February

Even this poor old snowman is sick of winter.

Heat Wave

We've had a mini heat wave in our neck of the woods. It feels lovely! We were out and about Sunday, it was the high 30s, and none of us wore coats.

Our back yard is a soupy, wet mess today. This is how I found my doggie this afternoon.

Don't Cry Over Spilt Milk

Whoever coined that term never had to clean up a brand-new gallon of milk from their refrigerator. Yesterday Bob bought two gallons of milk to last us through the week. One leaked all over the entire fridge. We noticed milk dripping on the floor late last night.

What a mess.

I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I have a great fear I missed some somewhere and it's going to stink to high heaven.

This morning we found a little milk on the floor, so I need to re-clean the gasket and small area. I need coffee first.

Yuck!

I hope that this is not indicative of how our school week will go!

Looking on the bright side, I guess I can say: I do now have a spotless fridge!

Tagged

Summer Fae has tagged me.

RULES:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people.
5. Inform the tagees and the person who tagged you

Random Things About Me:

I love coffee and drink it all the time. I make one pot of half-caf in the morning and drink decaf the rest of the day. I use just a pinch of fat-free half and half. I must drink it in one of my latte cups.

My husband is one foot taller than I am. (He's 6'5")

I do several Sudokus every single day.

I have lived longer in my current home than anywhere else in my life. This is my least favorite home, neighborhood, town and state of anywhere I have previously lived. There is nothing to do here. It's too darned cold in the winter and too darned hot and muggy and buggy in the summer.

I love museums. I love bookstores. We have neither where I live!

My secret desire is to own a hot tub.

I tag anyone who wants to play!

Wash Day Blues

Guess what my dear, sweet son wore today?

I wish I had snapped a picture of it. He wore his very old jeans that are too short. Shin short. High-waters, as I used to call them. He didn't know what that meant. These jeans were meant to be thrown out because they have holes in them. Fortunately, they were hidden in his closet. We never did get to his room in the big clean-out.

Why?

My washer is only putting out ice-cold water. The ice-cold water is coming out in spurts, not normally. So laundry is on hold. Maybe we should go to the laundromat tomorrow with our school books. I bet that would get some looks.

My washer and dryer are about 20 years old, give or take a year. They were awesome machines, but their time has come. I could call a repairman to have the washer looked at. I fear that because of the cost. We had it repaired one or two years ago, and I think the bill was under $200. If I repair it, though, and it goes again, I'd hate to have wasted the money to repair it that I could have used on a new machine. I mean the thing is 20 years old, after all. We occasionally find rust chips in it, too.

So, this week I have been searching reviews for washers. My goodness, buying a washer is more difficult than buying a house or car. Every time I think I've figured out what I want, further searches lead me in the other direction.

The other night I went to Wal-mart, and I walked down the laundry aisle and there was no HE soap to be found. Hey, if I can't buy it at Wal-mart, it ain't gonna happen. (I hate the word ain't.)

That knocked out all the HE machines.

All the reviews and all the websites I visited just boggled my mind. What I did learn was that washers don't last 20 years anymore. Seven to ten years is the life expectancy for a machine purchased in the late 2000s.

After reading about all the mold, mildew and smell problems with front loaders, I marked them off my list. We live in a very humid place, and I battle mold and mildew in my bathrooms. I don't want to battle it in my washer. If we lived in western South Dakota or anywhere else I've ever lived, it wouldn't be a problem. Here, it is a huge problem.

Nonagitator top loaders were my next choice. They got knocked off my list because of repair records. Lots of people regret buying them. Plus, I don't like the fact that they don't spin the dirty water out, rather the dirty water drains through the clothes and out. That means dirt floating in the water can settle back in the clothes.

So, off to find an old-fashioned top loader. Oh, they don't have good records, either. They don't clean well anymore due to water limitations. I really wanted to go green, but it's not looking good for me.

So, what's my solution? A Speed Queen top loader. We'll drive to civilization this weekend and look at them. Bad in that I can't buy one locally. Bad in that if I need it serviced, they'll have to drive to our town.

They have the best warranty in the business, though. It is reported that they will last 15 years. They're well-built, solid machines. They have excellent reviews.

