Daddy...

I think about Dad a lot these days, I'm not sure the reason for that. It's been almost 9 years since his death.  Maybe it's because a high school friend lost her dad recently, that I'm thinking of Dad. I miss him as if it was yesterday, but yet at the same time, I think back to those last months and I am glad I didn't have to watch him suffer.

I'm so thankful for the upbringing and lessons he taught me, the values he instilled in me.  I'm mostly thankful for the huge, caring heart he had and passed on to his children. Dad helped people. I remember Dad going out of his way to help children on the school bus, my friends, our neighbors, who ever it was.  I guess that's on my mind recently because of our crazy household at the moment.

I also thinking about Dad because of the lessons he taught. It wasn't the math problems he helped with or how to drive a stick shift, which I never got the hang of.  It was the example of how to treat people fairly, how to give an honest day's work for a honest wage, and how to make your name mean something.

I remember my sister and I back when in school, we used to talk about the fact that our identify wasn't determined it felt by who we were or what he had done around FR, but rather everyone knew us as "Joe's daughters".  The topic came up again when Dad passed away and we were sitting around the house remembering and talking about things, and Mom even commented that few people in FR knew her, and even the ones who recognized her, didn't know her name. She was simply "Joe's wife".  Dad was well known in our community. I think of our society and who we consider "well known" in our community.  People can be "well-known" for a lot of reason, but it's the great ones that are well-known for their character. I'm so proud to be "Joe's Daughter" because I know that title means I'm the product of a well-respected man, a man of good character, as the Bible would say.

I hope when my children sit someday and reflects over my life, they can say the same about their mother as I can say about my dad. That I taught them the good lessons of life, the values and morals. The character that they have is the some traits that were passed down from my dad.  I love you, Daddy. If tears were stairs, I would have visited you in heavens many times over.

I'm here...just been busy

Let's see, Mom came to visit for 10 days. I love having my mom here. I enjoy just being able to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee and conversation with her.  We took her home Tue, so now it's just us back at home. 

This visit from my mom was different than the past visits. I think it had a lot to do with me not juggling work and home while she was here. I was home, doing homeschooling, spent a couple days being sick with a flu/cold, and never had to leave for work...being at home makes such a difference some times.  I miss the paychecks from working, but I have to say I am liking the relaxed schedule and busyness of a different style.

David came home with a cold/flu version and lucky me he passed it on.  The kids didn't get it, nor did Mom, so I am very happy about that.  On the other hand, I spent a couple days not doing much more than laying on the couch.

Let's see recently...I worked with my sister and made 10 sets of knitting markers to sell...finished reading a book, been helping a friend with his life plan to get back in college, said a lot of prayers for various situations, had a board meeting for GFH, and spend a morning visiting with my friend to get some plans for her Derby party.

I feel like I have so many projects going on, and no organization to get them done, so that's my goal for the rest of this week...to make some notes on projects, organize some thoughts, and feel I have some control of them.

wish me luck.

Snow and Math...not a match made in heaven

Today it snowed all day and I loved it!  I had no where to go, no where to go tomorrow either, so let it snow! It was also the first time in a long time that I wasn't immediately faced with the thoughts of "Are there going to be a snow delay or school closing? If so, who will watch the kids? Do I need to juggle someone to watch the kiddo?"  I love that I did not have to juggle or worry about that. I know I can be home if they have a delay or a closing! Yay for being a stay-at-home Mom, even if it seems I'm never home. :)  K did pray at the supper table for a snow delay or closing.

Now on the other hand, Math...the current thorn in my side!  Mr. J has always been good at math, always loved it. He is still good at math, but for some reason he has decided he doesn't want to do math without being so slow!  I let him get behind before Christmas, my major mistake.  Now he has 6 lessons he needs to do before tomorrow night to be on schedule. He's on schedule with everything else!  He gets no TV, no Wii, no playing with the neighbor kids, nothing until his Math is caught up....and it's still like pulling teeth to get him to work on his math.

UGH! Friday is a light homeschool day for us. The schedule is built that way, which I appreciate. So tomorrow is going to be very heavy on Math...and hopefully by the end of the day, he will be caught up.  If not, I might just have to buy a wig because I will have pulled my hair out!!!

A New Week...

