I’ve been busy and doing nothing all at the same time.  How is that possible?  I think perhaps I have too many things to do and that’s getting in the way of actually finishing any of them.  Just a theory.  I read Dawn’s post about moving her file crate system to a new fancy file drawer.  It got me thinking about organizing files for school, which is yet another delay to getting my penguins unit going.  And then I started thinking about Easter because we are studying the Exodus from Egypt at school (Jewish school, remember?) which made me think of Passover which is always around Easter which made me think of 40-Days of Cleaning for Lent which made me think about meatless meals that are NOT spaghetti.  Do you see why I am getting nothing done?  Isn’t there a commercial for a search engine similar to this?  I’m starting to think I have Adult ADD.  I’ve also had head pain for 48 days.  That’s another theory in why I’m getting nothing done.

I do have a craft planned for my daughter’s sleepover, though, and a project for my kindergartners that I think they’ll enjoy.

Small Successes.

One of my daughter’s Christmas gifts to us was a coupon for a family game night which just happened to also earn her extra points in Religion (they attend a private parochial school).  Our “deadline” was January 26 and some of our little family would not be available after tomorrow evening for a quick game of any kind.  So tonight was the night.  There was talk of UNO, Twister, Monopoly, Life, etc., but in the end we chose a simply game of Connect Four.  We had a lot of fun playing as a family, and definitely something we will have to do more of from now on.

After twelve years, I can look forward to Valentine’s Day again.  It’s the day my father died so I haven’t really celebrated it much.  But the kids love it and I am starting to enjoy it again, thanks to their giddy excitement.

I found out about Minted on another blog and decided to give it a try.  I detest those character valentines and trying to get all of them signed is just a pain that I’d rather not endure.  Between both children that’s 50 valentines to sign.

So I looked around at the cards, decided to be thrifty and make them (disaster), resigned myself to buying them (quelle horreur), and finally decided to just go ahead and order the cards from Minted becuase they are just really adorable and I figured the aggravation I’d save was worth the extra money I would spend.

As it turned out, I got $25 off the cost of my order which makes one whole classroom FREE!  I am a happy mommy right about now.  I can just sit back and relax for the next three weeks.   If you follow my link, you will also get a $25 referral credit so enjoy!

After a lovely coating of snow - I think we got four or five inches here at the beach - life resumed its normal pace.  A little playdate and brunch lead to a request to go swimming at the Y, because 27 degree weather just screams bathing suits, no?  The pool was gloriously warm, however, and both children passed their swim test to swim unattended in the deep end of the pool.  I spent a quiet 90 minutes working on lesson plans and Grey’s new hat.  When we did actually return home, I spotted this in my daughter’s room.

I’m sorry her friend didn’t get to see it.  Or, maybe not, since her room is a mine field of Squinkies and doll clothes.

And now dinner is finished, dishes are in the dishwasher, baths are complete, and bedtime books are about to begin.  I’m always a bit sorry to have the weekend wrap up, but a little happy to have a fresh week ahead.

I had hoped for a snow day for a week or two so I could tackle some outstanding projects around the house.  My first being an organizing and decluttering project.  I literally cringe every two weeks thinking of my poor cleaning lady and her heart sinking as she sees the quick pick up I do so she can vacuum, dust, etc.  I know, I know.  She’s there to clean.  But still.  I also do NOT want her picking up the kids’ things because I want them to learn to pick up after themselves.

My first step was the easy one - the dining room.  The dining room really is a multi-purpose room used to homework, crafts, and dining.  It’s also where the dog’s crate resides.  In a perfect world, the dog would lose the crate and have a lovely little dog bed - but he’s still untrustworthy.

My Bible Organized Simplicity recommends emptying a room completely by taking everything outside and slowly filling back in only what has a room, a purpose, etc.  Hard to do with six inches of snow on the ground.  So I sorted on the dining room table for this one.  Luckily, there wasn’t much to sort.  It all ended up on boxes on the stairs to the second floor for its owner to put away.

The final product is a nice, tidy little room.  It still needs to be painted, though…

But for now I’m happy.

