When I’m not blogging, life is happening. Here’s some of what’s been going on in my world this week:
School’s Out It was the first, full week off school for my two boys. Since public schools in our area only got out today, I let this be a freebie week. I have a summer schedule written down, but I set it aside so we could putz around, go to Goodwill, play at the park, and enjoy the warm weather, which has now left us for a few days, leaving cold and rain in its place. Here are a few pictures from our trip to the park on Monday; we had to walk there, since the 3yo locked my keys in the van.
Yes, one child is missing. The birthday boy from last week had a lunch date. Unfortunately, when he returned home that afternoon, he complained of feeling cold (it was like 85 degrees out!) and fell asleep for an hour. When he awoke, he still felt cold, but he got ready for his game. After barely eating anything, it occurred to me that he might actually be sick (in summer- no way!) I took his temperature; it was 102 degrees. Turns out, a couple of teammates had also been sick over the weekend. After a dose of ibuprofen, he slept through the night, and woke up the next morning back to normal. Thank the Lord!
Grocery Shopping- Me?! My husband gave me permission to do the weekly grocery shopping this week . . . for the first time in nearly two years! That “privilege” was previously revoked, due to my inability to stay within the budget. Desperate to prove that I am reformed, I entered the store with his list, and a few additions of my own, only to fall prey once more to my sale-addicted shopping habits. I’m not sure if he’ll give me another chance or not.
I actually thought I had done okay, but further analysis proved otherwise. (Sigh.) I splurged on raspberries, yogurt, and tortilla chips, not bad in and of themselves (and they were on sale), but they weren’t on the list, and they definitely aren’t necessities. Like he explained, those little extras add up to an extra $20-30 each week, which turns into an extra $1200/year. We don’t have an extra $1200 in the budget; therefore, I must keep to the list. I get it now, I hope:/
Before and After One of my summer goals was to tackle my “office”- otherwise known as the homeschooling room or “storage room for all things without a home.” Here’s what my project looked like when I began at 2:15pm yesterday:
I threw on a one-hour video for the kids and got to work. I managed to squeeze in an extra 40 minutes before dinner, and now, here is what it looks like:
Ahh, much better. I spent most of the time sorting objects into containers, throwing away junk, removing and re-homing random items, and shelving school materials in the bookcases. The three remaining bins on the table are kids’ artwork, miscellaneous toys/game pieces that need to return to their homes, and cards/personal mementos to be thrown out; the children are responsible for taking care of these. There is also a frisbee filled with those pesky, little leftovers that I never know what to do with.
One of the white bins on the bookshelves has crayons, pencils, etc. that need to be further organized (I just tossed all applicable objects into the bin along the way). You can see the pile of paperwork on the desk; that’s mine to go through. The deeper cleaning involves assessing my homeschool resources and weeding out what no longer needed, planning and pulling what resources I do need for the fall, and filing completed grade work from this school year. The green bin on the floor is an assortment of grade school textbooks that my husband kept from his teaching days; I hate to part with them, but they really don’t fit into our homeschooling style.
Ultimately, this room needs to be vacant by summer’s end, because it is being converted into a third bedroom (hurray!) I’m sure you’ll see another update in the future, but, for now, I can’t imagine how I will pare everything down to a manageable amount and find new homes for what remains.
Giveaway I haven’t been reading much, other than blog posts about summer planning and blogging advice. I will be hosting a giveaway soon for a summer planning kit to use with your children, so stay tuned for that:)
Looking Ahead Next week, you can look forward to a bit of Sunday Inspiration, our first Family Movie Night Review (I introduced this weekly series here), a look at our summer schedule (with links to great ideas for reading programs, snacks, summer learning, activities, etc.), the third installment in our 8 Ways to Make Money at Home series, and, of course, another Friday Reflections.
Do you have a great bible verse or theme to keep the family motivated this summer? I am still looking for that perfect word or scripture to keep our family on the same page as we forge ahead. I’d love to hear your ideas!
Laura says
hey, Aimee, my mom taught me to shop by the sales of the week. So if raspberries were for sale, I would buy them as our fruit for the week. I know this doesn’t help your circumstance but it’s an interesting way to shop.
Aimee Mae Wiley says
Yes, I am a sucker for sales, especially on produce. We never get blackberries, but they have been priced so reasonably on sale that I can’t help but buy them! $1.50 this week!