Monday Motivation and random thoughts

Well, last week we spent most of the week in Houston!  We did a bit of schoolwork and I can actually cross a lot of things off my list.  This week will be filled with saintly celebrations, prep for 4H food contests this weekend, and another hunting excursion for Steven.

Goals from last week:

1.  Daily prayer/readings Laudate App for the kids to listen to

2.  Call list for Nutcracker donations

3.  Pick up Texas History book at learning store down the street

4.  Morning routine, start by 9 and finish by noon

5.  Schedule well-checks, dental appt for MC

6.  Work on saint costumes and decide on travel plans

7.  Home inspection

8.  Pay bills, update budget on Mint

9.  Work on Thomas' baby book on MyPublisher

10.  Meals: Leftovers, Pizza, Cream Cheese crockpot chicken, enchiladas

 

Goals for this week:

1. Bills

2. Daily readings, use Laudate App

3. Call last few people for Nutcracker donations and reminder email to others

4. Schedule well-checks and dental appts

5. Prep for All Hallow's Eve celebration, costume for Thomas

6. Prep for 4H food show and food challenge

7. Meals: Crockpot Roast, Carnitas, Leftovers, Baked chicken and rice, food at church

8. Checklist for school, stay on schedule!

 

A few thoughts about this past week...

 

We enjoyed our time with friends and family once again, but boy do we keep busy when we're in Houston!  We go from one place to another and somehow fill every day with lots of activities.  It's fun, but oh so exhausting.  At least it got us to start on an earlier bedtime and now I've been able to wake early each morning.  Hopefully this continues because I really need to be a better morning mom!  I'd love to do my exercise in the mornings, but I'm not sure how/when I might fit that in.  I'll probably start to look for some options near our new house! 

 

Some friends had a child come down with head lice this weekend.  They were at our house two days in a row.  So I've been paranoid and waking up in the middle of the night panicked about head lice, and have checked the kids several times each day.  I also nearly had a panic attack today when Thomas woke up from his nap screaming inconsolably.  He appeared to be in pain, which I assumed was gas or something, because he wouldn't let me hold him and was walking funny.  It was so odd, and I woke up Steven to help me figure it out.  I realized tonight that it has been so long since I've had panicked nights about illness or surgery or money problems.  I am grateful that we've been in a season without excessive stress or illness in our own little family.  But it definitely makes me more sympathetic to others who are undergoing those struggles.  And I do have several extended family members dealing with a lot of these problems.  I need to remember to pray for them often.

I miss my friends.  I know I say that a lot.  I still have hopes that I will form those close friendships here in our new town, but I also still feel like there is some kind of barrier that is keeping that from happening.  Maybe it's time, maybe it's my hopes of this being a temporary home, maybe it's just that my friends here will be different from my friends in Houston.  Maybe it's the necessary forming of my own family life here and my spiritual life, before I am able to bond with new friends.  I guess we'll see. 

 

Tonight was the big All Saints Festival at the farm back home that had been our yearly tradition for probably 6 years.  I was hoping we could continue this tradition, but it was not meant to be.  Instead, I spent several hours with the girls trying to find saint costumes.  They kept changing their plans, and I thought I was going to end up having to sew the costumes.  Turns out they chose saints that allow for easier costume purchasing!  But "easy" is a relative term.  I could have "easily" bought them costumes on Amazon a few days ago with no trouble.  Instead, we ended up at Party City, Target, Walmart, some Dollar Stores, and Halloween City, plus a few others.  You'd think a Native American and a white doctor coat would be easy to find!  

 

I do not recommend the Party City/Halloween stores for somewhat sheltered children.  I think they were a bit traumatized by all the gore.  And the racy costumes for women.  Right by the Native American costumes there were plastic breasts misplaced right at their eye level.  Ellie kept saying, "that is the weirdest thing I have ever seen!"  Then Mary Clare wanted to buy a "cute" little set of doctor accessories that I think included a lace garter.  I didn't have the heart to tell her.  Oh, my sweet girls...I wish I could keep you sheltered forever!

Better continue with that early bedtime.  Have a great week, friends!