Friday Fave Five (A Few Days Late)

I haven’t taken part in this for quite a while, but as I am taking a bit of a break from all other social media I figured I could take some time for this blog as it was one point my baby. I sharing five good moments or blessings from the last week and I encourage you to do the same. You can share them over at Living to Tell the Story as well. I cannot believe how long Susanne has been able to keep it up. You are amazing and you’ve blessed many with this idea!

1. Supportive friends. I’m not even sure if this was part of this week or last, but I did have a good friend reach out to me when I was struggling, who told me to just keep plugging on. I was discouraged by the lack of changes I’d seen and the inability to get any services in NB, but she gave me the courage to keep asking around. I also have several other ladies that have checked in on me over the last little while since I’ve disappeared from facebook. It is good to feel less isolated, but facebook hadn’t been doing it for me with the topics that were trending in the last while. I also got a call from my sister and it was nice to hear her voice. I hope that she’ll call me back at some point (but I don’t think anyone in my family particularly likes the phone).

2. Finding a nurse practitioner. Finding her quite pleasant was also nice. We’ve been without a doctor since we’ve moved here (and our family doctor in Cape Breton was a nightmare) so it was good to find someone nice and we will be able to see the doctor in her office should anything urgent ever come up. The benefits of a nurse practitioner are that she is much more readily available and she an do nearly all the same things as a doctor. I’m thinking that it would have been a pretty sweet job had I continued my studies. It was nice to talk to someone that realized that I was actually knowledgeable. I hate feeling like I’m being talked down to, when I am actually quite smart.

3. Children that know when they are going to be sick. So, so good. I am a complete puke o phobe, but I think we’ve good to the point where the children know when they are feeling off and can let us know. I am also thankful that whatever is up is very short lived and everyone seems right as rain this morning. Ah, the joys of actually getting out of the house in winter.

4. Getting out of the house in winter. Mike was off on Wednesday and we were able to go down to Amherst/Sackville. I had my appointment (yeah, a real in life person to talk to that isn’t my husband or children) and the kids had a chance to visit the library and take out a few books. They are so anxious to be able to visit the library regularly. It was their first time there since September. In Cape Breton we were at the library at least twice a week and usually more often. It was just a nice day that went well (overall).

5. A most awesome real estate agent. Too bad he isn’t the person that is (supposedly) trying to sell our house. We’ve had fun looking at houses in the Amherst area with him. We aren’t in a position to buy anything at the moment, but we are keeping our options open and looking at a few places (that could very well be on the market for quite a while longer). Fingers crossed that our place will sell at some point this spring/summer. Anyways, the realtor is knowledgeable, friendly, and has just been a pleasure to work with and that is a nice change.

Friday’s Fave Five – April 4th, 2014

Yeah, it is April! I am just about ready for spring like weather and  maybe even sitting out on the deck under a blanket. We’ve still got a ways to go as we were hit with a blizzard ice storm for the first half of this week. Nonetheless, April means spring in my books and that’s good after a long winter.

I know that I said that I was taking part in the 100 Happy Days challenge, but I did not keep up with it. I am not tied to my camera phone and I went about a couple of happy days just living life only to realize when I got into bed that I didn’t actually take a picture of one of those happy moments. There were also a few days last week when I was feeling pretty far from happy. I’ve been finding the isolation on country living harder this year. Last year, my husband would leave for three weeks at a time and I would be stranded here, but there was always excitement when he’d come back and we’d get out together during the 4 or 5 days that he’d stay. I find it harder when he gets to go out to work each day and see people and I am trapped at home. I haven’t gotten to know anyone. I only ever leave the house when we have errands to run (about once every two weeks) and we don’t even go to the same stores or go to the city so we never, ever even have the same cashier. Anyways, I am sure all this will improve for me when the snow melts and I am able to spend much more time outside. At least then we will be able to see the neighbour more. I love winter, but this has been a long one (definitely worth investing in snowshoes next year :p )

Anyways, all that to say, that while I haven’t been very good at 100 Happy Days, there still have been little blessings in my week and I am happy to share them as part of my Friday Fave Five hosted by Living to Tell the Story.

