School Time and Moving

So we had our first week back at school last week.  We took a 3 week Christmas vacation, mostly because we spent 2 weeks up north, so I wanted the week at home to let the girls get adjusted back to being home and also so I could do some more decluttering.

And it definitely helped, I have around 10 boxes and a garbage bag waiting to be trucked away to the second hand store in town.  And that isn't even including the toys I have planned on getting rid of.  It's spring cleaning in January.

Actually, it's more like pre-moving cleaning out.  Because we are moving.  Again.  We haven't even been in this house 6 months.  But I'm not complaining.  I complain in jest, and I mock ourselves for moving again so fast, but it is definitely a good thing for us.  One of the biggest factors, the rent will be cheaper.  $300 cheaper.  That is a significant amount of money for us.  The house is older, same as the one we are currently in, but it is in better condition.  We are also good friends with the owners there.  And it's on 7 acres.  That is sweet!!  A down side would be that the house is smaller, but it is a better layout, and the bathroom is bigger. Tit for tat.

Anyways, I was planning on talking about our school week.  The first day back went really well.  Abby was very willing to sit down and do all our work.  She was almost excited to use our schedule and get going.  But then Tuesday came, and that one wasn't as good.  Hahaha.  Second day blues?  Wednesday went well, and Friday was alright.  Neither easy or hard.  Just ordinary.  The book we were reading last week for Come Sit By Me was The White Stone in the Castle Wall by Sheldon Oberman.  And one of the activities was making a castle.  That was loads of fun.

Sometimes it's hard for me not to be perfectionist about projects like this.  Like, no, don't paint it that!!  Paint it like this!  But I just learn to relax and let them do it however they want to, since it's not for me.

Of Headaches and Julia Roberts

This day sure got away from me.  I had our Ladies'/Moms' Group this morning at my house and it was a nice refreshing time for my spirit.  Encouraging me to keep it up and seek God.

But after lunch my head started to KILL me.  I had gone to bed late last night, so I attributed it to that.  I am not much of a napper, but I figured it was worth a try since the headache wasn't going anywhere.  I locked the door, threw the Netflix on the Wii (since the kids can work that remote and not the XBox one) and went to my room to lie down.

An hour and a half later I had yet to even doze.  ARGH!

So I just gave up and vegged on the couch all afternoon.  I texted my husband to see if he could come home early since the kids were driving me nuts and I was responding very poorly but he couldn't.  Can't his boss see that I am a poor, sick woman who needs a break from needy children? (Did I sound pathetic enough?  haha, his boss is actually mostly good if I'm seriously ill and can't deal on my own, which isn't often)

And then hubby had to go to youth tonight, so he wasn't home very long before he left again.  So now I'm on my own.  But my head isn't quite as bad as it was before so that's a bit of a relief.  I am going to go watch some nice, light chick flick soon and possibly eat some popcorn for supper.

And while doing this I am not going to stress and worry about the state my house is in.  The dishes aren't done, no laundry is done, the toy room is a sort of mess (it's actually usually worse) and my floor needs to be mopped, for the second time this week.  When I get my own house, I am so making sure I have a floor that does NOT show every little speck on it.  So annoying.

So here's to Friday nights at home alone.  And not in a lonely way. In a I-can-watch-a-cheesy-rom-com-without-sarcastic-commentary kind of way.

Cheers!

A Very Random Recap of Our Christmas

I could NOT get into the holiday spirit this year.  I don't know what it was (truly, I don't), but I was dragging my feet all the way to Christmas Day.  One evidence of this: I have a stack of Christmas cards that didn't get given out.  And that doesn't even bother me!

In my brain, I love the idea of creating some Christmas traditions for our family.  Things like have a Decorate-the-Tree evening, where we make hot chocolate or some other tasty drink and eat tasty Christmas snacks and decorate the Christmas tree together.  That didn't happen this year, since we didn't do a tree at all.  

I had really really wanted to do a tree this year.  People are surprised when I admit that we have never had a Christmas tree in our family since we've been married.  Various reasons for this include being pregnant, just moving, being out of town, not wanting to police the tree from little fingers.  But I thought that I could handle the policing this year, and that the girls would enjoy putting on some decorations.

But it just never worked out, so there you go.  The only Christmas decoration I had up was the centrepiece I made at the ladies' night out.  Which was a nice one, but looked oh so lonely.

Another Christmas flop for us was Christmas Day meals.  We had planned to make a Scrambler for breakfast, and individual pizzas for supper.  Well, guess what we found in our fridge Christmas morning?  No cheese.  Oh sorry, two teeny tiny pieces of cheese.  Not enough for anything.  So off scurries Mark to 7-11 to pay $9 for 400g of cheese.  I may or may not have peed myself hearing the price.

