Nine Days To The Beginning Of School ...

And I want to get Sarah and Jeffrey used to waking up and going to bed at “school times” – that is, the times we'd (let's be honest, being the early riser in the house, I) wake them to get ready for school and the times that we would expect them to go to bed at night on the days before school. This morning I got the kids up at eight-thirty, though actually I only had to wake up Jeffrey as Sarah came down ten minutes before! By next Wednesday when Sarah begins second grade and Jeffrey first, wake-up time will be seven-thirty in the morning and bedtime nine at night. Naturally, I've got this planned so well that nothing can muck it up. Right?

Those of you who know how to get hold of me outside of websites, bear with me if you have called and I have not responded. Friday morning I dropped my phone rather forcefully and when I plugged the battery back in I could call out, or receive calls through it, and hear the alarms I had already set, but I could see nothing. Since my cell phone is the primary way to get hold of me, I need to see about getting a new one quickly – alas, since my wife Martha and I both have cell phones as a deal under my sister-in-law Mary's contract, we need her with us to get any new phones or upgrades. It's a small annoyance, but it's even more frustrating when you realize how much you use the thing!

I need to be taught something because of that … and thankfully my kids are learning better how to get along with others. Not that they're mean, I mean, but this weekend was our kids' first non-family sleepover; two of their friends whom they see when they go to my in-laws' house spent Saturday night with us, and Mason and Preston in turn with their parents invited Jeffrey to come to Oak Park with them to play on the playground and splash around in the water pad. It has been hot lately – today's high is ninety-four degrees. And Sarah got to splash around yesterday in a backyard pool at her friend and schoolmate Addy's house. So that left Martha and me with some free time by ourselves …

My day Saturday was spent at Downtown on Main, an annual street fair where there's a vintage car show, food trucks, dancing troupes, karaoke, and dozens of area vendors with their wares. I was there with Tara at our Shaklee booth and we got quite a crowd! I got to make several valuable contacts and next Saturday we're holding a Lunch and Learn Bingo Party at the local Holiday Inn Express. I really look forward to that; Martha brought the kids over to see me after she got off work and Sarah stayed with me until it was time to go. Even though I walked her around the fair, she got tired of it pretty quickly but she was great for attracting people! And yeah, getting a hug from anyone in my family convinces me that this is worth it!

So this week – Sunday school for us starts September eighth – I am going to write the “David and Goliath” play for Parable Playhouse, the puppet class I teach. And I have one-third of my novel “Victory” (sorry, the title doesn't get italicized by me until I finish it) to complete by the end of this summer, and my 2013 NaNoWriMo novel to prepare for blazing onto the computer screen this November “We Have Seen His Star In The East”. And that's just now. I want to have something good and exalting for my family, the people close to me even when they don't want to be, to remember be for – something that made life better.

Sweet dreams are made of these, David