Rediscovering Simplicity

At the beginning of the year, I decided that I wanted to focus on Simplicity. I wanted to have more time and energy for my family and anything else God puts in my way as well as more quiet and more space. How have I been doing?

1. Menu planning has actually becoming a bit more complicated instead of simple. Bummer. I’m on a “migraine diet” which limits the foods I am permitted to eat. I’ve been doing that for about a month and doing well. For the last two weeks, I’ve been avoiding sweets. That’s more difficult and I’ve started allowing 1 sweet on the weekend as kind of a way to “let off steam”. With all the headaches, fatigue, and diet restrictions, I’ve been really bad about planning meals. PWM has done a fair amount of cooking. We’ve had a number of days when we all just ate what we could find – sandwiches, chicken salad, cheese and crackers, etc.. Hopefully, I can come up with an easy way to deal with meal planning despite the dietary restrictions.

2. I’ve done a much better job at limiting choices. I don’t spend much time checking the library websites unless I’m ready for another book to read. I’ve reduced the numbers of blogs I read and don’t feel bad when I don’t read posts that look interesting.

3. I am doing a better job of using my time. I don’t mean that I’m necessarily more productive, but that I’m more comfortable with what I am doing with my time. I don’t feel guilty for just listening to music when my head hurts. If I do some knitting, great; but if not, that’s OK, too. I don’t feel compelled to do two or three things at a time. Sometimes I do like to listen to books while I knit or clean, but I’m pretty comfortable with being quiet as well.

4. There is much more silence in my life. This is new for me. I was used to having music or TV or audiobooks or conversation going on. I purposely make time for quiet now. PWM and I moved our bedroom downstairs, so it’s a little easier for me to hole up in my bedroom for a few minutes if I need to.

5. The biggest change is that PWM and I have really made some strides in getting rid of lots of stuff. We rearranged rooms a few weeks ago (Wild Man’s room is now a music room, our old bedroom is Wild Man’s bedroom, the old schoolroom is now PWM’s and my bedroom, and the front sunroom/office is now the schoolroom) and got rid of lots and lots of stuff in the progress. We still have to finish cleaning the sunroom and do some work in the basement, but I’m generally pleased with how we’re doing. And St. Vincent de Paul has gotten lots of stuff for their store.

Overall, I’m pleased with my progress. The diet is still a challenge. Eating only the same food over and over is difficult for me, so my counselor and I are working on finding good alternatives that fit the migraine diet and my own requirement that they aren’t sweet. The headaches aren’t much different these days, but I think that simplifying life is giving me a little more “space” to handle them. I’m not as stressed now when I get a migraine.

I am slowly getting more focused in life. I’m growing as a Christian. I’m spending most of my energy on my family, homeschooling, and The Knitting Nest, and far less energy on extraneous “stuff”.

One of my biggest concerns right now is to keep this outlook on like and staying focused on the important things after school starts. I want to keep our homeschooling focused on the essentials and give the kids freedom to learn other things on their own. Rosie Girl really flourished at Music Camp and is looking forward to Composition lessons. Wild Man has a hankering to play every variation of guitar he can get his hands on. I need to tattoo “Simplicity” on the inside of my eyelids!

How is your year going? Is Simplicity an important value to you? How do you make it work in your home?

 

 

(But, not everyone in the family is buying into the simpler life concept. Rosie Girl’s quote: “Simplicity is for the weak.” Sigh. She’s an artiste.)

7 Quick Takes Friday–7/27/2012

It’s been a pretty full week, so let’s get going! (And, notice that this is getting posted on Friday!!)

1. Wild Man has been at camp since first thing Saturday morning. It’s really quiet around here without him! But the food doesn’t run out nearly as quickly.

2. Sassy (one of the cats) has become Wild Man’s cat. Which means that she wandered around the house for a couple of days meowing for affection with Wild Man gone. In the last couple of days, she’s just been sulking. She’ll be so happy when Wild Man gets back tomorrow.

3. I’ve been spending as much time at the shop as possible – pretty much any time that I don’t have a really bad migraine. Wednesday was great – the shop was busy with customers and we sold a good bit of stuff. Today, we didn’t have as much business, but PWM and I worked on our new window display.

4. The work on the window display was pretty physical, so when I got home I took a hot shower, a couple of acetaminophen, and sat myself in my rocking chair and haven’t moved much since! I have a feeling I’ll still be sore tomorrow.

5. Quote of the week (from Rosie Girl): “Simplicity is for the weak.”

6. We’re watching the Olympic opening ceremonies tonight. Mildly interesting.

7. I hope to get the front room (now the school room) clean in a week or two. I don’t anticipate that I’m going to have much planning done before we officially start “school” this year. I’m not too concerned, though. Rosie Girl is a senior this year, so she’s pretty motivated to get through her courses in a timely fashion. Wild Man and I will just keep moving forward through his books and he should be fine.

How has your week been? Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others are up to!

2012-2013 Curriculum

By this time of the year five years ago, I had curriculum and books purchased and was scheduling out our year week by week. By this time of year two years ago, I had curriculum and books purchased and was planning the year although I hadn’t gotten around to actual scheduling. By this time of year last year, I had everything purchased and was hoping we got most of it done. Right now, I have a general plan, but haven’t actually purchased any curriculum.

And this is Rosie Girl’s senior year of high school (or, for the more unschooling in the world, it’s her last year of being educated at home). Which kind of freaks me out. I’m not concerned that she’s not ready for college – she has great ACT scores and is clearly academically ready. I’m not emotionally prepared to be the mother of a high school graduate. YIKES!! But it does have the advantage that I’m no longer responsible for her education

Here is the general plan:

Rosie Girl

English – Sonlight Core 450 – British Literature (lots of reading, some writing)

Social Science

Semester 1 – American Government – The Everything American Government Book (with some supplements, I’m sure)

Semester 2 – Sociology – I don’t know what text we’ll use, but I have a degree in Sociology, so I’m confident we’ll figure something out.

Math

Semester 1 – Dave Ramsey Personal Finance

Semester 2 – Basic Probability and Statistics (probably using ALEKS)

Comparative Religion – Hippocampus using World Religions in America

Tap Dance at Dance Dynamics

Piano Lessons

Music Composition Lessons

Community Service – helping the Worship Arts Director at church every week.

 

Wild Man

English

Spelling – Spelling Power

Writing – Excellence in Writing, maybe WriteAtHome

Literature – American Literature from Sonlight Core 100

History – Sonlight Core 100 (Rosie Girl did Core 100 three years ago, so all I need to buy is the Instructors Guide and a few new books) – American History

Math – Algebra 1

Bible – Starting with N.T. Wright’s The Bible for Everyone: Revelation because that’s Wild Man’s current interest. From there, who knows what he’ll study?

Science – Singapore Biology with lab

Marching Band at the local high school

Possibly hip-hop class

Community service at the Senior Nutrition Site

 

How prepared are you for the new school year?

7 Quick Takes Friday (Well, Actually, Saturday)–July 21, 2012

I’m doing my 7 Quick Takes on Saturday again, but that’s OK because I’m flexible – and I’m sure you are, too.

1. Lots of headaches this week . . . I have managed to only take Imitrex twice, but it was still a rough week on the pain front.

