A Great Triumph

Seldom has a Wednesday been so back-breakingly productive as was today.

First, let it be said:  Jacob wins the prize for hardest working student of the day!!  He did 36 math problems today — far and away the most he has done in any one day this entire school year.  Hoorah for The Boy!!! 🙂

Secondly, I must acknowledge my right hand gal, Laurent, who helped me do the impossible — clean my room!!  As a mother, I have the unfortunate tendency to focus on lots of other areas to the exclusion of the bedroom, which can easily be closed off and forgotten.  Our bedroom is small, our storage challenges are constantly overwhelming, and it’s usually just easier to ignore it and hope it will go away.

But it doesn’t, you see.  And so, days like today come along, when I wake up in the morning with a plan, and the plan must and will be accomplished, or die trying will I!

You will be relieved to know that I am not posting any pictures of the before.  Suffice to say, one had to pick one’s way through the room rather precariously, as the various piles and baskets of what-not were, in places, a bit more than knee high.  To get all that laundry out, and then the numerous boxes and cartons and packaging stuffs left over from Christmas present shipments, and then organize all the shoes (my husband has more pairs of old boots than I can count), and wipe the thick layer of dust off the one piece of wood furniture in the room (a small Ethan Allen nightstand inherited from my grandmother), and then sweep the carpet with a broom, and finally vacuum, and then actually make the bed — oh, it was too rapturous to endure.

I am delighted, simply delighted, and quite relieved.  That room was weighing on me, and it is good to feel the lightening of that load.  Now, though, seeing everything put in its place so very properly, I’m also fighting the urge to go to Home Depot and look at paint… our room is one of the few left in the house with white walls.  I think I could do it with two gallons.  Might take three… probably to be safe… sigh.  It’s tax season, and taxes are not going to be good to us this year, so the painting may have to wait quite a while.

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This evening was a usual Wednesday routine save for the fact that I did not have choir rehearsal.  So instead, I drove Jake and Geneva to church for Geneva’s Jr. Choir call time of 6:15, then took Jake to get his usual chicken fingers at BK because as usual, he barely got anything to eat before leaving the house, then drove him back, met Paul in the parking lot, walked The Boy to class, chatted with The Husband for a few minutes, then drove home for a brief spell before going back to church to pick up the older kids (passing Paul on the way no doubt, as he drove home with the youngers who get out a half hour earlier), taking Tweety home and then coming home with my girls.  I almost think my job is simpler when I DO have choir practice! 😀

It was fun hearing about what the kids did tonight… they broke off into grade-level groups and did Lectio Divina; after which they spent some time getting to know each other, discussing things like their hobbies.  Apparently Megan’s hobby of writing is considered quite novel  amongst her freshman peers — and she had to field gobs of questions about her story and characters, and then she was dubbed “Megan Shakespeare”… She’s not used to being the center of attention (at least, in public!) – but I think her inner diva enjoys it a little. 😉

Laurent’s group of sophomores was smaller and sounded like a pretty relaxed bunch.  I appreciate so much the opportunity they have to be with these church kids – it is a very healthy venue in which they can spread their social butterfly wings a little and expand their horizons.