@7:00 I thought I would journal this day, just to record it. This week we swing from the lazy days of summer into gear for the fall academic season. We aren't into high gear until next week, so this week is orientation week more or less.
Clover the cat came back this a.m! I got up early @5:30 and when I went to let the dog out, there he was! So that's a relief. Still wondering about Thumbelina though.
(I have been trying off and on all day to post a picture of Clover from my phone and I just can't seem to get it to work. Bah.)
9:00 Morning not shaping up as I would like. Got the kids up at 8, said prayers. Becky was in a rotten mood from the beginning (what's new?) Sean kept falling asleep; wouldn't sit up as I asked him to, to help stay awake.
Breakfast - Initially the first science video (University of Nottingham's Elements series) went well; but went on a bit too long. Saw a second one though that updated the info. Won't recount the bickering and complaining going on during it all.
Listened to Caedmon's Hymn in Old English. Had a spat so took a break, but break was frustrating too because I couldn't get into the shower and was feeling really angry at the kids. I wish I could not take every unkindness so personally. Typed out my feelings and prayed. Oh, now the shower is free.
11:00 a.m. Prayed and the shower helped a lot. Reconvened the kids. Sean went off to do his math homework, which I don't think he really did, maybe one problem. He resolved that after every task he was going to take a nap. He then proceed to lay down on the couch and fall asleep again. Sigh.
I asked Becky what she wanted to do for math. I said I just wanted to do a little gentle review. She said no, so we watched the very first section of the Geometry DVD and then I read a little from the textbook. Mostly she was paying attention to Clover, but we did talk a little. She asked why she didn't have a tutor. I said remember when Mrs. Zinn left you said you didn't want a tutor anymore because nobody would ever replace Mrs. Zinn? She said, boy was I a dumb 13 yo (or words to that effect). I said let's just try our original plan from last spring and see if it works. If it doesn't we can go to plan B. She asked if she had to do the science textbook from last year. I said no. We will still follow the order of topics and we might use some of the workbook sheets and experiments, but we'll pull from other sources. She liked that idea.
My plan for physical science (so she can finish it up and get credit for science and a lab) is to do the following:
1. Watch video explaining the topic
2. Write out vocabulary
3. Read something about the topic
4. Do an experiment and somehow document it.
Becky went off to take a shower while I was planning all this.
Now we are getting ready to go to lunch and school supply shopping.
3:00 Lunch and supplies shopping put people in a better mood. Came home and everybody did their own thing. Sean got on the computer to listen to Hooked on Classics - something he loves to hate. I went and read some more of my book and took a little nap. Becky made a new pencil case out of the duct tape we bought at the store.
I asked the kids which book they wanted to listen to first The Screwtape Letters or Mere Christianity. I think the idea of The Screwtape Letters kind of creeps Becky out so we went for Mere Christianity.
Becky and I talked about how she's learning Latin this year. She basically wants to self-study using Cambridge. Fine with me!
Sean's physical trainer should be here in 15 minutes. While he's working out, I plan to vacuum and dust bedrooms and clean my master bathroom.
7:30 p.m. Well, I did my chores, except I still need to scrub the sink and the shower. My wrists have been hurting lately. They are right now. Wonder if it is carpal tunnel?
According to our new family housekeeping list Sean's laundry day is supposed to be Saturday, but I noticed he really needed some clean clothes so I threw on a couple of loads for him.
Made a yummy egg, bacon, potato and cheddar cheese casserole for dinner. Had leftover salad with it with my own homemade creamy Italian salad dressing that is powerfully garlicky. I need some Scope!
Tomorrow Sean is going in with Rick to work where hopefully he'll work on his Algebra and History homework and get to spend some time with dad. Becky and I are going into Aquinas Learning. It is mentor orientation morning and Becky is babysitting the kids while the moms meet. I have to remember to 1) return library books/cds and 2) buy a lot of chicken. I signed up to bake chicken for 16 (or something like that, I had better check) for a homeless shelter our parish is working with. I have to deliver it early Wednesday morning.
Josh came home all excited. He was talking to the co-worker who is being promoted to general manager. Josh wants to become a permanent, instead of seasonal, worker so he really wants the job 'cashier'. Cashier seems to be more than just running the boat store there though. You actually are in charge of billing the clients of the marina for their slips and maintenance. So it is more like bookkeeper job plus running the store. They have actually been training him. So he is very hopeful he'll get the job, though they did put out an ad and they are interviewing people. I am saying a little prayer that he gets it. I think he'll be bummed if he doesn't. Anyway, Jeff said to Josh today that he definitely is the frontrunner for the slot.
Funny aside. They told Josh that he needed better handwriting. Apparently you have to still handwrite in this job. So Josh is working on writing more neatly. He used to write very neatly! But I think he got lazy since 11th grade, the last time I made him do copy work. I actually found an old penmanship book and gave it to him and he was actually grateful. I do think it is funny (well, not funny ha ha) how my kids handwriting regresses so quickly if they don't practice it. Rick has terrible, barely legible handwriting. I think they get it from him.
Well this day started off tense with grumpy teens and an overly sensitive mom, but it has gotten steadily better. I am feeling pretty good (except for my aching wrists).
Monday, August 31, 2015
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Where are my Cats?
My two outdoor cats have disappeared.
I haven't seen Thumbelina since Thursday afternoon. It is now Sunday. She has never, ever disappeared like this before. It all started with the Direct TV guy. Somehow we lost 1/4 the channels we were supposed to be getting. Two of channels were Rick's beloved NFL station and then BBC America (Dr Who!) was also on the fritz. Thursday was going to be my stay at home while repairmen come day. First the chimney sweeps guys came and then later in the day the Direct TV guy. The satellite dish is up on top of our screen porch. I didn't even think about how much it would spook Thumbelina that a strange man was putting a ladder against the house and banging around on the roof. She lives out there in her little cat house and spends most of her time sleeping on the wicker sofa. Anyway, I remember when I took the guy out to show him where the dish was, Thumbelina was out there. Later that night when I went to feed her, she was gone. I thought, oh dear, I bet the guy spooked her. She is crazy afraid of everything. But I thought she'd show up at least by the next morning for food. But she didn't. Then I started thinking. . . early Tuesday morning I saw a fox running across our lawn into the little woods at back. We've had fox around here for years though and the cats never had a problem. But I do wonder if Thumbelina didn't go hide in the woods and the fox got her. I didn't hear any screeching or fighting, but then I wasn't listening. I've gone out looking for her but she's just vanished.
Well, last night Clover didn't come in to eat. The others in the family swear they saw him last night, but I think they are misremembering because I looked for him to feed him and he wasn't around. This morning he did not show up for breakfast. Now, he is a wandering kitty and he could just be up to his old shenanigans. Once he was gone for a full two days. Usually, though he just misses one meal and he hasn't really done that in a while. As Rick says, we are still holding out hope, but I think it is strange that he's missing right after Thumbelina.
