May Got Crazy

The boy on two wheels! On a bike path!!

With something every weekend, it felt like we ran through May.  I had a two day sale (which stunk) to start the month off, then we went to Winnipeg for a visit.  My aunt was visiting from England, so we wanted to make the trip when she was there; I saw her last when 4 year old M and I took a trip to see them a dozen years ago.  N and his cousin Z have a grand time together - a highlight was going to the Lego Store in Polo Park then getting some 'Superkid' popcorn.  We played Pounce, as we do, and M WON.  I came in second - IN THE NEGATIVES.  Way to go, kiddo.  I hope they gave you the champion shirt.

Last weekend we went camping for 'May Long' as it's called here in Saskatchewan.  We have friends that we traditionally go with, even though we suffer through the cold almost every time... suckers for punishment I guess.  Or camping enthusiasts?  Maybe I'm the only one bothered by the chill...  Anyway, with this year's early summery spring weather, it was a great weekend.  We had lots of hikes (and geocaching!) in the warm sun, and two thunderstorms to watch.  Awesome.  Nolan even went for a swim. (He is four.  It wasn't THAT warm.)

Bedtime Marshmallows

And then this weekend I had two sales - Saturday was my favourite, the Street Fair of the Cathedral Village Arts Festival.  Crazy busy and decent selling.  Today was another show I took on since I was going to have it all packed up anyway, but it was another dud.  Lesson learned - Don't do tradeshows in the spring!  They are not the right fit for me.  I am, however, very much looking forward to being in Bazzart on June 18.

Chinese food tailgate picnic in the park.

Now, that's a month of full weekends, but honestly, our weeks are pretty empty, so it's not as if life is busy... But now we've got something to fill our weekdays, too, for the next couple of weeks.  N's preschool teacher left in March to have a baby, and their usual sub, a lovely lady who used to teach there, came to fill it.  One morning they needed a sub for the other teacher, and since their sub was already teaching, I got a call from the director.  Who didn't even know that I used to teach there.  Meant to be??  And then... Sub-teacher had holidays booked, and Baby-teacher decided not to come back right away after all, so yours truly gets to be teacher for the last two weeks of school.  Fun!

N and I went to all three classes together (one is his class) on Thursday and Friday last week to meet the kids, and tomorrow we start on our own.  I say we because N thinks we are teaching.  He went from not wanting to go to school anymore (I think he's just done with routine) to today telling me that his new favourite day of the week is 'school-days'.  I just finished my lesson plan - we're working on the food groups right now - and am actually kind of looking forward to having fun there.  Wish me luck!

September.

September.  Back to school and routine; funny how even though it's only one out of four in our family that is back to school, it still affects us all.

Madeline of course has the biggest changes - new school, having to get up earlier and walk half an hour to get there (which she enjoys, actually), getting to go out at lunch with her friends and get a drink at Starbucks if she wants...  Ah, the freedom.  I've mentioned soccer - that's a change, too, because now she's playing full field, 11 man, 90 minute games.  Youth group is also different; she's in senior youth now at church, and with different connections through camp, is interested in going to groups at other churches.  Ours is on Tuesdays, so that frees up her Friday nights to go with friends to theirs - I won't complain about the extra driving for that kind of a social life!

I also got an inhaler for her today.  She's had a cough for a while, and since we were at the doctor's anyway, I had him check it out.  Sounds like asthma, so she'll puff it up till the snow comes and see how it goes.

Changes for Nolan are coming up.  I'm planning to take him to the toddler storytime at the library, and he's registered for his first round of swimming lessons later this fall.  He'll be in the 'Duck' class.  He was sleeping through the night finally, but now is back to waking some... grr.  Will it never end?  He's got a cold which made last night really bad; hopefully when that's gone we can all get back to better sleeps.  He's learning lots of words and growing - those developmental spurts can be attributed to messing up sleep at this stage, too.  Sigh.  If you ever wanted to send up a prayer for us, we'd sure appreciate it!!

