I guess I should just plan to write here as a guest blogger every now and again. The paradigm I'm stuck in is that I love Blogger for blogging, and I want a following, but I have trouble writing sometimes when I think people I know are reading (besides RURTSY or something ;)). It's like writer's block, and you know, since I'm so famous, you probably understand.

So, the area I live in might get a lot of snow this weekend, but then again, it might not. We know weather. I just wish I knew what to count on. I love that with homeschooling, snow doesn't mean we  miss days. What I hate about homeschooling (ok, hate is too strong a word) is that when it snows, we don't get a day off. Lump a work-at-home husband to the mix, and you REALLY don't get a day off when it snows. In his defense, we've had our fair share of snow and we've had a few days off with it, but my memory is failing right now on those.

Tomorrow will involve a new wiper blade for the van, 2 more gallons of milk, candle checking and purchasing, and a vision for weekend meals in the crock pot. I might make chicken stew. It is involved and lengthy, and hard to do on one's own, but I'm feeling up to the task. I'll thaw a bird tomorrow.

It's a work out morning tomorrow since we started late today (due to snow), so I better go. Getting up before 6 am is painful!

Well, for some reason on my laptop tonight I can't get into Blogger to, well, BLOG! I felt like writing about my day and while no one will probably see this, it's still fun. Maybe more so.

I'm going to tutor next year for CC and am really excited about it. I have felt complacent with learning along with my kids this year, but with all the prep you do in order to tutor, you can't help but learn the material. That is going to be fun. I'm going to strive to just focus on my class and staying focused here at home on the material and expanding it.

I consider our school to revolve around CC, but really, we revolve around the Bible as much as anything--or chronological history which naturally includes the Bible. I'm not married to CC, but without it we'd still be doing it! ha ha

So today was a full day with hitting the gym for a fast spin, then we did school and I left early with my 2 little ones for a nice little class on snowflakes. We had a lovely time and I could seriously see myself volunteering with the kids at the Nature Center at some point. I feel so at home there, just back to my roots so to speak :). I'll hold off on the volunteering for some other time though since next year is kind of getting settled.

After we got home it was time to finish working and do some chores together. The French bread was good, but not as good as the first time we made it...oh well, maybe if I'd make it the same way as when it was great that would help?

I had to work for 2.5 hrs after school, so the bread was not removed from the oven by me. That was a little crazy! My man made the rest of dinner (I had the sauce going with much help from my oldest), and then we all watched The Incredibles while I intermittently prepared for Friday.

All in all a productive day. Tomorrow is the last music lesson at my house, so that will be fun. After this, it's back to working during lessons at the teacher's house. I'm looking foward to going back to that. Now I just need to get the violin situation resolved.

Have you ever been in your jammies, donning a big fluffy purple robe with a shower cap on your Listerine dowsed hair, only to have your husband walk in the room to say there are 2 people at your house to see you? By the way, it's a school day and 1 pm in this questioned scenario.

No? Me neither, but I can imagine it going something like this...

Wife: "Who is it?!".

Husband laughing: "I don't know."

Wife, horrified at her smell and sight: "Well, get rid of them!"

Husband in hysterics as wife drops to the floor to hide behind the kitchen island, exclaiming, "Tell them I'm in the SHOWER!!!!"

Husband barely able to control himself, "They are IN THE HOUSE!"

Wife, unable to sneak to the shower since the kitchen is separate from all the areas where this is possible, finally emerges, laughing hard with her husband. Meanwhile, way too much time is passing and the company can likely hear all the commotion in the adjoining room. The wife comes around the corner to see a friend and her daughter, thankfully NOT STRANGERS, and not someone whom she minds seeing her in such a ridulous costume in the middle of the day. Thankfully, the kids were dressed and so was the husband.

Can you imagine this happening in real life?!