The good thing is that I can manually choose the water level, so I won't use too much. I can run each load through a second spin cycle so I'll have less dryer time. I'm justifying the fact that this uses a bit more water with the fact that I have finally found a dishwasher liquid that actually allows me to load the dishes without pre-washing them. That search took years.

Money, money, money. At least Bob was able to fix our broken garage-door opener today. Now, to get the power steering looked at in the van.

Hope

Tonight I am almost giddy. I am so proud our country has finally seen beyond race. I am so proud to be living through this wonderful, historical event.

Mostly, I am so full of hope.

Tomorrow our school day will be spent watching the television. I told Thomas that he can tell his grandchildren about the day, what he was wearing, what he was doing, and the hope that his mother had.

I asked my husband to please pack a lunch and not come home tomorrow. I have never in my life done that. He, the Republican, who did not vote for our new president, is still not overly happy. He has fear. I didn't want him to put a damper on our party day, though. Sorry, Bob--at least he understands.

Tonight I am just so happy, excited and hopeful.

Snow Day

Schools were closed all around us today. Our school was not.

Thomas and I spent a good portion of the morning listening to Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History But Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis. We are really enjoying this. We did not download this to the Zen, rather we're just listening through our Audible manager. What's really fun is Thomas will ask me a question, we'll stop the audio and discuss. Sometimes I Google something that we're listening to. For instance, today the audiobook was discussing the Freemasons and symbols. (Interesting, as there was just a thread about that at TWTM boards.) I Googled that so Thomas could see the symbols.

We really enjoy doing history this way. We don't test, we don't do much but listen and discuss. I often assign extra reading, but that is changing as Thomas ages. He's too big for "little kid books" and not fast enough of a reader to read a lot of extra "big kid books."

I have him reading all our Cornerstone of Freedom books as we touch each subject area, but he has proclaimed them little kid books. They are. Mom's just holding to that little kid thing. What used to take him an hour, now takes him five minutes. I can't believe he's growing up so fast.

We did our math today. We touched on fractions, yet again, and I acted as a drill sergeant. I'm trying to teach him to not lose focus and to work more quickly. We did two easy worksheets with lots of problems, and as soon as he finished writing the answer, I barked out the next problem. I explained what I was doing and why, to teach him to pace himself. It worked well. I think we'll do an easy worksheet with lots of problems to help him learn to pace every day for awhile, in addition to our regularly schedule program.

The morning was beautiful, with tons of big, white, fluffy flakes floating through the air. After lunch, the wind picked up. As we were working on Analytical Grammar, which we are still really loving, we had periods of white out. It was nice to be sheltered while looking out at the cold, gray, snowy day.

Later in the afternoon I made a big bowl of popcorn and hot chocolate. Not the best combination, but we enjoyed it.

Thomas didn't mind not taking a snow day. We usually follow what the area schools do, but we have too much to do.

Thomas made a cheesy-chicken dish which is in the oven. It's nice to have a hot, comfortable dish on a cold night. It's even better when I don't have to cook it!

It was a good day.

De-lurk Day

Apparently, according to all the blogs I read on a daily basis, it is de-lurk day today.

I don't know if I have ever asked people to de-lurk and say hello before. I will today. I'd love to say hi to some of my lurkers!

Drop me a line!

Cleaning Update

Just thought I'd give an update to our cleaning spree. (I know it bores most to tears, but I do go back and read through the blog on occasion, and it's nice to see the reminders.

This past week we started school up again, so the big cleaning came to a halt. I putzed in the kitchen, got the cupboards all organized, but the kitchen remained messy because it was the landing spot for stuff.

Saturday Bob, Thomas and I loaded up our donations for Salvation Army. They filled the van. Off we went, carrying boxes and bags and stuff to them. I asked the nice lady how the new legislation was going to effect them. She said she had just heard about it on Wednesday, and they were going to operate as always until someone told them differently. I was surprised that I had heard about it a couple weeks ago on various homeschool message boards. I was slightly afraid some of our donations would be turned down. They weren't.

We drove home, and loaded 30 grocery bags overflowing with books. We drove to the library and Bob and I each took two bags in. (They were heavy!) The nice librarian thanked us, and we informed her this was the tip of the iceberg. We filled three of their carts, plus overflowed to the floor. We gave them hundreds of books.

