What a day!

Whew, I am exhausted!  Today was my and Hubby's renewal of our wedding vows.  It was an awesome day!  We got to see people we hadn't seen in awhile, and a good time of fellowship for all.  We also had family and friends there in whom I hope some seeds were planted for the Lord.  I hope we were nothing but good witnesses for Him.  Well, that's it for now, I am absolutely exhausted, and it will be at least another hour before the boys go to bed.  Hubby is out with my brother fishing LOL!  We will do our "honeymoon" tomorrow...Hubby's dad is coming over to watch the boys and we will go for a nice ride on the motorcycle...he found some pretty nice trails along the Mississippi River to ride.  Yay!  I can't wait!

Ten Years of Bliss?

Yesterday, Hubby and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary.  It would be a lie to tell you it has been 10 years of absolute bliss, because we have had our ups and downs like most married couples.  But overall, I would have to say, yes, we are very blessed.  The Lord definitely knew what he was doing when he brought he and I together.  We did not know the Lord very well at the time, but He knew how we would together come to Him years later, all because He set the stage just right in our lives.  We may not have been interested in a relationship with Jesus, but He was there the whole time, waiting, nudging, and guiding us toward that day when we would finally open our eyes and say "YES" to Him.

And now, on Saturday, we are renewing our vows.  We are getting "re-married" to each other, both of us having a full knowledge of, and relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  He has strengthened us so much, not just individually, but He has done so much in our marriage.  Not that it was a "bad" marriage anyway.  But to now know the Lord and to look back at how things could have gone without Him, I can't even imagine...All I know is that I can't wait until Saturday!  We will be publicly dedicating our marriage and our lives to the Lord.  Now, I can't exactly speak for Hubby, but I can say that I am more in love with my husband than ever.  And each day that passes, I love him even more.

Yesterday we celebrated by having Hubby's dad come over and watch the kids.  Hubby  just got his motorcycle back from the shop (he rode it once since he got  his endorsement, then it broke down), so I got to go for my first ride.  It was a little scary, but a lot of fun!  We rode up to the mall and window shopped awhile; we stopped at Bath & Body Works and found some really good deals.  We walked out of there with probably about $60 worth of stuff for under $20!  Then we went over to Applebee's for dinner...my brother had given Hubby a gift card for Father's Day, so we used that.  Then we went home, got the kids off to bed, and RELAXED.  Oh, yes, and Hubby came home from work yesterday with a dozen long-stemmed red roses. 🌹 He is so sweet...he still gets me flowers all the time, and I never get tired of it.  My vase hardly ever gets put back in the cupboard, because Hubby keeps it filled. 💜

Okay, I'm done gushing for now LOL!

Down in the dungeon...

Well, last weekend's sale has definitely given me some inspiration. I have been down in the basement this week while the boys were napping.  I have done some pretty good de-cluttering down there.  I want to get spring cleaning done, and have decided to tackle the basement first, since it was a disaster, yet it is a major storage space for us.  I wish I had taken some before shots for you, but I do still have a long way to go, and will try to remember to bring the camera down with me tomorrow.  This is one of those areas where even a little progress gives me the encouragement to keep going...every time I go down there, I think WOW.  I mean, I don't have to walk all the way around the junk in the middle of the floor to get from one place to another...I can just walk right through now!  LOL!  We've already got so many more things for our next sale already.

I can't believe all the TOYS we have.  The space I had cleared out and cleaned in my laundry room is quickly filling with all kinds of toys that we have to sort through, match up (you parents know, all those little sets that get scattered ALL over the house?!), clean, and decide which ones to keep.  It's scary how many toys V has gotten over the last 6 years...and we used to let him keep them in his room!  When it seemed that he couldn't keep it clean, or he was being particularly naughty, we would just bag it all up (except for a few things) and haul it down to the basement.  He never missed it, though, because he kept acquiring more...and not from us!  Mostly from grandparents and relatives.  And then eventually, we'd bag 'em up and haul 'em down again.  Before you know it, there's bags upon bags upon BAGS of toys down there, plus bins of toys we'd haul down as he'd just plain outgrow them.  I THINK I have them all in one area now...so, I may make toys my project tomorrow.  I'm sure the boys will LOVE that! Plus, it will give me an excuse to go through and cull the current collection as well.

Happy Monday!