Today was the first real day we did homeschooling since the holidays.  Big sister went back to school last Thursday and we used those days to finish up some stuff we didn't finish before the holidays, so today we started our new week.  With the new week, Teacher Mom decided to try a few things new as well...

1) We started with a "task list" for the homeschooling day.  I have a schedule I use that came with the materials, that's what keeps us "on schedule", but I have seen that J loves to check off lists. He gets that from his mommy! So together we created a list, and then he decided the order in which we checked the items off.  He knows he can not play until his list is checked off.

2) I added 15 minutes of independent reading to the schedule.  Now this was the best part of the day! Mr. I-Hate-Independent-Reading sit down on the couch with his book, I set a timer, and the timer went off and he kept reading.  He was actively reading, not playing, not goofing off, so I turned the timer off and just let him read.  He read for 30 minutes!  He said he liked the book and is already planning to read it again "at bedtime".  Hopefully, I can get him to enjoy reading! If I achieve that, this entire year will be well spent.  Not that it's not well spent just from spending the time with him.

So, we'll see how he does the rest of the week with these 2 new features to our homeschooling day.

As for me, I weighed myself today, while I refuse to publish numbers...I set the first goal on 12-31 and not only had met it today but had passed it.  I refuse to weigh myself too often, so today was the first time I had checked it since then.  So I have set a new goal, and once I make that one, will set another one, and so on with my weight.

I have also finished 4 books...I kinda knew the goal of reading 52 books in 2012 would be way too easy for me if I started reading again, but I set it because I wasn't reading at all, so this would get me going again.  Hubby and I also had a coupons/shopping trip late Friday night, and we saved over $80 with our coupons.  I have to keep myself in check here, because I can easily see myself turning OCD with the coupons.  But I will say, J made us all laugh Saturday night when David was looking for something in the freezer and I said "oh we are out", and J pipes up with "But we have a coupon for them!".  *smiles*  He has became my little helper, cutting out coupons almost every evening as he watches TV.

Unfortunately, my desk is starting to look like..."my desk" again.  It's NO WHERE near the mess it was, but I can see piles starting to creep back so I will be putting an end to that today!  Otherwise, the office is still not organized/cleaned/sorted/decluttered.  Joy is suppose to come tomorrow so hopefully we will knock that out.  

On other notes...I have to add this in, because it is INSANE!  For some reason, K and I got onto watching "Dance Moms". If you haven't seen this show, I'm not sure if I should say "check it out" or "RUN when it comes on"...it's like a train wreck!  You continue watching not because it's good or you want to see what happens next, but because the parenting is so terrible that you keep watching.  The moms who push their children to compete in these dance competitions...OMG they need the 2X4 attitude adjustment! There is at least one girl who is going to end up with a serious injury! The doctor was on camera telling Mom she shouldn't compete that weekend....and yet there she was!  I swear TV shows like this and "SuperNanny" makes me think you should have to take a test or something to become a parent.

E-100 Challenge - Thoughts on today's reading

So let's see, this year I have finished 2 books already.  But I must say I need to find a better time to read than 1-4am, because I'm seriously lacking sleep these days.  But I can't help it, the authors grab my attention and won't let go!  Someday I hope I can write and someone will say that about my work, but then that would require me to get my novel ideas out of my head and onto "paper". 

I also accepted the E-100 Challenge that our church is doing.  This is reading the essential 100 Bible passages as determined and outlined by someone.  I'm not sure who, but it's a program our church found and are doing together. Last year, they did the 15 for 15, which was suppose to be 15 minutes of reading the bible every day for 15 weeks, and read through the entire bible.  Unfortunately, some days took more than 15 minutes and it was an every day thing and I guess I'm just not necessarily good at an "everyday" thing.  The E-100 is designed to read 5 days a week, so I'm going to attempt to commit to that.  It's good to be back in the bible. I found with my life, I have an easy time praying, easy time talking to the kids about biblical topics as they come up with them, and I have always been willing to discuss biblical topics with friends or even strangers if they initiate the topic, but I find I have a hard time just sitting down with a bible and reading most times. I try to follow along in the bible during Sunday worships, but to just pick up the bible and read...not so much. 

