Thoughts on Saturday Night

This morning I got up and started picking up the house in preparation for house cleaning day. I count the two tasks as separate -- I have to pick up before I clean. Gently, I reminded the boys that it was family cleaning day today. DH raised his eyebrows and I reminded him that homeschooling is a full-time job. DH requested we start in the afternoon, which was fine.

As I was picking up the homeschool room, I found the placemats that were mint condition that I bought at a garage sale. I think I paid a quarter for the lot. We have the solar system, the presidents, the branches of the government, a map of the world, a map of the United States, and a few others that aren't as interesting.

I slapped myself on the forehead and thought...why in the heck are these stacked in the homeschool room? I grabbed the two map placemats, washed them off, and put them on my kitchen table. At lunch, DS sat down and didn't say a word about his world map placemat -- but his plate was pushed to the side and he sat there and studied and studied and studied. Pretty soon he came up for air and said, "I love geography."

We have a very nice world map hanging in our basement. We have a junky US map hanging as well. They were too large to fit in our homeschool room. I often find my son just staring at the world map. What is it about maps? I stare at them too.

This is one of the times I wish I had a laminator. I would like to get a really good placemat-sized world map -- or maps of countries or continents, have them laminated, and use them as placemats.

After lunch, my son disappeared. The doorbell rang, one of his friends wanted to play even though it was miserably cold. DS didn't reappear until five. They went to his friend's house and played hot wheels. And yes, I'm one of those mothers that calls every so often to check up on him. But his friend's mom does that, too.

So it was just DH and I left to clean. I think last Saturday I mentioned the book If You Give Mouse a Cookie because it reminds me so much of my husband. He pulled the mouse thing again today. His first job was to clean the cat box. I've been complaining about kitty litter being tracked all over the room. We used to have a big box that surrounded the litter box but it got stinky and DH got rid of it. It did a really good job of controlling the litter, though. Plus, our dog likes kitty cookies -- that box kept him from indulging. So back to the mouse -- instead of cleaning, DH steals one of my huge Rubbermaid containers, grabs a cat and puts him in to see if he will fit. He does. So then he brings one of his saws in the house and proceeds to cut a cat hole in my big, expensive, Rubbermaid container. Then he sands the sides down. Then he puts the litter box inside. Then he puts both cats in to acclimate them. Then he has to bring me down to show off his invention. Then he starts puttering with other things, vacuums the stairs, but he forgets and leaves the saw and plastic shavings on the floor. (They're still there.) Then he had to go to the grocery store -- we were out of milk and it was my request that he go. It's just his timing.

So anyway...I cleaned the majority of the house today. The living room didn't get done nor did DS's room. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

After supper tonight, DH asked DS if he'd like to learn how to program. DS gets all excited and says yes. Instead the boys get sidetracked by Runescape. So when I finally hit the computer, DS is bouncing around, DH is playing Runescape -- so I asked DS if he wants to learn how to build a website. YES. He gets all excited.

So off we go. We built a webpage. Actually, I signed him up and he took over. He's a natural. He's just so quick to figure things out. He's still up past 11, editing his webpage. I'll post a link in a few days after he's polished it up a bit.

I wish I were more computer literate -- I'll have to study hard to try to stay ahead of him. I see this as a great project, though. Maybe I'll start one too. I made a website a long time ago for the cleaning group I own and neglect. I forgot my password and I'd like to start fresh, emphasizing forms, schedules, etc. I love making forms. I'm such a geek.

Wow, what a long Saturday-night ramble!