Encouragement?

     I'm not a good blogger. I think of a lot to say but... then I procrastinate forever on actually typing out my ideas... until it seems that the news is so old. I think it makes me feel vunerable to have my thoughts and ideas "out there" for the whole world to see. I much prefer math (it's so objective). BUT, I'm going to keep trying...
     Last month I took a trip to Denver. I flew out of Orlando on a Monday. Now, Monday is the best day of the week to do anything difficult. (Why? you ask.) Monday is the day that my dear CBS ladies are together praying. I know they were praying for me and my trip. I also prayed. I prayed that everything would go smoothly and that I would be a blessing to my seat mates... Well, that is not what happened. Instead, my seat mates were a blessing to me.
     On the first flight from Orlando to Atlanta I sat next to a young college student. He was a very enthusiastic Christian with many thought provoking questions and comments. He was very interested in homeschooling. His comments were SO encouraging. We also talked about my mom and her upcoming surgery. The last comment he said to me as we parted ways was "I'll be praying for you and your mom."
     As I walked through the Atlanta airport I asked God "Did I need encouragement Lord?" The truth is yes, I did need encouragement. I still do. Homeschooling is hard. Choosing the curriculum is the easy part. Scheduling the work is not too bad. The hard part is weathering the storms. I struggle with keeping my temper through the whining and complaining. I struggle with self-doubt. Am I doing what is best for my kids? It was refreshing to hear a young college student enthusiastic about homeschooling. And once I think on it more... I can't picture doing anything else. I get the huge blessing of being intimately involved in my kids lives. I know them better than anyone else on the planet. I'm trusting God to use all the hard work for the benefit of my kids. I believe that this is the best education we can offer them. I think I just need to be reminded of all that from time to time.
     On the second flight from Atlanta I sat next to another young college student. This time a girl from Georgia on her way to Colorado for a skiing trip. This girl was in a pre-vet program and was earning money for college by training horses. I told God "you're very funny." If you know my Haley then you know horse training is her dream. God is good to me. He gave me two examples of amazing young people because he want to fan the flame of my hope in the future. "OK God. I get it. I need to stay the course and believe you have good plans for my kids. Thanks God."

Our FL digs

     The Ocala sun is our home for the next 3 months. We are so happy to be here. We had originally booked another RV park. They were over the top nice to us but later they informed us we had to pay double because we had kids. Really. They could have just been straight up from the start. Then Jeff booked us at the Ocala Sun. I figured that God had a reason for us to be here and not in the first place.

     So far things at the Ocala Sun have been wonderful. All the other campers seem friendly and we are settling in nicely.

Escape from NY

     About a year ago my husband, Jeff, mentioned that we should plan a huge 3 month camping trip to Florida over the winter. He felt that the opportunity to be close to his dad and spend time as a family would be priceless (not to mention avoiding the upstate NY winter). We can homeschool in the camper but he felt we should have this adventure soon because our 12 year old will be old enough to have a job in a couple of years (or may join an orchestra). I had a mixed reaction.  I loved the idea of escaping the dreary cold winter but I knew I would have to give up a volunteer ministry job I love with Community Bible Study. After much prayer and discussion we decided we would go for it.
     Well, I did step down from my ministry job (but God provided an amazing replacement). And we got everything else ready. As soon as we stopped school for Christmas break, I made a list for all the school books we would need for 3 months.

Our plan was to wait until after Christmas. Macy had one huge Christmas prayer... She was praying hard for a white Christmas. God must love her because he answered her prayer in a big way.

I'm so glad that they had a few very fun days of playing in the snow before we left. And having a quiet Christmas at home was beyond wonderful. But after Christmas was over and quickly put away then the work began... How do you pack for a 3 month trip? 

I didn't make a list for the food... I just packed practically everything.

Clothes are a little harder. We have been in Florida when the weather in Jan. was chilly and we have been in Florida when the weather in Jan. was warm. So we packed a variety of outfits. Because of the snow we did not put the clothes away. We threw everything in the cold camper as quickly as we could. I was wondering how it would all fit. We watched the weather for an opening in the snow storms and on Friday, Dec. 28 2012 we set out.

Macy and I were reading "The Little House on the Rocky Ridge" on the way down. In it, Laura's daughter Rose discovers that an adventure is when you don't know what will happen next. Let the adventure begin.

    

Getting Organized

I just finished reading Sidetracked Home Executives (from Pigpen to Paradise) by Pam Young & Peggy Jones. It was a quick and easy read. It seemed slightly dated but still had lots of good & helpful information. My house is not the worse but it is not totally clean either. I work hard at organization but often get behind. This book suggests a 3 x 5 card system. Each chore is written on 1 card and filed by frequency. I'm still mentally digesting all the info and deciding on how I will use it. Mostly I would love to make time for special projects like sewing and photo books. I will keep you posted on how I do.

