Catch 22

That's what it is. I WANT to be a better blogger, but I have NOTHING to blog So what's to do??? Ramble aimlessly, of course. If I can only get started I usually don't have any problem with that.

Tuesday was library day. Nothing new about that. Katie and Joe came away saying that they hit the jackpot this week... just like they do every week. The librarians think our kids are the greatest. One guy, Scott, even recommends books that he thinks we'd enjoy reading together as a family, like "The Great Piratical Rumbustification." How can you go wrong with a title like that?! I let the kids cut down on their school time that day since they had new books they were dying to get to.

Ah, yes. I was so envious of Emilee recently when she talked about how she had revamped her kids' school schedule and how it was working out so much better for all of them. I asked her to please share her secrets for making school last a little longer for kids who whizz through way too fast and need to have some more constructive learning time. She didn't have any good ideas for me. HA! That's not true of course, but most of all it got the wheels to turning and we've been able to add a few things to the kids' school day. Most significantly, they now have 30 minutes of typing lessons and 30 minutes of music practice. Katie works on her keyboard and tries to learn a new chorus each day that she can play for us in our evening devotions. Joe's music lessons right now consist of turning on some Cathedrals music (his new favorite thing to do anyway) and playing along on his guitar. Sam's electric drums have way too many functions and he's learned to use way too many of them already. So his music time usually consists of him setting it to some crazy jungle music then, instead of playing along, he stands up and dances to it, most often something that resembles the hula. But it keeps him busy and occupied, right?! Ha!

Yesterday... Nope, can't remember a thing. Last evening, however, we got a call from Jason saying there was going to be a realtor's tour up in the mountains this morning and that he'd arranged for our house to be one of the stops. So we did some cleaning, but I had done such a good job on Monday there really wasn't a lot of work involved. Wa-Hoo for Cleaning Day Mondays! :-)

The realtors were scheduled to to arrive sometime after 9:00 this morning, so we loaded up and went to Wal-Mart. Grabbed breakfast at the McDonald's there, then did our shopping and headed home. We took Charlie with us, of course, because you can't exactly leave a puppy locked in a box when people are coming to check out the house. Especially one who screams bloody murder the whole time. He's not been in the car very much and he just can't seem to relax at all. On our way home, he got sick. This is so not right. I love Charlie, but we are NOT the kind of people who can have a dog who gets car sick! Children and dogs are simply not allowed to get car sick around here--we do way too much traveling for that. He'll grow out of this, right? We just need to take him more often and let him get used to it. Right??? ~sigh~ Dumb dog. At least he has a nice, fluffy, freshly washed dog bed thanks to the trip to town today.

James spent the rest of the day getting ready for his Alabama trip and I helped the kids with school. I did very little sleeping last night (I don't know what's wrong with me--I just LAY THERE and can't fall asleep!), so I laid down with the cuddly poodle for a little while this afternoon. He'd had a rough morning and was ready for a nap, too. :-)

Brother Juan preached about sanctification and several other things tonight. He made some statements that really blessed me. I love church. :-)

We got word tonight that all of the realtors really liked the house and they think all we need is more exposure. So Jason is setting up an Open House for this Saturday. James didn't tell me that; I learned it from his post on Facebook. Gotta love marital communication, I tell ya'! ;-) Anyway, the general consensus is that we just need to get people INTO this house and it should sell easily enough. In other words, we have no new information because we already knew that. Ha! No, in all actuality, none of that matters in the big scheme of things. In God's time, He is able to sell this house at the drop of a hat--even if no real estate had sold in this area for 10 years. I appreciate the realtors' input, but we know it's in God's hands to work the miracles and, when He has accomplished His purposes, bring the right people to buy the house.

Tomorrow morning we take James to the airport, then stop by the store to pick up the things we need to party properly while he's away: more pizzas (James only bought three today... HA, I say), more popcorn, and soda. Albertson's has four 12-packs for $10 right now, so we're going to be set good! Ha! We haven't bought coke in quite a while because it just hasn't been on sale. That'll make our Cherry Coke and Root Beer taste extra good with our Totino's. First party is tomorrow night. Anybody want to come??? James seems to take offense to the fact that his family is so happy when he leaves. I tried to explain to him that we're not celebrating that he's gone... we're filling the Dad gap and trying to do all we can to have fun even though he's not here. I almost kept a straight face. Then the kids started cracking up and I was a goner. Ha! It's just what you're supposed to DO when one parent is away, you know?! My explanation really is at least partially true--you try to make it a special time when it's "just you" and the kids. He does the same thing when I'm away at Ladies' Retreat, he just doesn't like it very well when he's the one leaving and everybody's all chipper and looking forward to a great time.

And that's it. I'll try to get the camera out in the next few days. Maybe it'll help me blog better. Or maybe not...