Good morning! Our long term house guest (asylee) passed her road test! Hooray! One less person for me to drive around!!!!! We bought a used outback this summer for her and hopefully 16 yo when she gets her license. 18 has ASD and though he's tried twice to get his license, I just don't think its gonna happen real soon. Already done: Unloaded dishwasher Made breakfast and packed lunch for dh Drove ds to his CC classes To do: shower get organized in re: 16 yo's school year - which I keep starting and then getting distracted from Other stuff is stuff I just keep not getting to : Call Dr H Call landscaping co (we need to redesign our backyard and put up a new fence.) Check meds Call ortho Call NP Call eye doctor Fill out AHG forms p/u ds Farmers market this afternoon hopefully

Good morning! Already done: spiritual reading made dh's lunch To do: unload dishwasher make ds' lunch make breakfast take ds to Geology class stop gap grocery shopping take V to do her driving test (pray she passes! Everything depends on it!) p/u ds Nap? Still need to fill out all the AHG forms and submit Figure out if the new-old computer is good for dd's WTM on line lit class V to appt (she drives if she passed, I drive if she didn't) Make dinner I'm am sure there are sundry other little things to do too. Can't think of them right now.

Good morning! I thought today I'd do a soft start with my 11th grader, but then I got a notice that there is an AHG planning meeting this a.m. I'd forgotten about it. I guess others aren't starting up today! I already: started laundry chicken out to defrost recycling to curb Today: Take ds to his first class at the CC as a college student (he was dual enrolled last year). It's at 8:00 a.m. Gulp. He thought it was at 9. Annoyingly the AHG meeting at 9:30 is right by the CC. So that means either drive home through the morning rush hour and then drive back or kill an hour and half before the meeting. Mail a package at some point Attend meeting pick up ds get ready for eclipse look at eclipse (though those eclipse glasses) watch a movie on something environmental to get us started on our environmental science course ds has trainer roast chicken for dinner with rice and veggies Hopefully, dh will be able to get home at a reasonable time in spite of eclipse traffic.

I have been on a permaculture/holistic gardening kick. And I don't even garden! This book sounds fascinating to me! I must put it on my to read list!

I have not participated here for months! Trying to get back in the groove! I read a really wonderful book last week that I blogged about: What Falls from the Sky by Esther Emery. And then I decided to really some comforting fluff so I am now more than half-way through The Toll-Gate by Georgette Heyer. It's a good one! I started An Infamous Army (set before and during the battle of Waterloo) but I just couldn't get through it. It was very slow and I didn't like the way Heyer took characters from other books and watered them down. And I just didn't care about the new characters she introduced. But The Toll-gate is wonderful fun!

Love this thread! We get cardinals, crows, bluebirds, chickadees, sparrows, hawks, mourning doves, robins, mockingbirds, cedar waxwings, woodpeckers (big ones and small ones!), We have a pond behind our house and we often see Canada geese, occasionally ducks, lots of redwing blackbirds, swallows, and sometimes Great Blue Herons and very rarely the smaller green herons.

I just had to come back to update. I am laughing/crying. . . . well, that's an exaggeration, but just to give you a taste of what I'm up against with our lovely, sweet, hardworking house guest. I've spent days coming up with what I thought was a great plan that divided up the household chores evenly, made sense with everyone's new schedules, etc. etc. So this morning, I called a family meeting and formally told everyone the new plans which I had taped to the kitchen cabinet door thereby promulgating them to the entire family. After I went through the whole system, our house guest raises her hand and says in her lovely French accent: I can just wake up at 5 before I go to work and clean the house for everybody! LOL. NOOOO.

Happy Sunday! Already cleaned kitchen, planned new housekeeping rotation and took a shower! Not even 8 a.m! Today: Go to Mass 10:00 a.m. Make brunch Get food from CSA Drop something off for friend on the way into to town to see ds and friends give concert @ 3:00 p.m. Pick up something for dinner on the way home Finish prepping for school tomorrow Dh has to work today, is meeting us for the concert and then driving up to PA for business trip. He'll be driving home tomorrow in all the eclipse traffic. Ugh. Maybe it won't be so bad.

Good morning! I've already done: bagel run quick trip to the store for toothpaste showered Now I need to: laundry (never got to it yesterday) buy school supplies defrost chicken (better do that now!) make dinner enjoy the lovely summer weather today (hot but not too hot, not muggy and nice and sunny!)

