Well, maybe it wasn't "perfect", but it was really good! 

If you read my previous blogs, you'd guess I've been in a bit of a fog since the holiday's. But today, I felt terrific.  A comment left on my blog had this quote, "Just one thing at a time".  I thought, that's a good mantra  for today. Just one thing at a time.

So, after getting my dh off to work, I assigned a few jobs. Joshua to bring in firewood and stack next to the fireplace. Rachel to feed the dogs and clean up the party from last night that was held in the gym. I got the horses their hay, and took out the garbage.  Ruthie took a bath and rested as she has a nasty staph infection. After that, I started making oatmeal for breakfast.

I decided to clean the kitchenette. I did "deep cleaning", as I got under the refrig and freezer. I wiped down the cabinets, the appliances, the woodwork, and the door.  As I was cleaning, I was thinking about how wonderful this all felt. It is one thing to clean "in a hurry", or, "for company".  But this was Monday morning, no company coming, not my regular cleaning day (Friday). I cleaned in a relaxed manner, taking time to talk and stop if needed by anyone.  I tend to be in a rush when I clean just to get it over with. But not this morning. I cleaned and it felt almost like therapy after a weekend that felt just a bit stressed, lots of company, and I didn't feel good on top of it.  I figured, when I'm done, I'm done. Don't put a time limit on this.  After I finished the kitchenette, I decided to do the room contiguous to it, the den.  I cleaned the doors, the woodwork, swept and mopped, and when I  was done, it looked sparkling clean.   Therapy! It felt soooo wonderful!

I created atmosphere. The fireplace was roaring, I lit a scented candle in every room.

I didn't finish cleaning until a little before noon. By that time, my mom had come, as this is the "every  other week" that she comes and stays and helps with the some of the kids (Rachel/algebra, Ruthie/reading & math).  Rachel and I put lunch on the table, using all the left overs from the weekend.  It felt great to clean the refrig out using the leftovers and getting the dishes out of there.

After lunch, I read a portion in the Bible to them about the Israelites entering into Canaan, as we are working through the Narrated Bible.  Then Rachel went to math class with Grandma.

I went to the couch in the living room with Joshua and I decided today we would spend our time reading. Were working on a book that I had purchased a very long time ago when we were doing the Calvert program.  It's taken us a very long time because he reads very deliberate and it does not go very fast.  Also, there are weeks I don't do the reading in this book so it is just taking way longer than I could have ever imagined to finish this book.  I have a personal rule for myself: Only do reading in this book with him when I feel exceptionally patient.  And today, I felt exceptionally patient.  It was a tough chapter, not particular interesting to him, so it made it even slower, I think. It was a story about a circus (way back in the 1800's).  Everytime he would come to the word "circus" he'd struggle. This has always amazed me. The story is about a circus, the word circus is used in almost every other sentence, yet, every time he comes to that word, he struggles. It's always been like this. But, by the end of the story, he was getting the word just a little faster.

That chapter probably took over an hour.  Maybe an hour and a half.  I've recently set up a blog for him, thinking that it would get him to write (this worked terrific with my dd).  However, he's not ready to just sit in front of a blog and write, so I'm using it just to get him to put his thoughts on paper (computer) and eventually, move to him typing it himself.

Then we had family story time.  We have just finished the third book of the Chronicles of the Kings, a series by Lynn Austin about the Israelites and their kings.  We are now reading the rest of these books (there are two more) as family time at night with dad.  So, we started a new book called, God King, a historical novel set in the time of King Hezekiah, but about an Egyptian during that period of time.

We concluded our school time at that point (it was about 4:00 p.m.).  Exercise is something that has been really hard to come by over the holidays and the busy schedule.  Over the past few months, I have been exercising only about two times a week, and short videos at that. At least I have been consistent with that small amount. I tried to tell myself that I've been so busy, and between being on the run and keeping the house up, surely it must be equal a good exercise. But, my body is telling me that it's not quite equal.  So, today, I exercised about an hour.  My den is my exercise room (see den Christmas tree picture blog below). I go in, shut the door, light a candle, and do my exercise. I'm majorly not into aerobics, I like things that are muscle toning. Pilates, yoga, weights, and my favorite, callanetics.  It felt so good to be exercising in a clean room as the floors sparkled. I have a big, big, mirror that sets on the floor, and when I do my balance bar exercises, I can see the room in the reflection of the mirror.

I've also been a bit sloppy about my vitamins. Again, in the holiday busyness, I missed days, a lot. Not good.  So today, as soon as I finished my exercise, I took my vitamins. Dh called and said he would be home early this evening (by 5:15p.m.)  No, I hadn't gotten supper on yet, but it wasn't a problem.  I had made a taco lasagna over the weekend, and when I did that, I had browned ground chicken.  I browned every package i had of it and froze the excess.  Tonight, I thought we'd have tacos, but the lettuce was frozen. So, instead I took soft taco shells, put taco meat (pulled from the freezer already browned, dethawed, added taco seasoning package) and put in shells with cheese on top. Voila! Supper done.  

Now, this was a pefect day, almost a perfect day. A clean kitchenette and den, the living room and family room still looked pretty good from last Friday's cleaning (a miracle of sorts), a decent school time,  exercise, and my vitamins.   But my idea of a really perfect day?  Someone else cleans my house, and I go out and go horseback riding with my daughter!