Holy Cow! I am STILL sick. When will this crud end? It feels like I have been sick forever and three days already. Nonetheless, I cannot devote any more of my life to this whatever-it-is, and it’s time to bust a move. Not that I have been sitting on my laurels. Oh, no.

I have gone to Mama’s house everyday that she has been off or even gotten off early and I have beaded my wee bitty fingers to the bone. I have accumulated quite a bit of salable product, even though I haven’t listed any of it on the jewelry page. I had actually planned to open an etsy shop soon, but have decided to hold off until after the Craft Show, and see how that goes first. I think I said most of this last Friday, but I was kinda feverish then still.

Two of the schoolers started new Ambleside years today, and Country started Year 5, Term 3. Speaking of Country, she needs some help with an algebra assignment. Guess that means I am done here, at least for now.

I just wanted to post a quick reminder that time is running out to enter the giveaway for Tweed. The deadline is Thursday at midnight, so if you’ve been meaning to enter, but kept putting it off, you might want to do that now.

That’s it for right now. For some reason, my husband actually expects me to educate his children if I am not shelling peas and beans or organizing major parts of the house. The nerve of that man, right?

Speaking of vegetables, all those nice lesson plans I write for the next 12 weeks a couple of weeks ago, have fallen to the wayside. Well, not completely, but we are not quite current with them. It’s ok, because we already had in 120 school days for this calendar year before I write them, and that also means the quota for the school year that started last summer is met. We’re still pressing on because I have a more ambitious agenda for us this year. And in truth, the children are not as behind as I am, because they have done school on days I wasn’t able to check them out due to working the produce. Which is a really good thing, considering my mother is planning to come here tomorrow with THREE BUSHELS of something to freeze.

Better get stitching, huh? I mean schooling. Schooling, that’s right.

Wow. I must have thought I was writing lesson plans for Wonder Woman’s children! I know it’s only the second day of the term, and we’ll adapt to the new load, but it seems like all I have done all day is school! Oh, and change my sheets. And cook. But only twice, because Diva made lunch.

*break to vacuum the walkway, re-sweep the kitchen and remove banana peel from window sill*

Hmm. Seems like I am a homeschooling mom after all. With seven kids at home. Dang. That’s a lot of food and dirt, ya’ll.

that I now totally understand why public school teachers have work days? Becasue writing lesson plans with The Wiggles and assorted squabbling in the background takes a lot of concentration, and not a little self control.

and not just for me!

Since January first, we have logged 126 school days. I said we needed to get back on track, and we have really been diligent with that. I’m proud of us. And also, we are taking next week off. I need to write more lesson plans, and I have a couple of students who need to catch up in math, and it. is. time.

And I am NOT going to spend all my free time cleaning the house, either.

It’s amazing the things I forget, even after all the knitting I’ve done. And everytime I forget something, I have to do a bit of ripping. Today, I forgot which way k2tog leans. Well, the answer is: not the way I need these decreases to go. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiip! The good news is that I had not gone very far, so I didn’t have to rip back very much. And now, I am over halfway done with the other back of Skimmer, thanks to a school day that lasted forever.

I was surprised really, that I didn’t get any knitting or reading done while we were camping this past weekend. I thought I would have long stretches of free time. I made a fatal error there. I forgot that I am still the Mama around here, LOL! Even camping, ther e are no long stretches of free time for Mama. The closest I came was the eveining I was getting increasingly frustrated because the kids were firing off requests so rapidly that I couldn’t get one answered before another started talking. I just excused myself and walked into my room with my timer and a magazine. 15 minutes later, I emerged, ready to answer them, though I still made them take turns, LOL.

So, I was looking at my family the other day, as they were eating, (Haha, nine people live here, so someone is ALWAYS eating.) and I really started thinking about what I feed them. I am back to using the food pyramid for myself, because I just feel so much better when I eat that way. It’s plenty of food and I don’t end up feeling bloated, and I have energy– stamina– the ability to keep on going like the energizer bunny. And yet, I let my family eat however, whatever. Yeah, cause I am smart, and I thought it would seem like deprivation to them if I “made” them eat a little healthier.

So, anyway, I talked to dh, and we decided it would really benefit the whole family to have a healthier diet. It will be better for our hearts and lungs, our immune systems, and hopefully our tempers and ability to concentrate. But that health thing is a biggie. Do you know that sudden cardiac arrest kills 900 people per day? That’s just crazy, because it’s mostly preventable through diet! St. Jude’s has put together a website that explains abnormal heart rhythm and there are a couple of videos as well. Sudden Cardiac Arrest and The Human Heart (hey, that second one would be great for science for the younger kids– we may watch that on Tuesday).

Oh, I don’t think the kids will be suffering too much. We’re camping this weekend (yeah, and I am in here on the computer, because…………I am silly, that is why), and we’ll be having hotdogs for lunch. Ha, nothing new there, we eat hotdogs every Saturday. This week, though, they are coming with a little surprise–instead of 2 hotdogs, we’ll have one hotdog and some carrot sticks. Because, do you know how much protein we need a day? Six ounces. Do you know how much we were eating? Twice that. Easily. I love these guys, I want them to live long, healthy lives, and enjoy eating every day of those long healthy lives. That means I need to teach them about good food choices NOW.

So, uh, Country, she has a paper to write for school this week. She has elected to type it in Word. And when she has made her final corrections, she is going to email it to me. My daughter is now emailing her work to me. Welcome to my brave new world.