General News and Griping

Talking with some friends last week who were having tough weeks, I realized it was a tough week for me too. First, I'm was trying to fight off a cold/sinus/allergy thing...still. Second DS has not been the most cooperative child as far as school is concerned. Third, I'm still trying to kill that thread, and its not working. I think I'm having a serious case of winter blahs!

Thursday, 1/20 was my birthday, and DH and kids took me to TGI Fridays for the standard Birthday embarrassment. Well, in the long run I turned the tables on them, since i made them all walk through Wal-Mart with me afterwards, while I still had my balloons attached! DD got the worst of it, since I insisted that my arm be draped around her shoulder! I wasn't embarrassed at that point, I was laughing too hard...before you ask, the strongest thing I had to drink that day/night was iced tea (normal, not Long Island)!

DH promised me a nice birthday dinner just the 2 of us, which didn't happen last weekend due to the cold/allergy/sinus thing. I figured if I was going to get taken out someplace nice for good food, I wanted to be able to taste it. That weekend, I was still dragging a bit, and almost cancelled out on the craft show, but my friend said she wasn't worried about any germs I might have, since we weren't kissing or anything! That made me feel better, and I got a really cute kit from her that fits my life perfectly, and I can't wait to start it. But, there's Never Enough Time (that's the pattern by the way)! She also provided me with most of the specialty supplies I need to do the wedding sampler for my best friend who's getting married later this year! So the sampler is taking top billing at this point! After the craft fair was DD's volleyball tournament, but by then, I already had a headache and wasn't feeling very good so I dragged through the first 2-3 games. I fanilly started feeling better and was able to enjoy the second half of the tournament. The team did well considering that it was the first tournament for a brand new club team! They placed 4th in this tournament, and have their next one in 2 weeks!

Sunday was lazy and we got some housework done.

Last week tried to manage school, with a tired and half sick mom and Thursday DH worked out of the house all morning. I like having him home, but it sure screws up my schedule and program that I have the kids on. So the kids and I punted this morning and did the best that we could do with the handicap of having DH home, in the dining room and on the phone! It just doesn't work when DD wants to do her DVDs in the living room, so she went into my room, and DS promptly followed! So much for getting dressed in peace after my shower! Anyway we got through all that and went to Tae Kwon Do for DD's class. After class we flew to volleyball practice and DS and I came home to finish school and work on his science experiment.

He's supposed to be making a cloud in a glass jar anyway that he can. We tried the water & powder experiment...doesn't work with corn starch, maybe if we'd had talcum powder it would have worked. But no point in buying any now, since i broke the jar when the balloon snapped off the rim of it. He tried 2-3 more ways to get that one to work with a different bottle, but to no avail. Finally we found one with a candle, a jar and breathing into it, that at least gets a cloud on the inside of the bottle, so that's what we're doing for co-op tomorrow. His class is having a little party along with the experiment presentations, so we're taking brownie bites and calling them mud to relate them to weather! Clouds make rain, which makes mud...sounds good to me, and insures there is at least some chocolate at the party!

Friday's cloud experiment, at least fogged up the bottle, and he had a good time presenting it to his class. After class we came home and I took a nap, which felt great. Then we went to Park day and out to dinner, again without DH, since he worked late...grrrrrr! He finally got the problem fixed! So we had a quiet weekend, and I got some stitching done on the wedding sampler! I'll have to post a band checklist and update it weekly, so that I can see progress and get some cheering going for it!

Sunday night DH finally took me out for my birthday dinner, and I'm still stuffed from it! I had:

• Appetizer - potato skins
• Main course - Salad, filet mignon, lobster tail and baked potato with a side of lemon garlic grilled prawns
• Dessert - Apple crisp! My favorite!

I can't believe I ate it all, but I did. Now I have to triple the situps to work it all back off! However, since I only get to eat like that once a year, I'm going to enjoy every bite, and ache afterwards that I can get!

While the ezboard is Down

Hi all, I had a great big long post written with a major life update, but got distracted with schlepping kids as I was finishing it up...that will come next week. Today, I just have to whine ecause ezboard is down and has been since last night. I've been having too much fun with The Thread That Never Ends (link would be provided, but ezboard is down) and I want to put my 2 cents in there again!

Oh well, I must be thankful that I can reach out and touch my friends from there both through this blog and through the Yahoo group that I joined last summer when ezboard was down. Yes, we have a group that provides us our fix even when the main boards are down....sick aren't we?

Kids Say the Darndest Things

OK you;ve all heard my meanderings about homeschooling DS, well here's one of the reasons I struggled with it so much!