I was glad to learn that they actually go through each book and will keep the good ones for their collection. There are some I bet they do keep! I'm sure they'll be thrilled (not!) to find many of their old books, that I had purchased at their sale, made their way back to them.

We drove to the Animal Shelter and donated one last crate we found.

Today we took down the Christmas decorations. I spent about three hours cleaning the living room, and it wasn't even that dirty. I bought myself a new vacuum cleaner, a Kenmore Progressive Upright with Inteli-clean System It is not a bagless. I will never own a bagless vacuum again! I was very tired of dumping the canister all the time, to be honest. The dust made me sneeze. I wanted something less dirty.


This is by far the best vacuum I have ever owned. (Don't laugh, vacuums are a hobby of mine.) There are green, amber and red lights on the vacuum. Green means clean, and amber and red mean dirty. Wow, I vacuumed and vacuumed and vacuumed. Took forever to go from red to green. To look at the carpet, you wouldn't think it was that dirty. Apparently it was, as we have filled the bag twice. I think it just does a really good job at getting deep-down. I moved all the furniture, and that room is clean.

I then re-arranged the furniture. I was so happy with the way I placed things. Thomas came into the room and gave me a WOW! It looked really good.

I then went to do laundry and clean the basement. When I came upstairs, what did I find? My husband had taken it upon himself to put the furniture back the way it had been previous to Christmas. I looked at him in utter disbelief. He likes it better this way. I got snappy with him, when I shouldn't have. But darn it all, it made me mad.

Oh well.

I am still not quite done. I have to go through all the tubs that are now empty and decide what to do with them. I have to re-arrange the laundry room, as we did put some more things in there for storage. (Christmas stuff, mostly, and Bob put it there which means, of course, I didn't like where he put it.)

I'd say another two days tweaking things and I'll call 'er good.

What I have learned with all of this is that this was very good for my soul. I think it was a part of my healing process, a major part. Finally, something I can control: making order out of chaos. Not that it was complete chaos, because it wasn't: I was just ready to purge, quit holding on to stuff, and get things really super clean.

I have to pay bills (wow, I'm really late!) and get the taxes started this week. School is pretty well organized, but I do need to spend an hour or two organizing for the rest of the year.

This weekend I should be ready to hunker down and finish scanning the family photos for my siblings.

November and December of last year I was pretty depressed. It was gettng bad. We did school, but for me, it was just going through the motions. I don't remember a whole lot of what went on, I just kept trying to be optomistic and pretending I was okay even though on the inside I was screaming/crying. I bought myself a light box for the seasonal depression that I get every year. I had that, plus grief-depression. Within a week of sitting under that light box, I felt like a new person. It was amazing how fast it worked. I wasn't completely up to par, but I was so much better! I think that light box, plus Bob's offer to help, was what enabled me to have the energy to do the big clean-out.

So what a great start to the new year. I feel better, even though I'm aware that February, my bad month historically, is coming up on me. My house is clean. My laundry is caught up. School is back in session. Mom's taxi-service is operating again, we're going, we're scheduling get-togethers, and we are (I am) coming back to life.

That's a good thing, because I deserve it!

Thank you, Audrey

Audrey, the super-sleuth, figured it out. How smart of her to go to the Truman Online Library (hey, she is a librarian) and search.

I'm about 98% certain it was Harry S Truman. I've studied his picture, tried to brush the cobwebs out of my brain, and really tried to re-live that day. I think I was stuck on Johnson because he was one of my Dad's favorite presidents.

I'm pretty sure it was April of 1972. Cold wind would have been normal for spring in Cheyenne, and I do remember there was no snow.

Thank you, Audrey!

That all reminded me that I had met a couple other governors in my day. I "met" Governor Herschler, of Wyoming, in the lobby of the Little America Hotel (my favorite hotel, and Thomas's too!) in Cheyenne. By met, we walked past each other and he said hello to me. I was a kid.