2. On Sunday, Wild Man found out that there was an opening for him to go to camp in Colorado with the church youth group that was completely paid for! (He had chosen in the spring to go to Hunter Safety camp this summer instead of the Colorado camp because of the cost.) So, on Wednesday, PWM took Wild Man shopping for some nice warm clothes since PWM has grown so much since the winter and on Thursday, I took Wild Man for his physical. And at 8am, PWM took Wild Man to church to get on the bus. And the group is now somewhere between here and the mountains of Colorado.

3. We didn’t do much celebration on my birthday because I wasn’t feeling really well, so we celebrated last night. We had dinner at The Menasha Grill, a Cajun restaurant on Main Street in Menasha, which is surprisingly authentic. Oh. My. Goodness. I had some wonderful blackened catfish, fried crawfish, fried okra, and hushpuppies. It was delicious. Then we walked by the river for a few minutes. And came home so Wild Man could pack for today.

4. My birthday gift is an ipod! Well, actually Rosie Girl’s ipod that I bought from her and she bought a new one. I am realizing that I’ll want a new one in an entirely too short period of time. I’m already spoiled to all the cool stuff this one can do – and the newer ones will do. Right now, though, I’m happy with the cleaner interface than my previous mp3 player and Rosie Girl is happy with having lots more space for more music.

5. My uncle passed away yesterday morning. I mentioned in an earlier post that we were able to set up a Skype connection at my aunt’s 90th birthday party so that he could see and talk to people even though he couldn’t be there in person. He passed peacefully, for which we’re all grateful.

6. Project Runway’s 10th season has started! Five years ago, I would not have given anything to do with fashion a second thought, but I’m learning to appreciate the art and skill involved in creating beautiful and functional garments. And it relates to knitting. Right? Right?

7. It has been entirely too hot this summer! We are used to having one or two hot weeks in the year, but the rest of the time, we keep the windows open most of the time. This year, though, we’ve had the air conditioning running far more than usual. And the cats aren’t too happy about it, either. They like to sit in the windows and keep an eye on the world, but nowadays they only get an hour or so of window sitting, if that.

So what’s up in your neck of the woods? Check out Conversion Diary to see what others are doing!!

Conversations with God

Jill and Stuart Briscoe spoke at Family Camp this week. Oh, the wisdom that they shared! They have been involved in teaching ministry for over 50 years – 50 years!! Married, walking with Jesus, teaching others. I just can’t even imagine the wisdom that they have accumulated. I hope, though, that they don’t tend to get their nuggets of wisdom the way I do – by messing up!

Anyway, Jill talked about having conversations with God. She wasn’t talking about some mystical process, though, like I’ve heard other people talk about. Rather, she was talking about praying and reading Scripture. OK, this seems incredibly obvious now that I’ve written it down, but I think I’ve tended to approach the Bible as something to be studied. I “know” that Bible study and devotional reading are usual different things, but I tend to read “studiously” and not as often “devotionally”. Did that make sense?

Jill’s illustrations of meeting God on the “steps of her soul” I think made it a lot easier to grab on to this concept this time around. She also talked about not shying away from reading familiar passages again because God may give us new insights the next time around. (Although, we have to be careful to avoid reading “new” things into Scripture. The Bible doesn’t suddenly have new meanings after 2000 years of existence. I’m talking about God teaching us something about our particular situation from a section of the Bible.)

And, of course, I felt ten times smarter listening to Jill because of her beautiful British accent! Why is that?

What are you learning these days?

Fort Wilderness Memories 2012

This was our tenth year of going to Family Camp at Fort Wilderness and it was wonderful, as usual! Here are some highlights.

• Rosie Girl and I picked up Wild Man from camp on Friday and the three of us stayed in Rhinelander, went to see Brave, and did Wild Man’s laundry.
• Wild Man had a great time at Built to Live Camp where he got his Hunter Safety certification. It was incredibly hot during the week of his camp, so they spent lots of time swimming and playing games involving water.
• On Friday night, I did an assessment of Wild Man’s injuries – sun rash from his first day which was just fading, blister on his little toe which looked like another toe, various bruises. But, he didn’t complain – he said it was a great week!
• PWM stayed here in town until the shop closed and then drove to camp. He made it just in time for dinner.
• Stuart and Jill Briscoe were the teachers for the week. I felt smarter just listening to them because of their British accents! Well, they’re really smart, too!
• 
• It was also pretty cool that they both taught. Jill would start each session with a few thoughts, then Stuart would do the main teaching, then Jill would wrap up.
• Both kids stayed in the sessions with us to listen to the Briscoes instead of going to the high school group. They like the guy who does the high school teaching, but they preferred listening to Stuart. And I thought it was pretty cool to be all together.
• The Briscoes taught on holiness this week. Lots of good stuff for everyone.
• We met a family this week that was there for the first time and they have just moved to Milwaukee from England. The kids (even the two year old) have adorable British accents)!
• I am still following my migraine diet, although I did loosen things up for the week we were there. I only had 1 piece of bacon on the mornings when it was available. The only chocolate I had was in mint chocolate chip ice cream. And I did have a couple of Cokes. Overall, not too bad.
• On the headache front, though, my headaches weren’t any better, despite the Botox. I had two definite migraines along with the daily headaches. One of them was Thursday night, so I missed some of the last session. On the upside, though, the kids did all the packing. (Really, though, I’d have been happy to pack if I could have avoided the migraine!)
• Rosie Girl made a basket on Tuesday. I actually don’t have a picture of it – bummer. Anyway, take my word for it – it’s beautiful with blue and green stripes.
• PWM and Wild Man were in the carpetball tournament, but both were beaten pretty early this year.
• 
• In more important news, I beat Christopher in carpetball!! He proceeded to turn around and beat me right back, but I have the satisfaction of beating him once in my life!
• 
• PWM and Wild Man did lots of riflery during the week. PWM, Wild Man, and Rosie Girl all did some archery and Wild Man won the tournament, receiving a coupon for a double scoop of ice cream!
• 
• The weather for Wild Man’s week at Built to Live camp was awful – temperatures in the upper 90s with high humidity. He said that they went swimming a couple of times a day and had water breaks every hour or so, no matter what they were doing. The day that Family Camp started, though, the weather improved dramatically. For Family Camp, the highs were in the 70s to low 80s and the lows were in the 50s to 60s. Absolutely perfect!
• 

Now that we are home, we have embarked on Laundrypalooza 2012 and resting up for Family Camp 2013!!

So, how has your summer been?

Love and Migraines . . .

So, I had Botox almost 2 weeks ago, and my headache pattern hasn’t changed yet. But, I’m keeping a headache diary because it can take a while for the meds to take effect. I’m waiting . . . .

In the meantime, I came across this article. A few years ago, I wrote a blog post very much like it – and now I regret it. I totally understand where the author is coming from. After a couple of years of chronic migraine, it gets pretty emotionally wearing to hear the same advice over and over, especially when it is almost never helpful and from people who don’t “get” it. I have been so frustrated by the lack of progress on headache treatment that I’ve just given up and stuck with treating the migraines as they came. I’ve heard the recommendations from people who were sure that this or that treatment would definitely help me – and smiled while I told them that I’d already been through that treatment or thought about the last 4000 treatments that didn’t help.

