Kate from A to Z

Just trying to get *something* posted so I'm copying Rhi because I'm uninspired at the moment.

A. Age: 40.  And I'm actually totally OK with announcing it.


B. Bed size: King - A horribly uncomfortable King that we need to return to Costco.

C. Chore that you hate: Mopping the floor.

D. Dogs: One - Tessa, a black lab mix we adopted about 3 years ago from the shelter.  She is our resident cat herder (I have 4).
E. Essential start to your day:  Multiple cups of coffee.

F. Favorite color:  Red

G. Gold or Silver:  Silver.

H. Height:  Just a smidge under 5' 9".

I. Instruments you play: The piano. Although I've always wanted to play the cello.

J. Job title:  Health Unit Coordinator.

K. Kids:  Two - Sam is 9 1/2, Zoe 6 1/2

L. Live:  In a big red house on 5 acres in the country.

M. Mother’s name:  Darys.  Unusual, I know.  Her father's name was Daryl, so they took off the "L" and added and "S".

N. Nicknames:  Kater

O. Overnight hospital stays:  4 that I can recollect.  The first was when I was about 10. I had some type of liver infection. Second was when I had my tonsils out at the age of 29.  Then 3rd and 4th were when I had the kiddos.
P. Pet peeves:  Wet and/or messy countertops.  Lazy people.

Q. Quote from a movie:  "You gonna do something, or just stand there and bleed?"
R. Right- or left-handed: Right

S. Siblings:  Two older sisters.

U. Underwear:  Let's just suffice it to say I have several different styles:  daily kind, workout kind, sleeping kind.
V. Vegetable(s) you hate:  Peas. I'd say squash and brussel sprouts but I'd have to confess that I haven't really had them as an adult.
W. What makes you run late:  Getting up late after working the night before, forgetting something at home and having to go back for it.

X. X-Rays you’ve had:  Knees, hand, elbow

Y. Yummy food that you make:  I make killer chicken & black bean enchiladas, lemony garlic roasted potatoes, broccoli salad, banana bread.....there's alot of yummy things I make!

Z. Zoo animal:  Tigers.  And otters. 

Sunny

Today was one of those rare February days:  gloriously sunny and about 55°.  There was still a crisp and light quality to the air that is reminiscent of early Spring, but still, it was HEAVEN.  There was a brisk breeze that kept me from truly feeling warm, but the sun streaming in the windows was a treat.

Well, actually the sun streaming in my windows illuminated exactly how dirty my windows were so I found myself cleaning the insides of several of the windows. Then I noticed that the sun also lit up the fine haze of dust on my counters and dining room table.  So I wiped those down. And the floors always need to be done, so I swept and vacummed.  And since I was tidying things up, I went ahead and changed my sheets.  I wasn't going to hog all the sunshiny cleaning fun, so I shared the joy with the kids and let them empty the garbages, pick up their scattered things, unload the dishwasher and fill the woodbox. 

We made a quick trip to the store and library, then came home and worked on dinner.  The sunshine demanded that the BBQ be put back to use, so it was decided that dinner would be a Greek theme.  Souvlaki chicken, Greek salad and lemony garlic roasted potatoes.  My dad came over to join us, after I extended the invitation to him earlier in the day, and we had a nice dinner.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I LOVE THE SUNSHINE.  I'm always amazed at the difference in makes in my energy level and my productivity.  Man, if I lived somewhere sunny, there's no telling what I'd accomplish.  :)

Homeschoolin'

This is my second full year of homeschooling and I've noticed lately when I think or talk about it, it suddenly feels comfortable.  Very quietly, the feeling of being at peace, of knowing I'm doing the right thing, of feeling this is normal and not some temporary aberration, has stolen over me.  It's as much a part of our lives now as going to work or cooking dinner. I don't know if I'll ever feel like it's a cake walk, but I no longer feel any inner turmoil about whether I should be doing this or whether I'm doing enough.

At the start of the year, I was still in turmoil partially because I'd gotten Sam's MSP scores from the previous year.  And he didn't pass.  Not by much, but still.  And it bothered me.  As I'm sure many parents feel, when our kids fail at something we blame ourselves.  Yet at the same time I was berating myself for not doing a good enough job teaching him, the other side of my brain was suggesting that maybe Sam just didn't test well, that he hurried through it due to lack of interest, and that his teachers had no concerns whatsoever with where he was at.  All those thoughts were reinforced during my first meeting with his teacher in November.  Mr. N. said the exact same thing - kids are not test scores.  He reaffirmed what I already knew:  Sam is very bright, very quick and when he cooperates and is interested, he's a freaking wizard.