I would have liked to have sat in bed reading peacefully after snuggling with the kids watching Bambi, but there was a higher calling to my time tonight. You see, I've fulfilled a profound dream of shampooing everything upholstered in my home, and when a man is in the house, he isn't into that for hours on end...especially at midnight. During breaks I'm cleaning out my house. Four pair of shoes are now in the 'to go' pile and if you are a size 9, these have your name on them! I'm a 9.5 now, I know, Sasqwatch is coming to mind even if I can't spell his name. The babies...the weight, things stretch, like feet. I digress...so the water is getting hot for the shampooer whilst I write so I'm under the gun here, but have to say I'm also getting rid of all the plastic plates and cups in my cabinet? Know why? I have too many plates and instead of getting rid of what were my sweet mom's and my Bubbie's, I'm putting some of those down low for the kids and if they break, they break, but I'm going on the "no plastic from China" thing here so am willing to risk it. I also am determined to let my home breathe....breathe I say!!!!! No more cluttered cabinets. It's like working on your spirit before your hair--I'm going from the inside, out here. Maybe one day I'll get the kitchen island done, but in the meantime, drawers and closets and cabinets are the focal point.

Time to finish the steps! Good night!

It's not overstating for me to say there is a joy unspeakable in my bedroom tonight. It involves the fact that all the laundry is clean, and......I CAN OPEN MY DRAWERS AND PUT THINGS IN THEM NICELY. Nothing is groaning to me from inside the drawer, "Stop, you're hurting me!"                                                      

I knoooowww. Can this be possible?                                    

There is much work to do, but at this moment, my kids dressers and mine are all in good shape. George's always is pretty good but I'll be removing sweaters soon. He's got NICE ones if anyone's hubby is a sweater guy and wears a large. Most have never been worn.                                                                              

Anyhow, simplicity is one key to peacefulness. I can hardly wait to parse down my spring/summer clothes. It might happen before the season comes, but well, probably not :).                                     

Closing thought: Are we STRIVING toward the goal or just sauntering around hoping to maybe, somehow, hit it? I'm with Donna's comment below-God bless those willing to give it to us straight when it comes to being better for Christ. God help us not harden our hearts so we refuse to submit to His, or his, will.  

"There many things that are hard with homeschooling, but this (organization), isn't one of them."                                                                    

She told us how even as a professional organizer she can't make sense of many organization books. One she DID mention was, "Taming the Paper Tiger", a book I seriously need to look into if I can't get my kitchen island under control soon!                        

I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly when we were reminded how we are all so burdened with our stuff. Even if you personally aren't, you don't have to think far to know someone seriously burdened by the stuff they choose to keep around. 

What I also found myself agreeing with was the connection between our 'stuff' and marriage. "Better is a little with the fear of the LORD  Than great treasure and turmoil with it." Proverbs 15:16

How many of us sitting there could see the truth in this sad reality. That was another point Florence made, often chaos in the home is a symptom of another problem. If children act out with their messes, why can't grown-ups?  She actually knew a woman who told her not to organize something because the wife KNEW it drove her husband crazy. I'm sure there are many wives using disorder in the home to punish their husbands, which in turn punishes their children. 

Finally, we were reminded of Proverbs 14:1, "The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands." Children watch our behavior with our husbands. As a divorced woman who has clearly struggled with loneliness in raising 2 children on her own (and the only believer in her entire family-they are still Jewish and she is a saved Jew), she admonished us to treat our husband's as God commands. Only then are we allowing Him to build our houses, and Scripture says in Psalms 127:1a, "Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it;" (she extrapolated with homeschoolers that unless the Lord chooses our curriculum, we choose in vain).

And today's closing thoughts from a woman I could listen to for days, if you want organized children, YOU HAVE to be ORGANIZED! If you want your children to respect you, you need to respect your husband and treat him respectfully.

This is so weighty and true, yet SIMPLE. It didn't come from me, but I liked it and wanted to pass it on.

When listening recently to a professional organizer, Florence Feldman, it was pointed out that if a person has a house that is a wreck, there is TOO MUCH IN IT. And, if they are UNWILLING to give up what is required to get the situation under control, they cannot be helped. There is a FRUSTRATING stand-still for her as the professional organizer because nothing can be done.

A standard she gave was that if a house has been organized and it comes undone in a week, there is too much in it. You know, we know these things but somehow still allow the IDOLATRY of stuff. We often violate the 1st Commandment about having no other gods before the true God. Stuff, control, ourselves...we can worship to the point we will argue and ignore God's word and His truth.

A final thought she shared--if there is a laundry problem in the home, there are TOO MANY CLOTHES. She got specific and said hand-me-downs are not necessary and she has known families with as many as 7 children who do not fool with the chaos of hand-me-downs (and they don't have a lot of money), yet their children are clothed and look nice. We buy into a falsehood in America that the clothes make the 'man' and we have more than we should, so time gets wasted organizing, cleaning, worrying about too much. Our kids only need a few items to wear that are "good clothes" and some for play.

