I am here

I am still here.
We got back from our vacation, and I launched immediately into finishing unpacking, and actually doing school with the boys.  I've been incredibly busy with late, late nights every night.  I pass by the school room (where the computer room is) at 2:00 AM and think about going in to right a blog post, and then decide I better not.
But it is only 11:10 (I was up till 4:00 AM last night/this morning cleaning the house, so this is EARLY!), and thought I'd poke my head in here again for a second.
So, here are some things about today.
1.  ANXIETY!  I believe I suffer from a bit of an anxiety disorder, and it's been going into hyperdrive recently.  My adrenal glands are going to give out on me.  A lot of little things send me into a mini surge of panic.  The election (this is the biggest one, I think), the state of cleanliness of the house and yard, getting into good schedule with school, issues with the boys, Ben's job, etc., etc.  I'm not sure what to do about it.  My old anti-anxiety tactics of going out for a really long run don't work so well anymore.  :-(

2.  Joseph has been very anti-piano lately.  He resists practicing every day and tells me he wants to quit.  I'm not going to give in, though.  He's too good, for one thing, to give up on a talent God gave him.  Second, learning the discipline to push through these tough times is one of the primary reasons I want the boys involved in music in the first place.  Third, every person I've ever talked to who said, "I used to take piano lessons," always follows it up with, "I sure wish I hadn't quit!"  So, we're sticking with it.
However, today he really, really didn't want to go to piano lessons.  When we got there, he got out of the car and ran off down the street.  It was OK because Brigham was going first, but he had to come back because he had to practice his duet with Brigham at the end of his lesson.  So I got back in the car and went after him.  I stopped at the corner and told him to get in the car.  He reluctantly came around the van and opened the front door.  Then he ducked down and disappeared from sight.  Where was he?  Well, he lay down under the car just behind the front wheels, figuring there wasn't any way I was going to be able to drive him back to his teacher's house.  That boy!!
After a minute he did get in the car and we drove back to the teacher's house where we sat in the car and I gave him a pep talk until he was ready to go in.
The ironic thing was that he did great in his lesson-- all of his songs were practiced and ready to go, so I'm not sure what the reluctance was about.

3.  The across-the-street neighbors came over this morning bearing chocolate chip cookies and banana bread.  They are a nice older couple-- the ones that live in the house with all the bronze sculptures in their yard.  I've gotten friendly waves from other neighbors, but these are the first to come over and introduce themselves.  Maybe we'll go around and introduce ourselves to everyone.  Halloween night, maybe?

4.  Mosey is learning fractions in math.  He's a bright little math student, and it is very fun to teach him right now.  He mostly has a good attitude, and there are enough new things to learn that I get the reward of seeing his "Ah-Ha!" moments fairly regularly.

5.  Speaking of Mosey, after piano lessons we went to Lowe's to get some drawer closures and a few other things.  Mosey hadn't brought his shoes, so he sat on my lap on the motorized cart and drove me around the store.  He's not so little anymore, but he still doesn't mind sitting on his mom's lap, so I'm happy.