What I’m learning, though, is that people who say things that are ultimately unhelpful are generally more uncomfortable than I am talking about my chronic illness. They may not know what to say, so they try to bridge the gap between us by sharing some kind of information or advice. Let’s face it, what do you say to someone in a social situation when you hear that they’re sick or in pain every day? “Oh, how nice.” or “Lovely.” You’re stuck in that situation as much as the person who has the illness. It’s awkward all the way around.

So, what can you do when you find that someone has a chronic illness (of any sort, not just migraine)? Resist the temptation to try to give advice, recommend treatments or physicians, or tell stories about friends or family members with the illness to a casual acquaintance. If you are just meeting the person or don’t know them well, the best thing you can do is offer sympathy. Just say, “Oh, I’m so sorry.” Asking questions is also a good thing. If you are a closer friend or family member, sending new information that you come across about their illness is more acceptable, but don’t take offense if they don’t jump right on it. They may have tried it, may have investigated it or discussed with their doctor and decided against it for some reason, or may just not be in a place to try new treatments.

As the person with the chronic illness, though, I need to be aware that people are trying to be helpful. And that’s not always easy. Pain makes me (and, I imagine, most other people) downright crabby. It’s hard for me to be social when I feel rotten. And I feel guilty about missing kids’ activities when I have a headache. When you put all that emotion into the cauldron of one person, what comes out isn’t always pretty. There are times when my motto just becomes “Smile and wave, boys; smile and wave!” (Bonus points if you can name the movie where the quote is from!)

The most important thing for all of us, those with chronic illness and those who are our friends and family, is to love. Loving each other is the best remedy against unhelpful words. When people I love say them, I forgive them because that’s what love does. When I’m talking to someone I love, hopefully, I speak words of love and hope. Of course, we’re all going to say stupid things to each other at times, but “love covers over a multitude of sins” (James 4:8) – thankfully!

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13)

Jesus was the greatest picture of love the world has seen. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) So here’s praying we can love each other with our words.

7 Quick Takes Friday

It’s only 10:24pm.  I might actually get this done on Friday!

1. Two migraines this week. I guess this is good. Since one of them has been today, I’m not so optimistic. I get my Botox on Friday, so I’ll have three months of not being able to raise my eyebrows. Fun!

2. Rosie Girl turns 17 this week, but we celebrated this past Wednesday because of her work schedule. I’m glad I get a week to get used to the idea.

3. Wild Man is performing in our local community theater’s one-act plays next weekend. They still needed to cast one more teenage boy and remembered that Wild Man had auditioned a few years ago for a play that never ended up getting put on. The director came by the knitting shop to see if Wild Man would be willing to read for this show. He’s going to be in two of the plays – I can’t wait to see the performances!

4. We’re feeling the advantages of living in a small town these days – Rosie Girl works within walking distance of her job, Wild Man is within walking distance of the theater and his lawn mowing jobs, and PWM and I can walk to our shop and the library.

5. Speaking of the library, I discovered that my library card can expire. I tried to check out an audiobook, but the site wouldn’t let me. It turns out that they make us renew our cards every three years so they can verify address and phone numbers.  Who knew? (Well, the librarians did, I guess.)

6. I’ve been knitting some chemo caps for some friends of a friend.  They’re English driving cap style and have turned out wonderfully. I’ll have pictures later this week.

7. I filled out camp forms for the kids today. Wild Man is almost 5’10”. I am so not ready for this.

Check out what others are up to at 7 Quick Takes Friday.

A Conversation

Catherine's brain: Hey, right foot, why have you decided to hurt for a week straight? Is something going on that we need to know about?

Catherine's Right Foot: We're about to turn 45 next month.  We're protesting.

Brain: Ummmm, this is highly inconvenient. 

Right Foot: So is turning 45.

Brain: Right Foot, please work with me here. I've tried wrapping, resting. We need to be able to walk! I'm about to drag us all off to the doctor if you don't take care of this problem on your own.

Right Foot: So, it's up to me? Well, you aren't exactly a light bag of bones to drag around these days.

Brain: Point taken. However, my exercise of choice is walking and we can't walk while you hurt like this! 

Right Foot: Harrrrumph! Blame it all on the feet. We've been the hard workers for 45 years, carrying you up and down stairs (do you remember Charity Hospital? We do!), carrying you during those pregnancies, keeping you upright till all hours of the night. Well, I'm done. I want out of my contract.

Brain: (Deep sigh) Why are you being such a problem?  Left foot? What do you have to say about all this?

Left Foot: Who, me? Ummm, I don’t have anything to say. I’m pretty happy. Just keep wearing those shoes with the cushions and I’ve got no troubles. Although some sparkly nail polish might be nice!

Brain: Right foot, Left Foot doesn’t seem to be having issues. There’s no way for me to let you out of your contract. However, if things do not improve soon, I will not hesitate to visit our family doctor.

Right Foot: So?

Brain: She’s likely to recommend exercises and/or physical therapy, neither of which you are crazy about. And if those don’t work, she might send us to a specialist who could recommend injections.

Right Foot: Needles?! In me?!! Perish the thought!!!

Brain: Right. You share needle phobia with the rest of us. I’m already overloaded with anxiety from the Head about the upcoming Botox injections.

Right Foot: Oh, yeah. I feel bad for the poor head. 30 something injections. I’m not interested in any fancy exercises and certainly not any injections into me, so maybe I’ll see what I can do.

Brain: Much better attitude. We turn 45 next month. It’s not the end of the world. We can expect some usual wear and tear on joints, etc., but there is no need for an all-out protest.  It doesn’t do anyone any good.  I’ll go see  if I can find some sparkly nail polish for you feet – maybe that will help you feel a bit better.

Left Foot: Oooooh, yes!!  Blue, please!!

Right Foot: Sparkly nail polish?! What are we? Barbie?!

Brain: Sheesh! I think I need a daily visit with my counselor sometimes  . . .

7 Quick Takes Friday (Well, Saturday) June 9, 2012

And it’s summertime!  How did this happen so quickly?!  And we’re doing 7 Quick Takes Saturday instead of Friday because I had a really super-bad migraine yesterday.  But, things are looking up now.

1. There’s a new neurologist in the area, so my doctor and I decided to see if a neuro consult could provide some help with my headaches.  The first step, of course, is to get me off my short acting medications (i.e. break the medication overuse headache).  I’ve had to do this before since it’s so easy to get into a medication overuse cycle, but this one is pretty entrenched so the last week has been pretty miserable.  In a week and a half, I’m going to get Botox again – yippee – and then I think we’re going to taper down my chronic medications.  Botox didn’t seem to work last time (8 years ago), but newer research has apparently shown that higher doses over a larger surface area are more likely to work.  We’ll see!

2. Rosie Girl is getting lots of work hours this summer.  So far, she’s enjoying the money, but her feet are objecting to standing for 8 hours at a time.  She’s getting used to it, though.  I love that she has a good job nearby with good co-workers.

3. Wild Man applied for a summer job at a local restaurant.  They asked for hobbies on the application.  He listed “playing guitar, being funny, and thinking about how great it would be to have this job”.  No, he’s not kissing up or anything!

