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Right to the big news --- I'm switching real estate companies. From Century 21 Classic to Coldwell Banker Elite in Massaponax. This will give me the organization and structure that I crave! And more training! I'm so excited! But it's going to be a very busy September - learning new systems, working with new types of properties, driving a little further to get to the office... My plan is to continue homeschooling the Weaver unit study subjects in the mornings from 9-12. Then after lunch while I'm working, the kids will do their book work. This will help them with independant study. I'm also planning on having them help each other more with their studies. I still need to come up with a good plan for what I'm willing and able to do with the homeschooling group. I know I am going to commit to at least 1 event per month. But what will that event be? I'm not sure.... It depends on how much other families are willing to contribute. I know it can't be anything that takes a lot of planning or extra work for the kids to participate. So science projects and teaching classes are out. So this final week of summer will be filled with updating my information and learing the process at a new office. We had Middle Daughter's 9th birthday this week. We tried to have a slumber party. We invited 5 little girls that we do not see very often - thought it might ba a change to catch up with some older friends. 4 could not attend. 1 could but since her other friends could not, she was not comfortable with spending the night. So we moved the party to Chuck E Cheese. They had a blast. But I think I should have given them all pepto bismal before bed - pizza, soda, cake, cotton candy... Hmmm... pizza! NAh! I'll skip the midnight snack. I thought it was off giving her a Ben 10 video, a Nerf Gun game, and Littlest Pet Shop toys. But she loved it all!
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No Husband No Kids No Dog Just me. Ahhh! |
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Let's see... Dropped the kids off with my cousin for the next 4 days! Yea! Then it took 2 hours to get back to our neck of the woods. Then Mom and I went shopping for Kayla's birthday. I don't think we came home with anything for her, but I got 2 cute 1950s farmer's wife dresses! They are so cute! I have been waiting for them to drop in price and today I finally got them. I'm so glad they were still there! This evening we watched more Olympics until dinner. I made mini meatloaves. I love the Kraft Food and Family Magazine! Then we all wnet downstairs to the basement (cave) to watch a car race. I think this was one of the best for the year. While that was on I was able to fill in all the Weaver Curriculum information into my weekly lesson plan. I always plan 1 chapter at a time. This chapter on Miracles in relation to bodies, nature, and such is 4 weeks long once I included Labor Day, 1 Day for an all day class, and 3 days for a Virginia Realtor Association Convention in Baltimore. I had to double up on several days in order to complete the chapter before the convention. It's going to be a very busy first month of school! Tomorrow I plan on entering a few of the other textbooks to get me started. I don't enter too many pages at once because things happen and sometimes it takes longer to complete math and language arts. We never know how long it will take to complete a piece of literature. So I can fill in what we start with, and then we'll go from there. Since I will be working and teaching this year, the PLAN is to organize the next day the day before. For example, when I check today's homework, I will then mark and write down what needs to be accomplished for tomorrow. I am hoping this will lead to more independance for the children in some areas. Final note. Shaving. Yes, shaving! I know, it's a totally different topic. But anyway, I get tired of shaving every day, don't you? Sigh! But if I don't then my legs are prickly and then I have to wear pants durng the day and to bed. A few years ago by brother brought be a trash bag filled with these expensive razors. How he got them is a story in itself, but they have been great! I have not had to buy a razor in YEARS! But I'm down to my last 2! Boo hoo! And as I said, there were really nice! When I run out, I'll have to go back to the very cheap, 1 blade, no moisturizer razors. Yuck! Hmmm.... MAybe I'll have to invest in better razors for the sake of my marriage. Just thinking... Enjoy your weekend, everyone!
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As the Opening Ceremonies are comint to a close (I'm watching the torch make it's way around the Nest), I'm thankful for the baility to sit here as a family. We have been able to learn about other cultures. We've been able to pause the ceremony on our Tivo to clean up the basement, put the kids to bed, and walk the dog. I was able to use twitter to discuess what we saw and felt as each country waled in and were amazed by the human ability and the beauty that was created... I enjoyed a beautiful windy day at the pool with friends. I got to work hard. I got to pack the kids up so that they could enjoy a few days away with family. During that time I will get to focus in on reading articles, praying about opportunities, and finishing up my my lesson plans... You know, I can't run or swim or sing. But I am so blessed! |
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So I moved 5 of my "weekly things" over to the monthly side. That's one less thing I have to do per day. But I would still like to delete some things or move another 5 things to monthly. Or delete some things. So now it looks like this...