Changes for me?  My days are simpler again, with just Nolan around.  Planning for suppers can be challenging having to be flexible around M's soccer schedule, but we're settling into a routine where Sean will pick up subs or something after work and come out and join us at her games, so really I end up cooking less.  I do have to make M's lunch the night before, which sometimes is a chore if I forget until I'm ready for bed, but isn't too bad usually, and it makes the mornings way smoother.  I used to send leftovers or something that needed heating up lots, though, and now with only two microwaves for the whole cafeteria, I'm sending way more sandwiches.  Takes more planning since I can't just send what's on hand.  The plus side of that is that it's not a peanut free school, so pb & jelly, honey or banana are back in rotation!

I also am planning to do another craft sale later in November.  Part of me wonders why, since I have done really poorly at most sales I've ever been in, and there are other outlets to sell my stuff, but this is just a one day event close by, so it won't be a huge waste if nothing sells.  Six hours is more manageable than a whole weekend to be away from my family, too.

Sean is probably the least affected by September's back to routine.  The biggie is that instead of M coming up from her room after Dad leaves, she is now eating her breakfast when we come down and then playing piano while he's still home.  I'll admit that I like the togetherness before everyone goes their own way.

I hope your September is full of joy and stress free.

First Day of Grade Nine: The Photos

My Beautiful High Schooler

Still Goofy

And the one who didn't want to pose with her.

A little excitement on the first day of school - a domestic disturbance in the neighborhood made the police and school board put the school in lockdown.  No one in or out all day.  Didn't affect them much, just knowing it was going on was something to make the first day memorable.

I drove her to her friend's place in the morning so they could walk together, and after school we were off to the first piano lesson of the year.  After school today she's got tryouts for the school soccer team already.  Jumping right in!

Morning Fail - or - First Day of High School!

I wanted to post a first day of school photo for you today.

This morning, however, did not cooperate with that plan.  I though we had talked through all the stuff she needed to do, but for whatever reason - probably a dozen - the best laid plans were tossed in favor of rushing and stress and anger.

The anger on my part didn't last too long; once we were back home and settled playing in the back yard, I realized I should feel sympathy more than anger.  Yes, she could have had a much better morning, and hopefully all the mornings for the rest of the year will be!, but she is 14, and today is her first day of high school.  Who wouldn't be nervous about a new building, teachers, routines, and will I be able to find where I'm supposed to go?  Who wouldn't be nervous about finding her friends and meeting potential new ones and the sea of new faces, and boys, and whether friendships have changed over the summer, and if circles of girls can change? 

It is not a mom fail that she didn't respond as she has been trained when she was reminded to go back and brush her teeth. This morning as a whole was not great; not the worst we've ever had, but not one I'd like to repeat again soon, either; but it was not a mom fail.  It was one short morning that we get to do over tomorrow.  And the next day, and so on.  We each get unlimited second chances to practice better preparation, better routines, better responses.

So instead of first day photos, which I can still try to get this afternoon (and hm, the baby might actually be dressed by then), I'll share a few resources for Moms to help with the morning successes.

This post by Lysa TerKeurst is great on the school morning deal, and has links to a week's worth of emails she will send you to help you not become unglued over it all.

This post has five back to school prayers.

I'm halfway through this book and it has some pretty good stuff in it.

What helps your mornings to be great?

School Lunches

Ah, school lunches...  No, I'm not strapped for ideas yet - it's only been two days!  I am always open to hear what others are packing, though, so if you want to leave a comment with your great ideas, we'd all love to hear it.

Or do you have guidelines you want to share?  I go with a main (often supper leftovers or a sandwich), fruit, vegetable, dairy (cheese string or yogurt), and usually one other (crackers, granola bar, rice krispy cake).  I don't often send a drink, because they've got a water fountain handy (she keeps a water bottle at school to fill up), but once in a while I'll throw in a juice box or a crystal light or iced tea infusion to add some variety.

Do you send notes?  I found some Printable Lunch Box Jokes you can send for a laugh.  A little note tucked in a lunch is a wonderful treat to add some encouragement and a reminder of you in the middle of the day.  One day this summer I was getting some food ready to take a lunch to work, and M packed it in my bag for me.  Imagine my huge smile when I reached for some food and pulled out a scrap of paper with a happy face and "I love you, Mom" on it.  It works both ways.

