bouquet of wildflowers in a juice glass on the diningroom table, a welcome gift from #2. #3 left a red flower on my bedside table so I would see it as soon as I awoke. #2 and #3 had time to pick the flowers because we weren’t spending gas to drive to parks, libraries, stores, or sightseeing.

This is discipline? No-This is mercy. This is Real Love.

Must Be

Usually, it’s a good thing that my kids still ask my opinion, but today I’m grouchy and wishing for 10 seconds of uninterrupted thoughts.

I’m also wishing that #1 would lose 20 pounds of fat around her middle. Mr Wonderful, not a slim man himself, is hardly reassuring when he tries to comfort with, “She’ll have a growth spurt soon and it’ll even out”.

If I had gotten up earlier- say, 6:30 instead of 7- I’m sure I would’ve had time for a quiet cup of coffee on the couch instead of gulping a cuppa whilst frying bacon. Yes, I’m thankful I have coffee at all.

I’m very thankful that we started keeping the “extra” grocery money in an envelope instead of in the checking account. I’m thanking God almost daily for that Dave Ramsey seminar!!! When the “extra” went into the checking account, it was often tempting for a family member to buy something other than groceries with it- lumber, watercolor supplies, Cokes on his way to class, etc. Now that it’s in an envelope marked, “Groceries”, when I run out of lettuce mid-month there is actually money to buy lettuce! Hoorah!

Tonight’s another episode of Dave Ramsey. After chef’s salad for lunch. And some rest, God willing.

A Day Off

We’re quickly advancing against the Autumn routine, conquering new temperatures and schedules, maintaining peace and a semblance of democracy (OK, the kids think they get a vote, so that’s enough, right?), establishing Truth, Justice, and the American way.

Last night was Open House at the new co-op locale. There is a bit of confusion about where I’ll be holding my German class, but otherwise everything seems ready to run. In anticipation of needing some quiet hours of refining, however, I announced to Los Kiddos that today, Friday, would be A Day Off.

No schoolwork. No chores. Open season on the videos and computer games (for 30-minute intervals). They do have to be dressed in something besides pajamas, however, since the phone repair guy might show up. There are yeast rolls aplenty for snacks. (#2 prefers hers with mustard. #1 prefers hers with jelly. #3 prefers his any way, so long as his sisters will make it for him.) Sweet tea is in the fridge. We’re set.

Someone forgot to inform my bio clock, however. I was actually up before the Alarm Cat came looking for breakfast- that reads 5:30 a.m., people- so I got to chat with Mr Wonderful and kiss him goodbye. I washed breakfast dishes, put up dinner dishes, and straightened the living room. By 7 I was tumbling back into bed, just in time to comfort #3, who had had a disturbing set of dreams. As we mumbled to each other, #2 woke up and hit the computer games.

I fell back asleep. When I re-awoke, I made another cup of coffee and watched a comedy video. #2 joined me, and commented about how much she’s looking forward to stir-fry dinner tonight.

Always on the look-out for ways to delight los kiddos, I headed into the kitchen to see if it’s late enough to start stir-fry.

It’s 10 a.m.

It’s gonna be a long day, folks. Hope yours is happy!

Phone

I am about over this situation of the phone going out for no reason. Last time, my mom (6 states away) panicked and sent the sheriff to my door. She was sure Mr Wonderful had shot me and the kids, since my sister’s ex-hubby once threatened to kill my sister.

So, tomorrow, instead of calling the basketball league with info about #2’s uniform size (Oops- did we say the meeting was Tuesday the 18th? We meant Thursday the 13th!), I will get into the van (which has almost no brakes left), spend the gas (which I really can’t afford) and hand them a note with her uniform size.

What are the odds I can get the phone company to pay for the gas and my time? Hmm?

Rrrrr.

Later- Oh, how ironic! AT&T laid new TV lines in our neighborhood 2 weeks ago. Today they sent around teams of smiling young people to “survey the residents about the service”. (Read: Try to sell AT&T’s Cable TV package.)
Can you imagine their embarassment when they knocked on my door today, proclaiming, “We’re from AT&T”, and I looked overjoyed and said, “Hooray! You are here to fix the phone, right?”???

Mr Wonderful tells me he left messages with AT&T and with the cheerleading co-ordinators, so all should be well before the weekend….

Happy Thoughts

I like being a mom of school-age kids. They have fairly complex thoughts, and are capable of expressing those thoughts. Sometimes los kiddos are a bit too expressive, but they don’t seem to be offended when I say, “Not now- I’ve got to concentrate on my own task.” (They’ll just send me the psychotherapy bills later, I’m sure.)

Something I noticed this weekend, though, as los kiddos and I, in our private worlds, intersected orbits: Los kiddos’ spare thoughts tend toward the comic. Not just “You mispronounced that in a funny way”, but they actually contemplate old jokes, past funny movies, and invent puns.

Me? I think of grocery lists, rehearse schedules and (sadly) grievances.

Los kiddos are have got it right: each day has worries enough for itself. Spare thoughts should be of the noble- or at least the sublime!

Wonder if I can come up with a limerick that involves tomorrow’s dental checkups, to spring on them at breakfast?