I haven't seen Thumbelina since Thursday afternoon. It is now Sunday. She has never, ever disappeared like this before. It all started with the Direct TV guy. Somehow we lost 1/4 the channels we were supposed to be getting. Two of channels were Rick's beloved NFL station and then BBC America (Dr Who!) was also on the fritz. Thursday was going to be my stay at home while repairmen come day. First the chimney sweeps guys came and then later in the day the Direct TV guy. The satellite dish is up on top of our screen porch. I didn't even think about how much it would spook Thumbelina that a strange man was putting a ladder against the house and banging around on the roof. She lives out there in her little cat house and spends most of her time sleeping on the wicker sofa. Anyway, I remember when I took the guy out to show him where the dish was, Thumbelina was out there. Later that night when I went to feed her, she was gone. I thought, oh dear, I bet the guy spooked her. She is crazy afraid of everything. But I thought she'd show up at least by the next morning for food. But she didn't. Then I started thinking. . . early Tuesday morning I saw a fox running across our lawn into the little woods at back. We've had fox around here for years though and the cats never had a problem. But I do wonder if Thumbelina didn't go hide in the woods and the fox got her. I didn't hear any screeching or fighting, but then I wasn't listening. I've gone out looking for her but she's just vanished.
 |
| Thumbelina being introduced to our puppy Tillie (6 years ago) |
Well, last night Clover didn't come in to eat. The others in the family swear they saw him last night, but I think they are misremembering because I looked for him to feed him and he wasn't around. This morning he did not show up for breakfast. Now, he is a wandering kitty and he could just be up to his old shenanigans. Once he was gone for a full two days. Usually, though he just misses one meal and he hasn't really done that in a while. As Rick says, we are still holding out hope, but I think it is strange that he's missing right after Thumbelina.
I keep wandering out in the yard. Trying to poke around in the woods, looking for clues.
Where, oh where are my kitties?
I think it would be ironic (probably not the word) that Milky, the one I have been wanting to give away, becomes our only cat. She's an indoor cat, so she doesn't have to worry about foxes (if it was a fox). She's such a pain but actually she's mellowing. The funny thing is she had finally stopped fighting with the other cats and they all were starting to get along. And now this.
Clover is our favorite. He is so handsome and lithe. So full of confidence and curiosity. He has so much personality. And I really thought he was a brave warrior who could take on the world. I remember one time, more than a year ago, hearing him meow at the front door. This was at night. So I went and opened the door and there he was sitting, not frantic or frightened in the least, and behind him a few yards out where I couldn't see because it was dark, I heard a fox barking right at us. I thought, whoa Clover, you are some cat.
 |
| Thumbelina kind of blended in with our family room couch. |
Anyway, maybe Clover will come back. I can't find a photo of Clover to put up here. Probably Becky has some. Clover is officially her cat. We've only owned Clover for a couple of years, but we had Thumbelina for 12 years.
I'm worried and sad.
Gregor the Overlander - Book 35
My 14 year old loves this fantasy series by Suzanne Collins of The Hunger Games fame. I told her I thought I would read some young adult books over vacation so she suggested I try the first book in the series. Gregor the Overlander is about an 11 year old boy named Gregor (of course) who, with his 2 year old sister Boots, falls through an old vent in his apartment building laundry room and into another world; the world under New York City. A world of pale humans with violet eyes, giant roaches, bats and worst of all giant rats.
Unbeknownst to Gregor, he is the prophesied warrior who will rescue the Underlanders from the vicious rats. Also unbeknownst to Gregor is the fact that his father, who disappeared while Boots was still in utero, has been trapped in the Underland for the last two years.
I thought this was a great read. I loved the way the author portrayed the relationship between Gregor and his little sister. She obviously knows what two year olds are like. Highly enjoyable, not too gruesome and not as intense as The Hunger Games. Gregor is a real hero.
Two thumbs up!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Unbeknownst to Gregor, he is the prophesied warrior who will rescue the Underlanders from the vicious rats. Also unbeknownst to Gregor is the fact that his father, who disappeared while Boots was still in utero, has been trapped in the Underland for the last two years.
I thought this was a great read. I loved the way the author portrayed the relationship between Gregor and his little sister. She obviously knows what two year olds are like. Highly enjoyable, not too gruesome and not as intense as The Hunger Games. Gregor is a real hero.
Two thumbs up!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Stymied by Technology - but I will not be defeated!
I hate technology. I am trying to get with the 21st Century but I am very limited in my ability to adjust. I wish I was like Sue Elvis who finds all this techy stuff fascinating!
I tend to find it all very bewildering and overly complicated. My head can't seem to take in the details.
I used to put pictures on this blog, but then I went from having a digital camera with some little thingamajig that you plugged into the side of my old laptop that imported the photos. Someone taught me how to do that and I could for a while. But then I lost my camera somewhere; spilled an entire glass on water on my laptop. So I got a new laptop and now I have a phone that takes pictures, but because they are different I have yet to figure out how to get photos on here. I can get them to facebook but not here. I am sure it is pretty simple, but it involves change and just a little more detail than my poor little head can't seem to wrap itself around. At some point when for mysterious reasons my brain suddenly can take in the new info, someone will show me how and it may stick. But that might not happen for a very long time.
Yesterday, I was trying to be organized and put all the dates for the coming academic year into the calendar on my laptop. I thought I was using google calendar like I did last year. The format was a little different but I just assumed that google had somehow updated it (they are forever always freaking updating every thing!). One of my lovely children (I think it was Hannah) had decluttered my computers 'desktop' (is that the right term?) and I think instead of having google calendar still up on my home screen, she accidentally put up the icloud calendar which I think is a bonus thing Apple just gives you so you'll use their product. Anyway, it seems like a find calendar system, but when I went to try to sync it to the kids' calendar (something I never did last year but kept thinking I should) we discovered it was hopelessly tanged up! Becky got it alright but for some reason Sean could not and in fact things kept getting worse the more we tried to fix it, because it kept confusing one of Rick's email accounts with Sean's!!!! We have no idea why. So after all, the child who really truly needs support in organizing himself, isn't synced up. Technology is supposed to help us right? Not force us to spend many frustrating hours trying to figure out stuff. I kept thinking - if we just had an old fashioned pencil and paper planner, we'd be done by now!
Sean struggles to read for sustained periods of time. Since he has a honking huge American History textbook that he has to read this year, I wanted to get him an audio of it somehow. I think I still can. I joined an organization for the dyslexic (joined on line), paid the dues, but they needed proof of his disability. So I emailed his doctor so she could send in proof, but she was on vacation so it all took time and you seem to automatically time out if you don't get it in within 14 days. Anyway, I have to deal with this mess, now to see if they got it, if it is accepted, and then if they have the darn thing on audio. If that doesn't work, it might be that I can go someplace to get the whole textbook scanned into pdf format and then I can get an app that will read it. Hopefully. I am scared to give the textbook (which I had to buy used on Amazon -they are rare!) to a company like Staples to be properly scanned. That seems like a huge task that could easily get screwed up. Then I need to have a good working app that actually functions and doesn't crash or do anything crazy. But technology is supposed to help, right? You are not supposed to spend weeks trying to access it, right?
Technology makes life easier.
Or maybe I am wrong. Maybe it only looks easy when everyone else does it and seems to readily get a handle on it all?
Still more daunting technical stuff. This year, I decided would be the year we would join the world in using on line classes. I have tried this before and never been very successful at all. But we are trying again. So I've got to figure out what the heck Moodle is and all that sort of thing. And why I have yet to receive any info from my Masters program on how to set up for their classes. And lots of detail-y stuff that I don't understand and are like a foreign language to me.
Someone commenting that it is like eating an elephant. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
So I shall persevere. I just need more patience. One bite at a time.
Update! I guess technology can be a good thing!
I tend to find it all very bewildering and overly complicated. My head can't seem to take in the details.
