Seth spoke to our realtor, who had just spoken to our attorney...confirming the fact that the credit company (apparently a bank) had agreed to a settlement amount, and terms of the settlement with the current owner of "our house," and it seems that the new pick-up date for the check to settle that amount is tomorrow...they will then deposit the check, it has to sit in the bank for 24 hours, then they will wire it to the lawyer (sound familiar?), and then he will set the closing date.  We are encouraged by this news from our lawyer, because basically, it means that we are not longer just relying upon the word of the homeowner--we know that they have actually made arrangements with the bank to whom they owe the money, and that the bank has agreed on this arrangement, and has informed the lawyer.  The bank will release the lien when the payment is received.  Though we don't hold out hope that this will happen this week...we have a bit more hope in general.  The kids and I may even make a trip to the house to do some cleaning or painting after we finish up school tomorrow afternoon.  We shall see. 

Today, we celebrated Reasa and Bryson's birthdays with our dear friends, the McKeons.  One of them, 9-year-old Gabe, celebrated his birthday in March as well, so we combined all their birthdays together and went to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D at our local theater (after enjoying lunch and a Bob the Indestructible Gelatinous Mass cake, which my two had requested for this event).  We all really enjoyed the movie, and the newly designed 3D glasses (you really do get used to them after about the first 5 minutes...and the 3D quality really was amazing throughout the whole movie!), despite paying an extra $2 apiece to see it in 3D.  We are all looking forward to the next Ice Age installment, also in 3D...go figure. 

And since I've officially been awake for 20 hours now...maybe it's time for some sleep??

3:45 am.  There's something about seeing that time on a clock...watching it come, and watching it go...that just...does nothing for me.  Interestingly, I don't even have a clock in my bedroom in order to combat this very scenario.  We set the alarms on our phones each night, and if we awaken during the night (or should I say, if I awaken during the night...this phenomenon does not occur for Seth.  Ever.), the clock does not glare the time from the other side of the room, boldly proclaiming how much sleep we are not going to get that night.  Seeing the clock and watching time pass while one should be sleeping...these are simply unacceptable for even the occasional insomniac.  My cell phone stays hidden in my pillow all night.  I avoid checking the time intentionally if I wake up...unless I walk into Bryson's room.

He has a clock.

It hasn't been corrected for daylight savings time yet, but this does little to disguise what I know in the middle of the night:  "I should be sleeping right now."  Often I will walk into his room and avoid looking at his clock with great purpose.  I forgot tonight.  Shoot.

I truly don't blame my lack of sleep on the fact that Reasa had a bad dream this morning...and then had to visit the bathroom before I could tuck her back in.  This happens many nights, and I often have no problem falling right back into whatever dream from which she had awoken me.  This morning, I blame the zillions of thoughts running through my overly-occupied brain.  The things I forgot to do before bed, the decisions that need to be made this morning, the disaster my house has become, the possibilities that await for the week, the disappointments I'm praying don't await for this week, the ebay auction I need to check to see if I won that inexpensive pair of paddock boots for Reasa, the class I have avoided planning for Friday, the emails I should follow up with, the cake I need to design for a bride, the apology I need to compose for another bride I let down last week, the Easter outfits I need to order for the kids today, the questions I have about the house, the planning I should do for school before the kids wake up, the movie I'll take them to see with our friends this afternoon, the prayer concerns for my friends and family, the kata I haven't practiced in 5 days...The list is really too long to tackle quickly, and expect to return to sleeping.  So...I gave up at 4:30.  Started making the Bob the Blob cake for Bryson and Reasa's friend party today (the movie with friends).  Sat down and responded to a couple of emails that needed to go out.  Started working on a to-do list.  Vowed not to sleep for more than 8 hours two nights in a row ever again.  More than likely, that's the bigger issue here today.  I just don't function with that much sleep. 

Yes.  There is something wrong with me.  :)

In the meantime, I think I'll give the cakes 5 more minutes, and go back up to find a pair of socks.  I'm awake.  Might as well climb on the treadmill.  Maybe I'll make the kids donuts for breakfast.  Of course, they won't be up for 3 hours...

