Small Successes

Well, I have been struggling this week with the ambition to do anything...other than obsess over what curriculum to buy to use next year with Eva. Last weekend hubby had Saturday off, so we borrowed a horse trailer and went to visit my mom, who just retired from teaching. We took off her hands a china hutch, a leather chair and ottoman, a tea chest, a wine fridge, a four drawer file cabinet, and a lot of miscellaneous stuff...of course that was a MAJOR success, but thought I'd add it in here.

On to the small successes (all from today, YEAH!)

1-
I changed the girl's sheets. I have been meaning to get to them all week, but this morning I finally did it (I will admit it got done because Charlotte had a small accident in them...but it's still done!)

2-
I loaded the dishwasher, took the trash to the burning barrel (which I hardly ever do), and packed up three books from paperback swap, got my registration form for the Rocky Mountain Catholic Home Educators Conference ready, and took them all to the mailbox, instead of waiting for hubby to get home and making him do it. (My old habits of having my own personal mailman are a bit hard to break, so I'm proud that I did it myself!)

3-
I CLEANED OUT OUR WALK IN CLOSET!!!! Yeah! Okay, this one counts as a major success, too. We have this giant closet in our bedroom, and it just kinda got stuffed with a lot of miscellaneous stuff during our move, so I sorted through the heap of clothes from our vacation to Hawaii, found about 16 sizes of little girl swimsuits, our camera(yeah!), the disk drive for hubby's netbook, my mending pile, a giveaway pile, and about 6 suitcases in various stages of unpacking. I also found my summer clothes, and given the temperature in our house today, I don't think it was a moment too soon!

Bonus Success-
I cleaned our fairly disgusting toilet this morning, which is always a success. I've been trying to clean it weekly, but I'm pretty sure it had been at least two weeks. Today I opened my new flushable wipes from Method (I bought them at Target) and I think I am in love! Previously, I had been using Watkins flushable cleaning wipes, and they worked okay, but I usually needed to use 3 of them to clean the toilet. ONE Method wipe cleaned the WHOLE toilet (started at the top, and worked my way to the rim. They are very thick, and worked wonderfully. Now, I know that flushable wipes aren't necessarily that great for one's plumbing (or septic system, though they do say they are septic safe) but I am just loving them.

More small successes at Faith and Family LIVE!

Quick Takes Friday

1-
How my week has gone: Saturday, started painting bedroom with help from MIL...ran out of paint. Went to Mass, then to the nearest Home Depot (to get more paint) and had supper out with hubby and kids. Sunday, found out early that FIL had taken MIL into the emergency room with an injured ankle. Went to MILs house to clean up and make a Mother's Day lunch for MIL (ironically, it was both daughters-in-law who did the cooking and cleaning...) spent the whole day there working on the house because MIL broke a bone in her foot, and needed to see an orthopedic surgeon to see if it needed surgery. Monday, finished painting bedroom by myself, did a bunch of loads of laundry and tried to get the house clean. Tuesday, drove MIL to orthopedic surgeon's office, did shopping for end of the year "picnic" for religious education classes (MIL is DRE). Wednesday, attempted to clean house more...removed tape and moved bedroom furniture...then went into town with MIL to help cook a roaster full of sloppy joes and another roaster full of beans, while packaging thank you gifts for catechists, setting up church basement and running the Bible story pictionary game. Thursday finally did get house clean, hosted my Bible study. Today, more laundry...very tired...

2-
Got in the mail today: Math U See blocks off of CathSwap (it was supposed to be a full set, but is 9 or 10 blocks short...don't know if I should bother to tell the seller or not. I am sure it was an honest mistake.) Spanish language stuff off CathSwap (CD with booklet, card game, tape, and bilingual book) and a book from Paperbackswap that I've been looking forward to reading.

3-
Next week is looking busy, too...Saturday night hubby's cousin is having her high school graduation party. Sunday is graduation. Monday is piano lessons. Tuesday the girls and I are taking MIL to her doctor's appointment in the city and hubby has a Knights of Columbus meeting in our old town. Wednesday seems free so far, thank goodness. Thursday is the first Girl Scouts meeting, followed by a parents meeting to decide on days and frequency of meetings.

