New Year, New Focus

My troops headed back to school this morning.  My Coach, too.  I miss them all, already.  Crazy, right?  But I do.  It's quiet.  And things haven't gotten increasingly messy in the last three hours.

I'll adjust.  Although I really could have my husband home ALL OF THE TIME.  I know some wives think they'd go crazy.  But not this one.  There is more than enough work around here for TWO parents on any given day.  I love his company, his teasing, his smile, his HELP, his tender and patient parenting of our kiddos.

My sweet parents gave me a fabulous NEW IPAD for Christmas.  Wow.  I honestly had no words.  You know how that happens sometimes?  You sit.  You stare.  Your mind can't grasp that YES IT IS AN IPAD and YES IT'S FOR ME.

Although I honestly haven't really gotten to use it since then.  I let the kids play on it during the day (Have you SEEN the game, "Dumb Ways to Die"?  Ugh.) and then after bedtime I'd fix some tea and snuggle with a blanket on the couch and grab it and . . . dead.  Every time.  Finally, this past weekend, I took two seconds to put a pass code on it.  Thinking THAT would do the trick.  At least they would have to ask and NOW it wouldn't be dead when I sat down in the evening with it.

No, not dead.  Locked.  From excessive attempts to figure out the passcode.

I know.  First world probs.  I'm not complaining.  The whole thing was quite humorous.

One thing I've wanted to do, however, is download a new book for the new year.  (I'm taking suggestions.)  Then I saw my nightstand and the almost-finished four books sitting there.  Books I got the gist of but didn't persevere until the end.  And the mother in me?  Decided that I should finish those before I move on.  My theme for this year?  Letting go.  But maybe in letting go, we also have to complete some things in order to move on.  So I'm making the theme to FINISH what I've started (oh dear heavens that means the mending pile on my sewing machine), so I can LET GO and move on.

Little Man is sleeping in his own bed, now.  So there's that.  He's been on a foam mat in the girls room since Summer.  Or before.  What is WITH my kids and their crazy sleeping habits?  Or is it just that the Coach and I are so tired we are happy for them to just SLEEP wherever it is?  Might be.

Started a new session of boot camp this morning.  Determined to continue the Weight Watchers Simply Filling program - it's divine.  No tracking.  Healthy food.  Wiggle room for being human.  I'm in love.

We have nine basketball games this week.  Invention Fair coming up.  Presidential Tea.  Homecoming (not in that order).  Science Fair for a few.  And this week?  Nine basketball games.  Oh yeah.

And saying NO to everything else.  That I can.  Which won't, I suppose, include the two dentist appointments and a doctor's appointment this week.  But what I CAN say no to.  That's where I'm headed.

Not surprisingly, finishing these books has really revealed some treasures.  Turns out that there are some great ENDINGS that I had missed.  Like this one from "The Cure" by Lynch, McNicol and Thrall:

"The quality of your life is based on trusting this:  Where you are right now is the perfect place for you, or the God of all goodness and power would not allow you to be there."

Perfect place for me.  Right now.

Even if it means basketball and homework and herding the troops here and there while trying to maintain some sense of home, order, family time, and consistent dinners at the actual table.

I'll take it.

Happy Monday!