Oh, his aching back let me play SuperMom

We spent a less than eventful weekend at home. Plans changed at the last minute due to the aching back dear hubby has. Sunday morning, should have been much different. I should have been up at the crack of dawn making breakfast and getting three kids ready to travel to Mountlake Terrace. We should have boarded the 10:50 ferry from Kingston to Edmonds for the annual Nile Kids Christmas Party. Hubby was supposed to work this party in face along with several other Nile Clowns.

All of this means I was supposed to take pictures of the event and post them today.

None of this happened.

Instead, I woke up at the crack of dawn, made breakfast, piled three kids in the car, and went to church. Leaving hubby home alone was not something I really wanted to do. Under the circumstances I ended up in, I'm glad I left him at home. I got to be SuperMom!

I took my two kids, and the three-year-old child we babysit to church. I actually found space in the sanctuary for the beginning of service. Took them downstairs for Sunday School after children's time, and took over my husband's job at Fearless Fourth Grade Leader. Blessed as we are, this is Advent. Sunday School lessons aren't normal during this time of year. As a Sunday School teacher, I didn't have to plan anything. I just had to show up and reduce the adult:child ratio.

SuperMom really came into play during the final church service of the day. On a regular basis, hubby works this service as an usher and sound geek. I sit with our two kids (and the babysat third during Advent) in the pew closest to the production crew.

As we are all good Lutheran's in our family, the closest pew to the production crew also happens to be the pew closest to the coffee pot. We never sit in the front or anywhere near the front. Even at Christmas Eve services, we sit in the back. Typically the next to last pew will be filled with Herstads.

Yesterday, however, I got to do all the good things he normally does. I ushered the service, while holding the three year old. I ran the sound board with the three year old on my lap. I serviced communion cups holding the hand of the three year old. My kids, however, got to play the role of good Lutheran. They acolyted the service, sat in the back, closest to the coffee pot (and mom), SAT QUIETLY as good children should, and worked the communion as cup receivers.

After service, they even helped clean up. I love watching Bigfoot as he takes Squirt around having her help him. One of the jobs the kids have taken on at the end of services is turning off the big screen at the front of the sanctuary. I think it's awesome he allows her to flip the light switch that controls it.

BeadGirl is something else as well. She is now the youngest member of the First Lutheran Alter Guild. I've only been working with Alter guild for a few months, but she has helped set up and clear enough services, she knows where everything goes. She's such a kick at the end of a service. The first thing she does is walk up front, and begin clearing the altar. She knows how to load the Communion trays, clean the flower urns, and stuff the pew pockets. I haven't let her fill candles yet. I won't let her take on that role yet. The last time I filled the candles, I had the wicks all over the counter in pieces. I had oil all over my hands, as well as the counters and sinks. I'm pretty sure the ladies who set up the week after that incident were scratching their heads.

I'm SHOCKED and singing PRAISES

My kids actually did chores today! I saw them with my own eyes CLEANING the dining room!!! I can't believe I saw my kids willingly do chores today. yes, I am without a doubt ecstatic about this. As a treat, they got off other responsibilities today. They can take on those tomorrow. Now if I can just get them to make out a daily to-do list, we'd be set. I even got them these cool weekly to-do list charts at the dollar store. One full year for $1. I like the sound of that.

I'm singing praises over chores being done by my kids. I didn't feel compelled to break up any fights. Double the praises for that one. Hopefully dh wasn't being a grouch with them. He was in a horrible mood this morning on the way to the ferry. Why? I can't completely figure out. He was like this yesterday as well. All I can do is pray for him.

Par of his problem may have been the back pain he's been going through recently. He called me from work today to tell me he thinks his back gave out on the job. We do not need him to end up filing an L&I claim, take time off, loose pay, have to argue fuss and fight L&I compensation, yada yada yada. We just signed papers for our mortgage refinance last night. We need his income to make the payments. I don't make enough with ASI to handle everything myself. He's already asked me to give him a good massage tonight. He'll definitely get it, along with a few good prayers, hymns (Communion hymns are my favorite), oil and hands. I'm good at that for some reason.

Prayer is probably the one thing I'm best at, even better than writing. My intention in blogging is to give uplifting and positive life to those who feel down about active lifestyles. We are very active. I won't get started on that topic tonight. I will tell you, there are times I feel overwhelmed. There are times I would love to tell everything to take a flying leap off the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The times I feel worst, are the times I feel like I have to fight, beg and annoy everybody. It's not a pretty picture. Prayer is really the only thing that gets me through all the crap. The Footprints poem is for real. There have been many times He has carried me through.

I could go on about this more, but you get the picture tonight. I'll go on about this more; just later.

