March - in like a lion, out like a lamb. In like a lamb, out like a lion? This year I believe it is in like a lion, out like a lion. The fierce roar of winter is still being felt here across the Dakotas. Thank the Lord we were spared again down in our little southeastern corner. Sure, we had a bit of snow, it's cold, the sun hasn't been shining for a bit, but we're dry. No flooding in our neck of the woods, no blizzards to report, and green grass and flowers are on the horizon. Okay, maybe the distant horizon, but they'll be here, I know they will.

Today was the day to install the work computer - YEAH! Brad was able to get his displaced computer moved back to his office and the new one is ready to be up and running at the front desk tomorrow. Thank goodness for tech support to load our business software, hook up our printers, and get us ready for the day, all through remote access to our computer. That is so bizarre to click on a name on a screen and have them assume control of the mouse and just sit and load information onto your hard drive. I guess it is a good thing we trust these guys as they are accessing important and confidential information! But, I so appreciate them and know that my work with them is not done. Tomorrow, they will continue to add a few more components so I can hopefully do billing and insurance payment entry by the end of the week!

My goal this afternoon was to also get to a stack of folders, and I have to say that I successfully filed a nice little stack. It was enough to give me a sense of accomplishment to a small degree, and keep me motivated to continue to plow through the piles. I also was able to pass along the bathroom cleaning duties at the office to a new person today, so the stress of figuring out how to get them cleaned sufficiently a few times a week has now been lifted as well. It inevitably happened that the day after I would clean the bathrooms, we would have rain, or snow, or something to cause the floors to get all muddied up and ruin the overall appearance. It shouldn't be that difficult to get in to town and find the time to clean them, but between teaching and other work responsibilities, that seemed to always weigh heavy on my mind. I trust now that the job will be done more thoroughly and timely, so I am pleased with the outcome of this change.

School has seemed to suffer the past few days as we sort through the details of all our responsibilities, and fight off the spring/cabin fever. As we wind down and finish a few of our subjects, I have a hard time adding in double lessons or something else to keep us on track. My goal by the end of this week is to map out the rest of our year, see when we need some time off, and work our schedule around it so I can feel good about completing our subjects in a timely, but thorough manner. Jacob finished Teaching Textbooks, Math 7 today, so I am reviewing the TT Pre-Algebra program - but it is spendy! Yikes. I don't want him out or away from math too long, so we will be incorporating some daily practice after giving him the rest of the week off for a job well done.

That's the wrap up for the day - my computer is on backorder so it was delayed yet another week, so we'll just sit tight for awhile where we're at.

Hope you all have a good night!

I've decided to try a new thing today and see if it is a better fit for me. While I do like Peggy's Simple Woman's Daybook, I thought I would try Sandra's for awhile. I like that it lists some things that I can reference back to, plus adds the prayer list and scripture verse element. So, without further ado...

On my bedside table:
Taste of Home magazine
The Love Dare

On my TV (to be watched...):
Dancing with the Stars - recorded (we've only watched one episode!)
Survivor

On the menu for tonight:
Chicken Saltimbocca

On my To Do List:
Set up work computer tomorrow
Continued organization of office/schoolroom
Sort through bathroom closet on main floor
Research summer programs for kiddos

New Recipe I tried last week:
Oatmeal brulee with ginger cream

In the craft basket:
Mending some overly loved stuffed animals
Remaking long pajama pants into pj shorts for momma

Looking forward to:
Getting through what is hopefully the last snowstorm of the season

Homemaking Tip for this week:
Have you ever noticed that there are little tabs at both ends of your saran wrap? Push them in to hold the roll in place so the roll doesn't come out when you pull out the wrap

Favorite Blog Post of the week (mine or other):
I really enjoyed the scripture reflection by Barbara this week


Favorite photo from last week (well, actually a couple of weeks ago):


Lesson learned the past few days:
Jesus was betrayed by Judas by a kiss - one of the most intimate forms of communication; We are often betrayed by the ones closest to us, but Jesus knows how this feels. He also showed grace to his enemies by immediately repairing the ear of the servant to the high priest immediately after it was cut off. I, too, need to show grace to those who hurt or wound me.

On my Prayer List:
Flood victims of North Dakota/Minnesota
Baby Stellan
Our church leaders

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
I John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

For more Happy Homemaker posts, please linke back to Sandra!
Have a great day in the Lord!

Why do the weekends go so fast, especially when you have so much to get done? I am sitting in my office/school room and staring at what seems like a hundred manila folders strewn about on the floor. Oh, it looks like they are organized in nice little stacks, but unfortunately being stacked does not mean they have been sorted through. The vast majority of the files are work related, and consist of reports, billing, follow up insurance needs, pending responses, unpaid claims, unpaid accounts, and so forth. Throw in some school work to be filed, a bunch of recipes I have printed from a number of your sites (thank you!), future bible study papers, art work by kiddos, and I have a menagerie of items to complete. Now, what you must understand is that earlier today, this was ALL on my desk! It was in piles that were defying the laws of gravity. The reason they were on my desk is because LAST weekend I put them on the floor to work on, and my wonderful dh decided on Thursday that he wanted to vacuum the floor in this room. Now, seriously, who can fault a man who wants to vacuum???? So, I picked them all up and put them on my desk, mirroring the Leaning Tower of Pisa x 2, and now today, meant to scale and conquer the great mountain of paperwork.
It has really gotten away from me. That tends to happen by this time of the school year. So now, I have the itch to get it all put away - before the computer comes, before I lose any more floor space, before the carpet needs to be vacuumed again.

