Well, merry Christmas to all!  Whew, that was a busy season!  I love the Lord dearly, but I still find it hard to enjoy December. I need to have a less busy year next year, if at all possible.

I hope all is going well for anyone who reads this blog entry.  I am over Christmas; tomorrow is my birthday. Then I turn to those "What am I working on improving in 2006?" thoughts.

My schedule this year has been:

Monday: homeschool, clean in the a.m.  Run dd#2 (11th grader) to work in the afternoon.  More homeschool, cleaning, computer stuff, and dinner planning/making or errands.

Tuesday: Dad takes dd#2 to 8:30 class; I pick her up at 9:30 a.m. She works independently while I do errands or homeschool ds or do cleaning or computer stuff. I take dd#2 to a class at 3:10; I later pick her up at 4:30, come home, clean up and make dinner. Tues. night is either our care group or her care group, depending on the week; once/month I go to her caregroup, so that's like 3 Tuesdays/month that I am out in the evening.

Weds: Take dd to history co-op at 9:00; later pick her up at 11:00. Later, take dd to work at 3:00; hope she can find a ride home at 5:00. In between, same thing: homeschool ds or do computer stuff or cleaning or errands.

Thurs: Dad takes dd to 8:30 class; I pick her up at 9:30. She works independently on homeschool stuff while I do the same thing as other days. Later I take her to outside class at 1:50. Later I pick her up from class, at 3:10.

Fridays: I take dd to literature co-op at 9:00. I pick her up at 11:00. She comes home, eats lunch, and I take her to work at 12:30 to 1:00, and she is gone til dinner or later.

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I've been married 26 years. I am buried under clutter. I am trying to dig my way out. I am spending more time working on my house than I am on homeschooling my son or my daughter. I see progress, but easily get discouraged.  I get encouragement from www.Flylady.net, and daily emails. 

I live in a house full of books. I am a bookseller on www.Alibris.com, and am also an Usborne Consultant (www.ubah.com/A2601), although I am not really doing much (anything) with that right now.  My latest exciting thing is that I just found out about www.paperbackswap.com, a place where I can list books I don't want to keep but that are not worth enough to sell on Alibris. When I get someone who wants a book, I send it to them media mail at my own expense, but then I get one credit, which means I can request a book available there for free to add a book that I really want or need for our homeschool or personal reading pleasure.  Books and things that I don't want, but that I don't want to give away on the swap because postage would cost too much, I am able to get rid of by listing on http://www.freecycle.org/ (find the group closest to you and check it out).  I listed a box of books Tuesday, and it was picked up Wednesday!

So, I need to pull out my Managers of their Home and try to get more systematic in 2006 so I am not neglecting my son's homeschooling anymore, even though he is only K.

Well, this was long, but I better end before this computer locks up and loses the entire entry.  Will check back again soon.

dmalament@yahoo.com