1. Sharing a bottle of wine with my man, while brainstorming ideas that could help connect me with other people in a helping manner. I don’t think we even remotely came close to coming up with a plan, but it was an enjoyable experience and I have some starting points now.

2. This dog.

 

She is a total pain in my rear and I just had to rearrange my bedroom because she’s taken to trying to eat through the gyprock in one area. She also only has interest in us while we are eating, but she is super bright and I’ve started training her again this week and that gives me great joy. She certainly loves doing tricks (or rather, so loves the food rewards). She also gets me outside playing in the snow each and every day and that always cheers me up. She’ll never compare to my sweet Penny, but she’s a pretty decent dog.

3. Chatting with a friend about Young Living essential oils (among other things). I used to be quite passionate about blending oils and creating massage oils and lotions. It is something I am looking at getting back into at some point and I think Young Living would be a wonderful supplier of oils.

4. Seeing the kids up and at it this morning (not on electronics), drawing elaborate art for their Dad’s birthday tomorrow. Shhh, don’t tell him! They rarely work quietly on projects together so this was nice to see. When the have free time they are usually either off on their own devices (or reading books) or running through the house crazy hyper and oh so loud so it was nice to see them doing something together and quiet. I now know that it can be done!

5. The sun coming in window right this very moment. We are setting up a picnic in the granny suite and plan to enjoy sitting in the sun even where there is still three feet of snow outside. It’s so lovely to see the blue sky after nearly a week of messy weather!

Friday’s Fave Five ~ February 28th, 2014

This week was just one of those that was “meh”. Nothing amazing happened, but nothing horrible either. It was just one of those weeks were everything was just okay. School was okay. My health was okay. The house was kept up okay. Just okay, so there’s not a whole lot stands out as a “favourite”  for Living to Tell the Story’s Friday’s Fave Five, but I’ll give it a go anyways, starting with a major blessing that I am so relieved that I can post this week.

1. This sweet kitty is still with us. I wanted to post this last Friday, but at the time, I still was not sure that she would make a full recovery. For some reason, this little girl stopped eating and drinking completely over the weekend after Valentine’s Day (we assume she ingested ribbon off a gift Mike brought home to the children), but I caught it quickly and started dropper feeding her water. However, she was not improving and by midweek she was quite weak and completely despondent. Our only real option was to bring her in for exploratory surgery to see if there was an obstruction of some kind, but we did not have money for that so out of desperation I started feeding her raw human breast milk, thank goodness for extended nursing and the ability to produce enough to share! Within 24 hours of round the clock dropper feedings she started to respond to us calling her and by Friday evening she actual came into the kitchen and managed a couple licks of liquid from a tuna can. I continued to feed her breast milk and then introduced tuna pate by syringe and by the beginning of the following week she was fully able to eat and drink her normal diet without assistance. We are so glad that this sweetie decided to stick around with us for a while longer.

2. Sitting in the sunlight. I like to put on a dark shirt and sit in the window and let the sun warm my back. It is quite brutally cold again this week (and there’s another cold week in the forecast) so sitting in the sunlight at least lets me pretend that spring is coming.

3. February is drawing to a close. It is always a really hard month for me and this year wasn’t really an exception. It has felt like the never ending month even though it is the shortest of the year. I’m alright with bidding it adieu for another year.

4. Deciding to purchase an extra unit study to supplement our Further Up and Further In study. I found that the last couple of weeks have been no where near in depth enough for me to consider it our complete curriculum and I noticed that Liam was beginning to be less impressed with how little we were doing as well (the amount of work is perfect for my eight year old for what it is worth). I ended up going with  The Chronicles of Narnia Unit Study from LEMILOE Publishing. I’ve been happy with what I’ve seen of it so far and it just gives us a little bit more.

