Miscellany Monday

Yikes!  I can't believe it's Monday again.  You would start to think that I would run out of random things to say, but alas, I just keep having more to write about.  It's almost if Miscellany Monday is fueling my randomness.  And that deserves another YIKES!

1) A garage sale is a tremendous amount of work.  And while you are working terribly hard you get to meet many of your neighbors -- which is a fabulous blessing.

2) All of my kids, especially Hannah and Chloe, rejoiced when the garage sale was over.  Literally.  I think there was some jumping, running around and audible sighs of relief.

3) If you do a garage sale do not use the round stickers that Target sells specifically for sales.  While they may be cute, colorful and easy -- they do not remove.  You will spend much precious time (while chatting with your neighbors) trying to gracefully rip off the small dime sized tag while not tearing the item that you are desperately trying to sell for 50 cents.  The whole time with a delightful smile on your face--while inside feeling quite annoyed.

do not use -- they are forever

4) I will be planting again today.  I went to a garden center and found 3 azalea bushes on closeout for $3 each.  That is within my budget.

5) Last fall (and every fall) I let the kids take turns and smash their carved pumpkin in my garden.  It's mega uber fun.  In fact, so much so that my neighbor kids now bring their pumpkins over.  It's a one-at-a-time cheering fest as the lucky child gets to bash their on the verge of rotting pumpkin with an old wooden bat.  This summer in my garden, deep in my beans, I noticed these HUGE leaves.  Vine type leaves.  It took a couple of moments of pondering before I realized that they are pumpkin plants.  4 of them.  Hmmmmm....wonder where they came from???

pumpkins in the beans

6) I am keeping the pumpkin plants.  As soon as my peas are done, I will pull them out and start wrapping the vine around the trellis.  Love this!  Want to see where they came from?

couldn't help it -- had to show my little pirates

7) Hannah (aspire) was in the paper this week showcasing her performance in ballet.  She was spring rain -- and oh so graceful.

picture of the paper taken with my cell phone

8) Stay tuned for a give-away this week.  I was given an opportunity to review a Teething Bling Necklace.  I will tell you that they are awesome.  And I have one to give away ---

9) only 9 randoms today.  I'll be back on track next week. :) hee hee hee

Have a great Monday!  Be sure to write your own random and link up.

prepping

I am so tired.

I was hoping to write this inspirational, or funny, or real life post.  Instead I found myself in our garage until 1:40 am pricing my garage sale treasures.  It's so much work.  I'm not afraid of work (as you all know), but it is hard to wake up in the morning at 6am and have the energy and know that I have an entire day of the same. So today, you get my tired thoughts regarding my sale.

Besides drinking coffee (lots of it) I've started to pray.  With each sticker that I place on our clothes, I say a quick pray for whoever purchases it.  It's not long -- bless this -- but it's a prayer.  Somehow that helps the time pass by and the tiredness ease up a bit.  Though, right now, I'm still waiting for my Keurig Caribou Coffee to brew.

Today's agenda?  Making green signs with a pink flower.  Finishing pricing.  Moving bikes to our front porch --we have a fleet of bikes. Hanging tarps over Todd's tools --We have a mini-Home Depot in our garage.  Going to the bank and requesting all that change.  Getting coffee.  Getting more coffee.  Hugging on my kids.  And praying.  Not only for the success of the sale, but also for those coming.

(my brain at 1:40 am)

the find

I hit some garage sales yesterday.  Scratch that--I hit many.  One of my finds?

A box of pattern blocks and cards.

Hours of fun.  And learning.  All for $2.  My favorite kind of find.

Who knew learning could be so fun? Shhhhh....don't tell. :)

working so hard

concentrate

That's my Caleb, hard at work. Those blocks? Tucked away. For those days when we just need a task, an activity that's new and fresh and entertaining. Love those finds -- they are a mother's friend.

