Desk is clean and organized. I also emptied a plastic three-drawer bin under my desk and added the yarn I want to keep to it rather than have it stuffed into a box. The other three-drawer bin under my desk is a mess now, but that can be another day's project. Folding and putting away some laundry now. When I'm done, DS11 and I are heading out to astronomy club. I'm a little freaked about getting the house cleaned. The owner of the house drove by, and DH was outside watering the veggie boxes. So, she stopped to say hi rather than looking like a stalker. DH called me out. So glad I got dressed decently today!!! I didn't put on makeup or style my hair, but at least I wasn't wearing sweats or shorts with a wife-beater tank. It was the first time we've met one of them as everything goes through the property management company. It went well. We were able to tell them we want to stay as long as we can, and we agreed on another two year lease. We were able to discuss the needed repairs directly rather than wondering why the property management wasn't getting back to us. She knows about the leak now. It sounds like we're going to get a new dishwasher soon (it's been dead for a couple/few months). She gave us the ok to stain the back deck and may even buy us stain before she leaves town. Yay! I got permission to paint. Yay! Now, I just want to get the house picked up and cleaned in case she wants to come see the inside. Definitely motivation to tackle Saturday in the morning.

Bills are paid. Earlier than usual this month, too. Woo hoo!

I really didn't want to do my desk, but I remembered that I still have my tabs to put on my car. So, I took a deep breathe, pulled everything off of my desk (a white table), and wiped it off. Then I went through the stack of stuff and separated it into one basket of "goes somewhere else" and another basket of "trash." Then I grabbed the huge pile of papers and sorted them between bills to pay now, other papers I want to look at, stuff I know I need to file, and obvious trash. In all of that, I didn't find my tabs. Then it occurred to me that I might have done something smart and forgotten I did it. Yep, yep I did. Because it was pouring down rain the day they came, I put them in my purse so I'd at least have them with me if I forgot to put them on the car later. Then I promptly forgot that they were in my purse. Next up, pay bills. After that, clear my bed. It has stuff from my desk and laundry piled on it.

Went to the library. Went to the theater to pick up summer movie clubhouse tickets. Ate lunch. DS11 scooped the litter boxes and took out the trash. DD13 put away some clean dishes. I'm about to take DD13 to her friends house. Then I'll have just a couple of hours before I have to do dinner and leave for astronomy club. Not feeling very productive.

DS11 has oral allergy syndrome. We first discovered his oral allergy syndrome when I was making us smoothies our first winter here. Before that, we hadn't seen any symptoms. There were a lot of fruits he "didn't like"; many of them are ones that cause symptoms now that we know what we are looking for. We only moved 30 minutes south, but I think we noticed the difference because this area has a lot more trees. He avoids apples, peaches, pears, nectarines, apricots, plums, strawberries, bananas, and blackberries. Blackberries cause a scary reaction, so he also avoids raspberries though we haven't tested them. We think he has reactions to almonds, and they are on the list of possible cross reactions, so he avoids them too. He's allergic to walnut and hazelnut trees, and they are on the list of possible cross reactions so he avoids them as well. He's also allergic to soy, which is a scary reaction. (By scary, I mean throat swelling but not to the point of needing an epipen so far.) He can have any of the fruits if cooked, but soy must be completely avoided and we avoid the tree nuts completely as well. He also has mild symptoms with avocado, but he loves guacamole. It's the only one he eats anyway. All of the others, he other avoids entirely or only eats in canned or cooked form. I need to make another appointment with the allergist to follow up on the nuts. We haven't seen him in two and a half years. We need a new epipen too.

We're up, dressed, have eaten breakfast and are ready for the day. First up: trip to the library. After that, I'm hoping to get some stuff done...like my table that has been on my to do list for a week. I need to pay bills and get my tabs (expired and hidden on my table) on my car. DD13 is leaving at 2pm to see a movie with a friend and then spend the night. DS11 has a special session of astronomy club tonight to prepare for their joke of a debate. I'm so not thrilled about how I get to spend my Friday night. DH is taking the littles to Monster's University while DD13 is gone, and DS11 and I are at astronomy club.

I'll third the Mirado Black Warrior pencil. I don't buy anything else. Dh went to Office Depot yesterday and asked if I needed anything. My answer was, "Yes, graph paper, quarter-inch and Mirado Black Warrior pencils. If you can't find the right pencils, don't buy any." I also third the Classroom Friendly Sharpener. After going through a ton of different sharpeners, this is the one that has actually lasted more than a couple of months. My three year old can use it without a problem. We don't use the clamp; it's really easy to use not clamped down. You can also get it on Amazon for an even $25 and free shipping if you have Prime. We affectionately call ours Carl. It comes in different colors. Here's the blue one. As for pencils. We keep using them with a handheld eraser. I was shocked when my reading student told me that her mom just throws them away when the eraser is gone. For us, that's often when the pencil is still almost full length. Why waste an entire pencil?

Testing is done. We did the entire CAT-5 test in one day.

We have completed the language portion of the testing and had lunch. I showered, dressed, and completed a load of dishes during testing. I have a ton of dishes to do. I came home from scouts at 10pm last night to find not only the dishes I didn't finish yesterday, but dinner and dessert dishes waiting as well. Add to those breakfast and lunch for today. I feel like I'm going to be doing dishes all day. Ugh.

Testing it is. Got the big kids started on the first part of their tests. Baked banana chocolate chip muffins. During the next section of the test, I plan on showering, getting dressed, and starting on some chores.

I'm awake...sort of. I'll stop by later when I'm more functional and have a plan. I'm thinking annual assessments today since I have the tests and need to get them done before I forget.