I think I have bought all the supplies we need for the kids. So I still need a copy of Quick Piano, 2 Learn at Home Workbooks, Some dotted paper for 1st and 3rd grade, and some ereasable highlighters. Anything else would e extras. So this is really good! I'd love to get 4, 12"x12" plastic boxes for the kids books, but I don't want to pay more than $1 or $2 for each. Today I went to WalMart, Target, 5 Below, Staples, and The Dollar Tree. Oh! And 2 party stores. No luck for what I wanted unless I paid $5 for each box. Yuck! Other than work... I have a huge pile of non-related school books sitting on my living room floor. I did not like the way they were organized throughout the house. So I hope to get these compiled and put back on the shelves before I go to bed. There are things like Mariage, being a husband, being a wife, being a mother, parenting, Church related books, being a woman of God, Man of God, etc...
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I finished the overview. Whew! Our school year will go from Sept 1st to June 10th. Then I had to create a new weekly lesson planner. Well, I created it... But it is WAY to full!!! There is no way I'm going to have time to do all this with my kids - and work at the same time! Here's the section I'm worried about the most at the moment:
And then I have one more column that has a list of books or tapes that I want the kids to complete during the year. Basically, read this book, then put it back on the bookshelf. But the items in this chart are things that are supposed to be done on a regular basis - not daily, but weekly or monthly. I can't do all of these. But what is important enough to keep on my schedule? And I still have other items I need to review this week. But not tonight! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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I'm going to try to make this quick. The last 3 days have been busy, but not. Tuesday I worked and then our homeschool group had our annual day at Pitts Pond. It's such fun! I hope more families can attend next year! We had water trampolines, slides, jumping rocks, rope swings, and lots of food! Wednesday I worked showing property. The girls were great! It’s nice when they are old enough to be responsible and help each other! And then Matthew went into work early so he could come home a little early. So I had no worries while I was helping my clients! Then today after working this morning, we got to go back to Pitts Pond with our Church! On Tuesday I tried to welcome families as they arrived and help where I could, but today I got to relax and do what I wanted. I got to chat with old friends, make some new friends (like I did on Tuesday), but today I got to catch up on some of my Real Estate Magazine reading. And the food was wonderful! I wish I had had more room to eat more! Tomorrow I hope to get back to planning for the new homeschool year for a few hours in between doing some research on the local lake communities. It's been easy to balance work and fun this summer. I hope it goes this well when school starts back up! |
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Ok. I finally bit the bullet (if that’s the proper phrase). I started planning for the next school year. Step 1 – Start to panic then remember to breathe – ahhh! That’s better Step 2 – Go through every school bookshelf and see what I already have that I may want to use next year. This includes all new items I bought during the homeschool convention and purchases from eBay. Step 3 – Ummmm… hmmm. Coffee? No. Hot chocolate! Yeah. Ok. I’ll be back… ** By the way, I finally cleaned my oven. Yea me! It's only been on my spring cleaning list for 5 months... Step 4 – Ok. So I’m pulling out my Teacher’s notebook, and taking out last year’s lesson plans and table of contents. Some stay in until I have something to replace it with so I don’t forget. Step 5 – Add every book/program I want to use to the “2008/09 Curriculum Overview.” I’ll purge extra items once I see all my options. **Take a break and deal with 10 domain names and 3 hosting sites for business and homeschooling. Step 5 continued ** Work with Clients Put Kids to bed. Walk the Dog. Finish research for clients. Work on Relocation file. Back to Step 5. 10:45 pm… Yep. I’m going to finish this before I go to bed! I already have books the kids are sharing back on shelves:
Now I’m putting each child’s individual curriculum books on to the overview. When you have school in your living room, you have to find odd ways to hide and organize your school books. I just realized that I need 3 baskets. They need to fit under my end table after school hours, yet wide enough for binders. Now I have to compare my list to My Shopping list, but that’s for another night… It’s past midnight and I’ve got a book to read! Luckily I'm down to 11 piles on my living room floor! :)
