Re-organizing the House - Ugh!

With the onset of holidays and balancing work schedules, appointments and chilly, snowy weather, we've allowed the house to become steadily more cluttered again. It's hard to live in a home while trying to sell it. How do you keep the kitchen counters completely free of things like fruit, breads, nuts, cell phones, bills, etc.? When we put our house on the market, we completely emptied out several cupboards, packed a bunch of stuff away (in the hopes we wouldn't need it till we sold the house), and proceeded to hide away things like the toaster and the grill in the cupboards when not in use. As time passed, we started leaving them out, and the counters have become cluttered again, not with the old stuff we used to store there, but with new stuff, mostly food, snack foods, healthy and not so healthy.

I can't stand clutter. I can bear it for so long and then I start wanting to just box everything and toss it out in the garbage. Instead of doing that, I just bite the bullet and start overhauling, cleaning and reorganizing. It's heartbreaking in a way, because I know I just did this several months ago and I'm frustrating that all that hard work now has to be redone. At the same time, I have found over the years that organizational effort does not go to waste; it lays a groundwork that is still there when you return the next time to do it all over again. It's easier to clean once you created a place for everything to go. The problem is always the stuff that defeats organization. Where do you put paperwork that you might want to keep within reach, but you don't want to file away, and know if you do file it away may never find again? I suppose you can have a file for every important paper but who wants to go to that length to organize everything? And then how badly do you really want to store things? I have fantasies of throwing everything away and starting over, a de-cluttered house and a de-cluttered life. For years we had boxes (my husband's) that sat in our garage taking up space but never put to use. My husband didn't want anyone to mess with them because they were important to him. No problem. I have boxes with things that are important to me. The difference is that I sort through them occasionally and evaluate what I still feel is important to me, keep those things and dump the rest. He finally sorted every box last summer when we put our house up for sale. We've been married 18 years and I don't think he's sorted those boxes the entire time we've been married until that time. We went through every inch of our garage and not one box, not one cupboard, not one corner escaped our examination, and that was the final urge that pushed my husband to go through his boxes. Some of his old letters had been eaten away by moths (one problem with failing to sort those boxes for so long), but on the whole everything was fine. It's now reorganized and safely stored away in better boxes, still taking up space, but in a more condensed condition. He tossed what was junk and what was no longer meaningful, and preserved the treasures.

I love organizing things. Well, let me put it this way. I loved things that are organized. I don't necessarily love the act of organizing, but the fruits make it worth the effort.

So, instead of moping around the newly cluttered chaos that is my house, I'm going to roll up my sleeves and get to work injecting some order into the chaos. I find it overwhelming to think about it, but at the same time it kind of reminds me of how I feel when I have to start exercising/dieting again after lapsing in my routine. It's tough to start, but once you get rolling along (and with a little perseverance), it not only gets easier, it becomes enjoyable and even something to look forward to.

Happy Birthday to Me! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Yes, I am a Sagittarius, as if you couldn't tell!

And now I'm another year older! I actually worked on my birthday, but I got to celebrate it over several days. First I went to breakfast with about 20 girlfriends a couple days before my birthday (to coordinate work schedules, etc). Really! We just kept growing and growing, so we ended up moving from into a banquet room. It was so nice for everyone to show up. So many of my friends have moved several hours away (or are at least 40 minutes away), and with Sunday being Sunday and all, I didn't expect more than a handful to show up for my breakfast. It was great fun catching up and visiting.

Then I went out to see I Am Legend with my oldest son. We liked the movie. Will Smith was amazing. He almost carried the entire film on his own and he pulled it off.

Then, the day after my birthday, I went to lunch with my mom and sister-in-law, and later to dinner with my hubby.

We had a family Christmas party on Friday night. I finally wrapped up the last of my Christmas shopping today... It took several hours and the crowds weren't actually that bad today. They were crazy Saturday at the grocery store. There were no parking places, no grocery carts, and I could hardly weave my way down the aisles! I actually was able to do a lot of my shopping online this year because my kids found some cool things on the internet. One son wanted accessories for his phone, including a neat case, and some key chains now that he's driving; another son wanted a skin and case for his Zen (he got for his birthday in November). My two oldest daughters ordered some cute clothes at Daisymaze.com. One of them bought a Zen. I was able to order myself a Zen with my gift card $ from family and friends. My husband loaded his entire Beatles, Alison Krauss & James Taylor collections on it, and tonight I've spent several hours putting my own faves on it. I really like it, and I know I'm going to LOVE it once I start working out again. I want to buy an armband to work out with.

Lots of cheating meals over the last week, and that's hard on the diet, but I haven't gained anything. I haven't lost anything either, but I take it as a plus that I haven't gained. It is, after all, a full month with my anniversary, my birthday and other family birthdays, Christmas parties, Christmas, etc. Now I just need to get through Christmas and New Year's!

Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy New Year!

Happy Anniversary to Me!