As a grown-up, I had the great pleasure to meet Governor George Mickelson of South Dakota. We sat and visited for about fifteen minutes, just the two of us. I really admired and respected him. He was killed in a plane crash in the spring of 1993. The day of his funeral, my husband and I were driving to Denver because my mom was going to have an angioplasty. We listened to his funeral on the radio, and I actually cried.

If I could meet any political figure of today, it would be our future president.

Again, thank you, Audrey, for solving something that had been nagging at me for decades!

I Shook a President's Hand, but Whose Hand Was It?

When I was a young girl growing up in Cheyenne, Wyoming, I remember my mother making me mad. She made me get my coat on and go to the Cheyenne Airport so I could shake Former President So-and-so's hand.

I remember driving out there, parking, and being miserably cold because as usual, the Wyoming wind was whipping. If you've ever been in Cheyenne, or Wyoming for that matter, you know that the wind blows all the time.

I was tired, I was cranky, and I was not in the mood to meet "some old guy." That president stuff was pretty boring to me. My mom was excited about it, and kept trying to impress upon me what a wonderful thing this was, and that some day I would thank her.

Thank you, Mom. You're right, it was a wonderful thing. I just can't remember who it was.

I don't remember a plane landing, but there was excitement in the crowd as the former president approached. Now, I was a shy child, like my sweet son, and my mom kept telling me to get my hand out, as we weren't in the front of the crowd. I would not cooperate.

As the president approached, my normally non-pushy mother picked me up, thrust me forward and demanded I stick my hand out. And I did.

I shook the former president's hand. And I remember him smiling at me. I seem to remember him giving a slight nod to my mother as well.

That was that. Finally, we got out of the cold wind, into the warm car and headed home. I remember my mom being very frustrated with me that I wasn't more enthusiastic. I was just glad to be going home.

I'm sorry, Mom. I was a kid. I didn't know better. I didn't understand the significance of what you were doing for me. All I knew was that it was cold, he was old, and I didn't care. I was seven-ish, what can I say?

I care now.

The thing is, I could never remember who it was. I always thought in the back of my head that it was Lyndon Johnson.

If memory serves me, we moved from Laramie to Cheyenne in...let's see, I started second grade in Cheyenne. I was born in 1965, so I would have started kindergarten the fall of 1970. Laramie: Kindergarten 1970-1971. First grade 1971-1972. Cheyenne: Second grade would have been 1972-1973.

Harry S Truman died December 26, 1972.
Lyndon Baines Johnson died January 22, 1973.

So it was either Harry S Truman or Lyndon Baines Johnson.

This is one of those silly little things that has bothered me for years.

Will I ever know whose hand I shook? My one touch with someone famous, and I don't remember who it was.

Well, Richard Simmons called my house when I was in high school and skinny and loved to exercise. I loved his TV show and General Hospital and he was starting one of his exercise studios in our town, I had called inquiring about classes, and he personally returned the call. It doesn't count, though, because he talked to Mom not me.

Then, of course, there was the time I met Russell Means, who was an extremely kind man, while I worked in South Dakota. That man had a wonderful aura or energy to him.

But the question remains: Which president? Anyone out there know which president visited Cheyenne, Wyoming in the early 70s??

7th Grade Reading - Book List Revisited

Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
The Face on the Milk Carton
Animal Farm
Swiss Family Robinson: Johann Wyss
Shiloh: Phyllis Reynold’s Naylor
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: Mildred Taylor
The Incredible Journey: Sheila Burnford
Johnny Tremain: Esther Forbes
The Fox and the Hound
Julie of the Wolves: Jean Craighead George
Heidi: Johanna Spyri
Gentle Ben Walt Morey
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
David Copperfield: Charles Dickens
The Diary of Anne Frank
Little Britches
Flowers of Algernon
Summer of my German Soldier
A Wrinkle in Time Thomas liked this book so much, he got the entire series for his birthday and read all of them, too!
Anne of Green Gables
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Dragonwings
The Hobbit
The Cay
Phantom Tollbooth
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
White Fang
The Outsiders
Holes
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Day No Pigs Would Die
The Odyssey
Al Capone Does My Shirts
The Chocolate War
All Creatures Great and Small

Thomas has read so many books this year, he says he can't remember them all by name as there are so many. I make him read every day, and while I know what he's reading while he's reading it, and I usually write it down, I agree, I can't name them either. I know he read Lord of the Flies and he loved it.

