In a few days, we will take our younger son up to Michigan State University for his freshman year of college. Due to the distance,he won't be coming home as often as our daughters and older son.
Katie was married a little over a week ago. She and George returned from their honeymoon yesterday and dropped by to tell us about their trip. It was lovely to see the so soon. This week, she is planning on getting her former bedroom packed up. We are forcing her to remove all her belongings from the house. Not because we want every memory of her removed, but because other children want her bedroom and we are trying to have no storage in the basement.
Well, almost no storage. There will be one shelving unit for Christmas and camping items. The house is so large that it would be easy for us to become hoarders without the house getting full of clutter. We will only be here for another 3-5 years and we don't want to have ton of junk to sort through.
Madelyn is going to the public high school this upcoming school year. She won't be graduating from the high school, because they won't accept homeschool classes without testing for every subject. I'll issue her a diploma in the spring. Our homeschool will be down to two students. It should be an easier year because the younger two girls are only 20 months apart, I'm planning on spending the first week or two taking the girls to various parks and getting our work done in the picnic pavilions, then having a picnic lunch and spending the afternoon hiking and playing on the various playgrounds.
Mike is changing positions at work. He will still be in sales, but will be a bedding specialist. Due to changes within the company's pay structure, he should make more money with the change. I hope it's a good move for him. He dislikes many of the games that other sales associates play to steal commissions from other sale people.
My etsy shops are doing well. I'm getting a steady income from them and enjoy the flexibility they provide. I'm planning ahead to create a couple of non-etsy shops after the holidays to increase my exposure on the internet and open other income avenues. Mike has been really supportive throughout all this and is excited to see my hard work pay off.
Depression has been creeping back again. It seems to be an on-going struggle for me. Part of it may be hormones, but the "winter blahs" are now returning as early as August. I'm working on eating highly nutritious foods and getting exercise each day. I know that anti-depressants are available, but I really want them to be a last resort.
I'll be adding a ton of photos and updates over the next few weeks and even have a few craft and cooking posts planned.
