Outside my window... it's damp and overcast. The snow is late, and I'm missing it.
I
am thinking... about charity. I want to spend some time looking for stories from Christ's life that illustrate particular aspects of charity.
I am thankful for... comfort in Christ. This year has been a difficult season for us, and I'm grateful for His support and guidance.
I
am wearing... jeans. tshirt. old grey sweatshirt. white socks. I'll have a ponytail soon. Pretty much the same as always.
I am remembering... when this used to be a meme. Looks like the host blog is not only inactive, but gone. That's a bit sad; I was hoping to link up again.
I
am going... to take the kids to violin lessons, come back and eat quick, then head to the Pack Meeting tonight. Busy afternoon.
I am currently reading... I just finished Girl of the Limberlost, and I'm thinking that I need to get that in print: I listened to the Librivox. It was excellent. I'm still choosing the next one, but it'll probably be another Librivox, because I have a Christmas gift that I need to spend my after bedtime time on for the next little while, and a story is great company, now that the Daddy's schedule has him going to be so very early.
I am hoping... my kids make some good faces when I give them the cranberries they've been after me to let them taste. I've warned them, but I think they only hear "berry" and they're probably expecting it to be cousins to blueberries or something. They still want to taste; my camera will be ready. This should be good.
On
my mind...getting that Christmas gift done. It's going to be close. My friend is loaning me a tool this afternoon. I'd tell you what I'm making but I'm afraid Hero will catch me!
Noticing that...I'm almost out of the tiny post-it notes that I use to mark spots where Hero is supposed to read. Gonna have to grab a few more of those.
Pondering these words... "for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do" -3 Nephi 27:21
From the kitchen... I'm waiting for the Pineapple Turmeric Sauerkraut to be ready. I think I'm excited, but I'm also a little nervous: that's quite the combination. Those cranberries the kids want to taste are supposed to turn into a fermented relish, too, but I lost the recipe I was going to use, so I have to go find something that will work again.
Around
the house... it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The Daddy found places for several of my nativities this year, which is awesome. We rearranged our furniture a while back, and lost some large flat places. Which has made it hard to display the nativities ever since.
From my picture journal... A conversation with Dragon about the differences between the Old Testament Laban (and that whole complicated family tree) and the Book of Mormon Laban to help him settle in his mind who is who and where they all belong in their various stories.
I'm so excited: I get to be a part of the Homeschool Review Crew! I'm looking forward to seeing what they have in mind for this year, and telling you all about it. The adventure starts in January, and they're still taking applicants, if you'd like to play too.
I feel cranky this evening. A little bit whiney. (I hate whining.) So I'm making myself count blessings. But they're not in any particular order.
*I am married to a fantastic man. He works super hard to protect and provide for our family. And he's my best friend. So glad I married my best friend.
*I get to stay home with my kids.
*it rained today. I love water from the sky. Bonus points for the way it makes the trees' colors extra vivid. More bonus points for not needing to go anywhere in it.
*Food is yummy; cooking delicious food for people I love is fun.
*I have mismatched socks that make me smile.
*The kids wanted to do watercolors this morning. We abandoned most of the schedule for an art day. It's been a while, and it felt good to put paint on paper, even if I didn't finish yet.
*My banjo is so pleasant to play. And the 5 minutes here and there are starting to add up a little: I sound halfway credible on a couple of songs, not just Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!
*I've got a whole bunch of copies of scripture. There's my basic English paper set that's the entire standard works. And the Church's app that's got the whole kit in my pocket to peek at whenever. That's also got the Tripple in Japanese (plus a bunch of other languages, but I don't use those). I've got a paper Japanese Bible, though it's still pretty hard for me. And the Welsh Book of Mormon. That one's cool because Welsh was the first language it was translated into, and it kind of looks like they've never updated it: it doesn't even have verses. I'm not so hot at Welsh, but once I get started, I'll do part of my reading there.
