It Was A Good Day

If you read my HSB blog, then you've already read this post - sorry! I just wanted this on here, to encourage me and anyone else that might read it. Here goes ..

Thursday of this week was an especially good day on the homeschool front so I thought I'd write about it. And if I need encouragement in the future, I can refer back to this post to remind myself what a good day looks like in our home. My dh taught at the college today and I was up early enough to see him off, his lunch in hand. Carmen, my 6 yo, got up at the right time to prepare for swimming lessons. We were ON TIME! I didn't drop anything on the shower floor and she had a great lesson. Unassisted back float - a big step for her. Only took six, 6-week sessions to get this far (sigh - that translates into $210 but I know it's worth it - please, please let it be worth it!) Anyway, it was a great lesson and we came home for our usual after-swim snack of hot chocolate made with real milk and toaster pastries from the natural food section (a bit better for you than Pop-tarts!) The boys were up, had eaten breakfast and Alec was ready for the day, Chad not far behind. Everyone did their math and the boys copied from the book of Luke. We don't do spelling on Thurs. Carmen did several pages of math from her current fav math book and then read the entire story out of her reading lesson book (Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons). The stories are getting longer and sometimes it's difficult for me to be patient (shame on me!) but she did a great job, only needing help sporadically. I was supremely proud of all she had done that morning! I gave the boys a few chores to help me with, I did the dishes, then we had lunch. After lunch, Chad loaded up the bicycles into the van and we went out to the river walk along the Columbia. It was a warm afternoon but, as usual, the wind was really cold. I walked while the kids rode their bikes. We love doing this and this was the first time it's been warm enough to ride this year. We came home to rest and then my husband came home from work. He decided he wanted to finish watching a movie he'd started the night before and we decided to let the boys watch with him (a rare thing here but it was about WWII and they are currently interested in this part of history). Meanwhile, my daughter asked me to tea so she set a lovely table and I sat down with her and her stuffed deer (I think it's a deer, we made it out of a big woolly sock, a quiet fellow!) We had fun and I realized how important this kind of play is. She doesn't play with her plastic dishes very often and I need to teach her how to be a good hostess and manners and all. It was all so pleasant that I ended up falling asleep when we were done! A quick nap and then I was ready to make dinner. After dinner, I read two more chapters from "On The Banks Of Plum Creek" to Carmen, with the boys listening as they were doing whatever they were doing. Now, I'll back up here for a sec. During dinner, there was negative talk about each other so I told everyone to say something nice about the person to their right. And then say something nice about the person to their left. We all got to laughing and it did the trick. And, shock of all shocks, when it was my dh's turn, he said this, "Mommy is a talented writer". Whoa! My dh does not compliment freely and I was speechless when I heard this but recovered quickly enough to thank him sweetly! During all this, someone said the word "mummy" for some reason and that got Carmen to thinking. Suddenly, she wanted to know all about mummies (meaning dead people). My son pulled out a book I got last year about mummies and she was fascinated. So, of course, on Friday, she spent a lot of time drawing mummies and asking (and asking!) all kinds of questions about mummies. That led to discussions about death, the soul, etc. It was really disturbing to me but I know she is just curious so I answered all I could and looked up what I didn't know. I personally can't stand to look at mummies so it was difficult, to say the least. Then I started comparing the beliefs of the Egyptians (many gods) to our belief (monotheism) in one God. The true God. I usually try to turn talk toward the Lord whenever I can. I don't want to miss an opportunity and God can use anything to teach our kids (and us) more about Him. Anyway, I've digressed again, but at the end of the day on Thursday, I realized how well the day had gone. And after reading others blogs about their homeschool day, I thought I'd better write it down so I'd remember! Other things thrown into the mix of our day usually consist of Carmen drawing and creating and Alec trying another project that will either be impossible, really messy or will need a trip to the store for some obscure item (tonight he wanted me to go get wire - sorry kiddo, stores are closed!) Chad practiced his euphonium and spent his free time reading about airplanes, a new hobby of his. He's also reading a James Harriott book about dogs. Alec is really into the Pathway Readers series and I let him stay up a bit later on Thursday because he wanted to finish a chapter. In our house, I am realizing, learning never stops, it just pauses for meals and bedtime. And speaking of bedtime ...