5. Craftsy. I’ve had fun just browsing the classes and signed up for one of their freebie mini classes. I’ve enjoyed the Figure Drawing Atelier thus far and Morgaine and I have been working on our fine art projects together this week. It’s always fun to do something together that we both enjoy.

Three Things Thursday ~ February 27th, 2014

This week I am combining Three Things Thursday with Throw Back Thursday as I have so many pictures to share that I never get around to and besides, I think pictures always add a little something to a blog post. If you would like to share three random tidbits about yourself please join me over at Heidi’s Head.

1. I absolutely love the beach. I grew up near the ocean (or at least the St. Lawrence River) and my father used to take me to the beach relatively regularly when I was a child. We built my Mom’s dream house right on the water and it was really sad when we had to live there. It was so nice to look out of my bedroom window and see the water. We’ve chosen where to live in relation to how near water we are. We are not on the water now, but it’s only about a 10 minute drive to get to the beach (though we haven’t really explored it since we moved here). Unfortunately, I married someone that isn’t really much of a beach person at all so we don’t spend near as much time near the water as I would like. I am just glad that he humoured me and moved the family east. I think there are times when he would have chosen to move westward towards the prairies, but I am not sure what my ocean loving soul would do with all that land and no water to be seen!

2. I’ve been trying to recreate these chocolate chip cookies for about 3 years now. They were beyond wonderful and I have not been able to get them to turn out the same since. I have followed the same recipe time and again. I’ve studied the fine points of making the perfect chocolate chip cookie and I’ve tried develop my own recipe time and again, without the success that I am looking for. It’s been quite discouraging and may not be very good for my waistline. If you have what you consider to be the perfect recipe, please share in the comments below!

3. I absolutely adore living history. I would love to get a job at a historical site for the summer. The clothes and the simplicity. I think that families would get so much from it if they could come into one of these sites and live life like back then for a week or so. If anyone knows of historic sites like this, please let me know, as I could imagine taking the kids (further on down the line) on a road trip for an experience like this. Until then, we will enjoy having others bring history alive for us. I cannot wait to visit Le Pays de la Sagouine later this year to learn more about the Acadian culture as we are in the heart of Acadian New Brunswick .

 

Friday’s Fave Five ~ February 21st, 2014

It’s been a long winter, so I figured it was time to share some blessings this week. I’m linking up to one of my favourite bloghops this weeek and I hope you will join me at Living to Tell the Story to share 5 of your favourite moments of the week.

1. Wonderful neighbours. I count this as a blessing every day. This week our lovely neighbour took the kids out to build snowmen when I was feeling under the weather. They all had a blast, the neighbour included. Her husband has also come a few times in the past week to plough out our driveway. So nice to have people care (and people that we can care about and for too). I’m loving the back and forth of the relationship. It makes our two little houses in the middle of nowhere seem like a community.

I absolutely adore the reindeer snowman dude with glasses.

The kid is pretty cute, too.

Liam, who finds is hard to be serious for too long. The snowman matches his personality perfectly.

Morgaine obviously had to make a gorgeous lady snow person. She and the neighbour worked hard on this lovely lady. 

2. Things moving ahead smoothly with Mike’s new employment at the CIBC. The drive is long (and expensive), but the people he works with are nice and pretty much all the paper work is out of the way for the benefits and whatnot that come with a bank job. It will be so good to have medical and dental insurance again!

3. Having a mini date with Mike and the little one while the kids were at a library program. Sure, we did groceries at Costco, but it gives me hope for the future if we end up again to move to Moncton. It was nice to see programming for the children (though I was surprised that there were not more kids). Liam and Morgaine were thrilled as they so rarely get to see anyone since we’ve moved. It was also fun to look at the bulletin boards and see a list of all the various groups and events around Moncton. It would be nice if we could make our way down there in the next 2 or 3 years.

