Update

We took the kids on a field trip to St. John the Evangelist Cathedral in Cleveland on Friday. Just before we left, I got a call that my Grandma, Step-Grandma actually, Stella Adams had died in her sleep just that night. We went on our field trip anyway because there was nothing for me to do at home and the kids could definitely not help by staying at home. There will be no calling hours, no funeral, and no graveside service. There will be a "Celebration of Life" service at a church next Sat. at 2PM.

Amazing

How time flies! Apparently, I have had nothing to say since MAY!

We are homeschooling now, and things are so much more relaxed. Joey is finally progressing. He is so much happier without the stress of school. It took a long time to get him to remember that learning new things can be fun. School teaches that learning is hard work. Well, that is true to some extent, our eyes and ears and brains have to work to process the information, but the actual gaining of knowledge should not be considered work! Learning should be an exciting adventure; it should be about discovering new information that we can apply to other areas of our life. We should teach our children to apply what they know. MEMORIZATION is hard work; RECALLING answers to questions on meaningless tests is hard work. Tests are the only way that a teacher in a classroom situation with 20 or so students can evaluate the children's knowledge. Did you know that the public school system was established to help the less advantaged among us prepare to get a job? Privileged people went to private schools or were tutored at home! Google "Thomas Jefferson Education" to find out more about home learning. I urge every stay-at-home mom in America to look into homeschooling! It is NOT difficult. If you don't know something that you have to teach, you get to learn about it! I am learning so much not only about all of the subjects that I am teaching, but also about my children, about myself, and about how I relate to my family. I am learning just how much I LIKE my children, what tremendous blessings they are, and how SMART they are. I don't mean book smart; I mean just plain clever! I am learning more effective ways to communicate with them, and, most importantly, I am becoming more patient with them. I can read their moods better, and I am learning that by patiently listening to THEIR side of the story, I gain insight into their minds - how they tick - if you know what I mean.

The screen is blurry now so I think I will go to sleep. More later...

Husband snores?

This is not a good solution to the problem.

June 16

Jim left this morning for California. I hope that he has a great time, that his dad is surprised, and that he has a nice visit with his sisters and his dad. I am jealous though of his respite from home matters. I am trying to stay calm, positive and optimistic, but I do not find that an easy thing to do at the moment. The kids were fairly well behaved today. Joey's team got trounced tonight, and while I was at the game, I was talking to one of the other mothers about Jim's trip and the fact that I don't go anywhere. She said that it is my fault, and that you have to make time for yourself. There is some truth in that, but at the same time we are looking at a lot of limited resources at the moment; time is only one of them. Also, where would I go? I looked up the airfare for my dream trip today - $1747 per person for JUST the flight! I think that I will wait till next year when Egypt comes to Chicago, kind of a small bit of Egypt; I mean they can't ship a pyramid or the Sphinx to Chicago! This mother that I was talking to has a husband who runs his own office; he is in a profession where he can set his own hours and take as many vacation days as he can afford. THAT doesn't happen in a regular job. You get "X" amount of days and the rest of the time you belong to the company. Jim is very lucky to work for flexible and understanding bosses, but there is a limit to my free time because there is a limit to his free time.

Do you know what I miss? The theater! I miss learning lines and chasing down props. I miss calling cues and ordering directors around. I miss the smells - sawdust, paint, makeup, and sweaty bodies. I miss the cast parties and the late nights at Fridays trying to figure out how to pull it all together and wondering if that one cast member is EVER going to learn his/her lines. (There's one in every cast; sometimes there is more than one - ARGHHHH!) I miss the teamwork and the socialization and the sense of accomplishment.

I've got to go to sleep now. 7AM will be here sooner than I'd like. Also, just so everyone knows, I love my kids like crazy, and I know that they will grow up way too fast. They come first right now, and sometimes that is a hard fact for ANY mama to handle. At times the sacrifices are easy to make; at other times the sacrifices seem to be too difficult. I am in a "difficult" time right now. The sacrifices seem all encompassing and overwhelming. Goodnight.

Rough Day

Ok so today started fairly well. We were all up and dressed before 9AM. Things started to fall apart very quickly. For one thing, due to a late night last night, Jennifer, my 4- year - old, and Jonny, my 2 - year - old, have been cranky all day. There was a light saber battle with the vacuum cleaner extension tube; Jen got the worst of that one with a clunk on the side of the head. They are not sharing or compromising on anything; so there has been a lot of screeching and crying all day. Josie, my 2 - month - old, had her second bottle at 10AM; she returned it to me at 10:30AM, all over me and all over her. She got a bath; I got clean clothes. Then I wanted her and Jonny to take a nap. JonJon went to his bed with no trouble, but it took a good hour to get Josie settled and asleep. After Jon woke up, I went outside to clean up a little in the camper. Jen and Jon followed me out there. I came back inside to get something, and before I could get back out there, they had found a blue highlighter and wrote all over each other! I mean faces, arms, legs, hands and clothes were all colored blue. Ridiculous. Both got scrubbed and put in the corner. They will need a complete bath tonight in between thunderstorms. (The camper was not damaged.) Finally, Jonny dumped a half a glass of Dr. Pepper on the white carpet in the family room. Joey left the cup within reach and Jonny got ahold of it. Joey got to help clean that up. (The white carpet was here when we moved in; I did not choose it.)

I wonder why I don't feel like cooking tonight? I wonder why I have a headache? I'm going to post this quickly now because the thunder is rumbling again...

New blog

Hi everyone,
I am starting a new blog to attempt to keep:
1. communications open with my family
2. communications open with my friends and classmates
3. my sanity!

I have been a bit stressed out lately, and so I thought that giving myself a constructive place to blow steam and to be creative might be helpful.

One thing that is stressing me out is that I feel isolated. I am hoping that a few of you will come here and comment. Misery loves company, you know; so come on in and keep me company.

I would like to make this a blog that everyone can participate in. If you see something that you would like me to post, or if you have an open letter like this one, or if you would like to comment on current events.

I am going to enable the comment section so that I can hear your feedback.