Jake Graduates part 3, Cap and Gown

I want to weep openly and pathetically every time I walk into his room and see this hanging on his closet.

My baby is all grown up and will be donning a cap and gown on Monday night.  I will have a whole pack of kleenex with me.

(PS spent several hours with him in his room last week.  Before even this tiny shot of organization would not have been possible.)

Jake Graduates part 2, Party Prep

Tomorrow is the big Graduation Open House for Jake.  In some ways I  have been preparing for this party his entire life.  But it all comes down to the last minute details.

My cupcake crew

Waiting on some powdered sugar to finish decorating one last batch.

My cupcake decorator.

This is your life Jake Hardacker

We talked about making signs for the cupcake flavors.  Isabelle was on the detail.  We have "Lemon Flavored" and "Not lemon flavored".  Then I mentioned red velvet so it was added.  For the record we also have yellow cake, chocolate and spice cake.

Trying to keep them cool in my basement.

Julia thinks they're terrible but I love them.

 Backyard Prep

Today is near 90 degrees and sunny as we work to get ready for the party.  However, rumor has it there is a 91 percent chance of a Thunderstorm during our party tomorrow afternoon.  Do you think we can move the party in here?

Jake Graduates part 1, Senior Sunday

I am very close to the beginning of a weekend of celebrating my son's graduation.  I am so excited, so sad and so ready to just get to it and be done with it!  We have already said good bye to his high school wrestling years, classes, working at the Ren Fest.  I would like to say scouts but we are still in the nail biting stage of the Eagle project.  At this point we will be working right up to the midnight deadline of his18th birthday in 21 more days.  No, of course I am not panicking!  Expect a couple more posts on that topic in the coming weeks.

Last weekend was the first of the celebrations for his graduation.  Our church brought up the seniors during the service to give them a special blessing and pray for them.  There are 7 kids, all girls but Jake, graduating this year.  The biggest class to graduate in our 8 year history and probably the biggest class for the next several years.  2 was our previous record and the number we are expecting again next year.  While Jake was the first of this group to join the church most of these girls showed up within the first year or 2 and together they have gone through the awkward jr high years, high school, confirmation, taken several missions trips and put several volunteer youth group leaders through the paces before we finally hired Pete.  They have been a great group and we will be sad to see them go as they spread across the country and out of the country in the fall.

Random side note, because I like to point out all my failings here on this blog:  The shirt Jake is wearing is the same shirt he wore in his 9th grade school picture.  Sadly it really was the nicest thing in his closet for the occasion.  I also noted, as I have been looking at his school pictures lately in anticipation of the open house, that he also wore this shirt in his 11th grade school pictures although under his Africa shirt so it isn't obvious. Still I was slightly embarrassed to realize I hadn't bought Jake a shirt worth wearing since 9th grade so off we went to the mall Monday morning where I spent a little more than I had planned but can now say he is set for any summer occasion.  I suppose I will have to drive down to Wheaton sometime next fall to do the same again.  I don't think we bought a single new thing for him to wear last fall.  This year has been a blur.

The end of 1st grade

I know you all love random posts with pictures more than my ruminations.  Although hopefully you love those too because that is what I love to do.  Still it is fun to share my life in pictures too.  So hopefully now that I am home I will get out the camera a little more again.

First of all, this morning this lady was quacking away in our back yard.  I think she was looking for her mate.  I wanted to tell her that he obviously couldn't hear her but I am sure she was waking up mine so if she could please look elsewhere that would be very nice.  But I didn't want to actually step out the door and walk up to her.

Today is the first day of summer break!  I know Jake has been done with classes for nearly a month but as I have been telling him for a month, he no longer gets summer breaks.  Welcome to the real world.  Get a job.  He has one, working the early shift at Caribou Coffee, but I have repeatedly told him he needs another to fill in the afternoon and early evening.  We shall see.  Anyway, Isabelle's last day of 1st grade was yesterday and now today she is officially a 2nd grader!  How does this happen????  I pulled out the camera while we were waiting for the bus yesterday and apparently she thinks she is a model because she just kept posing and I kept clicking.

