7 Quick Takes

1) I got my hair cut today.

It was long.  Now it is shorter.  Nothing too drastic - hubby vetoed the bob, which is probably wise.  I do not think short short hair is my thing.

2) Zipporah had her reguar weekly physical therapy session and I'm starting to lose heart.

I KNOW she will eventually crawl (probably) and walk, but she just seems so uninterested right now!!  She is completely content for me to carry her around in the sling or to set her on the ground and she will play with her close toys or just watch everyone else.  She is definitely Zipporah the Observer!  

(P.S. No, I do not think I "caused" this by carrying her in the sling too much - I carried all the other kids just as much, really - this is her own thing.)

3) It has come to my attention that I need to focus more on relaxing.

My life is really not that stressful.  In fact, it is VERY laid-back, especially this summer.  We are doing things, but not too much.  But I'm having trouble just taking a moment to relax for some reason - it is as if I've been wound up so tight for so long I cannot remember HOW to relax!  In any case, I'm on it now and I feel fairly confident that with the some thought, creativity, and practice, I can learn to "chill" again.

4) Yes, I am still doing this Whole 30 meal plan - mostly.

And this MIGHT be why I am a little stressed.  It is not that the plan is necessarily stressful, but it does make my meal choices a bit more of a challenge.  Plus, every time my instinct says, "eat some chocolate and you will feel better" my brain says "NO!!  You do not NEED chocolate."  But I've been using food to deal with stress for so long I am wondering if that is not part of my stress problem (as mentioned in #3).

And to clarify the "mostly" is because I occasionally lick my fingers when they are covered in non-compliant food (or even take a bite of a dessert or some such!!) and weigh myself - which are all technically reasons to "start over" on day 1 of "the plan" but I consider this more of a lifestyle change.  I am trying to eat mostly healthy food and not stressing over a few slip-ups.  I did my first 30 days as recommended, now I'm trying to see how long I can generally keep it up.

5) I attended my first Aikido class on Monday.

It was a lot of fun - more than I expected from a basic class.  I hope to attend many more and do more Aikido at home with my kiddos - in our garage-of-awesome :)

6) The four oldest kids started swim lessons on Monday.

They have been a hit.  We have been doing lessons at 10am, then walk across the street to play on the old Washington school plaground some and then at 11:30am head into the school (which is now taken over by Headstart - errr, Early Childhood Connections is what they call it now I think) and enjoy a free lunch!!  (for the kids - I could buy mine for about $3, but it is basically your typical cafeteria meal, so I am not overly excited)  They do also have a choice bar where the kids can take whatever they want and it has quite a few fresh fruits and vegetables on it.  For a free meal it is pretty awesome - plus I don't have to do the dishes!!

7) I just downloaded a program on my computer so I could take snapshots and videos with my built-in webcam.

Seriously, I JUST DID it moments ago in order to post a picture of myself for #1 of this post.  How is that for pathetic?  But we do not have cell phones and I did not feel like digging out the camera and the cord and trying to take a pathetic selfie in the mirror and the wait for it load on the computer and copy over the files.  So I finally got a little further up on the technology pole and now can take pictures with my computer.  I am so cool, right?

*And since we are talking technology, I'm going to do a bonus point here.

The left click button on this laptop is broken and I have learned to work around it with double-tap on the touch pad to click things and such.  In any case I am very proud of myself for discovering (maybe remembering) that holding the shift key and then mousing over text and clicking will highlight it for copy/past etc.  Seriously, I am such a smart one!

Mid-Year Renew

Tonight I am feeling empowered.  I think it is time to get my life back in order again (funny that it seems like no matter how many times I "organize" anything it always falls back into some sort of disarray - must be an original sin defect :)  Think of this as a mid-year-renew of my New Year Resolutions (which I did not make this year - oops!)  So without further ado, here are five things I am planning to put back into my daily schedule.

1) Spending 5 minutes a day doing spiritual reading.

I have done spiritual reading in the past but lately it seems to have gotten put on the back burner and I know it is important (along with reading Scripture which I am still doing).

2) Read the kids at least 5 books a day.

I always read to my kids!!  At least I think I do. . . just in case I am not reading to them as much as I think, I'm going to start counting the books to make sure I'm not missing this important aspect of life - especially with the little ones, but I think the older ones appreciate it, too.

3) Spend 5 minutes writing Scripture verses.

