Discipline vs. Regret

"We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or
the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces and
regret weighs tons."

A motivational speaker by the name of Jim Rohn said that. It's hit me hard today. WOW! I cannot count the number of times I've been undisciplined and paid many times over later for that. I'm a wonderful procrastinator and delayer. I'm great at burying my head in the sand for the immediate and paying much steeper prices later.

Yes, I'm back on top of things thanks to the help of Flylady. I'm building little habits back into my day, like planning dinner after I eat breakfast. I've really saved our family a lot of money this week by knowing what's coming! No more last minute pizza calls! No more trips to BK! And I'm getting back into the habit of getting dressed first thing in the morning instead of spending most of the morning lazing around in my pjs. I'm swishing and swiping my toilet first thing in the morning, spraying down the shower immediately after use, and sweeping or swiffering every day. I'm trying to declutter as I unpack. And it feels REALLY good. :)

The problem with teaching a child to read

is that when you go to the zoo, said child is given a copy of the zoo's map, including demonstrations, shows and attractions. That child can read that there is a train and rides are available at specific times. That child then requests a train ride in the presence of her three year old brother. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth commences when the mother of said children says that $3/person is more money than the mother is willing to spend. (That equals $9 for the three of us!) Mother is unwilling to set a precedent and says discussion will take place following dinner that night.

Following dinner, Father says to mother, "Why did you tell them there was a train? I don't point it out to them." Mother replies, "I didn't! Someone knows how to read!" hmmph

So Father and Mother agreed that there would be no train rides, because if we go one time, the children will expect to go every time. Daughter cried and said she would not go to the zoo anymore if she could not ride a train. Father and Mother agreed. No more trips to the zoo.

PS -we've managed to go to the zoo since Grace was a baby and she NEVER discovered the train!! I just Had to teach her to read.

One week

Until Thanksgiving. One week to get the boxes out of the general living area and our home in order. I should be doing that anyways, I know, but inviting my family to have Thanksgiving at my house has really lit a fire under me! Grace helped me put the napkins nicely into napkin rings this morning as our "project" after her schoolwork was completed. She did a great job, and I showed her how pretty they will look with a sample setting. I purchased a tablecloth, placemats, cloth napkins and napkin rings at a huge discount back at the same time I got my anniversary ring. I just need a plastic cover, because my children can be messier than I'd prefer on a fancy tablecloth.

On another note, what has happened to my salad bowls???? I have one left from a set of 8. I have other bowls, of course, but my Pfzaltzgraff April bowls are down to one. It's a good thing I'm not going to make the butternut squash soup, or I'd be breaking the budget!!! :) And forks--again, I'm down to 4 of my matching set, so I had to buy cheapo forks at Target the other day. Who is this kitchen monster and what is he doing to my matching sets?????? Grrrr

I've pulled out my fancy serving dishes, and gave the rotisserie a test run on a 4lb chicken fryer Monday. It turned out delicious and moist. I just hope the 15lb turkey will turn out as nice! If not, I think we'll have enough side dishes that we can still fill up my family. My mom is bringing a serving platter for the turkey, as I don't have one. We're still working on our final menu, but I'm planning on:
Turkey
Gravy
sweet potatoes (healthier than mashed potatoes, and so good, but I still want the next item on the list)
mashed potatoes (still deciding, but if we're going to have gravy, why not?)
Green Bean casserole
Broccoli
Crescent rolls
And of course, dessert. Which i will have to go into later, because Grace poked her eye and then walked into a wall coming to show me her eye. Mommy to the rescue!
Stuffing (LOVE stovetop!!!)

AJ

AJ has been a handful today. It's difficult to take him anywhere. AJ and I left the park early and my friend brought grace home. It was just too much stimulation for him. *sigh* At least he goes to bed nicely.

Getting Settled

The bathrooms are finished and the kitchen is unpacked. That's significant, considering all that the kitchen/pantry entails. I'm quite proud of my progress so far. The children have toys out, although they are not organized yet. I need to buy more plastic storage boxes for their toys, I suspect.

We finally got internet on Saturday. Kyle spent the night Saturday and we had a fun time with him. The children are getting used to the house, and are settling well.

We've had several playdates with our friends already. Grace feels so relieved to be back with her friends. And I must confess, so do I. Everyone lives about 10 minutes away from us, and most of my friends homeschool. So we fit just perfectly. It's like we never left.

Grace has joined American Heritage Girls, which is like Girl Scouts, only with a Christian emphasis. My friend Carin is her troop leader. We go camping with them this weekend. Yay!

Our house feels big, in a good way. We're not crowded cheek-to-jowl with "stuff" like we have been in previous homes. My big walk in closet helps a great deal. AJ likes his room and is learning to be helpful. Grace, too. She's been a little bored watching me unpack boxes, and I need to figure out a routine for her or something to do to stay out of trouble so I can catch my breath here. Plus the reading curriculum her teacher gave me is very basic for her. She's reading on a solid second grade level, so besides her handwriting and math curriculum, we're going to read many many books. And perhaps we'll go visit the beach, the zoo and Sea World this week. The first two are less than 10 minutes away from us, and so educational, and the latter is close to my parents' home and we have a pass that expires January 1. Might as well use it, right? Esp. now that the weather is breezy and beautiful.

I think we're going to have Thanksgiving at my new home this year. Terry's not so sure this is a good idea because of the many boxes we still have to go through, but I'm confident we can get through most of it in two whole weeks. I'm a bit excited--I have a rotisserie oven for a turkey and I'm dying to try it out. It did a bang up job on cornish hens, and I imagine the turkey will be great. Now to get over my aversion to giblets so I can face the gravy!

Moving In

The movers made it today with our stuff! They were very efficient, and I was glad. I farmed out Grace to one friend and AJ to another (divide and conquer, right?). But my friend could only watch AJ until about 1pm. Also, my friend called and mentioned that AJ was VERY upset about me leaving him. He finally came around when her 3.5 year old offered to play Little People with him. Pshew!

I was quite stressed last night and this morning, anticipating keeping inventory of all of the stuff, and watching AJ on top of that. I was amazed and grateful when the movers finished (paperwork and everything) by 1:00pm.

I picked up AJ and brought him to the new house. He was very excited to find his Playmobil train set and Weebles in his room. He played for an hour by himself while I unpacked all of the bathroom boxes.

So the good news: The bathrooms are finished!

The bad news: I still have about 100 boxes to unpack.

The plan: Get bedding on the beds so they're sleepable Wednesday night (when we move out of the hotel with the famed maid service and breakfast discussed previously). Hook up the TVs and VCRs and DVD players. Get some semblance of order in the kitchen, including boxes unpacked. Unpack the childrens' rooms. Unpack and organize the living room and family room. Then I'll tackle the office, master bedroom and garage.

Wish me luck!

Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be homeschooling Grace, too, while I do all this. I wonder if making her count boxes by 5's counts???? :)