A Return Home

As you are already aware, I have been trying really hard to return to my own home. It has been an adventure I really never wanted to undertake. I know there will be a blessing here somewhere, I just have to find it.

This week finds me pretty much in the same place I was last week. The plumber decided to begin installing the drain for my bath. That is good. However, he decided to do it his way and not the way that we asked. That is bad. I want my tub in a specific place in my bathroom. I don’t want it pushed up against the back wall. I want it between the two walls evenly. He insists on pushing it to the back wall. This frustrates me. He will have to do it over again. After all, there isn’t a valid reason why it can’t be my way. He just doesn’t want to do it. He tells me ok, and then does what he wants and pushes it back. But since I am paying the bill…you catch my drift.

Ok, I am done grumbling about this for today. We will see what tomorrow brings.

I thought I would take this opportunity to announce that we are participating in the YW NanoWriMo program this year. So what is the YW NanoWriMo program? It is the Young Writers program for National Novel Writing Month, which is in November.

As a writer I participated in the adult program last year. I didn’t get too many words written. Only a couple hundred or so. So this year I planned on participating again and completing the 50,000 words in 30 days challenge. I wanted to be one of the winners. The best way I could accomplish this feat was to involve my son. If it was schoolwork, then I would have to be the good example and do my project.

When I signed him up for the Young Writers portion, I was able to set his word count to an age appropriate level. Since this is his first time, we negotiated the word count to 8,000 words. He is excited to try his hand at writing his own novel. We will work on editing his story in December. (And mine, of course!)

I’ll post updates on our progress throughout the month of November. It should be a fun project for both of us, albeit a challenging one.

So I thought I should jump on here and tell you of my good fortune and what it can do for you. I have been selected to be a member of the focus group for the TOS Homeschool Crew. What does this mean? It means that I will be receiving and then reviewing up to 50 different homeschool products. While I will put these products through the paces, you will be able to read about them and decide if they will work in your own homeschool program or not. I will give you my honest opinion about the products.

Sometimes it will be a glowing report, and other times it won’t be so good. I will always try to find a positive about each product, because we all know that what works for one kid doesn’t necessarily work for another. I will also explain why I feel the way that I do about each product. I am even taking into consideration the views and opinions of my son. He is going to be making small reports on each product that will tell me what he likes and doesn’t like about each one. (As his mom AND teacher, I can get away with this as part of his school work. LOL!)

I will mark each review with one of the logos that I have received as a member of the Crew. So keep you eyes open for my reviews! It will promise to be an amazing experience for all!

When we returned home to the place where my husband grew up, we undertook the responsibility and adventure of remodeling my grandmother’s home. This home is filled with many memories for me, all of which are happy ones. The funny thing is that although my husband grew up in this town, I have many memories of growing up at my grandparent’s home. I actually lived in this town for a couple of years from the end of 1^st grade to the end of 4^th grade.

Anyway, we moved back here to keep an eye on our parental units. Both sets live only about one block away from each other and are getting older. We felt that we should be close so that we could offer any assistance if it was needed. This has eased the minds of most of our siblings. And although it is a small town, it does have a homey feel to it.

We have been remodeling our home since June. It has been a long and drawn out process that has come with many challenges. Many of the challenges have come up while I have been trying to do my job and teach my son. I have literally been doing both of these between two separate residences. This week, I have finally made enough progress that we are able to school in our new home, even though we aren’t quite ready to sleep there yet. (We still need a shower or bath hooked up before that can happen. Soon…)

We are hoping to finally move into it this next week. I have been busy trying to organize things and clean things so that we can make the move out of my parent’s basement into our own home. It will be nice to be back in our own home. Building a home takes work. But being together as a family is what makes it a reality. How do you build your home? Leave me a comment and share.