Busy and Good

Good morning. I’m looking outside at the amount of light and I can’t help but wonder why we must continue with these pointless time changes. This weekend we will be springing forward. To what end? Rather than 5:53 right now, in a week it will be 6:53. It makes getting up harder and getting to bed more difficult. There no longer is any purpose for the change so I really believe it is time to give it up. Most of Arizona, parts of Indiana, and Hawaii do not observe daylight saving time and California has a bill in the works to bring it to an end.

I understand that the purpose of the time change is supposed to save energy but does it really? I’ve read that during the oil embargo in the early 1970s that thousands of barrels of oil were saved which would indicate that changing the time is successful. However, more recently, a study was done in Indiana indicating that people in that state actually spend $9 million more than they would without DST. Furthermore, and I am in agreement, those who conducted the study believe in some parts of the country, the cost may be more.

If people want to save daylight, perhaps we should follow the example of the sun—rise with it and go to bed with it. I know this would be very difficult for some people but I also know that the body really is meant to do this and if people would turn off their lights and, in the world we live in now, their electronic devices, the body would be able to shut down more effectively at an earlier hour. Try using candles at night.

Daniel's 19th Birthday Cake. I didn't want to do 19 candles so we did 4 + 7 + 4 + 4 singles. It was all good. Sure do miss him but sure am glad we have good memories and can still do things like this.

Yesterday we had to get some extra school work done because Friday turned into a school disaster. We started out on time and it only took seven minutes to get our opening exercises done and I had this lovely plan to get things done and be able to go for a walk with Julia and then the phone rang. I like the person who called and I appreciate her thoughts and words; the timing was just bad. The boys got some work done before Julia arrived but apparently turned into speed readers while we were walking because the LEGOs were out when we returned. Then it was time for lunch and then Joanna stopped by after work. By that time, I’d about given up. Joseph had actually done everything other than math. Seth had done basically nothing.

Saturday I was going to have them finish but the day just didn’t work out that way so yesterday there was extra work. I know they weren’t happy about getting it all done yesterday, especially since I decided it was time to actively begin Spanish and art (science was last week and since the library reopened the end of January, we’ve begun regular trips there). Still, in spite of Seth’s pretty major attitude (which was partially due to the less than perfect coordinates for an assignment which I should fix before Joseph gets to that point), we did everything other than read the Spanish book we were going to (and I did give them a page with shapes and what they are in English and Spanish).

"Take a picture of me, Mom. I can see just fine through this. Can you see my face?" Um, no. He actually did go out like that but his face did not remain covered for long. (This is from Saturday.)

Joanna has today and Friday off and we talked about going to see Lincoln’s mom’s shop on one of them. I’m kind of guessing it won’t be today because I forgot to ask her about it yesterday. Still, it could be. I have written into our school plans for the rest of the school year a day each week of only math and reading so we can do science experiments and go on field trips or other outings. I don’t know why I didn’t do this earlier in the school year and my plan is to initiate the practice from the beginning in the fall. If we don’t go with Joanna this week, we’ll do the flex day Thursday because Seth has an eye doctor appointment in Lancaster in the morning that will really throw our schedule off.

9:39 pm

Nothing like waiting a bit before sharing, I guess. It’s been a busy, good day. Quite a bit accomplished, although not everything on the list, including ALL school work done for a couple of boys. This is something that makes choosing to be happy much, much easier. I hope your day was productive as well, that you sleep well tonight, and that you wake up in the morning to a new and wonderful day.