mudpies and paint

My quiet week is coming to the end. At some point today MB will set foot back onto US soil, and Saturday morning she will be back in the house. And for good & bad MB being gone for a period of time does change the mood in the house. Apparently, MB is our energy bank upon whom we all draw our daily energy levels (she has enough to spare). Without her we have tended to be very slow and lazy in our days. There isn't a sense of urgency to anything we do, and well sitting around and cuddling, me knitting and them playing with little people seems to be just fine. And, also, K still likes an hour or two of quiet time in the afternoon without MB around to energize her. And, who knew that K, who generally stays up until 10pm, will actually pass out before 9pm if she is just left alone.

But, I do miss someone to talk to during the day. K & EM don't feel the need to talk very much unless they need something. And, while Jr will talk as long as someone is looking at him - I don't really understand infant coos all that well (just that he is happy & comfortable)- and I am a little self-concious of the running commentary I keep up with him.

Without MB here I don't feel complete, my schedule is off, my routine is out of whack. I've enjoyed the quiet, but don't feel as needed by all the rest of my children put together as I do in one day for just MB. That may not be a good thing. But there it is.

I miss the routine of homeschooling that we had developed recently. K's routine is so short and simple - read a little bit, play some games that incorporate math - and then let her go and be free in her learning. It is good and age appropriate, and I wish I had done more of it with MB at that age, but doesn't feed my homeschool control issues like MBs larger range of studies. And, I am not looking forward to next week and getting back into routine, yet again, this year.

On DH's job front it looks like we will not be going anywhere. With the time to think about relocating for work since they have brought it up to him, he has come to decide that he wants to stay here - surprise, surprise. He passed on Illinois & Indiana already (but with the recent cold weather snap - I'm glad). His bosses like him here and his family is all here. So, here we stay.

I can't believe that it has been a year since we put the house on the market and almost moved. It seems so much farther away in history than that. We are still happy with where we are. I am still leaning towards one more bedroom, with some type of small addition. We are trying to make things simplier in our lives and have achieved a bit better lifestyle. Our debt load, while not tremendous, has been a stumbling block - and that is our goal this year. Paying on debt each month is actually causing more debt - basically a bad case of living above our means leftover from when both of us worked. So, we are baby stepping through The Total Money Makeover.

I am glad we put the house on the market for the experience and the awareness we got. And, I am glad we didn't move. I can put my dream of having a mini-homestead back on the list. Because, if we just work towards it we could eventually end up there.

I have also, along the way, re-discovered my love for cooking. Cooking things out of boxes, what I did a lot of when I worked and for the past few years - just totally sucks away the joy of cooking. It just becomes another chore. But, for some reason baking bread, babysitting a stew pot and creating menus so that we actually use leftovers is not a chore. So, we are eating less expensively, food that is better for us, and it brings a great deal of creative joy to me. What could be better.

So this post has gone from MB will be home in a couple of days to ramblings about the past year for us. I cannot stay on topic.

I am going off to think about some type of special welcome home activity for us to do for MB - any ideas.

Peace,

Amy