Busy, Busy

Today I am...

1. getting ready for a garage sale. I said there's a lot more where this came from!
2. reading in blogland.
3. doing some laundry.
4. planning for next week's flea market stuff.
5. trying to my house looking decent even though I am getting a ton of stuff out for the yard sale.
6. running some errands.
7. finding so many grocery sacks. I could probably help about 5 yard sales out with those - they are multiplying like rabbits X 10!!!
8. trying to make sense of myself. I have all these activities going and can't focus on any one thing for any amount of time.
9. wishing I could just figure out how to do one thing, finish it, and move to another before starting something new.
10. trying to make the most of the time I have with my family!

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Flea Market

My husband is accompanying me at the Flea Market (about an hour from home) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays this year. This is my fourth year participating as a vendor at the Flea Market and I have always sat in my booth alone, with the exception for one long 4th of July holiday a couple of years ago.

We are staying in my parents' trailer at a nearby campground. We are getting 2 days/evenings each week of alone time this month. Last week was the first time that we have had any alone time like that since we became parents.

We are beginning to make plans for our "alone activities" (other than the obvious) during the part of the week that we are at home. It is something nice we are looking forward to. Although we both miss Monica and she says she doesn't like being without us those two days, it is something Ken and I have needed for a long time! When you have a stressful medical schedule to follow, you just focus on getting done what needs to be done and then crashing at the end of the day (if its your turn). That doesn't leave much time to just be together and enjoy the company.

Now, we have the chance to learn new things about how we are different and remember what we liked about one another in the beginning. It's something to be thankful for in the midst of trying to find our way as our lives change.

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I'm overwhelmed...

...by the thoughts in my head.
...by the fact that I have gone so long without thinking of something to say.
...by the number of times I have to tell myself, "Just pick something and start!"
...by the clothes on the overflowing closets, drawers, and laundry room.
...by the toys and stuff strewn about the house.
...by the number of boxes in the basement that need dealt with.
...by the lists of things to do running in my brain keeps playing over and over, adding new items each time I run through it.
...by the number of choices I have each day.
...by the thought of not getting my "get up and go" moving.
...by the number of holidays there are throughout the year.
...by the sight of so many of Megan's things around.
...by the thought of needing to do something with those things that differ from the reason we got them in the first place.
...by the number of things I am asked to do each day by my family members.
...by the fact that I have let so many things just lie for so long that now I don't remember what I was doing with them.
...by the number of verses there are in the Bible.
...by my girl's homework.
...by my dog's need for love and affection.
...by the fact that this list is no where near exhaustive and has no sense of order.
...by the number of things I must do each day for my business.
...by the amount of time I have to do those tasks in.
...by the number of minutes to the day.
...by the number of days it has been since I last felt like myself.

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Thoughts

It's hard on the days when Monica is at school and Ken is at work all day.
I am here. alone. with my thoughts.

I don't like noise though.
I want it quiet.
I don't even turn the TV on anymore.

It is especially hard when I don't want to get up.
I have to get up and make someone else (who doesn't want to get up) get up.
Then, we have to fight ourselves and each other to get where we need to go for the day.

I am so looking forward to not having to do that anymore very soon.
Summer is my favorite season.
It's nice out.
This year we get to go places and do things we didn't always get to do.

I have found myself thinking, "Wow! Megan would have really loved this!"
And, then I think, "Wait a minute. No, she didn't! She couldn't when she was here."

I thought I had already mourned the fact that she wasn't a normal child.
But, I find myself mourning it all over again, now that she's gone.

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Blogmania is Friday, April 30th!

Blogmania is over 100 blogs giving away hundreds of gifts...ONE DAY ONLY...April 30th - BLOGMANIA DAY!

I found it through this blog:

There will be links on each participating blog to lead you to the rest of them. All the blogs are giving away packages of prizes, not just a single prize. If I enter 100 giveaways on the same day, I wonder what the odds of winning one of them is? I guess I will find out on Friday and Saturday!

Tomorrow night, get plenty of rest. Get up early Friday, and CLICK, CLICK, CLICK your way to 'Loot Scoopin Mania!' I know I am!

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Worthy of the Prize - Giveaway @ Cap Creations

There's a neat giveaway going on this week at my friend, Cap Creations, blog. The goal at Worthy of the Prize is to encourage people to stay spiritually fit while they are keeping themselves physically fit. They have great key fobs that can be used as a key chain or to keep your fit cards together. There are three types of fit cards: memory cards, devotional cards, and prayer cards. There are 31 cards in each set - one for each day of the month. The giveaway is being listed until next Sunday, May 2nd.

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Junk Out! 2010

This blog carnival is hosted by An Ordinary Mom.


I mentioned last week that, previously, just getting through life was the focus of our household and that we didn't even have the time/energy to look around and notice things that were minor but not the way we wanted for our home.

I also mentioned that one of the things that bothers me the most is the fact that, as a result, my 8-year-old daughter (Monica) doesn't know much about the process of de-cluttering, cleaning, and "earning her keep," LOL!

Since we are working on de-cluttering and cleaning, it would be a shame to let it get back to the way it was, right? I have found a tool that helps parents and children make an agreement about jobs the child is to perform, assigning point values to the daily jobs, and then allowing the child to shop in a reward store once they have earned enough points.

My Job Chart is a FREE interactive, online version of the traditional charts we have made in the past where the child has the chores listed, you mark off the job in some way (stickers, initials, etc.), and at the end of the week they get an allowance or something else.

This online chore chart system has a separate log-in for the parents and the child(ren). The parents are guided through the process of assigning jobs, printing a copy of the completed chore chart with each child's picture (if desired), assigning point values for each job, creating rewards with the number of points the reward costs, and sending messages of encouragement (or otherwise, if necessary) that the child will see when they log in to their account.

My Job Chart even gives good suggestions for jobs that can be assigned as well as rewards that are not necessarily monetary goods. Parents can also make up their own jobs and rewards if they don't see what they want already listed and even upload pictures of the jobs/rewards to encourage the child. My Job Chart can also send parents e-mails saying the child has either finished a job or earned a specific reward.

When the child logs in to their specific account (siblings are not able to access each other's account), the first tab lists each job they are to do and separates them according to the time of day they are to be completed (morning or evening). The next tab shows a list of "extra credit" jobs that the child can do if they want - or are trying to get points for a really big reward. The third tab shows the reward store that has pictures of the rewards and how many points they cost.

This video shows what the child's account looks like.


It only took me about 30 minutes to create an account, select basic jobs that I want Monica to start with, assign their point values, and give her a choice of 5 different rewards to choose from. It was really easy. And, yes, she was actually interested in what we are agreeing to do.

One of the bonuses to this online system is the fact that Monica enjoys computer time and feels like she has somewhere to privately work on her progress rather than look at a poster on the fridge, where anyone can see what she has or hasn't done.

This week will be our first full week implementing this system. I'll tell you if it was effective for us in next week's post. You can sign up here if you want to try My Job Chart to help you and your child(ren) focus on keeping your home de-cluttered and clean so that you can enjoy it more.

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