Weekly Wrap-Up: The one in which I learned to appreciate everyday conveniences

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Weekly Wrap-Up

Happy Friday, y’all! I hope you’ve had an amazing week! Ours was one of those in which we were reminded of the everyday conveniences we take for granted.

Brian and I were enjoying a nice, quiet brunch Saturday afternoon. Brianna was at work, Megan was at a friend’s house, and Josh had a friend over, but they were leaving for the day soon. We had a pleasant afternoon of absolutely nothing planned.

I had a load of clothes in the washer. A gurgling sound was heard from the downstairs tub. Not good.

Penny

Very long story short, we had a clog somewhere between the house and the septic tank. Having no desire to pay exorbitant weekend rates, we decided to make do until Monday. Things weren’t completely clogged, so we were able to flush one toilet occasionally. We used the water in the kitchen sink , using a big bowl that we could to catch the water and emptying it outside as it filled up.

Brian’s parents and my sister live nearby, so we visited them frequently.

On Monday, we made some very hopeful phone calls, but no one was available until Tuesday afternoon. Finally, after much money and hassle, we were back to full water usage on Wednesday afternoon.

That was a long 5 days and I’ve never been so happy to flush a toilet, wash a load of clothes, or run the dishwasher.

To top it off, Josh was sick. He wasn’t feeling well last week, but he felt really rotten this week. I got to put my homeschool sick day plan into action, which, in this case, mostly involved Megan continuing her work as normal and Josh doing a bit here and there as he felt up to it.

I finally started getting over whatever I had on Tuesday.

Despite all that was going on, the kids and I went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens again on Monday night (and enjoyed the working bathrooms at the theater), while Brian went to his parents’ house to watch the National Championship college football game. He was quite happy with the outcome.

Chloe and Gus

Chloe and Gus. All the girl kitties love Gus – except Luna. She only likes me and tolerates Chloe.

I never dreamed that I was old enough that going to a movie would cause me to be a near invalid for the rest of the week. I guess it was sitting slumped down in the movie theater seat, but apparently it caused a knot in my latissimus dorsi – you know, that muscle you work when you do lats.

I was barely able to move  my left arm or lift weight with it on Tuesday. I iced it and took ibuprofen and it was much better when I woke up Wednesday, but got progressively worse all day and hurt all day yesterday, though not as bad as it did on Tuesday.

My sister and I were both laughing at me. She said people are going to ask if I pulled a muscle working out and I’m going to have to say, “No, I hurt it watching Star Wars.”

How sad is that?

Megan studied the phases of the moon this week, so of course we had to do the Oreo moon phases project – because it was a lot more fun than just looking at the chart that was in the book. The funny things is, neither of us particularly like Oreos. We do have 3 other people who were willing to help with the eating of them, though.

Oreo moon phases

I was really aggravated because all the book really did was show the chart. It didn’t explain it or even introduce the terms waxing and waning. That’s okay. That’s what the internet is for. The concept was pretty easy to explain and was helped by the fact that just two or three nights ago we had a moon crescent that looked just like the Cheshire cat’s smile.

I want to say a special thank you to everyone who donated to my Miles of Mercy fundraiser. I’m 1/3 of the way to my goal! If you missed it, I’ll be running a 5K in April to raise funds for Mercy House Kenya. Why? Because just this week they rescued their 27th and 28th girls.

Twenty-eight vulnerable teen girls have been rescued. I love being a part of that, even in such a small way.

Miles for Mercy

If you’d like to be a small part of helping rescue pregnant teens from unimaginable situations, would you consider donating to help me reach (or surpass!) my goal of $250?

In case you missed it on About.com this week:

  • How to Use ABC Books All the Way Through High School – This is one of my favorite hands-on learning ideas that is easily adaptable to any topic! The ABC format is a versatile outline for writing that allows for a creative, concise presentation for a wide range of ages and ability levels.
  • How Self-Doubt May Be Ruining Your Homeschool – Occasional bouts of self-doubt resulting in balanced introspection can be healthy, but allowing self-doubt to take over may be ruining your homeschool.

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Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.

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4 Comments

  1. I’ve had inlaws over the past week so I didn’t know anything about your marathon. My first thought was ‘are you nuts?!’, then I read about the reason and clearly you are not 🙂 Does that mean much training from here on out?
    I did donate and am hoping that it is okay to do so from the UK? I also shared on Face book and Twitter. Hope you exceed all your expectations. I shall think of you whilst you are training hard 😉

    1. Thanks so much for your donation, Claire! I guess it’s okay from the UK. I had someone from Australia donate last week. It’s actually just a 5K. There’s no way I could do a marathon – or even a half – by April. I just need to build my running back up and I think I can do that easily enough by April. Right now, I’m alternating walking/running 3 minutes/2 minutes. I plan to switch that up next month, then build to 4 minutes running/1 minute walking. I may or may not run the whole thing when the time comes. I’ll finish, though. 🙂

  2. I love the phases of the moon oreo cookie activity. That looks like so much fun. Thank goodness for flushing toilets. I am glad yours is working again.
    Blessings, Dawn

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