*My house is heated. I have running water. Which means I get hot showers, more or less daily. This is a luxury that I appreciate.
*I have children. There was a time when I wondered if that would happen for us. Now we have three.
*I have a yard for them to play in - and for me to dig in. Dirt is good for us all.
*Yoga is fixing my scoliosis. Pretty amazing, given that I was told its incurable.
*Learning about herbs has dramatically decreased the trips we take to the doctor. We used to get every cold, all the flus. They'd turn into sinus infections, bronchitis, and pneumonia pretty routinely. And sooooo many ear infections. Now we hardly ever get sick enough to be miserable, and it's been ages - probably over a year - since we took any of that stuff to the doctor or had antibiotics. Herbs are a pretty remarkable blessing for us.
Ok. That's hardly a comprehensive list, but I feel better, and there's some other things I want to do before bed.
A pretty typical day in our life. The kids are 5th grade, 1st grade, and preschool.
4:00am - Wake up (I heard the Daddy's alarm) and send him off to work. It's really early.
4:20 - back to bed.
8:00am - Wake up again, still tired. I think that I'm anemic, so I'm thinking about what I can have for breakfast that will help with that. Look at my phone -- text helps my brain to focus.
8:10 - The kids attack me for snuggles. Hero asks if he can make mac n cheese for breakfast. Gross. I say yes, but there's no way I'm eating that. They laugh; they're used to me hating it. We snuggle a few minutes, then I get up and try to think. I hate being anemic; makes morning time really rough, no matter how much sleep I get. Hero shows me the dragon he drew this morning.
8:40 - Hero's got the mac n cheese almost done. I'm putting up today's list of things that need to happen. There's cool art on my markerboard again; I try to make the list around it, so that it doesn't get erased too soon. I also move last week's Brahms piece to the bottom of our playlist so that we can listen to a new one first this week. Dragon asks for his Legos down.
9:00 - I'm done messing with the computer, and inspect a transformer Dragon made on my way to turn on Brahms.
9:15 - I have the Duplos off the floor, and I'm enjoying the Brahms, about to do some yoga. Hero turns up with his violin, and I ask him to do that after we've had a few more minutes with Brahms. He decides he'd like to vacuum for his chore today instead, so I put off my yoga and ask him to do the computer room as well as the living room. And I remember that one of Dragon's books grew legs yesterday and walked away. Gotta find that book, soon, or something else that will work in its place.
9:30 - Hero's done with the vacuuming and moves on to reading; Dragon is working on some 100s chart games on the computer. I give him a couple patterns to color on his chart, he makes up a couple patterns, and then chooses some other educational games. I text the Daddy a couple times -it's his break time- and then go try again with the yoga.
10:05 - Yoga's done, and it went well. I started working on Crow Pose about a year ago because I read that it was a good beginner arm balance. I have no idea how long it usually takes people to learn to balance (though I've read the scoliosis makes it harder to do - and mine was bad, before I started yoga), but I'm super happy to finally hold it for a second or two today. This is the first time that I'd say that I was actually able to balance in the pose for a second or two; that feels good.
When I'm done with yoga I look at Dragon's game he wants to show me, then remind him that (although Christmas lights games are cool) he's supposed to be playing math games. He heads back to do some dot-to-dots when I tell him his math time is almost up. Peanut is sitting next to him, watching what he's up to, and commenting on the pictures he makes. "That's a purple dinosaur!"
I pick up a towel left on the floor last night, and straighten out the bookshelves, hoping that I'll find the missing book -- which I do. Hero starts practicing his violin. School ran late yesterday, almost till bedtime, and he is not looking for a repeat. We try to finish everything early, but it seems like every now and then the kids need a reminder of why that's a good idea.
I put my clothes in the bathroom, planning for a shower, then tell Dragon his math games are done, and help get Peanut some day clothes.
10:30 - Dragon and I finish reading about ancient Egyptian gods and mummies. He narrates beautifully. Hero is setting up our calendar and wants to do Morning Basket next. Works for me.
