Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Feeling Sick :(

Well, it's been a whole week since i posted anything so here i am. I have been ultra busy and if i was not busy, i have been sick! I really feel awful. Sunday i spent the whole day on the couch feeling dizzy and nauseaous (sp?). The next day (yesturday) was better, but last night i felt awful again. Today i feel yucky and tired and nausea again. I really, really hope this thing passes by tomorrow, cause i still have to pack for Florida :) and go to school. I BETTER feel better by Thursday cause that is when Rachel and i will be going to Florida and i WILL NOT be sick. I refuse! Mind-over-matter.

So, i missed church and growth group this week, but Rachel got to go snow tubing on Saturday with her youth group. The house is awful cause if i don't do it-- or stand over those who are supposed to do it--, it does not get done. And i'm too tired to do either. I can only imagine the mess i will come home to on Monday after Florida. Sometimes i wonder how bad it would get if i said nothing about everybody cleaning up after themselves, or doing chores. The bad thing about having a hubby who doesn't care if the house is super clean is having a hubby who doesn't care if the house is clean--or dirty. So, i am the only one who cares if we live in a pig sty or not. And since i am just too tired and nauseatious (sp?) to actually do it (or tell someone else to do it)-it's a mess. But whatever, that is an on-going battle that i lost a loooooong time ago.

So, i just finished Rachel's schooling about an hour ago. We have not done science for the past couple of days but we were enjoying doing the lapbook on ecosystems. We wanted to have alot more finished by now, but it has been a rough couple of days. I got a lapbook to start doing on I Samuel, which we will be reading soon. And I got a bunch to do on ancient civilizations-America, China, India, Greece, Egypt, Rome and so on. Actually those are notebooking pages, but there is not much difference. I also got a lapbook on Greek and Roman Mythology and won a super membership to Hands of a Child site, which should be kind of neat. Rachel enjoys learning things hands on, so this stuff should work out nicely. Right now she already knows more about ecosystems from doing that lapbook than she ever would have learned in public school and she kind of likes it--which is saying alot when it comes to her.

Well, i am going to go start packing, get my hair cut, check out the sale at Good Will (50% off all clothing!!), study for my theories test, then go to bed. I just wanted to post this real quick so you all could pray for me to feel better soon. I'm kind of worried. If i don't post tomorrow, i will when i come back from Florida.

Today i am thankful for:

(this is hard cause i feel soooo yucky)

1. Lapbooks

2. Medicine

3. Sleep

Monday, February 16, 2009

The Simple Woman's Daybook for February 16 (a day late)







FOR TODAY February 16, 2009



Outside my window... A clear, sunny crisp, cool day



I am thinking...I have to get up and get ready to go out, I have to clean the house, I have to make eye doctor appointments for the girls, I have to do this weeks lesson plans for school.



I am thankful for...My husband who does not need/expect an utlra-clean, spotless house:)



From the learning rooms... We are doing Egypt in the time of Joseph for history, various life-science topics for Science, Math and English and Reading from Christian Light books, reading Judges for Bible, and I'm hoping to intrduce some music this week beginning with recognizing the basic keys on the keyboard. I had no home-work for college this week, thank God.



From the kitchen...all is quiet. I'm making fish tonight. Not much preparation required. The fridgerator is not as cranky as it was, because i started cleaning it out and am almost done washing all the shelves.



I am wearing... My new Eoyore p.j.s that hubby got me for valentines day.



I am creating...Nothing in particular. I have some school projects in my head though. We will see if they stay there or if I do anything with them.:)



I am going...To the doctor today. I will probably be gone all day.



I am reading...Red, by Ted Dekker (still)



I am hoping...That I will not be in the doctor waiting room for more than two hours, but sometimes i wait up to four. He is very, very busy, I have never seen anything like it.



I am hearing...Matt is playing hockey on the wii so i am hearing that. That's it other than my dog snoring next to me on the couch and my computer keys.



Around the house...Total mess. I can never seem to keep up with it for more than a couple days.



One of my favorite things... My new t.v. It is a big screen and has a great picture. I love it mostly because it was one of the only things my hubby has wanted for years. He works so hard and hardly ever sees the rewards. I am happy that he finally has gotten something totally unnecessary that he has wanted.



A few plans for the rest of the week: All the kids go back to school tomorrow. They have been off for a couple days. Tomorrow, everything goes back to normal. Hopefully Rachel and I will get back on our excercise schedule.



