First, let's share some First Day of School pics:
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| I'm ready to go! |
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| But I want to go too!!!! |
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| Teddy getting started with his morning work, while Pete looks on. |
He's been doing great in school so far. His grades are all wonderful and he's even made a few friends. After last year's dealing with bullies and seeing him alone more than with friends, I was hoping that this year would be different. And so far, it is. He's got two boys that are into a lot of the same things he's into and that he sits with at lunch. So far, it's a good start to the year. Of course, they still aren't sure what to do with him when it comes to reading because he's so much further ahead than the rest of his classmates. One thing that I'm doing to try to help him, though, is requiring that he get a non-fiction book out of the library, read it and tell me what it's about. Comprehension has been his biggest stumbling block.
As I said earlier, his school year has helped me get more organized as well. He's got homework almost every night, so I started getting organized with that. As soon as Teddy comes home, he needs to put his lunch things in the sink and finish his homework. When that's done, I get him (and Pete) a snack and a drink. Because he needs to get that done, I need to keep the dining room table clean for him to work on. So I've been trying to keep on top of that. There has to be a dedicated place near the front door for the boys' shoes, backpacks and lunch boxes, so some rearranging was in order. But before I could rearrange, I had to get the living room clean. Which was finished the other day. Once I had the carpet cleaners come out, I was ready to rearrange.
I went from this:
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| From the couch toward the stairs |
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| Where the TV is |
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| The couch on the far wall |
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| The corner next to the couch. |
To this:
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| A nice little reading nook |
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| The area by the front door, with bins to keep things in |
The TV stayed where it was and the couch moved under the window. I don't need to worry about the sun hitting me in the eyes when I want to lay on the couch. Plus, it makes it easier for people to talk than how I'd set it up before. It feels more open and I like that.
What amazes me more than anything was that I moved all of it myself. When I get in the mood to do something, though, I push myself beyond what I probably should do. Even more amazing is the fact that I can still move after all of it. I expected to not be able to move for a week.
So that was my big project. The smaller things are things like having each day be a different focus. For example, Mondays I clean the bathrooms and do laundry. I try to keep everything else within manageable levels, of course, but the heavy cleaning like the toilets, tub, counter tops and floors wait until Monday to happen. Tuesdays are the dining room. Wednesdays the living room, Thursdays, the kitchen and Fridays the bedroom. And I'm finding each room easier to do when it's day comes since I've been keeping up with things.
I'm not finished by a long shot. I haven't done what I really need to on the bedrooms, and today was the first day I really tackled the kitchen. (And managed to get it and the bathrooms done). I've got a lot of storage-area stuff that needs to be done as well - my closets, my pantry, bookshelves... but I'm finally at a place, and with a plan in place, where I can take time to attack those.
Once I have all of that finished, my next plan is to focus on my online things. All my games/blogs/etc are on hold for the moment because I'm trying to focus on getting the rest of this done. And honestly, those things need to be my focus because they get out of control most easily. But I'm finally feeling like I can be on top of things and that's what I need. Getting back in a groove, feeling accomplished and loving life. I'm even getting a little formal exercise in now and again (though, to be fair, the sweat I've been working up with the heavy cleaning does count as exercise as well).
One of these days, I may even surprise my husband and take over dinner cooking duties!
