Preschool Delema

Because we've had a tough couple of years, and because I was working full-time until the end of August, we hadn't even looked at preschool until just a few weeks ago. Did you know that most people start researching preschool when their kids are babies? And that they sign their kids up for it the spring before they want to send their kids there? Who knew!

Due to life, we didn't even know whether we'd be able to afford such a thing until Hubs went back to work. And by then nearly every place I called was "full for the year, but I can put you on our waiting list." The ones that weren't full? Well, let's just say that we don't have an extra $1200/mo sitting around. I kid you not. Will I spend more than our mortgage payment to send our kids to preschool? Hmm... let me think about that for a minute... NO!

I did find one school that offered this amazing "needs based" scholarship opportunity. It was an amazing school. Montessori and everything. But we didn't get the scholarship, apparently we aren't needy enough. *sigh* Now, maybe if I left my husband and went back to school I'd qualify, but since I'm not doing either of those things, no preschool for us.

I was sad, but life goes on.

Next option? Ugh... I don't even want to say it... home school. Don't get me wrong, I have friends who have done it and survived, but most of them are a lot more "with the program" than I am. I am what some might call a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl. Planning? Not my forte. Organization? What's that? I think I'm ok as far as intelligence goes, but I barely scraped myself through school, am I really the right person to be leading two little minds down that path? Well, let's not get overly dramatic here, this is preschool after all. If I screw up this year, there's always kindergarten next year and hopefully I won't be teaching that too.

Thankfully there are some pretty great resources out there. Our local library offered me a ton of books on the subject (as if I'll have time to read, but I now have them on my shelf) and a flyer with classes I could sign them up for through our parks & rec department. And our local school district gives us these excellent monthly "preschool packets" which include a list of seasonally appropriate activities, books, songs, and worksheets. But the one thing that really inspired me to give this a shot is Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations. She has these amazing themed preschool units that you can print out for free along with ideas on how to use them. They're colorful, and cheery, and just plain fun! Plus she has tons of ideas for parents on how to get organized, and I will most certainly be making use of her "to do lists" and "preschool planning sheets".

So after learning all of what's available to home schooling parents, I'm starting to think that maybe I really can do this. And hopefully when this spring comes around, I'll actually sign my kids up for things and I won't have to do it again!

Lead Foot

They say I inherited my father's left foot.

My dad was infamous for his many speeding tickets and horrible driving record. I remember riding in the car with him as a kid. His ADD takes over and his eyes go this way and that noticing everything from the color of the leaves to the antique car going by. The car gradually goes from the right to the left side of the lane, and back again. Amazingly, I don't recall any accidents either with or without us kids in the car.

I don't swerve within my lane like Dad. Instead I'm hyper vigilant. I get nervous as a passenger because I'm never quite certain that the person driving is paying as much attention as I would. I was in two car accidents as a teenager, neither of them my fault, and so other drivers on the road make me nervous. I'm absolutely certain that they're all going to run into me. That I'm somehow a magnet for stupid people.

So to compensate for the stupid drivers of this world I try my hardest to pass them. I'm convinced that if I get out in front of them rather than driving along with them that I'll be safe.

Well, obviously this idea has backfired, because although I have not been in an accident since college (totally not my fault!) I have recently gotten my very first speeding ticket.

But at least the cop was nice. As he handed me my ticket he said, "I hope your day improves." Yeah, me too...

No longer can I brag about my perfect driving record. Eleven MPH too fast and $144 later I am now just as unlucky as the rest of those stupid drivers.

Gettin' in the Groove

Since I've officially been off work for 2 weeks I've had a lot to catch up on. Apparently there is a lot that doesn't get done with Mom working and Dad home with the kids... such as clearing the kitchen counters with the accumulated clutter and *shock!* wiping them down. Plus all the projects that I've meant to attend to but up until recently haven't had the time/energy to even think about it.

The first week I was off I focused on canning. My sister-in-law was visiting, so my mom came over and we canned batch after batch after BATCH of peaches. Thankfully with so many hands to help it went pretty quickly and in no time we had a ton of peaches in jars. Next up was pickles. My cucumbers decided to produce a mighty crop this year, so my sister-in-law encouraged me to can them up into bread and butter pickles. I think we now have enough pickles to last us until the end of time. Then after everyone left I decided to take the last few peaches and make peach salsa and a couple batches of peach jam.