But it wasn't all bad.  This year for opening our presents, I borrowed an idea I read over at Living Life Intentionally.  The idea was to let the kids open and play with presents as they went, if they wanted to.  I liked that idea, since it might let the kids appreciate their toys and not get a more-more-MORE mentality as they hopped from present to present.

So we tried this and it seemed to go so well.  We stopped and put together toys (and wow, do some toys have about a million parts.  With no instructions).  And we played.  It took us much longer to get finally done, but at the end, it felt good to me.  It felt like how I have hoped Christmas Day would feel.  Relaxed and together.  

Yes, This Post Counts as a Distraction

There are so many distractions in this world, it's enough to drive me to distraction.  Wow, that was lamer written out than in my head!  Haha.  But seriously, that is all I am about today, distraction.  Maybe I am just more susceptible to distraction than every other person out there, but it just seems hard to get away from.

There's my iPhone.  Wonderful thing that it is.  It's handy for phoning and texting.  Also handy for Facebook and Solitaire and Civilization and stupid, mindless games that have no point but I play anyways.  That's the problem, it's handy.  I can take it all over the house with me.  I can stop for a quick sit down in the kitchen and bam, spend half an hour moving cards around.  Wow.

There's books.  Some people, like my hubs, aren't readers and so they don't have trouble resisting the temptation to open a book and read and read and read.  I am kind of jealous of them.  Because I am a reader, and I sure have a hard time resisting that temptation.  In fact, I usually don't resist, I just give in and read and read and read and, well you get the picture.  I remember when I was a teenager and I shared a room with my sister, and I would read in our hallway by the light of the bathroom light so she could get some sleep.

There's the computer.  Since I have my iPhone, this isn't quite as big a distraction, but it definitely can be.  I can check my e-mail and then zoom around, maybe shopping, maybe just window shopping (yep, definitely window) and sometimes the stuff I'm looking at is 'good' stuff, stuff that I might need to know or use eventually, but really, I should be doing something else at that moment.

But, here's some points for me.  The TV isn't really a distraction for me!  Hurray!  We don't have any kind of cable or satellite so that's mostly the reason for that.  If we did have some kind of channels, I know that I would watch "just one show" and end up watching four.  I'm just that person.  

Permanent Sister Sleepovers Beginning Soon

My project today has been to move Leigh over to Abby's room.  I haven't finished yet since Leigh needed her afternoon nap, so I just left her in the old room.  But after the nap, I'm thinking it's time. 

We've discussed moving the girls into the same room for a few months now.  It was never a question of IF we should, it was just WHEN we should.  As soon as we have another baby and that baby needed the crib, Leigh would be moved over to Abby's room to share with her.  But we decided to move her now, while still in the crib.  Really, just for fun?  I don't know if I have any huge, good reasons for moving earlier.

Maybe with all the toys in the one room, I will only have that one room to tidy? (HA fat chance!)  Maybe they will adapt to being in the same room, so that once Leigh moves out of the crib they will be fine to sleep together, since Abby has a double bed and we are planning on making them share it.  So mean, yes we are!  (I say that as I'm thinking of their arguments once they're older.)

Or the reason I'm doing this is that I am stuck at home all day, every day, and I need some variety in my life so I get my kicks by rearranging the furniture!  Yes, I think that's it! 

I am on a rearranging kick, actually.  We moved the TV back OUT of our room now and back into the living room, and I am so so so so so happy for it to be gone.  My room is again a safe haven for me and my hubs.  Yes, the kids still invade it (that probably won't change until they're grown) but there is no more Dora or Diego or Gerbert or any other animated/puppet-like characters in there.  I can sleep in peace.

So my room is being rearranged, we rearranged the living room to fit the TV in again, and now it's the kids' rooms.  And it is such a refreshing feeling.  But back to the girls.

So what are everyone's views on room sharing?  Is it cruel and unusual punishment to make your children share a room?  And even a bed, once it comes to that?   

Downfall of the Lounging Day

Mark was heading out of town early this morning (5:30) and was going to be gone overnight.  I usually try to get up to say goodbye when he's gone for a few days, but last time I got up I wasn't able to get back to sleep and ended up with a horrible headache and just had a crumby day so I figured I would stay in bed and try to sleep.  Maybe if I would get myself to bed at a decent time I could get up earlier, which I would love to do, but that's a whole other story.

