Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Making me a priority is hard sometimes...

    In the past few years, I have been successful at weight loss but put the weight back on. First, with a knee injury and then an arm injury. Both required surgery, a few months to recover and then physical therapy. To be honest, I stopped the arm PT early because I was doing more at home with my arm than what was happening at the hospital. Hello, groceries and laundry for 5 people!

I am at the point where I just wasn't feeling good. So, we reexamined our budget and rejoined the YMCA.  I'm starting the Couch to 5K program again (aka C25K) and doing weights 3 times a week. My right arm (the surgery arm) already feels a bit better and straighter after only a few weeks.

Yet, sometimes, I feel guilty. About taking time out of the day to work out. To take advantage of the child care at the Y during the week, this typically means heading in at the end of the day. And lets be honest, sometimes one just would rather veg out on the couch than strap on gym gear and go get sweaty.

Today, there was chasing the dog to spray him with a medicine for a rash on his stomach, 2 math quizzes to give, reading stories, rehearsing a play, music class, homework for the oldest and laundry....so much laundry (nudists may have the right idea here). Yet, I packed my gear in the car and after school pick up, a quick bite at McDs and then music class, we headed off to the gym. If the younger 2 had HW, I don't know if this would be as easy as their HW generally caused an insane amount of drama!

And now, at home, more laundry is going and I feel better for having gone! Now bring on bed time please!

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Chaos and Perfection

    The past week, #2 and I have focused on her completing an annual exam. The state of NY requires homeschoolers to choose a test every other year, starting in 4th grade. Then every year, starting in 9th. She was downright indignant that #3 didn't have to test this year. What can I say kid? Life isn't always fair.

A friend commented that while she could see positive changes in my kids, her idea of school remains firmly rooted in the idea of desks, a teacher and a classroom. That's cool as that was my idea about it too and still is sometimes. #2 surprised me by saying she didn't think she wanted to return to school when she got older. I said ok, we'll see what happens when the time comes.

Some days are great and some days have me questioning my sanity and wondering if I can request a coffee/wine iv drip from my doctor! Today, is a good day so far. #2 finished her test while holding one of our cats. Then, they played on the computer and they are ending their day with constructing their own experiments. I'm not sure what they are doing but they are fully engaged and working both independently and together. We'll end the evening with a drum class for #3,  pizza for dinner, and a math lesson. For some reason, his math goes a lot smoother at night these days.