4. Wild Man came back from worship team practice (that he was just observing, not even participating in!) Tuesday night with our Worship Arts Director’s mandolin so he could learn the mandolin part for one of the songs.  It’s not like he’d never picked up a mandolin before or anything like that!!!!  On Wednesday, the Worship Arts Director gave him a mandolin lesson so he’d be able to practice throughout the week and tomorrow he’s going to be playing mandolin on one of the worship songs.

5. I have camp forms to fill out for both kids.  We have never managed to have both kids at camp during the same week, despite significant efforts.  Rosie Girl goes to music camp first where she’s signed up for the arranging and composition track.  Her camp finishes on a Friday, the same day that we take Wild Man up to his camp, where he will get his hunter safety certification (along with lots of playing, swimming, another other Fort fun).

6. Wild Man is probably going to be in a one-act play that the local community theater is putting on.  Actually, they’ve got several one-act plays that they are producing with local talent.  They needed another teenage boy and one of the participants remembered Wild Man from when he auditioned for another performance (that they weren’t able to pull off, unfortunately).  So, Chris is going to the meeting tomorrow after church.  Yet another chance for Wild Man to get on stage!

7. PWM and I celebrated 20 years of wedded bliss a few days ago!!  We are now entering our 3rd decade of marriage!!

That’s it for today. I’ve had other thoughts going through my head, but nothing worth writing yet.  Have a great Sunday!

Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others are up to!

Fun Family Reunion Facts

Wild Man and I just back from a trip down South for a combined birthday party (for my aunt) and family reunion.  I am using initials to protect the identity of the innocent and to protect myself since the guilty know where I live!

• My mom is the youngest of 12 siblings, 11 of whom lived to adulthood, 10 of whom had children, and four of whom are still living.  The oldest, second-oldest, and youngest were present (personally or electronically – more on that later) were present at the reunion.  The occasion the precipitated my mom organizing the reunion was that her sister (the oldest of the 12) turned 90 a few days ago!  Talk about a reason to party!
• Uncle C (the oldest boy and third-oldest sibling) is 86 years old and couldn’t come to the reunion because he is in a rehab center.  We were, though, able to set up a Skype connection and let Aunt C and Uncle C “visit” for a while.  A very cool use of technology!!
• One of my cousins, T, lives about a four hour drive from me, but the last time I saw her was a year and a half ago in Dallas.  Yes, that’s shameful. I will make every effort to see her in a more reasonable time frame!
• I have more cousins than I can keep up with!!  I’m sure there are some I’ve never met – and others I  haven’t seen since I was a young child.  I have cousins older than my parents, so I have second cousins who are my age.  Is it any wonder that I can’t sort out who’s who?!
• I may claim Southern heritage, but I’ve become a Northerner in many ways.  It was HOT in Mississippi last week – and I didn’t like it one bit!  I was very glad to leave the 90+ degrees (with a zillion percent humidity) and return to temps of 60s and 70s.  Yes, it can get hot up here, but it doesn’t stay hot for nearly as long.  I’m definitely acclimated to this Upper Midwestern weather!
• But I will not give up my love of Southern food!  I had me some Popeye’s fried chicken, some homemade Chicken and Dumplings, and some iced tea while I was down South!  Unfortunately, I did get around to fried catfish or any crawfish (although, I think the crawfish may be out of season).  When I got back home, I made some venison steaks with rice and gravy because I was still on my southern food high.
• Wild Man rediscovered the joy of fire ants.  yippee.  We have ants up here that bite, but they don’t sting like red fire ants do.  Wild Man and his cousins know to stay away from the ant hills when outside, but they still managed to get some bites.  Wild Man had one on the very bottom of his foot.  Thank the good Lord for hydrocortisone cream.

I think that’s enough “fun facts” for now.  Hopefully, we’ll do this reunion again in a couple of years – but without the red ants!

 

7 Quick Takes Friday–March 30, 2012

OK, so it’s Saturday, but let’s not get picky, OK?

1. My mother-in-law is visiting for the next ten days!  The kids have their Spring Break next week (from homeschooling – the public school is only off Friday and Monday) so they’ll have lots of Grandma time.

2. After balmy temperatures and the need for air conditioning last week, we’ve had cold and rain for the last couple of days.  Not only do the weather changes give me headaches, but it’s incredibly dreary out!  Thankfully, though, my current medication regimen is keeping my mood pretty stable these days even when it’s dreary out.  I’m also trying to stay pretty active on my non-headache days by doing things like walking to the shop instead of driving.

3. I got in a psychotic organizing mood early in the week and cleaned out some little shelves in the kitchen.  I’ve got my eye on a bookcase in the dining area as well as the area where we keep our cell phones and chargers.  When I’m headache-free for a few hours, those shelves are in serious danger of cleanliness!

4. Last week, I got the white clothes washed, dried, folded, and even put away before they became a cat bed!!  Yes, I’m very proud of myself!!

5. The first three months of the year for The Knitting Nest have been very successful!  Not every day is busy, but we’re getting a steady flow of customers and we’re able to purchase new yarns and other inventory regularly.  I have some weeks where I get to be at the shop almost every day and other weeks where I’m hardly there at all, but I love it when I’m there and PWM and I both enjoy owning our own business.

6. One of my new favorite authors is Joshilyn Jackson.  I first read Between, Georgia a year or two ago and really enjoyed it.  A couple of months ago, though, I read A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty and decided that I really wanted to read her other books.  A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty had a more complex plot and deeper characters than I remembered from Between, Georgia.  I listened to both The Girl Who Stopped Swimming and Backseat Saints on audio recorded by the author and was impressed by the writing, but also by the performance.  It turns out that the author has some theater background and is very good at vocalizing characters.  I was more than a bit concerned that I would have a hard time differentiating characters in the two books because they were read by the same person, but she did an excellent job of voicing the characters.  I haven’t yet read gods in Alabama, but I see that the local library has it.  I’ll be checking it out tomorrow.

7. Wild Man is playing bass guitar with the adult worship team at church tomorrow.  It really is amazing to see how much of an adult he is becoming!  He did an excellent job at practice (I’m told) and has been continuing to work on his music throughout the week.  Wow!

What’s going on in your corner of the world?  Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others have been up to!

 

Our Week In Review–March 24, 2012

Educating teenagers is different than teaching little kids.  There are very few skills that need to be taught, and since they’re mostly math-related, PWM gets that task!  My job is mostly motivation.  And, when I’m down with a migraine, PWM gets that one, too!  Poor guy!  Well, let me tell you what’s been going on around here.

Wild Man

History/Geography.  We’ve been watching a series on Ancient Rome.  I was appalled to find out a few days ago that Wild Man didn’t know off the top of his head where Minnesota was (he said he tried to block it out because the Minnesota Vikings football team is from there) so we’re reviewing US state geography.  It turns out that he can actually locate quite a few states on the map.  But, I’m going to make him learn them all.  Because I’m an evil mommy that way.

Math – He and PWM are still working on ALEKS fractions but also getting more math facts stuck in his head.

Reading – He’s reading Eagle of the Ninth and seems to enjoy it.