We start with our calendar, which we do in Japanese. Mostly. Except for the part where I tell Dragon to stop acting crazy. That's English.
The Wise Man and the Foolish Man, in Japanese, with actions. We skip the new one, Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree. Up next: poems. Those are a fan favorite. All of the kids have their own set: Peanut gets Nursery Rhymes, and then as usual, insists on looking at the pictures in her book; Dragon is in A Child's Book of Poems; and Hero's meeting Emily Dickinson. They each get one:
I Saw Three Ships
I saw three ships come sailing by,
Come sailing by, come sailing by,
I saw three ships come sailing by,
On New Year's Day in the morning.
And what do you think was in them then,
Was in them then, was in them then,
And what do you think was in them then,
On New Year's Day in the morning?
Three pretty girls were in them then,
Where in them then, were in them then,
Three pretty girls were in them then,
On New Year's Day in the morning.
One could whistle, and one could sing,
And one could play the violin;
Such joy there was at my wedding,
On New Year's Day in the morning.
The Friendly Cow
The friendly cow, all red and white,
I love with all my heart;
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple tart.
She wanders lowing here and there,
And yet she cannot stray,
All in the pleasant open air,
The pleasant light of day,
And blown by all the winds that pass
And wet with all the showers,
She walks among the meadow grass
And eats the meadow flowers.
The Bee is Not Afraid of Me The bee is not afraid of me, I know the butterfly; The pretty people in the woods Receive me cordially. The brooks laugh louder when I come, The breezes madder play. Wherefore, mine eyes, thy silver mists? Wherefore, O summer's day?
We also do our memory work - most of it fast and yelling, and do the scripture boxes. Dragon's attention is going fast today, and he ends up in a timeout near the end, but recovers quickly. We've had three days or so of rain, and he needs to be outside; it shows.
11:00 - I eat some peaches and to leftover deviled eggs, set Hero up with reading Age of Fable, then take his narration. And finally get my shower. There's voluntary reading going on; I like that, and don't interrupt it.
11:30 - When I get out, I announce that everybody needs to get shoes on and go outside for 20 minutes. In the middle of the happy scramble, there's a squirrel out front that needs to be watched, so they pause and do that. Hero goes out the door with a book in his hand; that must be my kid.
While they are outside, I work on this blog post, and start gathering up some easy crockpot recipes I promised a friend of mine. I've got a timer set so that I don't get too involved and sabotage the kids' efforts at doing school efficiently today.
11:55 -- There's tears outside; Peanut got too close to an active swing. Everybody comes back inside and has a cheese stick. I need to do some lunch. Probably with black beans, since they have iron. Hero grabs our Japanese text and we finish off the first unit; next time we'll be in chapter 2! We're moving slowly, but I think it's working pretty well. After that, he reads some stories to Peanut. Dragon is playing with his Legos again.
12:30 - Hero wants math. I'm trying to get lunch, but stop and get him started. I persuade Dragon to get out his violin. He does a nice job once he settles into it.
Peanut builds a cool circle track for the "train-train" -- all by herself!
Next I have Dragon work on his hiragana (Japanese alphabet) using flashcards today. He's doing a really nice job, and getting better at recognizing the exotic letters -- and reading them. I am pleased.
1:15 - Lunch is getting close. I have got to get better at doing it earlier. Our new schedule is still foreign-feeling, and hoping that the Daddy finds something better, soon, isn't helping me adjust. I put some biscuits in the oven to go with the chili, and check Hero's math. He needs more practice on multiplying; I send him back to correct his work. He's really ready to do something else. I tell him to finish. And warn Dragon and Peanut that fighting over trains will lose them the trains. Peanut gets sent to her room to finish whining.