She had a great year with a great teacher.  The cable repair guy showed up just before she got home so I missed her getting off the bus but I had a lovely lemonade tea party ready for us.  Apparently I had told her a couple weeks ago that she could spend the first couple days of summer vacation doing nothing but watch tv and after that she would be cut off.  She forgets nothing so has been planning her netflix viewing schedule for the last few days.  After that we are going to need a bit of a plan because I find it very stressful to have my kids lay around the house watching tv and playing video games all day long.  I have her signed up for a few things to break up the summer but hope she can find a rhythm of just enjoying the backyard, neighborhood friends and 3 months of unstructured free time.

A week of Fridays

When I was a homemaker Monday was my favorite day of the week.  The fresh beginning of the week.  The day to take back control of my home and life after a crazy weekend.  When I started working last year I was determined to take the same attitude into the workplace.  But, let's face it, I was at working outside the home and while I did my best while I was there, I didn't care as much about that work as my home work.  Monday was not my favorite day of the week.

My husband John and his cousin Adam have both been self employed for many years.  They have sort of become each other's co-workers as they have chatted throughout the day, talked about business ideas and even in the literal sense as they have hired each other at times to work on projects.  One of the observations they have made is that when you are self employed, "Everyday is Thursday".

I thought about it a lot when I was at home.  The idea being that when you are self employed you work every day.  It is always almost the weekend but you never quite get there.  I understood this concept when I was a homemaker because I did the same thing virtually every day regardless of what day of the week it was.  Yet I don't know that I fully appreciated it the way I am beginning to realize I might now that I am self employed in a sense as well.

I have friends in retail who refer to their weekend as whatever 2 days they have off regardless of what day of the week it is.  And I have a self employed friend who refers to her weekend as the 2 days she has a lighter schedule.  Another interesting approach.

This week has been my first few days of working from home/self employment. (so far still exciting and enjoying it)  This morning is day 3 and I am quickly pounding out this thought before I get to work.  I am actually going into the business for a couple hours today so this is feeling like a regular work day in some ways.  Anyway, I was thinking yesterday that everyday has felt like Friday.  Like a Friday I got off work early.  It helps that we have had perfect, gorgeous weather.  It adds to the sense that I must be on vacation right now.  It also helps that I am working less hours this week than I anticipate working once I am fully trained in.

I don't know if long term I will feel like everyday is Friday or Thursday or if I will come to love Monday's again or if I will have some whole new perspective on what day of the week it is.  I have a long road ahead of me before I find my true routine of this new life and am able to fully define it.  But I love the idea that I can create a life and work environment that works for me and for my family and I don't need to live within the Monday - Friday 8-5 boundaries of working.  Excited about my new life and the path I am on as I begin to build a career.

In the mean time I am enjoying my week of Fridays.

"This is the day the Lord has Mde; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Ps 118:24

What I did on my day of unemployment, the reveal

Drum roll please...After working tirelessly all day Friday and Saturday morning I am pleased to present the after pictures.

As you can see a great improvement over the before pictures.  The main problem with this desk is that it is really just a desk top.  No drawers, no storage.  So I picked up a desktop drawer for little stuff and I emptied the top drawer of my rolling craft thing for bigger stuff.  Plus my to-do piles were starting to take over my desk so I picked up a paper sorter to keep it organized.  I haven't put labels on it yet but I did buy the refill for my label maker so I am ready for that next step!  I am a little bit of a nerdy organizer.

It is likely just a temporary after look as I am sure I will make more changes as I learn my new job and identify what other needs I have.  But for now I am pretty happy with it.

Isabelle has already moved into her space and spent a couple hours working on writing notes to her cousins and putting pictures in a scrapbook last night.  Her craft area is still a disaster but that is a future summer project.

And I have a whole empty wall and floor space.  I dream of someday putting a sleeper sofa here and making it a possible guest room but I have a long way to go before I will be ready for that makeover.

