Weekly Wrapup A Few Days Late

So, last week was so busy that my weekly wrapup is being written on a Monday instead. Here's how the week went:

My parents are recovering from surgery, so Sunday began with me going down to my parents to be there while my one sister left to go back home 2 hours away to the south of us, and the other sister arrived from 2 hours to the north of us. I was there for several hours and drove home in the dark very reflective of life's brevity and how fast it goes.

On Monday, the girls had Lifelight, which is a Christian drama group for homeschoolers. I dropped them off and tried to get some writing done at a nearby McDonald's... That's always interesting with all of the different people and noise level. Thank God for my daughter turning me onto Pandor with earphones.

On Tuesday, I headed back to my parents to stay with them while my sister who was helping them went with my niece to try on wedding dresses. My niece is getting married in July. Very exciting time for her! I drove home after several hours there and feeling like my parents had progressed enough that I wasn't really needed but still somehow so exhausted and again driving at night.

Wednesday, I tried to play catch up with school work with my youngest who is the only one left who usually needs my help still. I woke up with a bit of a sinus headache and it only got worse as the day went on, but I still managed to go driving with my 15-year-old permit holder and finish all of school lessons with my youngest plus some art.

Thursday through Saturday was completely taken up with my oldest son whose robotics team was competing in Regionals. This meant early mornings, rush hour and driving downtown. I was actually relieved when we left Friday night that they were not ranking as well as last year and didn't look like they'd need my son for scouting the next day. But, when I left the garage, so tired and still feeling like I had a cold or some allergies, I scraped my car against this yellow concrete pole. Not a good thing to do, but thankfully God was watching over us. It wasn't a person or a car that I scraped against and only had mostly paint that wiped off leaving just a slight brushing of scraped paint mostly on my van. When I drove home that night after the competition, I was so exhausted and then completely crashed the next two days almost not moving from the couch and feeling so sick and freezing.

This brings us to today, another Lifelight day and writing at Panera. We woke up to snow, only it wasn't on the streets just the house and yard, enough to look pretty but with a yucky blizzard-like feel in the air and rainy all day.

And, so begins another week.

Weekly Wrapup - First Week of March

One week about now, they were starting a surgery on my dad that would end up taking a total of 8 hours. The week progressed up and down from there.

So, here we are at the first week of March, which is rapidly moving along. How did we get to the third month of the year already? Regardless, this is my weekly wrap-up which I had started a couple years ago and then discovered not every reader out there is my friend. So, I may not be consistent every week and I may not share too much personal tidbits, but here it is: Our week of February 24-March 3, 2017.

Last Friday, my dad had a surgery to remove what began as skin cancer but moved into his lymph nodes and salivary gland. It was to take between 2 to 6 hours, but ended up taking a total of 8 hours from the time we said bye and left the pre-op room to the time we got an alarming notice that the doctor would like to speak with you. I was there with my mom and two sisters, and all of us thought the worst, hoped and prayed for the best. See, the hospital gave us a pager while he was in surgery. On this pager, they updated us about every 2 hours or so. The last update was alarming saying simply, "Doctor Would Like to speak with you!"... No, "patient is in recovery" or "surgery is going well" as in the last couple of updates. They then proceeded to put us into a private room where the doctor introduced each of us to himself before getting down to the bottom line. My dad had made it through, and they thought they got it all, but he anticipated 6 weeks of radiation and he could be released Sunday.

Sunday came, and my dad couldn't be released because his blood pressure dropped to 40. They got that stabalized only to discover his sodium was super low.... Didn't mention that they had been giving him double doses of Lasix which takes swelling and sodium out of your body. But, eh. They gave him an IV, and he had to wait and wait and wait as he was too weak to walk by himself. As a fall risk, he could not get up out of bed even to use the restroom, so 45 minutes after asking for assistance in that matter, it wasn't a pretty sight. And, I was none too happy about this so-called award-winning hospital.

Regardless, he did get to come home on Wednesday, but not after my husband and I had anticipated his discharge on Tuesday and left early to meet him at his house to help get him inside. We spent the day waiting, going to local thrift stores and the nicest Aldi I've ever seen and turned around the next day to do the same. Only this time, he was released and came home. The entire ordeal exhausts me even though I am not my sister who has been with them 24/7 since Friday. The days ahead include more trips down to my parents' to help when I can, but somehow still feel as if I'm not doing enough to help. I am just happy prayers were answered and he was strong enough to be released from the hospital. Now, he can hopefully get some good sleep and heal from surgery before receiving the recommendation about radiation. Thankfully, it doesn't look like chemo will be necessary, though.

