Staying Busy

I had a fairly good, somewhat productive week. At Scouts Monday we made some decisions about camping dates and financing the Pack newsletter. On Wednesday I got sit to in on a 2^nd interview for an interim pastor (that was interesting). On Friday we got hang out with other families from our church and make plans for future get-togethers.

On the home front, the kids have new inspiration to do their chores and pick up after themselves. They have a terrible habit of not putting away DVDs, Play Station CDs, music CDs, Game Cube disks, etc… I ended up with stacks of disks sitting around, so I took them all away. (Rainbow, you gotta love that. You can tell Jurnee just how mean I really am.) The boys think I threw them all away, but I am a little more $ conscience than that. The only disks they have any access to are the ones that had been put in their cases. (I took away at least 100 disks, and they are left with almost none.) We do have easy cases to put these away in. We have a kids movie case/binder, a music case/binder, a Play Station storage system….you get the idea. Anyway, I boxed up all these disks that were just lying around, and have it safely tucked away. The boys have been told that if they do their chores all week, pick up after themselves, and keep their rooms clean, they may each ask for one disk back each week. They will have to build a new habit of taking care of that one disk properly, and may s-l-o-w-l-y earn back their movies, etc… Jeff also said that the boys will not get to go through the disks and pick one out; they will need to think of one they're missing and ask for it. I like that idea.

We also had a chance to revisit our schooling habits. That was fun, Monday was a challenge for Tyler, and he actually ended up having to stay home from Scouts because he hadn't finished his schoolwork yet. The rest of the week went smoothly.

I have reached the point where I am ready to get rid of just about all the "stuff" we aren't using. I had a chat with the boys about good stewardship, and how the Lord wants us to take proper care of what He has given us. We talked about not being able to enjoy our stuff, because it's too high maintenance right now. We talked about quality of life, about fairness, about helping each other, and about respect and kindness. We also established some new rules; including sleepovers are limited to two non-consecutive weekends per month. They are no longer allowed to go hang with their friends nor have friends over if their rooms aren't clean. Most impressively, this was all decided with calm, cool heads and it was unanimously declared fair.

Then, last night at dinner I did something I don't remember ever doing before. I announced that I had made dinner, and I had served dinner, but I would not be cleaning it up. Know what? I didn't. Well, mostly I didn't. I did end up washing the griddle and frying pan, but I didn't load the dishwasher or clear the table. Yay! With a little more practice I may not end up doing the pans.

After everybody had gone to bed, I got it into my head to clean the bathroom, and make sure the rest of the house was picked up and presentable. It didn't take long, and I felt the need to do it. This morning, before we left for church, I told everybody to make sure they picked up any messes because I wanted to come home to a clean house. Well, when we got home, my mother-in-law was just pulling up out front. My brother-in-law and his family came about 45 minutes later. It was sure nice to not be the least bit worried about how the house looked. So, there's a praise God! The boys all deserve a pat on the back, too.

Jeff is still not back on his normal shift. I'm not entirely sure when that will happen. He's been the night driver since Sept. 2003, so we're pretty used to that schedule. It's this day-shift he's been working since his heart attack that's thrown us off.

Thank you for your input on the driver's license issue. I have warned her that I'm going to give her a list. The thing is she's not slightest bit concerned about being entirely dependent on a man. In fact, I think she rather likes it. She's young.

Melissa and Rainbow, why is it that we can find the time to spend an hour + talking on the phone, but when we see each other in person we are way too busy to sit down and talk for more than a few minutes?

Kim and Maureen, enjoy your time together. That food sure looks yummy.

Mom, I need to know your city of birth, I'm filling out my passport application.

Have a great week everybody!