This book for thing 4 and 5 – The Procrastinating Child by Rita Emmett. The book is pretty basic, but at the same time it has given me a kick in the boots to….

4. ….Get my own procrastination under control by working with my children. Several times time week I have given the children a goal at the same time as I give myself one and when we are done we do something together. I don’t do near enough one on one things with my children and I think that they are liking that as a reward for getting stuff done and I am liking that it is motivating me to get my work done as well. I think it helps the kids to see that I have goals, too, since I don’t usually mention them (“Hey, it’s not just me getting sent off to do work unfairly, she’s doing stuff, too!”)

5. …..really look at the role fear has in my life.  I read the chapter on procrastinating out of fear today and it really shone a light on how much fear there has always been in my life and how it pretty much controls me all the time. I won’t talk to people….they might reject me. I won’t start a project…I probably won’t finish (failure). I won’t advertise my business….people might want me services and what if I’m not good enough (success mixed with what if I can’t do it). I won’t say what’s on my mind….people might think I’m stupid. I won’t make a decision….I might make the wrong one. This has been me since probably as long as I’ve been alive. The struggle is something that I live with every single day and while I’ve made progress the fact that every fear that the author listed is something I still deal with regularly is startling and I want to start working on changing that. So yeah, I’m thankful for this one even if it means some work!

Wednesday Hodgepodge ~ February 19th, 2014

I’m quite shocked that it is Wednesday again already. I had every intention of blogging more frequently over the past week, but plans don’t always work out. Anyways, I quite enjoyed last week’s Wednesday Hodgepodge so I am back for more fun this week. If you would like to participate be sure to visit From This Side of Pond and link on up with your answers to the following questions.
1. What’s the biggest change since your childhood in the way people think or act?

  I get the impression that people don’t take pride in their work anymore. They go and do the bare minimum they need to in order to get by. Living with someone who gives his all to whatever he is working on it makes me so sad that his hard work is not awarded any more that that of people who basically do as little work as they can. My husband recently changed jobs and several of his coworkers begged him to stay (and to write letters to the organizations higher up because they wanted opportunities to advance and thought that if my husband complained it might help them all). No, not his battle. Anyways, people want things handed to them and they don’t want to work for them. My children are the same way at times, and it drives me batty. I was such a perfectionist growing up and got my sense of worth from the good work I did, and I hate to see my children (and others) do just enough. I want them to feel good about the work that they put in and not just do it so they have free time or whatever. It’s a constant battle for me. 

I just want to see people work hard and take pride in their work. I don’t know, I look at people and think that they would just feel so much better to do a good job than just a mediocre one, but I don’t know. It makes me feel good to know that I’ve done the best that I can and I think the world would be a better place if people put in a little more effort. The idea of hard work seems to have been lost on the current generation (generally speaking). 

2. The Olympic Biathlon involves cross country skiing broken up with two or four rounds of target shooting. Which part of that would stress you out more? Or would you love them both equally?

Oh Lord, I used to cross country ski with a couple of my teachers when I was in elementary school. I was quite horrible and felt half dead the next day. It really is exercise. I’m not big on shooting things either, but I might take it over long distance cross country. I’d likely be better at it. However, there are cross country skis in our shed (the house we live in was repossessed  so a fair bit of stuff got left behind) and I’ve been meaning to pull them out and give them a go. We’ll see if I have more endurance now than I did at 10!

3. February is National Canned Food Month…what is your most purchased canned food item? What was in the last can you opened?

Hmm, we do not do a lot of canned foods. We pretty much stick to canned kidney beans (that’s the last thing we’ve had canned) and canned chickpeas (for hummus, otherwise I use dried). I do have canned tuna (for the first time in years) that I plan on opening for lunch today.  

4. What river (anywhere in the world) would you most like to cruise?

I would never go on any kind of cruise (ugh, I cannot imagine being stuck on a boat with an outbreak of norovirus or something…..pretty much my worse nightmare), but if I had to choose a river, give me the Nile, I think. I’d really like to do the Egypt thing. 