...hopefully I don't fall asleep when they wake up.

No money to the lawyer today.  Apparently, insurance companies aren't giving money out just like banks aren't giving money out.  Whatever.

Maybe next week.

Sheesh.  Talk about a run-around. 

Apparently, after all this waiting, and hearing the homeowners were waiting on "checks in the mail" to send to the bank to whom they owe the money, and this being the case for 2 weeks now, the plan has changed.  Imagine that.  The current homeowner will now be picking up the check from wherever it is they are receiving it, and wiring the money to their lawyer here.  If this happens by tomorrow, the lawyer will set the closing date for Friday.  This Friday.  March 27.  The day I teach my first real co-op class--baking for fifteen 9-11-year-olds.  The day we run around like complete idiots.  Well, duh. :) 

Now.  If this actually occurs, fantastic.  Otherwise, we will probably push things out to at least next week.  That's what I'll plan.  Sort of.  This weekend would be ideal--if we can move this weekend, we won't need to pay April's rent along with the mortgage payment...hooray!!  But...we'll wait and see.  If this happens this weekend, I'd like to apologize to our Frazer family right now for having to miss Becka's birthday party...we'd love to be there, and we miss you all...please forgive us!

So...more news tomorrow?  I'll let you know.

It's official.  I'm there. 

I want to yell.  Throw things.  Cry.  Rant and rave loudly.  Storm around the house picking up whatever is where it shouldn't be (oh, and there's much of that...let me just tell you).  Slouch on the couch and stare at the blank TVscreen.  Run on the treadmill for an hour or so.  Practice that darn kata a few hundred times with loud ki-ai's.  Sleep for a long time every night.  Shut out the world.  I have taken three car rides by myself in the past five days (and around here, car rides are over 40 minutes long, period), and I have turned off the radio each trip.  I never do that.  Ever.  Unfortunately, doing that shuts me inside my brain...exactly the place I probably shouldn't stick around long.

Don't get all worried about me, friends.  Really, I appreciate your concern--it's not that--it's just that I guess this is what it should be when you feel like you've been in stupid transition for...a year.  Yeah.  A year.  It was about a year ago that we decided that if Seth got offered a job at Chief, he would take it.  And we started seriously talking about moving to this area, whether he changed jobs or not.  It was about a year ago that we started talking about what needed to happen to the house in order to sell it...and I started working on projects.  And painting.  And projects.  And packing.  And projects.  Add all of this transition...selling the house, moving to this cabin, talking about buying a house, looking at houses, signing a contract, and now waiting...to about 50 other dynamics going on around here and in my life now, and forget it.  I'm just a bit of a walking disaster area.  If one thing would just fall into place...the house...the church hunt...the friends-for-Reasa thing...something!!!...it might feel a little better.  I don't know.

So, please pray for us.

And now, I'm going outside.  It's the only place there's a big enough open space to practice the kata.  Every once-open space in my house is now covered in boxes that I should just unpack and get it over with.  Maybe I'll get tired and cold and get my mind off stupid transition.  Or something.  If nothing else, practice will go better on Tuesday.  I sucked on Thursday. 

...I'm exhausted.  Why haven't I gone to bed yet??  Tonight...I figured out the answer to that question.

...I'm not ready to face tomorrow yet.  Silly?  Maybe.  But it's truth.  I do this.  A lot.

Sitting here in front of the computer, following stupid links, checking my google reader for the 5th time in 20 minutes, checking my blog stats, reading back through my emails for the day, looking to see if any of my facebook friends are online...I suddenly realized my eyes were literally closing as I read.  My brain and my body are shutting down, but I haven't closed the laptop.  Why?  I know what tomorrow holds.  I know that I have to be up at the crack of dawn again, and this time, in anticipation of a day spent at Dynamats for a meet.  And before I get there (at 9:15)(40 minutes away), I have to get my family up and out of the house.  And...I just remembered...make a pasta salad.  Guess what I forgot to buy supplies for???  You got it!!  And the nearest grocery store?  20 minutes away. 

Oy.

Now I really don't want to go to bed. 

