Current Events

There's nothing really special going on here today and I thought it was time for another update, so here you go...

Knitting:  Mandie and Caleb's afghan is moving along, although slower than I'd like.  As of last night, it was 14 inches long and is starting to feel like I might actually finish it someday.  It makes my hands hurt to knit for too long, so I've been breaking it up into several small knitting sessions instead of one long one each day.  Seems to be working so far!
I've pretty much put my sock knitting on hold, so no update on the Mockery socks.  Sock #1 is still at the heel turning.

Pookie asked me this morning to knit him some fingerless mitts like the ones I made for Midge last year.  He knew exactly what he wanted - black with rainbow stripes, a little tighter than Midge's, but just as long.  He was so disappointed when I told him they'd have to wait! 

School:  The Boy is doing very well with American School (correspondence high school) and has an average grade of about 95%.  He's completed a couple of courses, including Essential Math.  He just sent in his final for that class and he was at 99% before, so I expect he'll finish the class in the high 90s.

*proud Mom face*

The other kids are doing very well, too.  Scooter is nearly ready to start high school and we'll very likely enroll her at American School, too.  I thought about reusing The Boy's books and just designing my own exams, but one of the big benefits of American School is the diploma.  If we reuse the books, she'll get a good education, but not a diploma.  She can still take the GED, but it's not quite the same thing, you know?

Pibb will be starting fifth grade very soon - probably in the next six weeks.  We're just slogging through the last of the 4th grade book and making sure he understands some of the math concepts before we push on to the next level. 

A project I'm really excited about is history timeline binders.  Each kid gets a three ring binder, with divider tabs for different time periods.  Inside each divider we'll make a timeline and then do pages with more information about the individual entries.  We're going to start them this coming week, so look for more details in a future post.

Midge is still struggling with reading, but I took him in yesterday for an eye exam and now I think I know why it's been so hard for him.  The doctor said that he can see clearly, but its hard for him, so he's putting so much effort into just seeing the letters that he doesn't have enough focus left to really be learning the sounds.  I ordered him some reading glasses and I'm looking forward to seeing just how much better he does with them.  

Bryant's job:  He's been at his current job for about six months and it's going really well.  He's traveling a lot, taking classes and teaching classes.  In fact, I suspect he's working on the slides for his class this afternoon right now!

*proud wife face*

Household:  Have you seen the movie The Money Pit with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long?  Yeah, that's kinda how it feels lately...

A few weeks ago, our heater died.  The estimate to replace it was far more than we could afford at the time, but between scrimping together what we could and a personal loan from a great couple, we were able to order a replacement last week.  It was installed a few days ago and while the new system is significantly smaller than the old one, it is far more efficient and should do a much better job.

Almost immediately after the heater crapped out the kitchen ceiling started to leak like crazy.  The roof over the kitchen/garage join has been problematic pretty much from the beginning of time and it's really just given up the ghost now.  So we're going to rebuild the roof in that spot, then put in some flashing and new shingles.  Plus, we'll insulate the atticway to help avoid the ice dam problem. 

However, the roof leaking has damaged the kitchen ceiling enough that it needs to be replaced.  But, the people who installed the ceiling didn't seem to know what they were doing, so replacing the ceiling means replacing the walls, which means replacing the kitchen cabinets, countertop, etc... 

Late in the summer we'll be gutting the kitchen and replacing pretty much everything but the floor.  Oh, and we're keeping out fridge and stove as they are both pretty new. 

As much as I hate having to spend so much money, I'll be happy to have a kitchen that is a little more up to date and that I can choose colors, materials, etc... 

Oh, and our current kitchen has almost no electrical outlets, so we'll remedy that, too!

Craftiness:  I'm currently planning three parties (one in April, one in May, one in September) and I'm loving it!  I've been whipping up sample invitations, party favors and decorations like crazy.  I'm tempted to post all my projects here, but then when it's time for the parties, there won't be any surprise left!  So I think I'll hold off on posting too many projects, at least for right now. 

I will say this, though - I went to Michael's yesterday and bought a pad of 180 sheets of scrapbook paper and I had to force myself to sit down and work on school stuff instead of just playing with it all morning!

What have you been up to lately?