What a BEAUtiful day it is today!  71 degrees here up in MN.  We had a light school day today, then I took the boys to the park before lunch.  Andrew was soooooo cute on the baby swing.  He giggled the whole time!  Then he stuck his nuk in his mouth, grabbed a chunk of his hair (he does this when he's sleepy lol), leaned his head back and just stared at the bright blue sky while he swung back and forth.  Ahhhh, to be a kid again, huh?  After the park, I decided to get us a special treat for lunch, and we stopped at McD's.  Andrew was so tired out, he decided to take his nap before he eats LOL.

This is one of the many things I love about homeschooling.  While all the school kids are stuck in the classroom on a beautiful day like this, we have school done in under a couple of hours in the morning and then can be out enjoying God's wonderful creation for the rest of the day.  Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful world we live in!

Tuesday, Tuesday

Yes, I have been sick again, but am getting better quickly. I was so bad yesterday that I spent all day on the couch.  Hubby stayed home from work because I couldn't do anything.  It was also the first day that I couldn't do school with V.  That's okay, though, tomorrow's a light day, so we'll catch up then.

Speaking of school, I have to brag just a little on my son. 💜   I am so proud of V.  He is doing so well learning and retaining his phonics.  He now reads level 1 readers to me with very little help.  We also started addition and subtraction this week in math.  I am so glad I started him with this in K...he is just flying through (he says math is his favorite...Yay!).  This week in science, we are learning about rivers.  And when I say "we," I mean we...it's amazing how much I'm learning, too.  Hubby laughs because I tell him I love being back in first grade!  LOL!

Happy Birthday, V!

Tomorrow is my oldest son V's 6th birthday.  Wow, does time ever fly!  I cannot believe he is 6...seems like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital.  Anyway...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY V!!!!!!!

It's been awhile...

Yikes, it's been awhile since I've had time to sit down and blog.  I'm finally feeling better after a couple of months of different ailments.  The medication I'm taking for the MS weakens my immune system so that it will slow down it's attack on itself.  In the meantime, I have been catching anything that comes my way.  Since Christmas, I have had either a cold or upper-respiratory or some other infection.  Each time that happens, I get mock MS symptoms, most of all, FATIGUE.  And the neuro can't give me anything for that while I have an infection, because they don't want to weaken my immune system even more, or I can't fight the infection.  So it's kind of a catch-22.  Finally, I was healthy enough a couple of weeks ago to get a 3 day steroid pack for the MS stuff.  It worked wonderfully, except for the FATIGUE.  I wasn't even getting the basics done.  Finally I talked to my neuro about it, and she gave me Amantadine.  I've been on half-dose for 2 days, and so far, it's working beautifully. Although, I have 5 more days to make sure no side effects pop up, then I can go to full dose.

So, yeah, my routine has definitely not been kept up the way I would like to have done it.  But, I decided to simplify a little.  Now, everyday, I want to at least keep up on dishes and laundry, keep things picked up in general, spot-sweep floors, and spot-clean bathrooms.  I'm assigning a different section of the house for each day of the week:

Monday-front entrance, hallway, and dining room
Tuesday-kitchen (my favorite!)
Wednesday-bathrooms and one other room (which could be laundry room, one of the kids' rooms, the guest room, or part of the basement)
Thursday-master bedroom
Friday-living room

Whatever needs getting done in a room, it will be done on its assigned day, whether it be de-cluttering, deep cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, or even a decorating fix.  I have to be very diligent with this, because even today, I got the living room all done, and wanted to move on to other rooms.  When I do this, I burn out, so I made sure the basics were done everywhere else, and just enjoyed being in my nice, shiny living room!

Wow, I even made my first real dinner in a long time (one that wasn't thrown together with a lot of convenience foods and last-minute decisions because I hadn't thought about it all day) of oven-fried chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy, veggies, and pickled beets.  I even made a simple dessert of black cherry jell-o and whipped cream to boot!

It feels so good to finally feel like things are getting back under control on the home-front.  We have been keeping up on school the whole time, as that is high on my priority list.  We are almost 20 days in to first grade with V, and he is doing so well!  And we are both having so much fun with the curriculum!  For now we are doing Mon-Sat as that pace will get us done in time for fall, so we can start second grade then.

Before you fall asleep reading my novel, I will close for now.  LOL!

Progress???

Okay, I didn't get up when I wanted to this morning, but I did get everything done that I wanted to.  Plus, I am rid of the fatigue!  I'm still setting the alarm for 6:15 tomorrow morning again, because this is something I definitely need to work on.