I used to put pictures on this blog, but then I went from having a digital camera with some little thingamajig that you plugged into the side of my old laptop that imported the photos. Someone taught me how to do that and I could for a while. But then I lost my camera somewhere; spilled an entire glass on water on my laptop. So I got a new laptop and now I have a phone that takes pictures, but because they are different I have yet to figure out how to get photos on here. I can get them to facebook but not here. I am sure it is pretty simple, but it involves change and just a little more detail than my poor little head can't seem to wrap itself around. At some point when for mysterious reasons my brain suddenly can take in the new info, someone will show me how and it may stick. But that might not happen for a very long time.
Yesterday, I was trying to be organized and put all the dates for the coming academic year into the calendar on my laptop. I thought I was using google calendar like I did last year. The format was a little different but I just assumed that google had somehow updated it (they are forever always freaking updating every thing!). One of my lovely children (I think it was Hannah) had decluttered my computers 'desktop' (is that the right term?) and I think instead of having google calendar still up on my home screen, she accidentally put up the icloud calendar which I think is a bonus thing Apple just gives you so you'll use their product. Anyway, it seems like a find calendar system, but when I went to try to sync it to the kids' calendar (something I never did last year but kept thinking I should) we discovered it was hopelessly tanged up! Becky got it alright but for some reason Sean could not and in fact things kept getting worse the more we tried to fix it, because it kept confusing one of Rick's email accounts with Sean's!!!! We have no idea why. So after all, the child who really truly needs support in organizing himself, isn't synced up. Technology is supposed to help us right? Not force us to spend many frustrating hours trying to figure out stuff. I kept thinking - if we just had an old fashioned pencil and paper planner, we'd be done by now!
Sean struggles to read for sustained periods of time. Since he has a honking huge American History textbook that he has to read this year, I wanted to get him an audio of it somehow. I think I still can. I joined an organization for the dyslexic (joined on line), paid the dues, but they needed proof of his disability. So I emailed his doctor so she could send in proof, but she was on vacation so it all took time and you seem to automatically time out if you don't get it in within 14 days. Anyway, I have to deal with this mess, now to see if they got it, if it is accepted, and then if they have the darn thing on audio. If that doesn't work, it might be that I can go someplace to get the whole textbook scanned into pdf format and then I can get an app that will read it. Hopefully. I am scared to give the textbook (which I had to buy used on Amazon -they are rare!) to a company like Staples to be properly scanned. That seems like a huge task that could easily get screwed up. Then I need to have a good working app that actually functions and doesn't crash or do anything crazy. But technology is supposed to help, right? You are not supposed to spend weeks trying to access it, right?
Technology makes life easier.
Or maybe I am wrong. Maybe it only looks easy when everyone else does it and seems to readily get a handle on it all?
Still more daunting technical stuff. This year, I decided would be the year we would join the world in using on line classes. I have tried this before and never been very successful at all. But we are trying again. So I've got to figure out what the heck Moodle is and all that sort of thing. And why I have yet to receive any info from my Masters program on how to set up for their classes. And lots of detail-y stuff that I don't understand and are like a foreign language to me.
Someone commenting that it is like eating an elephant. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
So I shall persevere. I just need more patience. One bite at a time.
Update! I guess technology can be a good thing!
Monday, August 24, 2015
Minimilist Monday - 8/24
I saw this article in Seton Magazine and even though I am not the biggest fan of Seton's curriculum for my family (but no judging here! If it works for you!), I do enjoy some of their articles. I thought this article, 10 Sunday Night Secrets to a Successful Week was pretty good. Of course my 10 Sunday Night Secrets are not quite the same as the author has listed. Stuff like this really has to be individualized. But I think it is important to think out what 10 things would help get a smooth start on the week. So here is my take on the list.
10 Sunday Night Secrets to a Successful Week (with my own commentary following each of the suggested items).
1. Clean out the fridge.
This one doesn't work for me. I like to clean out my fridge on trash nights, which are either Monday or Thursday nights. So it usually happens on one of those nights of the week. For me the 'secret' would be to get recycling out to the curb on Sunday night. I hate it when we forget to do it! And we seem to forget pretty often.
2. Straighten Up Your Bedroom
Nah. This doesn't work for me either! I tend to clean my bedroom the day I vacuum and dust the upstairs which never happens on a Sunday night. However, I do often like to throw on a load of laundry on Sunday evenings. I like to know Rick has a closet full of clean office clothes for the week. And I like to know that I have clean clothes too! The kids are all old enough to do their own laundry but it doesn't hurt to remind them, if I think they've gone rather too long between laundry days. Actually, I usually try to do Rick's and my laundry earlier in the weekend (often Fridays) but sometimes I get distracted or forget, so throwing a load on or finishing up the laundry is a good thing to do on Sunday evenings.
3. Prep Monday night's dinner
Yes, this one works for me. I either want to prep Monday night's dinner or at least have some sort of a plan. The plan could be a) slow cooker meal that I start in the morning b) something really quick like omelets or tacos 3) leftovers from Sunday night's dinner. Mondays are like this because we have AHG meetings late on Monday afternoons (2 or 3 times a month) so I don't have a lot of time or energy to cook when I get into the house around 5:30 p.m.
4. Check your calendar for the coming week
Hmm. I do this in a sort of piecemeal way. Sometimes at breakfast on Sunday mornings or sometimes at night when we say prayers, I give everyone a debriefing about what is coming up in terms of appointments or changes to the usual schedule. But usually, I sit and actually look at my calendar and plug things in to it on Monday mornings before everyone else gets up.
5. Make Your Lists
I do like to make 'to do' lists. However, at night I am pretty tired. Again, I tend to make lists in the a.m. while drinking coffee and everyone else is asleep.
6. Set Phone Alarms
I have never in my life set a phone alarm. I am not going to start now. More important for me is to remember to say family prayers. As the kids get older this sometimes gets overlooked which upsets me greatly.
7. Empty Dishwasher
The last thing I do before I go up stairs to bed is to run the dishwasher. I empty it in the morning.
8. Prep for breakfast
I only do this if I am making overnight slow cooker oatmeal. Otherwise, there's nothing to prep. For me, it is more important to make sure the kitchen is clean. That probably isn't an issue for others, but I get tired at night (have I mentioned that?) and I forget to do it or to make others do it. We just don't see it! So I definitely need to remind myself to make that effort Sunday night, so that Monday morning I don't come down to a mess.
9. Relax for one hour before bed
This made me chuckle. I believe this is the difference between Type A personalities and Type B like mine. I have never in my life felt it necessary to list relaxing on a to do list! Isn't that kinda weird? I mean do you check off the list that you have relaxed for one hour? Does it have to be exactly one hour? My problem is too much relaxing! So my list would be don't sit down until you get the important stuff done!
10. Go to bed early
Again, not something I have to list out for myself. I often go to bed before everybody else! I am a morning person in night owl country! For me it is more important to remind everyone else to go to bed so they won't be so grumpy when it is time to get up in the morning! This means taking their electronics away from them such as ipads and ipods.