Writing – He wrote 2 paragraphs this week.  As a joke, he wrote one made all of sentences from Wikipedia.  As I read it, I was getting rather concerned, but as my face was looking more distressed, he started giggling.  I asked what was going on and he ‘fessed up.  He then wrote the “real” assignment on a different topic without the help of Wikipedia.  (And did a much better job!)  He is learning some basic comma rules right now.  I have to agree that they can be pretty confusing.

Spelling – He spent longer arguing with me about the lack of need to do his 10-step spelling word review for the one word he missed on Tuesday than it actually took to do the ten steps!!  Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!  The good news is that he can now spell “neighbor”.  In fact, it was a very good week for spelling.

Band – He’s having a blast.

Other music – Wild Man is playing bass guitar for regular church services next weekend as well as continuing to play for the middle school Wednesday night service.  Pretty awesome!

Science – We’ve been pretty casual about this over the last month or so.  This week, we watched some astronomy videos.

Rosie Girl

College Prep – Rosie Girl takes the ACT again next month so she’s been doing some prep with PWM.  In addition, we’ve got visits scheduled with the three other colleges that she wants to see (we visited her first choice last fall).  In the meantime, I have been trying to get her course descriptions put together.

History – She’s studying the 1990’s now, so we can talk about events that have impacted her life more directly and that PWM and I remember clearly.  Pretty interesting.

Math – Lots of ALEKS and ACT prep

Literature – 20th century literature mostly, although she is reading “The Tempest” right now and we just watched a DVD.  We’ve agreed that we prefer the DVD of “Much Ado About Nothing” with Emma Thompson and Kenneth Brannagh.  Maybe we’ll try “The Taming of the Shrew” later this week.

Writing – The research paper is finally over after much wailing and gnashing of teeth on everyone’s part!!!  And after all the stress, she made all 5’s – i.e. a perfect score!  So, not only does she not have to take it again (which she would have had to do as well as pay for it if she had made less than 4’s) but we also rewarded her with a microphone for music recording that she’d been wanting.

Art – In her public school art class, she’s making a miniature mini-golf course based on one of her favorite Zelda games.

Music – Piano Festival is coming up!  Yes, she’s practicing a lot!!  She still plays her guitar and ocarina, but not nearly as much for the next few weeks.

Science – With her new microphone, Rosie Girl will be doing a project showing how sound is made on different instruments.  I can’t wait to see what she comes up with!

Other – Rosie Girl learned to use her drop spindle a few weeks ago and has made several yards of 2-ply yarn and then knit it up into a little square.  Now she’s working on spinning another bunch of wool and making more pretty yarn.

The kids are probably going to see “The Hunger Games” tonight.  We read them last fall and really enjoyed them.  We just finished reading the Bartimeus trilogy this week and loved it.  I hope we can read C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy series soon. 

That’s what’s been going on around here.  Anything exciting at your place?  Check out what others are doing at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

Mondays

Mondays are our days off around here.  When I was working in medicine, we generally looked forward to the weekend unless I was on call on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.  Otherwise, we looked forward to the day after I was on call (because I was off after I was done finishing up everything from the night before).  With the yarn shop, though, we don’t have a full weekend free.  Not only is the shop open from 10-3 on Saturday, but we schedule classes for Friday night, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon.  Sundays are often pretty busy, too, because Wild Man has to be at church early to help out with Children’s Ministry in both services and PWM often plays bass guitar in both services, and then Wild Man has Youth Band practice most Sunday afternoons.  Rosie Girl often works weekends as well.

By the time we get to Monday, we are often a tired family, so Monday is our day off.  The kids still have to go to their public school classes, but we otherwise try to just relax and do some things around the house.  If I had a weekend without migraines, then I quite often do some laundry and house cleaning.  If not, I don’t get much housework done.  PWM likes to get to the basement to work on his lathe when he can, but sometimes Mondays become errand days.  And if it’s been a busy week and weekend, we sometimes spend a lot of time just reading and watching movies and relaxing.  We need Mondays.

A couple of weeks ago, the public school had a teacher’s workday, so we decided to take a day trip to MagiQuest in Wisconsin Dells.  My brother and his family had gone to a MagiQuest in another part of the country and really enjoyed it, so they gave Wild Man and Rosie Girl money for admission and wands for Christmas.  The trip was a great success!  We purchased our wands and got started on our adventures to find different things.  We would get clues and then point our wands at items when we found them.  The wand would remember what we found, and tell us when we finished a quest.  The hardest thing was that the activities were spread among four stories!!  We were running up and down stairs like crazy people!  I gave out before the end and found a corner to rest and knit, but PWM, Wild Man, and Rosie Girl pooled their resources and beat the dragon!!  It was one of our better Mondays!

While the rest of the country dreads Monday because it’s the start of the workweek, we look forward to Mondays and some rest.  Tuesdays, on the other hand . . . .

What are Mondays like for you?

Our Week In Review–February 25, 2012

Yes, indeed, we are still homeschooling.  As life goes on, our homeschooling becomes more relaxed, and I’m more amazed at what the kids are learning.  This last week, I think we got a little too relaxed with Wild Man, so I need to add a little more structure to his life.  And Rosie Girl got a little off schedule, so she’s going to have to get back onto her schedule that’s already been planned out, but I think they’ll be fine.  The short version is that the kids are getting educated.  The long version is:

Wild Man

• Social Science – This is where we are the most relaxed.  I’ve had him watch some videos about Mesopotamia and Sumerian culture and then look at some websites.  We did the same thing, but in more depth with Egypt.  In the last couple of weeks, we’ve repeated this with Ancient Greece and next week we’ll start Ancient Rome.  When Wild Man starts learning about a culture, he often goes back to Weapon and Warrior that he used last semester to look up some of the thing he learned about then.  I want to do a quick overview of the major cultures up to the time of Christ by the end of the year.
• Reading – He finished Hittite Warrior this week.  I’m finding that he reads one chapter a day unless I assign more, so I’m going to need to be proactive on his reading assignments.
• Writing – This is so frustrating for us.  Wild Man has great oral communication skills, but he has a hard time translating that to written/typed communication.  I told him to write a paragraph on any subject he wanted 2 weeks ago and gave him two days to complete the assignment.  In one day, he researched and did probably three paragraphs worth of information into a Power Point presentation.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t a paragraph with the topic sentence and supporting sentences that we had discussed.  I was really pleased with his ability to research and do Power Point, so I wasn’t very negative about it at the time.  However, next week, I am going to go back to basics and have him copy a paragraph so we can then move on to writing a paragraph and not get sidetracked with bells and whistles.
• Spelling – Wild Man enjoys Spelling Power more than All About Spelling, but I find that it’s good to also have him use the online SpellingCity (we paid for the premium version) for added review.  I was quite concerned that the Spelling Power would “let him off the hook” if he spelled a word correctly and then he wouldn’t see it again until the review a week or so later.  By having him review on SpellingCity as well, he sees whether he really does know the word.  I understand, though, that he likes that All About Spelling moves along faster.
• Bible – Wild Man is happy with his reading through the Bible and writing about what he read.  The only problem I’m having is that he wants to give me a complete one page summary of what he read when all I want for his journal is 2 sentences about what he read – something he thought was interesting or something he learned.  He’s having to learn to read and then interpret and not just summarize.  Definitely a higher-order skill.  I know he can do it, but now he also has to write it.
• Math – He is doing math facts and fractions with PWM several mornings a week.  When he goes up to the shop with PWM in the morning, he also gets the register ready and counts the money, etc., so he’s learning some real world math skills as well.
• Music – Oh, so much music in this house!!  Wild Man played at Solo and Ensemble today.  He got a “2” on his timpani solo and on  the mixed percussion ensemble – Yippee!!!  He’s been spending a lot of time after school practicing by himself and with the other percussionists.  He’s also been staying after occasionally to help with music department fundraisers.  The church youth band has now been split into middle school and high school bands, so Wild Man is the middle school band leader.  He plays drums and percussion most of the time, although bass guitar occasionally.  He’s also getting some voice lessons to help with his leading skills because his voice is changing so he’s not quite sure sometimes which octave to choose when he’s singing.  And, at home, he’s playing acoustic and bass guitar for hours on end!!  I’m not complaining – except when I want him to do his other schoolwork or chores, of course!!
• Life skills (AKA chores) – I’ve been having the kids cook one meal each week.  Wild Man is relatively adventurous when it comes to cooking.  One week, he made a Cajun Chicken pasta dish from the Food Network site.  Other times, it’s spaghetti.  Being an extrovert, Wild Man is also very active in the Children’s Ministry at church.  He has to be there at about 7am on Sunday morning to get everything together and he helps run things in both Sunday services.  Once a month, the Wednesday night Children’s activity night is Family Night, so Wild Man does that instead of his usual Junior High group.  Yeah, he’s never met a microphone that he doesn’t like!!

