Remote Control Woes

Keith after doing some yardwork in the hot sun. He's got Gatorade, Doritos and the newspaper to re-fortify himself, but (alas!) no remote control!

Two weeks ago, a terrible thing happened . . .

We lost the remote control.

For Keith, this is total devastation. He likes to watch four or five things on TV simultaneously. Commercials are evil. He'll usually watch one main show, but whenever the commercials come on, he switches to another show and then goes back to the main show, unless the other show becomes more interesting. Now this is well and good for the person with the remote control, but it's a real pain for anybody else watching TV with the person with the remote. I've gotten used to it over the years and even find myself switching channels like a mad person in the rare instances I've got the remote control!

Keith seems to be doing better with the dock work. The warehouse specializes in moving goods in and out, so ALL of his work takes place at the dock, not in the warehouse. He and the other guys on his crew move things out of one truck and into another for transportation. He's gotten some easier assignments lately and looks a lot better coming home from work, but he is mentally preparing himself for when he starts back to work at Delta as well. Weekends are going to be very sweet indeed.

Next week will be the last week of Keith's vacation from Delta and the last week of our summer vacation. I'm gearing up for big school year plans:

1) Actual school days for the kids -- including Konner!

2) An weekday evening Bible study for ladies in the neighborhood. The summer study did not pan out, but I do have some interest and would like to get that started for the fall.

3) Another weekday evening Bible study/prayer time for high school girls. This is at Keri Lynn's request.

4) Wednesday evening church activities: Missions and choir for the younger kids and youth group for Keri Lynn and Kristofer. I think I'm going to help with the younger kids during this time.

5) Wednesday morning women's Bible study. Last year, I attended an evening Bible study, but didn't like missing the opportunity to help with the kids' programs. Now, I'd like to go to the morning study.

6) Thursday afternoon homeschool co-op. I don't know if this is going to work out. It didn't work out last year because I signed up too late and also because we didn't come into the Newnan area until November. I also wasn't sure if I wanted to commit a whole afternoon every week for the co-op, but someone was telling me it's two semesters, only 10 weeks a semester. And we greatly miss our homeschool contacts. If we do participate with the homeschool co-op, we can also get more easily involved with other homeschool activities because we'll actually know some of the people involved. It is not a lot of fun to go on a field trip, for instance, and not know who anyone else is. It's like just going to the worship church at church and being involved in nothing else -- Guess what! You don't get to know anyone that way.

So with all of the plans swirling around in my head, my body and brain have gone into temporary hibernation! I love the start of school, I really do, but I know it's going to get a lot more busy and a bit stressful at times. So, like a hibernating bear, I'm sleeping more, reading for pleasure, watching movies and TV, avoiding exercise and skimping on housework so that I can store up energy for the start of The School Year.

I do need to get myself together, though, to get a party going for Kylie. I think I want to have a surprise party for Kylie tomorrow night with the neighborhood girls -- maybe a slumber party, if I can work out the details at this late date. She knows we're going to have a party for her, but she hasn't asked me about the details or been too concerned about when or what kind of party it will be. So I think it would be fun to surprise her with a fun get-together. She's at the age where surprise is pretty easy to achieve.

Keri Lynn wants to go out with me tonight to get party supplies and leave Kristofer in charge. That might work, if we get everyone ready for bed. We got Chicken Little on Netflix, so maybe they can watch that tonight before bed and not cause Kristofer too much grief.