Since 2008 is the year of the rat, according to the Chinese calendar, Flo hastily drew a rat for me. Maybe we should call him Rapido the Rat. (Rapido means “quick” in Spanish) Oh, and my name (Tara) spelled backwards, spells A RAT. So, this must be a sign of a good year to come. As long as we don’t actually see any unexpected rats, that is. I know many people have pet rats and think they're great, but I'd rather not come across one unexpectedly, like in my kitchen, or say, in a restaurant; especially a Chinese one. Rats are supposedly very intelligent, too, which is good, because I could use some increased intellect this year. Most days I steer in the poor visibility of "mommy fog," and a few extra functioning brain cells would be a real asset! How did I get off on this rat tangent… I digress…
Our New Year’s Eve was spent visiting with friends from our church circle. They had a nice bonfire and potluck. Flo and Joe went with Darren, and Zofia and I went over a little later, but didn’t stay too long. I had a bad headache, and it was a challenge not to be grouchy. We came home and all stayed up long enough to watch Dick Clark count down the ball dropping.
We all have stuffed up sinuses, coughs or scratchy throats. I think on the onset of winter has brought these minor maladies, but hopefully that’s the worst of it. And as we ride out the end of this holiday week, we’re resting up for the New Year and the resumption of our regular weekly activities. It has been nice having a couple weeks of a less hectic schedule, and it has made me reflect upon the activities in which we’ll choose to participate in this second half of the “school” year. Though homeschooling can provide lots of flexibility, it is easy to become overwhelmed with the abundance of classes and activities offered, and end up with the quantity versus quality issue. Sometimes it’s better to scale back the schedule for a selective few activities and allow more actual “home” time just for relaxed learning. So, that will be my goal this year… well, one of them anyway.
So, I hope this New Year finds everyone well, and that your resolutions are lofty and attainable! Happy New Year!