Attention VeggieTales Fans

Wah-hooo, I'm going To Boston In The Fall! (That's a concept only truly appreciated by VeggieTales fans...and perhaps their long-suffering parents, LOL)

Anyway, the OC is going on business and I get to tag along and play tourist while he's in meetings. Yippee, I can hardly wait!

This is one of those times when we get to appreciate how handy it is to have had our live-in house sitter move back home. (I'd insert a happy face here...if I knew how, LOL)

Sample of 2nd grade homeschool day

I am SO not going to be able to rush through this sorting out job!

Here is a sample day (Oct. 5, 1989) from the record from A's (dd #3) homeschooled second grade back when she was only 8 years old:

Math (Addison Wesley): pages 70,71
Reading: Read Samantha Learns a Lesson

English: pages 29,30, practice ABC order to 2nd letter

Phonics (Modern Curriculum Press): page 96

Science: Body Systems--skeletal, digestive, circulatory, respiratory (I wish I'd written down what got us onto this topic!)

Social Studies: See Reading (America--1904)

PE: Swing

Clearing my empty nest? What clearing?

So when I started this blog, I optimistically chose "clearing my empty nest" as the address. So much clearing out I was going to do once the OC and I had the place to ourselves. So what happened? Instead of clearing out, we seemed to find ourselves filling our way-too-big-for-just-two "nest" with more and more stuff. Then, with the return of an adult dd--complete with all the contents of her apartment--and...

Stop!

Finally, (and hopefully!) we're back on track at last with the clearing out and decluttering efforts. Our current project is the tiny bedroom turned guest room turned office/guest room turned office/guest room/clutter stashing space. Moving the guest bed out and into Gram's assisted living apartment has motivated us to get the clutter cleared and finally turn that space into a pleasant and efficient office.

So, why am I writing instead of sorting through 20 years of papers in my filing cabinet drawers (so we won't have to buy another one)? Um, procrastination strikes again? Yes, that, and that I just had to share the nostalgia brought on by tossing (and shredding) pages and pages of old homeschool documentation dating all the way back to 1986.

Okay, back to work...

Empty nest? What empty nest?

or Life is Always Changing

Okay, so our actual "nest" isn't filling back up (at least, not at the moment), but we've apparently rather abruptly moved into a new stage of life--the caring-for-an-aging-parent stage. The OC's mother (our sole surviving parent) has just recently moved from out of state into a lovely assisted living center in our town. It was originally supposed to be only short-term but now this is starting to look more like a long-term arrangement. This, of course, means we (and especially "me") are suddenly much more involved in her care--furnishing and decorating her small apartment, going to visit nearly daily, observing what she needs (which includes lots and lots of cueing) and communicating her needs to the staff.

I did it! Without even trying!

For the last month or two, I've been wearing a little pedometer to help track my exercise and today, finally, I looked down and discovered that not only had I made my daily goal of 10,000 steps but now at the end of the day, I'm over 12,400!!!

It helped that I had a lot of cleaning to do today and, after the OC came home, the sun finally came out so we went out for a walk together. Now, I prefer to walk to a destination whenever possible so we walked downtown to the library because I had a book to pick up. Then, later, he had a rehearsal in the other direction so I rode along and then walked myself home. Ahhh, I felt so strong walking briskly along in the soft evening air.

I met a delightful lady at Grammie's exercise class who is a very sharp 104 years old and, at least in part, credits her longevity to her life long-love of walking!

Note to self: reset pedometer tonight and do this again tomorrow...and tomorrow...and tomorrow...

The nest is well and truly empty

or so one would think though nothing stays the same for long, but more later on our latest season of life.


For now, the sure sign of an empty nest is the gradual transformation of a backyard away from a kid play zone. Thanks to Freecycle, our once-busy pool has found a new home (with 8 children, this time!) and our backyard suddenly seems much larger.

At least for now, we plan to pitch the red gazebo tent on the old pool site...if it ever stops raining, that is. Precisely what the long-term future holds for that particular space remains to be discovered, however.

The neighborhood action now is in the wide driveway across the street where two young moms are currently supervising five preschoolers as they run, shout, pedal, laugh...and whine. While I, oh, so peacefully, sew on my very first quilt and watch their antics from afar.