10 Things Tuesday

1. It is 12:02am which makes it no longer Tuesday, but it's been a long day, so we'll make it count.

2. My Christmas decorations aren't up except the few outside ones. This kills me, btw. Todd would happily wait until Christmas Eve, but I do not share his inherent Grinchy-ness about decorations.  The tree is not up. The tree not being up is making me downright antsy.

3. However, my living room carpet is cleaned.  I posted on FB that I wanted to borrow a carpet cleaner to take care of my 8x10 living room rug, and my friend, Erin, showed up on my doorstep the following evening with her brand new carpet cleaner. Because she is one of the nicest people ever.

4. Anyway, the fact that I wanted to clean the disgustingly dirty carpet before setting up the tree, made me feel mildly okay that the tree still wasn't up. Except the carpet was both clean and dry by last Saturday night. (And is currently covered in piles of unmatched socks awaiting matches. I don't even understand how it's possible for us to have so many mateless socks.)

5. So, it started with  my reading of People magazine, I think. But now, my favorite thing to watch while trying to match socks is "Say Yes to the Dress". If me of 10 years ago could see me now, she would be appalled!

6. I recently stole an idea I read about on Pinterest a couple weeks ago. This mom is on to something. Since starting to homeschool the kids, I don't get any me time. No me time is bad for everyone in the family. I instituted the "don't talk to me between 1-3pm" and even the boys were excited about it. They know if they are done with school work, they can use the time to play quietly away from me. They also know that they need to do school work that requires my assistance earlier in the day, so if there's anything left for them to work on, it's something they can do without me.  Lilyanna starts off in her bed looking at books, but eventually goes down to the basement to play with her brothers. Sometimes she will come cuddle with me. I'm okay with that right now.  I find myself able to be much more present and in the moment knowing that there will be some "me" time later in the day. I don't nap, so far, but just enjoy getting things done without having to be so divided in my attentions.

7. Speaking of school, I just ordered a new science curriculum. And I'm not sure how I feel about it. Most honest to goodness homeschool science programs have a lot of religion in them. I experienced an entirely secular education, so this is always slightly creepy to me and has me conjuring up images of people being mad about evolution, etc.  I love science. I love religion. I don't feel 100% comfortable with them intermingling.

But, Todd went to a religious college.  They said prayers before classes. Even in the science classes. On the first day of one of his biology classes he had a professor stand up and say "Evolution. It happens. Get over it."  I am more comfortable with that. I have no problem teaching my children that when we learn about science, we are really learning about more of God's laws. I guess I'm just nervous about the ratio of science to religion being taught. I'm fully prepared to tailor to my comfort level, but it was Nathaniel who finally convinced me. Nathaniel said, "Mom, we already talk about religion all the time every day. Why is this different?"  And I realized he was right and I was being silly and should get over myself. (He said this with a Gallic shrug, btw. He really needs to go hang out in France someday. He totally speaks their body language.)

8. I'm totally passing out loaves of amazing homemade bread (that Heather the Awesome bakes for me each week as payment for piano lessons) as gifts to my neighbors this holiday season.  They're homemade goodies...just not made in my home. ;) AND I already told her I was doing this, so I don't feel guilty.

9. A talk with my friend and neighbor, Dee, today made it so I finally figured out how to give presents to ALL the teachers my kids have without spending mucho dinero.  She's brilliant.

10. Lilyanna had a complete meltdown last Thursday because we ran out of diapers and she was forced to wear pull-ups.  She has used the potty perfectly since then. Until today when she found 2 diapers in hidden corners of the house. (both in the basement. I have no idea how they got down there.) She refuses to go potty while wearing a diaper. She wore the last one tonight, though, so tomorrow we'll hopefully get her back on the wagon.  To think that the last of my children will be potty trained is far more exciting than I could have ever anticipated!