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journaling {week two}

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay5 Comments
IN MY LIFE THIS WEEK… 
It was a good week, over all. Monday started rocky but we got some good news, (major answer to prayers) and so that was a good thing. 
I also got a few fun freelance opportunities. 
We celebrated the second birthday of my amazingly beautiful miracle niece, Kaileigh, which was great… And then there was lots of chaos and going…  
IN OUR HOMESCHOOL THIS WEEK… 
I decided to go easy on myself and get over the self imposed guilt and pressure… and though still a big rough- there was definite improvement! 
We studied time management and I think keeping a time journal was a good way for Genny to see how incredibly long she takes on things. A typical day would have her moving through school at a defiant, turtle pace and then getting angry at me because she finishes so late and I give her too much. The journal motivated her to get through things well, with no “corrections” and she found she could be done by lunch, or soon there-after… 
I AM INSPIRED BY… 
I have some really lovely people in my life. I have a friend whose mother is fighting breast cancer and both mother and my friend have been incredible sources of inspiration for me. 
We found out, for certain, about our daughter Amanda’s ship out date for boot camp. Her eagerness and excitement inspires me, as well as scares me. With Lucas preparing to deploy this spring it is all a lot of overwhelming fear junk for my heart, but still, when I am honest with myself I realize that both of them just BLOW ME AWAY… 
They make me take notice of the present in a powerful way. 
PLACES WE’RE GOING, PEOPLE WE’RE SEEING… 
We have a field trip to the aquarium today, which we are looking forward to. We had went to a local coffee place for chai and no bakes while we read our literature book and wrote letters. It was amazing. We went swimming, Genny had two basketball practices and a game tomorrow. Looking forward to family date night tonight. Going to pizza and to see a movie. 
MY FAVORITE THING THIS WEEK WAS… 
It’s a tie…
1}On Tuesday night Genny’s basketball team had team photos. Since she’s part of a community sports league this meant that there were literally hundreds of kids, (of all ages) conglomerating in groups of their team t-shirts, awaiting their turn. It was a long, tedious evening. As Chw and I had nothing to do but sit at a table and send stupid text messages back and forth. We discussed philosophical things such as frozen yogurt and displayed our mad-skillz making many emoticon faces. At one point he says to me, “we’re so lame.” 
2} Roughly a half an hour later we are home, and he (wearing contacts) picks up the pair of eye glasses on his  nightstand and says “I really need to order new glasses. These are all scratched up, I mean-” He then puts them on his face to further point out their flaws when he jumps back AT LEAST a foot and shouts “WOAH! WHAT THE HECK?!?!?” I immediately start laughing. Wearing your contacts? His slight “oh, yeah.” reassured him nothing catastrophic had happened to his vision. 
Lucky for me, i’m a little less lame. :)
THINGS I AM WORKING ON…
A few freelance projects coming on. Looking for inspiration for my Smash Book, so I can get it started. Planning a couple of small parties… Nothing too major. 
I’M READING… 
Trying to read (still) Lost by Greggory Maguire. I don’t know if it’s that my last book was so real life/sad that this tale is losing me, or what the deal is really… Hopefully by next week it will be a DIFFERENT tale! 
SHE’S READING… 
Treasure Island. :) 
I’M COOKING… 
Macaroni and Cheese; Fish Tacos; Fresh Baked bread… Nurture, nurture, nurture… 
I’M GRATEFUL FOR…
So, so much. Healthy husband. Healthy kids. Heat and roof over my head. A passion for writing. A handful of amazing friends. My camera. 
I’M PRAYING FOR… 
My kids… Lucas is getting ready to come home on leave and Amanda is getting ready to leave for basic. Genny is really struggling and I feel like i don’t have it in me quite often… 
My sister’s health is a gigantic mess. I miss her so much, I feel in so many ways like I’ve lost one of my best friends. She just isn’t able to be there for me anymore and though I totally understand- i miss her something awful. 
A PHOTO, LINK, VIDEO OR QUOTE… 
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what wednesdays were made for…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay2 Comments
I’ve had a lot of homeschool moms, over the years, comment on how luxurious and easy my life must be, as I only educate one child at home. 
Folks, it’s not easy. In fact, I think it’s harder… Plus, i’m starting to wonder if this one child-centric routine we have, isn’t a bit unhealthy on said only child. She knows that the course of my day, and what I can accomplish revolves around her and that gives her quite a bit of power. 
It causes quite a bundle of problems. 
Let’s just say that though with great power comes great responsibility, the result these days seems to be great wickedness and a huge attitude of selfishness. 
So, since I have the luxury of only educating one child at home, and said child is old enough to behave somewhat reasonably in public- i’ve decided to mix things up a bit. 
Three days a week will be entirely home and education focused. For the whole of those three days, there will be little else occurring. These are the days where my laundry or household chores will mostly occur. These are the days where my bread {and other} baking, will occur. If time appears, on said days, for writing or what-have-you, than fantastic! If not, no loss as that’s not what these three days are for. {plus, lets face it, I am an adult who makes my own schedule. I can easily get up earlier or stay up later.} 
It’s the other two week days I am excited about. 
On these two days Gen will have school work that she can do independently, without me. Since we do a lot of unit studies, it will be lighter loads on these two days. These are also the days though, when we’ll rsvp for field trips or go swimming. These are the days where a movie may fit in with what we’re doing- or not. Maybe I’ll just want to watch a movie… These are the days that maybe we’ll devote an entire afternoon to reading and sipping tea- or escaping to my favorite coffee place for a steaming cup of chai and uninterrupted time to write overdue letters. 
This is today… 
These days, like today, can be loosely scheduled- or completely free. 
These days can include hanging out with friends or working on art/craft projects all day. 
These days can include pajamas and tivo, or nature walks, or home spa days, or _______________… 
I kinda think i’m going to love days like today! 
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my morning meltdown…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay3 Comments
Good morning! 
I realize I barely get the right to say that, as it’s only minutes away from eleven a.m. 
Considering the rocky morning we’ve had around Chez’ Wagner though- it’s progress. :) 
Things are much better than yesterday. Except I have this weird swelling in one area of my gums, but you don’t want to hear about THAT- trust me… 
The sun is shining some, which is absolutely excellent. 
We were going to spend the morning on a photo excursion and then go swimming, but alas- one of the two of us was not at all co-operative and so here we are, me getting a late start on a blog post and her- crying through math. Cest la’ Vie… 
In other news, what about those Oscar nominations, eh? See, while the rest of the world is emotionally caught up in football and whether or not their team will make it to the big Super Bowl- (most of my friends’ teams did NOT) i have been happily watching movies and mentally noting my Oscar predictions. Over all, {minus the Tree of Life} I am pretty pleased with them. There are two films I’ve yet to see- {The Tree of Life being one of them. I was hoping to avoid it.} And yes, I realize this is the part where I lose many of you because you are still caught up in your grief and sadness over your teams not making it to the SB. *sigh* 
Of course, now that the nominations are out- it’s time to start planning my Oscar party. I have a few ideas… I sent out paperless invites (I hate doing that, but I hear it’s the GREEN way to go.) and have had three people RSVP. Three… There are nine films nominated. The key thing to do is a food item representing each film. That’s a dang lot of food for three guests… 
One day, when we have a house with actual conducive space- I plan to do an Academy Award couples dinner party- complete with Red Carpet and over the top ridiculousness… This, this is just {another} good, old fashioned pajama party. 
Give it two weeks and I’ll be panicking and feeling completely rejected from invited friends, tinkering on the edge of suicide and quizzing everyone I see- {the homeless included} as to whether or not they own pajamas and would like to come. My how times have grown worse considering just 24 months ago I was interviewed by USAToday regarding my party… I shudder to think about next year… Of course, this is all in fun… sort of. But really, if i invited you- please come. K? 
This post took an unexpected turn so I’m going to close it now… 
I need to compose myself… 
Gosh, I wish I were swimming… 
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This week…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay8 Comments

