Just Another Day In Paradise!

Okay, so today is Sunday, right? Well, normally we would be going to church today, right? Well, we did not do that. How do I say that I played hooky from church today? Is that sacrilegious? Undoubtedly God will forgive the fact that I skipped church today, and that I just wanted to stay home with my family. Call me selfish if you must, but I just needed that extra few hours of sleep today. I'm not sure why.

This past week was so busy, and I just haven't been able to catch up with my sleep deprived body. It's been chaotic, to say the least. Scott's been working most of the week without a break, and does so until Tuesday, which leaves me to handle the young ones on my own. This in itself is not bad, but can be crazy from time to time, when your 5 year old acts more like a 2 year old would, at times.

Have you ever forgotten that you had to be somewhere important, until about 5 minutes before you are supposed to be there? This happened to me last week. I was scheduled to give a food demonstration for our 4-H club and I somehow thought that 4-H was this week, and not last. I was totally not prepared. This particular night was the last night of our 12 week bible study we had been doing at church, so I was pretty much focused on that. I arrived at the bible study only to find out that we did in-fact have 4-H that night, and leaving my oldest child at bible study, I took off like a lightning bolt toward home, to pick up what supplies I needed, and then to the 4-H extension office to drop off some of the stuff, and to tell them that I would be back in 15 minutes, because I had to run to the store to pick up more ingredients. Crazy... let me tell you.

Then, last Sunday no one was able to pick up the teenagers from the church retreat they went to, so they asked me to do it. Fine, I said I would, since my child was part of the group. Said church retreat was 2 hours away, I had never been there, but was able to ride along on the way up, to see where I needed to go. Last Sunday it rained buckets. Said church retreat was down a long dirt road, which had literally turned to mud before my eyes. Thinking I was pretty smart, I pulled into a parking spot in the grass. This turned out to be a bad mistake. The ground was soft, and my tires sunk in "you guessed it, Mud..." It took 5 gracious and muddy men to push and pull my van out. I then rode home with 7 teenagers, who watched "Over The Hedge" on our portable DVD player all the way back home. It's the only DVD that was in the van. Go figure.

The next day, we were asked by some friends at church if Scott and I could witness their will for them, so we met them at the lawyers office, and did that. This got Scott and I to talking about writing a will for ourselves, and so we went back to our friend's office (who just happens to be a lawyer, himself) and started a worksheet of sorts, for our will. I don't believe that we got very far with the whole thing, because there just was so much to discuss and decide. We are still discussing and deciding. Our friends are currently on a cruise, hence the updated will that needed to be witnessed.

Then Tuesday, I almost forgot, Scott and I drove up to Bolingbrook, IL for the Simply Charlotte Mason Seminar. We stayed at the Sheratan there, and had a fabulous time. The hotel was great, our room was great, everything was great! We arrived in Bolingbrook, about 3 hours before the conference was scheduled to start, so I thought it might be nice to visit IKEA. Yes, I said IKEA!!! Oh my word, that is my favorite store. I have been wanting to go there for 2 years now, but didn't know that there even was one in Illinois. When booking the hotel on-line, I noticed that there was in fact an IKEA there. Every person I have ever talked to that has been to IKEA in the past, has recommended this store to me. It was so cool! I totally fell in love with the bright colors, the kid's department is fabulous, I just can't say enough. Well, if you know me, I had to buy something. I ended up buying the cutest red children's table to go with their little brown chairs my mom gave me. The table was $12.99 people. How could I pass that up? I then saw the brightest and cutest place settings for children. Not that my kids need more plates, cups, and silverware, but I could not pass up the bright happy colors. The $1.99 price tag for each set didn't hurt too much either. I mean what is cuter than eating lunch on an orange plate, with an orange bowl, and an orange cup, and orange silverware? I digress.

Oh yeah, the conference... I was so excited to meet Sonya Schaffer in person. Wow!!! That is like meeting a movie star for us Charlotte Mason homeschooling moms. In case you don't know, she is the author of many Charlotte Mason based homeschooling books, and heads up the website Simply Charlotte Mason.com. The conference was held at a church, with around 30 people in attendance. It was so good! I learned so much that night. Have I been practicing what I have learned? Well, it is a work in progress. The conference was titled: Laying Down The Rails, and Reaching Your Child's Heart. I will go into more detail on the conference on a later post, as I need to go cook supper. Super conference though. I would attend another one by her, in a heartbeat, and homeschoolers it cost $7. to attend, and Scott was free. How's that for a deal?

Oh and speaking of supper, we ate at this awesome Chinese restaurant there, near our hotel. I ordered the crispy walnut shrimp and scallops. Oh my, it was wonderful. So was the pina colada, I had, in a coconut cup of all things. The walnuts were sugar coated, and the shrimp and scallops were in some sort of a white sauce. When I got home, I looked up the recipe on the Internet. I found it! Yummo! Guess what we are having for dinner tonight? You guessed it! I told Matt that he had to try it. I just knew that he would love it! I have already sugar coated the walnuts, and the shrimp is thawed. We are not having scallops because they are too expensive, and not necessary. The shrimp was the best part anyway. Oh and tons of broccoli florets. The white sauce is actually made with evaporated skim milk. So it's non-fat. I will post the recipe soon, if it's as yummy as the restaurants.

Well, today has been a cleaning, computer, lazy type day. If you read the negative post about our dog, I posted yesterday, I deleted it. She takes off so many times when the door is left open. It's been frustrating hunting her down for the past week, and then she disappeared for 28 hours. I truly needed today to rest. God forgive me.

Before I go, I have to tattle on Thumbody, who mistook sunscreen for hand soap this afternoon, and squirted it all over himself, and the bathroom counter, while I was cleaning up the family room. It's just another day in paradise!