Once the office was done it was on to the backyard!  Next Sunday is the party and so this is the weekend to finish up the yard work so we can move to food and decorations this next week.  I was outside most of the day.  No before pictures but just imagine clutter, mowable weeks growing out of the cracks and lots and lots of dead leaves and dirt and then you are getting close to the picture.

Isabelle put on her bathing suit sometime around mid-morning and didn't take it off til bed time.  A definite sign of summer.

Feeling like this has been a very, very productive weekend.  Also, John managed to complete his repair to the weed whip without any further accidents and the edges of our lawn have never looked so good.  I just need to deep clean the rest of the house, there is a ring growing in my toilet, and I am good to go for launching into my new job and being prepared for the party next weekend.

My day of unemployment

I have been a distracted reader this past year. I did manage to finish reading "Walden or Life in the Woods" by Thoreau last fall but I am not sure I have completed a single book since before Christmas.  Although I have started a few.  So before I start any more these are the ones I am going to focus on.  I am half way through Professional Blogging for Dummies.  I have decided to just finish it.  I was trying to absorb every word so I wouldn't have to go back but since I own it why not start with the overview and then return as I work.  "Selling 101" by Zig Ziglar is the sort of quick read I should be able to finish in one sitting.  I just need to give myself permission to sit and read it.  I am going through "Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl" by Lisa TerKeust with a friend.  So far I am loving it.  I had heard great things about "Captivating" by John and Stasi Eldredge and found myself getting sucked into it while hanging out in our church library a few weeks ago.  Now I need to just finish that too.  I haven't actually started "Getting Started with WordPress" or "Mom, Inc" but am looking forward to taking the same approach with them as Professional Blogging.  Start with an overview and return for the meat.  Of course the Bible, never done reading that.  Overview and meat, I can never get enough.

The  big thing is to give myself permission to sit down and read them.  I need to see reading these books, not just the business ones but all of them, as part of my job.  I can't have success without education and learning.  I need to learn to put this whole work/home/business thing together and looking forward to reading about the experiences of those who have gone before me.

I always love book recommendations.  I have a few ideas for my next group of books but feel free to leave a comment with your favorite book as well.  

I spent most of my day preparing my office for my future work from home base.  It really needed help.  I had recently moved from the small desk to the larger one.  Jake had been using the larger one but had abandoned it in the past year or so and I finally decided it was time to move.  And I moved Isabelle's crafts out of her room with the idea of putting her in my old desk and life is busy and you would be amazed how quickly a fairly tidy and organized office can turn into these before pictures which I walked into this morning.

I have made HUGE strides in purging, cleaning and organizing this room but I want to work on it a little more this weekend before revealing the after.

I would have had more time to work on the room today but had to make a slight detour as John accidentally sprayed himself in the eye with carburetor cleaner.  Day one of our new insurance I am at an eye clinic on the phone with our insurance agent trying to get any information I can to pass on to the clinic as our new insurance cards haven't even arrive yet!  Luckily John didn't do any permanent damage and after an evening of constant eye drops should be fine in the morning.  It already is looking normal again.

This morning as I stood feeling a little overwhelmed by my office space and unsure how to begin I realized I needed to back out of the room and go sit with God and pray.  It always helps me focus my time and direct my steps.  As we sat waiting in the little room for the doctor to look at John's eye I found myself thinking and then saying, "I don't know why but I just know this is what God had planned for our day."  I knew this because I gave my day to Him in the morning and He has never failed me.  I still don't know why and I could give you a list of reasons why it was not a good thing but, I feel at peace.

I have to admit that in the back of my mind I was worried that I might feel lost once I came back home to work but today I found myself feeling more myself than I have in months.  There are lots of transitions still to come in the next few weeks and months and I may still yet find myself wishing for the simple consistency of my old job but for today I am excited to begin rediscovering myself, my family and the life I love.

John is heading out to go buy ice cream and make malts.  A perfect way to end a day of unemployment.  I think I will grab a book and curl up while I wait for him.