Feb. 19, 2007 - Tackle-It Tuesday
I am awful at getting things in the mail that require me to go to the post office for postage. I love being able to buy my stamps at Kroger, and sniff at the inconvenience of having to go to the post office for anything. My Mom is the same way. Every time I talk with her on the phone she tells me she has a package to get in the mail to me, but she's been telling me that so long, I don't even remember what it is she is supposed to be sending. ;-) God bless her. We both have good intentions.
So my Tackle this week was going to the post office to mail out a couple of large envelopes. One to my nephew in Georgia. I found this cheesy little picture book about Guadalajara, oh, about two years ago. His dream is to move there to open an orphanage. He has spent some time in Mexico on short term missions trips and says that orphans abound there. He has a great heart for kids, and I'm praying he gets there.
But I found the book on Guadalajara and wanted to send it to him as a bit of enouragement. So now, two years after finding the book, I believe, it's time.
The other package I'm sending also goes to Georgia, to one of my best buds. Her son stayed a few nights with us back in December and left the obligatory t-shirt and underwear, so I'm sending it back. I'm hanging my head in shame over this one. I swore to her that we had everything that belonged to her son packed-up. So she probably got home, and had to do a special run to SuperTarget for more underwear. Doh! Sorrreeeeeeee!
Oh, hey.......while I was out at the post office, I also deposited some checks at our bank that have been sitting on my desk for three weeks. I'm including that in my tackle! Man, I'm not going to have to do another Tackle for weeks now! ;-)
• 4 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Feb. 6, 2007 - Tackle-It Tuesday
I am almost ashamed to post this Tackle. I'm sure you'll wonder just what sort of ship I'm running down/over here in Texas.
The last time I cleaned our half bath was THREE WEEKS AGO! Between homeschooling, cooking, laundry, other cleaning and a baby boy that is now very mobile, this poor bathroom has received no attention from me. I didn't even step in to give the sink a good swish during my three week slack. I've had good intentions, but just never made it in. But today was SuperBowl Monday at our house (we weren't able to be home for it yesterday, so we TIVO'ed it, my husband took the day off, we ordered some pizza and watched it today). With SuperBowl Monday and the presence of my husband, I was able to squeeze in a couple of neglected chores with all the required SuperBowl festivities. Here's a picture of my husband and the kids playing a rousing game of football in what we call "the schoolroom." We don't actually do school in there, but it's where our books and school things are kept. ;-)
It's the SpideyTeam against the Cowboys.
Anyway.....here is a picture of the bathroom before. I know it doesn't look THAT bad, but I wanted to spare you the details. I do have a six-year-old and an 11-year-old boy that use this bathroom very regularly and they are not as tidy as I would wish.
Here is my commercial pose for the cleaner that we use. I LOVE this stuff! It is called Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Aromatherapeutic Household Cleaners. I found it at our local whole foods store. Cleaning the bathroom with this stuff is so enjoyable because it smells so good! It truly is Aromatherapeutic. I always buy the lavender-scented cleaner. So worth it!
Finally, here is the clean bathroom, and I got every inch of it! Even the dust from the tops of the candles and moulding. Yuck!
• 10 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Jan. 9, 2007 - Tackle-It Tuesday
I haven't posted a Tackle-It Tuesday in awhile, but not because I haven't been doing them! I just haven't had time to post them each week, so you get to see three Tackles today - I guess that makes this entry a Tackle of its own.
First off is THE LID DRAWER. Ugh. These pictures really don't do justice to how scary our lid drawer was. It was packed. How packed was it? So packed that usually when we opened the drawer, some of the bigger lids would get caught on the top and get flung down into the cabinet below. Anyone else had that happen? It was something that needed taken care of, but was one of those little, irritating projects that no one wanted to take the time for, so I finally bit the bullet and went for it.
This first picture is the lid drawer before.
Here is the pile of lids that I threw into the recycle bin. Woohoo!
Here is the lid drawer after! It is SO nice! We love putting lids on our bowls now.
My parents came for a two-week stay in December and brought two bushels of apples for us to make into applesauce. Man, no one wanted to tackle those apples because we were trying to be Christmasy and the apples were getting mushy even though my parents bought them at the end of apple season from an apple orchard near their hometown. But we did, and when we finished, we had 36 quarts of homemade applesauce to put up on our shelves in the garage! Applesauce is a great thing. It's the perfect side for just about everything. Remember The Brady Bunch episode when Bobby asked Alice what was for dinner and she replied with "Pork shops and appleshaushe." Oh, the good ol' days.....