Here is picture thought I am sharing... Because i am going to Florida soon, i have been thinking about my family and spending time with them. This picture is from last summer during my sister's birthday party.
Actually, i created this post yesturday, but did not post it. So now it is Tuesday. The doctor visit only took an hour, the house is semi-clean, the weeks lesson plans are done and i actually started doing our first lap-book on ecosystems for school today. It's been a good two days except poor rachel had to get FOUR shots today to catch up on her immunizations. Poor baby, i felt so bad cause she was so distressed. Well, thank God that we have these immunizations to keep our children from getting life-threatening diseases.
Today i am thankful for:
1. Good, easy to talk to doctors
2. Immunizations
3. Good Will (we went shopping today, they were having a sale $2 all clothing!!


To blog about your day, here is the link to the simple woman's day book

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Of Florida, Family, Flights, and Faith

So, i have not seen my family in Florida for 7 months. That's about 220 days without seeing my mother, father, sister, uncle, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews. I miss them terribly. So, when i found out we would be getting more than a sufficient amount of money back from our taxes this year, I decided that i would take a few days off from my busy, tired lifestyle and go fly to Florida. How exciting. So, i called my sister to tell her and we got so excited, we decided right there and then to book a flight on the internet while we were on the phone together. My sister said she would put it on her credit card because i had not yet gotten our taxes, and i would pay her back when i got there. It took almost an hour to find the perfect flight that matched up with the times that Steve could take me to and from the airport, but my type A sissy got it done :). I was so excited when i hung up the phone! I was going to see everybody in two weeks! Then i looked over at my precious youngest child. Tears were welling up in her big brown eyes.....in my excitement i had overlooked how hard it would be for my newly homeschooled daughter to go for 5 days without me with her. Steve works so much that right now he is not available to the children. What would Rachel do for the 3 weekdays that i would be gone? I had jumped without thinking. Now my sweet girl was crying so hard her face was all wet and her body was shaking. Oh my, what had i done?
I called my mom to tell her that i was coming and i told her how Rachel was taking it. She agreed with me that i should have thought about what to do with her before i jumped into buying my ticket. By now i felt so guilty and sad for my child, all i wanted to do was buy another ticket for her and have her come along. But that was not as simple as it sounds. First of all, my eldest had already told me that she would be very unhappy if i took Rachel to Florida and not her. Second, my ticket was bought with my sisters Card and i didn't know how to add Rachel even if it was on my Card. So, back and forth it went. I talked at length with Erin and she finally said she understood why Rachel should go this time and not her. I feel so bad for Erin because Rachel is getting the mom that Erin wanted when she was Rachel's age. But, i can not change the past. And Erin and I both agree that Rachel should not suffer just because Erin did at that age. Oh man, i have so much to make up for concerning my older two and especially my oldest. But i digress.
My mom tried to add Rachel on to my flight but the airline wouldn't let her because Rachel is a minor. I could not cancel my flight and book it over again with Rachel added because it would cost 150 dollars to cancel the ticket. I was devastated. Rachel was devastated. My mother was sad for Rachel, my sister was sad for Rachel. What could we do? I went into my room and knelt in prayer while Rachel was in her room crying. I asked the Lord to intervene if He thought it best for Rachel to come. There was nothing i could do but place it in the hands of the Lord. So i did.......and then the phone rang. It was my mom in tears telling me that SOMEHOW my sister had gotten the airline to add Rachel on to my flight for no extra fee. Oh, joy. Thank you Lord. I could not wait to tell Rachel. I went in her room and asked her "Did you ask God to help?" and she said "I did, i asked him a long time ago when you first told me you were going to Florida" So i said "well, He said yes" she looked at me for a minute and than burst out crying again, this time in overwhelming joy. I told her it was a gift from God, because it was not supposed to happen that way, and that God knew her heart and desires and He loves her so much, He knows what she needs. It was a great answer to a prayer and a great way to show my daughter how much her Father loves her. And me!