I can't believe it is after 2 in the p.m. and I just remembered to come here to tackle the day! I slept in! It was wonderful. My sleep has been bad lately. As much as I hate to admit it, because coffee is my crutch, I think I need to seriously cut back on it. I just can't sleep well. I am getting more and more sensitive as I get older. Boo hiss! Anyway, Another homeschooling mom offered to give our houseguest and her little son her old boys clothes. So we got tons of 2T, 3T, 4T clothes, plus coats, shoes and even a couple of toy trucks and about 5 wooden puzzles. But then as we were packing them in our car, she accidentally locked herself out of her house! So then we had to drive to her dh's workplace so he could give her the key and then drive her back. Now I am in planning mode. Going to do a soft start for the school year on Monday. Need to do menu planning Plan schedule for Monday Clean and organize the dining room laundry make dinner

Pink and Green Mom - trying to talk about homework without seeming like a hopeless nag is SOOO HARD. I struggle with that too. Today I am in planning mode. Got some last minute details worked out for 11th graders year. Looking good! Finish planning this year's schedule - like solving a sudoku puzzle! Meal planning - a general plan of attack and also planning specific meals for today through Sunday. Make dh his breakfast and pack him his lunch Take dd to her friend's 18 and 22 yo need to get their books for their classes starting next week call Dr. H p/u dd Still need to figure out moldy basement issue also need to call fence co. Backyard fence is falling apart. Start filling in academic year calendar (so many schedules! 2 co-ops, 1 tutor, AHG, certamen, CC schedule, voice, etc, etc.)

My middle son is very introverted. However, in a particular working situation he's fine. He just needs to know what to do. He is very task oriented. He supervises a store at a marina among other things. So if he's ringing up a purchase, he knows what to do. If he's renting a boat or a bike etc the situation is already set up in a way, so he doesn't have to make up small talk. There are definite things that need to be communicated. So he's actually done very well there. It has really helped him come out of his shell.

Jean in Newcastle, biopsy? For your dd? I will pray! Yesterday was long and busy. This a.m. I am fighting a headache. Yuck. Today: Mobile vet comes for dog at 9:30 (check up) Meeting with my co-guardian sister and then going to check out a new attorney (we are co-guardians for our youngest sister with Downs). Appt is at 2. Do some tidying/school prep things Figure out dinner. I really need to feel better so I can run to the store before the vet. We don't have any bread. Can't think of anything else . . .

Wonderful advice! Thanks all! I so appreciate it!

Ok. Here's the background. I've never been a very good housekeeper. I get by. But my house can go months without a deep clean. I attempt to keep up with dishes and clutter. Clutter is an issue. Anyway, I've also never been good with chore charts. I had certain rhythms when the kids were younger but now the situation has changed. So my oldest two children have moved out. They were big helpers around the house. My 22 yo son lives at home but he works full time, and will hopefully be attempting to go back to school (3rd attempt!). He is immensely helpful in that he will go pick up the teens at night from various places. I have bad night vision and can no longer do that unless it is very close by. Dh often works late or is tired and doesn't want to go out again. 22 yo also does stuff like changes the kitty litter, takes out trash/recycling, runs errands, fixes stuff around the house, etc. I so appreciate how much he helps out. His room is gross though. But I ignore it, except once in a while where I insist and then he picks it up and vacuums it. My 18 yo is ASD and has never, ever, ever been helpful when it comes to cleaning. I swear he just shuts down. He's 18. It's ridiculous how helpless he is. I think I've enabled him into learned helplessness and he has milked it for all its worth. My 16 yo dd can be helpful but she's also completely not interested. When she's in a certain mood she's a dynamo. But she usually isn't in that mood. We also have a woman and her son living with us. She was completely destitute when we agreed to let her live in our finished basement. She's a lovely woman but what's happened over the last 1.5 years is she's become our housekeeper. She does it because she can't pay but she wants to give back something for taking her and her son in. She's a lovely young woman and her son is adorable and we love them both. However, I feel like a stranger often in my own house. Even if I am not a great housekeeper, that doesn't mean I want someone cleaning up after me all the time. It makes me uncomfortable. It makes me MORE lazy about the house. It makes me hide in my room because I do not want to go out and see her scrubbing something that I had been thinking of scrubbing but not getting around to it. I want to be a better housekeeper not someone who sits around eating bon bons. When I had five young ones at home and my dh was traveling all the time, I did have cleaners come in 2x a month for several years. That was great because it was only for 4 hours 2x a month. That was then, this is now. I don't want a housekeeper. Well, maybe a couple times a year for special jobs. Plus I feel like my teens need to learn to be responsible around the house. They've become completely useless. Well, now the young lady has gotten a part time job, starting in a couple weeks. She'll be working 5 hours a day plus she's got this very rambunctious adorable 2 yo. She is not going to be able to housekeep for us all the time. So I really want to use this opportunity to revamp how we do things. I am not going to include my dh or my 22 yo son, but there are 4 adults/teens that should be sharing housekeeping chores: me, my 18 yo son, my 16 yo daughter and our house guest. So how would you go about divvying things up??? I need ideas. Thanks so much for helping me think this out.

