Where we went today.

We took another field trip, this time to Dinosaur World in Cave City. Here are some pictures.

Good kids.

Yesterday, we finally, finally got something done we'd been planning to do for over a year, an edging on my mom and dad's sidewalk. I think it was last year we were going to do this for my mom for Mother's day, or maybe it was the year before? Anyway, we did one side the first day we bought it and procrastinated about doing the other side until yesterday. But, finally, we got it done yesterday; my brother, my oldest son, my daughter and me. I didn't make the kids help or even ask them to help, but they pitched in and did a ton of work. I was very proud of them. I'm so glad that is done. It feels really get something done you've been procrastinating about.

I am better today.

I realize my post yesterday had several negatives. After I lost that entire report and had to type it over, I admit it, I was cranky. We had a scheduled Moms Night Out with the other homeschool moms last night and that helped so much. I feel better. We talked and laughed in a restaurant for 3 hours, ate tacos and enchiladas and generally had a good time. We do this once a month and it is very helpful for our mental health. The kids want to go but it's just not the same if you have to keep interupting your conversation to say things like "No!" "Get down from there!" and "Stop that!" So Moms who are reading, if there's any way in this world you can do it, have an occasional night out to rejuvenate your spirit.

So many things on my mind today.

So few actual concrete thoughts ... My brain is just kind of jumping from one thing to the next. I wrote myself some notes about what to blog about early this morning and now that I've got a minute to blog, here's the list I am confronted with.

Blog Ideas.
Chair height.
Spring fever.
Discouragement.
Public schools not so bad.
FEAR!
Addiction.
Carnival.
Bad aspects to the lists.
Burnout.
Mistakes from rushing.

So here's the translation
Chair Height.
I think it's funny that I like my desk chair as low as it will go. If the kids sit in my chair for a minute, they have to raise it up.

Spring Fever.
We all seem to have spring fever. We do not want to do any kind of work at all. I do have a vague desire to have the house spring-cleaned, but I don't want to do it.

Discouragement.
I'm trying to deal with that right now. Youngest son wants to whine about the schoolwork all the time and it's getting to me. He has come up a couple of grades in reading level this year and is almost where he should be. I keep trying to tell myself that.

Public Schools not so bad.
This is what a 13-year-old girl told me last night. She realized that the majority of kids in our AWANA group are homeschooled and she told me, "You know, the public schools are not so bad. You don't have to be afraid of them." I tried to explain that its not fear keeping us out of school, it's a confusing mix of work schedules, learning difficulties not served well by the schools and a desire for more family time but that's hard to explain in one minute. Anyway, I thought it was interesting that she would assume that.

FEAR!
Speaking of fear, one of my children had a bad dream in which the setting was the living room of our house and now won't go into the living room without an adult escort. This is making my life very difficult, since all of our rooms pretty much open off of the centrally located living room. I have to quit working several times a day and escort him places. It's driving me nuts, but I'm not sure what to do about it. (It's not the teenager!)

Addiction.
Several of us in this household play too many video games, myself included and I think we need to stop. Not sure how to go about this either.

Carnival. The carnival of homeschooling is up here.

Bad aspects to our lists.
Sometimes when we are hurrying to finish the deadlines to avoid the consequences, we make mistakes. For example, I was hurrying to finish this morning, hit a wrong button (not sure which one) and erased the entire thing. Very frustrating.


Burnout.
I have burnout in my job. I have had for about 5 years, but I keep on going. It does get on my nerves though.

Mistakes from rushing.
See above, under bad aspects to our lists. Apparently, I had the same thought twice while my mind was racing around, going nowhere.

Rising from the ashes ...

The youngest got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, grouchy. My daughter said that he needed us to get out the "bouncy thing". It's this inflatable bounce house made by Six Flags that the kids get in. It's relatively small and will fit in our living room, so it's a good thing to pull out on rainy days or when someone's cranky. Apparently, it worked and put him in a better mood. I heard him a few minutes later quoting Hank the Cowdog. He said dramatically "I'm rising from the ashes like the mythical Tucson." LOL. Gotta love old Hank.

Absolute power.

