Some new things on the horizon

Some changes are happening around our house.  Nothing major, but different.

For one thing, our church Treasurer "retired" after serving for 30 years.  It is an unpaid position.  She and I worked together on various budgetary things.  She attended all the monthly and quarterly council and committee meetings, and I handled the week-to-week duties as well as prepared the monthly financial statements.  She had asked this summer if I would be willing to take on her responsibilities.  I agreed, as long as I could continue doing the work for which I am currently paid.  I officially took over after our annual congregational meeting in January.  I consider it a way to give to our church without impacting our finances, and I am one of the few who are qualified to take on the task.  Not sure I will do it for 30 years, but I am pleased to contribute now.

It also appears as though Andrew might be coaching baseball at the high school this spring.  He has been wanting to bow out of football for awhile, and although that he isn't necessarily giving it up this year, there is an opportunity to become involved in baseball.  The interim head coach works closely with Andrew, and asked this week if he might be interested.  Andrew already has some commitments for the spring that would prevent him from being involved full time, but he is interested in helping out as he can.  At first he was hesitant to pursue this as just a volunteer, but I encouraged him to do so, at least for this year.  As I explained to him, I care about our school's teenagers also, and they are hurting after the death of their coach.  Andrew knows the students, and I think it is something we can do to help.

It's also a good time for him to take this on, because another change in our house is that there aren't going to be any spring sports happening.  This seems so very, very odd.  For the last five years we've had a track schedule (and some years there were two separate schedules), and before that we had eight years of at least one (and more often multiple) baseball schedules.    However, this year no one wants to run track, and although we thought Thomas might like tennis, he decided against it.  He is planning to work on the set for the high school musical instead.  We are pleased, and think he will really enjoy that.

Lastly, my mom now has two dogs.  This isn't really new info, but things have evolved and changed with that as well.  Her second dog, is the dog that Robert brought at Christmas.  He has realized that it isn't realistic to think this dog will be able to live with him (or even get to him) easily.  Robert is disappointed, but realized it is what is best for the dog.  Fortunately, my mother had mentioned a few weeks ago that if Robert needed her to, she would just keep the dog.  Not only do I think this is best for the dog, I think it is best for both my mom and Robert as well.

That's the thing about life...change always happens!

This time last week I was still asleep

Last evening we had a "parenting of teens issue".  That meant that there were some tears and some unhappiness...it's called life.  Everyone got through it though, and all will be fine.

Last week though, we knew Tuesday morning that there would be no school Wednesday, so we got to hang out as a family and just enjoy ourselves.  And of course, there ended up being no school on Thursday or Friday either.  About 9:00 last evening, I looked at my husband and told him I was kind of wishing it was last week...it certainly was more fun than we were having last night.

Right now I've been up for over three hours.  But this time last week?  I was still asleep for another hour.  Yep, certainly enjoyed last week more than this one!

Days like this are rare

I am not working today.  I'm scheduled the rest of the week, so I'm trying not to overreact to this to the fact that I haven't worked a lot lately.

Originally, I was planning to go into the church office this afternoon.  However, I decided that I am not going to do so.  Our monthly meeting is twelve days away, so I have plenty of time to finish the January statements.  And more importantly, if I don't go into the office today, I don't have to leave my house.  Days like this are rare, and I'm grateful for the few that come along.  Catherine has a meeting after school, and Andrew will bring her home when that is done.  Thomas will come home as scheduled on the bus, and then the kids have swim practice this evening.  I went to the grocery yesterday, and ran a bunch of errands early last week before the weather tanked, so there is absolutely nothing I have to leave the house for today...so I'm not going to!

Swim season is winding down

This past weekend was the league swim meet.  It's always a long evening at the pool, but it is always fun because our teams are usually pretty dominant.  As I said to Andrew though, I do miss watching Robert swim because he was our competitive one.  Last year he placed in all of his events, and even received a medal for one.

