Doing my job

My job is simply to "hold down the fort". My DH is off to Fargo, ND, to aid in the flood rescue. He is a US Coast Guard pilot. Sometime tonight, I will hear from him, I expect.

Its Saturday, and its 40 degrees outside. Its so much warmer than its been, but chilly and damp. More snow on the way tomorrow. (Waaaahh!) I should have taken the dog for a walk. I should have made the kids go out and play. We were suppose to have a family bike ride in Traverse City (which has been postponed). We didn't do any of these things.

I did laundry, I did dishes, I vacuumed the upstairs. I checked email, called my mother, and let the kids watch videos and play. Its one of those lazy days, and I refuse to feel guilty over it.

Tonight I will exercise and then watch a DVD.

And then the week will begin again. Go to church, food shopping, cooking, cleaning, schooling, organizing, maybe a playdate or two. Missing the one you love never really gets routine, so you have to stick to your routines and just keep going.

Easter Candy Ponderings

It has arrived. The candy. My mother loves to send her grandkids candy. I opened the pastel M&M's today. My daughter is working on estimating in Math, so we used M&M's today. Why are there so many candy holidays? Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter? I am sure I missed one.

We steer clear of Santa being the reason for Christmas, and I've been fairly successful. Nobody in my house believes in the Easter bunny, but if they didn't get lots of chocolate at Easter, it would be a disaster. We have been learning all throughout Lent about the death and resurrection of Christ, but that isn't the focus on Easter morning, just like Christmas is ultimately for presents, no matter how much I teach them about Christ's birth.

So, the M&M's are now in the back of my freezer. Can you guess why? Because I don't want all of my hard work to be destroyed by the Easter Bunny!!! I LOVE M&M's and could eat them by the handfuls. Chocolate = Evil. Seriously, I just can't have chocolate hanging around.

I remember in college, requesting no candy when I was doing WW. My mom sent me cheese shaped like a bunny and a chick. Ummm, that was kinda weird. But, chocolate keeps coming back into my life.

So, this is what I'm going to do. I am going to give my kids a chocolate treat tonight, and then it goes in the trash. For Easter, I will buy them Jolly Rancher jelly beans. Yuck. I hate those, but my kids love them. And, I'll buy them on Saturday before Easter.

I'm off after Arthur (PBS kids) to buy ingredients for dinner (Greek pizza with spinach, feta and olives), stuff for tomorrow's lunch and snacks. No binging today. Chocolate, you lose again! And tonight, I am walking 3 miles with Leslie Sansone. By the Way, I have lost 26 lbs. now!!

Missions and Springtime

I ordered my daughter's Bible curriculum tonight. I am going with A Child's Garden of Bible Stories. It has two workbooks and a book on prayers. And, I am waiting to hear about a book recommendation on missions. I just emailed an old friend with Operation Mobilization, to find out if the book "Window on the World" is the children's book that I think it is (but, gave up years ago before having kids). I want to add learning about missions and praying for missionaries/people around the world to our Bible time. My daughter is asking so many questions about Jesus and heaven. A big topic of late is how everyone loves Jesus. It is a very foreign concept to her that not only does everyone NOT love Jesus, but everyone doesn't even know who Jesus is. But, I want to let her know as well, that there are children/people around the globe that worship, praise and love Christ, just like she does : ) (And a concrete way to pray for those who are not yet followers of Christ). She loves geography, so I think missions will be a lot of fun!

Along with missions, we support the mission group, Christar. They share the gospel with people of Hindu and Muslim faith and heritage. I just got a mission letter today from the friends we support, with a DVD. There is a great DVD (the one I just received) they distribute "The Life of Jesus Christ" which is a special edition of the film "Jesus" in multiple languages. It has been well received. I don't know if my kids are old enough to sit through it yet, but it makes me cry. I love it.

I got my two mile walk in today, and managed to walk our dog and kids (two different events, my 2 mile is in front of the tv/VCR. My son cried about the cold the whole way. Its warm too! 40 degrees today, and the roads aren't icy anymore. I love Spring!

