Thru to Thursday

Almost made it it through another week of school-school. Whew. It's starting to feel like everyone is finding they're groove.

Thursdays are pretty packed, but today was especially busy since Sam had to cook a couple of dishes for his world geography class. He pretty much did most of it himself and I just gave him pointers on cutting onions and peppers and little things like that. I guess I did man the pupusas on the griddle as well.

We pretty much stuck to the recipes we were given, (I never follow recipes, unless I'm baking). I would've done a couple things differently... For example, anytime I make masa for tamales, I use chicken broth to flavor it, the way my grandma showed me... so this dough tasted super bland to me. But I did discover that I like the taste of smoked paprika in black beans (which I basically never use smoked paprika 'cause... I dunno why). The only thing I couldn't talk myself into was using a seasoning packet that had food coloring in it. I wrestled back and forth and eventually just looked up a scratch recipe for it and mixed all the spices together myself; super easy and no food coloring required!

I did have a little stress-out session yesterday when I realized I hadn't properly prepared my grocery budget for this extra cooking, which meant the chicken I had planned to last 2 dinners, would be used up for a lunch that we weren't going to get to eat. But it worked out. I had made more black beans than the recipe called for and there was one piece of chicken that came back from the class, so I mashed it all up and made more pupusas for dinner (and of course I used chicken broth in the masa lol). One chicken thigh, 1 cup of cooked black beans and a pound or two of masa fed all of us with leftovers lol. Oh and since there was so much sauce leftover from the chicken dish, I added a bit of cream cheese and cheddar cheese to make a thicker cheesy sauce to slather the pupusas with. Yum. Oh.



The girls' homeschool ballet class was today. Dave put together a couple of pvc ballet barres for the class, but we'll probably need to build one more, 6ft isn't as long as it sounds on paper lol.

In other news... We're still waiting on all the hospital bills to come through... the waiting is pretty torturous for me. So far we've gotten the 2 urgent care visits, x-rays, radiology and the ER. Its manageable so far, but I keep thinking about friends I have who are chronically ill or are dealing with major health problems out of nowhere. We may have a ridiculously high deductible, and some stress with that, but we at least have insurance to help soften the blow. That's more than most!

I worked the dinner shift tonight, which was pretty much dead and boring, but then I came home and enjoyed sitting outside on the porch for a good while, managing to escape with only ONE mosquito bite. ;)

Schedule 4.2.1

I had just printed out a new schedule, when zosie came in and pointed out something else that needed to change. hahaha. That's the way it goes. I've lost track of how many tweaks I've made, but I think we've got it managed well enough now for the rest of the school year. We'll just have to wait and see.

Here's the latest version of all four kiddos weekly school schedules.

It's a lot of work up front, but it sure saves us time in the long run. I'm super forgetful, so I pretty much can't live without something telling me what to do next, so I have my own version that tells me what to do when and with whom and all that good stuff.

Can I take a nap now?

Whirlwind Weekend

I feel like most of our weekends this summer have been anything but restful. I just keep crossing my fingers, hoping that the routine of school will help things settle down a bit.

Ha! Actually, I've basically realized I have to go back to the drawing board because I literally cannot clone myself and until that technological advance becomes readily available, there's just no way I can maintain my current work schedule and still get certain things done for the kids schooling; and working less isn't an option.

Then, Friday evening Micah comes home from dance excited to tell me that one of the other kiddos at the studio was going to be taking supplemental classes on the weekends at a studio that she herself had also been advised to take classes from. I had pretty much put the whole idea out of my mind since it's tight as it is to cover everything now, no way we could add MORE... and at a BIG CITY studio, who knows how much THAT would cost! Working more isn't an option either.

But there are moments when you look at the path your child is on and the only response is to do everything humanly possible to help her stay on it. Within minutes, everything fell into place and we were able to tag along early the next morning. Once we arrived, they got a little bit of info from us and simply let Micah join in on the class. It ended up that the director of that studio was actually the one teaching the class, so she was able to access what level she should be in. She then offered the payment option we were hoping for (but weren't sure how to ask for) and before we knew it, she was registered for the class.

It works out well that Micah is teaching some beginner ballet classes, so she can use that to pay for these classes, but of course it means the time it'll take to save for a vehicle gets further and further away. These classes will definitely be worth it though. She loved every minute of it and it really pushed her to work hard, and of course I think she looked just absolutely beautiful the whole time. I wish we could just hand her all the classes she could ever need, and of course it'd be wonderful if a car would just miraculously fall out of the sky, but that's not reality. The waiting and the working and the struggle will grow and reap good things in her.

In other news, since I hadn't originally planned to be traveling to and from Dallas most of Saturday, my timing got off on my sourdough starter. So instead of making a loaf of bread, I tried my hand at sourdough pizza crust. We had it for lunch today and everyone approves! :)

I blinked and a week went by

For real though?

Its Friday and we've almost survived a week of... more school. It's so hard to break out of summer flexibility. I'm totally being a rebel today and letting everyone sleep in cause I just need to breathe. Also 'cause Micah was having a slight allergic reaction to something right at bedtime, so she was up late and I didn't sleep well.

