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Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Just waiting for the cold weather to flee.....

The least I could do is post, eh?

Okay, I'll do an update and sprinkle in a few of Emily's pictures.  (Emily is my 14 year old daughter.)  Maybe they'll give those of us still dwelling in cold weather a little hope that spring and summer will return.

What can I say?  At heart I am a very constant person.  My children eat three meals a day and the laundry is always done.  (Not always finished....always done.  At some point.)  When it comes to *spare moments, however, I go in spurts.  January and February were spent by reading, reading, reading and knitting, knitting, knitting.  (*Spare moments?  Ha Ha.  Spare moments mean STILL doing 4 or 5 things at once.  Spare moments really mean that I should be doing something else, but choose to do something more fun.  That's just how life is, and I think it's good!)

As March approached, the books and the yarn fell by the wayside and I have been CONSUMED by my decluttering gene.  (Apparently, it is a gene that only becomes dominant as Spring approaches.  The decluttering gene is not to be confused with the cleaning gene.  They are not one and the same.  My house can be orderly yet still have spiderwebs on the ceilings.)



I've spent hours sorting through our bookshelves.  I decided that no family needs 15 books on personal budgeting, particularly when 12 of those books were written in the 1980s.  A few of my books will make it to a grand and gloriously new future on ebay, the rest are finding their destiny via Paperback Swap.  Paperback Swap has proven profitable - for the people who want my books.  I've mailed out a ton in just a few days.  Now, I can't think of any books that I want to request in return.  Help me out, here.  What do I want to read?  Too bad I already went through my reading kick.  I need to coordinate myself better.



As I sort and list, I'm tentatively and mentally working out curriculum for my kids next year.  My oldest son will have graduated, but I will have added a kindergartener.  I'll still be at 5 school-aged children.  I thought I had the entire high school curriculum figured out, then through trial and error realized that what worked for my oldest would not work (not even remotely) for the next kid in line.  It is back to the drawing board for me, and at the high school level this feels daunting.  I know what I want, and what I do not want - but locating it seems difficult.  I don't really want to put together our own curriculum, but will if I must.



The lady that I was providing night time care for is now out of the hospital.  She is in a nursing home for rehab and therapy, so that job has ended.  I knew when I began that it was likely just for a time, and the time was right for it to be over.  I believe that I have been a comfort for her.  I am glad to be home again for all of my evenings.  It was something that I needed to do to help out, and I'm grateful to have found a way to do so without compromising time with my children.  I'm equally as grateful to be home and able to focus more fully while here.  I'm a smidgen less tired than I was.



That's all, I think.  Just wanted to say hello.  No promises (as always) about regular blogging.  When the blogging gene reasserts its dominance, I'll be back.

God bless you.  If you stop by be sure and say hello!

11 comments:

  1. It's good to see you dear! *hugs*

    The pictures are awesome, Emily!

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  2. Thanks to both you and Emily for giving me a smile on a dreary March day!

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  3. Holly!!! So glad you updated us. The pics are AMAZING!!! Way to go, Emily!

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  4. Holly, you make me feel better about my cobwebs! hehe. It's good to hear that things are going great for you guys. :) Oh, and those pictures are just beautiful. I especially like the dragonfly!

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  5. Hi Holly! (and Hi to Emily too, nice pics!)
    Wish my declutter bug would kick in. It did about a year or two ago and I got so much done in my basement. oh well.
    Good to see you on here!
    Love ya!
    Karen in In

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  6. Good to hear from you, Holly; we missed you! You are in my heart--how is your Hashimoto's doing these days? I've been praying for you! With love and hugs, Sara A.

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  7. I always enjoy stopping by and reading when you put up a new post. I love the photos that Emily did... you could just put them in frames and hang them on the wall. Over her in Aus we are nearing the end of our first term... I am still tweaking our curriculum. I use different ones for each subjects. How do you do your home school day with different age children? That has been my challenge this year. As for books Francine Rivers new one, anything by Karen Kingsbury and for the children anything by Patricia Polacco

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  8. Thanks Vanessa, and Jill, and Connie!

    Karen, I think a basement every two years is plenty. :) Love you too!

    Sara, thanks! My Hashimotos flared up over Jan./Feb. I continued on with the T-Tapp exercises even though I had to go "backwards" in my ability - and I think I made it through it pretty good. You know, I am so stubborn. It's something I just DON'T want to deal with for the rest of my life. It's like I have not accepted that or can not, at least not yet. I am hopeful to find the right levels of everything - rest, exercise, nutrition - to know how to give it the boot when it tries to descend upon me again. :) I AM learning to listen more sensitively to my body, though - so hopefully? :) How are you doing?

    Helen - hello! Thanks for visiting. I am thinking of framing some of Em's photos. I might quickly go broke, though...(grin.)

    I use different curric. for each subject, and for different years too. Multi-age level is challenging, particularly when there are toddlers involved. Very.Active.Toddlers. :) Mostly, I rely on two things: Independent work for the teens (and checking their work regularly and communicating regularly what I need/expect from them) and just continuing to plug away when and where we can with the younger ones. I...have to look at the big picture and see how they've grown over the course of the year rather than get bogged down in a crazy week. They make it. Like everything, it takes time.

    Thanks for the book suggestions. I do love Francine Rivers, in particular. :)

    Anyone else have suggestions?

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  9. Hi, Holly!
    :)

    Love ya!
    ~Leah

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  10. And how did I miss Jenna? :) Goodness. I thought I was being so careful. Jenna...there are perpetual cobwebs in my house. Our house is quite old, and the spiders quite active. :)

    Heya, Leah! Thanks! :)

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  11. Emily should e-mail Amanda sometime. Amanda still thinks of her. I really thought I would try to do something a little more prepared for highschool like SOS. I found myself saying well not for math, or science, or history... now I am deciding not for Language Arts. There are just so many wonderful things out there it is hard to limit your choices to one curriculum.
    Robin

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