My Weekend

After getting up at 4:30 AM Friday morning, and running 18 miles, I surprisingly still had a productive day.  Usually after a long run I feel icky most of the day, and I always fall asleep reading to the children in the afternoon (Sonlight reading).  This Friday was different, and I am not sure why.  I never got sleepy during school, and I even bought groceries at 8:00 that night!  I tried to eat small snacks throughout the day, and I am guessing that is what helped me to feel better.  Usually on long run days I do not have much of an appetite, but I made myself eat frequently this time.  So if you are reading this and you are training for a marathon, and you feel worthless after your long runs---try making yourself eat small, frequent meals throughout the day. I'll test my theory after my next long run.

My older girls attended a homeschool medieval feast Friday night, and I took them to our beauty shop to "have their hair done" before the feast.  Their hair looked so pretty!  They spent the night with friends, and so our family was down to five.  Then, Saturday morning, Jimmy left for work bright and early (on call for the weekend), and the boys went with Pop to an all day blacksmithing demonstration. After that, they went to pick up an anvil that Clay had bought.  So, it was just Leah and myself for most  of the day.  We attended a housewarming party for a young lady in our church, ate lunch together, and then we went to pick up the other girls.

And then I tackled another major cleaning out project:  Sam's Room.  I actually took some before pictures that I texted to Lynn to show her how messy Sam's room was.  I am too embarrassed to post them!  He had his chest of drawers tied together with a jump rope and a plastic coffee pot (I have no idea!), millions of legos were scattered all over his lego building table, most of his floor was taken up with every GeoTracks piece we own, and I think there were a million stuffed animals here, there, and everywhere!  I found enough random pieces of clothing to equal a full load in my washer.  Lately, his tidying up his room consisted of throwing things in his closet and cramming items on his built in shelves in his room and closet.  A major mess!

I began cleaning while he was still at the blacksmithing event, but I had to finish it after supper.  Actually, I would have never finished it if all three of my girls had not helped me.  I asked them to please help me for just one hour.  They stuck around a little bit longer, and in less than an hour and a half, the room was cleaned out and organized!

When I was putting Sam to bed last night I asked him how he liked his clean room.  He said that he was sad that when he needed something to play with he could no longer just look for it on the floor!  Little boys!  I explained to him that all of his toys had a nice home---inside a labeled box or in a basket on his shelves.  I assured him that he would have no problem finding his toys.

One note--I boxed up lots of little treasures, bits and pieces, odds and ends.  These are things that I consider junk and ready for the trash can, but I was afraid that Sam may ask for them.  So, I put the box of junk (stuff) up high in his closet.  My reasoning is if he does not ask for it by Christmas, I am throwing the entire box away!

I have started new read aloud books with Leah and Sam, and we are in the middle of listening to The Bronze Bow for Clay's school.  I am spending my "reading time" prereading a book about Leonardo de Vinci for Clay's school.  It's not the most exciting book.

This afternoon I made a batch of protein bars while Julie made homemade bagels.  I still have not ground any corn, but I have plans to make homemade corn tortillas and tortilla chips.  Maybe tomorrow or Tuesday.

We have a full, five day school week ahead.  I also have a full week of marathon training, 41 miles in all.  We had school only 3 days last week because of Jimmy's work schedule, so having a 5 day week will allow us to "catch up".  We do not have any out of the home activities this week.  I am very excited about this!  I am planning for us to have a very productive week!