Rosie Girl

• Social Science – Rosie Girl is studying 20th century history this year, which is interesting because PWM and I have actually lived through some of it.  Rosie Girl has been studying some of the events of the 70s, so we’ve had some interesting discussions.
• Literature – Her reader this week is The Old Man And The Sea.  I haven’t read any Hemingway, although I did try a few years ago and just didn’t find it to my liking, but since I grew up in South Florida, I heard a lot about “Papa” and his life in Key West.  I’ll be interested to hear what Rosie Girl thinks about the book.  (And I realize that not having read Hemingway makes me a completely uneducated clod.  Especially since I was appalled that there are people in this country who don’t know where the fertile crescent is!  Alas.  Maybe I’ll read it when Rosie Girl is done and my life will be complete.)
• Writing – Rosie Girl is taking a research paper workshop through WriteAtHome, an online company that provides writing classes and workshops for homeschooled students.  We’ve had great success with all of her previous classes except the research paper workshop.  So, she’s doing it again.  The issue is that she never really understood the process for doing the research, making source cards, making research information cards, and then writing the paper from the information cards.  Rosie Girl writes quite well, but we’ve had a stressful week with her struggling to master this new set of skills and finish the first draft on time.  But, it’s done and sent in!!
• Bible – I love to read Rosie Girl’s take on Paul’s epistles.  She comes at them very straightforward and isn’t afraid to give her opinion!
• Math – She’s working her way through Algebra 2 and hoping to finish by summer, otherwise she’ll be doing math during the summer!
• Japanese – She’s about halfway through her Japanese semester.  I’d like her to be done by summer and start the next one during the summer so she can be done well before the end of her senior year.  In any case, we’ve been happy with doing these courses through BYU. 
• Music – More music . . . . She’s still taking her piano lessons at Lawrence, which include some intense music theory, even though she’s not taking the music theory class.  She’s also been playing her guitar a good bit.  I haven’t heard her clarinet or ocarina much lately, but she’s been pretty busy.  She will be playing ocarina for the Good Friday service.  She is arranging some Lord of the Rings music for her guitar.  She’s an introvert and more of a behind the scenes music person.  She also tends to turn to music when she’s stressed or doesn’t want to do schoolwork. 
• Life Skills (AKA chores) – When I ask what she wants to cook each week, her answer tends to be along the lines of whatever is easiest.  I don’t think she’s going to be our gourmet cook.  But I’m really glad she has her driver’s license because she’s been driving Wild Man to church for all of his activities and not been fussing about it.

Don’t expect quite such a novel every week, but I figured I’d catch you up since I hadn’t blogged on our homeschooling in so long. 

Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others are up to!!

7 Quick Takes Friday–February 24, 2012

We’ve made it to the end of yet another week!!  Here’s some of what’s going on around here.

1. Our local library is putting on a yarncraft show, and The Knitting Nest, as the local yarn shop, has an exhibit.  I put together a “science-fair-type” board with information about different knitting techniques and then displayed on the tables lots of projects and books with those techniques.  I was only at the exhibit for an hour today, but I’ll be there most of tomorrow.
2. Wild Man has Solo and Ensemble tomorrow.  He will be playing a Timpani solo and also participating in a mixed percussion ensemble.  PWM and I have to be here in town, one of us to keep the shop open and the other for the library exhibit, so we won’t be able to hear it – bummer.
3. Rosie Girl got a short tutorial today on spinning with a drop spindle from a friend who was doing a spinning exhibit at the library yarncraft show.  Rosie Girl has a drop spindle of her own as well as some blue roving (wool), so maybe this will inspire her to try working with it again.
4. We are getting a real phone again!  We were so proud of how “techno” we were a few years ago when we went to having cell phones for each member of the family.  And it has worked out reasonably well except for one “little” problem.  The kids don’t keep their phones on.  When PWM or I call them and we don’t get an answer when they’re supposed to be at home, we don’t know if their phones or off if they’ve been abducted.  There’s a bit of a difference.  PWM found out that we will actually pay less by adding a phone line to our cable service (something about the cable company owning the phone lines or something . . . ) so the installers came out today.  Wild Man and I could not find the phone jack despite 15 minutes of looking (and creating quite a mess), so they tied the phone into the cable.  So, back to the future we go . . .
5. Rosie Girl decided to write her research paper on how Howard Shore’s score for The Lord of the Rings is the best score in modern cinematic history.  This, of course, means that she’s had to watch the trilogy and appendices multiple times in the last few weeks.  And PWM and I have had to support her in this endeavor. 
6. So, I’ve been watching Downton Abbey with the rest of the country.  Rosie Girl teases me about it – and then sits and watches it with me.  And then I tease her.
7. On Monday, I had three errands to do: get my blood drawn, pick up medicine from the pharmacy, and stop by the accountant office to sign papers.  I did the first two, but managed to forget the third.  And I didn’t remember it until later that night.  I ended up with a headache on Tuesday, so PWM drove me to the accountant Tuesday evening for me to sign my name twice for the tax papers to be done. 

So, what has your week been like?  Anything interesting?

Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others are up to!

Mardi Gras

I spent nine years living in Louisiana after high school – five years in Baton Rouge at LSU for college and four years in New Orleans at Tulane Medical School.  PWM and I moved from New Orleans to Kentucky after I graduated in 1994 and then in 1997 from Kentucky to Wisconsin.  So, it’s been 18 years since I lived in Louisiana, but I still miss Mardi Gras.  Of course, when I first started at LSU, I thought it was kind of strange to have a couple of days off in the spring for Mardi Gras, but I got used to it pretty quickly.  I didn’t spend Mardi Gras in New Orleans until I lived there in medical school, and I never spent it in the French Quarter – not my style.

