Friday

End of the week...sort of. I think I have given up on having school today since it's already 3pm. My supervising teacher finally came today (I haven't seen her since last Aug. - she's supposed to call every 4 weeks and show up every 8. But, she's busy, teaching part-time and homeschooling her own brood of 7 - doesn't bother me any. I prefer to be left alone, as it is) so I had to spend the morning tidying up. And then she came and stayed for about 2 hours. So I just now got lunch taken care of.

Next Friday the youth group is coming over to the house. I wish I could be blase' about this, but I'm not. I want to be hospitable and I have done a terrible job at it since we moved out here. It's just that we bought an old, old house because it was affordable. And because of that it has needed a lot of work. And when you spend all your time working on the house, then the yard gets neglected. So you have messes inside and out. I'm seized by inadequacy about my house because I know it's not as nice as other homes in the church who have hosted the youth group. But then, I also know teenagers - they're coming for the food and probably won't notice that I have spent all week cleaning for them! And they probably won't notice the missing trim on some of the doors or my ripped up entry way floor (a project on the List) or even the pink carpeting upstairs (another List project - we've had the new carpet for it out in the garage for over 4 years!). But I know those things are there and it bothers me. But at the same time Will really, really wants to have his group over and I don't want to deny him that. So, that's been on my mind - trying to spruce things up, riding Paul to get projects completed, and making a to-do list for next week so that everything will be accomplished by Friday evening. I just hope it doesn't rain - not sure where we would stick 30 kids in this house!

We are going to head up to Waterloo this Sunday evening after Will gets done with missions trip training. My brother and his family are going up there and Mom emailed to see if we could make it. So, off we go. It will be nice to spend the holiday with family. It just hadn't crossed my mind to do anything like that until she contacted me. David has a birthday next week so we can celebrate that then, too.

Today I did something very out of character for me: I walked. I hate, hate, hate exercise. It probably stems from traumatic PE classes as a child. I'm also not big on eating healthy or doing anything to take care of myself. I'm naturally thin, so I haven't had to be motivated by wanting to lose weight. That kind of lifestyle tends to catch up with you as you get older, as I am getting. I'm tired of being tired all the time. I can't eat junk food like I used to. It seems to sit like a rock in my stomach. But I don't care much for the taste of fruits or vegetables. Out of nowhere, the desire to run has crept upon me. I don't understand that. I do not like to exercise. My knees give me problems from time to time, anyway. Why would I want to bother them further? But I can't get the desire out of my head. And I'm quite sure what would happen is that if I started to run I would be gasping for breath by the time I hit the mailbox and crawling the rest of the way home, much to the amusement of all my neighbors. I told Paul this and he reasonably suggested that I start out by walking. Oh! I hadn't thought of that! So this morning I pulled on my capris, an old nursing bra (It's more like a jogging bra), one of Paul's t-shirts and socks and my tennis shoes. They're not running shoes, though, and if I keep this up, I'll have to invest in some real ones. And so I started walking. I went faster and faster and a lot further than I had planned to go. As I walked I did my praying, so that was nice - killing two birds with one stone, I guess. And then as I hit Maple street (sloped and I was heading downward) I did actually jog a little bit. Of course, I had to walk re-e-eal slowly then up Orchard because I was out of breath by that point and I was going up uphill! But it felt good. I came in, showered, and was ready to get started on my day. I had planned to eat rice krispie treats with m & ms for breakfast but after being that good to my body I didn't feel like feeding it junk so I ate corn flakes and milk instead (although I'm not so sure there's much nutritional difference between the two!) So, we'll see how this goes. I'll probably end up being so good to my body that I have to have knee surgery. It did occur to me that they make really cute jogging clothes, so I might have to look around for those. But then I'd have to keep at it, in order to get use out of them. I'm still feeling decidedly abnormal, though. Maybe it's called maturity.

It will be a busy day tomorrow. Paul and I are meeting with Pastor first thing and then he wants to stop at a friend's house and cut down some trim boards. Then I'll drop him at home where he will hopefully get a ton of work done on the house. Then I'm going to head to town with Ben and do some shopping - stuff for next week, food for the youth group (how many 2 liters and bags of chips do I need for 30 teenagers?), David's birthday presents, and I think, a new bathrobe for me. Ok, here's the thing: I have lost my robe. I have two - one fleece, animal printed one for winter, and a threadbare cotton one for summer. I have had my summer robe since the summer Will was a baby. I remember we bought it at Sears and I can still see Paul holding Will as I looked at robes. It is so old that the flowers on it have faded into a mass of muted colors. But it works and I haven't worried about how it looks. I can't find it! It is absolutely nowhere. Sometime between when I packed it away last fall and now it disappeared. I am baffled. I'm quite sure I didn't throw it away, unless it would have been by accident. I wonder if it made its way into a Goodwill bag. So I guess I'm getting a new robe. At any rate, tomorrow will be busy, as will the next week!