De'Etta's Sanity-Saving Tips for Life

OK - point one and two have been heard often if you are a friend of mine:

1. Do first things first...determine your priority and do it first. Then the most important thing is always done.

2. Do the next thing...just keep plugging along.....

BUT here's the new Christmas TWIST!

3. Make a list....put the IMPORTANT things at top, balanced with the urgent things, keep going...list every little thing you need to accomplish - in order of importance.

4. Tear the list in half...throw the bottom 1/2 of the list away....don't stress.

It works. It was hard to do the portfolio instead of the Christmas cards...but hey... It will be much better for friends and family to get late cards than to have to pay a late fee on the portfolio...and this way I can glean current addresses from friends who send cards etc...because I've still not found the address book on the computer. LOL

Scenes from the Day

Early this a.m. I got a load of bread baked. I need to do this a few more times before next weekend. Deja - THESE are all natural, fresh milled, organic.....

It appears that we have "mice" - what else would account for a nibbled loaf of bread???? ::snort::

Darshia, the tree has a new look - thanks for the idea.

Um...when mom is busy on portfolios you can get permission for nearly anything! Note to self: clarify what is meant when you hear, "Mom can we paint?" ::snort::

I don't do coffee. I used to do tea. Then I began to worry about the caffeine. Deja introduced me to CS mint decaf green tea....but THIS stuff is really, really good. I'm stocking up.

Yeah, I know. I've been told that decaf is worse than caffeine...but the caffeine may trigger my migraines...not sure what to do on this one. LOL

PROJECT NIGHT (Friday Night)

I chose to work on:

Yep, the portfolio. My goal is to have it out of here on Monday. I worked a few hours last night and hours today. I had all the data, not sure what takes so long. I have created a progress report form for the boys this year, but didn't have it last year. I recreated one and added all Jamin's graded work. I had to come up with a chart that would show HOW I arrived at numeric grades for the more non-traditional of classes. We hit on a compromise between pass/fail and numeric that will satsify all. There are a couple of non-traditional classes where 50% of the grade is based on goal setting and attitude....in one class the whole grade was based on that plus logged hours. I had to write course descriptions for the classes that Jamin created. I had to assign number grades to all of Jamin's Christian Writer's Guild assignments.

I need a couple of hours WITH Jamin now to go over everything, gather the extra credit work he's done, grade it and make the final adjustments to his grades etc. We really need time when we are BOTH available, so that I can answer any questions he has and he can find any loose ends I'm searching for. I'm not sure how I'm going to carve that time out before Monday - but I'm going to try!

Family Photos

We took these a few days before Mike deployed in September of 06. Then my computer crashed - but now I'm looking for photos of Krista and Mike and found THESE again....so without further ado here are the most recent family photos we have. The photo IS over a year old.

Girls


Family


Boys


We hope to take a current photo when everyone is home. Family photos are HARD to come by when those children start moving out of state!

Project Night

Tomorrow night is our PWOC project night. I've ordered the food. Now what should project should I work on?

Continue transferring photo albums

Jamin's Portfolio

Christmas Letter/cards

Put photos in 2 years of Christmas ornaments

I'm trying to decide what is urgent and what is important or if I just want to take a book and read!

Gingerbread Galore

Mom, correct me if my memory is failing. I don't ever remember making Gingerbread houses or men. I don't think it was a big deal in Liberia or Mindanao. ::snort::

I have a friend who used to make nativity scenes out of gingerbread each year. I was impressed. We tried a few simple houses a couple of yars. They looked like they had survived earthquakes.

A couple of years ago I discovered Wilton kits. These we can do.

While the older ones worked on the house, I gave Stacia a Gingerbread man to decorate.

She tired of that!

Then she tasted the gingerbread and said, "YUCK"

Note that she IS clothed today!

Arielle's Day Out!

We weren't sure if we'd have time to fit another shopping day in today as I have to have the boys across town by 1:15 for their ministry volunteering.

I got up early. I did some online shopping - when there were no nosey eyes on my screen (our computers are all side by side). My ankles have been sore and I thought about skipping a work out. I don't want to go down that route; it would be far to easy to do now that I've quit Curves. I think that jogging every day AND the shopping marathon has been too much. I found another DVD that looked like less bouncing and popped it in. I did 40 minutes of Prevention's 3-2-1 workout. I'd bought these in a pack at Sam's club for about $15. Variety is good.

By the time Arielle got up I'd worked out, done the online shopping, mailed out a few bills and thought we might be able to get most of her shopping done. She wanted a leisurely lunch with me and so I promised her if we were rushed that I'd go out to lunch with her on another day when Mike was home to watch Stacia. The boys don't do Stacia's diapers. We left at 9 a.m.

Arielle wins the shopper of the season award! Wow. What a pro. She had a list like Jamin's. She knew what she wanted for each person and which stores we needed to go to. She had many more left to buy for than Jamin had - and did it in the same amount of time. She wins. LOL

We hit Walmart - where they know my name. We ran to Sam's club. We ran to the mall. I have been listening to comments all week such as "Don't you have school today young man?" Imagine my surprise to find 3 BUS LOADS of YOUNG students at the mall. They were on a "field trip". This bothers me on many levels. My tax money is paying for a shopping trip to the MALL? I doubt there was ONE child in the group which hadn't been to the mall before. They were young - 1st - 4th grade children.....they were NOT with any adults. This is dangerous. I can't imagine allowing Nolan (my 8 yo) to go to the mall alone and the mall was full of them! Do parents know that their children were going to be running unattended in the mall? THEN there was a bus of high school students as well. I couldn't believe it. We had fun - but we were shocked.

We ducked into a booth to take our photos and then I REMEMBERED - I had a digital camera. I took a shot of Arielle for free. LOL


Ah HA - lunch! Arielle chose Chick Fil A. We were done shopping and ready to eat by 11:00. TWO HOURS to buy for 10 people! She's a PRO. We got to watch Cy in action. They were slammed hard as all these children were getting lunch at the mall.

Arielle with her loot

The real reason Arielle chose Chick Fil A?

I had the Southwest Salad. Yum. This is not a commerical. It had a mixture of greens, blackened corn, black beans, cherry tomatoes, sunflower seeds, and SEASONED grilled chicken. The dressing is ON THE SIDE and was fat free. That makes this the winner of this week's salad competetion.

Arielle saved the last little bit of shake for ME. I was sucking and sucking and not getting a thing. I commented that there must be a big oreo stuck in the straw.....when I found out the little stinker had stuck the straw in the cherry! ::snort::

We were home by 12:30 and have the afternoon to do other things...like wrap gifts.