I can write at night, Right?

Okay, so here I am, typing at 9:30 at night. Why? because I want to. Kids are in bed, dh is taking care of business. My work is done for the day. I think.

Laundry has been washed; put away is another story. Uniform shirts have been washed and pressed for the remainder of the week.

The dishwasher has been run. Yes, dishes were in it when it was started. Children have been fed, for the umpteen millionth time.

Words have been spelled for everyone else in the family. I am still struggling with the fact that I am the only person here who knows how to spell anything.

Loan papers for our house have been signed. This one seems like the accomplishment of a lifetime. Actually getting laundry completely put away would be the next major accomplishment around here.

Laundry never gets put away. Everything gets heaped in a pile of clean clothes in my room. Clean laundry has to go in my room because there is no other room in al of our glorious, luxurious 850 square feet. There was the one day in August I almost got everything put away that didn’t need to be pressed or matched (such as socks). Then the window guy to come to our house.

This was crazy to the point I wanted to scream. Dear hubby had two weeks of vacation at the end of August. Instead of going anywhere, we stayed at home and took care of business we might not normally get to. He decided it would be a great idea to have window guys come over. Notice I used the plural form of the word. Yes, GUYS. He decided to schedule TWO appointments for window people to show off their stuff on the same day. That’s all fine and dandy if they leave before the cable guy comes install the broadband internet line. AND IF THEY LEAVE BEFORE AN AGENT BRINGS PEOPLE OVER!!!

At this point in the year, our house was still on the market. We were almost to the one year anniversary of our listing and we had already set a new record in Kitsap County for the highest number of personal showings and internet viewings. This is not a record I’m entirely proud of. We had a showing appointment for that evening after 5. Everything should work out according to me. The cable guy was coming over sometime between noon and four. I new about the window guy coming in the morning. I didn’t know the second guy would be at our house practically for dinner. He NEVER left! I think he might still be here trying to tell me pointless stories about his former life as an ADHD child in Florida. He was still there when people came to see the house. He even left after they left! We ended up going out to dinner that night. I think that’s how we got him to actually leave and go home for the day. That’s also how laundry never got finished.

Let’s see how far I get this time.

Where have I been? Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow! I didn't realize I had gone over two weeks since my last blog. now I'm wondering, "where have I been?" My last blog was before Thanksgiving. I meant to post a Thanksgiving blog; I really did. Somehow, it just never made it here.

Actually, I know all too well how it never made it here. I got ambitious this Thanksgiving. I decided to bake. I did my very first pie crust. Actually, the recipe was for three crusts. I managed to come out all my mixing with enough pie crust for two apple pies, one pumpkin, and one huge pumpkin pie. I had enough pumpkin pie mix for one regular pie, and this huge pie I had to put in a casserole dish along with the leftover pie crust. Along with all theses pies, I baked rolls. I can't just go buy rolls for Thanksgiving. NO, I have to bake all morning long.

It's not like I wasn't awake all night. Bigboy brought home the company "bonus" aka, turkey, Tuesday, and we forgot to put it in the fridge. I found it Wednesday night when we came home from the ferry, nicely thawed. That resulted in a purchasing of a roasting pan, coming home and baking this darned bird until almost 3 in the morning. Beginning sometime around ten, Bigboy insisted that one of us needed to stay up while the bird baked. Out of the kindness of his heart, he told me to go to sleep. For some reason, that kindness also needed me to wake up every half hour (to check the bird) until one. That's when he decided we needed to switch places. at that point, I was grateful to have him go to sleep. If he was going to wake me up repeatedly, just let me stay up in the first place. Its not like we were responsible for the entire dinner. We were going to Olympia for dinner with his family. I was only supposed to bring desserts and rolls. I also didn't want to loose the bird to spoilage.

Traffic on I5 was good until just north of Olympia. Eventually, we were creeping to about 35 mph. We discovered the slow down ended as we passed by the new Cabela's showroom. I can't believe the number of people slowing down to gawk at the roof of the new store. Yikes!

Thanksgiving was good for our family. I hope it was for everyone as well. As soon as I have pictures from our Veteran's Dinner, I will be posting them. I have to have pictures come in from people there, since I was working the entire night.

Can I leave the computer now?

I know no one ever said carrying a job while homeschooling two kids, decorating a Blue lodge, running around with the Shriners, teaching Sunday school, and supporting an at-risk group of hyperactive Cub Scouts was easy. Oh by the way, I sew, knit, embroidery, and coming soon: quilting and crochet as well as everything I mentioned before. Somewhere in all that, I do manage to find time to wash laundry, cook, and clean up after everyone.

