Fly on the Wall - Aug. 8, 2005

Ok, so I have been tagged for a Fly on The Wall post. Actually, I like this idea and I think I am going to incorporate it weekly ... however, since each day is unique unto itself, I am going to do a different day each week. This week just happens to be on Monday.

I first saw the tag after midnight and the day was much a blur by that late hour and since TECHNICALLY I didn’t read it until today, I decided I would post about today.

I awoke from a dream full of church bells ringing. Church bells ringing? What is the significance of that ... well, it was my daughter’s alarm clock and my mind was incorporating the sound into my dream. Isn’t it funny how that happens? I knew it was 8:00 and time to get up and get the day started. Actually it was a very calm morning with everyone rolling out of bed and getting started with morning routines with no resistance ... which consists of making the bed, getting dressed, and straighten up the room until called for breakfast.

I helped my 15 yos get started making breakfast ... heating up biscuits and scrambling eggs. Meanwhile, I sorted laundry and started that ball rolling. By the time that breakfast was done, the bedrooms were straightened and everyone was ready for the day.

During breakfast, I talked with the children about our new FEP . . . Family Education Plan. There are routines that will be set in place, goals decided and plans made and expectations are going to be raised. I plan on turning over breakfast and lunch preparation to the children. There are enough of them that each would only have the responsibility once a week. The easiest meals, like cereal and sandwiches, will be saved for the youngest members of the family to prepare. They decided that they would prefer to do breakfast and lunch on the same day ... hey, makes the planning easier for me!

After breakfast, we all worked together on the after meal clean up jobs. Since I am making plans for the start of our FEP, the dining room table is covered with books, art supplies, papers, etc. It’s a bit chaotic. Right now, we are eating meals on a camp table in the kitchen and at the island. While they finished up the clean up, I typed out a To Do list for the day and assigned a few more jobs. We are in major clean up mode as we prepare for a new venture.

The boys got busy unpacking some boxes of stuff ... just stuff, this, that and the other, that I packed away while they were at camp. I couldn't stand the mess on the floor so I just went in with Rubbermaid containers and packed it all up until they could devote some time to putting it all away. They surprised me with how quickly they worked.

While they worked and the younger three played Duplos and the 14 yod was busy crafting in her room, I was able to continue entering books into my new book inventory software. By the end of the day, I had finished the last of the books in the living room, entering an additional 250 books today.

After the boys finished up three of the boxes, they took a small break and then started taking turns mowing the grass. They were able to complete the front yard and a bit of the backyard before it started raining. While they were doing that, my 14 yod cleaned out both refrigerators and straightened the pantry. The youngest three played outside in the sandbox. I continued with book inventory and laundry, occassionally taking a break to hit the random blog button. I also chatted with a friend about her son’s upcoming Eagle ceremony.

At the very end of the grass cutting session, everyone ate a light lunch and I read to them from Rascal. By that time, EyeWonder, a local PBS show was on so they watched that while I dozed on the couch. Then they watched an episode of Cyberchase and I started with the book inventory again.

I called the doctor to make an appointment for my 5 yos. His ear is infected and is draining and smelly! Yuck! I have tried all of my tricks and he is not improving so off to the doctor tomorrow. However, by the time I called, they had stopped taking calls for the day ... argh! OK, make a note to call first thing in the morning.

While I was busy with that, I noticed that my mom had called so I took time to return her call. She wanted to know what our plans were for the week. I said, "I am supposed to have plans??!?" LOL! She is coming over on Friday when we celebrate my 18 yod return from Romania ... and celebrate two birthdays that occurred while she was gone. I plan on keeping it as simple as possible!

Then another friend called to update me on a crisis that she is living through right now. We chatted for just a few minutes and then there were more phone calls that came in. A bit unusual for me to have so many phone calls.

I noticed it was getting late in the day so I assigned dinner prep to the 14 yod and encouraged the sons to come in and finish putting away the last two boxes of stuff. A bit of a glitch with that as I noticed they were not putting it away, just throwing it on top of some drawer units in their closet. A bit of a lecture from me and they applied their energy well the rest of the day.

While the daughter finished dinner, I put away the three loads of laundry from the day.

We sat down to dinner and I read to them again from Rascal. After meal clean up, I printed out a dinner meal plan and grocery list. This is a new thing for me ... Menus4Moms. We are going to give it a try for awhile. I need to free up my brain to work on some other projects. I also printed out some breakfast and lunch ideas for my children to use on their prep. days.

By this time, my husband was home. A quick hello and update on the day and he sat down to play yahtzee with the children while I went online to host my grace parenting chat ... where no one showed up! That’s OK, it’s just the summertime busy-ness.

Lots of work was done today but in between the children were very busy with other things ... playing chess, drawing, balloon sculpture, counting money, reading, card games, taking care of pets, visiting the neighbors, checking out new kittens, playing basketball, playing in the sandbox, playing with cars.

I was even able to finish a Mary Higgins Clark book that I borrowed from my oldest daughter ... not that great, very predictable. It was her first novel and I would like to get her most recent to compare and see if the writing has improved. I also was able to read the last chapter in Our Right to Drugs. Now that doesn’t mean that I am through with the book ... only begun. Sometimes, I like to read books from the end to the beginning. I like to see what the conclusions are first and then read backward to see how they came to the conclusion. I read magazines from the back to front also.

I ended my day with some time with the Lord. I have found that I am not an early morning who meets with the Lord to receive battle instructions for the day but rather I am the reflective person who likes to have that debriefing with the Lord at the end of the day. I love to be with Him, read His word, talk to Him, pray and go to bed with that sweet time in my heart and mind. I awake with it still echoing in me and I know that I am renewed for the day.

I have been reading in James and am being drawn to a study of wisdom, of God’s wisdom ... pure and gentle and peaceful. It seems to go hand in hand with my study of education (which by the way, I lost all of my notes to and am having to start over ... now what is the lesson in this, besides hit that save button ... what is God trying to teach me. I am thinking that I missed something the first go round and I am taking it a bit slower this time). I worked on that education study a bit tonight also.

I am ending my day by finishing up this post to my blog. I love the idea but will have to work on the style ... the whole post seems choppy and disconnected. But that’s ok ... it’s too late at night to rewrite anything.

So, here it is, My, in-the-raw, fly-on-the-wall, post.

-- Cynthia

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Comments

Aug. 9, 2005 - Untitled Comment

Posted by spunkyhomeschool

Sounds like a day pretty close to mine.

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Aug. 9, 2005 - I did it!!!

Posted by HipHSMama

WOW! you are busy...
I answered your Tag...I did not go into 'the deep' as you did, but I found a wonderful morsel the Lord was waiting to show me ;) Thanks for bringing it up!!!
:)Leslie

p.s. thanks for the link to menus4moms...signed up and I am looking at your chat site...I don't think I would have time, but it looks like fun/interesting/educational/helpful, etc.

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Aug. 13, 2005 - Loved the peek!

Posted by UnschoolnMa

It sounds like you guys got a lot done that day :)

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