This year, Zoe started Kindergarten so I am schooling two instead of one.  She would probably do just fine in a traditional school setting, but then again, she's a little girl.  But I'm not having my kids on two different schedules, in two different schools.  And I'm certainly not sending her to the school that Sam went to.  I'm happy to report, she is doing splendidly here at home.  She's zooming through her work and making great progress.  She's a very eager learner (most of the time) and seems to be especially loving math right now.  I'm pretty sure she'll finish up the Kindergarten level work before the end of the year.

One of my biggest complaints about this whole endeavor is just not having enough TIME.  I work several evenings a week, so schoolwork has to be done before I leave.  And because I work several evenings a week, it doesn't leave me a whole lot of time to really plan.  I could spend several hours every Sunday evening getting our week planned out, researching things, printing out stuff, and hunting down fun games, projects, etc.  But I just don't have the TIME.  I mean, I could hole up in my office on the nights I'm home and completely neglect my family and house, but that wouldn't do anybody any good.  So for now, we piece it together day to day. 

This is how our day has looked today:  I woke up about 8:45am, the kids were already up watching cartoons.  I drank my coffee and woke up, they played and watched TV.  Then about 10:00am, I made them some breakfast and they got started on schoolwork.  Sam started with English, learning about singular and possessive plural nouns.  Zoe occupied herself with drawing in her journal.  They took a 15 minute break, then came back and worked on Math.  I went back and forth between them, providing direction and help as needed.  Then Zoe moved on to practicing her handwriting in a dry-erase book, while Sam did his reading comprehension exercise and his spelling practice.  Meanwhile, I puttered in the kitchen, making some homemade granola and cleaning up breakfast stuff.  Currently, they are playing in the living room, shooting each other with Nerf guns.  We'll call that PE.  While I'm in the shower, Sam will do his phonics work, a page from his Map Skills, a logic puzzle and possibly some writing.  Zoe will also do her phonics work and maybe a sequencing exercise.  (Yesterday we didn't get a lick of work done because I had a doctor's appt so we're doing a bit extra today.)  When I'm done in the shower, I'll have the kids clean their bathroom, and we'll call it a day since I have to head to work.

It's been a full day but pretty typical. 

Getting back on the horse

I think almost daily about this space that I possess, where I once wrote and recorded the minutiae of my life.  Then that minutiae buried me and Facebook became easier.  But Facebook doesn't keep the same record a blog does.  So, here I am, yet again, trying to get back on the proverbial blogging horse.

I changed the name of this space, not because my life is no longer crazy, ho ho, NO.  But because I am in constant pursuit these days.  It ties in with my all-time favorite quote (see the side bar ---->).  The pursuit I am talking about is not the kind where you're desperately chasing something that is getting away from you.  Instead, I'm talking about pursuing something.  And in my case, pursuing MANY things.

I turned 40 last summer and it was like it flipped a switch in me.  All of a sudden, I felt like things came very sharply into focus, or at least more focused than they'd ever been.  The things I wanted to do, who I wanted to be, HOW I wanted to be, how I wanted to use my time and talents.  There's just so much I want to do that it suddenly all just clicked that NOW IS THE TIME.  GO, GIRL.   And so, here I am, exhausting myself in the glorious pursuit of my life.

I set some goals for 2012 - some ambitious (run 400+ miles), some pretty mundane (repaint master bath), and some that are more To-Do's than goals (build garden boxes).  Some are silly (get another tattoo), some are for personal satisfaction (get family photos taken).    But aside from those that I wrote down, I really just want to push myself this year.  I want to find out what I'm capable of. 

One of my blogger crushes, Beth, wrote something today about runners that I think is so true:  "Running is expansive – it opens you wider than you thought you could go. It gives you courage and confidence to tackle other parts of your life that might otherwise feel unmanageable or impossible." 

I swore for years I hated running, couldn't do it, had no desire to do it.  And yet somehow at 38, I discovered I loved running.  I was amazed that I could train myself to do something that was SO hard and that I had previously thought impossible.  I'll be honest, it hasn't been easy.  I've never worked as hard at anything (other than parenting) as I have at becoming a runner.  But it's proved to me that I can do hard things and that it is worth it.  Doing something so physically challenging, rather late in the game, has opened my eyes to a whole world of possibilities. No longer is anything out of reach, because by George, if I can drag my almost 40 year old body through 13.1 miles, who knows what I'm capable of!

On that note, I'm going to drag my exhausted body to bed.  Because tomorrow is a whole 'nother day full of pursuits.