Pinewood Castle

One of Those Mondays

It's one of those miserable Mondays at Pinewood Castle today (yes, we have bad days too). No one got enough sleep this weekend, apparently. The kids pitched a tent in the basement and were too wild and excited to log their usual ten hours. Joe and I slept on the firmer kid's mattresses and woke up a little sore, tingly and short of sleep. Against my better judgement, we let the kids stay up past 9pm last night to start reading Bartholomew's Passage and everyone woke up late.

Everyone feels like this today:

When everything is running late I feel like I have two choices: to go through with the daily rhythm and let everything run an hour or two behind or just (sometimes ruthlessly) pick up where we should be on the schedule. This school year I have decided to abide by the second option. In today's case this meant that the kids skipped both breakfast and morning devotions (including Star Path and Jesse Tree). Morning chores were accomplished, then on to schoolwork. Yes, maybe I should be more relaxed, but according to Wheat Belly, all the excess estrogen produced by my visceral fat is making me a hormonal bear. All the more reason to stick with this diet regimen, even if I've only lost six pounds in as many weeks.

So this morning there have been tears, resolutions to quit home schooling altogether, and lamentations of loneliness and isolation. The preschooler is not cooperating with preschool program, not playing nicely with her little brother (shoved him over so hard he hit his head on the floor) and the big kids are walking on eggshells. I added some Bailey's to my coffee and am determined to finish reading Lark Rise before noon. It's one of those Mondays. Yuck. Wish I were in cyberspace today shopping for deals on Christmas gifts.

On a brighter note, Joe painted our bedroom this weekend. He had the room all prepped and ready to go before I had even decided on a paint color, so there I was on Friday morning making one last trip to Sherwin-Williams, forced to make a decision. Majolica Green was the finalist and here are the results:

Even though it's nice to have something besides builders flat finish after eight years, I am not crazy about this color. It's nice and more refreshing than the old dingy "hardware" but . . . a little too minty for my taste. The warmth of the honey-gold curtains no longer goes with the the cooler hue. I suppose this will be a good excuse for keeping my eye out for bedding/curtain sales.

What I do absolutely love is that our bedroom received a thorough cleaning, dusting, and vacuuming in all those hard-to-reach places. I bought different frames for our wedding pictures to get them off the surface of the dresser. And of course I absolutely love that my husband did a fantastic job painting, as usual. He is so careful with cutting in and applying an even coat without dripping (like me). Yeah for handy husbands!

Coping Strategy of the Day

The only way the baby is happy in here is if he has company.

The baby took a very short morning nap. On the loose, he gets into everything.

The children have a piano recital tonight.

I woke up with a sinus headache and still very sore from my pillow.

Taking the time to put in sponge curlers in the girls' hair put us behind an hour.

It's 1:30 and we are just getting around to lunch.

I just found six pounds of organic ground beef on the floor of the pantry. No one is owning up to this, even my husband who did the shopping and carrying in. Everyone blames the three year old who was "helping" put away the groceries from Costco last night.

Can I just lock myself in my bedroom the rest of the day to pray for help?

Saintly Attire

The controversy over these costumes: quite the buzz! Honestly, I agree with both sides. Yes, they are expensive. Yes, they are well made. Yes, wearing them might be a mockery of the virtue of poverty many saints embraced. Yes, they are a great alternative to the CPC Halloween costumes made in sweatshops and sold in big-box stores. Yes, there are many ways to go about putting together a saint costume with much less expense. Yes, the hefty price tag goes to the support of Catholic homeschooling families.

My justification? In case anyone cares to criticize? (Do I sound defensive?)

1. I discovered these online last year and planned to purchase them this year.
   
2. There are a lot of other things we DO NOT spend money on so that we can, from time to time, purchase well made items that will last.
3. Although I can do some sewing by hand, I have never operated a sewing machine and do not own own. And last I checked, most are made in China!
4. I asked my husband if I could order them and he said yes.
   

Now, spending $16 on pumpkins that will end up in the trash can next week made me feel rather ill. And don't get me started on the cost of things like toilet paper, paper towels, paper napkins and trash bags! Highway robbery!

Finally Friday

Are you having a great week, what with all of these feast days? A book and cake and coloring page marathon? I just love reading everyone's ideas and I hope you tried many of them. Or at least one. Every year when October rolls around I always think I should just pick one feast on which to focus but every year I end up trying to do something for each of them. And we did. And I am glad we have a little break tomorrow before the Feast of St. Francis on Saturday. I'm a little tired. We finished Z week last week and I think we just need a short break.

Where's my stamina? I have to admit that the last three weeks have been rather grueling. Just as we returned to our full school routine, my husband has been faced with an important deadline at work and has had to work late pretty much every night and Saturdays too. He is around to help out in the morning (thank you thank you), but after he leaves we have a full day of school and lessons as well as practicing both violin and piano Suzuki style with each of my three school aged children.

The weather was so nice today that we ditched some of our plans and spent time outside. We collected a few remaining hazelnuts to put out on a rock for the chipmunks and squirrels. We had reading time in the backyard on a blanket near the sunflower house. My son played barefooted in the sandbox. We saved science experiments for after dinner. I let the kids have as many slices of angel food cake as they wanted. I am not even sure who brushed their teeth tonight before bedtime. It was that kind of day.

On Monday he is taking a well-deserved day off, as we have tickets to Vatican Splendors. And we have a babysitter coming for all four children.The same babysitter for whom the baby cried for a solid hour last Saturday. We are having her come again this Saturday with the hope that the two of them will get used to one another. Why put an almost 17mo through such agony? Because it's been so long since we have enjoyed an audio tour at a museum - is it selfish to want to be baby-free for just a few hours? If it doesn't go well we can always try the backpack. If "they" will let us in with it. "They" are so picky about things like that these days.

Many thanks for all of your kind words on the first birthday of my blog. They were the highlight of my week!

My Morning Project

When I went into Dino's room this morning he mysteriously said, "I don't want you to come in here."

The mystery was solved rather quickly upon the sight of his new dinosaur PJs.

It will be a long, long time before I buy Silly- Putty again. Maybe never.

Bummer

For the Minnesotans out there -- I know this is really old news, but I am just as bummed about it today as I was when I first heard that WCCO let Paul Douglas go! And CBS thinks this will help anything? That's like NPR canning Garrison Keillor!