Tomorrow is another day

There is something so relaxing, de-stressing, de-compressing about blogging. Whether I'm writing a new post or visiting/commenting on other blogs, I find I can lose myself into the process. My mind is temporarily suspended from reality for awhile, even if I'm writing about something that really happened, which is all I write about. Not much of a fiction writer. Though maybe when I'm writing about an incident/event/situation, it starts to feel like I'm writing about someone else, I mentally remove myself from the picture. Anyway, when I am done, I feel like the stress of the day has lifted off my shoulders and my usual evening headache is gone. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. O.k., it's a good thing. A brain-stretching exercise that helps me unwind. That's a good thing! I prefer to be positive and somewhat of a cheerleader when I comment on other posts. My own blog goes from being positive to heavy sighs of whatever the day brought my way. This day has brought many heavy sighs, lots of crankiness from myself and others in the house. Hate days like this! But tomorrow is another day.

My birthday was a few days ago. It was a good day (I posted about it on my other blog, hesitate to repeat posts here). However, I had high hopes of starting fresh with this birthday. It wasn't a milestone birthday, just another year. But I am reassessing my life and the way I do things. I see lots of areas I'd like to improve in my life. Housekeeping, for one. This area affects my whole family so improving here would be a really wonderful thing. I have started the kids on various daily chores that is helping me with this goal. I've also started being more ruthless with what I keep and what goes. I really hate clutter but it's so hard to keep at bay. Add to that three children who love to create with all kinds of materials and the mess builds. I am working on teaching them to put things away more consistently. Homeschooling is not the neatest way to live, learning is messy - that is a fact I've heard from nearly every homeschooling family I know! But I am also responsible for teaching my kids to clean up and take care of their living environment. I'm not blaming my mom by any means but she was a perfect housekeeper who never showed her daughters how to keep house or clean anything. And I always had roommates who like to clean. Then I got married - what a shock! Fortunately, my husband's mom taught him how to clean or we'd really be in trouble. He's been a big help in showing me what needs to be done. He sees dirt in places I'd never notice. This can be annoying at times, as you can imagine. I think I'll stop here as I feel like I'm rambling and this is boring, even to me! But now that I've written down my goal of being a better housekeeper, it will serve as a reminder to keep up with that goal. Let's see how things are in 6 months!

Mr. Nurse

I keep reading that there's a shortage of nurses. And that more and more men are entering the field. As I said in my last post, I am married to a Registered Nurse. While attending nursing school, he retired from his cabinet business last year and has been working as a nurse ever since. Now, I'm the kind of person who would prefer never to set foot in a hospital or doctor's office ever again. It is still hard to believe that my husband actually WORKS in a hospital (at least he gets paid well). And he likes it! I'd go mad. Suffice it to say that we have opposing views of hospitals, thus making it difficult to discuss his day at work. I've learned not to ask how his day went unless I'm prepared to hear it! Please, spare me the details, o.k! I'm the kind of person who hurts for people who are hurting. If it's a child, even worse. I can't stand for people to suffer. (I even tell the kids to kill bugs quickly, don't prolong the agony!) The good part is that my husband spends 8-9 hours making these people feel better, or at least, more comfortable. He has the kind of hands that make you feel safe when you hold them. So when I think that he might be holding someone's hand to help comfort them, that makes me happy. Think about it ... if you've ever been in the hospital, (and I have, several times - I do have 3 kids), it was the nurses who did all the work of caring for you. The doctor is in and gone in a flash. The nurses are the ones that you remember. The ones who helped you endure the nightmare. So, even though I still struggle in some ways with my husband being a nurse, I know that he's right where he wants to be. Right where he needs to be. And, certainly, right where God wants him.

First Post

Welcome to my first post on this site. I am the homeschool mom of three kids, wife to a registered nurse, and, among other things, an aspiring writer. My life offers me lots to write about. It's never boring. This you will soon find out.