Doing the Next Thing

It's always a fun day when this arrives in the mailbox: Vist their website here .

The first week of school is under my belt and I feel pretty good about it. Granted, it was only a 3-day week, but hey... Weekly report coming soon. For now, I've just got to say that I'm so happy to be organized this year!!!! With new babies and toddlers in the house, we spent a couple years being more relaxed in our daily routine. It worked for a time, but now we're all ready more structure. The new schedule and clear lesson plans for the Big 3 made for a really smooth week. Not once did we make it through the whole thing on time, but that's okay. We still got all our lessons done and I even had time for a nap 2 of the 3 days! Yay!

Hello, Internets! I've missed you! I've been absent from the blog world for a while: we've had a couple of birthdays, a trip to Tennessee to visit family, and I've been working like a madwoman getting ready for school. But I'm still here! Now that school's beginning, I look forward to a more structured routine. I'll be around on a limited basis posting and visiting. I'm going to experiment with a new way of weekly reporting, so come back to see that if you're interested. Meanwhile, check out the fruits of all my hard work last night getting ready for today - our first day... (Notice there are no pics of M's desk - we moved it up to her room and she was still asleep when I took the pictures. I'll add it later, maybe.)

I wasn't going to post anything today, but I ran across this fabulous article by Nancy Wilson. Made me think of my favorite song by Caedmon's Call, "Sacred," that opens with the line: "This house is a good mess; it's the proof of life." Here's a tease: Where do we get this notion that being organized is next to godliness? I’m pretty sure we get it from magazines and ads in those magazines. And though they really may be great magazines full of super recipes and ideas that inspire us, they can also set us up to start laying guilt trips on ourselves. Something like this: “If I was really together, my closets would look like those featured in Martha’s Living, where stacks of sheets are tied with color-coded ribbons.” Just a little reminder here: Martha has fleets of housekeepers who wash and iron those sheets and keep them tied up with ribbons. You, on the other hand, do not. Thanks, Nancy! Read the rest of the article here.

A new bloggy friend, Happy Mommy , tagged me for this one. Here are the rules: 1. Link to the person who tagged you (i.e. me) 2. Post the rules on your blog 3. Write 6 random things about yourself 4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them 5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog 6. Let the tagger (me) know when your entry is posted Six Random Facts About Me: 1. I used to wear contacts . My old friends in TN remember this and have had to adjust to seeing me in glasses; my new GA friends don't know me any other way. After 17 years of contact lenses invading my corneal space, my eyes rebelled! 2. I'm addicted to chap stick . Must have access to it at all times. There's a tube in the "key bowl" on my kitchen counter; a tube in the car; one in my purse; and one on my bedside table. 3. I hate wet paper . Wait. Let me rephrase that: I'm deathly afraid of wet paper. No clue. Weird, I know. I hate the beverage napk...

Ok, so here's the thing - someone had given me a gift card for Mer*ry Mai*ds (henceforth known as MM) two Christmases ago. After the summer craziness and a laid back attitude toward housework, I decided to redeem the gift card in the hopes of at least getting part of my house grime-free and ready for the start of school. So I called the local chapter and explained what I wanted. I knew that MM was expensive, so I told the lady I wanted whatever cleaning my $100 could buy me, starting with kitchen and bathrooms. She said that I could make an appointment for a consultant to come out and give me a free estimate. I reminded her I just wanted to redeem a gift card. Nevertheless, it seems to be MM policy that their "consultant" come out first. Fine . So I made the appointment for a Thursday afternoon. Day 1 of my schedule being cleared or adjusted for MM. Of course the kids and I spent Thursday morning frantically tidying up the entire house, so the house cleaning consultant (...

Ok, so you know from my previous post how we are all trying to be frugal, right? (Thanks for your comments and ideas, by the way!) Check out my savings today: Clothes for the kids: retail price total with tax: $358.17 My out-of-pocket: $89.46 Stretching the family dollar as far as it can go: Priceless! Made possible by: 1. sales tax holiday; 2. awesome in-store sales; 3. VISA gift card donated by sweet brother-in-law; and 4. returns and store credit at Chil*ren's Pl*ce. Not bad for an afternoon!