A couple of weeks ago, my facebook status update read something like "Mindy would appreciate if someone would figure out how to rescind Murphy's Law."  This seems to be the overwhelming theme in my life any more.  I'm not even kidding when I say that if something can possibly go wrong in my life lately, it absolutely will.  I am so not this glass-half-empty type.  I never have been.  I have to say, though...my patience is wearing thin.

On Monday, I realized that in order to continue math instruction, I needed my printer to function.  I ran a couple of test pages, and sure enough, the black ink cartridge had run dry.  I pulled out my handy-dandy refill bottle, and remembered that I had purchased a new cartridge about a month ago...we go through ink around here with homeschooling, let me tell ya...and in order to refill the cartridge, I needed the little drill tool that comes with the kit...which I had conveniently thrown out.  Brilliant.  Of course I had.  Sooo...on our trip into town for Lainie's filling on Monday we included a stop at Walmart to purchase a new refill kit.  I don't need great ink to make my copies...I just need ink.  Bought the kit (along with a box of peeps for the kids, and hair color...), Lainie got her tooth filled (she was a trooper!!), and we went home.  Didn't give it another thought until yesterday morning, when I unwrapped everything and attempted to fill the ink cartridge.  Everything went as it should...right up until the point where it should have printed something.  Nope.  Nothing.  Not only had the ink run dry in this cartridge, it had apparently dried out.  Sheesh.  So much for being on track with the math I needed copies in order to do.  Tuesdays are the crazy day around here: gymnastics, karate, grocery shopping, and Denny's, then home.  The dumb thing?  I even stopped at Target before gymnastics to pick up something else, and forgot to look for another cartridge.  Duh.  So, today, when we shouldn't have had to go into town, we made the trip in after Reasa's horse lesson.  But not before forgetting to pick up the video camera from the "bleachers" where we sat to watch Reasa ride...which meant we would have to go back to the stables to pick that up before going home.  We got lunch, dropped into Target, and picked up a two-pack of reconditioned or whatever cartridges made for my printer, thinking how resourceful I was, getting such a great deal on the high yield cartridges and getting both cartridges rather than just the black.  We picked up the videocamera (and Lainie's DS, which she also left at the barn), and on the way back to the house, driving over roads which the trucks going to and from Seth's job sites have destroyed, I absolutely bottomed out in my little car.  Suddenly, things started making noise, and I was pretty sure I had ripped half the bottom off my car (Seth later confirmed that all was fine...phew).  We made it home (though more slowly than usual), and I put the cartridges in my happy little printer.  The page I printed had more blank spots than printed copy.  What??  New Cartridge!!  Remember??  I called the company, and the customer service rep. told me to switch my printer setting to "best quality" and to reallign the print nozzles, then to clean them, to which I replied, "I already did all of that.  More than once."  She says to me: "Well, then I need to send you new cartridges."  Yes.  Sure.  So that I can put off math for another week??  Though my daughters wouldn't mind that...this didn't work for me.  I told her that I would try to return the cartridges to the store, thank you, and that if I had any problems, I would call and have her send me new cartridges. 

The next time Seth called...let's just say he did not reach a happy wife.  I angrily relayed my escapade, and he calmly attempted to console me...suggested that we make another trip into town tonight to get another cartridge so that we could get things back to where they should be school-wise.  I started crying at that moment.  Nothing like the thought of another 30 minute drive into town, and 30 minutes back with the kids unhappily in the car again to get the tears flowing.  To say that I'm a bit emotional about still being this far away from civilization would be a ridiculous understatement.  And the latest word on that?  The homeowners are still waiting on checks (which they told us they expected by Saturday).  Oh, and their realtor told them that our realtor said that we were going to sue them over this whole thing.

What??

After dinner tonight, I drove to Target.  By myself.  Got my money back.  And purchased a new printer.  Because, you see, ours is outdated, must be hooked up to the computer to make copies, has, over time, worn out to the point that even with brand new cartridges, the print heads don't actually align, and it uses expensive, low-yield ink cartridges.  And the new printer only cost as much as 2 rounds of black and color cartridges for the old printer.  And the refills cost half what the old refills cost.  And let me tell you, it makes nice copies.  Oh, and the venti half-caf caramel macchiato...it was my reward.  Whoever decided to put Starbucks in Target...I want to hug that person.