So today, I read about Adam & Eve eating of the forbidden food. Did you notice how fast Adam was to pass the blame? Seriously, the first words out of his mouth is "it's her fault". Then next is Eve "the snake made me do it".  I guess that proves that it's not a learned behavior but ingrained human behavior to blame someone else. Why can't people just accept responsibility for their actions and not immediately have to blame someone else? Is it so hard to say "hey I screwed up. I'm sorry. Can we talk about this and figure out a way to fix it?" Wouldn't that make for a better society?  Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I haven't blamed others or passed the buck in my life. We all have...after all, it's inherited from Adam/Eve as our human nature.  But I'm left wondering, how would the bible and the history of our world be different had Adam and Eve said "Yes, Father, I disobeyed your rules." Or better yet, what would it be like had Eve stood up to the snake and said "God said we can eat and enjoy EVERYTHING else in the garden, why would I risk that just for one bite of a fruit that might taste nasty?"

Hmmm that thought sends my mind off in so many different directions...don't husbands and wives make that choice? I can talk with a co-worker, have lunch in the break room at the same table, but why risk a good thing in my marriage to cross a line?  A child just getting to the age of independence...I can tell my mom/dad I'm going to a friend's house and instead go to that party they told me I wasn't allowed to go, but why risk the trust they have in me now?  A person handling money or supplies at work...I can ring it in that the distracted mom with the screaming toddler gave me a $10 instead of a $20 and pocket the other $10. She's so distracted she would never notice (been there!), but why risk the job I have for an extra $10?

Hmmm, food for thought...What risks am I talking with my life and choices and is it worth the price?

Goals for 2012

Time to say good-bye to 2011.  It wasn't a great year but not a terrible year.  I guess it was a year of growth.  I'm hoping for 2012 to be every better.

Ok, I started making this list of goals, and somehow I managed to delete it...so let's see if I can get started again...

No certain order:

• Start and get up to date J's cub scout scrapbook.  This is a small enough project to helping get me moving toward scrapbooking again regularly.  - When I was a CM consultant I told people to start with your current photos. Therefore I'm ignoring the YEARS of photos and started albums, to start and work on a new album. The hope here is that once I have his album up to date, I will want to scrapbook and work on other pages.
• Walk Chancy (the dog) at least 3 times a week, because the poor dog doesn't get regular walks often enough.  Good thing she's not a puppy or she would be going nuts.
• Save at least $100 a month or a total of $1,200 over the course of the year by using coupons/couponing methods (see other blog).
• Read at least 52 books in 2012. - I used to read constantly, but have gotten out of the habit of reading. I love to read and need to do it more.
• Drink less soda and more water - not exactly sure how I'm going to measure this goal, but I'll figure it out.
• Post at least 52 new blog posts in 2012.  By wording it that way, if I miss a week I'm still good, and it's measurable. :)

Now, if I could just figure out how to get one of those little tickerfactory things to appear on my blog page, I would have an easier way to track these.  Every time I try I get an error saying "Bad URL". *grumbles*

This Week's Task List Revisited...

Copied from earlier blog ---
This Week:
* clean and organize the office
* clean and organize the game closet
* clean the living room, loft, and Jacob's bedroom carpets (while we have Joy's carpet cleaner) - My goal is to get these rooms ready, then do this Thur morning.  Brent & Chem-Dry of Indianapolis will forever have my carpet cleaning business!!!  Look for more details in my next blog!
* laundry, cooking, etc. the everyday things that must be done.

 So, I still haven't finished my office or started the game closet, but I have 2 days left this week.  I have asked David to help me with the game closet so I'm hoping we will tackle that today.

As for my office, I have made progress.  The desk is clean and organized, and I'm slowly moving through the rest of the room.  Unfortunately, it's a slow process and I'm easily distracted.  Plus we spent yesterday with my family having Christmas with them, which was a nice time playing card games and teaching them some new games.

I am going to adjust my Task list a bit.  Wal-greens is doing a free printing of 25 4X6 photos (promo code "PRINTNOW". So to help kick off the other goals of getting back into scrapbooking, I'm going to try to also sort and send 25 photos to Wal-greens to be printed before the 12/31/2011 deadline for this.

Here goes...

EDIT: The game closet is clean and organized!!!!  Just need to finish the office.
EDIT: Photos sorted at least to the point that I sent 25 to Wal-green for FREE :)