We haven’t had a whole lot of snow here on the shoreline of Connecticut this year. There was a random snowstorm in October that left a lot of folks in dire straits, but we were spared that, too. This week there was a storm that delayed school in points north and east, but again left us with barely a dusting. I was starting to feel like I was down South again!

But last night my daughter had on her pj’s inside out and placed the spoon under the pillow hoping for a real snowstorm. And she got her wish. It’s been snowing since late during the night and, while there are only two or three inches on the ground, it is still coming down fast and furiously.

So two children are finishing their homework for the weekend so nothing will stand in the way of sledding a bit later in the day.

Today was one of my non-special days so I had my Kinders the full afternoon. In some ways I love it because I have them the entire time (our days are split with Judaic studies) and in other ways I worry how I will fill the time! Today was a nice, mellow sort of day.

Since we breezed through half of our unit on numbers 11 - 31, we took a little break from the workbook and played some counting games. This was a quick decision to write out numbers on cups and have them take turns counting. Their partner had to then check their counting. Only one of my kids decided to hoard the beads from her partner.

We went outside and learned very quickly that it was really cold. I lined them up after about fifteen minutes and let them finish free play in centers. Even with my down coat on, it was too much. But after centers they worked super hard on finishing up our new letter (L) so we ended the day with an onset activity on the SmartBoard. All I have to do is say SmartBoard and I get their attention! It’s a good way for me to check progress and give them a fun activity.

You can find more Yarn Alongs at Small Things.

I’m amused to see that I was knitting this yarn exactly one year ago.  The sweater yarn, Cascade Ecological Wool, that is being frogged in bits and pieces.  I’ve already made one hat out of it for Grey, only to learn he wants his ears covered.  So this is the second hat in two weeks.  This time I’m back to Kim’s Hat from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts.  Really easy and not likely to throw me if I get interrupted ten times during lunch in the teacher’s room by “Oh, what are you knitting?”  Here is last year’s photo…

This year’s is a little less pretty.  Knit, frog, wash, dry, knit…it all takes its toll on yarn.  But it’s still knitting up nicely.

Oddly enough, Ginny of Small Things and I are reading the same book.  I’m all about organizing this year so I have a collection of books from the library, too, but this was a New Year’s gift to myself.  It’s interesting, and I’m a fan of SimpleMom.Net, Tsh Oxenreider’s blog/website.  I’m actually starting the decluttering plan Friday.

Moominland Midwinter is really Maia’s reading choice at the moment, thanks to Bird and Small Bird’s Library Monday.  I’m blessed that both of my children are excellent readers, but it is so hard to find books that are appropriate for them.  Most of the second-grade books are too easy and the fourth-grade books (her level) are too “grown up” for her.  The Moomintroll books seem just perfect and we’re really enjoying them.  She’s even determined to be Little My for Halloween (their principal requires their costumes at school to be from books).

Now, goodness, it’s getting late.  I have one child asleep on the couch and another watching TV way past his bedtime.  Not to mention lesson plans I should be doing…

Dinner by Grey via Android

I got an unexpected dinner out - complete with panna cotta and limoncello.  Delish!  I told my husband that we could probably eat out at a different Italian restaurant every night for three months without a repeat in our little Connecticut town.

I also got my hair done although it’s not as dark as it appears in the photo, nor is it a mullet.  I think it’s the classic mom hairstyle, although Grey disagrees.  Can’t take credit for the sweater, either.  It’s a very old Laura Ashley back when Laura Ashley still made peter pan collar shirts for women.  Remember those days?  When we all had Cottage Sprig comforters on our beds?  Wore Laura Ashley No. 1 perfume?  Every out of uniform day during high school warranted a trip down to the shop for a new outfit.

Gracious, I look tired.  I swear I’ve had a migraine for five weeks straight.  It will be a long time until I get in to see the neurologist in February.

The children got me a basket of paper white bulbs that started blooming a few days ago.  We still don’t have snow here on the shoreline of Connecticut.  My cousins closer to Massachusetts got their first snowfall on Thursday.  All we’ve had are a few flurries here and there.  All of the dead brown everywhere makes me wish there was a layer of snow covering it all up.  We even took the dog for a walk this morning at low-tide.  Were it not for the biting wind coming off Long Island Sound, you would almost swear it was autumn.