Finally, here are two dishrags I knitted for our new neighbors. They were scheduled to move in the third weekend of December, so I had to hurry to get these done in time. What a geeky welcome gift, I know, but hey, it's from the heart. My friend Julie told me about a Yahoogroup that is totally devoted to knitting dishrags and I joined. The owner of the group sends out the pattern for a dishrag in ten rows each day until the rag is done. Works for me because I don't have time to do more than 10 rows in a day. I learned how to knit last year (because Julie made me go to the class with her! ;-) but haven't graduated past dishrags. At this point, I am content with dishrags, while Julie has gone on to socks and shawls. One day, Julie!!!!!!
Anyway, I don't know if you can tell, but the purple dishrag is a rocking horse and the white one is a snowman.
• 7 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Nov. 21, 2006 - Tackle-It Tuesday
It's easy for me to let my "to do" list get in the way of relationships. I have been thinking about writing a blog about my husband, Darin, for a few weeks now, but just haven't gotten around to it. This is an important blog entry to me, and I want to be sure it gets done, so this is my Tackle-It Tuesday job.
When Darin and I began homeschooling seven years ago, we were very naive about all that homeschooling would take. I have a feeling that other new homeschoolers also have no clue about the extent of the commitment that homeschooling is. It happens gradually as more kids come along, and as the older kids advance into higher grades. I have heard that burnout among homeschoolers usually occurs around the seventh year and I feel very strongly that it is because of the increase in commitment that is required of the parents. It can get to feel overwhelming - almost impossible.
I have never experienced these feelings of being overwhelmed for longer than a day or two and it is not because I am a cool cucumber. ;-) It is because I have the support of my husband in every area. Let me count the ways.....(as if I actually have the room to tell you everything!)
1) Darin does not think that homeschooling/child rearing only happens between the hours of 8:30 to 5:30. He doesn't expect to leave for work, and come home to a spotless house or every school subject finished. He understands that raising our children takes the ENTIRE day. So when he comes home from work, he rolls up his sleeves and sets to work. If I am in the middle of cooking dinner when he gets here, he does what he can to help me get finished. During dinner he guides the conversation and keeps questionable body sounds (i.e., belches) to a minimum at the table. After dinner he cleans the kitchen with the kids so I can slip off and work on a load of laundry, take a walk on the treadmill, or work on lesson plans. He makes sure the kids get their baths, teeth brushed and are in their jammies. You can imagine from this description of his evenings how I anticipate his arrival! He is a blessing to me!
2) Living on one income and homeschooling makes for a tight budget. Darin has given up just about all the things he might do if I were out working and supplementing his income. He doesn't play golf, go to hockey games, or buy every new computer game that comes out......we don't even have cable so he can't watch all the hockey that I know that he wants! He does this so we will have what we need to purchase the books and curriculum needed for our three oldest that are schooling, as well as clothes, trips to the doctor......groceries! Man, do growing boys EAT!
3) There are many days that I don't see myself in the mirror after I get dressed in the morning. I can look pretty disheveled by the end of the day and usually try to make it to the bathroom to update my ponytail before Darin gets home but don't always get there. Then I don't think about it again until we have gotten the kids in bed and I'll say something like "Oh! I must look terrible!"
Darin says, "No you don't. You look good to me."
GOD BLESS HIM. 'Nuff said.
4) Darin loves our children and desires to be a Godly example for our kids and works hard to do that. He is never happy with the status quo and always seeks to improve his relationship with God so he can make a difference in the lives of our kids. He also encourages me to be better in this area.
5) Darin works at his relationships with our kids. Without this, it would be extremely difficult to homeschool. Darin is the anchor that holds everything we do together, and if the kids didn't understand that Darin loves them and expects a certain standard of behavior from them, my job would be ten times harder.
The perfect example of his diligence in this area is his relationship with our oldest, Ben. There are no two people more alike than Darin and Ben. You know how it is when you're hanging out with someone with whom you have a lot in common - it can be a bit trying at times, and certainly Darin has expressed his frustrations with this, but he has never given up with Ben. Now as soon as Darin comes home, Ben starts following him around, asking questions, wanting to play football/baseball/soccer in the backyard, watch the hockey game together.....anything. He just wants to be with his Dad, and that is only because Darin has given what it takes to draw him close, rather than push him away with excuses like, "We will never get along because we're too much alike."