Taking care of her mother who had dimentia for 6 years, Florence learned that clothes don't matter. She lived as one poor, and one rich. She has helped 1,000's of people get their lives in order, and I dare say she helped by touching their homes as well as their hearts!

God is a God of order, and disorder, which breeds chaos, is not of God.

Have you ever met someone and with just a little bit of information, could tell you were privileged to be in their company? Tonight at a homeschool meeting I had this experience. An organizer stood before us as a true Messianic believer, who casually called herself a saved Jew. As her story unfolded and she gave glory to God, admonishing us to LOVE our husbands regardless of their faults, we were all blessed. My notes fall very short of capturing her message-all 4 pages of them. One poignant thought that most of us know but need to be reminded of is this: a godly wife never speaks ill of her husband to anyone. This woman encouraged us that it's a woman who is mature with great self-control who can manage this, but it is essential to building up our homes rather than tearing them down.

What a blessing it was to sit at this woman's feet! I am encouraged and feel certain others were as well!

And RURTSY, I hope the drive was devine . Me and TD spent some time and $ at Wegman's. Missed you!

I was reading last night in Genesis about when Abraham was circumcised, at 99 years old. Then while reading Victor Journey Through the Bible this morning, the topic came up because we were seeing when the Israelites finally were able to enter the Promised Land, that they were circumcised.

It was interesting to explain to my rather young children this practice and what it stood for. I didn't go into the health benefits to a woman if her husband is cicumcised (much less cancer for women) because that would be introducing information they have no idea about, praise God. I find God's choosing this act to be a sign very interesting.

While studying the Israelites and Egypt, on more than one occasion have we tackled WHY the trip took so long. The kids want to know how they wandered when the route was so direct. It's been good to explain over and over that it was the COMPLAINING and INGRATITUDE of these people that kept them from reaching their goals.

How about us grown-ups? Do we complain in front of our children? Do we criticize others or situations in front of them? If we do, we can be assured they will learn those detrimental practices themselves.

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." ~God

This is what I would suggest if you ever end up dealing with lice. Like a peanut allergy, lice is something to dread acquiring. I've not dreaded much in my life, but these two things are on my list. Both have happened in our family. So what do you do?

1. Buy the Rid combo pack, use the shampoo on EVERYONE, then whomever had the lice worst,use the gel to do the first combing.
2. Invest in a nice comb-metal or even the Robi comb.
3. While mom does the head/s, dad can strip all the beds completely and remove all clothing that has been worn in recent days to the laundry room and start the wash
4. Vacuum the whole house, including the beds, and use the handheld device. Lice aren't invisible and they are wingless, thank God.
5. If it's a bad case, consider the pesticide spray for carpets.
6. Day 2, use Listerine and whichever comb you've invested in.
7. Continuing combing daily for the first 7 days, and washing everything that is worn, used, looked at, slept on. We have a new policy that removed clothing goes straight to the laundry room.
8. Where nit-picking occurs, vacuum afterward.
9. Wash hands when changing between sanitized locations/duties and unsanitized.
10. Wash with Rid again on day 5-7 (I forget what it says). I think Rid is better than Nix.
11. When week 2 hits, do the hair every other day or every 3rd day depending on how successful treatments have been. Try the olive oil overnight with a shower cap the day after the Rid is used.
12. Every 2-3 days treat with Listerine or olive oil and keep combing/nit picking even if you aren't finding anything.
13. Keep washing and vacuuming.
14. After 2 weeks, go to combing every 3-4 days, but keep the new habits of neurotic laundry habits. After 3 weeks of no troubles, it may be ok to just comb and check weekly.

I don't think I will ever be able to think the same about laundry or sheet changing/pillow washing. Thankfully just days before learning one of our children had lice I had washed all the bedding including pillows. This might have kept things at bay for the rest of us since we never did get it like that first case.

The Robi comb gets good epinions reviews so we're getting it as an extra checker. Better to be overvigilant than complacent if you ask me.

Also, whenever you've been out in public (ballet, classes etc), take backpacks etc straight to the laundry room for a few days. I also highly recommend keeping your house clean and straight all the time, because if a breakout comes and your house is a wreck, it might just push you over the edge. :)