Brain Dump and Partial Blitz

1.  This whole thing about boys growing up isn't easy, you know?  Sometimes I miss these days...

Although these days are pretty good too :D

2.  At least tonight the boybarians are all together at CAP.  And tonight is special, because it's a fifth Tuesday, therefore they get to wear civvies, eat pizza, and play games.  (Rather than drilling/marching, attending classes, testing, having a uniform inspection, etc.)  But the older they get, the more they're going different directions, especially now that Wyatt's at the college.

The powers that be (at the college) have - very inconveniently! - scheduled their spring break a different week from the public schools'.  And now that Tate is p/t at the high school, we're tied to TWO different school schedules.  (Good grief, homeschooling is a lot of work, but it sure was a lot simpler!)  So while Tate, Gunnar and I are doing school, I'm trying to motivate Wyatt to work on his own, since we can't have our annual Blitz Week all together.


3.  What's Blitz Week?  If you're new here, let me explain.  During Spring Break, we do spring cleaning and projects.  The minions work for me until lunch, and then they get free time during the afternoon and evening.  Of course, I love that we get so much done!  And my not-so-secret motive (besides that they need to learn cleaning and organization) is that if I work them hard enough, school will seem like a welcome break ;D

Wyatt had definitely inherited Kerry's "allergic to morning" gene.  *sigh*  The whole "work until lunch" thing doesn't work if you choose to sleep late, y'know?  So he gets a daily chore list.  So far, he has:

* tidied up his personal stuff (bedroom, school backpack, etc.)
* done his own laundry (which I no longer do for him)
* scrubbed the ceiling in the kitchen (how did spots of food get up there, anyway?)
* partially disassembled one of the kitchen light fixtures (more about that later)
* scrubbed the boys' bathroom walls (mildew - yuck)
* bleached the walls
* wiped the bleach off with a damp cloth
* vacuumed out the van
* cleaned all the surfaces inside the van
* cleaned the inside of the van windows
* squished down the garbage in the tote (because we missed garbage day two weeks ago - whoops!)
* emptied all the house garbages
* collected all the recycling
* done the dishes
* picked up Tate from school twice
* mowed half the lawn (Tate did the other half)
* made small progress on the book he's supposed to be reading (Sex, Dating, and Relationships)
* spent hours and hours playing an online war game (grrrr....)

He is also supposed to be studying for his next CAP promotion, and LOOKING FOR A JOB.

But in the meantime, if he's not going to work for pay, he can work for me for free.  I've got a loooooong list ;D


4.  This whole "three teenage boys" thing means FOOD FOOD WHERE IS THE FOOD?  I go to the store and buy six gallons of milk, and I'm not even Canadian.  I'll go to Costco and buy six tubs of peanut butter, ten pounds of cheese, and I could buy granola bars and breakfast cereal by the pallet if I had somewhere to keep it.  What I'd like to do about now is thaw out a turkey, but I don't have room in the fridge!  Maybe that's Wyatt's next challenge ;D


5.  We must not forget to put the garbage out tonight.
We must not forget to put the garbage out tonight.
We must not forget to put the garbage out tonight.
Yah.  I have to remember.  We can only do so much squishing, and no more will fit.  Ugh.


6.  Is it a female thing to spend money to save money?  Or do guys do this too?  I know Kerry does, anyway, so he's on board with my latest plan.

It's about the kitchen light.  When we remodeled the kitchen in 2003 we had EVERYTHING new.  (Wow.  That was amazing!)  I picked out this light fixture:

It didn't actually put out as much light as I had hoped, but I liked the blue shades so much I put up with it.  But here's the thing.  It takes halogen bulbs, and they're crazy expensive.  Like, ten bucks each.  Ten bucks!  For a light bulb!  And they don't seem to last very long, either.

So, cheapskate or frugal - call me what you will - that has been driving me nuts for year.  I want a light fixture that takes NORMAL BULBS.  I had thought the fixture we had might be convertible (screw out the special socket to reveal a normal socket, hence the partial disassembling of it) but it doesn't seem to be the case.

Rats.

So... I've ordered this:

And I'm lucky to have an electrician for a dad who will install it for me - thanks, Dad!

We'll have more light, from cheaper bulbs.  Hallelujah.


7.  And now, to make the master list...  I have three more days to keep Wyatt busy, and then five days to work with Tate and Gunnar.  Wish me luck!