Projects, projects everywhere!

Wallpaper is up. Some of the trim is back in place. New trim is almost all cut, but I have yet to cut the windowsills and paint them and the window jambs.

Carpet guy has come out to measure. (It wasn't sweet India after all!)

Door guy comes tomorrow, and I even have a new doorknob and deadbolt. :D

YES, I've been dragging my heels on this project. In the thick of it all, I dove head first into another project, of which I completed v.1.0 at 7:30 this morning:

Pennyroyal Academy of Fine Arts

Thankfully, when the phone woke me up at 11:30AM and I heard Toby telling someone I was sleeping, it was my mother. Anyone else, and I'd have had even more explaining to do. LOL

Today I plan to enjoy a day of REST. There'll be plenty of time to work tomorrow... and if tomorrow never comes, it won't matter that it didn't get done. :-)

My day didn't go as planned, which I could've expected, considering I was trying to get Jon to do some school work. I worked with him until he absolutely understood, and he was doing so well! I gradually backed off and let him work on his own... with me a foot away... it was just too much for him. Thus began the push and pull, the blurring of boundaries of what each of us would do for the other, the subtle power struggle and questioning of motives...

I'd much rather have packed the bookcase and cleared out the living room which is begging for new wallpaper (and carpet, but it's not time yet, says India) and window trim. But I stubbornly insist that Jon's education include math. Unfortunately, once upon a time, he caught wind of the fact that he was particularly good with numbers... which is why it's all I can do to get him to count, or to acknowledge that numbers represent objects. Now he just as stubbornly insists that he's "not that good at math."

Today, I guess that battle was just screaming to be fought. So the bookcase full of history still sits in the corner, all dusty and chronological. I resent the dust, which waits to inhabit my lungs, and I envy the order of chronology. My living room has slipped to a level of disarray such that I can hardly stand to look. And it will get worse before it gets better -- a light saber, two books, a crayon, and half a banana meant to be eaten in the truck as Daddy drives them away, just... AWAY.

After a sigh, a prayer, and a tightened ponytail I'll dive in and begin clearing the chaos... both in my home and in my heart. I won't accomplish all that I had planned, but will make a week's worth of progress in a few short hours. I will be relieved, refreshed, and grateful for my husband who really does understand that I need these times alone to work, even more than a bubblebath or foot rub. It was hard for Loren to imagine until he acquiesced and saw the result -- a cleaner home and a more relaxed wife. Now he's thrilled to help out by spending time making memories with the kids while I catch up on both the urgent and the important. He also helps me keep my priorities in perspective and reminds me that there are some things we just can't do like a normal family. Of course I know that, but I do tend to expect "normal" results for my efforts sometimes! LOL

SO... I must get some sleep! I have a quiet and busy morning ahead of me!

I wonder

I wonder how many stitches Gracie would've had if she were famous like Arnold.

I saw one of the police officers in Walmart a couple days ago. I asked him if they'd been able to clear up the situation from the ER. It turns out the receptionist at the hospital made a ridiculously stupid error. And thus, she wasted the time of three police officers... and caused me a bunch of unnecessary stress. I think I need to write a letter to the hospital this week.

I wonder where my husband will be working at the end of this year.

We spoke with one of the Arby's people in Minnesota last night. They have two stores opening in northwestern Minnesota, near North Dakota. Cold - good. Isolated - good. Treeless - not good.

They also have two stores opening in northeastern Minnesota. Those two are very close to where I grew up. That's just plain weird to me. It could be good, but I'm not yet sure what to think. In all the 6-year process of planning our move (north, midwest, Minnesota, northern Minnesota, Bemidji), we specifically didn't choose that area of the state. After all, the world is a big place, and it would look to some people like I was trying to recreate something from my childhood. I don't have the energy to explain that I've got more of a life than that. LOL

So we're praying, looking at real estate listings, fixing the house, decluttering, and packing the stuff we won't use in the next few months. God's plan for us is no different today than it was two years ago when we went on vacation in Bemidji, or than it was when I was a little kid in Minnesota. I trust He'll continue to open and close doors as He sees fit. We just need to be ready to go where He leads.

5 Weird Habits

I tried to be clever, and Esther tagged me. LOL So here I go:

1) I have five tubes of Blistex in various places, and use it several times a day.

2) I hold my water glasses up to the light and sniff them before using them.

3) When I lie down to sleep, I have to start on my left side, but then roll to my right side before falling asleep.

4) Every burger I ever make must be built in the same order as a Whopper.

5) When I get someone's answering machine or voice mail, I have to swallow before I can begin talking. Quite often, I can't swallow. Then I get all flustered and almost choke while I'm waiting for the beep. This is why I didn't leave you a message.

So there, now you KNOW I'm weird. I don't know who to tag, so I'm not even posting that part unless I think of someone.

I've done so little today!

Read emails... didn't reply... Read blogs... Thought about writing to friends and family... Ate... Showered... Supervised the kids in their cleaning and cooking projects... Ate... Perspired... Talked on the phone for a few minutes... Took pictures of Butch... Ate...

I can't wait to go to bed.

I think I just made up for New Year's Day.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a normal day. Enough of these extremes already! LOL

Wondering who Butch is? He's the largest of my several (seven?) hermit crabs. (At any given time, about half of them are happily buried in their substrate. That makes it harder to keep track of them.) Anyway, Butch just molted. Not only that, but he did it on the surface, which is a pleasant surprise for me. Check it out!

Happy New Year!

Above all things, be thankful that your children are your own, and everyone knows it.

It's very strange to have that sort of thing called into question... in the ER... by three police officers... and not have adequate proof on hand.

But it's ok, in the end, I got to bring all my children home with me last night. Gracie had four stitches in her cheek (just below her eye) yesterday, which she handled amazingly well. The doctor didn't even need a nurse to hold her head still.

I think I cried more trying to process the whole police thing than Gracie did once we got in the truck to go to the hospital. What a trooper, that girl!