1:30 - Lunch is on. It's tasty. Soup - the first soup of the fall - and biscuits. After the prayer, I read Lamb's Shakespeare to the kids; we're working on Comedy of Errors, and everyone is doing really well with it. I am surprised at how much I'm enjoying it; Shakespeare is a new experience for me, too. This is our second play, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how funny it is. The boys do a sort of tandem narration, with both of them contributing bits, and they're following it quite well.
1:45 - My best friend calls, and I invite her over to join us for lunch. She says she'll be here in 20 minutes, so we quit Shakespeare and I grab Secrets of the Woods. Officially, this is Dragon's book, so he's the only one that narrates, but we don't get far because I realize that he doesn't know what it means to "tap a tree", so we're off to YouTube to learn about that.
2:00 - I get Dragon to take out the recycles for his family work - he's delighted with the job and does it in the noisiest way possible. It is very loud. My friend arrives, and I banish the kids to the yard. Dragon is still experimenting with how loud he can possibly be. Peanut joins him. I tell them no water; it's not warm enough. Go. Out. Side. My friend and I exchange stories of our days - mine with the kids, hers driving school bus. We laugh and shake our heads at Dragon's antics.
2:30 - The Daddy calls; he's done with work, and do I want anything from Walmart? I do - Hero wants an Optimus Prime cake for his birthday campfire party tomorrow, so I need sugar to make frosting. My friend and I continue chatting.
3:00 - Daddy's home! He joins the conversation, which is delightful. Tells about today's antics from the powers that be at work. It's amazing they stay in business. Dragon asks for some computer time; Hero is reading. Peanut finds her purple boa and is prancing around with it.
3:45 - My friend has to leave, and the Daddy heads out again to do some home teaching.
4:10 - Dragon and Peanut request play-doh. And all the play-doh tools. Hero is playing a video game; he asks me to set the time for 30 minutes, which is about half his screen time. I set up the play-doh, then go look for the cake pan Hero requested.
4:20 - More dishes. Only, I need to do some laundry. So I get that started first. {Can I just say how much I love me a labor-saving device!}Back to the dishes While I work, I set up some Japanese YouTube videos for passive listening; passive exposure makes a huge difference in our language study.
4:25 - My sister called. Yay!! We chat for a while, she wants to know about how the new job is going; I ask about her kids. And tell Dragon, "Go find a thing to do," about 4 times in the half-hour conversation. When it's done, I turn the Japanese back on. And try to get a few dishes done. And do a thing for a kid. And wash a dish.
Dishes are the job I used to throw tantrums over when I was a kid. They're still not my favorite. But that's not why they're not getting done very efficiently today. I have actually learned to enjoy a clean kitchen -- enough to put forth the effort necessary to get it there. But I have a hard time staying on task. {sigh} One of these years, I'll have a clean house.
5:10 - The Daddy calls. His home teaching people asked for a little help, so he's slower than he anticipated. I love when he calls; I know very well that he doesn't have to do it, but it's so nice. I work very hard at not dropping the phone into the water -- I'm holding it with my head while I attempt to get a few dishes clean.
5:20 - The Japanese is back on, now that I'm not on the phone. (Nobody's paying attention, including me, but it's amazing what the brain does in the background, as far as sorting patterns, when you're not really paying attention.) I just want a nap. Which reminds me: I still haven't looked to see if I've still got iron supplements, or if they're still good. I need to do that. And it's about time to move the laundry. And I've got to make that cake. Which means butter needs to be out warming up... I feel like I'm not getting any closer to the bottom of my to-do list... which just might be getting longer. All I want is a nap.
Hero is building Poke-balls from cardboard to play with his friends tomorrow.
6:00 - I found the iron. It, along with a good collection of other expired stuff is now in the trash. I flipped the laundry. And finally made some progress on the dishes. {When we finally fix or replace the dishwasher, it will be nice.} But the kitchen is looking almost reasonable, and it shouldn't be too bad to keep it that way while I make dinner. I hope.
After a while the Daddy came home again. Dragon enlisted his help cutting out a Poke-ball of his own.