This is a silly thing that makes me happy.  When I read Scripture, I often mark in my bible or write down in a notebook verses that I like or find helpful.  I am planning to have my kids write these bible verses as handwriting for next year, so I'm going to spend 5 minutes each day writing the verses on notecards.  Then next school year I'll have the older kids each grab a notecard and copy it into their handwriting notebook.  I'll probably have Rebekah do hers in cursive.

4) Do 5 stretches each day.

I have learned a ton of stretches as part of the restorative exercise I have been studying and practicing, but I've kind-of put stretching on the back burner lately and it is important to keep up my flexibility and work toward more, so I'm going to start with my favorite five and then maybe branch out as the month goes on - sticking with those that seem to help the most.

5) Set a timer for 5 minutes each time I open up facebook and SHUTTING FACEBOOK when the timer goes off.

I am not planning to restrict my facebook to a set amount of time.  I know I spend too much time there but I cannot simply go cold turkey from it as it is my social center (especially since I do not have a cell phone to text with) and my constant garage sale (I have several open swap ads at the moment).  However, I CAN limit the amount of time I spend checking it in a sitting.  And I think this might be especially helpful as I often get on facebook with a specific purpose and then get distracted and pull myself out a half hour later - if I'm lucky!  By setting a timer I am hopeful that I will be able to stay on track better.

And with all that time I manage to keep myself off of facebook I can spend doing these other things I listed above.  Win win!!

If you made it this far, you deserve some pictures.  So enjoy:

Visiting the museum.

Museum CRAZY!!

Daddy with Zipporah

7 Quick Takes for Friday

1) I rearranged the kitchen.

A while back I had purchased a tall cabinet for the kitchen because I do not have lots of cabinet space.  Unfortunately the cabinet did not fit well (as poor planning on my part not realizing there was a window and a vent in the way of where it was supposed to go) and even though it had been in the kitchen for several years I recently concluded (with the help of a boldly commenting husband) that it was not such a great piece of furniture to have there.

The most obvious solution would be to remodel the kitchen, which is on the "to do someday" list, but at the moment time and money are short for this project.  Instead I moved in two pieces of "furniture" that Gordie had picked up at one of his work auctions (thankfully his work is always auctioning off stuff to employees as they continue to update and expand).  So now I have a new wooden cabinet (on wheels) and a metal cabinet (not exactly elegant, but SOLID).  They definitely get the job done and I like having the window again.  The kitchen is much more open and inviting this way.

Side Note: I would have SWORN I had a picture of the kitchen like this - at least in the background of something else, but alas, I have looked for a good 15 minutes and come up with nothing, so just trust me, it is better now.

I was waiting to take a picture until it was clean, then it dawned on me that would probably never happen while the kids are home!  So ignore the mess and enjoy the concept of an open window in the kitchen.

The metal cabinet.  Not exactly glamorous, but very sturdy!!  We had the old dishwasher her and I was waiting for Gordie to fix it and apparently Gordie thought I was just keeping it for storage!  Minor miscommunication! - LOL

2) Rebekah made a Lego chess set.

Paul received a Lego Ideas book for his birthday (from his brother, Samuel, actually) and a chess set was one of the ideas.  I think Rebekah did a great job.

3) We recently picked up another bookshelf at a local dorm sale.

This has allowed me to put our "educational" toys in closer reach (out in the front room, rather than tucked away in the study) and the middle shelf has our current school books.  

4) We got rid of another couch.

The TV room couch finally sold and now we have cushions on the floor.  I think they are more comfortable.  They potentially seat more - as we have LOTS of cushions!  They can potentially be moved anywhere, and they make awesome forts!  Winning all the way around in my opinion!

5) Gordie is in the local community theater summer production of Legally Blonde.

6) White boards keep my children happy for hours.

Seriously, the boys played with those things ALL DAY yesterday!  They seem to never get old.

7) School work.

Yep, we still have some school work here to finish up. Rebekah hopes to be done by the end of June.  Samuel could be done in about three days if he hits it hard.  Just a few things to finish up.  But then next week I am planning to start implementing "daily work" for Jacob (a math worksheet, a writing worksheet, and reading one book to Mom) and I have a learning Latin program (with DVD presentations - so no work on Mom's part) that Rebekah wants to try.  Also, we have a chemistry book we were working on last summer and all the kids are eager to get back to that - especially the experiments.

Happy Friday :)