Tomorrow, we review fractions to begin on our decimal endeavor.  The girls will be so pleased.  :)  Ha.

And Murphy can only have his way for so long, right??  Eventually, the news has to be good, doesn't it?  Maybe tomorrow...hey, I can hope, can't I?

Thanks, Kendra, for posting this today...Quinne...missing you!! (sorry about the bold, folks...can't make it go away)

Outside my window...the birds are all sleeping now...but they were NOISY today (and yesterday, one dive-bombed Bryson while he was flying his new birthday kite!).

I am thinking...about all of the stuff I could be doing other than sitting in front of the computer (making a list, even).

From the learning rooms...a basket full of books about Asia....the kids were nearly drooling over them this morning.

I am thankful for...God's provision, despite my constant inability to see past my circumstances.

From the kitchen...whatever I can make using the contents of the pantry and freezer.  Gotta clean this place out.

I am wearing...tan yoga pants and an olive hoodie and argyle socks...I did wear Green all day, promise.

I am reading... Eat, Pray, Love. Interesting read.  Gives a different perspective.

I am hoping... to hear that the title has been released.

I am creating...a lesson and craft about sharks for 4-5 year olds.

I am hearing...Seth converse with the tv (and, by extension, President Obama)...frustrated with the AIG bailout situation.

Around the house...boxes.  Everywhere.  Oh, and chewed-up shale.  Chelsea has taken to bringing rocks in and crunching them to impossible-to-vacuum bits.

One of my favorite things...how the kids smell now when they come in from playing outside.

A few plans for the rest of the week...continued preparation for moving, an easy-going week of school, kid (and mommy!) lessons galore, some more work on the kata, co-op on Friday, Lainie's meet on Saturday...and a new worship format on Sunday.  Life is never dull!

OK.  So.  No real big news at this point.  A little bit of news...on Friday, Seth spoke to the homeowner, and he assured Seth that they want to make this right...that they have a plan, and that it is in process.  They apparently have a check coming to cover what they have not paid on the lien, and as soon as they receive it, they will send it to the creditor, who will release the lien on the house.  This frees up the title, which makes it possible for us to close on the house.  Now.  With that in mind, we wait.  Hopefully, actually.  The lawyer and the realtors seem to think this should come together.  We still aren't holding our breath, but we're hopeful.

Maybe we'll have a closing date sometime this week.  I sort of hope it's for next week.  I need the time to finish wrapping my brain around all of this.  And to clean that house.  And finish the painting I started.  And finish packing this house.  And live through this weekend's meet.

Speaking of meets, Lainie did so well at hers last weekend...she continues to improve all-around, though she is discouraged with the fact that she has a few tricks she just can't nail.  We decided together that we need to talk to her coaches this week...as her mom and her former coach, I have such a hard time watching them not teach her the pieces of the puzzle she needs to get the skills she's missing...or not push her where she needs to be pushed to get them.  I haven't figured out if they think she's been taught the skills and just isn't serious enough about it to get them, or that she's not ready to learn them, or that they don't have time or desire to actually teach them to her, or what.  She has improved dramatically in terms of form, flexibility and strength (and admittedly, those areas still need work to nail the stuff she just can't get, but that quest continues throughout all of gymnastics...right to the top), and they definitely look for that...but when she makes the exact same mistakes time after time on her stride circle and her front hip circle and her back handspring and her beam dismount...I fight to remember that here, I'm her mom.  They are her coaches.  Still...the child comes home from meets crying because she didn't medal again...and that she knows she has to get these skills in order to medal...and she's too shy to say anything to her coaches....and frankly, she just needs strategies.  Argh.  I want her to have fun.  I want her to work hard.  I want her to be happy.  In general, she loves it.  Over time, though, these little things breed discouragement.  I don't want her to get discouraged.  And in the back of her mind through all of this, she's thinking, "If I don't get these skills, I won't move up to level 5 when all the other girls in my group move up..."  We'll see what this week brings.