I remembered that Peanut hadn't practiced her violin yet. She was delighted to do it, and she's making really good progress at fingering. After that she gets a shower.
7:30 - One pizza made; two warmed up, and a birthday cake in the oven. We settle in for some Avitar: Last Airbender.
8:30 - Show's over; ice cream is eaten. The cake is out and looks good. Hero is super excited about; totally worth the effort.
8:40 - Family scriptures and prayers.
8:55 - Kids head upstairs to brush teeth and stuff. Everybody is tired. There's tons of things still on my to-do list, but I feel pretty good about most of the day anyway. Somehow, there's always more tasks than time, but the important stuff gets done most of the time.
9:00 - Personal scriptures and prayers with the boys; Peanut barely made it. Since she's not wearing diapers to sleep anymore, I send her potty one last time. She looks asleep by the time it's her turn for scriptures, but when I go to leave, she manages to mumble, "I not asleep..." So I kiss her and read her two verses.
9:25 - All the kids and the Daddy are asleep. I sit in the dark and do some Japanese flashcards and make a move in my chess.com games.
9:40 - Downstairs again. The house is delightfully quiet. I check on the baked goods, but some of them aren't cool yet, so I play Minecraft for a little bit, have a drink of water, and listen to some clawhammer banjo.
10:15 - I'm itching to play my own banjo, so I turn off the tunes, and get mine out, just for a couple minutes. Can't do long; it's getting late.
So, it's kind of fun to look at which posts got the most hits in the past year. Of everything that got posted, this is what the most people looked at:
7. Number seven was Marking My Scriptures, from the posts that I do for my Bible Study group (check the sidebar), where I shared some of the techniques I use for studying the scriptures.
6. Number six was Planning Early Modern History. I matched up church and family history with the second part of Story of the World volume 3.
5. The fifth most popular was On Classical Education: Cultivating Godly Character. I finally published this one in November, after working on it for several weeks. It's part of an ongoing series where I'm reading about - and then writing about - various aspects of what Classical Education is. This batch of posts are challenging to write, because it makes me take fuzzy thoughts and poke at them until they come into focus well enough to share, so it's gratifying that enough people have had a look to put it this far up the list!
4. The fourth most popular post of 2015 was Watercolor Instructions, where I gathered up a collection of links and things that the nice ladies of Ambleside Online had recommended. I have finally started getting somewhere with those. I painted this detail from Norman Rockwell's Runaway after reading about drybrushing in one of their recommended resources. And most or all of what went into the January Watercolor Challenge (it's linked on the sidebar) comes from that batch of resources, too. There is process.
3. Number three was New Games, where I shared some games we were trying for both math and Japanese. The math game worked really well, and we used that one quite a lot. The Japanese game, much less so. We played that a few times, then moved on.
2. Number two was Day in the Life. I went through and wrote down just about everything that we did, for about 24 hours. These are fun posts to write; I'm glad that somebody was looking at it!
1. Aaand... the most popular post was Herb Class, where I wrote about the class I took last February, and how we integrated it into our nature study. It was a fun class; I'm glad that I took it -- but I'm surprised that it was the most popular post this year!
10:30am - The baby wakes me up. I wonder why she slept this late, but count my blessings, since Dragon did some sleep walking last night, and it took nearly 2 hours before I could get back to sleep. Hero hasn't been up long either, around a 1/2 hour. Slow start for us today, I guess. Not my favorite, but after last night, I'm not complaining. Morning is going to be short. He has helped himself to a bagel and peanut butter, and I am surprised to find he is reading a graphic novel version of the Iliad. I was guessing it would be Harry Potter #2.
11:00 - Jump in the shower, quick. I want to be done before the Daddy leaves for work. I grab some laundry and fold it up when I'm done, trying to find a shirt. I also need some socks for Hero; he's been wearing mine for the last two days. I don't start the washer yet, though, because the Daddy is using the water.
