January 6, 2009

• Another January Cold Morning

  It’s only 31° this morning, as I sit here typing away.  I think this was yesterday’s high.  Brrrr!  I had a rough night.  Awake, asleep, let the dog out and in, asleep, weird dream – so asleep, awake, asleep, – crick in my neck awake awake awake . . . .

  I’m so glad I have no where to go today.  The girls (Annamarie & Luci) talked 4-EVER in their bed last night, which also kept me awake.  No TV or video games for the girls today.  We’re having a problem listening to Mom, lately.  Except Chirper, and I think he listens because food might be in store for him if he pays attention to me!  Nonetheless, Chirper “loved” me awake and is in one of his affectionate moods this morning.

  So sweet.  He loves EVERYONE so much!
  

  
  Yesterday, I ordered the school books I needed for a good phonics program.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that sets for three different levels didn’t cost as much as I remembered one level costing.  It cost less than a hundred to order sets for Luci and Annamarie in all three levels.  Saving money is always a nice surprise.  I have another set (more expensive) of books I want to order, but will wait until after our tax refund.  It is a character building series.

   

  
  It worked well, yesterday, having the girls help me plan lessons for school.  I handed out their new books and we flipped through the history, science, and health books talking about the table of contents.  Each girl found what she thought was the most interesting thing to study in the book and shared it with the rest of us.  As they flipped through their books looking for their favorite parts, I planned the next 2 weeks of lessons.  I DID need their help (well, kind of) in telling me the page they finished in their math and language arts books, so I could continue forward.  I told them we’d be doing something new these next few months – studying phonics AND character development.  They were happy.  Of course, they have no idea what those two things mean . . .

    

  

  
  I wasn’t sure about Bible lessons.  I only used a textbook in our Saturday School with JanaLyn  During the week, I pray about what God wants me to teach the girls and go with that.  Rissy raised her hand Sunday in church when they had an altar call.  The pastor didn’t see her little raised hand and I’m glad.  I wanted to be sure she knew what she was doing before making that step.  So, this week will be Romans 10:9-10 and John 3:16; as well as, memorizing the order of the first 6 books in the New Testament.  After a lengthy conversation with Rissy, yesterday, she seems to understand the commitment she wants to make.

  

  
  I never got around to making my call to the public school system regarding what foster children need to have to be placed.  BUT, the gal who did our home study called and said she had just gotten the info from the girls’ therapist and had asked her boss to pull our “incomplete” home study so she could insert the therapist’s reference and make it a “finalized” home study.  She said her boss would be sending the file back to Child Welfare this week and then I’d be hearing from them and receive a copy of the home study from Child Welfare.  So, let’s see how long THIS leg of our journey takes!!!!

   

  
  I didn’t bake a cake either.  I think the sifting through home school books and lesson planning took a lot longer than I had anticipated.  A homegrown ice cream store (Braum’s) carries holiday flavors November – (maybe?) January and I had bought a tub of peppermint ice cream 2 weeks ago.  Normally ice cream goes bad in our house, because we don’t eat that much.  I serve it in small quantities to keep us from becoming fat AND to make the expensive stuff last.  I figured we could have ice cream for dessert, since there was no cake.  I picked up the tub of ice cream and almost dropped it.  The carton’s light weight flew above my head.  There was only enough for one small serving!!!!!  I’d had ice cream ONE TIME ONLY and declared the remainder of the next-to-nothing carton was mine.  They ate some old ice cream (ice crystalized) Rocky Road flavor and I finished that up, too!  Not much of either was left in the cartons.  Anyway, the cake wasn’t missed, but *will be* today!  I chose caramel cake and frosting, a flavor that is (almost always) hard to find.  When I found it a few weeks ago, I bought 3 cake mixes and 3 tubs of frosting!  I keep my cake mixes in the garage freezer so they stay fresh longer and bugs can’t get to them (or mice)!

   

  
  I spread an old snowman plastic table cloth on the kitchen table, yesterday afternoon, and the Rissy and Annamarie used their “Paint by Number” kit Luci bought them as a gift.  I think the set-up time lasted longer than the time they painted; and then, they lost interest.  This mixing colors and staying within the lines of a picture was just too tedious, I guess!

  
   

  
  I took a bath last night and lingered in the warm water, trying to sooth my aching muscles.  This morning,  I only need to get dressed to pull myself together and teach!  I always like the idea of bathing at night and being ready to go in the morning, but some nights I’m just too tired to draw a bath and go through the whole routine.  I have super dry skin, so I can’t bathe and then put on a nightgown.  I require lots of lotion and bending and stretching.  At the end of day, bending and stretching is something my body shrieks at in protest!

  

   

  
  I guess it’s time to get off of here and get on with my day.  I’m having as much trouble as the girls are having getting back into the “school routine”!!!!!

  Today’s To Do List:
  *  Homeschool resumes . . . I teach/Children learn
  *  Wash our sheets
  *  Invent dinner (just took ground beef out of freezer to make ?????)
  *  Bake cake (I’ve already baked muffins this morning for breakfast)
  *  Call public school office
  *  Clean big screen TV and the glass end table in our den
  *  Wash hair
  *  Read newest book, if I have time

  I better leave, now . . .

  Be blessed  ~

  

  • 11:21 am
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