:) By the way, friends, thanks for visiting and checking in on our crazy life.  15,000 hits here as of today!! :) 

As of 1:30 this afternoon...the lawyers did reach the homeowner...apparently he legitimately did not know about the lien against the house (said he knew about the debt, but not about the judgement), and is in contact with the credit card company in an attempt to get them to release the title to us and work something out with them.  Now...whether this occurs or not...whether this is true or not...we'll see.  One way or the other...we won't close on Friday, more than likely.  All work on the house ceases, and we wait (and I unpack a few boxes so that we can live here in the meantime).  Your continued prayers...so appreciated.

Here's your chance.  I'm working at assembling an army of prayer warriors.  We found out last night that there is a lien against the house we're attempting to buy...and with that lien on the house...we can't get a clear title.  Interestingly, the amount is significant, the lawyers have been trying to get a hold of the current home owners, and no calls are being accepted or returned.  Our closing is scheduled for some time on Friday.  As it stands...everything is on hold. 

We so want this closing to happen.  Knowing that what we want and what God has planned for us can, at times, look very different, we are willing to accept the fact that maybe this just isn't in God's plan.  However, bearing that in mind, we love the house.  We have already mentally moved in...and we've done a lot of physical (though merely aesthetic) stuff to it...and sunk a bit of money (not a lot, but just the same...) into what we have done, fully assured that we would close eventually and it would be ours.  This may now not be the case.

With that said, we are sincerely praying that we hear from our lawyer tomorrow telling us that they spoke to the homeowner and they have a plan to bring the money with them to closing to clear up the title, and that the closing will go as planned.  We know that this may or may not actually be on God's agenda.  But this is how we are praying.  We are also praying for peace and patience...which are two very difficult things to come by considering the prospect of staying in this cabin for more than the next three days...something I have been looking so forward to being done with...and the potential of losing the house that we have dreamed of having.  I know that God's plan is bigger than mine...and that if this house isn't the one...he has a better place for us...but that is hard to imagine. 

Would you pray with us??  We would be so appreciative...

In 13 minutes, my Kate will turn 10.  We giggled all day about the fact that she's not really ten until 11:59pm, which is actually only one minute away from having her birthday on March 10...but she gets to celebrate her birthday almost a whole day before when she was actually born because mommy's doctor helped pull her out.  :)  Interestingly, she has known this fact about herself for several years, but for whatever reason...it really sunk in this birthday season.  I think we had more time to think about it...which has its pros and cons.  Unfortunately for Reasa, we haven't spent the normal amount of time running around, planning a friend party this year...and I haven't spent scads of time working on both Bryson and Reasa's birthday parties at the same time, for that matter.  We have had plenty of time to chat about birthdays past, the fact that all of them were born within 27 days...that in leap years, it's 28...that Bryson was her birthday present, and is every year...and so on.  Long car rides no matter where you go tend to foster more conversations.  Fun conversations.  However, moving here has made making new girlfriends more intersting for Reasa.  She has some dear boys in her life here...but when you do a friend party in our family...you need your girls, I guess.  Her heart is breaking...and mine breaks for her.  To add insult to serious injury, we're in this crazy moving process right now, right during her birthday season, her birthday falls on a Monday, and to really make things much worse, Daddy had to go out of town (for the last time, mind you, but even still) on her birthday.  We celebrated on Saturday (chinese for dinner and shamrock shakes for dessert!), so that she would have a time all her own, and a time with Daddy, and she got to pick out her present today...and spend the birthday money our sweet relatives have sent to her...but...well...read back if you need to remember her disappointments.  It's as if this birthday has crushed her.  Now...in fairness...I think some of this has to do with the age itself.  The six months leading up to 10 have brought a more moody, pre-teen-acting Reasa.  This happens, I understand.  But somehow...we need to work on this.  Even it out.  Obviously not something that will happen on her birthday, as it's now officially 2 minutes past her time of delivery...but my current goal, none-the-less. 

