It is already a week into February and just about time for Darin to head off on another adventure. Tomorrow night he is heading to Ghana for a week and Kenya for a bit longer than that. He has a lot of meetings and conferences and might even have to pack a suit coat for this trip!
Tys and Jori have finished one month of home schooling. There are days that go really well, days that are pretty bad and days where I think "we did what we could". I'd say most days are like that. We have moved away from Easy Peasy in several subjects as they just weren't working for us for one reason or another. We are now doing Teaching Textbooks for Pre-Algebra, CK12 for Earth Science and I am throwing together a bit of this and that for US History as our kids do not have the groundwork that most US children get throughout elementary school and we've had to take time to figure out some of the historical figures and events that they *should* know about.
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| Hanging out in the middle of the rink |
We are trying to liven up our home school days with adventures in ice skating and visits to local museums. We visited the Sammy Marks House last week, tomorrow will be our second ice skating excursion and next week we are heading to the Museum of Natural History. We replaced our library cards last week, which were stolen along with my purse a couple years ago. Now that we don't have afternoon homework, there is a lot more time to read. While our local library is not very big or well stocked, we can use our cards at other branches and hope to do so soon.
We are also doing a lot of swimming still, although we experienced a major setback when our pool sprung a leak and swiftly drained out, turning our yard into a swamp. Thankfully Darin made the time to get a patch kit and after a family fun day of tearing down the pool and another family fun day of setting up the pool, we are back in business.
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| If only you could smell it |
I went to the dentist yesterday and discovered that my teeth were wearing down at th
e gum line NOT because I was brushing too hard, but because of grinding and clamping down my teeth. I didn’t know that grinding and clamping my teeth would make them wear down at the gum line, but that is what is happening. Nothing to do with my brushing; in fact, the dentist complimented me on my oral hygiene. So my teeth are wearing away because I am stressed, and with how rapidly they are wearing away I am guessing my stress level is pretty high. The thing is, I don’t necessarily feel stressed. I don’t think I have that much to be stressed about, but my new dentist friend has advised me that all the fillings and bite guards in the world are only temporary fixes for an issue that will not go away if I don’t figure out what I am stressed about and do something about it. In fact, if my nighttime teeth gnashing continues, my sweet new fillings could pop off my teeth. Fun.
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| Hard to smile when half of your face is numb |
I used to write, a lot. I think I shared quite a bit about
myself or as my mom called it “oversharing”. Over the past couple years my
writing has slowed down. I still have a lot going on in my mind but putting it
out there isn’t as easy. I am not 100% sure why this is, but have a few ideas;
I used to feel a bit more hidden as most people reading this were in the states
and I knew it was going to be a long time before I had to see anyone face to
face, my kids were younger and the things they did that had an affect on me and
vice versa seemed to be mine for the telling, I didn’t have anyone to talk to
and really needed to get some stuff out in the open. I am finding lately that I
miss writing. I miss the process of putting my thoughts down in writing, the thinking
and working through and accepting my feelings. I miss connecting with other
people who have gone through similar things. Maybe if I get back into writing, the process will help me pull back the curtain and see what things are lurking there that are stressing me out that I am possibly in denial about. I'll save my teeth, one word at a time!
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