The children are away with their father, and I am so behind on sleep. One of the children asked if I would be going out to see fireworks today. I told her, "I am going to sleep and sleep. And when I wake up I am going to turn over and sleep some more. And when I get out of bed I am going to lie on the couch and sleep some more. When I get up off the couch, I am going to the porch chair to take a nap....

My ongoing graditude to Aldi's

This store has so transformed my life. I can get all the prepackaged stuff that my children enjoy for treats at 1/2 to 1/3 the cost. Everytime I think about writing on this blog, all I can think to write about is my most recent 'find' at the Aldi grocery store.

This week's find is that they have a range of prices on TV dinners....The fried chicken, chicken finger, mexican, salsbury steak and boneless rib dinners are all 95 cents a piece!

Oh how I wanted to stay in bed this Saturday morning...

...But instead I got up at 5:30am, and hauled the children out of bed by 5:45am. I was a woman with a mission today. The first goal was to make it to the barber for the boys' haircuts by 6am, as the line was already forming for this guy who is so good. The boys have the best haircuts ever, and only for $10 each....

The children didn't fuss too much. My daughter just brought her blanket in the car and slept on. The boys were tantalized by the promise of a trip to the Farmer's Market right after the hair cuts. They love having breakfast by going from stand to stand picking and choosing who seems to have the best breakfast burritos....

There is an overriding mission though. And while we don't have to get up as early as we did today on most Saturdays, we still need to be up by 6:30 am through the fall. My mission is to instill some work ethic in the children. There is so much that piles up when you are a single working mom. And now the children are old enough to help. But how to get is done? I have laid some groundwork in pushing and nagging a lecturing over the past couple of years. I also have gone to the trouble of enforcing limits on misbehavior by identifying the 'blessings' in my home vs 'basic nurturance.' Both boys have experienced the 'basics' and they miss the delux version of living in my home when they are living 'economy' style. Also, when I say work, they know I mean business.

Lately, I've talked to them about how we should have the same joyful attitude at work as at play. Hence, my 'sandwich' concept for this extended mission of teaching work ethic. We start and end the day with something enjoyable that we can't just sit home and do. Today it was breakfast at the Farmer's Market and a late afternoon swim at the park pool. So far the concept seems to help them start the day with a reasonable attitude, and maintain their attitudes as they feel they are earning the end-of-day reward....