Seven Quick Takes

1. I got up this morning and instead of plopping my big butt in my recliner and surfing the internet I made my bed, got out the fall decorations and quickly decorated (not hard since I only put stuff on the piano and one little shelf), and did 2 loads of laundry. NOW, I've plopped my big butt in my recliner. I've got just a few minutes before time to start school. I've been too tired to blog at night so I thought I'd try some morning blogging.
2. I haven't had coffee or tea yet (a must in the morning these days or I'll get a major headache) nor have I had breakfast. I've been in a really bad routine the last few weeks. I get up and have coffee or hot tea and then start our daily reading (about an hour), from there I go right into work mode--overseeing chores, hanging out laundry, starting assignments with the kids, etc. I forget to eat and sometimes it's almost noon before I get a good chance to stop and eat. By then I'm hyped up on caffeine and starving and jittery. I then tend to eat a lot of something that's fast, easy and not healthy. This is a cycle throughout my day--wait too long to eat until I'm starving and then eat too much of something that's not good for me. I've got to quit this but even as I write this I know that after I finish this blog post I'll make coffee or tea but eat nothing and off I'll go. Maybe I'll try to have some peanut butter toast before starting...that's an idea. Fast and easy.
3. I really hate the words cuddling and snuggling--not the action, just the words.
4. My kids are hardly reading on their own at all. Reading for pleasure I mean. We are doing Sonlight this year and it is super reading intensive. Hannah reads for at least an hour if not more a day, and I am reading aloud almost 2 hours a day. An hour to all 3 and the other hour to Grace and Joe. Grace does some reading of her Sonlight reader every day but I can't get Joe to read anything on his own. He says that he'll read in the winter. As an avid reader I don't like that my children aren't reading much for pleasure but I'm also unwilling to MAKE them read. I want them to choose to read (I would make them read if they weren't already reading so much for school). So, I do the next best thing. I'm going to bribe them. I think I'm going to start paying them $1 per book. It's not much but if you don't have a way to earn money every dollar counts. I've also thought about creating coupons that they get for reading so many pages or for a certain amount of time that can be traded in for movies or extra computer time. Any ideas?
5. I made Harvest Muffins the other day and then made Pumpkin Pie Dip to go with them. They were to die for. Pumpkin Pie Dip is super easy--8 oz. cream cheese, a can of pumpkin, 3 Tbsp. sugar, some cinnamon to taste, and a dash of nutmeg. I also love the dip with apples and pretzels. I'll post the muffin recipe later.
6. Opening night of Cinderella is tomorrow night!! Super excited!
7. In all my spare time I'm helping direct/produce (not sure what you'd call it) a Christmas pageant at our church. We had auditions last Sunday and are working this week to tweak the script and cast the show. I think it's going to be really cute and a lot of fun and more work than I bargained for. It'll all be worth it in the end...at least it better!!! :0)