So my 10 Sunday Night/Monday Morning Secrets to a Successful Week are:
1. Get the recycling out.
2. Make sure everyone has clean laundry for the week.
3. Plan for Monday night's dinner.
4. Check my calendar at some point on Sunday or early Monday.
5. Make daily to do lists in a.m. over coffee.
6. Gather for evening family prayer.
7. Run the dishwasher before going to bed.
8. Make sure the kitchen is clean.
9. Get the above recycling, laundry, and kitchen done before sitting down to relax.
10. Make sure kids get to bed at a decent time (no electronics).
10 Sunday Night Secrets to a Successful Week (with my own commentary following each of the suggested items).
1. Clean out the fridge.
This one doesn't work for me. I like to clean out my fridge on trash nights, which are either Monday or Thursday nights. So it usually happens on one of those nights of the week. For me the 'secret' would be to get recycling out to the curb on Sunday night. I hate it when we forget to do it! And we seem to forget pretty often.
2. Straighten Up Your Bedroom
Nah. This doesn't work for me either! I tend to clean my bedroom the day I vacuum and dust the upstairs which never happens on a Sunday night. However, I do often like to throw on a load of laundry on Sunday evenings. I like to know Rick has a closet full of clean office clothes for the week. And I like to know that I have clean clothes too! The kids are all old enough to do their own laundry but it doesn't hurt to remind them, if I think they've gone rather too long between laundry days. Actually, I usually try to do Rick's and my laundry earlier in the weekend (often Fridays) but sometimes I get distracted or forget, so throwing a load on or finishing up the laundry is a good thing to do on Sunday evenings.
3. Prep Monday night's dinner
Yes, this one works for me. I either want to prep Monday night's dinner or at least have some sort of a plan. The plan could be a) slow cooker meal that I start in the morning b) something really quick like omelets or tacos 3) leftovers from Sunday night's dinner. Mondays are like this because we have AHG meetings late on Monday afternoons (2 or 3 times a month) so I don't have a lot of time or energy to cook when I get into the house around 5:30 p.m.
4. Check your calendar for the coming week
Hmm. I do this in a sort of piecemeal way. Sometimes at breakfast on Sunday mornings or sometimes at night when we say prayers, I give everyone a debriefing about what is coming up in terms of appointments or changes to the usual schedule. But usually, I sit and actually look at my calendar and plug things in to it on Monday mornings before everyone else gets up.
5. Make Your Lists
I do like to make 'to do' lists. However, at night I am pretty tired. Again, I tend to make lists in the a.m. while drinking coffee and everyone else is asleep.
6. Set Phone Alarms
I have never in my life set a phone alarm. I am not going to start now. More important for me is to remember to say family prayers. As the kids get older this sometimes gets overlooked which upsets me greatly.
7. Empty Dishwasher
The last thing I do before I go up stairs to bed is to run the dishwasher. I empty it in the morning.
8. Prep for breakfast
I only do this if I am making overnight slow cooker oatmeal. Otherwise, there's nothing to prep. For me, it is more important to make sure the kitchen is clean. That probably isn't an issue for others, but I get tired at night (have I mentioned that?) and I forget to do it or to make others do it. We just don't see it! So I definitely need to remind myself to make that effort Sunday night, so that Monday morning I don't come down to a mess.
9. Relax for one hour before bed
This made me chuckle. I believe this is the difference between Type A personalities and Type B like mine. I have never in my life felt it necessary to list relaxing on a to do list! Isn't that kinda weird? I mean do you check off the list that you have relaxed for one hour? Does it have to be exactly one hour? My problem is too much relaxing! So my list would be don't sit down until you get the important stuff done!
10. Go to bed early
Again, not something I have to list out for myself. I often go to bed before everybody else! I am a morning person in night owl country! For me it is more important to remind everyone else to go to bed so they won't be so grumpy when it is time to get up in the morning! This means taking their electronics away from them such as ipads and ipods.
So my 10 Sunday Night/Monday Morning Secrets to a Successful Week are:
1. Get the recycling out.
2. Make sure everyone has clean laundry for the week.
3. Plan for Monday night's dinner.
4. Check my calendar at some point on Sunday or early Monday.
5. Make daily to do lists in a.m. over coffee.
6. Gather for evening family prayer.
7. Run the dishwasher before going to bed.
8. Make sure the kitchen is clean.
9. Get the above recycling, laundry, and kitchen done before sitting down to relax.
10. Make sure kids get to bed at a decent time (no electronics).
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Family Shoes - Book 33 and The Heart of the Family - Book 34
I decided to combine these book reviews because I wound up reading the books at the same time over my vacation week (well, I read one in the a.m. and the other before bed) and I was struck by their similarities and differences.
Family Shoes by Noel Streatfield is part of her 'Shoes' series of children's novels. All the novels (the ones I've read) revolve around a poor family in England just after World War II who have talented children who long to dance or act. The big plot point in each novel is how the children wind up getting the schooling they need to develop their craft while dealing with severe money shortages. Family Shoes fits this mold. The family in this novel are the Bells: Reverend Alex Bell, his wife Cathy and their four children Paul, Jane, Ginnie and Angus. Rev. Alex Bell is a poor vicar at St. Mark's church in a poor neighborhood in London. The parents and children all love one another and the story takes us through about a year in their lives as they deal with the sometimes heartbreaking frustrations of having ambition and talent but no money. The atmosphere of the book is warm and loving, funny and engrossing. A lovely, cozy read.
The Heart of the Family by Elizabeth Goudge is the last of the Eliot Trilogy. The Eliot family's queen matron is Lucilla who has raised her grandchildren at Damerosehay, her country estate by the sea. David is her beloved grandchild, now a successful Shakespearean actor, who has suffered terrible emotional damage from World War II. Her other children are her spinsterish, clumsy but truehearted daughter Margaret who takes care of her, her son Hillary who is the local Anglican priest and her son George, a retired general who runs the nearby Herb of Grace Inn with his wife, Nadine and with whom has five children. David has two young children Meg, whom he dotes upon, Robin, a little 2 year old boy, and his wife Sally is expecting their third.
The Goudge novel is also set after World War II but this family isn't impoverished, though they have suffered deprivation and anxiety because of the war.
Certain similarities struck me as I read these two books. First, both were written by popular British women authors who wrote after World War II. Both books focused on families getting along. Both dealt with conflicts the oldest boy is having over what he felt his vocation was to be vs. fulfilling parental (or grandparental) expectations. In Family Shoes, Paul's grandfather wants his grandson to come into the wool business with him. This is a lucrative business and if Paul agrees to follow in his grandfather's footsteps, he'll be given an allowance to help support his family. However, Paul has always wanted to be a doctor. Becoming a doctor though requires many years of an expensive education. In The Heart of the Family, Ben, the oldest son of George and Nadine, is meant to be an artist. He is a painter, but his parents fear that will lead only to poverty so they want very much for him to go into the Foreign Office. In The Heart of the Family though, we also have another of George's son who wants to be a doctor as well. So in both books there is exposition on why both these characters are drawn to the medical field.
In both books we jump around from character to character seeing part of the story through each of their eyes. In Family Shoes we often see things from Paul's perspective, or Jane's or Cathy's or Ginnie's. In The Heart of the Family we see it from David's, Sally's, Lucilla's, Tommy's and often through Sebastian who is a new character to the third book of the trilogy.
Another similarity that occurred to me is the reliance of a womanly housekeeper type that the family relies upon for common sense and folk wisdom when they are too overwrought to see things clear. Especially in the Heart of the Family, which is a much more religious book and where every character is always thinking everything to death practically (except Goudge writes so compellingly it never quite goes over the edge into pretentiousness or melodrama), the reliance on Mrs. Wilkes is important. A bigger portion of the plot and story goes to Mrs. Gage the housekeeper in Family Shoes. But she serves much the same purpose as Mrs. Wilkes does -a grounding force, wise from experience.