But all the schedules have been made, we've worked out a few kinks, not to worry though, there will be more... it never fails, I always double book myself somewhere. How else can you school 4 different grades, work part time, attempt to manage a home, be a mother and wife AND sleep? Next week we will be in FULL school schedule mode. Say a prayer. lol

Sam and micah are utilizing a lot of CLEP courses this year. Everyone says dual credit is the way to go, but CLEP is way faster, cheaper and more flexible, in my opinion. 

I started reading through "A Young People's History of the United States" yesterday with Annabelle and Zosia and it definitely opens up a LOT of discussion. In response to the first chapter, they no longer want to celebrate Columbus Day (not that we ever really celebrated it)... but obviously the point is that they would much rather honor the people who stood up to cruel and inhumane treatment of subjugated people groups. Las Casas Day celebration anyone?

Work and Veg Times 3

Woke up at 4:45am... my alarm was set for 5:15. Blech.

Arrived to work 20 minutes early in order to be able to get everything good and stocked and organized for the shift. It was super helpful because we were nonstop busy, which is so much better than being out-of-our-minds bored. Hooray!! the business-drought of summer is ending! My coworker, Lydia, and I managed to only spill a few cups of syrup and break one glass item lol. It was a good shift. :)

As soon as I got home, all FIVE kids (Shelby, Micah's very dear friend, is staying over) zoomed off to tap and hip-hop and I properly plopped myself down onto the couch, munched on pickles and fritos and watched "Swing Kids".

We ordered pizza for dinner, and I started a SECOND movie, "Ramen Soup" on Netflix, while dave worked on installing more of the vinyl soffit panels on the porch ceiling. I persuaded Dave to join me after a few minutes of watching since the main language was Japanese and he is currently studying Japanese. It was a lovely, heartfelt story that lets you have a "good" cry near the end. And of course it was true to its name and shared deliciously tempting images of food all along the way.

Meanwhile, the girls watched "Pride and Prejudice" for the sixth time in three weeks haha and Sam ventured off to the grizzly of course!

Then Dave and I watched ANOTHER movie, "All The President's Men" from 1976. We almost didn't make it all the way through, but it was worth fighting off sleepy yawns to finish it off. Great cast, obviously.

Now off to bed! Nighty, Night.

Long time no blog!

My posts have been few and far between. Not because there's not a lot going on, but perhaps it's just too much to write about sometimes.

My neighbor maintains a blog and she simply writes her goings on from each day. I like the idea of that. I think I usually just overthink everything and I want a blog to "SAY" something. So, for a time at least, I'm going to do that; just keep a simple journal of the day's happenings and just let it go where it wants to.

Today I finished off the fourth and final 2-day session of Grand Jury. I certainly learned a lot about the law and all the terrible ways drugs ruin peoples lives and all the horrible things people do to each other, and there were things I wish I could forget, but I would definitely do it again in a heartbeat! It also got my psychology loving brain revved up observing how the jurors responded to things. Would love to do some research in that area some day lol.

While I was busy voting on indictments, Micah was busy acing her driving test. We officially have another teenage driver! Hallelujah! Now we just need another vehicle lol (dance five days a week, folks!)

Afterwards, I swung by the Silver Grizzly and did a few "tea" related things for a bit. Then came home and made last minute preparations for the girl's ballet class. Micah and Annabelle are teaching a ballet class for homeschoolers and they are super excited about the opportunity!

Aren't they cute!?

The rest of the evening has pretty much been organizing forms, some accounting, some scheduling, and now I must be off to bed where I shall probably toss and turn for a couple hours... only because I have to be up at 5:30 to cover a full morning shift at the Grizz. (If I was able to sleep in, I'd probably fall asleep right away) :P

What I Long For.

Not sure why this is difficult to post. But it is.


I'm longing for a church/gathering...

Where BOTH men AND women lead and actively contribute together, giving a more balanced and complete view of theology.

Where BOTH the young AND old teach, encourage, and disciple one another.

Where the artist, the engineer, the poet, the teacher, the singer, the musician, the college student, the dancer, the scientist, the middle school trombone player, and all the "regular" folks alike, contribute to worship in word, in song and in generosity and sacrifice.

Where you can't tell who makes minimum wage and who makes 6 figures because BOTH are esteemed, valued, sought after and fought for.

Where families don't necessarily look alike.

Where love and relationship overcome stereotypes, fear and concern for personal safety.

Where corporate discussion and lament of past and present suffering isn't ignored or glossed over, but leads to repentance and to forgiveness and healing and to thanksgiving and praise.

Where Christ is the head (Not schedules. Not a president. Not a business plan. Not a "good idea". Not a random book.) and the Spirit empowers and leads his people to proclaim the gospel in word and deed.

Where difficult questions are welcomed and "I don't know" is an acceptable answer.

Where sound-bites aren't repeated for the sake of a laugh or an "amen", and scripture is read in full and not taken out of context for the sake of making a point.

Where BOTH the Old AND New testament are treasured and taught.

Where all of the world's cultures and customs are appreciated and learned from, and elitism and nationalism is confronted.