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My plan for this weekend was to catch up on real estate magazines. Ha! I never opened up a single copy! I guess I still have time. Hmmm… I’ve spent so much time applying all that I’ve been learning that I did not have time to read new ideas. I think I need to go back and forth. 1 week getting inspired. 1 week applying inspiration. I had a great time on Friday with my longtime friend Kristi! We took our kids to the pool. It’s funny that no matter how hard I try to protect my kids from sunburn, they still get extremely red cheeks. I’ve got to find something that works better and that’s easy to apply. I think I saw a waterproof stick that should work well. I just have to remember it when we go grocery shopping. Saturday, I took a nap. And then we went to a housewarming party for some friends at church. Today… I guess I was still a bit hung-over from the sleeping pills I took the night before. LOL! After 2 nights of not sleeping well, I wanted to try something. But when I got to church 2 people asked me if I was ok. I guess the fact that I was sitting in the back row not running around concerned some people. Well, we got a call last night that someone else was going to set up sound and PowerPoint. So we slept in and then had noting to do before church began. So I just sat sown and enjoyed the music. But even Matthew said I needed to smile. Then when I got home I did not feel well and sleepy. So here I’ve been in my bed watching Gilmore girls and ordering books with some birthday money I got.Borders.com kept freezing up so it took 2 days to get my order all picked out. So this week I plan on starting my school year planning. This is if I’m not bombarded with clients banging down my door wanting to buy a house! I realized that I’ve actually worked with about 20 different clients this year. I’m so glad that I’ve been able to help so many families this year. I just hope to make a little income at the same time! I’m sure the Lord has a plan. He has to. The order that I got my license, Matt got the Education Director job, and just everything tells me that the Lord wants me to have this job. I’m just not sure what his whole plan is for me in this, but I’m excited to know that he’s in control! Anywhooo, since my current clients are taken care of, I guess that gives me some extra time to start planning. I’d do it today, but it’s hard to organize books in bed.
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My plan was to work half the day and then take the kids to Kings Dominion. Oh well! After working until lunch, we had to stop by the car shop. When they changed my oil and my tires, my passanger door stopped working. I did not think they did it, but it was odd that it happened at the same time. So I took it back, they figured out the problem but very few people have used parts for a 96 minivan! Then after stopping by the library, my office, the dump, and the grocery store, it was time for Matthew to come home! The weather was so beautiful, but I guess you can't enjoy every perfect-weathered day. At least I had good plan! LOL! Tomorrow is another day! I'm reading the Promise Book right now. Today's topics was Charity. Yeah... I think I'll be stuck on this chapter for a while. I have a lot of work to do in this area.
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I going to stop using my Xanga blog and only write here for personal info. So if you happened to save the Xanga site in your RSS Reader, you can go ahead and delete it. I posted a goodbye over there, plus a reminder on how to use an RSS reader to get updates on your favorite blogs. http://www.xanga.com/livtopraise So here I am trying to consolidate where I can. I have an ever-increasing number of business sites to maintain so I'm taking care of one issue that I can easily remove. Yesterday I felt like I worked all day and did not accomplish much of anything. I also noticed that since summer started I have read very little Scripture. Once summer got here, the entire schedule went out the window and all I’ve done is work and activities (play dates, Kings Dominion, etc…). So I’m going to work on that. Today, I’m actually going to take a walk while the kids ride their bikes. And not sit here al day – even thought I just got some business to work on. It will get done! I’m feeling heavy after my birthday weekend and want to get up and move around today. And now that the rain has stopped, I’m going to take advantage of the fresh air!
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Continuing my dwelling on time passing... So summer is half over. I am determined to complete more home and me projects befre focusing all on the new school year! But not tonight because hubby says it's "quittin' time." Here are a few things I have accomplished off my original to-do list: Clean out all dressers and closets - I think I got all that I'm going to get. Organize the medicine cabinet - and finally bought a 1st aid kit! Get loaned out items back from others Put geography locations of literature we have read on maps Purge unnecessary clutter - always more to do, but I'm checking it off my list. So we're getting there! There making of the regency dress and the cleaning of appliances are still at the top of my list to do. But I have to make sure my mom is here to help me make the dress. And I have to have all the supplies. So here's hoping I actually get to it! And I'm actually getting ancy and want to start planning for the next school year. But I know once I start it will take up all my extra time. So I'm trying to hold off a bit longer... And I hope YOU enjoy the rest of your summer vacation!
