Days Since & Until

THREE DAYS SINCE I made the kids spend 8.5 hours with me completely reorganizing & cleaning their rooms. What an awesome accomplishment. I was so pleased that my 12-year-old was able to keep pretty productive on his own in his room, while I broke down the task into 25 smaller, doable tasks for my 9-year-old, who was quite paralysed at the idea of the entire job. Her stuff hadn't been organized since we moved here a year ago, and she tends to leave things out. I made a list for her with a big circle at the end of each task. When each one was completed, she got to choose a round sticker to apply to the circle. We were able to throw out a lot, recycle a lot, and give away a bag full of clothes that were too small. By the end of the day I felt coated with dust, and that shower was so welcome. I am happy both kids now have clean desks at which to do homework in comfort, and can start the school year feeling good about their dwellings, and knowing where everything is.

TWO DAYS SINCE
- our family of four began a 1000-piece puzzle
- my son and I baked an apple pie, whilst my daughter decided she would make her own little apple tart with the leftover dough, since she didn't care for the cranberries and walnuts we put in the apple pie. We didn't have any cream so she used milk, and we didn't have any lemons so she omitted the lemon juice. It still came out fine.

ONE DAY SINCE
- we met with Ascot Baptist Church for our third time (and I felt quite at home, so there's a tentative great thank you to God for what I hope might be the end of our search)

- we finished the puzzle in the afternoon. I was amazed we were able to get it done before school was upon us. It all started when I was the only one who had any interest in tackling a puzzle, so I just flat out asked everyone to give me 12 minutes of their time puzzling with me on Saturday afternoon. They all ended up hanging with me for an hour and a half. After that David and Jason both came back several more times that evening and the next morning and afternoon to keep at it, although Emily lost interest. The three of us were all there when the final piece was inserted. It felt great.

TODAY was just a work day with laundry, tidying, errands, grocery shopping, the usual. I also reorganized my own clothes closet a bit and cleared off our bedroom chair, which can get piled up a bit.

ONE DAY UNTIL my dear friend from kindergarten hopefully arrives for a day's visit with us. It will be her first time to our home in England, and her first time at any of our homes since we lived in Cupertino, California, in 1998 or so. She nearly came to see us in Sunnyvale, CA, back in 2004, but I had a horrible flu and she was about to drive across the country, so we thought it best for her not to catch it. We were in and out of France in a whirlwind. Anyway, I can't wait to see her.

TWO DAYS UNTIL Orientation Day at school. That means about 2.5 hours at school for each kid, picking up materials, finding out who their teachers are, etc.

THREE DAYS UNTIL school starts in earnest (for two days before a three-day weekend - kind of weird, but sort of nice, too), and I'll have one in 8th grade and one in 4th.