Monday Musings.. Countdown...

image courtesy of knisha.wordpress.com

We have started the countdown!!!

Seven weeks left as a secretary

Seven weeks left in our "school year"



...Outside My Window...
The mornings have been very cool and overcast, after bouts of rain last week. Sometimes the sky clears off mid to later afternoon, sometimes it doesn't. It should stay cool, in the 70s all week!


...In Our House & Kitchen...
The family room has been seeing double duty the last week, as a bedroom, since The Boy sprained his foot and could not comfortably go up the ladder to his loft bed. The sprain itself is not bad, and should heal quickly. But, the ER xrays showed previous damage, from an ankle sprain years ago, which has left a bruised spot on the bone, also called an "osteochondral lesion of the talus", meaning that without any ankle support, if he keeps jumping about (ahem, parkour), he could have arthritis in that ankle in the next ten years. He's thinking about other sports. Anyhow, so hopefully soon he'll be back in his room at night, and I can remove all bedding, etc., from the family room.

In the kitchen, I've been better overall about prepping meals ahead of time, and planning more carefully. Tonight it's turkey burgers, tomorrow a roasted chicken, and then good use of leftover roast chicken!

And I was given this lovely orchid as a pre-Mother's Day gift! It's on the kitchen windowsill, which actually looks out into the family room (room was added on where there was a patio, sometime in the 70s).


...In Our Garden...

image courtesy of pinterest

The front yard is coming together beautifully. I removed a bunch of grass yesterday, while The Girl planted some more marigolds, and then we placed the slate stepping stones, although we might put gravel underneath them, sort of like this....

We've decided on a Santa Rosa plum to replace the recently deceased maple. I've got yarrow, sunflowers, and something blue I can't remember the name of all sprouting up in reused containers. I'll transplant them in later. The garden is sort of coming together as a flower/herb garden, and I am very happy with it so far! The Girl has been a big help with planting, and keeping things watered.

I also got an outdoor plant for Mother's Day, which I really love....

...In Our Homechooling...
Math this week, with TabletClass and Prodigy. Spelling and writing. More Downton Abbey. More pondering next year. We're keeping it simple right now, so that we actually feel like we're getting things done!

...Reading & Watching...
I just finished A Sudden Light, by Garth Stein, and very much enjoyed it! The Boy finally found The Martian, and only has about 10-15 pages left, so that'll be my next book. The Girl has been thumbing through a half dozen library books on various animals/sea creatures, and such, alongside her continued reading of Harry Potter. We haven't touched A Wind in the Door recently (lack of time), but did read about smallpox in Outbreak! Plagues that Changed History.

On Saturday, we read about Twelfth Night in Stories from Shakespeare (by Marchette Chute), and then we went to see the play as produced by the local junior college. It was very well done, and we were glad we went!

Our movie night featured the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film, which was not nearly as good as the first three. Though we're still enjoying season four of Once Upon a Time!

...Otherwise...
Next week, my office is being moved, so at work I am packing and sorting. I've just about finished school for the semester myself — just a final paper, and one more biology colloquium to go! Then, I have an all-day workshop in August for my new teaching position. Over the summer, I'll be working with the junior college program, and I hope to spend some time in the classroom observing, in order that I can learn more about teaching before I teach!

The Girl has derby, The Boy is off sports (and between them), and M is working about 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, so you can imagine how exhausted he is at the end of the day!

Have a good week!