On top of this, I have been fitting into my days driving with my 15-year-old permit driver. On Friday, she hit a milestone. While I was waiting at the hospital, my husband took her out driving on the neighborhood streets for the first time. Since then, she has driven around the blocks a couple days and then yesterday, we went to a parking lot to work more on parallel parking and pulling in and out of parking spaces as well as turning radius maneuvers doing a figure 8. She is still doing well and no unpleasant incidents to report.



My son developed a lighting engine that helps create realistic lighting effects when doing 3d modeling on computer games and modding. He is involved in a project with other modders from around the world. He also finished up robotics build season, he worked on coding the GUI for the scouting program and we wait for regionals next week...Another few days of city driving for me.

My youngest has been doing some lessons on her own while I was tending to my dad and family's needs and such and I would fill in when I came home in the evening with science and history and some language arts. Today, we do a more normal day of schooling.

On top of this, I got 4 new writing assignments and sold a few things on eBay which requires contact with the buyer, proper packaging, printing a label, and getting them to the post office on time.

I think that's about it for this week. Thanks for reading, and please keep my dad in your prayers.

Weekly Wrap Up - Goodbye!

I am writing this weekly wrap up only to announce that I no longer plan on posting any future weekly wrap ups, at least not in this same public format. I need to give a lot of thought and prayer to how or if I will continue with some form of a weekly wrap-up at all.

I have always felt as if I and my family have nothing to hide, and I am always open and willing to share details of my life if it will spur another on to encouragement.

At least, I never intend for my words to ever hurt anyone. It is always my ambition to only bring encouragement, even though sometimes something needs to be said for the sake of those who have no voice.

So, I felt safe sharing our lives with anyone who could benefit or was interested. However, I've come to realize that not everyone reading my blog has my best interests at heart.

I refuse to feed trolls or keep company with those only interested in gossip where there is no gossip-worthy tidbits or insistent on turning their backs on me when I have done nothing wrong,

So, I want to find a happy balance between being innocent as a dove yet wise as a serpent.

...........That, and with summer approaching, we sound a bit boring in our weekly endeavors anyway!

So, for now - So long Weekly Wrap-Up!

Weekly Wrap Up - Summer Has Begun

This Weekly Wrap Up begins with the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. We had a nice weekend with the family, though daddy had to work part of it. We still managed to get the bikes out of the shed and take our first bike ride of the season, put out the flag, and eat fried chicken, watermelon and some amazing sparkling lemonade we picked up at Aldi.  We played Scribblenauts and SIMS with my son for family game night, and I introduced the kids to the Game of Life (my all-time favorite game, though this is the newer version that is slightly different than the original game I grew up playing). We went to church on Sunday, and I got a bit more done on overhauling our basement. The kids have assigned a SIMS character to my husband and are re-enacting our meeting and young dating life. We have come to really look forward to this time as a family. The SIMS game has provided a way to take our children down memory lane in an innocent way. It is also a really good way to help teach teens how the working world really works.

For the most part, the kids are completely done with school for the year, though my daughter has one more dance class before summer and there are a few TOS Reviews. Other than that, our summer usually consists mostly of PE credit hours and often a lot more history than we ever learn in books, when we travel. But, it doesn't entail completing textbooks. It's a funny thing, though.  The kids seem to learn so much more when we are not officially "doing school". Still, you can often see me busily tracking any and all learning in my log book throughout the summer months, especially when we are on tour.

Since Monday was Memorial Day, and I already covered that fairly well in the opening paragraph, I'll start this Weekly Wrap-Up detailed days on Tuesday, May 26, 2015.

Tuesday - Whew! What a catch-up day I took the entire weekend off, starting something during the day on Thursday, and do I ever pay for days off in the form of hours of catching up on emails and assignments and such. My daughter and I still managed to workout on our new-to-us, newly set up treadmill in the workout room that I recently made into a fairly nice area of our basement - Vacuumed and everything. We also went on a family walk after John got home. The weather turned out to be nicer than expected.  We weeded the garden and picked our first harvest.

Wednesday - My older daughter's last dance class of the season at the new studio. While we will most likely return in the fall, I'm waiting for her to decide after she attends a camp I have her signed up with at a different place that also offers dance. We really have liked these last couple of months, though. The new studio is a perfect fit for her. Last week, she worked on a lyrical piece. She has never done lyrical before. She absolutely loved it.

Thursday - We are off to see the wizard! The girls and I got tickets to see a local theater group's performance of The Wizard of Oz. We are so excited! A friend of my daughter's is in the production. With the weather forecast, though, we are hoping we are not literally swept up inside a tornado on our way to see the play.

This weekend should be a fairly quiet one, though we are planning on a family bike ride on the K-T Trail, an old railway line that was turned into a state park years ago. Sunday will bring another opportunity to go to church, and then we begin June. It seems like June is coming awfully fast this year. It's the only month I have to really focus on selling stuff on eBay and around the Web so that I have money to go into our summer trips when I cannot sell, because I cannot ship an item that is back home several hundred miles away. So, come on June.  May God bless this month.