Even though Family Shoes is about a family whose father is a vicar they never talk about going to church, that I recall. Both books refer to the pastor having to write sermons but there is nary a reference to Sunday services when talking about normal life. It seems odd to me. Family Shoes has a couple of biblical references, including the name of their pet cocker spaniel, Esau, but other than that, it is mostly about being nice. The Heart of the Family is far more profound spiritually with many references to scripture and even to saints like Augustine. And there is prayer and pondering about life and its meaning, its creator and life beyond this mortal one. Of course, The Heart of the Family is written for adults, and Family Shoes for children.
I loved rereading Family Shoes. I read it a long time ago as a little girl and the only thing I remembered about it for years was that it was about a family living in an old vicarage who had a dog named Esau. It was lovely reading it again and reacquainting myself with the Bell family.
I enjoy The Heart of the Family, but I have to admit, I enjoyed the first two books in the trilogy more. I liked the idea of Sebastian and how he played off of David's character and the conflict that lay therein, but his instant intimacy with the family and the long philosophical discussions that were rather ethereal, and almost of a telepathic nature at times, didn't convince me. I found it a bit strained. However, I am glad I read the whole trilogy. All together they are a profoundly beautiful exploration of family, sin and faithfulness.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Family Shoes by Noel Streatfield is part of her 'Shoes' series of children's novels. All the novels (the ones I've read) revolve around a poor family in England just after World War II who have talented children who long to dance or act. The big plot point in each novel is how the children wind up getting the schooling they need to develop their craft while dealing with severe money shortages. Family Shoes fits this mold. The family in this novel are the Bells: Reverend Alex Bell, his wife Cathy and their four children Paul, Jane, Ginnie and Angus. Rev. Alex Bell is a poor vicar at St. Mark's church in a poor neighborhood in London. The parents and children all love one another and the story takes us through about a year in their lives as they deal with the sometimes heartbreaking frustrations of having ambition and talent but no money. The atmosphere of the book is warm and loving, funny and engrossing. A lovely, cozy read.
The Heart of the Family by Elizabeth Goudge is the last of the Eliot Trilogy. The Eliot family's queen matron is Lucilla who has raised her grandchildren at Damerosehay, her country estate by the sea. David is her beloved grandchild, now a successful Shakespearean actor, who has suffered terrible emotional damage from World War II. Her other children are her spinsterish, clumsy but truehearted daughter Margaret who takes care of her, her son Hillary who is the local Anglican priest and her son George, a retired general who runs the nearby Herb of Grace Inn with his wife, Nadine and with whom has five children. David has two young children Meg, whom he dotes upon, Robin, a little 2 year old boy, and his wife Sally is expecting their third.
The Goudge novel is also set after World War II but this family isn't impoverished, though they have suffered deprivation and anxiety because of the war.
Certain similarities struck me as I read these two books. First, both were written by popular British women authors who wrote after World War II. Both books focused on families getting along. Both dealt with conflicts the oldest boy is having over what he felt his vocation was to be vs. fulfilling parental (or grandparental) expectations. In Family Shoes, Paul's grandfather wants his grandson to come into the wool business with him. This is a lucrative business and if Paul agrees to follow in his grandfather's footsteps, he'll be given an allowance to help support his family. However, Paul has always wanted to be a doctor. Becoming a doctor though requires many years of an expensive education. In The Heart of the Family, Ben, the oldest son of George and Nadine, is meant to be an artist. He is a painter, but his parents fear that will lead only to poverty so they want very much for him to go into the Foreign Office. In The Heart of the Family though, we also have another of George's son who wants to be a doctor as well. So in both books there is exposition on why both these characters are drawn to the medical field.
In both books we jump around from character to character seeing part of the story through each of their eyes. In Family Shoes we often see things from Paul's perspective, or Jane's or Cathy's or Ginnie's. In The Heart of the Family we see it from David's, Sally's, Lucilla's, Tommy's and often through Sebastian who is a new character to the third book of the trilogy.
Another similarity that occurred to me is the reliance of a womanly housekeeper type that the family relies upon for common sense and folk wisdom when they are too overwrought to see things clear. Especially in the Heart of the Family, which is a much more religious book and where every character is always thinking everything to death practically (except Goudge writes so compellingly it never quite goes over the edge into pretentiousness or melodrama), the reliance on Mrs. Wilkes is important. A bigger portion of the plot and story goes to Mrs. Gage the housekeeper in Family Shoes. But she serves much the same purpose as Mrs. Wilkes does -a grounding force, wise from experience.
Even though Family Shoes is about a family whose father is a vicar they never talk about going to church, that I recall. Both books refer to the pastor having to write sermons but there is nary a reference to Sunday services when talking about normal life. It seems odd to me. Family Shoes has a couple of biblical references, including the name of their pet cocker spaniel, Esau, but other than that, it is mostly about being nice. The Heart of the Family is far more profound spiritually with many references to scripture and even to saints like Augustine. And there is prayer and pondering about life and its meaning, its creator and life beyond this mortal one. Of course, The Heart of the Family is written for adults, and Family Shoes for children.
I loved rereading Family Shoes. I read it a long time ago as a little girl and the only thing I remembered about it for years was that it was about a family living in an old vicarage who had a dog named Esau. It was lovely reading it again and reacquainting myself with the Bell family.
I enjoy The Heart of the Family, but I have to admit, I enjoyed the first two books in the trilogy more. I liked the idea of Sebastian and how he played off of David's character and the conflict that lay therein, but his instant intimacy with the family and the long philosophical discussions that were rather ethereal, and almost of a telepathic nature at times, didn't convince me. I found it a bit strained. However, I am glad I read the whole trilogy. All together they are a profoundly beautiful exploration of family, sin and faithfulness.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Consider This - Book 32
Consider This; Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition by Karen Glass was a great book to read this summer. Supposedly, I was reading it with a group from the Catholic Relaxed Homeschoolers facebook page, but really only one person seemed to read the book consistently throughout the summer (other than me!). I am very grateful to her! It was a good exercise, to read it slowly, a chapter a week, and then contemplate just what Glass was saying. It really made me think deeply about education; what it is, what it is for, and how our approach to it throughout history has changed and shifted. Charlotte Mason is often treated as being somehow outside what we consider classical education but Glass shows us just how inaccurate that is. Especially in homeschooling circles, 'classical education' usually means the Well-Trained Mind variety based on Dorothy L. Sayers essay The Lost Tools of Learning. But really Sayers' take on it was almost an off-handed reflection on how certain aspects of the Trivium might correspond with the then current thinking of childhood development. The fact that this has come to define our picture of classical education shows us how off the mark we are.
Glass gives a good run down of the philosophical history of education. Charlotte Mason read deeply from the Ancients to her present day all the wisdom she could find on education. She took the defining principles of classical education and molded them into what she thought best for children of her own time and place. The most illuminating aspect of this book for was the thorough explanation of synthetic learning versus analytical thinking. That is really where Charlotte Mason and classical education are in harmony. Or rather Charlotte Mason understood the importance of synthetic learning in contrast to the modern view which breaks things down into subjects and jumps to analysis as the supreme and only really important goal of learning.
I found this book to be deeply refreshing and inspiring. It was not long or hard to read but it is very thought provoking in a positive way. So it was good to savor it over the course of the summer. It made me think through why I am doing what I am doing with my own homeschool students.
