Catchin' up is hard to do...

Whew. I am BEHIND. Never to see daylight again as I sit trapped at this computer desk, looking at the world through open blinds. There go the neighbors jogging...Hi Josh and Kari. That sunlight must feel good on your faces. There goes James, the chip truck man....toss me some chips, James; I need some munchies to get me through! And across the road is our sweet baby neighbor--I sigh thinking she'll be grown before I get over to visit her.

December was used up by a sick child. January went well until the last two weeks. That's when I had my first 6-day on and off migraine. Yay! Probably an analgesic rebound headache. Those are great fun. You think they're gone, that the meds have kicked in, and then BAM! Two hours later it's back, worse than ever. I spent most of a week coming out of hiding for a bit only to retreat a few hours later into a dark, quiet room...again. My kids lived on Ramen noodles and junk food. Thank goodness for a VERY responsible teenage son who can hold down the fort. Most of the time anyway...I don't think my younger two kids had baths the entire time! Blech! And my dogs never got fed, but they have survived and are rationing food lately. My old Granny Dog, Countess, takes her food bowl and sleeps on top of it, growling at Teddy Bear. She isn't so sure she won't fall upon hard times again.

Well, the snow came through and finally, my headache lifted and was gone! Thank you Lord! But during my headache pains I had literally overdosed on caffeine pills and caffeine-laden drinks to help ease the throbbing head-splitting pain. My body didn't respond well to all that Sundrop, so it decided now might be a good time for a little urinary tract infection-revenge. After 2 days of AZO pills with no real relief, I gave up and ordered some antibiotic, which I try not to rely too heavily upon. But its a good thing I had it on hand, because I needed it this past weekend when the sinus infection decided to move in. Three or four days on antibiotic and I finally think I am healed. I just hit 35 this year and that's a scary number to me; almost immediately I began to think my body had decided to fall apart!

During this time at home, our homeschool co-op held its annual International Night. I have never missed this! It is great fun and such a good learning experience. Each family picks a country to study for a few weeks and then they set up a display about that area and give a presentation. And most importantly, they bring ethnic dishes to taste. I like to eat; I like to try new things. Ok, I admit, its all about the potluck. :) By the time one of my conditions was better, we didn't have the time to finish studying and get our display and table ready.

Also during this time, almost every day for two weeks either the mail carrier drove up to the house with a package or the UPS man arrived. More homeschool products to review. An entire spelling curriculum...a reading curriculum...two unit study books...a new toy to play with...and on top of those items, three or four downloadable products came though my email. All these reviews can get very tricky when they fall back-to-back like this and are due at the same time. I worry about shoving aside our regular curriculum to try these new items. Will it cause gaps in our learning? Will we again be behind and have to hold summer school to catch up? Nick cannot afford to get behind. He is entering high school soon and I don't want him to be hindered in any way.

But then I stop, take a breath, and begin to see the Lord's hand in it. We weren't happy with our old spelling curriculum anyway, and now we have a new one. I really wanted the unit studies, too. The toy will be easy to use as will the Bible songs CD, and will keep our preschooler busy. Deadlines, yes, but these free products sure are a blessing. We may chug our old curriculum in favor of some of this new stuff if it works well. And I cannot forget the value of these free products; I have enough art curriculum for k-12, all FREE. Two nice Apologia science texts with tests and answer keys. A fun creative writing program. Lots of free e-books on every subject imaginable from homophones slavery to nutricion to Bible timelines. It IS worth it and being part of the TOS Crew is a huge blessing.

Catching up may be hard to do, but I have a new anthem...I will survive.
-Lynn