I can't believe that she's 10.  10.  That number...it's just too big.  Because from there, 13 comes quick.  And then 16.  And then it's a hop, skip and a jump to 18.  My baby girl...not so much a baby anymore.  Although this morning when she woke up and demanded her morning snuggles...she kinda still felt like my baby.  You certainly won't here me complaining. 

You might hear me complain about the fact that we can't get the title on the house yet...and that the people we're buying it from apparently owe more than the selling price, and that there is currently no contact with them to make this right...and that we may not close on the house in which I just finished painting another room, stripping a border, and started painting another room...but you won't hear me complaining about snuggling my babies.

Aak.

Bryson's room stripped of stupid border, chair rail, and (mostly) painted, kitchen stripped of stupid border, semi-cleaned, and painted, laundry room stripped of stupid border, girls' room started (paint)...doesn't sound like much, but considering this is only a total of 9 hours of work...not too bad.  Poor Daddy absolutely hates the paint the girls chose...and he's not handling it as well as I had hoped...but they love it.  We'll finish it up in the morning...though not as early as I hoped to get started (considering it's 11:01 and Daddy just finally tucked them in for the night).  Looks like I'll start with packing in the morning, then head off to the house after all the little people have awoken and have their brains about them

Today, Bryson turned seven.  Unbelievable.  His request in the midst of our insanity?  He asked to go to Build-a-Bear and Friendly's for dinner.  Sure.  Sounds simple enough, right?  K.  Well, the closest Build-a-Bear to us is in Allentown, PA...roughly 2.5 hours from home.  Thankfully, Friendly's is located directly in front of the Lehigh Valley Mall, very much "on the way" (though we missed the entrance the first time around on our way out of the mall parking lot...), but still...we left the house at about 9:30 this morning, and returned to the Brown House by about 5:30 this afternoon.  Bryson's black bear, Oliver, complete with his karate gi, belts to match any color he might ever get, swim trunks and surf board...absolutely adorable...and everything he hoped to get for his birthday.  The kid doesn't ask for anything.  Ever.  No, it was not convenient for us to give up six hours today...but we have unquestionably the most amazing kids on the planet.  They deserve to be able to ask whatever they want from us for one day out of the year (within reason, of course).  Today...it was Build-a-Bear.  I guess maybe we'll draw the line if they ask to drive to California to meet Miley Cyrus or something...Allentown, we could do.  LA...not so much.  :)  What cracked me up??  Our family tradition is that all the aunts and uncles, grandparents, etc. call the birthday person on that day and either sing silly songs, or otherwise express birthday greetings...today proved no different...but each time somebody called and asked if he did anything special for his birthday, his response was, "I just went to Build-A-Bear."  Just.  Sounds so...nonchalant.  Just went to Build-a-Bear.  :)  Love that kid.

Can't conceive of the fact that he's seven.  As I sat down looking through the pictures they took of each other this afternoon, he walked over to me, eating his oatmeal creme pie (oh, yeah...we're all over that "healthy snack" stuff), he leaned his head on my shoulder and we giggled together at a cute one of him and Lainie posing in the dining room.  I kissed his head and said, "You have to stop getting older and stop growing for me right now, ok?"  He nodded his head and kept chewing.  "Really?  You'll do that for me?" I asked him.  More nodding.  "Awesome.  Then you can just stay 7 forever and be my little boy for the rest of my life?"  He nodded.  And then he picked up his head and said, "Well, maybe in 10,547 days, I'll have another birthday, but that will be it." 

My joy.  He is my joy. 

And as much as I'd love to keep him seven forever...pretty sure God has other plans for my precious little man.  So glad I get to watch that happen in his life. 

We have it.  As of today.  With permission to paint.  The girls and I drove all over creation tonight (TJ Maxx, Kmart, then Walmart.  Yep.  That's all over creation when you start at 8pm) after spending a tearful, frustrated hour in the Lowe's paint department trying to figure out a color scheme upon which my (very dissimilar in terms of style) daughters could agree...and after walking out with about 10 paint chips, we headed into Walmart's Tween (I HATE that word.) home decor aisle.  Five minutes later, we came out with comforters which actually include 5 of the different chips they chose...and a fluffy lime green throw rug.  No joke.  The exact shades they had chosen. 