5. It’s the middle of the night and you can’t sleep…what do you do?  Count sheep? Toss and turn? Watch television? Or do you get up and do something productive?

I know insomnia well. It tends to visit me frequently. Currently, I just lay there and try to be as still as possible as my toddler curls right into me and the last think I want to do it wake him up. I used to be a wonderer so I’d get up and roam around the house and pick up the kitchen a bit, maybe write an e-mail or blog post, but now my husband sleeps in our main living area so yep, I lay there and worry. I have been known to sign 99 bottles of beer on the wall in my head, though! I’ve never made it to zero, but most of the time it’s because I’ve gotten distracted!  

6. How important is keeping your cool?

Vitally important, but I struggle with anger every single day. It’s not pretty and I have a lot of self loathing for myself because of it.   

7. I’ve got white stuff on the brain so why not run with it? White lie, wave the white flag, white knuckle it, white wash a situation, or white as a sheet…which phrase could most recently apply to your own life in some way?

I’m going with white as a sheet just because I’ve been having some medical issues and am likely getting quite anemic, but yeah, not quite the meaning of the term as it isn’t a fear based reaction, however, I do feel rather pale! (oh, yeah, white knuckling it is good, too….been watching the Olympics and I get that anxiety for them, it seems. I’ve spent so much time holding my breath over the last ten days! 

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I don’t really have much to say this week. This is the first time I’ve felt winter to be a hassle and I am very much looking forward to the sun gaining some warmth in the coming weeks. I think being a little under the weather has left me feeling the cold a little bit more than I normally do and I just feel like the sun would melt away some of the fatigue that I seemed plagued by this winter. I think I’ll leave you with a Beatles song this week! 

Wednesday Hodgepodge ~ February 12th, 2014

It has been ages and ages since I joined up for Wednesday Hodgepodge fun from my my friend over at From This Side of The Pond. I do quite enjoy it, though, so I shall attempt to answer this week’s questions.

1.What makes love last?

Well, my man and I will be together for 14 years in September and I think we are doing pretty good, but we certainly aren’t experts. I think that choosing to remain friends when everything is totally crazy and you cannot stand each other anymore is key. If you can continue to treat each other with respect and engage in things that give you pleasure together then love usually isn’t too far behind. I also know that expectations, both in life and in a relationship, can be completely detrimental so I’ve learned to let go of expectations so I can be happy with what I have. There’s nothing like thinking something should/will happen only to have it not (and this can be something as simple as a partner pitching in to help in the kitchen) and then feeling really resentful. It’s taken us years (I am the queen of hinting around) to get to the place where we both feel comfortable saying what we really mean and asking for what we want/need as opposed to waiting for it to happen without the other person even being aware. 

2. The Beatles made their US debut fifty years ago this week. Are you a fan? If so, what’s your favorite Beatles tune?

I’m not a huge fan, but I like them well enough. I have no idea what my favourite would be. The ones that come to mind first are “Let it Be”, “In my Life”, “I am the Walrus”, and when I was a kid we listened to “Yellow Submarine” an awful lot. I think it was on a children’s record, yes record, that  I had. 

3. Valentine’s Day-your thoughts? Do you celebrate in any way? Do anything special for the people you love? Expect anything special from the people who love you?

No expectations here! Last year was the first time I really actually did the whole Valentine’s Day thing so I made a blog post about it! I do have a plan for this year as well, but it really simple and just shows appreciation for my family. Can’t say too much here as I do have little ones that like to read some of my blog posts! 

4. Steak or burger…you have to choose. Now that that’s settled, how do you like it?

Oh boy, I do like both, but I am going with steak, though we haven’t had much luck with finding good cuts lately. I like it medium rare and served with mushrooms and onions, please. There also needs to be Montreal steak spice. 

5. The Hodgepodge lands on the birthdate (February 12th) of Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States of America. Lincoln is quoted as saying, ‘Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test his character give him power.’ Do you agree? Why or why not?

