Thursday, May 22, 2008

Updates from the Depth of the Laundry Pile

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. I wish I could say that it was because we were finishing up with school - but we weren't and we aren't. We shall be schoolin' over the summer.

Here are a few things that have kept me busy.

Shaggy:
We honestly were beginning to be concerned that we'd made a mistake in adopting him. We ended up taking him to the vet the second day we had him because he wouldn't open one eye. The vet was very nice and gave him eye drops to numb the pain. Gave me eye drops to take home. I could actually see the nick on his cornea. It was creepy.

The eye not-withstanding, he was mopey. Seriously. I would look at him and just feel sad. He wouldn't eat. He wouldn't play. He WOULD tell us when he had to go outside and let us know when he wanted back in.

The funny part was when visitors came by he would come alive. He would bounce all over them. He would wag his tail and bark and just be HAPPY. Then the visitors would go away and he was mopey again.

I should have taken a picture of him in his mopey state because that, thank God, has all changed. Nearly two weeks of him living with us and he is a different dog. He's happy and bouncy and occasionally he barks. He even wants to make friends with Her Highness, Maggie-the-cat. She is not interested.

The Professor put in a pet door in the wall so that Shaggy could go in and out at will. It has been fantastic. It's great to see Shaggy up and dog-like. A depressed dog is just a very sad thing.

School Work and Kids:
I've been trying to keep on top of things with school work and kids. It doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging. Right now, I'm ignoring the piles of laundry in order to change my blog entry. We're in a very tough season. The littles are growing mentally and testing every boundary I know of and some I didn't.

We're still behind in school work but plodding along. We are finishing up with MFW and studying about the states. We're looking forward to learning about cultures and countries next year. We haven't been doing the science that goes with it. I'm considering doing something extra - like a unit study - sometime this summer on the weather and the body. It should be interesting. I envision a giant mobile hanging from the ceiling fan in each kids' room filled with weather symbols.

G is reading more and more and he gets excited about it. I even have a plan for working more on his phonics. Each work sheet has practice on it that is also covered in the lesson plan. If I eliminate some of the lessony part and teach off of the worksheet he gets practice. AND he gets one-on-one mommy time. Which he absolutely loves. I can't wait to test it out again.

Me:
I'm not quite so comfy in my denims and I'm counting the calories until I am. :-) So far so good. Today is day 2. I've also been revisiting the Chronicles of Narnia. I really really liked the Dawn Treader (the 3rd book to feature the Pevensies and the follow up to Prince Caspian). We saw the movie Prince Caspian. It's a great follow up to the movie - but it's not the book. *L* The actor that played Miraz was EXCELLENT! And I totally loved the Aslan References they threw in the movie, since they weren't following the book.

I've been a bit bloggy-blah. Not sure what to blog about because it's not been ground breaking news or earthshaking funny. When you're spending all your energy on other stuff, though, bloggy-stuff should naturally fall to the way-side.

I was a bit shocked to realize that it is soon to be June. (it's big because my b-day is on the 1st - that's another post for another time.) I lightly lamented to The Professor (lightly because I only lightly meant it) that time was passing me by too fast and I wasn't going to learn the guitar or get anything written down. He was so sweet - and he meant it fully - that I was focusing on teaching the kids and that was the most important part of my job right now.

AWWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Melt my heart, why don't ya?


Conclusion:
When you're doing what you're supposed to be doing - the rest of the "stuff" just kind of doesn't seem important.

10 comments:

The Gang's Momma! said...

So great to see you back on my Reader :) I know what you mean about the other stuff taking precedence over blogging - I was gone for more than a week from my blog. End of year activities, personal issues I'm praying through, working, getting the house purged and ready for a yard sale, and so on.

I cannot stand how busy my life was in April into early May - I'm just anxious for June and the screeching halt of all outside pressures and activities on my calendar. And my pool -- I can't wait to spend the days in my pool. Reading and sleeping in the sun. Saying no to anything I want to :)

Melanie said...

Several years ago, when I was lamenting about how far "behind" I was in my homeschooling, a much wiser homeschooler looked me in the eyes and asked me... "behind who?" It was almost as if I could touch the lightbulb that appeared at that moment. If you want to homeschool through the summer, go for it.. we always have, but release the pressure of keeping up with some imaginary, arbirtrary standard.

And that, my friend, is your pep talk and my soap box in one nicely wrapped package.

Oh, and I'm so happy that Shaggy has found his dogness again. As you know, I know well about rethinking dogging adoptions and that is not a fun place to be!

Growin' with it said...

my anniversary is the first! hmm, great day all around. well i hope things slow down enough for you by then to be able to thoroughly enjoy being the fab mom and wife you surely sound to be!! chin up girl...you'll get thru!

Kelli said...

:) That'll preach!

jugglingpaynes said...

*pricks up ears Shaggy-like* It's almost June? Oh, thank goodness! I think I packed 4 months into May. I'm exhausted and I'm probably more behind than you are with our homeschooling. I feel sooooo tired.

I'm so glad your sweet little doggy is feeling better. Maybe he was afraid to like you because he thought you would give him back. It took a while for one of our cats to like us because she had been living in a vet's office her whole life. Now she is the sweetest creature.

Get some rest Comfy. Enjoy your birthday!

Peace and Laughter,
Cristina

Halfmoon Girl said...

Glad to hear Shaggy has perked up! I have a book that the kids and I have enjoyed reading from to learn about other cultures- It is a mission minded book that tells you what you can pray for in regards to other cultures. I can't think of the name right now as we just got home from church and I am so hungry I could knaw the leg off the computer desk! It may fit in with learning about different cultures next year.
Great to get an update on you. Funnily enough, I was silently thinking to myself how I STILL haven't learned to play the guitar I got for my 23rd bd. In July I will be 35! I was thinking that it is too late if I haven't learned by now, but then decided to tell that negative little voice to SHUT IT! You go girl! We are doing important stuff- raising our kids and all! Let's hope for a little time to squeeze in some string plucking though.

Take care!

Vicki said...

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you!!

(I know it's Memorial Day, but early's better then never, and I've been in the same blogging slump lately. Must be the season...)

P.S. Happy Memorial Day!!!

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday!! And, yep, you're so right, when my eyes are on the right things, all the "white noise" that seemed so important loses something and can fade a bit more into the background.

Great post! Appreciated it :)

TobyBo said...

... here's the link for where I got the Escher lego picture... I thought it was amazing, too... http://www.gravestmor.com/wp/archives/2005/12/12/lego-escher/

Peculiar Blogs said...

you are so right. and you know...you are a "blogger without obligation" so you don't need to apologize or explain! :-)

I am so glad Shaggy is doing well. He is well adored here! :-)