Three Blogs in One

Who has time to read a long blog? While busy with the tasks of the mundane, my mind is free to ponder. I've three separate subjects and numbered them, so you come back and read them at your leisure.

1. Concert
Ty's band, Evangelin, practices here. Usually Wednesdays ends up with the girls and me locked in a room somewhere. It's a great time to do some spring cleaning! I'm glad they practice here because I love to hear what they're working on, and sometimes I get to feed them snacks or make them dinner. I love it.

However, I don't always get to go to their concerts! Largely, this is because it's not cool to have "band parents" around. Actually, the band Dad is cooler to have than a band Mom. I can respect that.

Imagine my momentary pleasure when Tyler informed me I was personally invited to their concert on April 30th.
"I am?" I gushed.
"Yeah!" grinned Ty.
"Wait a minute. . . isn't that the benefit concert for the Mexico short-term missions.?"
"Yeah!" grinned Ty, even more broadly.

Sigh. I'll take what I can get.

2. Overloaded
This year I definitely took on too much. It nearly killed me (not literally, but it sure felt like it).

3 English classes - this was for added income, but was basically a part time job when you include the grading of papers and preparation.

A US History class (see above, just not for income).

A Weekly Bible study. I didn't have to prepare to teach it, but I did have to do daily homework.

AWANA - I specifically said I couldn't play the director role this year, but no director stepped up. I did the planning and teaching as much as I could, but I know I wasn't able to give it 100% this year. Coaching the Bible Bowl team was especially a killer! HOWEVER; I love JV so much. It's such a pivotal age in a person's life when they're trying to discover who they are and who they're going to become. This is where they test the boundaries and see if lightning WILL strike them the instant they sin, and when it doesn't, they don't think about the consequences down the road.

Homeschooling my three - Glenna had the least of my attention this year. God have mercy on her education! I'm so thankful Tyler's graduating so I don't have to fight with him about school anymore.

SAHM - For those of you who don't know the term, it's Stay At Home Mom, Cooking, cleaning, laundry, driving kids around, etc. You can tell when we've had a GOOD SAHM day OR a good school day! Rarely am I able to do both!

Sunday school teaching - one quarter only, but it added to it.

VBS -- it's coming! I don't have time to prepare! Arrrggghhh!!!!

I was chatting with my pastor last night and without going into the details, I confessed I took on too much this year. He asked me what I was going to cut back on NEXT year . . .

Lord help me, I honestly do not know.

3. Mugs
At last year's women's retreat, I had an interesting conversation with Debbie B. about mugs. I'll try to shorten it as much as possible, but basically she likes all of her mugs to match. She says no one really likes the gift mug from Uncle Edward; it just kind of gets pushed to the back of the cupboard and is ignored.

I have mugs that match for formal occasions, but I like mugs that DON'T match for every day. I asked Debbie how everyone keeps track of their mugs throughout the day if they all look the same? Her simple and amusing answer was, "Mine has a chip in it."

Ha!

Still, there's something to be said for ditching the ugly mugs. We all have them. Most of the time, the kids love them and keep using them while the mom hates them and wants to toss them.

How do I keep individual mugs while still adding beauty to our home?

I came upon the brilliant solution of getting different mugs, but making sure they have a similar THEME. I love red, so I thought if I had mugs that had some sort of red to them we could all keep track of our mugs and yet still have some uniformity. I wouldn't mind a black or white mug, either, since those go well with red! Ta-Dah!

I present this idea to John and Kelly. The response?

John - Whatever. I'm keeping the mug that reads "DAD" all over it.
Kelly - I want the mug with the pigs! I know it's kind of lavender, but I love that mug. I want that mug when you guys die. It will be part of my inheritance.

I haven't even talked to Glenna about tossing her Winnie the Pooh mug, plastic, with the handle completely broken off.

I did, however, throw out a mug I myself had purchased from Lakeshore learning. At least, it's sorta thrown out. it's sitting on the counter, WAITING to be thrown out.