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I really wanted to accomplish SOMETHING this year. And, yes, I know I have, but sometimes you want to see something. I wanted to help my family with some of our debt. I wanted to share the love of Jesus in the community. I want to feel like the kids have reached a deeper level spiritually - actually the whole family. But right now I feel like we’re just struggling to stay afloat. Several years ago, a couple prophesied over us that we were on a raft and soon it was going to be like a cruise ship. And yes, that happened for a short time. Am I supposed to be thankful for that short time and enjoy my little raft again? Hmmm… So I find myself asking “Why?” For me I say what am I doing wrong? Do I have the wrong attitude? Am I not showing the love of Christ? Would I not handle the blessings appropriately if they came my way? So I want to look back and see how the Lord has truly touched my life in the last 6 months. Our house on Durrette sold. That’s probably one of the biggest earthy events. I was not sure it was going to happen. That took care of a lot of debt. My grandfather took the interest off of the money we owe him. That’s such a blessing. We’ve have lots of birthday parties, days of swimming, going to the beach, play days, and Kings Dominion (passes were give to us at Chriatmas). My husband’s job is secure. Our family is active and loving in our lives. We have a new furnished entertainment basement that we did not pay for. Matthew and I have started spending more time going for walks together. Church has had such a sweet presence for the last few months. I’ve had lots of time to relax and just read with the kids. We’ve enjoyed learning more about social medial together. And playing around with visual tours. Here’s a funny one! http://www.visualtour.com/show.asp?T=1581197&prt=10003 I’ve learned more about my community and am excited to learn more about the people and places that make Caroline a special place to live. I got to go to the homeschool convention and volunteer. If I had had lots of $$, I would not have done that. And I got to know some great people and be blessed from that opportunity! I had a fun time at my 15 year high school reunion! After all the planning and organizing, there was fun and laughter and strengthened relationships. I guess I could go on and on. It looks like I tend to see how blessed my life is or successful I have been when I look at my checkbook. I do not mean to do that. But there have been so many times where I could not get a haircut, or bless a family, or get something for the girls, or go to an event. Therefore I feel like we’re just struggling along. But look at all these wonderful things that have been provided! Look at the opportunities the Lord has provided to share His love with others! I am blessed! |
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I have several projects that I wrote down during the last few months of the school year. I want to get these projects completed this summer. It started as my "spring cleaning" list, but now it's my "summer project list." There are the items I have completer during the first 2.5 weeks of summer: Make sure every bowl has a lid and throw the others out Find all our classical music CDs This is what I still which to accomplish: Spring Cleaning Clean and organize the bookshelf in the living room Clean out all dressers and closets Organize the medicine cabinet Download family videos to computer Make a Regency-style dress Get loaned out items back from others (half way there) Put geography locations of literature we have read on maps (half way there) Clean the fridge and oven Weed the flower bed in front of the house Purge unnecessary clutter Then there is the list to prepare for school: Buy books for school Organize library for new school year Write overview Write out school year calendar Update weekly lesson planner **But I also want to go to the free movies with the kids, go to the pool and the beach, have play dates, work, go to Kings Dominion, go camping, finish summer school, take the kids to VBS, pay off more debt…. These things I’m accomplishing. But I forget to set aside an hour or so per day for these “special projects.” What has worked for your family to get “special projects” accomplished?