Yesterday we got DS's curriculum in the mail, so today we started with the new stuff! Well, for the past couple of weeks, we were making do with what we had and a couple of cheap books purchased from Costco. Today we started the new curriculum and for his writing/penmanship assingment he had to practice making cursive "E e". He'd just done this a couple of weeks ago,and was not happy about having to redo it it, so he told me "Its a free world, we should only have to do what we want to do". This was his argument as to why he shouldn't have to do this particular writing assignment, along with the fact thta he already knew how to make these letters, adn he simply wanted to learn something new. So I explained to him that yes it is a free world, but there are things we still have to do whether we like them or not. We had a 10 minute discussion that, although he was free to do what he wnated there were still rules, limits and laws. As long as he stayed within those guidelines, then he was free to do what he wanted to. He said that those were "stupid..." I explained to him that they were there so that his freedom to do what he wanted did not intrude upon my freedom to do what I wanted, and that one of the rules was that he had to do his schoolwork as assigned!

This continued on for awhile, with him still refusing to do his writing, and finally I said, "OK using your logic, I'm free to only do what I want to do, and I want to nap and stitch and not cook dinner tonight, so there's not going to be any dinner." He then told me that I couldn't do that, and I explained to him that yes I could under his train of thought and logic. I'd talked to DH who was supportive of the dinner ban tonight as well, so I knew I was off the hook! Eventually he did his writing assignment, so I have to cook dinner again...drat I thought I'd managed to pull a night off!

Act My age...I doubt it!

You Are 28 Years Old

28 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

I found this in a three sided blog, and thought it was a lot of fun, so I posted my results here! I"ll write more seriously about stitching progress and life updates later!

Homeschool...Again

Well it is official, DS has been withdrawn from the public school system and is now being homeschooled. I know many of you are aware that we were considering making this change at the first of the year. Now the decision has been made and the action taken. I've enrolled him in a science co-op that runs at the same time as DD's science co-op and purchased his curriculum today, we should have that in about a week. I'm still dealing with nerves over the additional duties that I have taken on, but I know that the Lord will provide a way to ensure that the best possible job is done!

DS has been happier, better behaved and displayed a better attitude since we started discussing this as a possibility, and when we went to his old classroom today to collect his remaining things was very happy and proud to state to all his friends that he was being homeschooled. I know in my heart that this was the best decision for him, and I look forward to the new challenges that will continue to rear their heads over the coming days, weeks, months and years. Although tonight, I'm simply tired, and need a break!

DH had to work on his big paper that is due Wednesday night for his MBA class all weekend, so I had no break over the weekend, and ended up staying up way too late last night again, so that's why I'm tired today. THis will pass, as I'm headed in now to start my bedtime ritual, that includes at least an hour of stitching time. Now if I can just keep it at an hour tonight, I'll be in great shape! LOL

A Matter of Semantics

The other week my sister and I were talking about the use of the word "proud", and she stated that it was a word she tried never to use with her kids because pride is a sin according to the Bible. Now I agree with that, but had never really thought about my usage before. However, since this discussion, I've had a lot of time to think about how I use the word, and I realize that I tell my children when they've achieved something that I'm proud of them, or I'm proud of accomplishing something difficult that I've been attempting to do for awhile.

Now telling the kids that you're proud of them is a manner of praise, and it slips off the tongue as naturally as ice cream off a spoon in July. You say it without even realizing what you have said. So now that I am attempting to watch my "pride level" more closely, I find that I have to think about what I say more carefully before I say it. I'm amazed at how many different ways there are to praise a child without telling them you are proud of them. I admire, I respect, I'm pleased with their accomplishments, but I refuse to be proud of them. However, this is much more difficult than I had imagined it would be. The pride habit is difficult to break, but breaking it I am. Am I proud of my accomplishments thus far? I'm trying very hard not to be, but I am definitely pleased with my work!

Happy New Year and My New Years Goals

OK I don't call them resolutions, since I know that I break resolutions withing the first day of making them!

Health/Physical Fitness

I would like to lose about 40 pounds. I was doing well at this a couple of years ago, but then got a HUGE kidney stone, and everything went to pieces.

Eat more healthy food, not Doritos or the chip of the hour.

Exercise regularly...I might join my kids Tae Kwon DO school, but then would lose the majority of my stitching time. I hate dilemmas!


Family/Friends

Continue to grow closer to my DH

Homeschool both my kids without beating them, right now this sounds very difficult, since they are bickering...again!

Maintain and improve all my current friendship, both on and offline.

Become a better friend to these people, by being more initiating in contact.

Stitching


More finishes than I had in 2004. 6 was the final count! I'm on a roll for this one already, as I finished Mini Mystery "E" this morning!

Finish at least 3 projects that are currently in my ezboard sig line, plus Mini Mystery "H" (which was added this morning, although I haven't started it yet)
Start and keep up with MIni "H" (I'll get to "F" & "G" later in the year)

Start and complete my tree skirt, so I can use it next year! Hopefully get and complete at least one of the 2 matching stockings I want to do to go with the tree skirt.

Get the new TW releases when they come out, and probably spend a few days off the Wagon, in case of kitting them up...definitely want to do more of the celtic knotwork stuff!

That's about it for me right now. I'll review this list quarterly and post progress on my goals!

Happy New Year everyone! May 2005 be the year of your dreams!