Happy lunching!

M is for Madeline Goes Back to School

The annual first day of school shot.  Things to notice in this one:

• The stripy 'purse' lunch bag - a birthday present from Granny.  Much liked (and forgotten at school today, on day 3.)

• The FLUTE.  She didn't actually need it there on the first day, but couldn't resist taking it anyway.  It used to be mine, and we got it back from my sister for grade six band.

• The faces in the window.  :)  The Friesens were here for a fun two day visit on their way to a wedding in Calgary.

M is also for Magellan... our new GPS (free from airmiles!) that arrived on Monday!  Jess and I took it out after the kids were in bed one night, in the dark and rain - one cache was behind a locked gate, but we scored with the second one which M and I couldn't find before.  She knew exactly where it was, too, when I told her later that we found it - "Was it in that little part of that one tire?"  Yeah, I think we were probably too chicken to stick our hands down there far enough last time.  I'm going to add a rubber glove to our geocaching kit...

Here is the team!  A side finalists...  I guess last I wrote we weren't even sure the rain would allow us to play the last games - boy, did we ever.  We got to play our last season game and won that, and then won the first playoff game on Friday night, taking us to the A side.  That meant a 9:30 game Saturday, which we also won, taking us to the championship final.  We scored first, then they matched it, and we finished the regular time with a tie.  Then we went into two five minute halves, and no more scoring.  Then into the shootout.  We each had five players picked to shoot, and still tied - all misses.  Then we started going through the rest of the players, and they scored, and we failed to match it.  So sad, but what an exciting weekend.  Those kids were TIRED!  They played so hard and did so well. 

Here's our star.

  Yesterday afternoon I went for a walk around the park in the sun, then got soaked not two hours later just running from the door to my car.  This is the hail that fell after I got home.  It cleared up for a while, then another thunderstorm at night.  This spring's weather has been pretty crazy - I don't remember a spring this wet in a long time. 

This one is of a sight I saw all year long (except some mornings it had snow in the picture, too).  Madeline, at 8:30 am, off to the bus, giving me a wave and blowing me a kiss from across the street.  This was the last time for grade 5 - she's officially passed into grade six.  In happy band news, she was assigned the flute to play, not the tuba.  We thought that might be the case for a while, but I think the fact that we own a flute swung it in favor of the lighter instrument.  Jess, you can expect a call letting you know we'll need that back... 

auntie again!

I got a call from my brother at lunchtime, and Zachary Montague Theodore Schneider has made his arrival.  It was very much on his own time (one week overdue) and yes, he is big enough to handle that handle.  Twelve pounds, one ounce, 21 1/2 inches long.  I hope I got the spellings right - I didn't ask.  Montague is a Schneider family name, and Theodore is a special name in Jen's family.  It will be painful to wait a whole 26 days till we get to go see them.  Mom just sent me this (yes, they were here this morning and this was taken in Winnipeg this afternoon):

We now have 15 nephews & nieces - 7 boys, 8 girls, and one little one that will make an appearance in a few weeks.  Happy birthday to Levi (the second oldest of them all) who just turned 11 on Friday!  This is him on the gyroscope at the science center when he came to visit last summer.

My grad yesterday was a nice surprise.  I do see the accomplishment we made; the future may hold more, but for now, this is something to celebrate.  It was nice to have my parents and Sean's parents here - I completely forgot that I wanted to get a good family picture, though...  Sigh.  So many cameras, and not one shot of the 3 or the 7 of us.  Speaking of cameras, Sean got me a Nikon for a grad present.  Yay!   I have  We have a great digital SLR that we got ourselves for Christmas a year and a half ago, but for a while now I've wanted a good little camera to carry around with me, since I don't usually carry the big camera case around unless I am planning on taking photos.  We've looked for a while, and he surprised me with a better one than I was hoping for.  I'm having fun with the touch screen and panorama assist and figuring out some of the other details.

Have a great Sunday - I hope you are able to take a sabbath and rest and be restored today.

