Thursday: Black belt

I'm about to take my quarterly test in karate, which would be for my pre-black belt.  Normally you stay here for at least six months, because the test doesn't happen as often.  Well, they've decided to change to only offering the test once a year.

For several reasons, several of my belt-mates and I were asked if we wanted to start the black belt testing right away and not really spend any time at pre-black belt.  There are extra practices, but I'm also excited to do it sooner than expected.

*There is a chance it'll fall through for this year, but that would be fine too.  I do this more for the exercise and the journey than the final result.

Wednesday: exercise

While I was exercising this morning Tornado watched me like this.  It looked super uncomfortable.

 I finished all of my chores today, but didn't any 'extra' time to work on O:CtH.  I look forward to it, since it is so satisfying to go from a full mess to an organized less-mess.

Tuesday: ups and downs

Today had its ups and downs with a few odd surprises thrown in.  However, none of it is blog-shareable so you'll have to be content with a mysterious blog post that doesn't satisfy.

I think that the end result of everything is just life as normal.

Monday: a good day

There were a lot of little things that worked today.  Ben had an appointment in the morning.  It usually goes long, and today it was long but not absurdly long.  I went on a walk with a friend.  It was colder out than I expected, but it was still nice to get out.

Isaac had full band practice after school.  Annoyingly, he had to stand out in the cold by parent pick-up before going back inside to go to practice.  I understand why, but at the same time, it seems like they could figure something different out.  There were a bunch of students doing this though, so they could all be cold together.

I cleaned a drawer for O:CtH.  This one was my miscellaneous paper and random other stuff drawer and I had recently put too much paper in it and it was hard to open.  This drawer does get cleaned out regularly, but I still got rid of a bit and put several more papers in a different pile for filing.  I'm not sure I'd call it organized, but it is much emptier.

Sunday: offering

 Tornado has made himself a nest.  I regularly hear him scrunching the paper just so at night time.

Isaac assisted with the offering for the first time today.  I know it isn't a huge deal, but there was someone that thought of him, thought he was mature enough, and then helped him out.

Saturday: car

Ben got a new car today!  While he ordered it back in November, we weren't expecting it until mid-February which made everything feel slightly rushed.  However, all the paperwork easily got finished on time and he was able to get it.

I know it's not a great picture, but I regularly go for quick and easy pictures instead of good pictures.

Friday: friends

We had some friends over tonight.  They include a lot of boys between 7th and 1st grade.  The kids just play though...it's always a bit crazy, but in a good way.

They also went outside for a little bit.  So now the whole yard has footprints around it, but it's perfect.

I had most of the day blocked out for cleaning the house and getting ready, but by 9am I decided that it was good enough.  I did do a bit more cleaning and stuff, but at the same time I was much more laid back.  It was a nice feeling; the house has been staying a little cleaner than normal somehow and it's made life easier several times.  Surprise surprise.