I'm Back!

I've, uh, been a little quiet. ;) My uncle commented on the lack of blog entries, so I thought that if he's reading I might want to encourage that with a new post!

Christmas was hectic, but wonderful. My grandfather was able to fly in for the holiday which was such a wonderful treat for everyone. It was great to visit and hear stories of his experiences in World War 2, or to talk about my beloved grandmother. And, I got to see above mentioned uncle as well! We had a wonderful holiday with my family - both my mom and my mother in law, my grandfather, our oldest girls and our youngest celebrated with us. We just missed seeing our middle, but hopefully one day soon it will be different. I shook things up and tried a few new recipes. We will definitely try a few, and maybe alter one before using it again. ;D Marc made his famous grilled cajun butter turkey. All in all it was some good eating!

I did, however, learn to never comment on how my child is past the stage of waking up at the crack of dawn! She didn't even let me make it till dawn first! I was up at midnight with dh watching the tv (did I mention he has a bit of hearing loss??) followed by unrequested wake up calls at 2 am and 3 am from the kid, a 4 am issue with our pug (evidently she was not happy about something and we all had to be made aware!) and a final 6:57 am rousting from a very impatient child. Next year I'm not talking about how my kid sleeps in on Christmas morning!

With the New Year peeking around the corner I decided to add a few things to the blog... namely a list of goals. These are not resolutions. I don't make resolutions. I've tried, but then they get broken and it feels like the whole thing was in vain. So, I'm making goals instead. :) I started off with 12 so that in theory I could focus on one a month if I chose too, and yet some are things that should be a focus all year long (like getting to know my family better.) Learning about nutrition and health is just a carry-over from this year. I'm still reading several books with several more on order. I'm really excited about one book that's in my shopping cart as we speak, but I'll post on it once I actually know that I did buy it. My sweetie gave me "mad money" for Christmas to use towards books, kitchen gadgets, jewelry for my LS kit, or anything that I wanted. I am doing a bit of a split... I bought a few books that I wanted for myself and lessons - like A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays - and some are books that I want for my own self education - like Listening to the Language of the Bible. I'm working out the details now. :) I'll also pick up a few pieces from our new catalog to add to my kit so that hopefully I'll really knock 'em off their feet and have people clamouring for sales and shows come January and February. (Ok - so that might be a tad melodramatic, but if you noticed the new trip meter at the top of the blog you'll notice that I'm determined to earn a vacation from Lia Sophia this year! Building my business is a priority this year.)

And another goal... blog regularly. I'm determined to make sure that this happens even if I just jot down a few sentences and stay away from typing up a dissertation on everything that happens in my life. :) Now we'll see what happens next!

Coming up this week... I start babysitting reguarly for my 5-yo neighbor before he gets on the bus for afternoon K. Pray it goes well and I get a good schedule down! I'm not sure yet just how I'm going to juggle this with lessons. His parents assure me that it is fine with them if I let him watch 4 hours of Nickelodeon or Disney Channel in the morning, but this just gives me the shudders. My kid doesn't get TV in anything remotely near that quantity, and I'm just not comfortable with plunking him down with an electronic babysitter. We'll see what I can come up with. We're also starting a new unit on Ancient Israel in history. I'm really excited about this one as it's not an area that we've studied before in Ancient History. Check out the link to the unit on the Heart of Wisdom website. And, they are having an AWESOME 30% sale on all of their own units and books, so if you're interested in their materials check it out this weekend. That's why I was able to pick up the ebook version of Family Guide and What Your Child Needs to Know When. I love new books. :)

Now that I'm sitting down to do this I have a ton of things jumping through my head to post, but I won't clog it all up just yet. But, one last thing... C picked up a lap harp with some of her Christmas money. It's more like a toy-grade instrument, but it's enough to know that she's falling in love with it. She plays it all the time! She's now asking me about instruments and what type of "grown up" harp she would play. I'm going to show her some websites on dulcimers, various types of harps, etc. There is a great display at a local celtic festival later in the summer, so if she's still excited I might look at saving a bit of money and upgrading it. I've got music in my blood, so it's just so great to see her excited about an instrument. :)

Happy New Year to all! Wishing you a safe and happy weekend with your families.