4-
When the Girl Scout's regional coordinator called to see if Eva could make it to a meeting on Thursday, it was kind of a funny conversation. She had Eva's registration form in front of her, and she told me that they would meet right after school got out. Now, on her registration form, it says she is homeschooled. So, I told her (a little sheepishly) that I did not know what time school got out. So, since she was sitting with the local Girl Scout leader, she was able to tell me that they get out at 3:22 (seriously...who comes up with a school release time of 3:22??) Then, the regional woman told me that there would be a parents meeting after the girls met, starting at 5 pm. She said that they would pick up the girls at school and walk them over to the meeting place. I asked her what time they would arrive at the meeting place, and she told me that I didn't need to be there until 5, and that they would pick up the girls at school. So, I'm pretty sure that she is thinking I must be an idiot because I have no idea what time my kid gets out of school, and don't seem to be getting the concept that they will pick up the girls at school and walk them to the meeting...and I'm coming to the realization that she hasn't yet noticed that under school I wrote "Homeschooled". So, I told her that I homeschool Eva, so I needed to know what time to drop her off at the meeting location, since she wouldn't be at school to pick up. So, I'll be dropping her off at 3:40 on Thursday and then finding something for Charlotte and I to do while we wait on the parents meeting.

5-
The girls must be very tired from our crazy week. Charlotte slept 30 minutes past the required quiet time mark, and Eva is still asleep, and it's almost and hour past when she could come out. They've missed a lot of naps this week, and the only time I think they slept was on the day when we had to be out the door right after quiet time...and that day, neither one fell asleep until about 30 minutes before we had to leave.

6-
We've exchanged e-mails now with our Austrian exchange student. She sent us several questions, which I had fun answering...the one that cracked me up had to do with whether Americans eat McDonalds and KFC every day (she said she knew it probably wasn't true, but it is what many Austrian kids think). I had no idea that KFC was that global...the McDonalds part didn't surprise me.

7-
Next on our home improvement list is either: a cheap DIY remodel of our upstairs bathroom (we need to demo some tile, repaint, put in a shower surround and shower head, and replace an overhead light) OR clean out what I lovingly refer to as "the room of despair" (the upstairs bedroom with no window where we stored many of our possessions before we moved in the house that is now home to everything without a home such as my paperback swap books, furniture for the unfinished guest room, tacky drapes (& drapery rods and other 1960's items we have removed and/or replaced), filing cabinet covered with to be filed items, toys, canning supplies, and other things that have not surfaced since the move. Hubby is voting for the room of despair (not entirely because it would mostly involve me doing the work) and I am voting for the bathroom (because it is so very very ugly and I would like a normal shower). I think we may take a few days off before we get started on either of those projects, though.

More quick takes at Conversion Diary.

Quick Takes Friday

1-
Charlotte has recently been going through the "I don't like you/that" phase. She mutters about not liking me if I won't let her have gummy snacks for breakfast, she yells it at her sister, at her toys, etc. The other night there was some sort of horrible dispute coming from the girl's room, and when I went in to find out the problem, Charlotte's explanation was "My monkey was in my snowman's face, and I don't like that!" (while crying of course...) It makes more sense if you know that my girls each have 4 buddies (stuffed animals) that they sleep with. I'm not really sure how we ended up with 4, but it does come in handy if one has been puked on and is in the washer...Anyway, Charlotte's buddies are: Monkey (a curious George doll that belonged to my brother when we were kids) Snowman (a stuffed snowman) Kitty (a periwinkle from Blue's Clues doll) and Turtle (I'm not really sure if it is supposed to be a turtle or a ladybug, but turtle it is...) Eva has Big Monkey and Little Monkey (both curious George dolls), Magenta (from Blue's Clues) and Puppy (a white stuffed dog with purple ears and heart shaped spots.) Apparently some nights, even the buddies can't get along.

