Just Stuff

We’ve been busy with school.  O, so busy.  I can’t seem to fit in 100% of my plans every day, so I’ve been rotating subjects that get left out each day so we don’t get overwhelmed.  Fridays are really open days, so maybe I just need to wait until tomorrow where we can catch up.  I don’t want to burn out this early in the year. 

Speaking of homeschooling, tomorrow is Homeschool Friday, and I think I might add to the bottom a little linky list like on the “I’m Blessed” Mondays to see if anyone else wants to link up with their posts on homeschooling, or what their homeschool is up to.  We’ll just see how that goes.  If no one ever participates, I may take it down again.  There’s been interest, though.

We pulled off all the tomatoes and peppers from the garden last night before the freeze.  My oven ran all day yesterday baking banana breads, roasting tomatoes, and I had beef stock going on the stove as well.  I think I’m not so much burning out from homeschooling, but burning out from garden preserving.  Thank you Jesus for the blessings.  I’m glad to move onto other things now.  The chest freezer, upright freezer back up, as well as the freezer above the fridge are all packed to the brim.  It’s a good, but exhausting feeling.  I’m glad that all that is left is what we pulled out of the garden last night.

Elias finally figured out how to use the potty chair yesterday for the first time.  He did it once and sees no reason to do it again.  I have zero ambition to potty train that little boy but I suppose I should get to that sometime.  I think all that he and I can handle right now is occasional sitting on the potty, but I’m not sure if that will screw him up in his thinking.  If I learned anything from potty training the older two, it’s that pushing backfires in this department.  He’s so laid back, though, that if I don’t push a little, he may wear a diaper for years to come.  What to do…what to do…

He also moved out of his crib and into a big boy bed 3 days ago.  Maybe he’s full to capacity on new things right now.  He is sitting on the potty chair of his own volition as I write this.  Maybe I’ll just wait and see what happens.

Silje’s attitude isn’t what it was last year.  I’m thinking the source is her adjustment to sharing Mommy during school time.  I think I’ll have to start up our tea parties on Fridays again for our “just talk” time.  She’s loving every subject though.  Well, except in English she’s learning to look up words in the dictionary, and I think she despises that activity.  It’s better if I don’t leave her side, but she’d rather me just tell her what a word means. 

I’ve moved her into the kitchen while I am working there, and she does much better if I’m there with her the whole time.  She’s the type where she likes to understand things right away or not at all.  So this whole spending 5 minutes to look up a word is really annoying to her.  She just wants me to tell her so she can memorize it.

That’s what’s going on here.  Knut’s brother and family are coming from New Jersey this weekend, so we’re excited to see them, and of course our little nephews.  Knut and I are trying to get lots of little things done before harvest starts in a very short time.  I want to take a new picture for the header so you can see how much things have changed outside.

My brain hasn’t been screwed on all the way as there has been so much to juggle.  I had supper at a girls night out at our favorite coffee shop the other night (it was very needed!) and I came back feeling so refreshed.  It was like I was a new woman.  Then I saw in my hand my ticket to pay for my food.  I realized I left without paying, to my horror. 

I still can’t believe I was that absentminded to just leave, but I was talking to someone on the way out and just forgot.  I called them when they opened the next morning, and they laughed and said I could just pay the next time I was in.  It’s a small town, and they know me.  😉  I actually didn’t know they knew me, but the lady on the phone said “Gretchen, you don’t need to make a special trip to town (did I say I lived out of town on the phone?) and we know we’ll see you again, (do we go in there that often?) so just bring in the ticket next time you come in.”  They’re nice people, there.

Actually, they’re really smart people for making me come in instead of just paying over the phone.  You know I’m not going to go in there to pay and smell all the wonderful aromas in there and not come out with a steaming mocha. 

But I’m at the point where the house is getting a little more caught up each day, even if it’s just baby steps, and the preserving now has an end in sight.  Fall decorations are slowly going up.  I’m no longer behind on laundry, and get to see and sit on the actual couch that laundry gets dumped on every day.  Even bathrooms are being cleaned and sheets being changed.  The upside of all of this kitchen work (besides the yumminess) is that my house is being kept warm as the temperature drops.  We haven’t had to start any heaters yet due to the oven getting so much use.

And that’s my daily writing.