But, I loved the parades, even (and perhaps, even, mostly) the Baton Rouge parades.  After PWM and I married, we were just a couple of blocks off the Metarie parade route, so we saw several of those, except for the year when I had my appendix out a few days before Mardi Gras (but that’s a story for another day).  I loved the beads, all the cups, the bands, the floats, almost everything.  I wasn’t crazy about the half-dressed little girls strutting down the street – really, why do you need do dress up your six year old like an exotic dancer?  But, we always had plenty of plastic cups!  Every year, right when winter was getting so dreary, we had a couple of weeks of Mardi Gras madness to lighten things up.

I’ve lived up here for the last 18 years and I still think of Mardi Gras every spring.  Having TV, the internet, and Facebook certainly makes it easy when I see all my friends posting about parades, etc.  But, the dreariness of winter up here also makes me think about Mardi Gras.  By the middle of February and certainly by March, we’re ready for something besides the short, cold days of winter (even mild winters like this year).  This year, we were planning to go to a Mardi Gras event put on by Wega Arts and we were invited to a Mardi Gras party the same night hosted by a friend of mine from college (she lives a couple of hours away, but it certainly would have been feasible), but we didn’t get to go to either event because I had a terrible migraine.  I was really bummed because the local event was catered by a Cajun restaurant just an hour away from here that we hadn’t heard of before; I think we’ll by trying out their cuisine soon!  The Knitting Nest had a Mardi Gras themed window for a couple of weeks as well, although I hope I do better planning next year and get a little more creative.  In any case, I’m trying to remember a little bit of Louisiana here in Wisconsin.

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!  Laissez Les Bon Tons Roullez!

Raising Good Kids

I’ve got good kids.  They generally do what I ask them to do without fussing.  They each cook one meal a week.  They take care of their own laundry.  They don’t argue with each other too often.

 

I used to think that having good kids was the goal of child rearing.  When they left the house at age 18, if they well-mannered, didn’t do drugs, didn’t drink, were virgins, and were off to college or a decent job, then PWM and I had done a good job.  Right?

 

I don’t think so.  Don’t get me wrong – I think raising good kids is a great thing.  I don’t regret that we could take our kids to restaurants and not have leave a trail of destruction behind us.  I love that my kids know how to be helpful and useful.  But, that’s all secondary stuff.  Sure, it will make them useful in society.  But it’s not the main thing.

 

My primary job as a parent is to teach my children about Jesus.  Hopefully, through all the day to day teaching of reading, writing, math, manners, etc., PWM and I have also managed to teach our kids that Jesus loves them and that grace is available to them.  I want them to know that actions have consequences in the real world, but that God gives us grace even when we screw up in big, bad ways.

 

This is harder to balance than I realized.  When one of the kids makes a mistake, there must be consequences.  That’s life here on this fallen planet Earth.  Yet God is different.  He gives us second, third, up to a zillionth chances.  No matter how much I disappoint God, He’s always there.  I want my children to go out into the big world understanding the reality of earthly life but also knowing, even if just a tiny bit, the immensity of God’s grace.

 

We’ll see how it goes.  I’ve got a few more years left with them.

 

 

Life Sucks But God Is Good

Also known as John 16:33 “In this world you will have trouble, but, take heart, I have overcome the world.”

I haven’t written much lately.  You might have noticed.  Or not.  But that’s OK, since I don’t write this blog to get rich or famous.  But, lest you think that I haven’t been writing because I’ve been out getting rich and famous elsewhere, let me disabuse you of that notion.  I have not.

In fact, the beginning of 2012 has been pretty icky.

I’ve had a headache pretty much all the time.  How is that different from usual, you may ask?  Ummmm, it’s not really.  It’s just that for some reason, in January 2012, my mind and body have decided to stage a full-scale rebellion.  The all-the-time headache has been worse.

And I’ve been more depressed.  The cry-at-the-drop-of-a-hat kind of depressed.  (Although why people would drop hats is kind of beyond me . . . )  And sit in my rocking chair and stare at nothing kind of depressed.

All of this while I’ve been on medication for depression.  Because people with chronic pain tend to get depressed – big surprise.

I emailed (I love technology) my doctor to ask about increasing my dose of citalopram like we did last winter, but it turns out that the FDA has decided sometime in the last year that we shouldn’t go above my current dose of citalopram.  Bummer.  But, my doctor and I were already talking about changing from cyclobenzaprine to amitryptilyne (I have no clue if that is spelled right – and I used to be such a spelling psycho) because of my insurance company.  When all was said and done, I stayed on the citalopram dose and started the unspellable medication and stopped the cyclobenzaprine.

Did anything get better?  Does life still suck?

My head still hurts, but my mood seems to be a bit better and I don’t cry nearly as much.  In fact, we went on a family outing to MagiQuest (more on that in another post) on Monday and I even had fun!

But, I had two wicked awful migraines this week, both of which would have usually sent me to the ER for medications.  I have figured out, though, how to use my home medications and hang on through the migraine to avoid the trips to the ER, which aren’t fun anyway.

 

So, life still sucks . . . . so how do I know that God is good?

I ask myself that sometimes.  As I’m leaning over the bucket vomiting (lovely image, I know), I ask where is Jesus?  What is the point?

And a lot of times, I just don’t know.  All I know is that Jesus said “Take heart, I have overcome the world.”

But other times, I see glimpses of Jesus in my sweet children and husband.  I watch the snowfall and thank God for His creation.

But mostly I just hang on to the fact that I know that God is good and that He loves me.

 

John 16:33

 

Lagniappe 1/4/2012

Since I’m sure you’re dying to know what’s going on around here . . .

• Rosie Girl made cheese soup, pasta, and broccoli for dinner tonight.  Delish!!
• The LSU football team left Baton Rouge this afternoon for New Orleans and the National Championship Game.  I imagine that they’re already in New Orleans since it’s only about an hour’s drive.  Still, it’s exciting!
• I’m glad I’m not in New Orleans this week with all the craziness that is the Sugar Bowl, BCS Game, and NFL play-offs, but I seriously miss the beignets and po-boys!
• I had my annual phone call with my disability insurance people today to confirm that I am, indeed, unable to work because of my migraines and remain a drain on society.  About the time I think I’m emotionally stable, something like this happens to remind me that no, I have not worked through all my issues and yes, it is a good thing I’m seeing my counselor next week.   
• I’ve had a bad run of headaches, but I think having a bit of an upper respiratory infection hasn’t helped my cause much.
• I’ve been increasing my Topamax and been feeling the cognitive side effects.  The word-finding difficulty is most obvious, although I’m also noticing that I am slower with doing calculations in my head and being able to spell words, etc.  Other than that, it’s mostly been noticing numbness in my feet and occasionally my hands and having a much decreased appetite.  It could definitely be worse!
• I’ve been working on a pair of socks for Rosie Girl that I started about a year ago!  For some reason, they just got put to the side and never finished.  Well, they will be done within the next few weeks.  I’m also learning to crochet – it’s not hard, but frustrating to try to get my hands to learn a new motion.

So, what’s up in your neck of the woods?

Simplicity

I like to make plans, goals, lists, and other organizational kinds of things.  Set me loose in an office supply store and I’m a happy girl!!  A year or so ago, I looked back at some of my professional goals from when I was working, and I had met most of them.  I was a Daytimer Diva and proud of it!!!

