Thankful Tuesday

 1. Last Tuesday I used a coupon at Sears to get a suit (shirt, pants, vest, and tie) for $1.22. Now if only I could have gotten a wonderful deal like that on the two tires I got there on Saturday, ha ha!

2. My eyes had been oozing since August 16. I foolishly waited until September 1 to do something about it. Hopefully I have learned my lesson and will immediately go to the doctor if I don't have any antibiotic cream on hand. I was trying to save $35, but it was absolutely not worth it, especially

because my glasses give me a headache, and you're not supposed to wear contacts when you have conjunctivitis. I was finally able to put new contacts in yesterday because for the first time in almost 3 weeks I woke up and my eyelids weren't stuck together. PTL! I also am scheduled to see an eye doctor tomorrow. I'm praying it doesn't cost a fortune as we don't have vision insurance, but I've decided it's worth the cost to have a pair of eyeglasses that don't give me a headache. I also think I probably need a new Rx for my contacts too. I'm at that age

where my vision is changing. Part of the reason I also didn't want to go to the doctor was because I don't like going with three kids in tow, but amazingly I was able to schedule an appointment that took place while the three of them were in gym class.

3. Oliver hasn't given me ANY grief about going to flag football practices or his game. It probably doesn't hurt that Ian is on his team. He also went without any hesitation to the first gym class for the fall on Friday morning, which was so much better than last spring when I had to stay

and watch or he wouldn't stay. I'm so very glad he's out of that phase!

4. Only have one night a week of flag football practices and only two games on Saturday (both at the same location) is also a huge blessing. It's much less hectic than soccer was for me with three kids.

5. Paul's parents came to both football games on Saturday, and Paul was able to be there for Nadia's game. This also meant we had more hours with him than usual on Saturday. He also didn't go to work

on Sunday (he had the previous two weeks), and the biggest shock was that he took Labor Day off. I wasn't expecting that at all. Usually I have done school work with the kids on Labor Day, but I had told them a few days ago that they'd be getting Monday off from school work so that I could spend the day doing work for the university.

6. I am making progress with getting everything I need for the semester. I signed my contract and got a parking permit for the semester on Thursday. On Friday my bloomu

email and my course management software accounts were reactivated. Today I got an ID card. I think at this point the only thing I am missing are keys for my office and the computers in the two classrooms I am teaching in this semester. The computer was actually locked in the classroom where I teach from 8:00-10:45, and it took the department chair a few tries to locate a key that would open up the cabinet. Thankfully she found one before it was time for the class to start. I also am starting to get a little bit farther ahead with my planning. This is my

first time ever to start a semester without having a course totally planned out, and it's definitely uncomfortable for me, to put it mildly. Hopefully before I know it I'll have everything mapped out.

7. Homeschool gym class resumed on Friday at our church. Another organization in our area is starting to offer a homeschool gym class this fall, but for now I'm sticking with the one at our church, in part because the other one is on Tuesdays (a day I am teaching this semester). All three kids enjoyed

playing baseball outside at gym class on Friday!

8. Since Paul was home on Monday and because the buffet costs $2 for kids on Mondays, we headed to Bonanza. That still needs to be a special treat because even with the discount for kids it still costs far more than getting pizza for take-out, but in light of our second income we can afford to go there every once in a blue moon. I always enjoy having a night off from cooking and doing dishes.

9. The kids LOVE going to Tab's house on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They enjoy playing with her two boys, playing with her two dogs (particularly the longhaired dachshund named Ruby), etc. Last Thursday she took them on a field trip to Montour Preserve for a nature scavenger hunt. I'm so thankful to have a wonderful teacher to teach my kids on T/Th. She will be using the BSF materials with them for the book of Romans for their Bible lessons those days. We've been going through the book of Matthew on MWF.

10. Nadia has really been enjoying learning to play the recorder. I had been intending to teach her how to play it last school year, and it never happened. I'm thankful we're finally getting around to doing that!

11. On Saturday I did some shoe shopping at Payless. Paul's mom had given me some money to buy the kids a few things like jeans for Oliver, AIO cd's for Nadia, sneakers for Oliver and Ian, etc. I took advantage of a sale at Payless and stocked up on some shoes for now and the future because I paid $5 for a pair of Spider-Man rain boots and $10 for each pair of sneakers (which were typically at least $30 before the discounts).