Phew. 

In stark contrast to his sisters, Bryson walked toward the paint chips, walked right up to one of the displays, pulled out an idea card and said, "This is what I want."  I looked at it, said, "Buddy, I love it," and he walked over and chose the two colors.  With a slight tweek (like two shades darker than the color he chose), he was done.  Boys.  Somebody tried telling me a couple of weeks ago that girls are so much easier than boys. 

Whatever.  They seriously must not have had girls.

In other news...we attended our second co-op of the session this morning, and last week, I told my dear friend Carolyn that I would teach the Under the Sea class of 4-5-year-olds for the next three weeks (this amazing mom of four boys, aged 6-13 signed up to teach a 10-week class on National Parks, the 10-week 6-8-year-old PE class, and this Under the Sea class, along with homeschooling her kids, teaching a couple of online classes, sitting on a committee of some description for one of the online schools for which she teaches, writing curriculum from scratch for another course, running her boys to three sports practices apiece, and attempting to remain sane during an incredibly germy season (including sick kids, and her own nagging cough).).  For some reason, by the end of the day at co-op...she was a touch...frazzled.  She handed all of her hard-planned materials over to me last night, and this morning I walked into the classroom and tested the waters. 

I almost forgot what it was like to teach to a classroom full of little people.  Funny how it all comes rushing back. 

9 four-to-six-year-olds sat in front of me...and after sitting and watching another mom teach the same group of little people for an hour, I had a feeling it would be an interesting hour of my own.  They did not disappoint.  Classroom management, behavioral modification, monitoring-and-adjusting...the differences were the number of students (9 as opposed to 23), their ages (5 as opposed to 8 or 10), the amount of time I had with them, and the fact that I had another mom (the mother of the most interesting-to-handle boy) in the classroom with me.  As they got more comfortable with me sitting in front of them...their new-teacher politeness wore off.  And being that they're all homeschooled, the concept of sitting in a group and displaying most (or any) of what we public-schooled grown-ups would consider typical, student-like behaviors...escapes them, to a certain degree.  Wow.  After 50 minutes, and several unexpected, oh-yeah,-I-forgot-about-that moments...that mom who comes to tell us class is over?  I welcomed her into my classroom.  All-in-all, it went well.  Really.  The kids did well, and I remembered so much...next week will go better (just in time for only one more week to be left in the session...).  The material is fun...they're interested...there's so much fun stuff to do!!  And now that I remember what I'm doing...:)...it can only get better.  But I'll tell you something:  I remember why I don't care if I ever step back into a classroom again.  I will do it in this co-op setting, but I still don't ever see myself in a school room full-time.  I love teaching my kids.  I don't love teaching other people's kids.

I also never see myself cleaning houses for a living.  That observation comes from walking through my future house last night, and seeing the disaster the previous owners left for us...the thought of cleaning someone else's mess makes me ill.  Oh, I will do it, let there be no mistake...but I would not choose to do it.  I can't fathom leaving a house for someone else to move into looking like this house looks.  Ugh.  Nope.  Will not be applying for hotel housekeeper.  Or cleaning lady.  Or maid.  Not ever.

Ick.

And now...I must sleep.  We left the house at 8 this morning, walked in the door at 9:40 tonight...because, you see, after driving the hour to Jersey Shore, spending 3 hours at co-op, driving another 15 miles farther away, eating at McDonalds and driving to the library there...we had a virtual e-field trip to the Badlands National Park in South Dakota.  Then we drove back the 30 minutes to town, and visited Lowe's for an hour, followed by Lainie's gymnastics practice for 2 hours (one of which I sat through the parents' meeting for our booster club), dinner at Pizza Hut afterwards (I'm going to be so sick tomorrow), then the "all over creation" comforter search, and the 35 minute drive home from there.  I can barely keep my eyes open (crap, have to change the laundry over).  The day begins early tomorrow...ripping down wallpaper borders in Bryson's room and the kitchen, and hopefully applying some paint. 

Now this is more like it.  :)  You know me and stress...we work.