Life is not the same any more.  I’ve never really been in control of my circumstances, but it’s become more obvious in the day to day living of life in the last five years.  I’ve quit making New Year’s Resolutions and setting goals with hard and fast deadlines.  However, I’ve come across a great idea to replace it.  Instead of making resolutions, I’m going to have a word on which to focus this year.  And the word for 2012 is Simplicity.  Inherent in simplicity is the non-necessity of organizational strategies and trips to office supply stores.

The only way that something (except meal plans) is likely to get organized differently in this house this year is to get thrown out!  Overall, we have plenty of shelf and storage space.  If stuff falls on the floor, it’s because we need to quit being lazy and pick it up or it’s because we have too much stuff and need to get rid of some.  What will simplicity look like this year?  Here are some things I’m thinking:

• Menu Planning.  A friend gave me a subscription to PlanToEat, an online menu planning program.  So far, I’m loving it.  I’m only using it for dinner but it helps me plan out five dinner meals per week and then puts together an appropriate shopping list, which I can add to for all the other stuff we need.  There will, hopefully, be less stress about what to have for dinner.  We have five menus.  Whoever is scheduled to make dinner has five options with the recipes printed out and in a notebook.
• Limiting choices.  One of the main sources of complexity in life is the plethora of choices.  Choices are wonderful – most of the time.  But they also can add stress to our life by making us worry about whether we made the “best” possible choice (even if it was just which movie to watch) and take up time because of all the time we spend perusing all the choices.  I’m specifically limiting my time surfing the web, seeing what’s on TV, checking what’s new at the library.
• Making better use of time.  I know this sounds crazy, but I really feel almost guilty about not finishing books that I start.  What if it gets really good in the next chapter?  I’m getting more “brutal” about my audiobook as well as traditional book reading time.  If I don’t enjoy the book, I’ll quit reading.  (That being said, I’ve tried to read a novel about a knitting shop at least twice, and just could not get into it.  Someone brought a copy into the shop, so I decided I really need  to finish it, even if just to say that I’ve read it.  I got it on audio and this time I made it through the fourth chapter and now I’m hooked.  This is why I’m afraid to not finish a book!)
• More silence.  I’m used to having some kind of noise around.  I’m such a multi-tasker that I like to have audiobooks or music going while I knit or clean, etc.  I’ve started to be deliberate about spending some of my knitting time each day in silence.  Of course, part of that reason is because I’m trying to learn brioche knitting which requires more brain power than other kinds of knitting, but I’m trying to do some of my “easier” knitting in quiet as well.
• Less stuff.  PWM and I are gradually getting rid of stuff.  When we did the Christmas decorating, we filled a couple of boxes for Goodwill.  The front room probably has some more stuff that can go.  We’ve made a lot of progress since the Fall, but we can still do better.

These are some steps that I hope will get our family on track to a more simple lifestyle.  I’m not interested in homesteading or getting rid of technology (don’t even THINK about taking my Kindle!), but I want to be wise in our use of the time and talents God has given us.  If nothing else, the chronic migraines have helped me to see more clearly that our life on earth is not about the stuff – it’s about following Jesus.  And following Jesus is much easier when we don’t have to worry about full houses and full schedules.

What changes (if any) are you planning for 2012?

7 Quick Takes Friday–The Last of 2011

This is the last time I’ll do a “7 Quick Takes Friday” this year!  Can you believe that we’re already to December 30?  It seems like we were just welcoming in 2011 and now we’re telling it good-bye.  Well, here are 7 highlights of the last couple of weeks.

1. Christmas Eve was as busy as usual for PWM, Rosie Girl and Wild Man.  PWM did sound for the three church services, while Wild Man played percussion and Rosie Girl played keyboard.  I, on the other hand, had a migraine all day and didn’t make it to any of the church services.  Yippee.

 

2. Christmas Day, though, was wonderful!  I made scarves for both kids using a double knitting technique so that both sides have the same design, but in opposite colors.  Rosie Girl has a keyboard design while Wild Man has the silhouette of his bass guitar.

 

3. Wild Man was excited because he finally got his own ipod.  Rosie Girl got some money from Santa.  She added that to some of her own money and went with PWM on Monday to buy herself a guitar – it’s a classical, nylon string acoustic electric with a built-in tuner.  She’s a very happy young woman.

 

4. One of our Christmas traditions is to have tomato soup (actually a ham and tomato cream soup) during the week of Christmas.  We eat ham during the first or second week of December then during the week of Christmas, I use the ham bone to make the stock for the soup and make a huge pot of soup so we don’t have to worry about cooking.  Things were no different this year.  Easy and delicious!

5. We don’t have much of a tradition for Christmas dinner except that we don’t do it on Christmas Day.  We do our Christmas Dinner on the day after Christmas so we can enjoy Christmas day with each other and not stress about cooking.  We decide each year what we want to eat, and it’s rarely turkey since we have that on Thanksgiving.  We were going to do lamb until we realized how expensive it would be.  Instead, we decided on individual Beef Wellingtons.  Unfortunately, they were overcooked – the casualty of an oven that isn’t very consistent.  We had leftover roast and filling (the recipe called for a mushroom filling instead of a liver pate), so we tried again on the 27th and they were much better.

6. Rosie Girl has found some added benefits to working at a cheese factory, even if she is working just in the retail portion.  She got a cash Christmas bonus and a HUGE box of cheese and chocolates!  Very nice!!

7. We don’t usually watch football except for Packers and LSU, but we turned it on the other day and watched the Saints game (partly because we knew that PWM’s brother was at the game).  It turned out to be the game where Drew Brees broke Dan Marino’s record for single season passing yards!  Talk about good timing!

So, what’s up with you?  How have your holidays been going?  Check out Conversion Diary to see what others have been up to!

 

7 Quick Takes Friday–December 10, 2011

 

Yep, I missed Friday again.  I guess I didn’t completely miss it.  I mean, I was here.  I just forgot to do any blogging.  But, I’ve remembered now and I’ve got plenty to say!

1. Last Sunday, Wild Man played Congas (hand drums) to accompany two singers and a guitar player at our church’s Women’s Christmas Tea.  What a wonderful job they all did!  It’s hard to believe sometimes that he’s just 13.

 

2. On Thursday night, Wild Man played percussion with the rest of the 7th and 8th grade band at the Middle School.  It was a wonderful concert!!

 

3. Rosie Girl got her PSAT scores yesterday and they were quite good, particularly the reading and writing scores.

 

4. Wild Man was in the other room playing bass guitar when Rosie Girl got home yesterday.  She went in to show him her scores and he was very excited for her.  I love seeing my kids happy for each other!

 

5. Wild Man is playing drums today at a Christian camp Christmas event – I’m sure he’s having a blast.  He’s such a performer at heart.

 

6. Rosie Girl was sick last week and only got to work a couple of hours (and missed her piano recital, although she wasn’t too terribly upset since performance isn’t her favorite thing), but she’s working a full day today which will make her bank account happy!

 

7. I’m still slowly increasing my Topamax.  I think the migraines are marginally better, but the side effects are annoying (well, except for the loss of appetite).

 

So, how was your week?!  Anything exciting?!  Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others have been up to!