But Abby woke up around this time so he dumped her in bed with me and that hampered me getting back to sleep until she fell asleep again since she squirmed and fussed and fidgeted.  And insisted on drinking from a metal water bottle that went clink, clink, clink.  But I did get a few more minutes of sleep before Leigh woke up.  Leigh cuddled in bed with me for a little while before demanding "Hot Dogs!" for breakfast.  Well, I didn't have any hot dogs, and even if I did, I probably wouldn't give them for breakfast.  She settled for toast.

I sat (laid down under a quilt) on the couch while she was eating, half dozing, half trying to wake up by playing games on my iPhone.  Abby slept in until nine, the time when I was conveniently making myself some toast so I just gave her one of my pieces.  Then we proceeded to just do nothing much.  They played, and screamed and fussed and fought, while I read and played and sat there like a blob.  None of us were dressed.  I did change Leigh's diaper though, since she was STINKY. 

And guess who walks in the door just before the lunch hour?  Mark!  My wonderful husband that I want to impress with all my wonderful housewifely skills.  Yes, he caught me on a lounging day. 

I was so embarrassed!  Not that the house is always perfect and this will ruin any kind of image I have with him.  No, he's pretty much seen me (and our house) much worse than this.  But I have been trying so hard to keep up with cleaning and all that kind of stuff and to not slack off by reading or playing on my iPhone or wasting time on Facebook (curse you FB!!!  Why are you so addictive and revolting at the same time?).  He goes to work 5, sometimes 6, days a week, and he doesn't get to sit around.  But I am supposed to be manning the homefront.

Oh well!  So that is my secret of the day.  If I ever try to portray myself as this perfect super-mom/wife, you all know differently.  You know that my husband came home and found me in an old, hole-y tank top with no dishes or laundry done at all. 

My To-Do List for Today

• Tidy Kitchen.  Though tidy seems to imply that it just needs a few quick minutes to organize or put away dishes.  I could probably split this point up into at least 5 or 6 points : Empty dishwasher, fill dishwasher, run dishwasher, hand-wash cutting board and dishes that don't fit in dishwasher, wipe down counters and fridge and stove, put away miscellaneous papers behind stereo, clear off table.  See what I mean?  But I like one point, it makes it feel do-able.
• Make Pizza Dough.  Actually make two pizza doughs.  But the bread maker does most of the work so this is fairly easy.
• Make Cinnamon Buns.  I can't start this until after the pizza dough is done since I use the bread maker for all my kneading.  And for this one it is dependent on me cleaning up the kitchen since I don't want dirty crumbs in my buns.
• Do Laundry, including bed sheets.  I actually don't have a ton of laundry to do, which is nice.  I just want to have my hamper cleared before we leave tomorrow.  Our bed sheets are desperately in need of a wash though, since they are our only ones at the moment.  My lovely daughters somehow managed to rip my other bottom sheet to pieces.  I have no clue how.  So now when I need to wash our sheets I have to strip the bed and can't make it until I wash the sheets again.  Hence they haven't been washed in awhile.
• Pack.  Hopefully shouldn't take long, we're only gone until Tuesday.  I'm hoping to fit all our clothes into a small suitcase.  I doubt I can do it.  I am a notorious over-packer.
• Get the Food Ready for the Trip.  Basically put everything into a large reusable grocery bag to be taken out to the car and consumed on our long drive tomorrow.
• Clean Out Car.  This will kill two birds with one stone as it will give the girls a little outside play time.
• Tidy House.  Like the kitchen, it entails much more than it sounds.  I doubt I will get close to done on this one, but I can dream.  If the floor is at least cleared I can feel ok.  My secret for that is to toss everything into laundry baskets to be put away whenever I get the time.
• Make Cream Cheese Icing.  This should probably be located up by my other food points, but my list is basically random.  But this is an essential point.  Icing for our cinnamon buns.  Mmmmmm.
• Pick Out Toys for Trip.  Gather together books, toys, and other random objects that will hopefully keep our girls entertained, along with large amounts of snacks, for roughly 14 hours.  Usually we have a DVD player for the car, but it is mysteriously missing (I think it was stolen).  

Meal-Planning Thoughts

I am constantly trying to get my life more organized, and a couple months ago I started planning my meals ahead so that I wouldn't be scrambling around at 3 o'clock with no meat defrosted and no idea what I am going to cook for our supper meal.  And I fell in love with it!  I loved planning my meals out.  I had a whole month written out and probably would have done more except I felt slightly nerdy. 

But nerdy is ok if it works!  But I have discovered a flaw in the whole meal-planning thing.  If you don't keep it up, eventually you run out of meals.  Which is where I am today.  I haven't looked at my meal plan calendar this past week, and consequently I have nothing planned past yesterday.  This is unfortunate.  Now I have to sit down and figure out what I am going to do, and that is the worst part. 