Photos of our week.

Here's my new ride...  I was waiting to show you until I could get a better picture than this, but this will do for now because my dad wants to see it!  It's quite nice to drive - smaller and easier to maneuver than the van, but still roomy and practical.  It still has the same 'I'm up high and can see everything' feel, but way more sporty.

 

This was our Monday.  M getting her first look at all the snow that had us stuck at home.

 

Outside playing in it.

We shoveled the walks as part of our 'game' - we survived a plane crash and had to go look for other people or roads... It was very long and involved forts and sos's on top of the race trailer...

This was pre-shoveling, obviously, and by the time we got to the front to do this part, the neighbor had done it with his snowblower.  :)

This was the third time in 3 days that we shoveled the walks.

A little Wii after the snow, with some happy results.

The school buses didn't run all week, and today (Friday) is a day off, so I drove the kid to school Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, and then me into work until it was time to pick her up again.  Being in the office for 6 1/2 hours instead of 4 sure had more of a full time feel, but with Monday and Friday at home, I'm still pretty spoiled.  There are definitely perks to working a flexible part time.

In other happy news, on Wednesday night I sent in the last paper for my last class for the program I was in through Carey Theological College.  I will graduate with everyone else here in the Regina satellite campus this spring, and then I'm planning on taking at least a year off before I decide whether I want to pursue the full masters or not.  I've got 13 courses under my belt now, so if I were to continue with the Masters of Pastoral Ministry program I initially signed on for, I would have 5 or 6 courses left.  If I upgraded to their new Masters of Divinity program, I'd be about half done now.  So we'll see in a year or so what I'm feeling like doing!

 

And this is Christine's house, where I went last night for a 'Sew Whatever' party.  How fun!  Heidi, Kari, Jenn, Karen, Jill and Suzanne were all there, too, and that's Christine in the blue in front.  I won't tell you what I was sewing, cause that might spoil the surprises in the mail... but Jen, if you want to send me a picture of it on her when it gets there, I'd love to have one!

Aarrgghh...

Can't blog now... writing a paper... why is this so hard???

But I will be here soon with my word for the year, with some holiday photos, and maybe a story or two from the trips to see our families.  So stay tuned!

Oh, and so sad that the US beat Canada in the World Juniors - there's nothing like going to a game to get you in the spirit of the tournament.  Nothing like having it in your back yard to make going to a game possible!  (I was writing my paper, not watching, but I did catch a few of the replays after things erupted in the living room...)

Monday Morning

I just sent in a paper - feels like a productive morning, and a weight off my shoulders. I did enjoy reading the primary source material by Augustine and Bohnoeffer, though. For me the reading isn't the hardship, it's the translating my thoughts into words that make sense and look good on paper, and finding alert brain time to do that!

We had our hard drive in our laptop crash last week. Days after we bought an external hard drive that didn't work and got taken back, and two weeks after the warranty ran out. Can you say OUCH?? After a year of having two computers, going back to one was a little painful. We'll see when the laptop gets back into play. With this paper done, it's not as big of a deal for me. Just for Sean who likes to watch TV while he's on the computer...

M tried out for a special dance group at school and made it - they will be performing a couple of times at the Fire and Ice Carnival here in January, and also are going to be involved in the processional when the Olympic Torch comes through town. She wanted to be involved so badly, but there were important practices over the holidays when we're away, and it was iffy for a while there. The teacher in charge called and said it was ok for M to miss those; she was confident in M's ability to pick it up quickly. Nice for her to make that work out for the kid! Holidays with family comes before extra stuff like that, no matter how cool it is.

We set up the tree Friday night and decorated it Saturday - it's too big of a job to do all at once, and it stretches the fun to two days. We have 5 nativity sets, and 4 of them are in the living room right now. It's sort of a joke on Sean - he only likes one set up, not have them all over the place! I'll take a couple to work today and put them in my office, and one will go up to M's room. I've been taking lots of pictures to make a December album with, so if I get time later, I'll post the nativity sets for your perusal. Not now, though, because I have to go get groceries. It's -20 or so out there. I'm wearing long johns and big woolly socks. The long johns will stay, but these socks only fit in my Sorels, and I'm not wearing those to the store and work!

