That's what somebody's blog list sites as my last writing. How does that happen?!?!? I've been trying sooooo hard to be better about blogging. I have NO IDEA where this past week went. Tuesday is our usual library day but it was SO WEIRD today. We went and returned all of the books that it seemed like we JUST GOT--seriously, it feels like we were just there two days ago, not a whole week! It's been a crazy one, I guess.

I can't remember any of the fun stuff, just the stuff that has occupied most of my time the past week or so. I know that I accomplished all of the time sensitive jobs that were closing in on me: WMB service, Assembly Minutes, Regional Planning Guide, VLB service, and finally Regional Paper. That means a whole lot of time on the computer. In the midst of it all, we managed to pull off five full days of school last week (took Thursday off, but made up for it on Saturday) and both days so far this week. Wa-Hoo! Speaking of school...

Last Wednesday I bumbled into a nice, relaxing morning. I was planning on getting into the same schedule: breakfast, devotions, then right into school. Somehow I ended up taking a nice, leisurely hot bath and roaming the house in my robe until 10:00 instead! And it felt soooooo nice! We had devotions and started school then and it seemed to go so much better than usual. I read on Emilee's blog that night how their family has switched to a later-in-the-day schooling schedule and it pushed me right over the edge. :-) Now we start the day with breakfast and devotions, then the kids run wild outside while I work on housework and other odds and ends. We start school at 11:00, take a short break for lunch, then finish up somewhere between 1:00 and 2:00. And I LOVE it!!! It feels like I get sooooooo much more accomplished this way! Before it felt like school was so consuming and like I lost most of my day to it somehow. This way it fits right in the middle of the day and I've got plenty of time to accomplish other things beforehand and afterwards. What a discovery!!! Strange, isn't it, how even as homeschoolers we sometimes absentmindedly think that we have to do things like public school. Who says you have to shove your kids behind a desk at 8:30 in the morning?! My kids seem to handle school much better when they've had a couple of hours to burn off some energy and just enjoy the day. I think we're all far happier this way. Wa-Hoo!!!

Hhmmm. Like I said, I can't remember what else we've been up to this week. It's been mostly school and all of those computer jobs I mentioned. I knew I was getting close to finishing up on the Regional Paper (the final biggie to be checked off the to-do list), so I snatched The Truth Seeker (the next book in that series) from Sister Galaviz while we were visiting her last night. :-) I finished up on the paper, then read the first 5 chapters of the book last night. I was responsible though and made myself put it down and go to bed at midnight. ~sigh~ It is sooooo fun to be able to relax with a good book, especially when it's a pleasure you seldom afford yourself. Of course, I'm on a roll now and am anxious to go through the rest of the series. It felt like I kind of deserved a good book after getting so much done this past week AND being a good home schooler lady. Today was back to the usual grind: school and laundry instead of school and computerwork! We went to the library and checked out 30+ books this afternoon, then came home and I dove into my book. :-) I let the kids watch a movie tonight and we all had Totino's and Cherry Coke. The kids watched their show while I read my book. What a great night! Ha! We stopped and had devotions and prayed for poor Sister Jamey to have that baby AGAIN (not for her to HAVE it again--we PRAYED for her again! Ha!)--seems like that's been a big prayer around here lately! :-) I put the kids to bed and got right back into the book. I finished up about midnight, I think. Tried to go to bed, but I am sooooo wired. No chance of sleep, so I thought I'd blog real quick--especially since my mother informed me that it had been 5 or 6 days. WEIRD. I still don't know how that happened.

The only drama going on around here has been concerning the fence. It's a long, long story and not a very happy one. In the end, we're getting a nice fence, that our dog can't walk through or stick his head through and be chewed up by the big dogs on the other side, the fence will be in the right place (it's been wrong for YEARS), and it's only costing us the $500 the previous home owner had set back for that purpose. That's all of the good news. The bad news is the strain that the situation has caused with our neighbor. Ugh! I just hate that!!! I can't handle conflict and I SOOOOO want to be a good neighbor and have a good relationship with everybody, you know?! But we just don't have the money in our house budget (we're likely to run out before we get everything done as it is!) to pay big bucks for a really expensive fence like was necessary. They say good fences make good neighbors. I say expensive fences should be built by contractors before anybody owns the houses divided by it so they don't have to struggle over who should pay how much. Mine may not be as concise and catchy as the other one, but it's more accurate!

And I guess that's about it. I think the suspense of that book is finally starting to wear off. (It's a good 'un!) That and the good, happy news I got a little while ago--but that I won't be the one to share. :-) So I'm going to try again to get some rest. And to blog again before 6 days from now! Good grief.