Earlier this month, I took a job working from home as a Human Resource Representative. My job is to interview, hire, and arrange training sessions for applicants. I really do like this job. I wasn't exactly ready for the work load I've had in the last few days. My "working" days try to run from 6 to 9 am here in my time zone. Most of the applicants I interview are in other parts of the country where daylight is occurring. After nine, I try to limit everything to pre-set appointments. Lately, I've been working non-stop until noon or later.

Now that I'm back down to five hours of sleep or less, I am beginning to remember how exhausting working in the early morning hours can be. Before I became a homeschooling parent, I had a job in food service. My day started at 3 am on a regular basis, and eventually dropped to 1 am before my company lost the contract I worked under. The only part of that gig I miss is the customer base I serviced every day. I don't miss corporate flack, extremely early hours, or falling asleep while driving.

I enjoy being able to converse with a wide variety of people in my new job. Enjoy the fact that I can leave the desk to grab coffee, food, obnoxious kids, whatever. I can let the dog out between phone calls, let him back in between calls, make lunch, do laundry, clean the bathroom, whatever.

As far a homeschooling while I work, I'd die without www.k12.com and the virtual lesson planning, guidance, and personalized pace program. I have never liked having to write out lesson plans or schedules. Mostly because I always ended up off track and never quite sure of where to get back on. Blame it on my ADHD. My kids respond very well to the k12 program. This is a major step up for us from the struggles we've been through in the past. I've never been one to want to fight over schoolwork. eventually, I'll be able to get them to do an entire day in one day.

The nerve of Adsense sometimes.

As I posted my previous blog, I am finding I like the idea of dropping Adsense. They have decided my blog deserves links including "cheating wife" and "phone stalker." I really do not need people thinking I endorse this kind of stuff. Adsense can put up all the pro-homeschooling, Christian, Lutheran, Freemasonry, Shriner's Hospitals for Children, time management, personal organization, Boy Scout's of America, home improvement, feng shui links they want. I didn't finish the list because I could add more but I know you get the picture. I will not have links such as "phone stalker" and "cheating wife" on my Adsense links. Thank you.

If you happen to be more technologically enabled than me and know how to handle this, please let me know.

Is this my imagination?

Shhh, it's quiet today. My kids are actually doing schoolwork today. If I take a picture, I may just curse the schoolwork. Therefore, I won't take or post any pictures. The quiet doing of schoolwork is a Kodak moment in itself.

Normally, we are in a much more boisterous school environment that looks much more like:

Two children are sitting on a unabashedly orange sectional sofa produced in the age of hippies and flower children. No, not sitting, laying because no one child can handle sitting. Sitting would mean minding your manners and we can't have that. Mom might just like the idea of us minding our manners. Voices are color coded; as if you can't tell who is who.

"Keep your feet off me."

The feet of Bigfoot stay on sister.

"Bigfoot, keep your feet off your sister."

"I SAID, Keep Your Feet Off Me."

"BIGFOOT, Keep your feet OFF your sister!"

The feet of Bigfoot come up off of sister and slap down on sister.

"OWWW! I SAID, KEEP YOUR FEET OFF ME!"

"I didn't have my feet on my sister. I'm trying to do my schoolwork, and BEADGIRL won't let me."

"So, keep your feet off your sister and do your schoolwork."

"I am keeping my feet off her. I am doing my schoolwork and I'M THINKING!"

"Then there shouldn't be an issue. Thank you."

"Mom, I need help with..." the phone rings.

It's the husband needing something for someone. Yes I can send an email off to whoever. What do you want to say. Type email. "This is what is says read email to him. Okay, anything else?" Sign email as "Terri speaking and typing for dh."All email is signed this way. Everything from masonic related email, to writing to his parents. "Yes, I can call this person. What do you need?" take notes because I can't remember everything he wants all at once. "Yes, I can take the car into have it looked at. Okay. What boat will you be on?" As I think, I'd get the car in if you'd give me the time to catch up to everything else I have to do. You'd think homeschooling means being at the complete disposal of everyone all the time.

In the mean time, the TV has now been turned on. There is more sniveling and nagging. Now for the:

"Mom, I'm hungry." You'd think I starve Bigfoot. At basically twelve years old now and entering a size THIRTEEN shoe, I must starve him. All he has done for three years now is grow.

"Can I do this first for your dad? Let me send this email off, then I can feed you."

During the email typing, "Mom, I'm hungry."

"Yes, I know. Do your school work and I can feed you. I can't feed you if you continuously tell me you're hungry."

"OKAY. I'm doing my schoolwork."

Wow, Blessed are we who have a quiet day of schoolwork. I do like this. I never knew I could get as much done as I have today if they can quietly do their own schoolwork.