Last Class...

We finished our last weekend of our last class of the 12 that were a part of our satellite campus arrangement with Carey. It would feel like more of a relief or an actual finish if we didn't still have 3 assignments to do. Ask me how I'm feeling after that, in mid January.

This class is Church History, and right now I have to read 400 pages of primary source material. Ok, right now I SHOULD be reading that primary source material... That's why this will be short, and why I may post less in the next month or so. Because I'm busy reading and writing for school or making Christmas gifts, along with the usual cooking, working and sleeping...

Sean's Mom and Dad came by yesterday to drop off more filling for my magic bags - we had a good supper and visit and got them playing on the Wii. Last time we played, Sean and I played around with our Mii characters after M went to bed... and this was the first time she saw her Mii with the nose moved up onto her forehead. It made for a really good laugh all around.

The class I took over at Jessica Sprague is done, but the goodness will last till the end of the year. We came out with a month's worth of prompts and ideas for focusing on what really matters to us over the next month, and the framework to record it. I think I'm doing 8x8 digital layouts... that may still change. I like paper (or hybrid) better, but may try this one all digital just for the experience.

I played the role of 'good mom' on Monday and went to Agribition with M's class. There are some massive animals in this world. And so many different kinds! We saw horses that were all prettied up, little horses pulling little wagons, massive horses 3 stories tall practically, horses that can do tricks, and high strung prancy horses... and we saw reindeer, lamas, goats, bison, and baby chickies being hatched out of eggs, It was a good day. It was a day out of routine though, and I really thought Tuesday was Monday when I got to the office - I got confused a couple of times by people talking about yesterday and me thinking they were talking about Sunday...

Later - I'm off to read St. Augustine's Confessions!

Bus Blues

First Day of School!

She said she had a great day, got the teacher she wanted, one friend she was hoping to be in the same class with isn't again this year, and one trouble making friend tattled to the teacher that she spoke English... back to the same old, same old.

This is our second year doing the bus thing - last year was pretty smooth for the most part. This year, off to a rocky start. The bus never showed up this morning, or was more than 18 minutes late, which is when I drove Madeline and the other boy she waits with to school, getting them there after the 9 o'clock start. She is supposed to get picked up at 8:41 this year, which is 8 minutes later than last year. We're ok with that. I pulled into the garage about 5 to 4 this afternoon, hoping I had beat her here - we've got the plan in place if she gets home before me, but I was hoping I wasn't late on her first day! No sign of her for the first while - there were a couple of buses, but not the right ones, I guess. I gave it some slack, knowing that if she gets picked up later, she might get dropped off later, too... I don't panic easily, but I was starting to wonder when it was 20 after and still no sign of her. No phone calls to say she was still at school, so I just kept watching for the bus. Finally at the 4th bus sighting, there she was - at 26 minutes after 4, almost a full hour after school let out - "He missed my stop, TWICE" she said. Ok, so we'll see what time she gets here tomorrow...

Last Day of Summer Vacation

M is back at school tomorrow. The good thing is that I won't be torn so much between getting my work hours in (and finding somewhere else for M to go) and spending time with her. I don't think she's suffered - she's spent time at Grandpa's, time at friend's homes, time with uncles and aunts and cousins... It's just me, I guess, wishing I could be supermom taking her to the pool, riding bikes, flying kites, and doing creative things together. We have done lots of fun family things together, though. It has been a good summer.

Yesterday we printed off a sheet of labels with her name to stick on all her school supplies. She's asked for another sheet because every marker is getting one, and we split the 50 pack... Washable markers, duotangs and paper (no binders on the list this year), pens (no pencils), glue sticks, round tip scissors, a flash drive... It seems a curious list between 'still a kid' and 'grown up'. That sums up grade 5 though, doesn't it? I watched her stretch out this morning, and she is LONG! Growing up. But yesterday she spent some birthday money on a skip-it. Still a kid. I like this stage, I think.