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Every year I have this concern! And to me it's important on many different levels (some sarcasm here). So here are a few issues to consider when dressing. Layers: Now this is a no brainer! You must wear layers! Short sleeves (which is an issue we’ll get to later) with a button down sweater is a must. If it’s not a button down or zipper then you have to take it off over your head and that could mess up you hair or make your shirt lift up. That would be bad. Shoes: you want to be comfortable, but you also don’t want your tennis shoes to clash with your outfit. So I found that comfortable sandals that stick to your foot works best – as long as your feet don’t get cold. I did not have appropriate sandals to wear this year so I wore my long go-go boots. They worked ok for the first 2 days, but I’m not sure how appropriate they were for the 3rd day. Besides hurting my feet, I think they drew too much attention to my legs with my skirt on. Of course then I was not showing any flesh on my feet which could be frowned upon. Now for hair: If you don’t cut your hair or have bangs, then you’re pretty good to go. You can braid it back or put it in a bun. But some ladies wear the head covering. Hmmm. How would my bandanna look as a head covering??? And if you cut your hair, then how is it styled? Is it ok to curl your hair for a homeschool convention? Is it ok to pull it up or do I need to have it as a crown for being a woman? Now lets look makeup: is it ok to wear make up? Will I offend anyone with a darker shade of pink on my cheeks or lips? Some don’t wear any make up. Back to the shirt: you have short sleeves and long sleeves. Long sleeves could get too hot or bunch up when you put your sweater on. But short sleeves do not come down to your wrists. Slacks? Jeans? What about underwear? You don’t want to adjust anything from sitting and standing and walking all day, so bikini panties are out. That leaves briefs or thong. Either one could show if your shirt comes untucked while you are bending over putting something in your crate on wheels. Hmm… Maybe a dress would be best! But then you might have a draft! The president of HEAV was wearing a dress suit. Now she was working and giving speeches. But I also did some volunteering. So I also wanted to dress appropriately for that. But what is right? Now this was all meant to be funny and not offend anyone in any way. My point is that we all have standards that God gave to each of us. And I think that as long as we are open to new things the Lord may want o share with us, then, we’re in a good place. We should always try to not offend others by how we dress. But how far should we go? I think most people would just say, “Be yourself. Dress the way that makes you feel comfortable.” But you know, that does not always work. When I have a job, I do not dress to be comfortable. I dress for business. Once again, my business attire may be different from another’s. So when I get dressed for work or a homeschool event, or church, I do not just think about what I am comfortable wearing, but I also consider what is appropriate for the event. I want people to see Jesus. I do not want to offend someone by what I am wearing to that event. If I am going to Kings Dominion, I may wear Personally, I do not like t-shirts and shorts ever! Except maybe to bed! And it might make me uncomfortable to see someone wearing shorts that are too short to an event. Today, at church, I saw a gal wearing a t-shirt with skulls on it. And it offended me. Mainly because I knew that she grew up in church and that she had plenty of other cloths to choose from. Now if it was someone new and I knew nothing about them, then it would not have bothered me that much. I’ve had times when I felt that I should only wear dresses and skirts. I’ve had other time where I felt that jeans with a nice top and shoes were perfectly fine for church. It’s when my attitude gets lazy or sloppy that I need to check my heart as to why I am dressing the way I am. But you know with all of the stress and concern of what to wear to the homeschool convention, not once did I feel judged by how I dressed! And I don’t remember being offended by anything that anyone else wore. I just think it’s amazing that thousands of Christians can come together to with the love of Jesus and a common goal of homeschooling their children and be unified in their kindness and respect to each other!
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Today at church we were singing songs about Jesus being King. I love these song! Kings, knights, princesses, etc... Love the idea behind it all. I and to think of Jesus being king is awesome! Bowing down and thinking "what does the King want?" makes so much sense to me. It's so much easier for me to worship with this mentality. **** This week I plan on focusing more on thanksgiving and building deeper relationships. So I plan on reading and commenting more on blogs. Not sure if this will work, but I hope it would be a start. |
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The girls and I had a play date originally scheduled for Tuesday. Because of the rain, it was cancelled. Now I wan not upset in the least when this was cancelled - things happen - ESPECIALLY IN CAROLINE COUNTY! BTW, my oldest developed a cold and her tummy really hurts today and I'm glad to know she did not get anyone sick. I know our kids have to play - believe me, mine are pretty lonely these days. A lot of their friends have moved or changed churches since we moved to Caroline 4 years ago. They want to make new friends. One of my girls was even talking about going to school so she could play with more friends! :( But I am still very glad when God intervenes and protects us from illness or an unknown car accident or something. It did remind me that there are so many things going on with other people that we may not know about. The cashier at the store could be going through a divorce. The loan officer could be dealing with a serious illness. Lord, help us to be sensitive to your Spirit. Help us to share the love of Jesus where ever we go and not just assume that we know the entire situation. Yes, I'm preaching to myself today. My house has not closed. It's been 2 weeks since it was suppose to close and I'm getting irritated. 2 nights ago I spent hours laying in bed awake saying, “Lord, is this so I can understand what my clients are going through? Do you not want the buyers to buy this house? Is the lender going through a really tough time and can't focus on work?” Whatever issues we face, Lord, bring your wisdom and understanding! |
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Yep. 4 months of 2008 are over. Not much to show for it yet. I do have a few things I was able to plan for the rest of this year. Play days this summer to build relationships in Caroline County. I'd like to help 10 families buy or sell homes. Plus continue to help families understand their options for buying, selling, refinancing, short sales, foreclosures, renting, etc... Spend more fun time with my kids individually and as a whole family. Be more attentive to needs of church members to help them and pray for them as needed. More walks with my husband. I want to pay off more of our debt. I want to sell our home. I want to eat more natural foods and less processed. I want to see my children grow more in the Lord - which means I need to be a better example of love and patience. I'm sure there are more things, but I wanted to write down the few I could think of right now.
