After our daughter graduated, I took her and two of her friends to the homeschool convention. Well, I was headed to the convention, they were headed to Disney.
This was a wonderful trip...except for my trip to the emergency room for leg swelling after we got home. Fortunately this was not very serious, just painful.
Two days later, we were told that Don's mom had been admitted to the hospital for heart problems...so we headed up there to spend time with her in the hospital. At this writing she is doing much better.
Two days after we got home, Don and I celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary. Because I was heading out to visit with Dad the next day, we had a very quiet (relaxing) time.
As many of you will recall, one year ago this coming week my mother died. It has been a very tough year for Dad. This coming Sunday will be his 84th birthday, and he has days where he doesn't feel all that well. The purpose of my visit was to spend time with my dad and my sister and help fill the freezer for the coming months...my family is kinda like a squirrel family!
When I finally got home, it was time for Tropical Storm Debby. Usually Tropical Storms are just rain makers, but she packed significant winds. We had a fair amount of clean up to do after she moved on. The beaches still have quite a bit of erosion, and the storm was devestating for the sea turtle nests.
BUT...here's the silver lining to all those clouds. I am speaking on handling tough days at a homeschool convention this coming weekend. Obviously all of this stress gave me some serious fodder for my talk, but it also let me see how much my routines help me cope with day to day issues.
I have spent the last year thinking over how my mother kept lists for everything. She also kept an excellent calendar (which was very helpful for all those upcoming dr. appts.) I have never been as good as she was with the calendar...but I have come up with a few new tricks that are really helpful. I use post it notes for those things that pop up regularly--like the dog's heartworm medicine and my allergy shots. Once I've done the chore, I just move the post it note to the next scheduled date. I've now expanded it to include period chores like cleaning ceiling fans and vacuuming under the fridge. I also have my spiral notebook which contains my weekly to-do lists and phone logs.
I still have my menu board just above my calendar on the fridge. I have to admit that I don't always follow menus on the board. Sometimes we get a hankering for something completely different. The true beauty of the menu board is when I feel completely uninspired. On that board are 30 menus...all I have to do is pick one.
So I'm still bobbing on the waves, with my head above water!
Feeling blessed, how about you?
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