Selfishness and Wasting Time

I wondering how many of you are not interested in reading my blog but are because of boredom.  I have spent hours surfing because I was avoiding my house work or children.  This avoidance is part of the selfishness I have written about on this blog before.  Spending SOME time apart from the children is healthy and makes me a better mother but wasting time and procrastinating harms myself, the running of this house and most of all my children.  Ignoring them has caused problems, when they are fighting I have found myself yelling at them instead of talking with them, rebuking the instigator and helping them work out the conflict.  The more time I spend with them, working with them, teaching them to share etc. the better they get along and the more restful the 1 hour of personal time I have each afternoon is. 

School Progress

Sissy has really developed a good work ethic with her school work lately, she is accomplishing a great deal more with a lot less fuss.  I have instituted a reward system, when the children do their work with a good attitude and little fuss they earn a piece of  a snowman.  There are 14 pieces, when the snowman is complete they can choose one of three things, a trip to blockbuster, an afternoon with Grandma, or a day off school. They both have one piece so far and Sissy has earned another today, she just hasn’t put it up yet.

Mooey has been really frustrated lately, he’s bored and unfortunately there is not a lot that I can do about it.  Other than offer some new activities he’s  just going to have to adjust to the slower pace of winter up here.  I will try and read to him a little more, he does love that.  I’ll try some new books and maybe some of the science books of my Dad’s that he like to look at.  It really will be nice when he can read on his own.  It will come I know, he just needs a little more time.

Beef stew

We had a really wonderful stew yesterday I made a rich broth from some beef bones.  After straining it I added potatoes, onions, celery, carrots and barley.  Wow, was it good!  I made a large pot (not my biggest though) and between Dad, Phil, the kids, and I we finished the pot.  So Yummy!

Home Sweet Home

I have realized that I can either drive myself crazy trying to keep the house perfectly clean or I can keep it clean enough to be healthy and just relaxed enough to be comfortable.  The children are not going to remember how clean the house was but they will remember how much time I had for them. 

Perhaps that also encompasses part of the selfishness I have been dealing with, MY desire is to have a perfect house but really how important is that.  Christ spoke of this when he addressed Martha and Mary’s conflict.