I am sick as a dog tonight (on my anniversary evening), which is a big bummer. I hardly slept last night, I was congested and coughing. Tonight I fell asleep twice while soaking in the bath before we went out to dinner (and afterward while sitting in the car). We are both too tired to do much else, but still, we're happy. We're going to watch a movie in bed, at least for as long as we can force our eyes open. Hopefully we won't fall asleep somewhere in the middle, but at the rate we're going tonight... :o)

Eighteen years today and going strong. Happy Anniversary to Me, and to Hubby, too.

Rosetta Stone Spanish & Other Languages

Wow. I have been actively researching language programs, and the Rosetta Stone comes highly recommended. I have two middle school students and three high school students currently studying Spanish 1 or 2, so I figured it might be nice to have a Spanish interactive computer program they can use to help them learn, or review the material they learn at school. I'm very excited about the Rosetta Stone.

I discovered that Rosetta Stone offers free access to their travel lessons & some of their first and second levels of their language programs to library card holders. If you don't have a library card, sign up for one, go to this link: Language Learning Center, and register. Once you register at the Rosetta Stone web page with your library card, you can download a program with several languages and lessons for each language.

My 11-year-old son and I have already completed several lessons from Spanish level 1 (and one lesson from French travel lessons, just for fun!).

Hours of Waiting at the DMV: My Son Got His License!

I sat in the DMV yesterday for over 2 hours to get my oldest son his driver's license. It doesn't look quite so official until the plastic card actually arrives in the mail, but it's cool.

Still, I complained to the lady gate-keeper (who screens everyone before they even get a number) that it was ridiculous, over-burdensome and redundant to make every new young driver come in to the DMV twice, first for a permit, then six months later for the license. There is only ONE location where a new driver can get a permit and license (okay, not quite true, there's apparently a location in Davis County we could go to, which is only about an hour+ drive from our house).

I don't understand why schools can't issue permits when the kids pass their tests, or why there aren't additional locations to handle some of the large volume of licenses, etc., that go through this one location. We have a DMV office right by our house, but it doesn't allow anything but renewals. I don't know what it is about government offices, but you never seem to get through there without waiting several hours. Honestly, I just got permits for my 16-year-old and his step-brother, and we waited forever, and when we got my oldest son's permit in the summer, we waited three hours at least.

Apparently, there is hope; a second DMV office is supposed to open in the southern region of Salt Lake County, dedicated to first time licenses and permits. That won't happen too soon!

The other frustration for first time drivers is that the driving test scores expire after a year. If you are unfortunate enough NOT to get your permit within a six month period of passing driver's ed, your test scores will expire before you are able to get your license. We almost had that problem. We delayed getting my oldest son his permit, thinking both that he already got his permit from school (wrong) and that we wanted him to be older and more practiced before he got his license (which is apparently the point of the new permit law).

When we finally went in for his license six months ago, we were in for a surprise. The new permit law had just gone into effect requiring every new driver to have a permit for six months before getting a license and there was no record of my son ever having a permit. We had to actually get the permit and wait six more months before we got his license. It's been almost 18 months since he had his road test; because the permit waiting period is new law, there is a grandfather clause that allowed his test scores to remain valid for 18 months instead of 12, otherwise they would have expired. The girl said to me, "woah, you're lucky. You're almost expired." I just gave her a look of: "Don't even think about going there!" (Honestly, can't the test score expiration date be considered for the permit, then put to bed? Why evaluate the test scores for both the permit and the license? Is there anything that government does that is not redundant?)

We didn't intend for my son to have to wait an entire year before he could get his license, but statistically, he's safer waiting.

The girl at the counter was friendly. She tried to tease me at first, but after sitting for two hours, I was pretty humorless. My son had a shake and I had a drink when we came up to the counter, and when we got there, she was really nice and said, "Where's mine?"

I said, "I drank it an hour ago." I meant it to be light, but it came out a little sour. After that she didn't joke anymore, but I did try to be nice and pleasant and not make it difficult. I'm sure everyone there is crabby and unhappy when she has to call new people, so why make it worse for everyone?

Of course the weather is horrid today, rainy and nasty and building to a snow storm apparently. It's always great when it rains, then freezes and snows over the top!

My son won't be driving to work tonight, that's for sure!

10 lbs Down & Counting!

Yahoo. Yesterday I reached the 10 lb. mark on my calendar. I've lost 10 pounds. Today I'm taking a day off my diet, and eating whatever I want. :o)

Homeschooling Begins & Another Pound Lost!

I've decided to homeschool my 11-year-old. I'm really excited about this. I've been wanting to homeschool him for some time, but I haven't had the time myself to devote to it until now. I homeschooled my oldest four children for several years, beginning when they were two and three years old with preschool activities and reading. My kids could all read before they went in to kindergarten. My oldest daughter taught herself to read by watching me teach the older kids. She was impatient for me to start her; she was four by the time I started working with her, and finally she brought some books to me, sat in my lap and started reading. I thought, oh yea, she's just memorized the books from our reading times together, so I moved to some unfamiliar books and she read them, too. She was reading at four, without any personal instruction. Clearly, she had gotten all the instruction she needed from being with the older kids.

