Greetings!
Here it is the beginning of March and we're well into the gardening season already. Although the weather hasn't been beautiful every day we have had our fair share of nice sunny days in the Puget Sound.
The week has been pretty odd as I was ill with a cold that would not allow me to even breathe at all on Friday so I stayed home rather than infect my coworkers and was able to get a few things done here before I finally at noon just hit the couch for a nap as I couldn't stay upright any longer. This has been kicking my butt energywise and I just couldn't keep up. I made it to work Wednesday and Thursday but as far as productivity I wasn't really there and all I could think about was hitting the bed when I got home those days. I'm finally starting to feel as if I may be on the upswing but still not there yet and breathing is still a challenge but I got out this weekend for a few tasks and the house isn't a complete wreck.
Henry and I were able to come to agreement on his chore list and we have entered into our contract now. He now has a list of the things he does daily, weekly and over the weekends he spends here at our house. He has the list, he gets to schedule the tasks (including his homework and reading tasks) and has even agreed to cook dinner once per week. He understands these are the tasks that are expected of him for both being a member of the household and also for earning his allowance and he is expected to complete these tasks prior to any gaming system play or TV. I think we will find some success here and feel that this is a step in the right direction for him to go.
Bowling went pretty well this week with Henry's team taking 3 of 4 possible league points and they are now solidly in 2nd place and only 2 points behind the 1st place team so he and his team mates are all quite excited. Although his Mum and I really don't care how they do we still want them to do well and pay attention and try their best and so far that's where they are. Henry will be starting tae kwon do this week and he is not very excited about it but his Mum and I decided it would be a good activity to have him in; it will assist with discipline (the master checks their homework, asks for reports from parents to know that the kids are being polite and respectful at home before allowing them to participate or test for advancement) and is very active. We have friends that have their kids at this dojo and their kids are flourishing and get excited when they advance and disappointed when the master does not allow them to test or have to sit out the practice sessions. Henry is also meeting with a counselor for the first time Tuesday and although he is not happy about this either (we think he believes he is in trouble) both Kristin and I are happy we have found someone with whom we believe he can confide and learn some tools to help him through some of the tough times he's been experiencing lately. We met with his teacher last week and all 3 of us think that a lot of his challenges come from not having the tools to break big things into smaller more manageable tasks. That's where the scheduling his tasks came from as he tends to look at his homework or his chores as this big job he needs to do all at once. I've also started trying to show him how we all break stuff down in everyday life. Last week I roasted a couple chickens for dinner and we had that with gravy and veg. The next night we took the meat from the bones and made BBQ chicken pizzas with pizza shells I had made the last time we had pizza, the following night we made chicken and cheese enchiladas and now we'll make chicken pot pies with the last of the meat, some leftover veg and gravy. We talked through how each of these tasks was completed a bit at a time in order to not spend all night in the kitchen and we have fresh and lovely dinners each night as well as lunches for Dad to take to work. I let him know that is the same way we can approach our chores and homework and everything else and that I use planning like that at work all the time so that big projects get broken down into smaller tasks that I can accomplish or delegate to other resources and they all come together in order to have any big project done completely and on time. I think he's getting it, YAY!
We planted a bit more this weekend, I put in both Olympia spinach and lacinato kale as well as two artichoke plants. I am hoping to see some sprouting of the seeds soon and have high hopes for the chokes as well as they are supposed to do really well in this climate and since we are so close to the water we should have some of the similar aspects to the weather that central California sees. I planted a sage in my indoor herb garden and also planted a couple of hyacinths for the kitchen window to brighten the aroma and add a bit of color.
The 50 new daffodils I put in last fall are all up and about to pop so the borders out front are looking quite nice and the lilacs are all setting huge numbers of buds as well so we'll have the deep purple, white and lavender colors and the lovely scents we have come to expect here in just the next few weeks. We are really looking FW to Spring and have plans to attend the annual bike expo next week and the following week will be the first of the training sessions for the 2008 Tour de Cure ride for diabetes to happen in May (be on the lookout for my annual fundraising stump speech in an email box near you :)Anyway, it's been a big week and it looks to be another one shaping up this week. Work will be busy ad I'm involved in a couple projects that need a lot of attention and this is the 2nd week of the month so that means performance reviews for all my suppliers; at last count that means no less than 15 hours of going over reports and listening to all these separate entities toot their horns and our teams letting them know where their challenges are and how we expect them to turn those challenges into opportunities for improvement. Happily this month I don't think I have to be an asshole to any of them for a change so they all get to see my happy face instead of my stern asshole face.
That's about it so sayonara until next week
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