Ladies, it is good to see you all again! I fell off the side of the Earth but I have decided this Tackle thing was a good thing for me and I should come back to you all and start it up again! We don't officially start our academic year til next Monday so this is kind of prep week. Today: Clean the dining room thoroughly. The table hasn't been decluttered since Easter! This will help me organize my stuff for this coming year, since the dining room credenza is where we store everything. Figure out dinner Call lawyer (for my Downs sister; we've got guardianship stuff going on) to make appointment for later this week. Do dh's laundry Make phone call about the flooded storage room downstairs (mostly junk but there is mold growing down there. Yuck.) Try to get that taken care of. Maybe go to a meeting tonight at 6:30 on local environmental issues. I pray for everyone's health and peace of mind!

Hello all! I don't think I've posted in a while. Woke up super early read finished writing up something finished taking an in depth survey on something washed the dishes made egg sald for dh's lunch drank too much coffee :0 To do: declutter my desk get 15 yo up to do math homework need to make a couple phone calls take 15 yo to math tutor walk and read while waiting for her take 15 yo to voice (is that early today????) come home and nap dinner ???

I know that child's immune system is compromised and I think they are thinking he simply can't go to school. I do think some days he's feeling great and other days he isn't. He has a disorder that doesn't allow him to absorb protein well. She did mention homebound services. So maybe that will be her solution. Maybe she wants to see other options to compare how independent homeschooling differs from the homebound program. Hopefully, we'll be able to talk tomorrow evening. Anyway, thanks for the feedback!

Hi all, I have been homeschooling for years but my youngest is almost 16. My nephew and niece in law have some kind of genetic thing going on with their kids. One of them got hit harder than the others and he hasn't been able to attend Kindergarten since January. Now my niece is thinking of homeschooling him for 1st grade. She doesn't want to! She likes the public school but she is just accepting what life is handing her. She's coming to me for advice but since it has been so long since I did 1st grade, I'm not sure what to tell her. Also, frankly, I was very unschoolish in the early years and I don't know if that will sit well with her. So what would you all recommend for someone in such a situation. Anyone been there, done that? Thanks.

It's been raining all week. Blah. To do: Read Work on project make dh's lunch breakfast school w/ teens 15 yo to math tutor (read while waiting for her) Turns out we must go in to register 18 for classes - can't do it on line yet. Dinner is something with ground beef I really want to go to a Tridentine mass this evening (original feast of Ascension) so I need to take our houseguest to class early and talk my teens into babysitting.

I've been seeking refuge in Georgette Heyer again. I just read Sprig Muslin and last night polished off A Quiet Gentleman.

Good morning all! Already done: started laundry made dh's lunch To do: read work on project teen breakfast school plan for AHG meeting Scrub bathrooms Start chili AHG meeting

Good morning! Already done - blogged about my book To do: clean kitchen go to mass breakfast shower meeting at 1:30 Don't know what to do about dinner - maybe eat out.

Hello! I can't say good morning since where I am it is after noon. Already done: took ds to flute walked for 30 minutes got bagels for breakfast To do: take dd to her friend's house for birthday hike and cake make black beans in instant pot make granola make peanut butter cookies try to get 18 yo registered at comm. coll (didn't get that done yesterday - hoping to do it on line today) figure out something for dinner pick up 15 yo at 5:30 p.m.

I forgot we have a 4:00 drs appt today. Whew! So glad I remembered!