Leave me a message with your favorite school supplies. Mine are the pens and paper, by far.

School Lunches

I just heard a bit on the radio on the way home about what to send your child for lunch once school starts up again. Our school is a peanut free zone (are there any that aren't?), but she does have access to a microwave, so it's not as big of a problem as some people face.

Usually, I will send supper leftovers 2 or 3 times a week which cuts down on the need to be too creative.

Sandwiches are good (I remember I did NOT like sandwiches - sorry Mom!) - she likes canned meat (ham, chicken or turkey), so I keep a few of those on hand to mix up for a sandwich. I'll get lunch meat once in a while, if we're out for dinner and I know Sean will need a lunch too (he pretty much always takes leftovers). She also likes lettuce and cheese sandwiches - found that out one day trying to figure out a lunch:
me: "we've got everything for sandwiches except meat..."
her: "that's okay, I can take it without the meat."
me: "lettuce and cheese???"
her (after school): "it was great!"

Sometimes I'll send half a can of soup - we always have that around, and it'll still be warm if I heat it then stick it in a thermos.

I think I've sent a muffin with cheese as the main part before, and crackers and cheese, but she needs more filler then.

What are your kids favorites? Share some tips with the rest of us! Also, what extras do you put in? I do fresh veggies or fruit when we have them, canned fruit when we don't, applesauce, pudding, cookies, 'fruit snacks', granola bars... I'd love to hear some other suggestions to stock the pantry with.

Finished the big one!

There is some leeway in the end date of the course I'm working on, but the official date is today. I just finished the 14 page paper that I've been working on forever (except for polishing the footnotes, but that will come) and it will get sent in today. I am thankful for that!! Then one more 6 pager and a bunch of text reading... Soon it will be done. Soon.

This also means that I can play with my pictures later and show you some!

Today Summer Starts

Madeline finished grade 4 today. She brought home a decent report card and lots of work which we've already gone through, looked at and recycled. She got off an hour earlier than usual, and Sean worked a little overtime, so it felt kind of like a summery afternoon. Nice. Proud of my girl going into grade 5. Or 5e as the french kids say.


These are my new dishes. I've been meaning to take a picture for a few weeks to show you... We went out browsing some home stores getting ideas and this was a quick fix on the 'we need to do renos!' feelings. Bring out something new and fun three times a day and it's all good.


And these... these are what brought the camera out. Of course they were empty by the time we got home, but, PIC A POP. When was the last time you had a pic a pop? We went out to Dessart (our favorite ice cream and retro sweets shop) to celebrate school being done and splurged on ice cream AND pop.

And the best for last:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SILAS!!!

Here's a page I did of Silas and I from two summers ago. This is the kid that made me an aunt, 12 years ago today. He's also the crazy good runner that just finished 13th in the Manitoba Super Run on Sunday. Love you!

One more day of school...

...for the kid. And I must say I am slightly jealous. The reason I haven't posted for a while is because every spare minute is being spent working on this assignment so I can get to the next assignment so I can get to the reading and then be DONE. I'm trying to get as much done as I can before we go camping next week. I don't mind taking a textbook along, since it will get mixed in with all the fiction I picked up at the library today, but I sure won't be working on a paper out there. And it will be nice to enjoy summer with no school. I will get there. I will.

I'm not sure yet where we're going camping next week. Sean was going to call and book at Duck Mountain today - that's plan E so far, I think. We will just be happy to be away and relaxing.

Soccer is done. We had 5 games last week; Tuesday and Thursday wrapped up the regular season, which we finished with 7 wins, 5 losses and 2 ties. Then we played in a tournament on the weekend: lost Friday to go to the B side, but then we won 2 games Saturday to take the B side championship. And here's the scoop on the trophies, since I should update after that last rant... The trophies were given out according to the tournament standings. We got little stand up plaques that say B side Champs. So, yes, appropriately specific. I agree with Alexis (see her comment on the last post) that acknowledgment for participation is important, especially for younger kids; what I didn't like was every one getting the same thing regardless of how they did. I don't know what everyone else got, but I liked that ours was specific to how they did. I don't even think they kept stats on the league play - it was just for fun all around. And now my season as coach was over. Tune in next year to see if it happens again!