Not so much happening that way for our family this year.  Catherine was in two events, and finished both of them in last place.  Not just in her heat, but overall.  In fact, she in one event she finished nearly a minute behind next-to-last place and was over 20 seconds over her best time of the season.  We aren't really sure what happened.  Even spectators in the stands were sympathetic towards her in that event, but of course she did finish!

Thomas only swam in one event, but he did manage to cut 2 seconds off his PR for that event.  It's been challenging with him this year.  He isn't really into practicing, and he isn't an overly coachable kid.  It's frustrating, but I'm not sure what we can do about it.

Both teams won the league title for the 13th year in a row!  I'm grateful they can be a part of a winning team, although I do wish they were able to contribute more.  The girls score was closer than many years past, but the boys won by over 250 points.  It is fun to watch such domination!

This is the last week for practices, and things are beginning to wind down.  Andrew and I are appreciating that we can eat family dinners again, and I'm looking forward to fewer swim towels to wash making for less laundry!  It's really hard to believe how quickly this year is flying by!

This morning felt really early

I am working today (thankfully!), which meant a 5AM wake up time.  Since we had three days off last week, and I didn't work the Monday or Tuesday before, this morning felt super early.  I hadn't been up before 8AM since Tuesday, and I had actually allowed myself to go back to sleep that morning after the others left for school.

Speaking of super, we of course watched the Super Bowl last night.  While I didn't necessarily care a lot, I never, ever, root for the Patriots.  In fact, I would root for ANY of the other 31 teams against them.  I'm not necessarily a Rams fan, but the head coach is a graduate of my Alma Mater so that definitely makes it easy to root for them...and of course added to rooting against the other team.  I don't think Catherine watched any of the game at all, and Thomas had a youth group party at church so he said he didn't watch much of the game either.  Andrew and I had it on, but honestly, my heart just wasn't really into it.  And the lack of excitement in the game didn't help to keep my attention either.

Unfortunately, after the game, we caught Thomas in some of the same behaviors we experienced with Robert.  On the upside, as soon as Thomas is caught he admits his actions and becomes apologetic and remorseful.  Robert would never admit anything regardless of the evidence, and then would become belligerent and combative in his behavior.  I am grateful that Thomas's response is different, but I do not want to even think about going down that road again.

It was definitely a late evening, before this really early morning, and I'll be honest, I'm a little ready for a nap!

Beginning my Christmas shopping

That's right!  Today I am beginning my Christmas shopping for next year.  I know it sounds ridiculous, but not only does it make December much less stressful, it helps to spread the budget out over the year.  I already have a few ideas for my mom and my sister, and I am planning to order them today.  I also have an idea for my in-laws, but probably will wait a little.  I don't mean to sound morbid, but I won't be buying for my grandmothers quite yet.  After all, at 88 and almost 90, life is not guaranteed.  Honestly, it isn't guaranteed for any of us, and I try to remember to count my blessings every day!

Third day in a row at home

Yep, we are home again!  This time it is because we received 3+" of snow overnight.  I was pretty sure we were going to be home again.  While I am grateful it is only 1/2 day of pay lost, it is still more lost pay.  Don't mean to focus on that, but that plumbing bill is pricey!  I'm so grateful Andrew has made awesome breakfasts all three days, and it has been delightful to sleep in.  And of course now we are at the weekend.  We have the league meet tomorrow evening, but Sunday isn't too bad.  I also plan to hit the church office tomorrow.  I need to write another post about that sometime...but not right now.

My plans for today are to not leave the house.  It is a Friday, and if I go to the office tomorrow, I have absolutely no where I have to be.  The kids have swim practice and a team dinner this evening, and Andrew has some guy plans.  I don't have to leave the house though, and I've decided that is EXACTLY what I am going to do.  I might be able to get a bit of scrapbooking done, but regardless, I am just going to enjoy my day and not think about any stressful responsibilities...at least once the swim towels are dried!