Random things

Just a few words for those of you who check in regularly. I have been unacceptably late in posting blogs lately. I am trying to get into a routine with my new schedule, and have not quite gotten there. This semester is going to be a challenge! Unfortunately, I don't see that I'll have a lot of time for posting, but I will do my best...and I'll try to get some pictures of the kids since it's been a while with that.

The kids: Both are well, although Kathryn is going to the doctor today (actually in just a few minutes). She has had a cold, and really started coughing yesterday - almost constantly. And this morning she had a fever, so no school for her. After Aunt Courtney's bout of pneumonia, I'm too scared to not get her checked out! Other than that, she's well :) She has really taken off with reading and is doing great in Awana. She earned another red jewel last night. Unfortunately, I've given over responsibility for Awana preparation to Jason. I hate to give it up, but I just can't seem to remember to make time to do it during the week.

Julian is also doing great. He was grounded for a week for some school issues, but I think it may have had an impact. He has had some great days at school since being un-grounded. It turns out some of the issues he is having have to do with his work being hard. He has always had such an easy time with his schoolwork, and did not have to put much effort into it. Well, not so for 3rd grade! The math especially has become challenging, and we talked about that. It doesn't mean he is less smart than he was; it just means he has to practice more. It made me sad that he apparently thought it meant he was less smart. Poor baby. Anyway, he's doing great, and I have hope that he'll finish out his year well.

Jason and Robert were finally able (after some weather delays) to get rid of the tree that had fallen across our fence. It was an undertaking, and both were sore when they were done. Going up and down our embankment can be a brutal workout! Our next big improvement project is replacing our shower, which is in pretty bad shape. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks we'll be able to pick out our new shower and get all of the supplies for the project. It's gonna be a doozy! Since I have class Wednesday nights, Jason has started taking the kids to Awana alone. He stays with them for opening assembly and then comes home until it's time to pick them up.

I am 3 weeks into the new semester, and so far so good. I have 2 online classes, which has been an adjustment, especially since one of my online professors is not a fan of the internet and seems to be a bit stubborn about certain things. Oh well, I can relate to stubbornness! There is a lot of writing involved in both - Sociology and World Literature, which makes blogging go a little lower on my list of writing priorities :)

I love my Environmental Science class, although at this point we are only talking about the introductory things - biomes, ecosystems, habitats....We started a semester long experiment to see what the affects of motor oil are on growing things (pea plants and marigolds). Should be interesting. I am looking forward to the sections on climate change and global warming. I've done some research on my own, but you can never tell who put what kind of spin on what you're reading, so I'm anxious to see what an ecologist that I know and trust thinks about it. She did say in one of our first classes that 94% of climatologists agree that global warming is real and that man is making it worse....the further out you go from that specific science, the percentage goes down, but climatologists are people who got their masters or doctorate in the specific science of the climate, so I guess they know what they're talking about. I actually watched a documentary this week on Netflix called Heat (it was on PBS originally, and you can find it on their page if you're interested). It was pretty convincing.

And finally, my first education class has been ... interesting. The professor is unique - I really like her. She tells a lot of stories though, which can be a little frustrating. She has been an educator for almost 30 years, has been a principal in elementary, middle and high schools and is now the assistant superintendent. She actually worked in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system, which is where I graduated from. I have already learned a lot about what teaching really is, and some things were not what I expected....I'm thankful for her honesty!

So, that's our life recently in a (quite large and a little rambling) nutshell. I will try to get some good kid pictures this week and post them. I hope no one is going through Julian and Kathryn withdrawal out there!

Snow day ...

Finally we got a bit of snow. It was less than an inch, but it was enough to cancel school for all of us. We went out first thing, before it had the chance to melt away (and before the kids had a chance to whine about going out to play). Our neighbor friend, Jada, came over to play too and was even able to join us for some hot chocolate after playing.

Julian lucked out - he is grounded this week, but I let him go out to play in the snow (since we never know if we'll get more!), and he'll get to watch TV today since I told him he could watch the inauguration...lucky, indeed!

A cold day...

Today, I am so thankful for being warm. I've been thinking all day about all of the people that have no warm place to retreat to when the temperatures drop. Where do they go? How do they survive? I have never seen a homeless person here in my town, but I know there are so many here and further away. I don't know what to do for them, but I am thinking of them and have prayed for them on this cold day (and if it's cold here - it's COLD further north!). I am just so blessed.

Lucy

Lucy lays in the strangest positions. She heard my camera, looked at me and then put her nose right back behind the pillow.

Our Kitchen

I have been hard at work repainting our kitchen this week. As always, I forgot to get good before pictures, but I did include a couple of the kids in the kitchen just to give an idea of the before....I love the result, but it was a lot of work!

I had to take all of the doors off the cabinets and sand the finish off. Then I primed and then painted them. I had some issues with finding the right place to paint the cabinet doors - a tough job in a small house, and I ended up having to re-do it because it just didn't look good with drips and dog fur. We borrowed Jason's Dad's sander, and that made the job a lot easier, but it couldn't be used everywhere, so I had to do a lot by hand.

These are the best "before" pictures I could gather. I really need to work on taking those before pictures BEFORE I start. :)

Anyway, this was my last "me-time" project before school starts again (tomorrow). I suspect I'll have little free time after reading through the syllabuses (syllabi??) for Sociology and World Literature, which I am taking as online classes (no actual class time!). I will go to "Environmental Biology" and "Foundations in Education" tomorrow, and we'll see what those classes will be like. It's 14 hours total, so it will definitely keep me busy.