I'll Take Busy and Tired Over Bored and Lonely Any Day

Well, it has been about a week since my last post. I had originally planned to post much more often when i first started this blog, but i don't seem to have much time. It seems my days go by so quickly, the week is gone when i blink. I do like staying busy, but i really need to make a schedule or something because i need to do so many things that never seem to get done. This week I was so busy that it was Tuesday before i started my paper for Theories class and began studying for my Political Science test. Remember, i have class on Wednesday, so i really did not give myself enough time. There i was on Tuesday, crabby with the kids and neglecting the housework because i had to do a whole paper and study for a big test for the next day. Not good. I had planned to start that work over the past weekend, but i did not. Saturday i was busy with the kids and Sunday i was busy with Church (and the kids) and Monday i went to my girlfriend Debbie's house. There was just no more time left, unless i didn't sleep. Sometimes i wish that we did not require sleep cause we could get so much more done. And lately i have been soooooooo tired. I mean like walking through quick-sand tired. I bought some B vitamins, ginsing, folic acid and green tea tonight to try to get more energy. I hope it helps.

Anyway, it turns out that I aced the test and only half of the paper was due, so I am now ahead of the game. But, i really, really need to get on some kind of schedule.

From 2005-2007 I had no car, no family or friends around, no neighbors, and my kids were in school all day so i did nothing else but pretty much watch t.v. from 8 in the a.m. till 4 in the p.m. Those are NOT happy times for me, and i am ashamed to even writed how i spent my day, but i do write it because even though i am busy and tired all the time, at least i am not living the kind of life (if that is what you can call it) that i was. And for that I am extremely thankful. I got a car, started going to school and church, got back in touch with my friends, and started schooling my daughter. Talk about going from one extreme to another, but that is very typical for me. I would definately choose busy and tired over depressed, lonely and bored. Thank you Lord for healing me.
So, tonight i am thankful for:

1) The exhaustion i feel at the end of a busy day

2) A good night sleep

3) Hope for the future

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Polar Bear Plunge

It's been a while since i posted anything because i have felt so crappy lately, but for those of my family/friends who have been bugging me to post something, here it is. My week in review.

Sunday, my family and i went down to Rehobeth Beach for the polar bear plunge. For those of you who do not know what the polar bear plunge is, it is a fundraiser for the special olympics in which the people who register and pay get the pleasure of getting into their bathing suits, stand in a huge group on the beach, and run into the freezing ocean. This is a very big deal in Rehobeth Beach. Thousands of people come down for the weekend. The hotels are all mobbed and there is no place to park. I had never gone to the plunge before, but this year Erin was participating, so off we went. Erin had stayed with her friend the night before (Saturday) and then got to stay in a very fancy hotel. The rest of the family and I were supposed to meet her an hour before the plunge so we could watch her participate. And i was supposed to hold her towel for her. You may notice i said "supposed to". The reason i say that is because, as usual, I was late. Here's what happened: We left a little late, I thought it started at 1:30 not 1, and there was no place to park. So there we are at 1:00 trying desperately, along with a few hundred other people, to find a place to park. We actually found a great spot once, but had to do a 3-point-turn to get it. So Steve told Matt to stand in the spot to save it for us... Yeah, right. Matt stood on the spot, but almost got run over by a little old man! So, we kept trying. We finally find a spot 3 blocks off the beach. By this time it is 1:20. As i am rushing to the beach, I hear the radio d.j. who was on the loud speaker saying there was 4 minutes until the plunge. Their were thousands of people on the beach and I was trying to find my daughter so i could be there for her. I was quickly wading through hundreds of plungers and watchers, determined to hold my child's towel for her and just let her see that I WAS there for her. So, i'm running up the beach, the d.j. is counting down 5, 4, 3, 2, ....Steve is going "your never gonna find her in all these people", Rachel and Matt are trying to keep up with me as i slugdged through the sand and people, and i am just determined to get there in time. The d.j. yells ONE and everybody runs to the water.........then runs back. And that was it. It was over. We drove for 1 1/2 hours, fought the parking wars, and ran a mile through hundreds of people--and i missed it. Well, i finally did find Erin (who was with her friends family) as she was walking back to the hotel. She was carrying her own towel. AND her bathing suit top had come off during her run back from the ocean.. She was a good sport about it, but it obviously did not go the way we had planned. Next year we will plan much better, and we also plan on staying at the hotel next year. It is a beautiful hotel and we were supposed to stay this year but ran out of money. Can't wait till next year. Oh well, we live and we learn.

So, we came home Sunday night and watched the Cardinals lose to the Steelers during the Super Bowl.
After that, I felt really dizzy, nautious, and tired for about three days, so i pretty much laid low. That's my week. Pretty boring.I'll try to post about our school week later, but for now, i'm just going to bed. I'm looking foward to shopping for some school stuff this weekend :)