So, was ours. Nor did we, apparently, follow proper dressing rules. LOL

Well, I took it into the shop and it is getting a complete overhaul and should be "awesome" by next week. It does fit me well and has a good frame and other parts, but it is also old and need of a lot of new stuff. One of the new things is a new seat. A nice thing they do is let you return it if it doesn't work well for you. As long as you keep it in new condition and keep the tags, you can bring your seat back and try a different one...as many times as you need or until you've tried everything in their stock. I'm also getting an extension for the handle bar shaft (I don't remember the proper name) but it means I'll be able to sit more upright.

We bought it used, tried to play it, and found it too complicated. I'm sure it isn't, but it was quite long and boring trying to read the directions with every step or turn. It would be so much easier to learn if playing with someone who knew the game. I'm sure the show would make it easier. I'm going to see if my big kids want to watch it. Thanks for posting. It never occurred to me to check out a game on Youtube. I could see it helping to determine if you want to buy a game as well.

I forgot today was Wednesday...imagine that. I missed my grilled steak dinner in order to rush DS to boy scouts. It was putt-putt night, so I'm sitting here waiting for them to be done. I didn't want to play.

Apparently, the weed I was pulling yesterday is edible. Now I'm thinking I should stop pulling it. Nah.

I did the math lesson from yesterday and the exercises which were today's lesson. DS11 kept bugging me with needing help, but having not done them myself, I couldn't help him. So, I stopped everything to get to math sooner rather than later. DD3 work up poorly from her nap, so I'm stuck with an unhappy preschooler for a bit.

We buy this one. No particular reason; it's the one we can find locally that has 2000 gdu. The same brand also has a 600 gdu version. I think we took it 2-3 times a day on an empty stomach. (My memory of 13 years ago isn't as clear as I would like, and we haven't been in that kind of pain since.) The most important thing is the empty stomach. If you take it with food, it will help you digest the food and won't do anything for inflammation. Do not take if you are allergic to pineapples or on blood thinners. It acts as a blood thinner so stop taking it before any schedule surgeries. My husband was on two prescriptions and in a wrist brace for tendinitis in his thumb. He was unable to hold our infant because the pain was so bad. They were talking surgery. Three weeks of bromelain and it was completely gone. I had been on 2400mg of ibuprofen a day and wore braces on both wrists. As soon as I delivered, I started bromelain and had complete success as well. My midwife had no concerns about me breastfeeding while taking it. To this day, I've never needed braces. My hands/fingers ache a little bit sometimes. It takes 2-3 days of bromelain to get rid of it again. I'm not a doctor, just sharing what helped us. A naturopath would probably be able to help if you wanted to seek medical advise about using bromelain.

It sounds like you were looking for what is often called a turnover cleaning. I used to do these for the apartments I lived in. It took 6-8 hours (or more) to clean a 1-2 bedroom apartment. I just helped a friend clean the rental she was leaving, and it took the two of us 8 hours (so 16 hours of work) to complete it. I was quoted no less than $300 for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1800 square foot house. On a side note, do some research on Bromelain for healing your tendinitis. When taken in high dosages on an empty stomach, it works as an anti-inflammatory. My midwife 13 years ago told us about it when the doctor's conventional treatments weren't helping DH. Three weeks of bromelain, and he was back to normal. I used the same treatment on carpal tunnel with great success. We keep it on hand because we find we need to repeat the treatment for a few days about once a year or so.

I can't believe it is 1pm already. I've managed to wash some of the dishes. I have more than my strainer will hold, so I have to do it in more than one session. I fed the kids breakfast and lunch. Took my bike to the bike shop. Got estimate for fixing it up. Called DH. Left bike there. By the time we get our family outfitted with bikes, helmets, etc., we'll have sunk so much money into this new hobby that we better become serious cyclists.

I'm sore today for yesterday's weeding and bike riding. But I'm tackling anyway. Dishes Breakfast (maybe I should call it brunch) Library Bike Shop Lunch Laundry Cleaning my desk State history assignment Math (I need to do the assignment DS finished yesterday Math (Today's assignment) Vacuum living room Vacuum master bedroom Sweep hard floors Mop kitchen

I didn't finish my list. I never do. In my world, there is no such thing as a list that is just one day long. However, I'm happy with my day. My car is clean. I got a lot of activity/exercise between the weeding and two short bike rides.

Not a bump, but I have had the whites of my eyes swell like a water balloon. It was scary enough that I went to the ER. Apparently, it was just allergies. The doctor swore I was allergic to my cats. I'm not. But dust is one of the things that has caused it to happen since then.

I'll take the bike to the shop and ask them what they think of the fit. I think it is the whole handlebars at the same level as the seat and having to lean over that's the problem. I'm not used to having to support my upper body with my hands/arms, and I have very weak hands. DD will be 4 next month. I showed her a picture of a trail-a-bike, and she was not happy with the idea. We were considering a seat on the back of our bikes, but we're afraid of going down with her attached to the bike. The trail-a-bike makes me more nervous than the seat since she wouldn't be strapped in. We liked the trailer idea since they stay upright even if you go down.

Thanks! DD13's bike has a smaller seat and I can't even ride around the cul-de-sac on her seat. I've very thankful for the padding. We have a lot of bike trails here. We expect to stick with a trail right by our house that goes for about five miles. There are other, longer trails we can catch off of that when we are ready. Otherwise, we are kind of stuck locally until we figure out how to transport 5 bikes and a bike trailer (ideas?). I didn't think of special clothing for riding. I guess that'll come with time since we're sinking our money into the bikes right now.