Sidetracked Home Executives

Update: SIDETRACKED! That pretty much sums it up. It was funnny. I finished reading this book while we were at a campground. I wrote out ALL the cards. I tried to think of every house cleaning task. I also made the dividers and filed the cards as suggested in the book. As soon as I was done... I started reading the second book, Get Your Act Together, A 7-day get-organized program for the overworked, overbooked, and overwhelmed. When I read that they had changed their program, I just about cried. I had just finished making a bazzion chore cards. I put down the second book and I thought I would stick with the first book. When we got home we did chore cards for about 3 days. Haley liked the cards. I liked being able to hand a card to a kid, but refiling those cards was overwhelming. I put them aside... and went back to yelling... I may revisit the cards (the yelling is not effective). I think I would rather just have the chore cards in a stack and go through them all then start over at the beginning again. In the mean time, my house is semi-clean.

Work-files?

     I have read about work-boxes here and there but I never thought we would use them. I write out a week's worth of work in a planner and then we check it off as we do it. If something doesn't get done then I circle it and put an arrow to the next day... or I cross it off if we never get around to it. The non-negotiable stuff is at the top of the list and the more expendable stuff is at the bottom.

     I love a good list. My oldest daughter, Haley, is a lot like me. She loves a list. She also loves a stack. She will get out all of her books for the day and stack them to the left of her. When she finishes with something then she stacks it to the right. When she finishes the last thing on her list she shuts the book and says "Done!"
     My second daughter, Macy, does not care about lists. She won't look at it. When she finished something she would play until I stopped her. I would say "What is next on the list?" and she would say "I don't know." It was right next to her. This lead to frustration (on my part) and lots of wasted time (on her part). I started praying for some more visual solution for her.
    I decided I would relook at those work-boxes. I never bought the work-box e-book. I read some blogs about it but it seemed to take up too much space. I thought I may try magazine holders. I ordered 12 magazine holders in primary colors from amazon. I put all the day's work in these with numbers attached with velcro.

In some of the file boxes I put fun things like "do jumping jacks" or "march around the room." I bought a small tri-fold board at wal-mart. I decorated it with stickers and put velcro spots on it. I also gave her a snack tag and lunch tag. She can use the snack tag anytime after math and she can use the lunch tag anytime after 11:30am.

What a difference the work-files have made. She loves them. After several weeks she told me I should blog about them. She will say "I'm on number 5!"

We still have occasional bumps in the road but things go alot smoother than before we used work-files.

Crazy Train to a new floor

A few days before Easter, I took a ride on the crazy train... and my husband rode with me.

   My kitchen floor has been bothering me for some time. We remodelled the kitchen in 2002. I love everything we did. It is big country kitchen and has a huge island that we spend loads of time at. The floor we put in was a distressed eastern white pine wide plank floor. The manufacturer suggested a tung oil finish. This finish did not hold up to the constant use. We refinished the tung oil several times but we would just wear right through the finish again in no time. The parts of the floor that were bare wood would get stained and dirty. I couldn't get them clean. This would make me discouraged but then I would be mad at myself for not being content. (Here you see my little dog Molly after her latest haircut... sitting on the worn out floor).

We are in the midst of the most ambitious remodelling project we have ever done. We raised the roof  over part of the house. My husband has been working very hard on this project and I didn't want to add to his stress but last Tuesday I just had a melt down about the state of the kitchen floor. I told him I would love to sand it down and put polyurethane on it. Surprisingly, he said "Sure, let's do it." And that is when we jumped onto the crazy train.

Oh, the mess we made! Even with a bags to collect the sawdust on our sanders... we made a huge mess. We moved everything off the counters into the dining room. The fridge went into the dining room. The coffee pot into the bathroom. We moved the range and dishwasher into the mudroom. The pantry items were on top of the piano. The desk was on the church pew. Add to that 2 homeschooling girls, 2 dogs, and some laundry. It was like chaos. I was so happy!  

I love to sand. Jeff and I had done our bedroom floor in 2006 and I was the sanding queen then. I jumped right back into that role. It was very fulfilling too. I haven't been able to contribute to the Huge project but I can contribute to this one. It was like grinding away all my frustration (literally).

My biggest fear was that we would make it too smooth. I did not want a perfectly smooth pristine floor. That would not match our house or our lives (we have worked hard at distressing that floor over the last 10 years). Fortunately, we left plenty of sanding marks and dents (it a good thing we don't do this for a living). Choosing the stain was quite the chore. With several test spots on the floor behind the stove and several phone calls to our trusted friends in CO (with pictures) we settled on "golden oak".

Today I'm going to start moving things back in. How exciting! It is like having a whole new kitchen. I'm very thankful. I glad that God gave me a husband that will indulge his wife craziness. I was thinking maybe God uses some discontent to spur us on to get stuff done. Hmmm, What do you think?

Changes

I am right where I should be. No change is necessary.

Really God, I'm fine. My activities are fine.

No, Really. I don't want to change.

Ugg! I don't want to change stuff around. I like where I am. I'm comfortable doing my "thing".

AHHHHHHH. NOOOOOO. (stomping feet & waving fists). NOOOOOOO WAAAAYYY

really Lord? Are you really telling me to change my stuff around????

If you are telling me to change then confirm that to me in some way.

o.k. I'll take one small half step in that direction but I'm terrified.

alright... I survived that step... I'll take the next small step but if I'm not on the right track... STOP ME NOW

Yes Lord. I know you are with me. I will go.

Hey God, You are so funny... really funny... this was your plan? I'm starting to see the bigger picture. Good thing you are Large and In Charge.