Glass does get a tiny bit snarky about Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman and I think she misrepresents his thinking a bit, but other than that one flaw, I just loved this book.
Two thumbs up! For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Glass gives a good run down of the philosophical history of education. Charlotte Mason read deeply from the Ancients to her present day all the wisdom she could find on education. She took the defining principles of classical education and molded them into what she thought best for children of her own time and place. The most illuminating aspect of this book for was the thorough explanation of synthetic learning versus analytical thinking. That is really where Charlotte Mason and classical education are in harmony. Or rather Charlotte Mason understood the importance of synthetic learning in contrast to the modern view which breaks things down into subjects and jumps to analysis as the supreme and only really important goal of learning.
I found this book to be deeply refreshing and inspiring. It was not long or hard to read but it is very thought provoking in a positive way. So it was good to savor it over the course of the summer. It made me think through why I am doing what I am doing with my own homeschool students.
Glass does get a tiny bit snarky about Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman and I think she misrepresents his thinking a bit, but other than that one flaw, I just loved this book.
Two thumbs up! For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Pep Rally Week
I have been considering doing something different this year. I think the week after we return from our Beach trip we'll focus on gearing up for the formal start of academic study. I'd like it to be something that rallies our energy and optimism. The week after, we can ease into our new routine so that by the week starting 9/7 we are ready to launch. My own classes start 9/7, the homeschool classes in chemistry and history start the following day and Homeschool Connections online classes in computer languages and speech and communication start 9/8 and 9/9.
Things we could do:
Things we could do:
- pick a patron saint - maybe just one for all of us or each pick a particular one or both!
- watch this doodle video of the first chapter in The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
- ponder what learning is and how to best get ourselves the openness of heart needed to work well and hard this academic year.
- a real focus on how to organize ourselves. Sean really needs more independence. Becky is naturally independent but Sean struggles and it frustrates him - so I need to be a good mom and help him help himself.
- one of those organizational things is to figure out how to get his history textbook on audio.
- Finish organizing myself for the coming year. Categories include: Latin, Theology, Research, AHG, Religious Education, Homemaking
- I want to try a new thing - using google calendar jointly with the kids. They each have a device they can use; what to me sounds like it would be really useful is anyone of us can enter a date and time for something and the others will be notified. That seems super helpful.
- It would be nice to go to a daily mass at some point during the week and also to confession on Saturday (8/29)
- brainstorm to come up with the best daily routine that is optimum for Sean's depression and really for the functioning of us all - good sleeping habits, good eating habits, plenty of sunshine and exercise, time to read, study and play.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
End of Summer Musings
This week is kind of no man's land. The two big impetuses (impeti? Ha! I looked it up - 4th declension so the plural is the same as the singular - impetus) for the summer, Becky's musical and Sean's art class are now finished. Sean finished last Thursday (with a 90 for the final!) and Becky's last show was Sunday afternoon, plus she helped strike the set, repaint the stage floor (the group promised to do that for the high school) and then went to a party at a pizza restaurant for a few hours. So yesterday, Monday, I let them sleep as long as they wanted and they basically did nothing all day. Becky has been having long do-nothing days anyway, as she waited for the evenings and rehearsals. Anyway, enough of this! I am really feeling the need to get back to a better routine. However, this week is just a weird week. This coming Saturday we leave for the beach. I am really looking forward to that. But what to do with our time this week? Here's what I want to do:
- Get the house to a reasonably clean house state for the house sitter
- Get the dog bathed and nails clipped
- Get to the library so everyone has books to read plus audio books to listen to on the way down and back
- Run some sundry errands (medicine, pet supplies, buy sheets for the downstairs bedroom)
- Go see the Peter Pan production nearby - some traveling show that is actually held in a big circus tent
- Sean is probably going to leave earlier to go with his CLC group which is planning to leave for Busch Gardens Thursday night, spend Friday at Busch Gardens, Saturday morning at Virginia Beach, which is where we are headed that day! So hopefully somehow we'll be able to pick him up there.
- Because Sean leaves earlier than us that means he's got to get all his math done this week.
- Sean also needs to practice bass and go to bass lessons tomorrow, plus CLC Wed night.
My hopes for vacation:
- Lots of walks on the beach and staring out over the ocean
- Prayer - still doing the Marian Consecration
- lots of reading - I think I'll focus on classic children's books I've not read yet
- I think I'll bring a sketchpad and some pencils.
- This sounds awful in a way but I think I'll bring a Latin book to study up on, since I'll be teaching it this coming year and Becky and I didn't get far with our study this summer.
- I hope to have lots of long chats with Hannah
- I hope Will makes it down - it would be nice to hang out with him
- Hopefully we'll do lots of board game playing and sharing meals - good family together time.
- I'd like to explore Virginia Beach since I've never been there even though I've lived in VA for 51 years!
Sunday, August 9, 2015
The Paradise Project - Book 31
This book was such a fun, fun read. It is by Suzie Andres who wrote Homeschooling with Gentleness and A Little Way of Homeschooling. This is her first novel and it is a hysterical mash up of Pride and Prejudice (and other Austen novels), The Happiness Project with some You've Got Mail thrown in there too, all set on the outskirts of the professorial social life of a small Catholic college.
We follow Lizzy month to month for a year, as she tries to make herself happier (she was already pretty happy). She's got a rivalry going with her brother-in-law, Pat, that drives her to take on things she never would on her own. Meanwhile she does have to confront the fact that she is 32, single and unemployed. Into her life comes Mark O'Reilly, a Colin Firth look alike (hmm, is the guy in Bridget Jones named Mark?), and Ralph and Gretchen, two good looking blondes who seem to be a couple or ought to be, anyway. Lizzy's life is already full of Jane, her husband Pat and their five boys she loves to play Auntie to. And she's got her best friend Emily who is soon to be married.
This book has so many funny puns and absurdities in it, like the fact that Lizzy's replacement at a recital she was supposed to be in is the aforementioned Ralph (Lizzy was busy being sick to her stomach so she couldn't play). Or the fact that Ralph has four sisters all named variations on Mary (devout Catholics will laugh). There is a lot of resorting to chocolate to deal with the hilarious stress that enters Elizabeth's life, mostly due to her own goofy perception of things. This book is a really fun romp through speed dating, Vanagons, children's literature, softball and Ewok costumes and much more.
I had a great time reading this book. Two thumbs up!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
We follow Lizzy month to month for a year, as she tries to make herself happier (she was already pretty happy). She's got a rivalry going with her brother-in-law, Pat, that drives her to take on things she never would on her own. Meanwhile she does have to confront the fact that she is 32, single and unemployed. Into her life comes Mark O'Reilly, a Colin Firth look alike (hmm, is the guy in Bridget Jones named Mark?), and Ralph and Gretchen, two good looking blondes who seem to be a couple or ought to be, anyway. Lizzy's life is already full of Jane, her husband Pat and their five boys she loves to play Auntie to. And she's got her best friend Emily who is soon to be married.
This book has so many funny puns and absurdities in it, like the fact that Lizzy's replacement at a recital she was supposed to be in is the aforementioned Ralph (Lizzy was busy being sick to her stomach so she couldn't play). Or the fact that Ralph has four sisters all named variations on Mary (devout Catholics will laugh). There is a lot of resorting to chocolate to deal with the hilarious stress that enters Elizabeth's life, mostly due to her own goofy perception of things. This book is a really fun romp through speed dating, Vanagons, children's literature, softball and Ewok costumes and much more.
