My (New & Improved) "To Do" List

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,

to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, 

and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

~ Henry David Thoreau ~

As I sat in a small group counseling session last night, I was reminded, once again, of how fragile life is -- how quickly any one of us can be gone.  So, today I am giving a lot of thought to the briefness of my time here and how important it is for me to make the best of what I have, rather than focus on what I don't have.
This has been brought to my attention several times recently, and I wonder if there isn't some reason I need to take the time to reflect on it......

Last April, I learned of the sudden death of a woman I had briefly known.  She was a mother of two children (11 & 14).  For a short period of time, she was my hairdresser.  From what I have learned, she was awakened one morning by a heart attack.  Her husband was already gone for work.  Her children did what they could (I can only imagine their terror).  She did not survive.  She was 47 years old -- alive one day, gone the next with no warning.  Now every time I drive by  her house I am reminded.

Where Does the Time Go?

I cannot believe three months have passed since I've sat down and written anything here!  Where does the time go?  I'm honestly wondering if I can even remember how to use all the features of this blog site.  I first set this up in the spring and spent so many hours trying to figure it all out.  Now so much time has passed, I hope I can remember what I'm doing on here.

The summer is basically over at this point.  We had a wonderful time in Canada and, as with last summer, beautiful weather almost the entire three weeks.  I will post something about our trip soon.  Right now, though, my mind is on adjusting to our new fall schedule and routines.  For the first time since I've opened my home daycare, I have a full time child here in addition to my own two children.  Up until now I have only accepted before/after school children and the occasional younger child for a few hours here and there.  This is a huge change for me.  So far, things have been going okay.  The little boy is nice and, overall, well-behaved.  I think, however, the honeymoon period is beginning to wear off.  Little things are starting to annoy me, and day after day of not having "me" time is beginning to wear me down.

My weekday evenings are also slowly filling up with other activities and obligations that I hope don't become too overwhelming.  At the same time that I am looking forward to it, I am dreading the day my tutoring assignment begins, as it will fill up two of my evenings each week.  It is wonderful to get out of the house and be teaching, but sometimes (especially in the middle of winter) it is difficult to make myself get up and get out.  Knowing I am bringing in some much-needed extra income does help, though.

The newest change this fall is that our first born is starting preschool!  Here he was on his very first day:

I am very excited for him to be entering into this phase of his life, but it's also another small sign that he is slowly growing up and becoming more independent.  So far, he has adjusted well and loves going to his new school!

Soon it will be his sister's turn to begin as well (this time next year, actually).  But, well, I'll just not think about that right now....

My Lifelong Love of Dance

This weekend I danced in my first recital in 10 years, and it felt great!  I started a tap class last fall at a new dancing school after having been on a dancing hiatus for over four years.  I was a little nervous at first, not knowing whether or not I was still going to be able to keep up in an advanced tap class, but the ladies in my class were very welcoming.  I definitely felt a little "rusty" at first.  However, over the first few weeks, things slowly started to come back.  I realized that I still have difficulty sometimes remembering the names of certain steps, but not the steps themselves.

We did this tap dance to a song called "Work Me Down" with an 80's workout theme.  I'm sure you can tell by my brightly colored costume there!  There were times throughout the fall and winter when I was unsure whether or not I really wanted to go through with the stage performance.  I mean, dancing in class is one thing -- dancing on stage in front of an audience is another.  Now, after this weekend, and how great I felt after the three performances, I can't believe I even doubted for a minute whether or not to be in the show!  I am so glad I decided to go ahead and do it!

I first began dancing when I was four years old -- a full year before I even began regular school.  My mother enrolled my sister and me in what she believed was the best dance studio within driving distance.  Still, the studio was 30 minute drive from our home which is further than I think most parents would be willing to drive on a regular basis.  It was also located in the same city as where my grandparents and great-grandmother lived.at the time, which made it a little more convenient, I suppose.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

So, the other day my 3 year old son discovered my old dollhouse in the basement: 

Well, that's actually not completely true.  My husband had taken in down from a high shelf in the basement a while back and put it on the floor one day for our son to play with while he was working out.  The house didn't have any of its accessories with it.  Those were packed away separately.  Until a few days ago, our son was just using some of his Fisher Price Little People to play with it whenever he happened to be down there with one of us.  Our basement isn't really finished, but we do have a carpet on the floor and our exercise equipment.  He is typically only down there when one of us wants to exercise and keep an eye on him at the same time.  Our 2 year old daughter is rarely down there, as she isn't quite old enough to keep herself out of trouble yet.