I agree! It scares me what power does to some people. I could write more, but it would likely get a little bit (or a lot) ranty and I frankly don’t want to go there!

6. Honest Abe’s image is featured on the US penny (1 cent coin) so I’m wondering…what do you do with your pennies (or your country’s equivalent)? It’s been suggested the US stop making the penny, and two bills have been introduced proposing just that, but neither were approved. What say you?

Canada got rid of the penny last year and I don’t miss it one bit. I have a bunch that need to be rolled and taken to the bank. I cannot wait for them to be gone for good. 

7. Do you think pop culture deserves serious study?

Meh, not really. I think it worth looking at how pop culture affects our youth and relationships, but beyond that, pop culture mostly drives me crazy so the less I have to do with it, the better. I am one of those that much prefers to be clueless.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I’m now stuck listening to Beatles songs on Youtube. Thank you! They are making me happy!

Three Things Thursday ~ Jan 30th, 2014

I cannot believe that it is Thursday AGAIN! Because it is Thursday, I’m sharing three more things with you this week that you may not know about me. If you are interested in sharing three random tidbits about yourself I invite you to visit Heidi’s Head and check out Three Things Thursday.

1) I have been keeping myself busy this winter by crocheting (though I guess I mentioned that before). I am making a mood blanket, which is a year long project as I add a part each day for 365 days. I’ve completed 3 scarves, a pair of slippers and am working on a stuffed love puppy for Morgaine. I’m also making Morgaine a blanket of her own. I’m finding crocheting quite satisfying for the most part as projects do whip up rather quickly. There are only so many scarves and hats that one needs, though, so I may end up donating some or something. There’s certainly a need for warm clothes this winter.

Morgaine’s blanket. I am pretty sure that I hate it, but we’ll see what happens as I start piecing it together. Would have liked it if there was some harmony between the colours, but this is a stash busting project so yeah. 

Completed scarf. So nice and warm. A matching hat will soon follow. 

2) I would love to learn to play the guitar. I’ve had one sitting around for a number of years now, but the kids have gotten to it so it is no longer in tune. Every so often I think I should pick it up, but I haven’t the faintest clue how to get it back in tune (I have a really bad ear, so telling me to stop when it sounds right is rather pointless. It will be something that I will absolutely do eventually, though!

3) I am a hypochondriac. I was convinced that I caused myself liver damage by using acetaminophen for 3 days in a row (at fairly high dosages) for facial pain. I spent most of last week looking at my eyes in the mirror to see if they were turning yellow. I may have drove my husband a little crazy. It’s only been in the last few days that I’ve felt truly certain that I was fine! I really shouldn’t turn to Dr. Google too much! Along with hypochondria comes germ-o-phobia (especially of the tummy bug) variety. I tend to breath a sigh of relief after 3 or 4 days of being homebound because I figure that any bugs we may have picked up while out and about would have shown up by then! I’m probably getting much better with both of these things, but there are still times when they can be a little challenging.

Three Things Thursday ~ January 16th, 2014

Thursday again, surprising how quick a week  goes isn’t it? I cannot believe it and I haven’t even posted since last week. Nonetheless, I am back to take part in Three Things Thursday again hosted by the lovely Heidi over at Heidi’s Head. Last week I talked a little bit about homeschooling, but I fear that it is the end of the day so I am going rather random with my three things this week!