I put them all in school the year after my daughter Holly underwent open heart surgery for tetralogy of fallot (four holes in her heart, narrow pulmonary artery, right ventricle smaller than her left). We homeschooled throughout that exacting period.

We had some amazing field trips. The oldest four and I camped out overnight at the Natural History Museum in the dinosaur room. It was really cool. The kids got to spend hours exploring the museum, engaging in museum activities, and then we slept right beneath the Tyrannosaurus Rex. That was my favorite homeschool field trip we ever did.

For a little while after I put the kids in school, they had mixed feelings. They bounced back and forth between wishing they had always gone to public school, that they had gotten to go to kindergarten, etc., and missing homeschool and our close family time together. We've always tried to have family time, and do activities frequently, but it's not the same as spending every day learning and exploring new places together.

My 11-year-old never homeschooled with us. He's been in public school from the first, and he's done very well. He's really sharp with math, but he gets bored easily with his assignments and doesn't stay on task well. I have felt for some time that he needs some extra attention than he can get in public school. His grades reflect his lack of interest, but not his smarts. His test scores are always at the highest level of proficiency, but his grades are poor because he consistently fails to complete his school work within the time alloted him at school or follow up well with homework.

I had a similar struggle with my older boys but when I clamped down on them, they improved dramatically. With them, it was more a desire to hurry out to play video games. Adjusting their study time and making a consistent schedule to check off their homework every day, and their progress weekly, really helped.

My girls are a completely different story. They're very self motivated, and work hard to maintain A's in their classes. My oldest daughter is in the NJHS, and my second daughter should be there soon.

I'm looking into the Sonlight curriculum. I've always shied away from curriculum, choosing instead to pick and choose books from a variety of sources, partly because of expense (with eight kids you can't buy a curriculum for everyone!), and partly because some programs are weak in one area of study and strong in others, and vice versa. With older kids, you want to get them into a course of study that will prepare them for college, and maybe even one that is accredited so they will get high school credits.

I think one of the reasons homeschooling has appealed to me is that I have a genuine passion for learning, and I have a personal desire to spend time with my kids. I enjoy their companionship, their intelligence and talents. When I homeschool my kids, I learn right along with them, and am reminded of the things I learned when I was younger. I can also enjoy the exhilaration of teaching at the same time, the excitement and fulfillment that real teachers have when they inspire a young person to new pursuits or perspectives.

I can't believe the material that is available to parents and educators today. There are more resources available now than when I first homeschooled nine years ago.

I want to blog about our homeschooling as we go along; I'm not sure if I'll create a separate blog devoted to that and go into more detail about our activities, or if I'll occasionally mention it here. We'll see how it goes.

I've decided to use Singapore Math, which apparently helped propel Singapore kids to score first in the world for three years. California state is now preparing to use Singapore math in their public schools, which I think is great! I'm very excited to try it out with my son.

We've also bought an art book from Abeka, and the Dragonslayer trilogy (and parent manual) to begin our literature studies. I think fantasy novels with interest him a great deal and will be a nice place to begin.

I'm torn about science, and I haven't fully settled on the language arts program I want to use. I'm looking at Wordsmith, Writing Strands, and the Sonlight program (which weaves in with their History and Literature core for 6th grade). I like that the Sonlight science program has experiments to do with it, but I'm not completely sure that I can't find a great program with similar attributes for less $.

I definitely want the Sonlight history and literature core. Their readers look fabulous. They actually strike me as interesting books that will catch my son's interest, and won't be boring for either of us to read. I don't like a lot of the readers that come with some of the other curriculum I've studied or tried over the years. They just read slow; they don't ignite and light fires like the fiction and non-fiction I prefer to read.

Books should captivate their readers. The best books do!

Also, in perusing books for my 11-year-old, I found a really cool book about creative writing for highschoolers: Writing Strands' Creating Fiction. It focuses on short story writing, but also instructs how to submit stories for publishing. My 17-year-old creative writer would really like that for Christmas!

I'm looking into foreign language programs. Five of my kids are currently studying Spanish. I took a year of both Spanish and French and would love to continue with French, but it makes more sense to switch back to Spanish and study with my kids. I could pick up French again later. My husband speaks several languages, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and knows some Russian and Latin. The Rosetta Stone language programs look the best so far, and they really offer a lot of languages. I'm very impressed! I'm also looking for a good Latin program, looking at Sattler Latin or the Prima Latin courses.

The Well Trained Mind has a lot of curricula reviews. I've been reading those and weighing over what appeals to me or would work with my son's personality/learning style, etc. WTM suggests Latina Christiana as a beginning Latin course for middle grade students.

Any suggestions? I'm always open to advice or suggestions.

Also, I've lost another pound. I'm very happy about that, and hope to continue a steady pattern of weight loss. I didn't lose anything over the holidays, even went up two pounds, but I'm back down now that I'm not eating pumpkin pie and homemade rolls. :o)