Love those sales.  And the irony?  I'm working on putting my own together right now.  We had a neighbor kid  bike by our open garage and say, "now that's a lot of toys."  He's right.  Seven kids = a mammoth sale. :)

some honesty & my garage sale finds

I've decided that in order to simplify I need to be honest with myself.  Part of being honest is examining our day, and our structure.  I've come to realize that I'll probably never be the super-scheduled homeschooler.  This pains me a bit to even admit it, but I'm starting to believe it's true.  As much as I crave The Managers of Their Home schedule...with all it's colored labels and charts and planning...when push comes to shove I'm just not that type of gal.  I'm more of a ...I know where you guys need to end up....so I'm going to write it down and you finish that work...but make sure you blog/design/write Hannah, and you cook Chloe, and well...that's just me.

what's the path?

It's kind of hard even talking about not being ultra-schooley (is that even a word?  Let's just pretend it is and move on.)  In fact, I really truly admire my friends that have more rigid routines.  It's hard for me to not compare myself to them. Now, know that I value academics, but I also value flexibility.  As adults we have to learn to adapt to changes in our routines.  Honestly, I think it's important that our children are able to quickly adjust to a routine that isn't normal. Ha...that's probably just my way of making myself feel better about our less-structured routine. That being said, we do have goals.  Hannah and Chloe know that they need to work each day, and accomplish so much in each book.  But, I'm not the let's do math from 9-10am then spelling from 10-10:15 type of mom.

And that still frustrates me.

Somehow I tend to think that I view the ultra-structure as succeeding and the relaxed atmosphere as not...and I'm relaxed!  I've determined that instead of fighting this I need to let-go and embrace the learning style of my home.  My children do outstanding on their tests (it's mandatory here), and yet I still fret if we don't complete everything.  A friend of mine told me that she realized that she made it an idol to complete a book by the end of the school year.  That comment really got me thinking.  Am I putting too much pressure on completing some schoolbooks for the right reason?  If it's so I feel good, then I'm thinking it's not the right reason.  If it takes away from the love of learning and dampens my childrens' spirits then, again, not an appropriate goal.  However, if we've set a goal and we're cheerfully working towards it, that is something to strive towards.

It's got me wondering what other "idols" I've created.  Is a perfectly clean house one?  A green yard?  Appearing to have it all together?  There are so many things that we can focus on which causes us to lose focus on the Lord and His focus for our lives and family.  It had, in fact, become a source of frustration for me to not match up to what I thought the ideal homeschool family looked like.  I compared and then felt I failed.  But, as my homeschooler mentor tells me,

comparison is the death of contentment.

Convicting? It is for me.  So this morning, I woke up and made my kids a treat for breakfast.  Hannah was working on her Algebra, Chloe her math, and Grace was still sleeping.  The boys were playing.  It was calm, and beautiful.  Twenty years from now I know that the memories my kids will take with them will be of waking up and smelling the aroma of breakfast...and seeing me joyful...

breakfast

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One last thing...I was looking through some pictures on my facebook page and came across this picture taken  of my kids decorating Christmas cookies.  Those moments...those breaks from the normal....the freedom to create...to laugh...and to enjoy each other.... are the moments that I, as their mother, desire to facilitate. Yes, we need to be diligent in our studies, but I also need to be diligent in creating these moments for them.

decorating cookies, making memories

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Ok...I had to come back and post my garage sale finds today.  I live in an area with fabulous, and I mean FABULOUS, garage sales.  And I'm the first to get there.  I'll get my Caribou coffee and peruse the deals.  Today I found a bunch of stuff (don't worry...it's not going to clutter my home...it was needed things and I'm having a HUGE sale in a couple of weeks) that I loved.

Here are my two favorites:

only $ 1 -- and I love gardening

cute dance bag for 25 cents

Then I have this amazing friend who gave me two of these chairs.  They're for a kids table (which I'm hunting garage sales for.  I just love them!

new fab chairs

Thanks for enjoying my finds with me!