They say that absolute power corrupts and well, I'm demonstrating it today. Because we had a field trip yesterday, I didn't print out the school/work lists for the kids and myself. Hence, I'm working this morning pretty much without a list. I've changed mine every week, trying to get just the perfect balance of school, work and housework and trying to get everything in without overwhelming myself. This morning, I got up and started working. I ran the dishwasher and fed the pets and started the download. Then I gave into tempation, briefly, and played The Sims. I got the Family Fun Stuff pack yesterday as a belated birthday gift and still haven't seen all the new things on it. I soon realized that at the pace I was going, I would not get 1/2 my daily lines and a bunch of housework and exercise done, then I had a very evil inspiration, a perfectly awful idea (as the Grinch would say) - why not adjust the list to what I actually got done this morning? Let's see. Dishwasher. Check. Feed pets. Check. Download and type 217 lines. Check. Hey, I got my list done! Who would've thought?

I'm terrible, I know, but it's only this one morning. I'll exercise tomorrow, really I will. Consider this my birthday present to myself.

Trying the Meme.

1. Were you named after anyone? My middle name is similar to my mom's first name. She's Pauline, I'm Paulanne.
2. Are you an only child? No. I have an older brother.
3. Do you like your handwriting? It's terrible.
4. If you were another person, would you be friends with you? Probably.
5. Would you bungee jump? Never.
6. What is your favorite cereal? I don't think I have one.
7. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Not really, but most of my shoes don't have ties.
8. Do you think you are strong? In some ways.
9. What is your favorite ice cream? Edy's slow churned.
10. What is the first thing you notice about people? I have no idea. I notice babies and young children a lot when I'm in a crowd.
11. What is the least favorite thing about yourself? I speak too quickly and don't think enough. (I'm just going to leave a lot of Janet's responses without change, because they fit.)
12. Who do you miss the most? My uncle who died last June.
13. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? bare feet, blue jeans.
14. What was the last thing you ate? Homemade taco salad.
15. What are you listening to right now? I'm kind of listening to/watching Dancing with the Stars while I type this.
16. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Navy blue.
17. Favorite smells? vanilla candles, coffee.
18. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? my dad
19. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Well, I took it from her, but yes, I like her very much!
20. Do you have any pets? 1 cat, Xena, 2 dogs, Lucy and Max and the green anoles, Annie and Andy.
21. Favorite sports to watch? I like the dog competitions that come on once a year, other than that ...
22. Hair color? Brown with weird highlights.
23. Eye color? Dark green.
24. Do you wear contacts? yes
25. Favorite food? must I name just one? Mashed potatoes.
26. Scary movies or happy endings? Happy Endings.
27. Last movie you watched? Meet the Robinsons.
28. What color shirt are you wearing? Black (always).
29. Summer or winter? Summer
30. Hugs or kisses? By Hersheys? Kisses definitely. (again, Janet's answer works!)
31. Favorite dessert? Italian Cream Cake and basically any cheesecake.
32. What book are you reading? I'm kind of between books right now.
33. Most likely to respond to this meme? Not sure.
34. Least likely to respond to this meme? Not sure.
35. What is on your mouse pad? Bubbles.
36. What did you watch on tv last night? I watched House MD on DVD.
37. What is your favorite sound? My kids laughing.
38. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Probably Beatles, although I like the Stones song "You can't always get what you want."
39. What is the furthest you have been from home? Tucson, Arizona.
40. Do you have a special talent? Probably singing, but I don't do it very often.

I'm much too young to feel this, um old.

I had my birthday this weekend. When you get to middle age, they get kind of bittersweet. I mean, I enjoy the eating out, the gifts, the cards, etc. but its hard not to feel a little anxious about the passing of time and the feeling that I'm not accomplishing what I want to do with my life. Oh well. I guess I'll just go shopping and try not to think about it. Retail therapy. It actually works pretty well most of the time.

We're going on a field trip today for school today, to an alpaca farm. Can you believe that there are alpaca farms in Kentucky? I wish I could take credit for arranging this cool trip during our South America study, but someone in our homeschool group arranged it. It'll be cool and I think I'll do some shopping on the way home.