A change in focus

I got stuck with trying to create meaningful posts for clients while trying to keep up with household projects. So now I am shifting my focus. Since most (all) of my readers at this point are family, I will just keep you up to date on family happenings. I think my business website is going to be more static!

Our news. . .
Tori is now the proud owner and possessor of a 1995 Mazda Protege. She has owned the car for over a week, but just got it yesterday. A friend had been giving it a thorough "going-over", to make sure it would run well and be reliable for her. She was really bouncy when she got home with it last night! James and I were already in bed (of course!) but still awake, so we got dressed and went out to "see the car"- - -in the dark! She had a bit of a challenge with the getting home part. The car has a manual transmission, and she had about an hour of experience with stick-shift prior to that.
Next on her agenda is getting another job. Suncoast is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and may or may not stay open. Regardless, she needs more hours and a better pay rate if she is going to make ends meet.
Tori enjoys the theater, and is in high demand at the community college (stage manager for the Spring production of "The Emperors New Clothes"-sorry, the apostrophe is not working) and out in the community theater scene. As a matter of fact, she is running lights as I write this.

Eliza is quite excited about her upcoming trip to Hungary. (I know I said the Czech Republic, but that opening was taken by someone else.) James is happier with the Hungarian option, since Hungary was the seedbed of the Velvet Revolution, and tends to be a bit more stable. Liza is just thrilled with going abroad, and has now switched her focus from learning Czech to learning Hungarian.
In the meantime, she has started classes at the community college so that she will meet all of her requirements for high school graduation, regardless of which credits transfer next year. Since her only definite requirement is another year of English, she is taking Honors Freshman English this semester, and will pick up a sophomore-level English Lit class this summer. She wanted to take "Organized Crime", but that had a prerequisite, so she is starting with Intro to Criminal Justice this semester-just for fun! (Have I mentioned my kids are wierd????)
We are really looking forward to meeting Eliza when she gets home from Hungary next year. We have no idea what changes are in store, but we are expecting wonderful things. At this point, it looks like she will likely head into the Foreign Service or international relations of some sort. Eliza definitely has a gift and an interest in the social science arena.
Another strong gift is her photography. She is taking 2-D Portfolio for college credit at the high school this year. We have a semi-permanent shooting table with black drape set up in a corner on the main level, and learning to change a tire became another opportunity to take pictures-of the wheel and suspension system! And she won second-place in a county-wide high school art competition for First Night Annapolis this year.

Samuel does not mind having the table set up. He uses it for the shooting he needs to do to earn his photography merit badge. Scouting is the current drive, since drumming and kung fu are settling in to "routine" schedules. Samuel had his first test to brown belt in kung fu yesterday, and did well. He should get promoted at testing next month. And then he will continue training for red belt (about six months, plus three tests) and then it will be on to black!
Samuel earned and saved $200 for his share of the cost of a trap set. That is a collection of cymbals, tom-toms, a snare drum and bass drum-for the uninitiated. Think of the drummer at the back of a rock band! And it has lived in our family room since the weekend before Christmas, until yesterday! (More on that in a moment.)
At the troop Court of Honor this month, Samuel earned his First Class rank, and was made Patrol Leader of his patrol. He is gung-ho to work for his Eagle, and we have integrated some of his merit badge activities into his homeschool program. (It is much easier to get him to write when there is another purpose to the writing assignment!) This week he added another goal. He wants to work for a Silver Hornaday medal, which recognizes Scouter service to the environment. He has a list of ten or so merit badges that he must complete, and then four projects on the scale of an Eagle Project (one of which will count for his Eagle Project)-but which must include a good bit of learning in addition to the service hours and organization. In support of Samuels interest, I have joined the troop committee, to help organize the merit badge counselors so that the boys have the resources they need to meet their goals.

Miriam had her first semester exams this past week. She is taking Algebra for high school credit, and had the required exam during the high schoolers exam week. She continues in her musical interest, with Honors chorus getting her to school an hour and a half early on Thursday mornings. She will be auditioning for a summer chorus camp in early March, and we are looking at starting her with a voice coach in the near future.
We are proud of the efforts she made to clean up her room, and had a great laugh at the sign she posted on her door. ("Evil Clean-Do not Enter except to Messy it up!") Apparently, she believes we are inhibiting her self-expression by requiring a clear floor.
Miriam recently won a poetry contest for teenagers sponsored by our local library. Writing and reading are frequent activities. Poems even decorate her walls, written directly on the muslin we hung to allow her to splatter-paint her walls.

Besides running hither & yon to keep up with all the kid activities, James and I are busy making home improvements. My Christmas present this year was that James mudded the upstairs hallway to smooth the walls for painting. I finished that during this lapse in blogging, and then we started on Samuels (darn this apostrophe!) room. After basically two weeks of effort, we finished yesterday, and moved his bed and drums into his new room. We are eagerly awaiting the kids return from Pratts house, so that we can have the grand unveiling.
We are going to take this next week to clear clutter that was buried behind Samuels stuff while he waited for us to finish his room. We figure Kyle deserves a weekend without home improvement projects occupying our time, and requiring stuff to be stored in his room. So Sunday next week, we'll (now it decides to work!) start clearing our bedroom for the next big project! Can't wait, but I need this time to regroup, and catch up on paperwork, etc.

Aloha all!