Weekly Wrap Up - A husband Wife Date Sort of, Teen Mini Golf and Goodbye to Innocence

 


Starting with Friday, May 15 through Thursday, May 21, our week went like this...



Jetsons T-Shirt form our first date (We went to see the Jetsons Movie)

On Friday evening, the Clydesdale horses were supposed to make an appearance at our local minor league baseball season opener, so I took the girls to see my oldest daughter's favorite horse. The weather was on again off again showers, so I knew I was taking a chance on whether or not the horses would be there due to the rain, and sure enough - The horses pulled a no-show, had to cancel at the last minute because of the weather. But, still it was worth the trip.


I got home and got ready to go out on a date with my hubby. Dates for us are few and very far between, and this one can be classified as a date - kinda, sort of.  It was a combination business event/date. The business part came in because we went to see another musician perform at a restaurant where my hubby is hoping to get in to play gigs as well. But, romantic - whoo yes! It is an Italian restaurant in a place called Westport Plaza. The ambiance was amazing with this musician we went to see creating the setting of crooner music of Frank Sinatra and the like. It was amazing, and the rain had stopped and opened up to a beautiful night, minus some humidity making my hair less than gorgeous. Still, we managed a clumsy selfie by the fountains in the beautiful outdoor plaza where the restaurant is located.

Sunday meant church and an afternoon of family time.

And, so starts the week.

Monday - For the most part, we are done with school for the year, but my oldest daughter wanted to finish up her Greek Morphemes book so she can start full force on Latin in the fall. Other than that, the girls planted some more in our garden. They added a couple basil plants and another pepper plant. They're developing a green thumb, and I'm anxious to see what comes of it this year after the summer's heat starts and we're gone.

Tuesday - This was the last of the teen events that a friend and I have been responsible for planning this year through our local co-op. We decided on miniature golf, and the weather was fantastic, actually slightly chilly for May. All three children went and got some PE in and a little bit of social time with friends for the girls as my son was having a non-sociable day and only one other boy showed up that he doesn't have a lot in common with.

GOODBYE TO INNOCENCE

While we were there, getting ready to play a round of min golf, we found out that a family in the co-op is going through some devastating news that is tearing the family apart because of inappropriate behavior on the part of the dad toward his 13-year-old daughter....  The daughter is a friend of my 13-year-old daughter. This kind of news is not supposed to happen among tight-knit groups of Christian homeschoolers. But, it did, and so I was left to explain to my older two teens the gist of what happened - Not something I ever wanted to explain to anyone let alone my two innocent children.  My son was basically angry that someone would do something so unbiblical to their own daughter and was shocked that this kind of story you usually only hear about on the news has happened right here among our little homeschool bubble and to someone we know. My daughter was pretty much appalled and grossed out but wanting to do all she can to be a friend to her friend, the girl to whom it happened. Me - I'm sickened, saddened, and pretty much still shaking though honestly I had an uneasy feeling about the man from the beginning and tried my best to keep my distance and to keep my daughters out of classes that he taught at our co-op. I had even had a sense of this kind of behavior (call that a gut-level instinct if you want. I call it the Holy Spirit allowing me to know for some unknown reason) when I was around this man during the past year-and-a-half, even though the incident has apparently only happened on this one recent occasion last week. My son was in a class this man taught at our local co-op. Since my warning alarms went off upon meeting this man and talking to his wife, I had previously casually questioned my son on a couple occasions after I picked him up from class as to how this man behaved in class. From my son's answers, I was certain that this man had never conduced himself in any inappropriate manner to the kids in his co-op classes. But, I don't know beyond what my son had told me. Regardless - It's a terrible and horrific tragedy that should never happen to a Christian homeschooling family.

Wednesday - My daughter had her second to last dance class for the year, till the fall.  This week they worked on a lyrical dance to the song, Songbird. It was absolutely beautiful.

Thursday - The only thing we have planned is reading, reading, and more reading and hopefully finishing the Greek Morphemes. A lot of schools in our area are ending, so I'm sort of bumming that we didn't take full advantage of the nice days at the park or zoo while they were still empty and not filled with kids out of school for the summer.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so the girls and I went for a walk around our favorite lake and then they played on the play ground for a very short time. Along the path, we got some glimpses of science/nature with baby geese and wild flowers.

And, this brings us to the weekend which I'll talk about in next week's Weekly Wrap-Up. So far, my plans are to simply finish up on my weekly de-cluttering goals for our basement and move in the direction of beginning to group and price books for an upcoming book sale.