I want him to plug away at this list a little bit, because there are some good books on this. I was really sad to see he had read so few on our list! Time to make up for that.

Sunday, January 4

Well, I'm not done.

My kitchen is a horrid mess. But gee, the cupboards are clean, nice and neat. Well, all but two that is.

I'm having a wee bit of anxiety right now because we have to start school tomorrow. School? Eeeks, I've almost forgotten how to do school. I have nothing ready. I forget where we are.

While we're doing school tomorrow, I'll be fretting about the state of the kitchen.

It's a vicious cycle.

We didn't even get to Thomas's room. UGH. Christmas decorations are still up.

However, I am still thrilled beyond measure at what we have accomplished.

I think tomorrow will be a slow start. Math, Spanish, art--we have yet to do our gingerbread house, and the Thomas can work on that while I work on the kitchen. Better late than never. Reading, history--I guess it will be a full enough day.

I had so hoped we'd be finished. To be honest, I'm really getting sick of it all. I said the same thing over and over today, "I am not having fun, I am not having fun. UGH." At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We're this close.

I might have finished, but my iPod quit working and I wasted two hours fiddling with it. (It works again, thankfully.) Priorities, right?

Just Thinking Out Loud

I shouldn't be posting this, but it's on my mind and has been since the death of a beautiful 16-year old boy.

First off, I am talking about the Travoltas. My heart goes out to the parents and sister because they have experienced every parent's worst nightmare. I feel for them from the bottom of my soul. I really do. I just cannot imagine what they are going through.

But, I have questions. I would bring these up if this were not the child of someone famous, if I had read the story in a newspaper or online.

First off, if your child has Kawasaki Disease or Kawasaki Syndrome, and you blame it on fertilizers and household chemicals, why, oh why, would you live in a home that is on a runway, with a jet parked next to your home? Can you imagine the fumes from that jet? How could they not get into the home? I just find that very questionable.

Secondly, if you have a child with a seizure disorder, as I do, if the medication you have been giving said child quits working, wouldn't you try new meds? Wouldn't you do everything you could to help the seizure disorder? I know I would.

Grand mal seizures are violent things. What happened to that beautiful boy could happen to anyone with epilepsy. It is a huge fear of mine. Oh, does my heart ache for them.

I've been reading reports for at least a year that Jett was autistic. I suspected it when I saw a photo of him tip-toe walking, several photos of him wearing a hood, and videos showing his mannerisms. I wondered, and then I go back to this: What business is it of mine? It's not.

However, what I'm trying to come to terms with is that we have freedom of religion in this country. What if, though, that religion comes in the way of the health and well being of a minor child? Is it the business of anyone but the parents?

Is a religion founded by a science-fiction writer even a religion?

This could have happened whether he was on medication or not. Not every type of seizure disorder is completely controlled with medication. It is a huge risk. Obviously it was a concern to the family as they had two nannies, both of whom, according to reports, were with him round the clock. Plus, they had an alarm that went off when he entered the bathroom. So it's not as if they were neglecting the situation.

My heart is heavy. This has touched me because it hit home. Again, I, too, have a child with epilepsy.

It is none of my business. This family should be left alone to grieve. Yet I can't help but wonder about it all. Looking at photos of John and his son, you can almost feel the love oozing from John toward his son.

My sincere condolences to the family. I just can't imagine.

Saturday, January 3

At 4 pm today, the basement was officially done.

DONE! DONE! DONE! DONE! DONE!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I just have the kitchen and Thomas's room to tackle, but did I mention, the basement is done?

We kept finding things to do, and I thought we'd never finish.

We re-arranged the furniture, so Thomas now has a gaming area. It will be a comfortable area for watching movies as well.

For a "dumpy" basement, it's clean and looks nice. It really needs painted, though.