I had a great time reading this book. Two thumbs up!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Elephants Can Remember - Book 30
Elephants Can Remember is an Agatha Christie mystery starring Hercule Poirot. I got it on cd from the library to listen to in the car while I drove Sean and Becky various places or whenever I had to run errands.
I usually love Christie and am in awe of her wonderful writing skills. I did love all the conversations in this book, partly because of the writing and partly because the reader, John Moffatt was so spectacularly good. He impressed me so much I looked him up because I had never heard of him but apparently a major part of his career was playing Hercule Poirot on BBC radio productions of Christie books. However wonderful some aspects of the book and audio were, I thought the story line was weak. I knew what had happened half way through the book and I am usually lousy at guessing at these things. I thought the plot was a bit thin and Christie dragged out the suspense in an obvious way. So, surprisingly I didn't love this. It was okay entertainment while driving around but it was a bit disappointing story-wise.
This book was published in 1972, four years before Christie's death One little element I did like was what was written on the tombstone over the three people who had died:
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
I usually love Christie and am in awe of her wonderful writing skills. I did love all the conversations in this book, partly because of the writing and partly because the reader, John Moffatt was so spectacularly good. He impressed me so much I looked him up because I had never heard of him but apparently a major part of his career was playing Hercule Poirot on BBC radio productions of Christie books. However wonderful some aspects of the book and audio were, I thought the story line was weak. I knew what had happened half way through the book and I am usually lousy at guessing at these things. I thought the plot was a bit thin and Christie dragged out the suspense in an obvious way. So, surprisingly I didn't love this. It was okay entertainment while driving around but it was a bit disappointing story-wise.
This book was published in 1972, four years before Christie's death One little element I did like was what was written on the tombstone over the three people who had died:
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lord have mercy
Christ have mercy
Lord have mercy
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Trying to be more charitable
By being more charitable, I don't mean being kinder and more patient. I do want to be better at that too! But I am trying to plan in my head (and here!) how to better incorporate regular charitable actions. I am aiming for at least one action a week on top of regular giving at the parish every week.
The regular giving should happen because each week the church collects items for local homeless shelters and food banks. They list what they need each week in the bulletin with the idea that when a person goes shopping that week they can include one or more of the items in their shopping list and then remember to bring it in when they come to Mass on Sunday.
There are four ways this breaks down for little ole A.D.D. me:
1) I forget to buy the stuff
2) I forget to put the stuff in my car when we rush out the door Sunday morning.
3) I remember to put the stuff in my car but I completely forget to actually bring it into the church and in fact notice the bag later in the week when I am loading or unloading other stuff from the car.
4) We wind up not going to Mass at our regular parish.
#4 just happened this weekend. We entirely planned to go to Mass at our regular time (10:00 a.m.) but this past Sunday we were also going to have a birthday celebration for Granddad. We invited him and Peggy, Tom and Susan and kids over to go see Becky's matinee performance of the Music Man and then we were going to come right home and have a quick birthday dinner and cake before Granddad had to go back to Baltimore. He had to leave by 6:30 because he can't drive at night, so he wanted to get back before the sun started setting. Since we'd be so rushed for dinner, we decided to buy a big sandwich deli platter from the store. I was to pick it up at 9:00 a.m. drive back and hustle everyone into the car so we could get to Mass. Unfortunately the deli folks didn't start even working on the platter until I got there at 9. So I had to wait 20 minutes and by the time I paid for it and drove home it was too late to get to Mass. So we decided to go the evening Mass at another parish at 7:00 p.m.
But, you see, I had thought ahead! I had bought packages of sanitary napkins because that was an item on the list in the bulletin and I had started thinking how awful it must be to have to beg for money to buy those expensive sanitary napkins. How even more humiliating it must be to be a homeless woman who gets her period and has no way of taking care of it. So I bought a bunch and put it in a bag which I then put into the back seat of the car. Becky gets into the car and sees the bag and is like MOM, why are there all these sanitary napkins in here!!!!! We were about to pick up her friend for the show. So we put them in the way back and now all week I've been driving around with them in the car, helping absolutely no one. This is a prime example of how my charitable actions work most of the time. Good intentions that misfire all the time.
In addition to trying to give to the Matthew 25 collection (as they term it) every week, I wanted something on top of that. The parish just announced that it would be responsible for providing dinner the first Thursday of every month at a nearby homeless shelter. So I think I will try to participate in that in some way, shape or form the first week of each month. This week I will be able to help deliver the dinner but once our academic year starts up (next month) the timing for that will be off, but I will be able to cook food up on Wednesday and deliver to the church at some point that day. So it will still be something I can pretty easily incorporate into my schedule without getting overwhelmed. As long as I remember to buy the food to cook! That is the hard part. Remembering.
The other thing I want to do is get all the change in the house and somehow deliver it to another homeless shelter. This one has been a day shelter for many years. The parish regularly gives to it, and we've volunteered there too during junior high work camp. Well, after 20 plus years of being in this one location only have been able to expand and buy another property which they may turn into an overnight shelter. They are having a campaign to raise money. I would love for my change to go to this cause.
The change is such an embarrassing 1st world, 1% problem. You know you are too well off if you have cans of hundreds of dollars worth of change just cluttering up closets and such. I knew we had a couple of old cookie tins of change around, but when we cleaned up our master bedroom I found, not one, not two but THREE more! This does not even include the bits of change found in little decorative bowls and baskets around the house. How do i transport this change? I'd like to get it sorted and converted to bills, but that will take, you know, effort and organization, on my part. I really don't want to go to one of those change machines at the grocery store lugging these heavy bins of coins and then spend the next hour using the machine! And it will take me forever and day and just won't get done if I try to roll the coins myself. Would it be awful to drop off a tin of change once a week and say to the folks at the center, if you want it, you gotta roll it! See these stupid dilemmas I have?
The regular giving should happen because each week the church collects items for local homeless shelters and food banks. They list what they need each week in the bulletin with the idea that when a person goes shopping that week they can include one or more of the items in their shopping list and then remember to bring it in when they come to Mass on Sunday.
There are four ways this breaks down for little ole A.D.D. me:
1) I forget to buy the stuff
2) I forget to put the stuff in my car when we rush out the door Sunday morning.
3) I remember to put the stuff in my car but I completely forget to actually bring it into the church and in fact notice the bag later in the week when I am loading or unloading other stuff from the car.
4) We wind up not going to Mass at our regular parish.
#4 just happened this weekend. We entirely planned to go to Mass at our regular time (10:00 a.m.) but this past Sunday we were also going to have a birthday celebration for Granddad. We invited him and Peggy, Tom and Susan and kids over to go see Becky's matinee performance of the Music Man and then we were going to come right home and have a quick birthday dinner and cake before Granddad had to go back to Baltimore. He had to leave by 6:30 because he can't drive at night, so he wanted to get back before the sun started setting. Since we'd be so rushed for dinner, we decided to buy a big sandwich deli platter from the store. I was to pick it up at 9:00 a.m. drive back and hustle everyone into the car so we could get to Mass. Unfortunately the deli folks didn't start even working on the platter until I got there at 9. So I had to wait 20 minutes and by the time I paid for it and drove home it was too late to get to Mass. So we decided to go the evening Mass at another parish at 7:00 p.m.
