Weekly Wrap-up

Monday- Only two more days until my doctor's appointment with a cardiologist. Geesh! After waiting for a month and almost convincing myself my end was near, I am still here, whew:) Today the home scholars enjoyed afternoon school which included study of the First Vision and the Angel Moroni appearing to Joseph Smith. Peanut and Popcorn planned a Family Home Evening lesson that included both stories thus completing an activity in their Faith in God for Boys booklets.  We wrapped up the lesson with Smiley's cake he made Sunday afternoon.

Tuesday-Home school was fun. We worked on our John Smith unit study for American History. I put together our weekly schedule of lessons, activities, and commitments. The boys were home tonight as it turned out they didn't have Scouts. Sunshine decorated Valentine's cookies for Young Women's and shared one with me when she got home. It was fabulous! At bedtime clothes and school bags were prepped for an early morning as the Littles were going to Grandma's tomorrow.

Wednesday-Early wake up for all. Today is the day Hubby and I go up to the cardiologist to learn more. The Littles woke up easily and were more than ready for a fun day at Grandma's. Cowboy and Sunshine took off to the high school and their after school activities. The trip up was uneventful with varying degrees of nervousness and wondering. The visit itself was quick. Dr. ------- was a friendly young doctor that reassured us after some questioning and a listen to my heart that all was likely well. He suggested "stress" was likely the cause and that exercise along with healthy eating would help in reducing symptoms. As for the extra heart beats unless they get much worse I get to live with them. So ha, I really do beat to my own drum!  We finished up the visit with an echocardiogram which was a goopey experience and a monitor to record my heartbeats for the next 24 hours. I will say that having cords tapes to my skin and attached to what looked like a giant cell phone in my pocket was really odd. The trip home was a relief. Death wasn't impending, yah! But concerns as to how to go about reducing stress was discussed. I think the shocked relief was enough for one day.

Thursday- Hubby went to work and it wasn't a good day. Poor guy, he has a lot on his mind. Cowboy and Sunshine attended school and 4-H club. The Littles enjoyed a morning of glorious sunshine and play while I rested and prayed.  Prayer has been a huge blessing in our lives. So many times we have been guided and found answers to our concerns and needs. By noon it was time to mail back the heart monitor. The rest of the afternoon we worked on our home school lessons and dug deeper into our American History John Smith unit study. Today we started reading The Starving Time which is a journal story of a young girl's experience in Jamestown that first year. Later Hubby and Smiley went to a Town meeting to learn more about Civics and to support our local scouts as they work towards a merit badge. I also discovered tonight that I have been taken off of one of my work schedules for the whole month of March. Honestly, at first I was offended then after thinking about yesterdays doctor visit this may very well be an answer to prayer. Being able to spend more concentrated time at home with the children hopefully will equate out to better results in their school work as well as confidence that Mom is there for them. The loss in pay could be a stretch but I am prayerful the Lord knows what he is doing.


This post was originally started February 9, 2015. Honestly, I don't remember the rest of that weeks details, but since then we have calendared school days, added in unplanned work days and got well into March.

My hopes for March were to regroup mentally and emotionally after allowing Worry and Uncertainty to be too big a part of our family these past months. Good news my heart is fine, a tad too stressed but fine. I have full confidence from my cardiologist that daily physical activity and even a 5K run are within my possibilities. So, in celebration of NOT having a heart attack or a near death experience from stress I bought myself a new pair of running shoes(on sale) and shorts March 14th. The kids and I haven't been to town since before Christmas and a trip to bigger civilization was much needed. As the weather warms up I will start walking with the hopes of working into a 5K by end of summer.

Since mid February we have:
filed state and federal taxes for our home and business
assisted Cowboy in filling out several scholarship applications, whew! and more to do!
filed Cowboy's state and federal taxes
filed Cowboys FAFSA (federal aid program for college funding)
encouraged Cowboy and Sunshine to seek out summer employment
updated our food storage
calendared in March basketball for the "Little's" (3 times a week) the real March Madness!!!!
continued working three part time jobs
Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Young Women's, Family History Center staffing
assisted a sweet elderly friend with her electronic devices
and.....Girl Scout Cookie Season with 1248 boxes of cookies dropped off at our home to distribute to the 11 darlings in our troop.

What I am learning:
The one part-time job continues to not put me on the schedule thus resulting in a more "on call" kind of job. Although, the income is much appreciated the lack of planning and short notice is not. Grandma has enjoyed the days she gets to help with the Littles. She needs that now, but the constant  inconsistency in scheduling is wreaking havoc on our home life and home schooling.

Adding in basketball practices and games for our Littles has been a welcome treat for them as have the two pinewood derbies we attended this month.

I am retiring from Girl Scouts end of summer. I knew this time would come eventually and with Ladybug moving on to Young Women's she no longer desires to continue with Girl Scouts. So, we will wrap it up with some fun outings an awards ceremony and call it done.

Cowboy is graduating in NINE WEEKS.

Sunshine went on her first date and dance. It was an interesting stretch for her quiet reserved self. She did well and the young man was in the same boat for firsts. They both survived:)

We are looking into a possible vacation over Easter break. This is a more get out of Dodge, breather kind of vacation. Hubby was consulted with the option and notified that this would likely be our last chance to have a family vacation before Cowboy goes off to college. The summer work schedules severely cut into any options for a vacation. This revelation and the cost involved apparently unsettled Hubby so we are now waiting for some time to see what he thinks. Although, if he waits too long the trip will be cancelled due to lack of hotel availability.

We are getting a tax return, yeah! Cowboy was approved for financial aid!!! College can really happen for him, yippee!!

Hubby has a lot on his mind. His work is undergoing huge management changes that are mixing up the work environment. He is concerned about our financial situation and my future options for employment as well as the physical effects it has on me/us (ie. health, mom not in the home, kiddos with too much unstructured time, etc...) This too adds to the question of do we stay or go? Job transfer? Job promotion? Change in career? Lots of questions for Hubby and no easy answers.

We need time to help Cowboy finish up the last of the scholarship applications and make sure he registers for the Fall Semester before March 30th! Seriously, what ever happened to registering in the fall?

High School Track, the Play, Senior Ball, Prom, and Sunshine getting her driver's license are on the horizon.

Yes, we do in fact go to bed tired each night!!!!