My kitchen is sticky. I've cleaned it a few times, but it's still sticky.

I went to my chiropractor a crippled mess. She said, "What did you do??" I said, "You know, just did a bit of canning." "Well, you need to stop!" "I can't! It's berry season next!"

Then I went and bought a half flat of raspberries and 2 flats of blackberries. But I tried to be reasonable, I washed and froze them for my sister-in-law's next visit in October. What can I say, I couldn't leave her out of the fun!

And then just as I was going through catalogs and sign up forms for fall activities we all came down with a cold.

Bleh.

I'm still trying to get used to this whole stay-at-home mom gig. It's been a year, and I feel rusty and unsure of what to do with my time. I went to church, and picked up their fall calendar. We considered sending the girls to preschool, but the only one that had availability was out of our budget and 30 minutes away. We're on a waiting list for a coop preschool in town, so hopefully we'll get called for that. In the meantime I figure we'll do stuff with our church and the library and call it good. I'm still trying to work it all out in my brain.

The Great Switcheroo

So the great day has finally arrived.

As of August 31st, I have officially been laid off from my job. For those of you who know me, you'll know that THIS IS GREAT NEWS! It means that I can get back to my real passion: staying home with my kids.

This news is made even more exciting by the fact that my husband was called back to work just 3 days after I got the news of my lay off. I don't believe in coincidence, I believe in God's plan, and this is obviously His hand at work in our lives.

I thank all of you who have been praying for us during this extremely tough year. I know I haven't posted much at all, but hopefully I will be able to remedy that soon now that I have more time on my hands.

U2 and Me too!

Hubs and I have a very exciting weekend planned...

WE'RE GOING TO SEE U2!!!

We're packing the car, we're leaving the kids and dogs behind, and we're escaping to Seattle so that I can meet my new boyfriend, Bono. Oops! I mean, so we can scream and go crazy and have a great time together. :)

I love U2. I know they're not the greatest musicians in the whole world. I know they're not the greatest song writers or greatest lyricists on the planet. To all you haters out there, I know. I do. Really.

But here's the thing about U2, they have a lead singer who can sell it.

Plus, Achtung Baby and Joshua Tree were pretty much the sound track of my college years. Which, is kind of funny considering I'm really not THAT old. But obviously, I'm old enough for U2.

In addition to Bono, we'll be enjoying a swank hotel room within walking distance of the concert venu AND I'm hoping to convince Hubs to take me to the glass museum. U2, and glass. Love it!

All brought to yours truly thanks to Dear Husband who bought me the tickets as a surprise birthday present not last December, but the one before that. I tell ya, the man's a keeper!

And just in case you're wondering, here's my favorite U2 song:

What's up?

Obviously, blogging hasn't been my forte lately.

Mostly I'm just trying to make it through each day, and when I'm done I fall into a heap in front of the tv. No time for writing, or communicating with the outside world in any way. Well, except maybe Facebook but that's a different story.

Our life is still complicated, but I'm beginning to think that it just always is. For the past two years I've lived with an injured husband and twins to care for. It's been a marathon of sorts. But we have seen major progress. Hubs got his shoulder surgery... FINALLY! He's still the stay-at-home parent, there's probably going to be some issues with his employer letting him come back and under what conditions. Again, it's complicated. We're not sure when that will all come about, but we're not stressing about it either. At this point, whatever is going to happen will happen.

I'm still enjoying my job, but I'm getting tired. I'm trying to slow down and take time for myself when I can. Relax when I can. But it's hard to do that.

My girls will be 4 years old in just a couple weeks. I can hardly believe it. It seems like just yesterday I held them for the first time. And now they're not babies any more, they're big girls. Or so they keep reminding me. How did that happen?

Anyway, I'm still here. I'm still doing ok. Life is hard, but it's getting better, there's more reason to be hopeful.

Very efficient!

I toured 3 groups of people at once today, a record high for me! I also took 4 applications, and I straightened out 50 files. Overall, a productive day, and now I'm going to veg for the next 2 days since my weekend is finally here.