But, you see, I had thought ahead! I had bought packages of sanitary napkins because that was an item on the list in the bulletin and I had started thinking how awful it must be to have to beg for money to buy those expensive sanitary napkins. How even more humiliating it must be to be a homeless woman who gets her period and has no way of taking care of it. So I bought a bunch and put it in a bag which I then put into the back seat of the car. Becky gets into the car and sees the bag and is like MOM, why are there all these sanitary napkins in here!!!!! We were about to pick up her friend for the show. So we put them in the way back and now all week I've been driving around with them in the car, helping absolutely no one. This is a prime example of how my charitable actions work most of the time. Good intentions that misfire all the time.
In addition to trying to give to the Matthew 25 collection (as they term it) every week, I wanted something on top of that. The parish just announced that it would be responsible for providing dinner the first Thursday of every month at a nearby homeless shelter. So I think I will try to participate in that in some way, shape or form the first week of each month. This week I will be able to help deliver the dinner but once our academic year starts up (next month) the timing for that will be off, but I will be able to cook food up on Wednesday and deliver to the church at some point that day. So it will still be something I can pretty easily incorporate into my schedule without getting overwhelmed. As long as I remember to buy the food to cook! That is the hard part. Remembering.
The other thing I want to do is get all the change in the house and somehow deliver it to another homeless shelter. This one has been a day shelter for many years. The parish regularly gives to it, and we've volunteered there too during junior high work camp. Well, after 20 plus years of being in this one location only have been able to expand and buy another property which they may turn into an overnight shelter. They are having a campaign to raise money. I would love for my change to go to this cause.
The change is such an embarrassing 1st world, 1% problem. You know you are too well off if you have cans of hundreds of dollars worth of change just cluttering up closets and such. I knew we had a couple of old cookie tins of change around, but when we cleaned up our master bedroom I found, not one, not two but THREE more! This does not even include the bits of change found in little decorative bowls and baskets around the house. How do i transport this change? I'd like to get it sorted and converted to bills, but that will take, you know, effort and organization, on my part. I really don't want to go to one of those change machines at the grocery store lugging these heavy bins of coins and then spend the next hour using the machine! And it will take me forever and day and just won't get done if I try to roll the coins myself. Would it be awful to drop off a tin of change once a week and say to the folks at the center, if you want it, you gotta roll it! See these stupid dilemmas I have?
Monday, August 3, 2015
Minimalist Monday - 8/3/15
I haven't posted a Minimalist Monday since the first one, I don't think.
Anyway, we've not been going at the gung ho rate we were. But the master bedroom is still clean and dejunked which is very refreshing still. And the yard which was taking so much energy and was so overwhelming looks nice since I hired a regular lawn crew to come and take of it. Cheating I know!
I did, this past week, dejunk the kitchen counters and the dining room. I only got through the first level of obvious throw away stuff or stuff that had an obvious place it should be somewhere else in the house. However, I still have to do the second layer where I have to actually plan WHERE things that don't have homes belong. That's even tougher for me. But I do feel that nesting instinct coming on that always precedes the beginning of the school year, so maybe I will get something done this week.
Another good thing is that I am trying to be more regular in housecleaning and for the past couple of weeks I have gotten more intentional about that, so that is a good thing.
I want to set up my own office in the study. My desk is too small and centrally located amid the chaos of the house for me to really use. That is why I hang out in the dining room so much. It is away from things. But the study is actually the ideal place, so I need to tidy that up and arrange things so that can be control central.
The thing I have been spending enormous amounts of energy on is cooking everything from scratch. I am still finding that a completely daunting and thankless task. I must persevere!
Anyway, we've not been going at the gung ho rate we were. But the master bedroom is still clean and dejunked which is very refreshing still. And the yard which was taking so much energy and was so overwhelming looks nice since I hired a regular lawn crew to come and take of it. Cheating I know!
I did, this past week, dejunk the kitchen counters and the dining room. I only got through the first level of obvious throw away stuff or stuff that had an obvious place it should be somewhere else in the house. However, I still have to do the second layer where I have to actually plan WHERE things that don't have homes belong. That's even tougher for me. But I do feel that nesting instinct coming on that always precedes the beginning of the school year, so maybe I will get something done this week.
Another good thing is that I am trying to be more regular in housecleaning and for the past couple of weeks I have gotten more intentional about that, so that is a good thing.
I want to set up my own office in the study. My desk is too small and centrally located amid the chaos of the house for me to really use. That is why I hang out in the dining room so much. It is away from things. But the study is actually the ideal place, so I need to tidy that up and arrange things so that can be control central.
The thing I have been spending enormous amounts of energy on is cooking everything from scratch. I am still finding that a completely daunting and thankless task. I must persevere!
Sunday, August 2, 2015
We Took to the Woods - Book 29
We Took to the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich was a favorite of both my grandmother and my mother. It was written back in 1942, I think. I remember reading parts of the book as a child (I think it was a book in my grandmother's bedroom bookcase) and I remember my mother fondly telling me about it.
The author meets a guy on a camping trip with her sister and a bunch of other girls and he winds up courting her long distance from Maine to Boston. She gave up her teaching job to join him in the primitive backwoods of Maine where she's got two cabins (a summer and a winter one) but has to use an outhouse and kerosene lamps. No city fixings for them! Her neighbors are game wardens and lumberjacks. People come from the Outside to fish and camp in the summer but in the winter she, her husband Ralph, their son Rufus and sometimes her step daughter are isolated for months. They do have a nearby neighbor who is practically one of the family. His name is Ralph too so he goes by his last name of Gerrish. But she loves her life and writes in a wonderfully intelligent and witty way about it all. I never knew lumberjacks could be so interesting! Her description of the Township meeting (true democracy!) is a scream. Her accounting of how she gave birth to her son, how she orders food supplies for the winter, how everyone knows everyone else's business, the best places to go fishing, the time she got terribly lost in the forest, all are just sheer storytelling perfection.
I bought my own copy of this book a long time ago but it got ruined in a flood. I had been thinking about it off and on for about two decades. It isn't available on Kindle and I can't find it at my library, so I broke down and bought it. It was worth it. I think it could make a good read aloud actually for older kids.
Two thumbs up!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
The author meets a guy on a camping trip with her sister and a bunch of other girls and he winds up courting her long distance from Maine to Boston. She gave up her teaching job to join him in the primitive backwoods of Maine where she's got two cabins (a summer and a winter one) but has to use an outhouse and kerosene lamps. No city fixings for them! Her neighbors are game wardens and lumberjacks. People come from the Outside to fish and camp in the summer but in the winter she, her husband Ralph, their son Rufus and sometimes her step daughter are isolated for months. They do have a nearby neighbor who is practically one of the family. His name is Ralph too so he goes by his last name of Gerrish. But she loves her life and writes in a wonderfully intelligent and witty way about it all. I never knew lumberjacks could be so interesting! Her description of the Township meeting (true democracy!) is a scream. Her accounting of how she gave birth to her son, how she orders food supplies for the winter, how everyone knows everyone else's business, the best places to go fishing, the time she got terribly lost in the forest, all are just sheer storytelling perfection.
I bought my own copy of this book a long time ago but it got ruined in a flood. I had been thinking about it off and on for about two decades. It isn't available on Kindle and I can't find it at my library, so I broke down and bought it. It was worth it. I think it could make a good read aloud actually for older kids.
Two thumbs up!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
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