Bob and I had our first argument today. We've been getting along really, really well -- something that, sadly, is atypical when we work together. (We usually bicker a little.) Today, though, we had words over the futon. See, it's over 15 years old and I suspected the mattress was dirty. Bob just wanted to flip the mattress. He went off to clean the shed (wonderful man, that wasn't even on our to-do list) and I got online and priced futon mattresses. I figured it would be cheaper to get rid of the futon and get a new couch rather than replacing the mattress. Bob disagreed vehemently because our futon is very beautiful, solid oak. It was expensive years ago when we bought it, and its held its beauty and structure.

So I threw a little kid fit:

ME: I am NOT keeping the mattress.
BOB: We'll just flip it over.
ME: Gross. I think it's dirty. I have a gut feeling. I want clean.
BOB: You're crazy, it's not dirty.
ME: Stomping my feet, waaaaah, having a two-year-old tantrum: No!

pause

ME: Let's take the cover off the futon and examine the mattress.
BOB: Okay.

Bob took the cover off the mattress. He looked at it, flipped it over, and that ended that. The mattress was thrown into the dumpster. I didn't have to say a word. I think pops had been spilled on it, and baby juice and milk and it was just old.

Bob is going to buy a new mattress. I am going to buy a water-proof mattress cover and a lovely fitted sheet to cover it. That's one thing I love about futons, you can easily change the look with a sheet. Can't do that with a couch.

So, done! Done, done, done with the basement that once was a dungeon.

I had hoped to start the kitchen tonight, BUT I took a nap, then had supper late. I have supper to clean up and it's already after 10. So tomorrow we'll forge ahead. And we've decided to do Thomas's room after all, so he'll start on his room tomorrow.

Hey, did I mention our basement is done?

Bob's more thrilled with the laundry room, a room where I do most of the work, while I'm more thrilled with the family room. Hey, we found out we have a big air hocky table and a train table. Who knew those cool things were under books and clutter?

When I laid down to take my nap this afternoon, I heard a lovely thing: The air hocky table going, and Bob and Thomas playing.

Friday, January 2

It's Friday, I just checked the blog, and we started this spree one week ago today. Wow--it's all a blur, but wow.

Didn't quite get the family room done. We're really close, but we just pooped out. I still haven't done the games. Bob was laughing at me because I've probably spent an entire hour going up to it, looking at it, and walking away. I'll probably just dust most the games off, re-organize them, and call it good. Or else let Bob do it. He's better at getting rid of my stuff than I am.

At one point today while Thomas and I were working, he was asking about iTunes. He wants to put some things on our Zen Vision. I told him he should just get a Shuffle like I have. Then he said it:

"Mom, you always do that. You always want to buy new. Look at what we're doing here, Mom. We're getting rid of things and you just want to fill us up again. This is hard work and I don't want to do it again."

Wow, was that sobering.

Zen it is. He's right. I'll keep myself in check, and if I don't, he certainly will!

Thomas is one who doesn't like to get rid of things. I think we've set a tremendous example for him, because he is a changed boy. He had several toy tubs under his train table. He went through every single one of them and decluttered. He threw pictures he's drawn away. I was floored. He went from three big tubs to one, plus two smaller train containers. He's growing up, and this is the first time in his life that he has willingly gotten rid of things. Wow.

Thomas prepared dinner for us tonight. He made cheesy chicken and noodles. I'm so glad I've taught him to cook. Or maybe it was Bob that taught him to cook. I was tired and that was a huge help.

I don't think we'll get Sunday off like I had hoped. It all depends on how hard we work tomorrow. I just want to be done before Monday.

Just a Little Whining

I just need to whine. I hate doing the family room. Every time I go to the game cupboard I stare at it, move a few games around, then walk away. I don't like to play board games. To me, they're bored games. Yet, we have lot of good games and Thomas likes to play. I asked Bob if he would look them over. Every one of them I'd keep except for his Risk game. I did sneak out the Hungry, Hungry Hippos, though.

I have been going through all the computer disks, games, etc. I have discovered that the antique library filing cabinet that I brought home from Denver is wonderful to have in that the tiny drawers at the top that used to hold index cards work perfectly for CD storage. That's very nice. I was wondering what I would do with those drawers.

I have made a paperwork stack next to the big filing cabinet, because I just don't have the time or patience to file now. I appreciate your comments on how you all file and deal with paperwork, as it's encouraging. I really liked Audrey's comment about throwing out the old bill when the new arrived and there was proof of payment.