Ok, off to my paper.

**********
Updated to add this funny story so you can laugh at me:
This morning I put in the first contact lens (opened a new set yesterday; nice & fresh!), then got the second one ready, and was having a bit of a tougher time getting it the right way round when I realized that there were TWO contacts there. The first one didn't make it into my eye and now the contacts were mixed up and I didn't know which was which. Has this ever happened to you? Or am I the only one? I tried them both ways and couldn't really tell (one eye is 1.25 and the other is 1.75, so not that big of a difference...) I picked what I thought was best, and I didn't notice it all day, so I'm thinking I picked right, but... and the kicker is that it's a brand new pair - if I got it wrong, my eyes will be so weird when I switch them up next month.

Ok, there you go, have a good laugh at my expense. What a dork.

Savouring Sunday Silence

I just finished my last assignment for my Life of Christ class. Finally. I am VERY happy to have that wrapped up. Too bad the next one (Pastoral Ethics) has already started and has deadlines looming. But I will take a minute here to celebrate the one being done.

Sean was off to the races today and is on his way home from Yorkton, and M left a couple of hours ago to go to a sleepover, so I'm enjoying a few hours of me-time. Although is writing a paper what YOU would do with me-time? I needed to and I will relax with Sean when he gets home. And now I'm relaxing and hanging out with you. That's fun in my books!

I needed this quiet right now because today the terrible horrible no good very bad monster in my child beat up and took over the sweet obedient loving girl in my child and ruled her for a few good hours. I managed for the most part to stay calm and firm and I won. She knows I have to, but she put up a good fight today. Worse than in a long time. Maybe because Dad wasn't home to put her straight with one word, and she thinks I'm more of a pushover...? Whatever, I won, and all is good. The monster left and the sweet girl was back well before she left for the sleepover. (Or you know that would be gone, too.)

Enough of that hard real life stuff - did you notice my new little icon beside the name of the blog? Check up top in the web address. Please leave a comment and let me know if you know what that is!!!

One other thing I've been meaning to point out - I noticed in my archive list (below) that I have written more posts this year than I have in all of 2005, 2007 and 2008 combined. I've had a lot of fun playing around on here, writing and changing up the layout, showing you my stuff and just messing around. Thanks for reading and commenting (that's the part I like the best!) I'm excited to see all the dots on my map, too - it was up for 3 days then got lost in a transition, but I've added it again. The count is skewed, but a few more weeks and I won't notice. I love seeing where you all come from.

We almost bought a vehicle yesterday. This was the closest we've come yet, but we decided to wait until there's something we know for sure is meant to be. We test drove a Ford Escape, a Dodge Avenger and a Ford Fusion. Someday, maybe. For now I will be happy with the one that is paid for.

On Procrastination

Once upon a time, there was an assignment. It was a short paper of an assignment, with some additional reading required before the paper could be written. This paper was due in two days, and the writer was not finished reading. She turned down invitations to outings, griped about the meeting she could not skip, and was thrilled when the child in her charge was happy to be cared for elsewhere to give the writer time to write.

What time did the writer get to work on the paper? Half an hour here, half an hour there, and a final half an hour after she had brushed her teeth and prepared for bed.

All day, and she's not much closer than she was yesterday. Her hope? That her 5 pages of notes will miraculously transform themselves into a comprehensive treatment of the subject at hand, and be quite satisfactorily turned into the professor on time. Which happily is 11:59 PM on the date due.

Secrets for procrastination that you can adopt to put off your own assignments:
- spend time on the other things that have been left for the last minute, like a lesson to be taught the next morning.
- spend quality time with your child because you've missed having her around all day (or because you appreciate her more after not having her around all day??)
- finish your novel so it is no longer a draw away from study.
- play a game or three to exercise your mind and get it ready to work.
- catch up on the blogs you've been neglecting, because it is Saturday, after all.

Tune in again to hear the (as yet unwritten) finale of the story of the (as yet unwritten) little assignment!