Tuesday: before and after

Before: 

And after:

As I mentioned before, I didn't get rid of a ton of stuff.  It is reorganized so that the bottom shelf holds more of the commonly used items.  I've also used up a few of the items that have been sitting around for a while and we just haven't eaten them.  I'm hoping to do a few more within the next few weeks to help clean it out even a bit more.

Monday

Today I went to help out at kids' food basket.  I always try to sign up for packing lunches and half the time I feel like I end up on food prep.  While the change isn't a big deal I do enjoy doing the lunches more.

I cleaned another cupboard, but the lazy susans I was using were dirty enough that they needed to go in the dishwasher.  So I'll post about the final result later: I was expecting this one to be a more drastic change than what it ended up being.

Weekend

 It's been a busy weekend and we've seen people, but at the same time nothing all that noteworthy has happened.

My amaryllis finally bloomed.  It was a bit late, but I'm still enjoying it.

We did some rock climbing.  Isaac is on the Rockwall of the Week, which tends to have large pieces and is currently above his level.  But you get to sign your name on a piece of paper if you make it to the finish point and they are different than the normal routes so he's been spending a lot of time on them.  I know Joshua looks bored here but I think I just got him at a bad time.  On Saturday Isaac's friend Isis joined us and that was nice.

Thursday: star student

Apparently the latest popular question for the Star Student in Joshua's class is "If you could do anything, what would you do?"  Now, Joshua has already been star student, but he's been thinking about it.  He told me that if he could do anything he'd like to meet God.

And my heart melted a bit.  One of my biggest prayers is that the kids have a relationship with God, so it's nice to know that they think about God outside the adult-led times.

Wednesday: tired

After going to bed early last night I was still tired all day.  It was a poor day to be tired, because it was also busy.

I've had a friend come over some days night before school pick-up and we've been working on a puzzle.  The top edge was surprisingly hard; we ended up taking it apart and working our way up.

Not wanting to do anything else, I worked on a small section of the kitchen.

I didn't change much, but cleaned up the wall and under the cabinets well.  I straightened up some stuff so that it just looks nice too.  I was hoping to avoid any paint, but there are a few spots that really would look better with some touch up.

I only had one girl in my GEMS class this evening, but it was relaxed and pretty nice.

Tuesday: good till the end

Today was a pretty good day.  Mostly normal.  My second class asked more questions during practice time and that made the time go faster.

I did soak my shoes and socks when picking up the kids from school.  There are just too many puddles to avoid.  Then it was piano day.  I took my shoes and socks off during piano, but everything was still wet and blah.

I was doing ok until 8pm.  Something snapped.  I made it through books, but I was done.  'Don't talk to me I need to be alone' done.  (We are reading a fan fiction of Harry Potter where he gets sorted into Slytherin instead of Gryffindor.  I haven't enjoyed reading to the kids this much in a long time.  Not that the kids' books aren't usually good, but this one is holding my attention much better.)

I'm going to bed slightly early because I'm also rather tired.  Things will look up in the morning.

Monday: a hike

 The kids were off today because of MLK day.

I bribed them into a long hike with extra screen time.  They are also both doing something on the switch right now, so it felt like the TV was on especially more than normal today, even if they only had a little more screen time than normal.

Anyway, I think they enjoyed the hike.  Joshua especially enjoyed climbing all over this tree.