Well, despite the fact that we called a couple of Sick Days for the end of the week thanks to this nasty little upper respiratory bugger, I think I got more done than I'd hoped for.  All things considered, I should give myself a bit of a pat on the back.

Weekly Accomplishments:

1.  School work--I sat in my favorite chair, huddled in a blanket, sipping hot tea like I had no tomorrows for three days, and still we managed to get everything done (except the State Study, and that is NOT priority).  Go me!

2.  Obviously starting my Cleaning Rampage was not on for the week, BUT!  I felt better on Friday and decided to mow through some of the mess in my bedroom.  UGH.  It was a mistake, 'cause the dust I kicked up just made me feel worse again the next two days...but there was a serious amount of mess taken care of.  So...Bonus Points for Mommy!

3.  Paperwork--Oh Lord....it follows me around wherever I go!  Please, slay this dragon for me!  *deep sigh*  Yeah, He helps those who help themselves, right?  Well, then maybe I'll get a reprieve for a bit.  I went through most of the bookshelves in my Home Office area and filed and sorted and prioritized and even conquered some of the "to do list".  

4.  Menu Plans--Why am I struggling so hard with these?  I updated the Recipe Binder, organized a whole bunch of meals behind the plans, and I still just can't sit down and MAKE UP THE MENU.  I even printed off some other people's weekly suggestions for lunches, etc.  Stuff that we'll eat and are acceptable budget-wise.  So why can't I just go for it and make the menus??  *stops to consider*  

I think part of this problem is that I am not very adventuresome in the kitchen.  I worry too much that something will flop or the Manlings won't eat it or DH won't like it.  I know I shouldn't let that limit me, but it's frustrating when you want to try new things and are worried all the men in your house won't eat it.  (Not that I can honestly say this has ever happened...completely.  There are one or two protestors regularly whenever I make something; but it scares me!)  

Well...I guess I'm going to have to deal with it.  'Cause the menu I did manage to cobble together for this week is a LOT of new stuff.  More Bean recipes and a couple of Red Meat recipes (which is something we don't do often with DH's gout). 

5.  Family Genealogy--I stumbled across a scholarship that Manling #1 is eligible for since becoming an Eagle Scout.  One of the requirements is to fill out a 4 Generation Ancestor Chart.  Lo and behold, you can now find the Family History binders on my newly-cleaned shelves...and I went through and filled most of it out for him last evening.  And then I started poking around on ancestry.com AGAIN.  And I decided to put up My Basic Family Tree and another for the Hubby.  Around 11 o'clock last night, I finally decided to stop for the night....  Heh.  I showed the Manlings this morning (and they all pretended to be suitably impressed, good children that they are), and they asked if I'm going to continue.  I think, yes.  I've got A LOT of information I've gathered over the years.  It deserves some organization and updating.  Once I get that all sorted and uploaded, then I'll get my membership renewed and start some more research.  *sigh of contentment*  I like not working....

On the To Do List for this week?

1. Start my Cleaning Rampage.

2. Can some chicken stock.

3.  Finish cleaning the bedroom.

4.  Plan our family vacation for Memorial Day.

5.  Start working on the boys' official high school transcripts.

Oh ambition...where art thou??

List: Emergency Prep

This morning's post is brought to you courtesy of "what to do about the changing times?"  

My oldest Manling is fond of zombies and the apocalypse and took notes as he read the Left Behind books.  He jokingly refers to all things in a time frame that ends with 12/21/2012.  In an attempt to keep him under control (and also keep that little voice in the back of my OWN head quiet), I've made an effort to keep informed on items like this. 

Just a bit of a rant before I get to the list:  I can understand people scoffing and making fun of "random dates" and "conservative Christian mumbo jumbo".  As it says in the Bible, no one knows the date or time or even the hour.  Not even Jesus.  God will do His thing in His own good time...which I know from experience to be...well, whatever "His own good time" really is.  

I take in stride the people who ask me what I'm buying mass quantities of food for when there's plenty on the shelves.  (I DO have four growing Manlings, people.  See them rooting through the cart behind me???)  If I put some of that excess into jars or the freezer at home, well, call it "foresight".  It's not about the apocalypse or the possibility that our government could fall apart any day now.  It's a situation far scarier and more real.  We've Been. There.  

You know Where.  Where the bills run too high, and the money runs too short.  The only thing standing between you and a bunch of people calling, screaming to be paid is a prayer that God keep providing "just enough" every month.  (And He always has, I might add.)  If we hadn't had "extra" in the house, I'm not sure what would have happened.  I'm sure I don't want to find out.  