Its the weekend finally :) My husband is taking some rare time for himself. I am so glad! He is out with some buddies from work, and tomorrow will take a nice bike ride. He needs it, and I am just so happy to have a couple relaxing days. The kids want to decorate their "room" for Easter, so we will take a trip to the $ store. They are still sharing a room. No progress my daughter's room, but that's ok. And, I want to get fresh air, bake some stuff, and smile a lot.

Thinking about school

One room is painted! Hooray! I didn't actually paint it, my husband did, I seem to get grumpy when I paint. Hmmmm. But, I peel wall paper really well, put up painter's tape (don't buy the cheap brand, it falls down) and help clean up when we are done. So, except for the baseboards, my son's room is basically done. We moved him back, along with his sister, and her room will be next. She needs a new carpet, and so does the master bedroom, the current rugs are yucky, faded and ugly colors. So, we are actually making progress towards putting the house on the market!

My fridge is full of healthy stuff. I made a bland asian salad, oh well. But, I made really good pizza last night : ) Barbacue chicken pizza. My husband thinks its weird with slaw on it (you know the cabbage mix, not cole slaw itself), but it cuts out some to the cheese and it was great! I have a new blender, thanks to a big sale at the Coast Guard Exchange, and it purees frozen fruit, unlike my first blender, which pureed nothing. Hooray for Smoothies!

Our vacation is over. DH goes back to work tomorrow, and school resumes. I think my daughter missed it this past week. Our next break is the first week of June. It will be a long haul. 2 1/2 months. But, that will bring us to 180 days of school, my goal for Kindergarten. She is barely missed a day for sickness. Its awesome! We will actually begin First Grade Math, Bible Lessons, Science, Social Studies and Handwriting in May. Umm, and we are in the First grade reading materials sort of. Expode the Code teaches beginning consonants in Kindergarten, and then Books 1, 1 1/2, 2, and 2 1/2 are First Grade books, but I think it all evens out eventually. I think public schools get into the vowels and sounding out words in Kindergarten. (Since we began Explode the Code book 1 in February, we are on the same page as the State of Michigan, except my daughter has over 100 sight words! I think the state guidelines suggest about 24 sight words. I would hope that the kids learn more than two dozen in public school. So, technically we start First Grade in May, but I'll be telling her that its still Kindergarten. I don't know why, I'm just stuck on an abstract number of 180 days. Dumb, probably. But, I am still going to stick to it.

I am going to try some new materials in June. There is a reading curriculum, theme/book based, called 5 in a Row. I plan to use some of this to extend our reading program and include my son who will start preschool in June, at home. I ordered his writing workbook today. He has been asking for one all month. I won't start it with him until June, however.

Ok, that's my rambling for the evening : )

Walk away from the binge

I won't give up, but today was hard. My kids drove me insane, my dog drove me insane, the dishes are piled sky high, the laundry is undone, I feel like I accomplished little or nothing. I did manage to feed my kids, and the dog. I made waffles for the kids, and a pizza for myself (it has some French name, but basically is a thin crust with mustard, ham, caramelized onions, thyme, swiss cheese and a hint of sour cream - I get 1/5 of the pizza). Everything bothered me today.

The dog is locked up at the moment, because he keeps mouthing my arm and jumping on my lap with his front paws. When he isn't doing that, he is stealing stuff, so I will chase him. The kids are in bed, thankfully. My daughter was freaking out because she wanted curtains (she has shades) because the car headlights scare her as the cars and trucks drive by at night. So, after I explained that I had no curtains, but would pray for her, she relaxed and snuggled into bed. Only for my son to start yelling that he didn't want God's angels to watch over him and protect him!! And, that I shouldn't pray for that! (hmmm, I don't know what he thinks angels are). Nice, soothe one child and terrify another in one moment.

Mostly, I am complaining because I want to binge. I haven't felt this way in a month, I think. I ate too many mixed nuts. It was sort of a mini binge, even so, not cool. I am trying to drink my seltzer water and push past the urge to eat. I will walk next, and then try to relax. I am not relaxed lately, even when I try to relax. I think I will force myself to watch a movie after my walk, instead of cleaning. Here I come, Leslie Sansone. Walk away the pounds!