1.  My children are watching Backyardigans and it is a show that I totally find myself watching even when they are not in the room. There are not too many children’s shows that I can stand for more that 15 minutes, but I could probably leave The Backyardigans on all day. I like the music and the stories are pretty catchy, too. The only other children’s show that is currently on that I really enjoy is Martha Speaks.
2. I have the habit of taking a razor to my head every so often and chopping my hair really, really short. It is so freeing. Last time I had my daughter do it and she was thrilled to be my hairdresser. It’s been a little over a month now and it has grown to the annoying stage of no longer staying neat and I am tempted to shave it off. I kind of want to see what my hair would look like longer and salt and pepper, though, so I am contemplating letting it grow out. If anyone has any tips on managing a wavy short style as it grows out, let me know!
3. I’m taking part in a 365 Feminist Selfie challenge for the year. I am quite uncomfortable with my image and I think it will be interesting to see how my confidence develops over the course of the year. I’m usually always the one behind the camera. My goal is  to be able to take a selfie of myself smiling by the end of the year. I’ve tried, but I’ve been far too uncomfortable to share them or even leave them on my device. They aren’t whole face smiles, yet, and I want to get there. I’ve been pretty good at keeping up and sharing so far this year, only missing a couple days. I’ve loved seeing the pictures that my other friends and women from all around have been sharing. It is an experience.

Here’s a selfie for you. It is’t one of my #365feministselfie (s) as it was taken before the beginning of the challenges, but it shows my hair freshly shaved so I figuredI’d kill two birds with one stone. 

Goal Planning Monday – Week 106

Welcome to Goal Planning Monday!

If you are new here be sure to check out the guidelines before you join in. We would love to have you! If you are returning, I hope you had a good week. Thank you for stopping in and sharing with us. Be sure to keep sharing with your friends as we all could use some accountability from time to time! I hope to see some new members this week. Keep spreading the word as we could all use some encouragement and support as we go about achieving our goals. If you have a moment get sure to hop over and see what others are doing.

Last week’s goals:

1. Set up the homeschooling area. Partially done. I’ve decided that we are going to remain pretty laid back about things and spend more time exploring outside and just reading than doing actual school. I cannot see us actually using the homeschooling area. I only have a couple box left to unpack

2. Unpack 50% of what is left to organize. DONE! We are pretty close to set up.

3. Meal Plan. DONE! We did good for the week. We will certainly be running short on certain things by the time Mike comes back, though. We’ll have to do more meat and potato type meals.

4. Set up payment for the utilities here. DONE! I’ll be really happy if we never have to run two households again.

5. Convince the kids that learning is good. Well, I shouldn’t have to convince them, so there must be something doing wrong. I worried a fair bit about their education at the beginning of the week, but made note to watch them more during the week and really, when left to their own devices they learn a lot and they ENJOY it. It’s just not what school looks like to me.

6. Blog an update about our week on Fridays. DONE! I’m actually impressed with this as I never do what I say on my blog (and I actually, I think, have a blog post about that coming up!).

7. Work on my Coursera courses. DONE! I actually dropped out of two. I was quite far behind on one that I was really enjoying and I wanted to focus on it and the other two had much tighter deadlines. They were interesting, but I wanted to focus on the other one more. I’m just taking them for pure fun so it doesn’t matter so much which ones I take. I’ll choose a new one when I’ve nearly completed the class I’m done.

This week’s goals:

1. Unpack half of that is left to unpack. I’ll be able to easily get everything done before the next time Mike visits and still have plenty of time to hang out with the kids this way.

2. Limit my time on facebook a little. I’ll certainly still check in everyday (and play the silly new crime scene game I’m playing) but while I’m always connected I likely won’t “chat” on there as much. It is easy when you are carrying a gadget in your pocket all the time to check in too much.

3. Contemplate moving my blog back to self hosted. Since I will be reviewing again I am contemplating moving back to the old blog. I’m not able to track everything as well on this one. I did, however, have issues with the self hosting so I will have to see.

4. Try to keep up with my “house a little bit cleaner in the evening than it was in the morning” plan. Didn’t happen on the weekend so I have to play catch up now.

5. Do something special for the kids for Valentine’s Day. Yeah, I don’t do these holidays normally, but as there is no pressure to buy anything I figure I can make something special for a meal or make cards or something.

6. Comment on everyone’s post who joins up this week.

If you have a moment, check in and let us know about your goals for the week. Actually, I move my blog over already, so I’d love for you to follow this link.