In my life this week…
Besides ranting about no snow and then being pelted by insanely wet and harsh snow-  and catching up on some personal writing- I am attempting to keep things fairly calm and doable around here because our evenings are about to get super crazy, ya’ll… 
In our homeschool this week…
We are finishing up The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in literature. Genny has loved this book and it has been really fun digging out the most random vocabulary words from Mark Twain’s work… 
We are also working on Time management. It’s all part of a unit study. Last week we completed Conservation. It seemed like a good direction to head as we re-dove into the homeschool way of things AND started a new year. 
My favorite thing this week was…
Nothing. Truth be told, it has been a HARD week. Defiance has ruled the roost and I am moody, and tired. This week will not go down in the greatest of homeschool weeks, that’s for sure… 
Questions/thoughts I have…
Other than the open ended “Will it get better?” plea, which just sounds depressing… We homeschooled for three years, then did one semester at a charter school and I feel like everything is all ruined… 
Things I’m working on…
I bought stuff for us to start Smash books. i am really excited to start them, even if they aren’t necessarily educational. I am also working on doing a purity retreat with Genny. I feel like, after the last 6 months for our family, this might be a necessity… BUT also, after the last 6 months we’ve been through and the way our days- with just she and I- are turning out- it might not be such a grand idea to retreat together. hmm…  

I’m cooking… 


I baked fresh bread and am trying to focus on comforting things in an effort to get our family back to a nurtured and comfortable place. Last night was homemade Chicken noodle soup. 

I’m reading…



I am reading, very snippetly, LOST by Greggory Maguire. I want to love it, and be captivated, but thus far i’m not too interested… 

I am grateful for…


Even if things seem hard and overwhelming right now, I am truly grateful that I get to bring Genny back home to educate and connect with her. I might have to remind myself, a few times, that I’m grateful, but I truly am… 


A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
I want to live in here… {original image link}
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and…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay2 Comments
It’s a lot- this idea of homeschooling again while working from home… And striving for health… and… and… and. 
AND! 
I am overwhelmed, folks… 
There is A LOT going on right now, in our lives… It’s a good time, for sure, to have Genny back home. We kicked off our “semester” yesterday, trying out a new co-op. It was WAY different than the other two we’ve done, but not bad. Just different. 
I open my blog and the curser just flashes at me. I have no idea what to say, or how to respond to it’s demanding my attention NOW. 
I don’t know what to say. 
I am unsure of the future, but then again, who isn’t? 
I am nervous about taking this on… but then again who wouldn’t be? 
I feel overwhelmed… 
AND? 
Exactly… 
So, deep breaths are happening here. Stressing less than I would have imagined- but mind consumed all the same. Some time ago my friend passed this site on to me, and I am planning to utilize it to the hilt, when I have a minute… In the meantime- here is me… 
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