Monday, Monday

The cold weather continues here in South Florida.  It didn't get above 67 degrees today.  (I can just imagine my sister's face as she reads this; it's 25 degrees in New York where she lives, and there is a snow blizzard coming through).  We should be having this kind of weather all week.

Today was the start of the second semester of homeschooling.  My son has a new teacher for his Hope class, and a new teacher in Algebra.  His previous algebra teacher is still his "official" teacher, but she has a new teacher that she tag-teams with to do live lessons.  It was a pretty easy day today; he had his Algebra lesson along with a couple of videos, music, Hope, and science.  Music and Hope were both intros, and science was a pretest which doesn't count towards his grade.  He did some reading as well.  We were sitting in the dining room going over his Hope lesson, when E says, "Oh look, it's raining."  I looked out the window but I thought he was joking.  It was kind of cloudy but I couldn't see any rain.  Then he said, "I think you should close the windows, Mom, it's raining."  I looked again but couldn't really see anything.  Then I got up and noticed that it was indeed drizzling, and the wind was picking up, so he and I went around closing windows.  We got done just in time - it started to downpour with a vengeance!  The wind was blowing hard, too; a couple of palm fronds came crashing down from being blown off the trees.  It lasted not more than 15 minutes, then stopped as quickly as it started.  Within a half hour the sun was out, the sky was baby blue and all the clouds were gone.  It did its job, though; it was cool and windy the rest of the day.

While my son watched his videos and did his live lesson, I folded laundry, tidied up the house, then made some spicy beef and black bean chili with cornbread.  Those types of hearty comfort foods are perfect on days like today!  E finished with his schoolwork at 3:30, and I took myself out to the jungle known as our backyard.  It doesn't take a whole lot of rain to get the yard overgrown.  I had cleaned up the garden area, but I hadn't had a chance to mow the lawn or get rid of some of the branches.  I didn't even think I'd get a chance to do it today, what with that sudden rainstorm, but everything dried up pretty quick.  The weather was perfect for being outside.  I cut up a few palm fronds and put them in the trash bin, then moved the remaining ones behind the shed.  After that I got to mowing, then sweeping up some of the leaves in the front yard.  All in all it took me 2 hours to get all the yardwork done, but it looks a thousand times better.  There's still some trimming that has to get done, but I was tired, dirty, and hungry.  Besides, two hours of cardio is enough exercise for this lady for one day :-).

I got myself cleaned up, then decided to give myself a manicure.  My nails grow, but they are so thin and fragile that they break constantly.  Even with me taking vitamins everyday, they still chip and break easily.  I'm thinking I have to look for something that will strengthen them good.  I've tried Sally Hansen but those products tend to make my nails brittle, which in turn makes them break even faster.  Maybe what I need is a nail oil or something.  I'm gonna have to look into that.  Anybody got any suggestions?

The day is just about done; well, not quite, it's only 8:30.  I've cleaned up and all, so I think I'll take it easy the rest of the evening.  Goodnight ya'll.  Pleasant dreams.