6) He does chores around the house that are considered the "wifey chores" because he knows that I don't always have time to get to everything. He cleans our carpets, ceiling fans, makes a darn good cookie, can cook a tasty meal, cleans our bathroom, cleans the kitchen every night.....all this in addition to his "manly chores." Without his help in these areas, I would definitely become overwhelmed because I am a recovering neat freak (the kids are curing me of this problem ;-).
7) Darin helps me teach the kids. Again, it is impossible to squeeze every subject in during the day that we would like, so Darin has stepped in as our art teacher. Two nights per month, he teaches them art, and not only is he teaching them art, but last week, just studied up on how to do a Picture Study with the kids! (those of you who love CM know what this is) I have wanted him to do that for years. This guy is so goooood! I could just squoooosh him! ;-)
I feel as if I could go on and on, but my blogging time is running low. I am so thankful for Darin. For the way we met, for the night when he proposed to me, and for the rainy day when we got married. I feel so blessed. Darin makes everything better with his sense of humor and his laid-back style. He is the perfect guy for me.
• 4 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Nov. 14, 2006 - Tackle-It Tuesday
Our timeline for school has been through some rough times in the last few months. Pieces of it have fallen down and ended up scattered here and there through the house. This is the project I decided to take care of this week, with the help of my kids.
The timeline pieces have been a cluttery mess on my desk for too long. Never mind the stuff I had to clear off the desk in order to take this picture. ;-)
And then of course there was King George III on my bathroom wall.....
Here is the timeline before. You can see where it needs work!
I got my kids busy with this one, and we used this for our history lesson today. First I had the kids take off the old, nasty tape from the pieces that were stuck together on my desk. Then my oldest put the lines back in order on the wall (I was in charge of tape!). Then I quizzed all three on each of the timeline figures before we put them back on the timeline. I gave a clue about who the figure was, and they each tried to guess. They usually got it right. Then I had them each tell me one thing they remembered about each character. I was amazed at the details they remembered about each person. Don't anyone tell ME that textbooks are superior to living books! ;-)
Here is the finished job! I am so glad to have those stinkin' strips of timeline off my desk and on the wall!
• 7 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Nov. 7, 2006 - Tackle-It Tuesday
Well, I can't seem to follow the rules and do anything the way it's supposed to be done, but I guess there is always a method to my madness. I visited my friend Julie over at At My Hearth last week, and she had completed a Tackle-It Tuesday. I loved the idea because this is the way I try to get to things in my house - a little at a time, since I always only have a little bit of time here and there that I can spare to special cleaning projects.
Anyway...
I was inspired to do a Tackle-It Tuesday, and was considering a few different jobs I could tackle. But I kept thinking about the time it would take to tackle it on a Tuesday, which is a schoolday around here, and I just hated to try to find the time to set aside to get it done - in between regular chores, nursing the baby, helping the kids with their schoolwork, meals, and whatever else came up. I kept picturing my kids floating around and being unproductive (can't have THAT!) while I was immersed in purging the clutter from my home.
So...
I decided to do my Tackle-It Tuesday on Friday night while the kids and my husband, Darin, were at an Awana pizza party. I stayed home with the baby. Usually I would fill this "extra" time with scrapbooking, reading, knitting....something fun! But I was determined to tackle the dresser in my bedroom. It was piled-up with clothes that the kids have outgrown, a dress-up dress that needed mending, books, misc. papers, some of Darin's clothes that he had taken off and was going to put away "later." There were also clothes in Target bags scattered around the dresser that needed to be stored for later. Basically, a HUGE mess that I had been looking at all week, wondering when I would find the time to tackle the job. So Friday night was the night.
But...
I sent our digital camera with Darin so he could take pictures of the kids while they were playing Awana games and hanging out with their pals. That almost stopped me from doing the job because I really did want to have a Before and After picture, but I plowed on, and did it without a Before picture. I only have an After picture, and here it is. Doesn't it look GREAT????? You'll have to take my word for it that it was a total, dreary mess.
I used the time I would have normally tackled my mess to spend outside with the kids.
The picture below is Lydia, Ben and our dog, Joy.
This is Jack. He doesn't like to get his picture taken, so I had to chase him down into the garage for this one. If I hadn't zoomed in, you would have been able to see another Tackle-It Tuesday project for the future!
• 5 Comments
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
.gif)
