Trying to get some things done.

We're always trying to do something and home-ownership is a job that sometimes I think we're just not up to, but we try.  We've got the kitchen and bathroom painted and now we have stalled.  The cleaning the laundry room task has been derailed by my son's birthday and getting the Nintendo Switch,   The Switch is their payment for doing all this work for me this summer and I may have jumped the gun and bought it too soon.  :-(  But it was his birthday and I thought it would be great for him to get it on his birthday and then he could use his birthday money to buy games for it.  It's working out great for him, but the work has stalled.  Part of that was my fault due to not having the supplies here that they needed, but it's mostly on them because they could have easily been cleaning the laundry room while waiting on supplies.  All the supplies were here yesterday; countertop paint, paint for the front door, paint for the front porch/deck stairs, wood trim for the dining room wall thingy, etc and they still didn't do anything much yesterday.  I'm frustrated but trying not to nag too much and ruin the mood around here.

Sigh. 

It's a struggle.

I got my list of things done yesterday, but none of my things were very satisfying to mark off the list. 

Ah well.  Today is another day. 

Youngest son.

He's turning 20 today.  It's crazy how fast childhood goes.  Here's a picture of his birthday cake from 10 years ago.  This year, we're celebrating a day late so his brother and sister-in-law can be here. 

A few pictures this week.

One day we decided to braid Cosmo, not sure why.  

I went to art class with my daughter this week and got to watch her finish this drawing.

It's such a beautiful day today, I just decided to take a picture of the road on my way home.  

A bit of light reading.

This is what my youngest son has checked out of the college library for the summer.  It's not for coursework, it's just things he likes to read about, linguistics and ancient Persia/Mesopotamia.

Just your typical 19-year-old.  (He'll be 20 next week!!!)

Study about Homeschooling Twice Exceptional Children.

Bridgette Whitlow-Spurlock, a doctoral candidate at Liberty University, military spouse, and homeschooling mother of three children, is conducting a study in which she hopes to identify and describe the curriculum, instructional methods, and structure used by homeschooling families of gifted and twice-exceptional children.

 

If you have homeschooled a gifted or twice-exceptional child for at least two years, you may be eligible to participate in the research, which will be conducted through online chat applications.

 

To inquire about taking part, contact Bridgette at bwhitlowspurlock@liberty.edu.

Time to start thinking about Father's Day!

Please visit my store.

Here's the Link!   ->>>-------->  Grandparent Gift

Feeling blessed.

In most things lately, I'm feeling blessed.  I've got a job now and it's mostly good.  I do have some stress issues about the new responsibilities I'm getting thrust into but I'm trying to call that what it is and deal with it.  It's fear and fear is a liar.  Fear is a Liar by Zach Williams   The young adults are doing well.  The house is getting remodeled (slowly).  I'm volunteering again and it's wonderful.

Freckles posing amongst the new pillows from Ikea that I'm not crazy about.  I wish they were a more vibrant color.  

Post homeschooling, I'm still extraordinarily glad that we did that, kept the kids out of the schools and kept their psyches intact, let them play, read to them a ton and helped them become these amazing people.  It's great to have them around and we are so lucky to have them around as much as they are.  We get to see my oldest and his wife once a week.  It used to be Monday night dinner, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we've had to do a schedule shift this week and change it to Tuesday night dinner.  Still, we get to see them every week!  I don't know how long it will last, how long they will be in Kentucky, so I'm enjoying it to the maximum right now.  The younger 2 are still living here in the house, taking the lead on the remodeling while my son is out of college for the summer and playing games 4 nights a week.  They play Dungeons and Dragons on Mondays, Starfinder on Tuesdays, Dungeons and Dragons on Thursdays and Fridays.  It's a busy schedule but for a long time, after our homeschool group broke up, they had no social lives at all, so this is important for them. We encourage them to spend time with their friends.  

Cosmo decided to join us for a board game playthrough that we did for another family to help teach them the game.  We gave him a game piece, but he quickly became bored.  I don't blame him, it wasn't a great game.  

Last night, I went to art class with my daughter, which I do sometimes, just to keep her company.  She's working on an amazing drawing of a cat.  I worked on one of my regular drawings while sitting next to her.  One of her paintings was sold after the recent gallery exhibition and she heard from someone that it is now on display in a real art gallery in our town.  I'm very excited about that!  We will have to go soon and check that out.  

The kitchen is blue now.  The color is called "High Noon".  We still haven't got the trim back up.  

For comparison, this is the color the kitchen was.  This picture was taken right after the wallpaper border was pulled down. 

Anyway, feeling blessed and thankful in the little things.  Nothing exciting going on right now, but life has fallen into a good pattern and I'm enjoying it.  I've got lunch with some friends from the old homeschool group today and will we're still hanging out with some people from the new homeschool group on Tuesdays.   Homeschooling has added so much to our lives and I'm thankful.  

This is the green that the bathroom was.  As soon as we painted it this green, we didn't like it, but it was a year and a half before we (my daughter) re-did it.

Now it's a soothing blue gray.  Ahh.

Long work days.

When I first had to do long work days (8 hours, like a normal person!!) I had to figure out a way to help myself get through it.  The first day I did it, I drew the regular hash marks (also called tally marks).

Then one day I decided to draw a flower for each half hour.  That was enjoyable and even pretty, but it didn't help me keep up with the time because I had to just count them every time.

This is not the actual flower I drew at work.  I did this one at home with real markers.  The work ones are colored with highlighters.
 

So yesterday, I came up with this brilliant  (not) idea of drawing a circle then putting an x in it, the first half of the x at the top of the hour and the second at the half hour.  Unfortunately, then I also just needed to count to see where I was.

Finally, about halfway through yesterday, I just wrote the times down and marked them off.  Not elegant, but it got the job done.

What I feel that I need to do is somehow make getting through the day a game that I'm winning.  It helps me feel better about my day for some reason.  Does anyone else do this?