I also have a praise about my son.  V is pretty strong-willed, and it is rare to have 2 good days in a row with him.  He has been VERY good all week this week!  Praise the Lord!  I am sooooo pleased with him. 😊 And, he just seems to keep getting better.  There have been NO issues as of yet today.  Woohoo!  Just thought I'd share.

I've got the dishes done, and we have already done school for the day.  Just one more day, and V will be done with Kindy!  Yay!  We did start at an odd time last year, so that's why we're finishing so soon.  As soon as we get our tax refund, we will be ordering his first grade curriculum from My Father's World.  I am so excited, and so is he.  I hope to get done with it by September so that we can start 2nd grade then and get back on track (with the school year), but not a big deal if we don't...I don't want to push too much.  He's already ahead, so we've had the luxury of taking our time when we need to.

Anyway, I'm off to fix lunch.  Then V gets his time outside, and then it's nap time!  Have a good day everyone!

I'm tired and I need a routine!

I woke up tired today, and have been soooooo tired all day...I think it's my MS rearing it's ugly head in the form of fatigue.  Around here, we have fallen into the "routine" of not having a routine, and I think that's wearing on me as well.  I need a routine, but every time I try to get one going, it hasn't even lasted an entire day.  So, I am going to start small.

My first priority is having quiet time with my Lord first thing in the morning.  This hasn't worked out as much as I would like to lately, because I usually don't wake up until I hear A crying on the monitor.  I don't give myself any alone time in the morning, usually because I've been just too tired to get up until I have to.  So, the first thing I need to work on is getting up before the kids so that I have some good, uninterrupted time in the Word.  This is probably the most difficult thing that I will have to do for now.  So, before I can do that, I am going to have to make sure I'm getting enough sleep, and taking my vitamins and such like I should be doing.

Now, Hubby usually gets up at 6:50 in the morning for work, so I think tomorrow I will have the alarm set for 6:15.  I will get up, spend time with the Lord, and then take my bath, wash my hair, get dressed for the day, and send Hubby off to work.  That is all I will PLAN on for now...once I get this established, I will start adding things to my morning routine.  Otherwise, it's too overwhelming if I try to get it all planned out at once.

So, here's what my morning routine looks like so far:

1.  Wake up.
2.  Quiet time with the Lord.
3.  Bath/wash hair.
4.  Dress, fix hair.
5.  Send Hubby off to work.

I think I'll try this for a few days, and hopefully I will get used to it.  I know that whenever I start my day out in fellowship with my Lord, the whole day is always better than if I skip it or wait until later.

The other house cleaning things that I absolutely HAVE to get done daily are:

1.  Keep up on dishes.
2.  Run a load of laundry.
3.  Swipe down bathroom.
4.  Keep house picked up.

I am ashamed to say that lately, the only one of those I have even bothered to keep up with was #1, and occasionally #4.  Even with homeschooling V, there is no excuse for this.  I need to get back on track, because I am sure the state of the house (no matter how neat it looks on the surface) is really one of the major things wearing me out.  And I know I'm not doing the boys any favors by not having a set routine.  V never knows what's going to happen next, and I know that's not very good for him (or his behavior!).

My gut feeling is to just rush into this and create all my daily, weekly, and monthly routines RIGHT NOW and run headlong into the whole thing starting tomorrow.  LOL!  But, I know from personal experience that doesn't really work.

Here is the list of priorities I will be keeping in mind as I gradually give our "routine" a makeover:
1.  God
2.  Husband
3.  Children
4.  Home

I will try to remember to expand somewhat sometime about how these priorities will be helping to shape the routine here at our home.  For now, while the boys are napping, it's off to relax and rest myself for when Hubby comes home!

I love my living room!

The computer was unplugged for a couple of days while we finished up the living room, but now it's all finished!  Well, there is the baseboard behind our loveseat that's waiting to be stained and sealed, but that's it.  Anyway, I have some before, during, and after shots to share.


Murphy, our dog, has no idea the changes that are about to happen!

 


This is after we took out all the brick from our fireplace.


Faith is checking out what we're doing to "her" house.




You can see the spot behind our loveseat where we need to put the trim.  We need to add the wallhangings, still, but what an improvement, huh?  I LOVE IT!!!  It's so nice and cozy now.

Well, I'm inspired to get the rest of my house clean, so I'm off!