11:30 - I've stopped folding (which is not the same as being done with it), and change Tigress's clothes and diaper. I still need to do some yoga, and feed the two little kids. The Daddy leaves for work. Hero is reading Harry Potter now; The Weasly's flying car has just crashed into the Whomping Willow.
11:45 - Dragon wants a Minecraft coloring sheet. The printer is complaining because I'm out of yellow ink, and wants permission to print in black only. I also coax it into printing out my shopping menu: today is shopping day. We have a ton of errands to do, and I also want to get the basics of school done. I think the universe ate my print jobs, then I realize that I'd hit cancel, rather than OK. Oops. That won't work; try again. Tigress climbs up on my lap to draw. Dragon immidiately, very politely, asks for markers, which we keep up high. Put her down, give him the markers, clear enough of last night's cups from our drinks just before bedtime (midnight) that he has space for coloring.
11:55 - Pull up Pinterest to help me to think up stuff to put on my menu. Desperately try to stay focused, rather than being sucked into the wonder of Pinterest-land.
12:10 - Give the younger kids some bagels too. Wonder where my hairbrush got carried off to. Return to Pinterest and my menu.
12:35 - Release Tigress from the high chair. Ponder doing some math with Hero, but return to my menu instead; we really have to go shopping. Give him my phone to listen to The Secret Garden. We are "officially" having a literary morning, and this goes with our current history chapter, on colonial India. Still no hairbrush, and the baby has an... aroma. Guess it's time for another change. My menu is 1/2 done.
12:40 - My nose lied about the diaper. The boys migrate to the basement and listen to the story while they play with their new balls. My girl has figured out how to connect Duplos. Sort of. And is very involved in doing just that. My menu is almost done. Dragon's nose is gross. I must remember kleenex when we go shopping.
12:55 - The menu is done! Now to make the shopping list. And figure out how to get Dragon's cooperation on this shopping expedition. He is, shall we say, unenthusiastic.
1:05 - The shopping list part is relatively painless, and goes quickly. I give Dragon a timeout - and some tylenol and sudafed. Poor kid feels rough. The boogeyman has eaten my hairbrush; count my blessings that I can convince my hair to be presentable without one, in a pinch. I wonder if I can squeeze in some yoga before we go shopping.
1:40 - Found my hairbrush. It was put away. Yoga's done; feels good. I ask Hero to turn off The Secret Garden (can I just say how much I love the Librivox app on my phone, and how much I appreciate the volunteers that read?!), and we all start looking for sock and shoes. First stop: Kohls. Hero needs pants in the worst sort of way.
1:48 - Where is Tigress's other shoe? Everyone go potty!
1:55 - We're off! The boys both bring stuff to play with in the car. It's so much fun to see old toys become new again after yesterday's Big Toy Toss (in which we lost 3 garbage backs of toys and things -- miraculously, without tears), and the toys that come with us are ones that have all their pieces again after all the sorting.
2:40 - We've been to the music store. Dropped off the banjo to get a minor repair done. Now we're at Kohls, looking for those pants for Hero. He has none that are nice. It's embarrassing. This is our second attempt at remedying the situation, but the first store, last week, didn't have anything.
3:15 - Success! On to Sam's Club.
3:35 - Lunch at Sam's.
3:50 - Shopping! We head away from the deli and into the store. It never matters that we just had lunch, the kids are always on a sharp look out for the "Sample Feast" and they are not disappointed.
4:50 - We're back to the music store to grab my banjo. It's all fixed up now, so when I play it next, I'll be able to tune it. Yay!!
5:15 - groceries in. Hero starts making wands (think Harry Potter), but gets side tracked by finding the missing balloon pump. Tigress actually makes the transfer, so she'll have a good nap. Hurray! Now to put away groceries & round up some Math.