I should add that, when we were in the midst of this crisis situation, I had only STARTED looking into prepping.  Better late than never, right?  Yes, well.  Not again.  I swore I'd have a viable plan in progress within a year or two...just in case.  

You know the Just In Case too.  Just in case:  someone loses a job or gets "down-sized"; someone leaves or gets sick or dies...  Or there's even the Just In Case of when money just can't make ends meet for The Way We Used to Live.  There's a whole lot of that going around right now.  The people who had Lots of Everything have almost nothing of anything.  Granted, a lot of those people should have planned ahead, prepped, read, and realized that tomorrow is just as fluid as everything else.  But hindsight is always  20-20, as my momma used to say.  It is heartless and worthless to berate millions of people for their lack of planning.  I'd venture to say that sort of reasoning still applies to even some diehard preppers in one area or another of their lives.  

It should be no stretch then, to point to my life and say:  This?  Is where your goals ended up.  

It took another trip to the hospital for my husband for me to realize that I had not gotten as far as I had hoped.  But even if we're not There yet?  We're much closer to the goal than we were before.  I think most of the pieces are physically in the house...just not organized so well as I would have liked.  Cleaning The House will be Emergency Prep too--getting everything put in its place.

The Prep List then, for today:

1.  Get the Emergency Prep Plans printed off and ready to go.  (I've started using Food Storage Made Easy  You can sign up for a free emergency binder of ideas.  It gets emailed piece by piece every two weeks for a year.  I haven't had time to do much more than skim the lists and print them off for my Housecleaning Rampage next month, but I'm going to be ready when I get there!  I'm sure that MY list probably differs from theirs...and yours will differ from mine.  But this is a great jumping-off idea--they give you the basic framework; you fill in the holes.)

2.  Update my  "Alien Abduction Notebook".  I'm sure there's other names for it--but I love science fiction so the idea makes me giggle everytime I open the book.  And that's the point, right?  To OPEN the book...and work on it...and make sure The Family knows where it is.  This is what holds the Keys to Life As WE (The Family) know it.  Copies of birth certificates and SS cards and whatever else might need to run out the door in a hurry if we have a fire or a flood or a Zombie Apocalypse.  Stuff the Guys will need to know if something happens to...me. 

3.  Man-handle my actual Planners into submission.  This was my one Big Project for the month of December, and I'm getting close.  The Homeschool Planner actually went together far easier than I thought it would, most likely due to the fact that, even though it's my first Official Planner, I've been doing this gig for seven years.  I know what I need and what I don't...and that will change next year!  The Household Planner on the other hand...  *sigh*  It's not that I don't WANT to do it.  It's that every time I open it up, I see the last four years of not being organized; and it flattens me.  Once I'm in the full-on Rampage, I'm sure my planner will be very handy.  Right now it's giving me a Massive Inferiority Complex!  I also have my little Day Planner that I got down at "Ken's Educational Joys" in Ephrata a couple months ago.  I love writing things in it!  It's a whole new year!

I think that's enough for today.  Three items may not seem like much; but when you're dealing with a Full-on Household Cleaning Rampage, this is more than enough.  'Sides, I just need to be Ready by the end of the month, not Started.  That will come soon enough.

why am I always tired?

Some times I think the reason I drug my feet for so long to get out of my part time job was mainly to do my lack of energy on any given day.  I've wondered for a while now if there isn't something physically wrong with me--'cause it seems there should be no real reason for my regular fatigue.  But how will I function now that I have no "real" excuse to blame my inactivity and inability to DO something on?

I get plenty of sleep.

I don't always eat as well as I would like or exercise as regularly as I want to, but neither are completely lacking either.

I don't drink much or stay up till extra late hours.

But on a normal day I will have to DRAG myself out of bed around 7:00 in the morning (sometimes closer to 8:00).  I then spend at least half an hour (usually more) checking email or blogs or just doing everything I can to avoid being a Mom...or even a Human Being.

I  have long thought it was probably a combination of Stress, Anxiety, and hormones.  I know that in November/December when it starts to get dark and cold, I have some degree of seasonal affective disorder.  (All I need is one sunny warm day in the middle of all the gloom to prove that theory.)  But there are days in the middle of July that I have the exact same problem.  And then there are the random days when there's no real reason at all.   

It's rough.  And I don't know why it is.  

So now it's a goal--to either make the problem go away or at the very least make it easier to live.