On the upside, it's advance pay-day so I will have some money for grocery shopping!  Hurray!  This means no more chicken soup with only celery and homemade noodles (which we had last Wednesday.  It was tasty, just a little boring.  Not even any saltine crackers to put in!). 

So I can plan my meals without having to seriously consider what we have in the house since I can go shopping again.  But I am also trying to be a little more frugal with my grocery shopping since we have a bad habit of just running to the store whenever we need something.  I want to make more budget friendly meals.  Or just budget friendly meal planning. 

I think my next post I write will be about my lack of effective communication skills, as this post is an excellent example of.

A TV-less Existence

Well, that title is only half true.  My children are now mostly TV-less, but my hubs and I are not. 

We had our TV in the living room because that was really the only place for it.  In my ideal world, we would have a house with a family room where the TV would go.  Anyways, with it being in the living room it was very easy to put on a show for the girls to occupy them.  Some days we watched more than others, some days we watched hardly at all.  But we recently got Netflix on our Wii and Abby figured out how to start shows.  Once they were going, it was very easy to keep them going, just a press of the button.

Well it got very bad.  They just wanted to watch show after show after show.  If I wouldn't let her, she would throw a huge fit.  And by huge, I do mean huge.  And she wouldn't forget either.  I could put her in time outs for hours (well, not literally) but she would still come out and see the TV and start all over again. 

I found it hard to stand firm and not let them watch any.  I was giving in way more than I wanted to.  So I decided that drastic measures were needed.  I thought about completely getting rid of the TV.  It is really just a waste of time anyways.  But I knew that my husband wouldn't like that.  Sometimes we talk about living simply, living with just the basics.  We talk about the evils of TV and such, but he isn't quite ready to get rid of it just yet.  And if I'm truthfiul I do like to watch it too.  Just not quite to the same extent.

When I was a child we didn't really have cable tv, and didn't watch much of it.  We went through spurts of having cable.  Whereas in his family, it was like a normal thing for them to watch TV all afternoon and evening.  I don't want to live that life.

But that's a bunny trail.  So since I couldn't just dump the TV in the trash I had to move it out of my girls' sight.  So now it is in our bedroom.  I could write a whole big rant on how I have always hated the idea of TVs in the bedroom and all the evils of it.  But there was simply no other place for it.  We crowded our dressers together and made room for the entertainment centre.  And no matter how much I hate the TV in our room, it is SOOOOOO worth it for the difference in my girls.

I was prepared for big fits about the TV not being in the living room.  I was ready for them to look everywhere to find it and finally sit screaming in front of the wall where the TV used to be.  But shockingly, all that Abby said was "TV gone?"  And that was it.

Now they are playing again.  It feels so good.  Yes, sometimes I wish it was still there (especially the immediate day after since I got very sick), it used to be easy to occupy them when I needed a minute to myself.  But it also makes me have to be there more for them.  Which is something I always wish I would do more, and now I have to so it's good for me too.

Too Many Choices!

I am printerless.  Just as we are starting Preschool, I am printerless.  Actually, I have been printerless since early spring, but it never mattered until now.  This will teach me to procrastinate.  No, it probably won't teach me.  It's been years, and no matter how many problems I run into because of my procrastination, I keep on putting it off.  Anyways, this is a bunny trail.

I took my printer into a repair shop because my at home fixes didn't work.  They told me that they tried everything, and it is toast.  It would cost more than a new printer to fix my old one.  It is unfortunate that we have to spend the money on this now, but a positive is that we had the old printer given to us by my sister-in-law so we're not really out any money. 

The choices for a new printer...it just boggles my mind.  I am officially stumped.  I have been looking at reviews, debating HP vs Lexmark vs Epson vs Canon etc.  I thought about laser vs inkjet, and decided that I would go inkjet.  I was considering the laser because it is cheaper in the long run, but I do use the printer to print off some photos, and the reviews said that the laser didn't do a very good job on printing photos. So at least that is one decision.  Oh, and I know that I want an All-in-One, with a scanner and copier, so that is a second decision.  But there are still so many options. 

I am going to be doing a fair amount of printing, probably around 15 pages a week, maybe a little more.  And as we progress in our homeschooling years, I will be printing more, I think.  So I want something that will stand up to time, and not fall to pieces in a few years.  But I don't want to spend a ton of money initially, though it also is hard for me to buy a cheap printer, and know that in the long run I am spending more money. 

Argh!  I just can't decide!  Help me someone!  Tell me what I should do.