Blink. Blink.

Thanks to Papa & Grandma for the Mexico T-shirts

Today began way too early for me, but alas, time is but a blink of the eye. Soon I'll be wondering, "where did the last 100 years of my life go"? and "how many grandkids do I have? I lost count".

The weather has been indecisive here in West Nebraska all week. Had a couple beautiful, sunny, warm days, followed by cold, windy, spitting, overcast days. Today is one of the latter, and I do hope the sun comes out soon.

We Strawns had a very long days this week. They seemed to start early, with a boy who has decided 0530 is a good wake up time, followed by all day work schedules, finished by evening meetings every night of the week.

In bible class yesterday, we talked about how 'over-scheduled' we make ourselves, our families and, especially, our children, leaving no time for church activities or worship. I thought, 'well, we don't do too bad.' As I look at my calendar to blog this morning, I'm no different than any other over-commited person out there.

Monday: Pastor works all day. Weight Watchers & LWML in evening.
Tuesday: All day winkle and elder's meeting for Pastor. Preschool for Eden. OT for Lars.
Wednesday: Bible study & Confirmation class for Pastor. Soup dinner & Lenten service for all.
Thursday: Preschool for Eden. Piano lessons & choir rehearsal for Sarah.
Friday: Speech for Lars. Work for Pastor. Meeting and Dr. apt in SB for Pastor & Sarah, respectively. Babysitter for kids. Take babysitter home.
Saturday: Pastor in Denver for a hospital visit all day. Trip to the library everyone else.
Sunday: Church in the morning, Sunday school, naps (yeah!), day of shopping with friends in SB (double yeah!), dinner out (great food), kids late to bed (not so great).

Throw in a few calls in there, meals, baths & teeth brushing, story time, running errands, laundry, clean up, bill paying, broken garbage disposal, outdoor play and the like, you have one very tired, yet very blessed, Mommy this Monday morning!

Looking over my gardens this week, I have several tulip and grape hyacinth sprouts popping up, along with some day lilies and a mystery plant. The grass is starting to green up and I'm excited to put the early spring fertilizer on soon! I have decided that I will not go overboard in planting flowers this year, but I have time to change my mind on that issue.

In anticipation for spring this year, the kids helped me dig the dirt out of an old planter tub on the front porch and as it found its way to the trash bin, another smaller one took it's place. We also went shopping for some lovely outdoor chairs for that same area and found something that I am excited to haul out of the Ford and put out today, if it ever warms up. We also raked the winter kill spots out of the grass and swept the sidewalk off.

Though it was busy, it was a productive week. I managed to pin Allen's T-shirt quilt together and it's all ready for the last few stitches from the sewing machine now. I looked over scrapbooks and decided I needed to update those before the new baby comes. With the pics all digital now, I spent much time on the computer, finding and sorting and ordering photos for that purpose. They came in the mail on Saturday, so I have no excuse if I'm unproductive this cloudy and overcast day. I also put away all the 'stuff' that was stacking up on the table in the laundry room. It's such an easy place to put all that 'stuff', until one nearly weightless piece of paper is too much for the pile, and it crashes over in domino effect and you break 3 quart jars on the floor.

Here's to another fun filled week!

Happy 5th B-day, Miss Mataya and Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!~