Tuesday 11/20

Woke at 7:30 with a sinus headache but it's going away now at 11:10. Everybody slept in AGAIN! My we are lazy!


Said rosary and felt really moved. H and W went to chemistry. S practiced his Greensleeves which he has totally learned by ear and then arranged by himself. J was reading Dilbert and now is working on his novel. B found an old harmonica and is playing on it and with Will's guitar tuner making the tuner's needle move all around as she plays. Now S is outside playing. He's in a great mood.


I have to make 2 phonecalls one to the dentist and one to hearthsong to order presents to make for Chanukah. Also, I just want to buckle down and do some deep cleaning now that my headache is fading.



2:01 p.m. Decluttered family room. Started in corner by globe. Magazine stand that hadn't been cleaned out for months, box of gloves, hats that had been dumped there; a paper grocery bag full of stuff that had obviously been cleaned out of van months ago. Then did mantle which had accumulated various sunglasses, papers etc. Cleared off top of old Icebox. Cleared off coffee table; only three piles now, 1)magazines, 2)reference books (story of art, atlas, dictionary and a new book about catholic colleges); read alouds. Then a box of tissues. That's it. J helped me clear out all the junk that had accumulated in the big baskets under the coffee table. One had fun workbooks, art supplies and little bits of schoolish type games. The other is for library books. I cleaned off the top of the stereo cabinet and put movies away. Also cleaned up clutter around couch, phone books, broken cat scratching post. Cleaned up around cats' dishes too.



H and W came home from Chem class. Had lunch.



Headache came back though. Right now S is trying to draw a picture of W holding his guitar. We're listening to Jack Johnson's Flake album. H is not feeling well and is hiding in her room. J and B just went outside to play. I just made some Thai soup from a package for lunch.



Both H and W have to take their British history exam today. H has SAT prep tonight.

10:14 p.m.
H and W did take their exam. Then they went to the music store. I decluttered more. The place looks good. I did the long counter under the window. There's still junk there but at least now you can see the counter top and things are in orderly piles. All in all, I did a big green trash bag full of junk. Also cleaned around the sink.

B and S played really nicely all day. They probably watched too much TV but they played some too. J was in a reclusive mood and kept going off to read or daydream. R came home early! 6:00 or so. We had ham, rolls, steamed green beans and sliced up apples for dinner. H and W got back a little late but still had dinner with us.

J did read his next chapter of F&L and we went through the catechism questions.

Made everyone clean up kitchen. I really need to enforce these chore assignments better.

H is complaining that she's depressed. I told her that you can't expect to be happy all the time and of course you go through times of slumps and that doesn't mean you're clinically depressed. Her best friend is on pills. It is truly ridiculous too.

Read some of A Little History of the World and another book on Thanksgiving but the kids weren't very interested. It was mostly for my benefit so I could feel like I had totally neglected them today in lieu of housework.

R is trying to fix a computer which seems to have been attacked by a virus. B is still up even though she was sent to bed over an hour ago.

S and J are talking up in their room. W is in the study with R. I'm watching a cowboy movie with Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner. Good movie, but violent of course.