6:00 - After a delightful few minutes messing with the balloons, I coral the kids into doing some chores. Hero is unloading the dishwasher, which he can do (almost) independently, and Dragon is picking up the toys in the living room, which overwhelms him easily, so he has to be coached through it bit by bit. I have the table nearly cleared off, though, the math is out and ready to go, and as soon as the dishwasher is emptied, I can start working on catching up on those icky dishes while the kids do some math.
6:30- The boys' jobs are done, but not the math. Tigress woke up, and she thinks it's tragic that I won't let her chew on balloons. Sometimes, she is still very much the baby. Waking up poorly from a nap brings that out, so we sit down and snuggle a bit. She's coughing, but not as bad as yesterday.
7:00 - Dishes are coming along. Tigress spent some time playing with patter blocks while the boys used rods on their math. Now she's "helping" with the dishes. My kitchen isn't nearly so appalling as it was a couple hours ago, since I've been sneaking things into the dishwasher between helping the boys with their work. Sometime soon, I need to figure out what's for dinner, since we cut the shopping short before we got everything I'd planned to use for tonight. Oops.
7:15 - Math's finally done. Piano practice is underway.
7:35 - Dinner. I'm making this up. We have various snacky things: bread with Happy Cow Cheese, and hummus on bread and bell peppers. Sauerkraut. I get the bumps on a log almost completely to myself: the boys won't touch them.
7:35 - Clean up dinner. Hero does violin. Tigress is still eating, and Dragon is wilting. He just wants to snuggle. And play Minecraft. I'm hoping to get some violin out of him too, but I'm not really holding my breath on it.
8:10 - Dinner's done; table's cleared and wiped. The dishwasher is still running, so I stack our plates and ignore the rest. It's worlds better than it was, and I'm tired.
8:30 - Tigress comes for a cuddle. We read a stack of books, then she reads her giggle book with the button that giggles, and I try to read Transforming the Difficult Child while we snuggle. It doesn't work very well, but I got a few paragraphs.
8:45 - Tigress is in the bath. I sneak a few minutes with my banjo.
11:00 - Family scriptures & prayers done. Now for potty and teeth. We had a good night call with Daddy because he's getting home too late even for our late bedtime tonight. Hero is hoping to make it long enough to get a hug, but in my heart of hearts, I'd like him to sleep sooner than that.
11:15 - Everyone is in bed. Oops. Tigress escapes while I'm telling a story, and goes to play the piano. She's very happy with herself and comes running and giggling when I go catch her again. I do a "snot chase" (AKA lymphatic massage) on all the kids and tell them a story.
11:40 - Both boys are asleep, and Tigress is about 75%, but fighting hard. I realize that both of them passed out without doing either personal prayers, or having scriptures read. Which is why we do stories last most of the time. Guess I messed that up.
11:50 - The Daddy gets home and gives the kids their "snoozy snuzzles," as promised. I reclaim my arm from the now sleeping Tigress, and debate: more banjo, scrapbooking, or working on my book. There's not tons of time left before I need to sleep too, since we're meeting friends for Nature Study bright and early tomorrow (10:30), so we'll have to have an alarm to make sure there's no repeat of today's late start.
1:00am - I ended up playing around with Family Search, figuring out how to tag people in photos, and adding a bunch of my Aunts and Uncles to my file while I waited for the Daddy to finish up his paper work and stuff. They're all still living, but it's good practice, and I think that the picture will go public after they are deceased. I hope. Think I'll head to bed now.
The past while, I've been experimenting with keeping a Facebook Page for my blog. I thought it might make it easier for folks to see my content, if they could enjoy "one stop shopping" in their Facebook feed. Thing is, Facebook seems determined to destroy the usefulness of the feed. They won't show us the things our friends post much of the time, they filter away a lot of the content of pages we "like", and apparently they have plans to make it go from bad to worse. I'm seriously considering abandoning my Page. It feels like a lot of work for... not much. And what little exposure there is, they plan to take away.
So, what do you think? Do you see my stuff on Facebook? Do you read in some kind of feed? Stop by the blog itself from time to time? What do you like?
