Friday, Friday, Friday

What in the world did we do on Friday??? It was just yesterday--I should remember!!! ~sigh~

Today has been a good, productive day. Got all of the carpets and rugs vacuumed and all of the tile and wood wet-swiffered. Oh--our bathroom! I know I gave our bathroom the big scrub job yesterday (Friday, that is), so that's something. :-)

We have decided to try Switched on Schoolhouse for Katie this year; something that I think I may have declared I'd never do. 'At'll teach ya' to go declaring things. ;-) I've never liked the idea of my kids sitting in front of a screen for hours at a time to do school. I much prefer real books, you know? But in our search for more "in depth" curriculum for Kate & Joe I always find myself totally overwhelmed by the different options--all of which aver themselves to be the absolute BEST thing for your child. I realize that every family is different and home-life varies drastically from one to the next, so some schooling styles work great for some folks and not at all for others. I think Stacey Clark is an incredible home school mom. I stand astonished and amazed ;-) at everything she does with her kids. She's a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants kind of person and if something strikes her she's going to load up her brood that minute and rush off to the pasture or the garden center or the fabric store and immediately dive into a whole bunch of hands on projects that will teach whatever it is that popped into her head. I am soooooooooo not like that. If I'm going to plant a seed with my kids, I need a week to mentally prepare. HA! Okay, so maybe it's not that bad... but almost! Anyway, I've heard rave reviews about SoS from folks who have used it and I LOVE the idea that most of the brain work is done for me. I don't have to worry with lesson plans and all that--the whole year is plotted out and I get to set up the calendar around the days that we're travelling or taking a "field trip" or just loafing. :-) Well... I'll be able to do that once I get things figured out! I installed the programs onto the computer today and spent 2 or 3 hours fiddling around trying to figure out what I'm doing. It's all so overwhelming! My favorite thing so far is that it is so neat and organized. No books laying around the house, no scribbled up schedules and such, and--best of all--no crinkled paper! I've always had a thing about crinkled paper, right, Tammy? Ha! I'm a little intimidated by the whole thing still, but I'm sure it will get better as time goes on and I become more familiar with everything. That's what Emilee tells me, anyway. ;-)

So setting up Katie's school took up a good chunk of my day today. All for something she's not ready to start yet! She's got about 20 pages to go in her Maps & Geography book before we're going to let her start her "computer school," as she calls it. She'll continue on with her current spelling book until she completes it (along with the SoS) and I intend to have her do some handwriting sheets each day--maybe a little extra now that she will be writing so much less!

I also got my desk all cleaned out today. Cleaned out and cleaned off, that is. I love having a desk of my own, but I often wish I didn't. I so rarely actually USE a desk and 98% of the time it serves as nothing but a catch-all! But it looks great right now. We'll see how long it lasts. :-)

I have a confession to make. I started reading A.J. Tomlinson, by Lillie Duggar. I'm so ashamed! Not that I'm reading it... but that I'm reading it for the first time. ~gasp!~ I'm not sure my husband even knows that. He will surely be appalled. (Are you still glad you married me, James, or having second thoughts suddenly???) What's worse, I may have made the same confession on my blog 2 or 3 years ago! ~sigh~ I've started reading that book multiple times, but never have gotten very far into it. I can't figure out why--it's soooooo interesting! I read the first chapter last night and was so blessed again, just like all of the other times I've read that chapter! Ha! The deepest I've ever gone is about 75 pages in, I think. I love to read, so the hundreds and hundreds of pages shouldn't seem daunting to me... Who knows what my problem is--I just know I'm trying again. And now that I've got my very own little corner in our bedroom with a nice reading chair and a lamp maybe I'll be able to stick with it at least until page 100. Ha! I really do intend to follow all the way through this time. But I can't imagine ever starting that book any of the other times with any intention other than that, so... only time will tell!

I'm looking forward to church tomorrow! James and I are having differing reactions to our new pastor. James, after being the one up front for so long, is finding it hard to look at Brother Chris when he preaches for some reason! It's really strange to be sitting down with somebody else up there, you know? And he thinks it's because our last pastor (before James started pastoring again) would preach "at" you--stare at one person and never look away for a minute or more before switching to a new person. Ha! Used to intimidate me when it was my turn to be preached to, but I came to love it after a while. That particular pastor deeply loves his people and everything he says truly comes "from the heart." :-) Anyway, I think James is scared to look at Brother Chris for fear of being stared down or something! Ha! I, on the other hand, am suddenly getting so much out of our services! Ha! I know that must sound terrible (!!!), but I think it just has something to do with the new voice. I hear James' voice all the time, especially since he's not working a secular job and is home so much right now, and sometimes in church I have to really, really concentrate to make myself "get" what he's saying. Like how parents tune their kids out without knowing it and suddenly realize they've said "Mom" 87 times, you know?! (I have that issue, too, I'm afraid!) So now that we've got a new pastor with a new voice and a totally different "style" than James I'm finding it so easy to pay attention and really "get" what's going on, you know? Besides, other than Brother Sam for a couple of years in Texas, in all of my lifetime I've only ever had my Dad or my husband for a pastor. So there's something kind of exciting about a new pastor! I remember feeling the same way when Brother Sam came. It's just kind of cool! Not that I don't adore my Dad and my husband, of course... It's hard to explain! I'm just loving it. :-)

TOWN! That's what we did yesterday, we went to town. :-) We took Grandmother's mantle clock to a repair shop. It hasn't worked for years now, but the waiting period in Texas was a year and a half and we just never got around to having it done. I'm soooooo excited to think of it actually working again! I love to hear the chimes. It's just so homey and holds so many great memories. I remember listening to the clock chime at Grandmother's house every 15 minutes all night long on Christmas Eve--several years. And hearing it tick the hours away while working with Grandmother staining and sanding Granddad's wood in the living room. :-) And this clock has such a beautiful sound. I usually find noisy clocks to be irritating because they sound cheap and tinny, but this one has such good, rich tones. Just 8 weeks from now it should be sitting back on the mantle (also Grandmother's), keeping time and making musical memories for my kids all over again. Makes me very, very happy! :-) Now, if I could just find the key for it... :-S (Which "safe" place might I have put it that I haven't thought of yet???)