Random Thought Tuesday

There are so many things for which I'm grateful! So much so, that I thought I would blog about it today. Too, I've had a couple of developments that I thought I would share. So, please forgive my warbling for a moment.

Our washing machine became very unhappy over the weekend. It would stop working, make this repetitive, annoying beeping noise until someone shut it off, leaving sopping wet clothes. I love my washing machine more than is probably reasonable. It gets used quite a bit, so the fact that it opted to go on protest is no great surprise. We first bought it when C was in diapers, cloth diapers. I read up on everything cloth diaper when he was a babe, including front loaders. When our old washer decided to go to Maytag Heaven, we bought a Kenmore front loader and it's been my trusty appliance ever since. Until this weekend. So where's the gratitude in a broken down washing machine and wet, unclean clothes? The gratitude is in my Renaissance Man of a husband. Not only did he fix me an incredible batch of polenta the other night (mmmm, polenta), he successfully fixed our washing machine. It needed a new pump. He went right in and took care of it. At this moment I am listening to the hum of the washing machine now, and my napping children are dreaming of clean socks.

I decided about a month ago to get a sewing machine. I've always wanted to learn to use one. Ron has also always wanted one. I'm not sure what he has planned for it, but I'm sure it's something artsy. I did some research on machines and discovered that many of the machines made today are made with plastic parts, and that you can pay less for an older one that will work just as well if not better and uses metal parts. So, I found an older one and it should be coming in about a week. I'm very excited to teach myself to use it. I have plans for making little outfits for Isabella, and other crafty things.

I got into a mood yesterday and sat down to write out two weeks worth of curriculum for C. I had made a trip to the library the day before, so I had all the books I needed for the upcoming week. I have been a little discouraged by the homeschool funk we've been in. We've been doing school, but just sporadically, as is the case when Ron is home and we take trips. So, I sat down to really get the next couple weeks laid out. We do have a day to day curriculum lined out with My Father's World. I tend to take and leave as I do with all curriculum and use it as a guide. I supplement with biographies on explorers, brief histories, Putumayo music, and the Families of the World DVDs. Also, I am introducing Ms. Bullard's curriculum, so we'll be covering D'aulaire's Leif the Lucky. I just feel like my wheels are turning and I'm not getting anywhere, so hopefully this plan will work. It's not rushing anything, it's just laying it all out in visual form so I can see what I need to accomplish. This is probably common sense, but I tend to be late on a lot of things regarding just plain common sense. Why don't I just go with what MFW has laid out? Well, because there is so much give and take. There are elements of the program I don't use, and there are many things that we supplement. So, it's just not practical to follow their curriculum to a "t". Also, I prefer to go at our own pace, which is probably why I'm so far behind. Wow, I'm rambling...

Okay, now I'm off to cuddle up with my kids. I had intended on baking some chocolate chip pumpkin muffins today. I guess that will wait for tomorrow. We cleared out a storage room we had rented out, so our Autumn decorations are back and we can dress up the house a bit. Tomorrow will probably be a good day to do the muffins as it will be quite chilly. The low is going to be in the 20s. It will make the house smell so cozy :)