25 Random Things

A friend of mine linked to posts in which people listed 25 random things about themselves.

I am not sure that I even HAVE that many, but I suppose.... I will have to see what happens.

1. I love to cook! Baking is my favorite.

2. Knitting is relaxing to me.

3. I have to read before I go to sleep.

4. I really enjoy reading aloud to my two children.

5. Ya gotta do the voices if you are reading aloud.

6. I like to grow plants, but I don't know much about it.

7. I have become the plant rescuer for my mom... her cat eats them.

8. Italian and Mexican are at the tops of my food lists...IF we eat out.

9. I actually cook breakfast for my kids every weekday....weekends are out.

10. I am a rare breed that even cooks breakfast for hubby each weekday at 6 am.

11. I really don't like Facebook. It is visually too busy. I am too busy.

12. I have never even looked at Twitter.

13. My 14 and 10 year olds still let me read to them at bedtime. We like to find weird, cool books like the Wingfeather Saga.

14. My husband is funny....most of the time.

15. I play too much solitaire on the computer at times.

16. I cannot just sit and watch a movie. I must be knitting or doing sudoku or something.

17. I love routine! Not a strict schedule follower, but the order of the routine is peaceful to me.

18. I have kept a written daily journal almost everyday for the past 6 years. It's kinda boring, but I use it to remember some special events.

19. I am usually mesmerized each Tuesday during my daughter's music lesson. Watching her attention and diligence is humbling.

20. My son's sense of humor is both annoying and captivating. Depends on the moment. :)

21. I LOVE to hang out with my kids. They are fun people.

22. I cannot read a short sentence with comprehension if someone is talking to me. Yet, I am a perpetual multi-tasker....go figure.

23. I get up at 5:28 am just to have time to write in my journal and read my Bible before everyone is up and talking to me.

24. I have been making my own laundry soap each month for the past 4 years. (Even though my son says it makes me sound like a Beverly Hillbilly.)

25. I do not like to talk. I much prefer to listen. Please talk to me. :)

Wow...I didn't think I could do it. (Though I cheated by putting the kids in there. But they count...right?)

Planning

I LOVE planning.

Putting things in order, finding a place where things belong, figuring out a great way of doing something...oh what fun!

Really, I do.

I have always delighted in digging through all of the marvelous material available to us as homeschoolers. Reading, downloading sample pages, putting prices in the spread sheet to fit the amount of money I have. Oooooo, it gives me shivers of joy!

I am a little bummed this year. I really don't need to go do all of that searching. *sigh* I already know what we will be working on for next year. *sigh*

I am perfectly happy with the choices, since they are all continuations of what we are doing now. I have really enjoyed the choices we have for this year. I see no need for change.

All that is left to do is compare prices on a few websites. *sigh* There is little thrill in that. Necessary, but not challenging.

Of course, I have a history forum that I read in which all the parents of their 3rd and 4th graders are pushing them to get tons and tons of material under their belts. I did those same things.

Now that we are at the "high school" stage, I know the course work my boy needs to cover. I wonder why I was stressing over all of that stuff then. THEY told me not to stress, but I did anyway.

Well, the planning is mostly done and I won't even need the next material until August. We will go ahead and purchase it in April or May anyway.

I guess it is time for me to try to plan a family vacation. Except that is planning for someone else. Not near as much fun...

At least I know I will enjoy the company along the way.

STUFF

Do you have any STUFF?

STUFF is different than stuff, some how. Stuff is the accumulation of things I need now.

STUFF is the accumulation of things I once thought I needed, but now just don't have the heart (or guts) to pass on.

In 28 1/2 years of marriage, we have done a lot of things. We used to take vacations, I taught first grade, we were part of a fun-family-style church, we had pets, we had extended family. Then after 14 years of just the two of us, we added our boy. We moved from a mostly rural area to the Boonies. After 4 more years, we added our girl.

All those things add up to some really wonderful memories.

We had people live with us for short periods of time. We added on to our house down south. We had some fun vacations. Our nephews and nieces grew. Our children are growing. We are aging.

I don't even remember much of my life without my precious husband. I was only 13 when we met, after all. We attended the same high school and college. We were part of the same youth group at church and did all those things together. We have worked together in praise and worship for over 20 years. We like doing things together.

However, as I look around here, at our rent house, and then more out at our property. We have a lot of STUFF. Some of it is good stuff that I would never get rid of.

How could you ever get rid of your personal testimony translated into Portuguese for that mission trip you took when you were 16?

I have gotten rid of a lot of things. How did we ever accumulate so many THINGS? We never have been very rich, even when both of us worked full-time and we had no children.

Some things are well worth keeping, like my great-grandmother's tea cup collection. Books, now those are hard to part with.

I am slowly, so slowly, chipping away at the STUFF. But I sure enjoy the memories that STUFF pulls up.

Even if my kids do roll their eyes and wonder what I am talking about.