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Well, the new schedule is working out pretty well. School in morning, chores in afternoon, work in evening. Plans are coming together. I’ve got a rhythm. School is coming to a close. We have one final chapter in Weaver. Three weeks of Human Anatomy and 2 weeks of review and we should be finished. Any workbooks not completed by that time can be worked on daily until completed. Once we get into the swing of summer, then I can work on my “spring cleaning!” Yes, my deep cleaning will have to wait a few more weeks. Just trying to keep up with the girls and their allergies is enough right now. So I’ve started a list (Go figure…)! Make sure there is a bowl for each lid, clean out closets and dressers, prune the flower bed (is that the right phrase – I’m not up on gardening terms yet), etc… I keep trying to plan some park days for the homeschool group, but something keeps happening. I think we’ll just need a weekly plan – so even if it’s raining or just wet, then we have a back up plan for when to meet again. It’s been such a great honor to help families with their housing concerns. “Should we move? What’s a short sale? What does the bank require? What can I do to help my credit?” MY house is supposed to close on Wednesday. We sign our paper work on Tuesday. Since no one wants to look at homes with me today, we will be working on cleaning out the final tidbits from the old house and putting up the shed to put everything in it. It’s been interesting dealing with the real estate move from the agent’s point of view and the client’s point of view. It makes me want to help my clients even more with a transaction that is as smooth as possible. Off to start my day!
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Of my blogs, this one is the one that is suffering the most. That may not be a true statement to all, but it is to me. Since starting the real estate business, I've had to devote more hours than I thought there were in a day learning the business. This week, my grandmother came to Virginia for a visit. On Tuesday morning I receive a call, "When are the girls coming to visit?" So after an hour of packing, and hour of school, and an hour of cleaning we headed of to see my grandmother. I dropped them off with her and said goodbye. Yep! 4 day of no school and no kids! I was not planning on a break until our school year ended at the end of May, but I was very thankful for the "vacation." The kids got to relax and play and go on several field trips. I got to work. I worked on seller packets, webpages, blogs, returning phone calls, working on taxes, dealing with business bills, advertising homes, etc... I'm getting into a rhythm - a better system, but there is always more to learn! Ever seen Supernanny? Have you noticed how she gives the parents a schedule to follow? I think I need a better schedule. Maybe something like Homeschooling 3 hours (just for the rest of this year - next year I'll have to go back to 5 hours or so since my oldest will be in 6th grade). Clean 1 hour. Laundry 1 hour. Sleep 8 hours. Read for fun 1 hour. How many hours does that leave??? Still need to have an hour for community service - no more than that per day - with that I can help with church things, our local homeschool group, my 15th reunion in May, and whatever else comes up. So that leaves 9 hours. Ok. we need to eat and cook - 2 hours? That leaves 7 hours for work. That seems like plenty of time to work! And some of those hours can be while watching movies with the family and working on the computer. So let's see if I can make this work this week! LOL!!! Training, application, phone calls, advertising... yep it should work - if I can keep to a schedule. We'll see what happens! Have a great week everyone!
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