2-
After meeting our new baby Godson, the girls have decided that they are both hoping for a baby brother. Now, this wouldn't be quite as funny to me, but for the last several YEARS every time one of my Bible Study friends would have a baby (and that was pretty frequently...given that right now is the first time in the 4 years I've been involved that someone in the group is not pregnant...at least that I am aware of!) when the girls would see the new baby at church, without fail, the new mom would say to my girls "Do you want a baby brother or sister" after the girls admired the baby, to which they would both laugh and say "No!"

3-
The girls and I went to a Girl Scout recruitment meeting last night. I didn't tell Eva what it was until we got there, because I just wasn't sure that the one poster that I saw at the post office was correct, or if anyone would show up...but there were a whole bunch of girls there. They had dinner, sopapillas, snow cones, jump ropes, hula hoops, stamps, friendship bracelet making, and made duct tape roses (the only thing Eva didn't do was the roses). It looks like there will finally be a younger girl scout troop in town, hopefully even a Daisies group. I went ahead and registered Eva, so hopefully I'll hear before too long!

4-
Why, oh why can I never move to a house without a massive rhubarb patch??? Yesterday MIL came over with the strawberry plants we had bought (and then she bought some more because they were on clearance) and we went to plant them. Decided it would be way easier with a rototiller...found out MILs rototiller isn't working (after she hauled it over to my house!) dug it up by hand with hubby while BIL and FIL tried to fix the rototiller. Then we all had lunch and hubby helped me plant the 50 or so strawberry plants before he went back to work. Anyway, during this whole process, MIL helped me harvest some of my rhubarb...I have a huge pile on my counter. If I were feeling more ambitious, I'd go get the camera, probably have to change the batteries, find the cord to the computer, take a picture, upload it to the computer and post it here...unfortunately, I am not feeling that ambitious. So, since I didn't get to it yesterday, I REALLY need to clean, chop up and freeze all that rhubarb (except for enough for a rhubarb crisp for dessert tonight...yum!)

5-
I am hosting my Bible Study group this coming Thursday, it's Mother's Day this Sunday...and I really, really, REALLY want to start painting my bedroom (okay, not start, just do the whole thing.) I don't know what hubby's reaction to this plan would be (I have a feeling it won't be good...) but I've been wanting to paint our room since we bought our first house, I've just never gotten around to it (and of course, this is house #3...) I have the paint, I just need to pull nails and screws, take down the ugly drapery rods, and move all the furniture around...which is probably about the worst part.

6-
The trip for our Goddaughter's First Holy Communion and our Godson's baptism was great...but did make me wish that the state of Nebraska was significantly smaller. The girls had a great time with their second cousins, I had a great time hanging out, and it was awesome to be there for the First Communion and Baptism. I'm glad it all worked out and hubby's Uncle was willing to feed the cows for him.

7-
It looks like we are about done with the stomach flu (YEAH!!!) Although hubby has been complaining about not feeling well. Even though he's kind of a whiny baby when he is sick...he at least is old enough to get to the bathroom and not throw up all over the house (unlike certain little girls who have moved steam cleaning up on my to do list!)

More quick takes at Conversion Diary!

Small Successes

1-
I have survived two bouts of the stomach flu...Charlotte starting last week, and getting better by the time we left town on Friday evening, and then Eva who got sick shortly after getting back home on Sunday night. I also survived the immense amount of laundry that comes with the stomach flu.

2-
We finallly made some decisions about homeschooling next year. Since we are not going with Seton again, that means I have to pick and choose EVERYTHING. But hubby and I set a budget, and I've been trying to find things at CathSwap or ebay, and trying to find the lowest new price on books that I don't think I'll be able to get used.

3-
Through all of this, I have stayed fairly well caught up on the dishes. I have a few items on the counter that couldn't fit into a load, but I'm feeling pretty good about the fact that I am not at the point where I have to wash plates by hand before we can eat a meal.

More small successes at Faith and Family LIFE!