Now. I know what you're thinking...this really doesn't look all that bad, right? Notice how I did not scan the room, how I strategically placed my chair to cover the remaining piles on my desk, how I did not use a wide lens to capture all that is wrong with the picture. I could have been one of those cartoons, in which you count the ten things that are wrong...but the number would have been too high.

So, anyway, you will be UNhappy to know that all of these file folders have been now neatly stacked and are completely organized (into one pile) back on my desk, where they came from in the first place. There is too much risk of keeping them in the semblance of order they do have with a full school day on deck tomorrow. I decree, however, with a bit of luck, and a Tuesday afternoon and evening solely devoted to work this week, these papers will diminish. Somehow, someway, I will prevail!!!

Until then, off to view the weather and see if that snowstorm is still heading our way.

God bless!

Well, again, the overwhelming urge to finish a job that had been started, not completed, deleted, thought upon, and analyzed completely encompassed me this evening as I move to a new blog design. And, while I decided I couldn't give up until I was able to figure this out, I am giving up now and will add more buttons, gadgets, and fun tomorrow.

All good things must come to an end, and thus, my evening is now over.

So much for the book - but, at least I have something else to look at now...

Tonight I thought I would try my hand at following some directions to change my blog to something more "me". Sure, I changed a few things, got a new background, but realized a bunch of stuff was out of whack and I'm too computer illiterate to figute out how to fix 'em. So, I reverted back to my old blog (thank goodness for saving it!) and all the blogs that I follow were gone. I had to recreate and find all of you again...Of course, somewhere along the line, I want to try this again, but how do I keep that list from deleting?

Anyway, at this point, boring is going to have to do. I am sure I missed a few of my faves, so hopefully I can find you all soon.

In the meantime, I'm off to bed with a book...

The sneezing from the overload of dust has subsided, and the spring cleaning frenzy is underway. My dh was originally planning on taking a golf trip with some of his friends this week, but due to weather conditions, an eye infection, and a number of other commitments, he decided to stay put with us. While I am sad he didn't get to go play golf, I am so happy to have him home with us and we made the most of it yesterday as he took a mental health day and worked on some projects.

So, we tackled the elusive master bedroom closet. We sorted clothes, made piles for Goodwill, added rags to the rag bag, and threw away a lot of worn out shoes! It is amazing what we keep over time...I find I wear only a few outfits during the week, unless I have to leave the house! I hate to admit it but some things had been thrown in a bag and left for naught deep in the recesses of the closet, dating back to breast feeding days. So, if you want to do the math, my baby is 6 years old...Yikes! I'm not going to say that my closet hasn't been cleaned in that amount of time, because it has. It has been vacuumed, dusted, resorted, and reorganized. BUT, I'll admit, I have always thrown the bags back under the clothes because I didn't want to sort and deal with the contents. NOT THIS TIME! Nothing will go unsorted or without a home. A proper home. I will organize and conquer.

I'm without a car today so I have no choice but to stay put and get 'er done. My plan is to finish the master closet and my dresser drawers (the top two are left to sort out - HATE those two drawers....) :) My other biggest nemesis - jewelry. I don't have a special drawer available or anthing to lay out my necklaces, so I'm trying to find a creative and efficient way to store them. Any ideas would be appreciated!!

For today, then, I am going to finish our bedroom, and hopefully move to my office/school room. Once again, it is WAY out of control. Maybe I'll snap some before and after pics, but I might be too embarrassed to post them.

Need to finish up some schoolwork first before I can be free to be cleaning. All that stands between me and my dustrag are some cell processes, composition memoirs, spelling tests, and a literature discussion.

Have a great day everyone! God's blessings for a day filled with joy and contentment.

Do you ever feel like things just hit you one after another? Like once you start the snowball, it's hard to stop the momentum from carrying you away? Once the sadness hits, or the frustration, you can immediately fall into a "poor me" cycle, and fail to see the joy and beauty all aound?

Seems like some days are like that. Satan wants to hit us when we're down. We have the joy of Jesus in our hearts, but often times we feel the weight of the world on our shoulders. Praise the Lord that Jesus has overcome the world by his death and resurrection. Now, it is our role to CHOOSE joy. It is a choice to make. We can wallow in the depths of our despair, or we can cry out to Jesus to uplift and uphold us.

We are not struggling with life threatening issues...we are simply being hit with the day to day mundane items of life which afflict us all. But, I am choosing joy today. I am choosing to find the good in the bad. I am rejoicing in health, happiness, having enough, wanting for little, the love of family, forgiveness, freedoms unlimited, choices, opportunities, peace, and plenty. I am standing on the promises of God, my Savior. He is consistent, never changing, all-knowing, and ever faithful. He is our rock, our strength, our everything. I love the verse in II Corinthians 2:20-22, where Paul states, "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ...He annointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guranteeing what is to come." In this crazy economy, and with all the harm the world is seeking to put on our children, we can be assured of this...The deposit of the Holy Spirit will not go unredeemed. This is something we can bank on.

Now that is security in an unsecure world.

Praise the Lord for that!

As I close, please join me in fervently praying for little Stellan and his family as they travel through this journey, moment by moment. They are a witness to many despite the burdens they are bearing at the present time. May God continue to bless and keep them in his care, and all of you as well.