I am not having fun today. I am not enjoying this today, I am not feeling free. It's not exciting, it's tedious. I will force myself to continue, because it's the last biggie -- tomorrow will be the kitchen and I'll be done. Oh, if only I could be more decisive today.

I need a blast of energy. I don't know why this room is such a challenge to me, but it is.

Thursday, January 1 (And a question for my readers)

Too pooped to pop!

Perhaps it was our wild partying last night (lying around watching TV trying to stay awake to bring in the new year) or perhaps we were just mentally and physically drained, but...

I finished the laundry room this morning and called 'er good. For today.

Thomas, Bob and I all laid down at 11 to take a nap. We all woke about 1 in the afternoon. We were all too drained to put any more work in today. We vegged. We sat around. We did nothing except watch The Twilight Zone all day. It felt darned good.

However, our day of rest is over and tomorrow we'll be hitting it hard. We have the family room and exercise room to finish. That sounds so funny, the exercise room. Well, it is an exercise room, but it's in the dungeon and it's a small ante-room that you go through to get to the bathroom. We have a treadmill that is leaving, because it's not electric and I hate it to pieces, and have for the 20 years I've owned it. I've always wanted to get rid of it and get a "real" treadmill, but Bob wanted to keep it. It makes me mad because I spent the same on it, a Schwinn, as I would have a cheap electric unit that I would have used. So out it goes. Bob's antique Bowflex stays as well as the punching bag.

One time I was really mad about something and went down and hit that punching bag. It hurt my hand. That made me even madder. Thomas's baseball bat just happened to be sitting there so I picked it up and hit the punching bag with it: wow, was that cathartic. Now I just don't get mad anymore, but Bob likes to work out with the stupid thing.

I also have the kitchen to go through, but will probably do that Saturday. We're hoping to finish up Saturday so we can rest Sunday and I can get school ready to go.

Now here's the question:

How do you all do paperwork? I mean the storage of paperwork? I don't like my system (throwing it in a to-be filed box and never filing) and want to know how normal people do paperwork so that it doesn't take over the house. How long do you keep stuff? Do you keep your water bill? What do you do with all the paper? Any loose papers I've come across that I didn't shred have been put in a box, and that will be an upcoming project. I hate paper and paperwork, and there's just got to be an easy way to deal with it. Fess up.

Happy New Year!

Bridge Contest

Calling all budding engineers, it's time for the 2009 West Point Bridge Design Contest!

Go to the site, download their software, form a team of 1-2 members, and build the least expensive bridge that will support the simulated load test.

How fun!

Who is eligible? (No reason to start a petition, homeschoolers are included!)

1) Students, age 13 through grade 12, who are currently enrolled in middle schools, junior high schools, and high schools in the United States.
(2) Students, age 13 through grade 12, who are legally home schooled in the United States.
(3) All U.S. citizens, age 13 through grade 12, who are attending school outside of the United States or are home-schooled outside of the United States.

Wednesday, December 31

I am so exhausted that I don't think I'll make it until midnight.

Yesterday and today are blurred. We worked in the basement again today. At one point I walked into my laundry room and gasped. I bet over half the "stuff" is gone. It didn't look like the same room.

Sorting, bagging, tossing, loading over and over ad nauseum.

Our celebration dinner tonight was Pizza Hut. We like it, we were all too tired to cook, and they were running a great deal. (Except I over-tipped the driver since it is a holiday.)

Before dinner I sat down at my computer to respond to some emails. The next thing I knew, Bob was calling my name repeatedly, asking me where the phone book was. Huh? I had fallen asleep sitting straight up at the computer.

A little food, and I was able to put a few more hours work in.

Why are we doing this? It sounds crazy. It was part of my Christmas present, a clean house, but it's more than that. When my siblings and I cleaned out my Dad's house, it affected me greatly. The stuff -- the stuff. I can't even put into words my feelings, but that I wanted to clean out my own home. The stuff -- the stuff.

And so we plow through it all. I feel better. Bob feels better. Thomas? I'm not sure how he's feeling, but he did a double take today when he walked into the laundry room and shouted, "WOW!"

The stuff -- the stuff.