Let's Play Catch Up

So it's been awhile since my last post. The newness and excitement of starting a "new" blog has worn off, and I'm having to make it be a priority (unsuccessfully, obviously) instead of it just being one. Also, things have been busy. I know that's a really generic answer, but they have. So let's play catch up.

In my last post, I talked about the Night of Praise at my wonderful church East Side, and how I had a solo in it. Well, God preformed a miracle and I managed to get up there, sing my song, and not make a complete fool out of myself all three nights and even again during all three services a few Sundays later. Several people even sought me out to say how much the song touched and blessed them, which made it all worth it because that was the whole reason I was doing it, to bring the message of God's peace, hope, and joy through sorrow and difficulty to the people that needed it most. I have to admit, I was singing the song to myself up there in front of all those hundreds of people with their eyes on me.

So, the night of praise was good. Check. Moving on.

The end of the year has come and gone, and while we haven't reached our goal of becoming completely debt free, we've managed to pay off a huge chunk (over 5/8) of the $4,000 we had to borrow to replace the a/c and furnace six months ago. Hopefully the Lord will bless us a great deal with our tax return and we can knock that out and get our savings account back to a more comfortable set of digits.
Chloe is doing great in preschool. Changing my attitude and expectations have seriously turned everything around for the better, and I feel like she's learning so much more as a result. We're finished studying the eye, and the next sense is touch, when we come back from Christmas break.
I was on a bit of a holiday break from studying for the GED myself, but am back at it now. I've made it completely through Language Arts (reading and writing), and I'm now on Social Studies. It's pretty tedious, but I'm thankful I've been able to just jump right back in and find time to study 3-4 times a week.
Speaking of tedious, my never-ending battle with keeping my house clean has, obviously, not ended. I think my cleaning "routine" that I never did post about, sort of just threw itself out the window. Now the routine is to clean what I can, when I can. Trying to stay on top of clutter, dishes, and laundry are the main priority. I fail often, but I guess that's life.

Alrighty, I've now covered debt, preschool, GED, and cleaning. Check, check, check, and check. Moving on again.

Running hurts. You know how I know that running hurts? Because I ran for the first time EVER on Wednesday, and for the last two days I've been seriously hurting. I want to keep it up, though, and meet my goal of becoming stronger and strengthen my endurance. Those things are important to me, so I laced up my running shoes before I started writing this post and ran again.
Now, after I explain how I "run," my running friends might think me ridiculous, but let me explain my circumstances first. #1, I don't really care what you think. This is not about you. #2, I don't live in a neighborhood with sidewalks or anywhere near a place I would feel safe running alone. #3, I loath the cold, and wouldn't be caught dead running outside during the winter time. #4, the only time I have to myself is Chloe's nap time, so I'm kinda stuck even if reasons 1-3 weren't in the picture.
When I run, because I don't have a treadmill either (yet), I use the free run on Wii fit, so I run in place in my living room. It works for me. I can stay home where I need to be, I don't have to be cold and alone outside, and I can save money and space until we finish the basement remodel. So there.

Now that running has been covered, I think that's just about everything I have to catch up on, except Christmas.

Christmas was wonderful! Chloe loved her doll house, and she made out like a bandit with all her other presents, too. I'll have to put up a more in-detail post about the doll house and all the furniture I made, later. Trust me, I'll actually do this "later post."

Until then, au revoir!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry for the lack of posts. It's been a busy past couple of weeks for me and my family. It's still crazy busy around here, but I did want to let you all know something. ......I did something I've never done before..... I auditioned for a solo for our Christmas Night of Praise at church! What's even more crazy? I actually got it! I'm really excited and kind of nervous, but it's a fantastic song and you all are invited to the program.

Chloe will be in the program as well, participating in the preschool choir. That's actually one of the reasons things have been so busy around here. Kris and I help out in the kids' choir, and we've been working hard to prepare a real treat for you. So don't miss it!

Getting ready for Thanksgiving, Kids' Choir, Adult Choir, preparing for the Night of Praise, church, work, homeschooling Chloe, Chloe's gymnastics, and studying for the GED, all on top of regular stuff like paying bills, cooking, cleaning, and laundry, have all kept me on my toes and constantly moving. We've miraculously still had time (and money), though, to start our Christmas shopping, or Christmas building I guess I should say. Chloe's getting a lot of hand made gifts this year. The one I'm really excited about is the HUGE doll house Kris and his dad have been building her. She loves playing with her Barbies and this doll house will be so much fun for her, I think. I've also been making good use out of Pinterest to help fill the doll house with lots of adorable furniture and things. There are a couple other big things, both built and store bought, she's getting, but I'll give the whole report as soon as I can spare a few moments after Christmas.

What a difference!

So, if you read this post then you know how the "old way" of teaching writing was going. Well, I'm here to tell you that the "new way" is going great so far. Reminding myself that Chloe is only three, and that even though I'm telling her what to do, she still has to work to learn it, is paying off big time. We ended the school day with both of us in high spirits.
We're also continuing our study of the eye, and today, we used our eyes and a mirror to draw self-portraits.

She drew this 100% by herself. This was also the first time she's ever written her name in a line before. Normally, the letters are out of order and in various places on the page. Pretty good, right?