Yesterday, the final of our four children got sick. There was a stomach bug going on at work and I brought it home to share with our family. I got it first. Two weeks ago to be exact. But I persevered and I stuck it out and worked through it all. Then a week ago this past Friday, it really hit me. I was sick on the way to work. And by sick, I mean, emesis. I got to work, worked for two hours, had another round of emesis and then continued the last six hours of my shift. Drove home, stopping on the way at a rest area to sleep. Then continued on home and then I slept that Saturday from essentially 8:30am until Sunday morning at 8:30am. I think I actually got up for a couple of hours in there somewhere and did things that needed to get done, but I don't exactly remember to be honest.
Then on Monday, Boo got sick. Wednesday, Punky got sick. She got sick fifteen minutes before school got out and got to hang out with Pastor until Dad picked her up from school. Natty got sick on Friday at school and Grandma picked him up, then Saturday, JoNo finally got sick. So now, all four of the kids and myself have gotten hit by the stomach bug. Hubby so far has evaded it. Hope that he will continue to not get hit by it. I need him to be well.
The weather here has been interesting. Thursday and Friday had temperatures in the fifties. Saturday, I drove home from work in blizzard-like conditions with a whopping temperature of five degrees. Woohoo! Saturday night, driving to work, the roads were clear but we had both a wind advisory and a windchill advisory. The windchill was something like -30 degrees. And this morning, when I left work, the actual temperature was -7. Brrrrr! It's cold around here! And a friend of mine on Facebook had a status that accurately portrays the way it feels around here. I don't know where she got the quote but I like it! "It's colder than a tin toilet seat on the shady side of an iceberg." Um, agreed.
In other news, a local novelty store burned down today. On a Sunday morning. In 9 degree weather. You should hear the jokes going around here about that one! You should read the articles about it that are available in our city's newspaper. You can read the actual article here and then the funny follow-up article written by a journalist that I loved reading for years. Her article is available here. Hilarious! Love your style Cindy!
It just so happens that Cindy and I met early this year. We both happen to play an awesome game called Cribbage. And we both belonged to the same Cribbage league. The night that I played against her was an awesome night for me! I was excited to meet her. (She beat me by the way.)
My late Grandma K. taught me to play Cribbage years ago, but I had forgotten how to play it and when Hubby and I got married, he taught me how to play. For a long time, we played cards together after the kids went to bed at night, but before we went to bed too. But I work nights now and we haven't really had much opportunity to play cards anymore. We also used to play pitch and liverpool and pinnocle with a couple of friends as well, but my night time work schedule has made that difficult to do as well. Boo. I miss cards!
Work last night kicked our butts. I just wrote out (and then deleted) the basic flow of the way things go at work as far as side jobs and who is supposed to do what and when. But suffice it to say, that last night, nothing (or nearly nothing) worked as it was supposed to and it sucked. I was so exhausted when I got off of work! I made it most of the way home though, without having to take a nap! That was some serious progress in my opinion! And I work tonight, but have tomorrow night off before starting another four day stretch and then my schedule goes all weird. We are supposed to have block scheduling (same shifts that repeat two weeks) but this month, it went all wacky and weird. Before I had one four day stretch of work and two three day stretches and now I have two four day stretches and one two day stretch. It's weird. But I'll work it just the same. I am seriously looking forward to Christmas week though because I have three days off that week and although the schedule is really odd, I will definitely take it! I need a little break. Starting that week, I work two days, have a day off, work a day, have a day off, work two days, have a day off, then work the next four (or maybe it's the next six?) days straight. Then will go back to the block scheduling, which may change yet again, since someone is taking over the actual scheduling. I am pushing and hoping for a Sun-Thur night schedule so that I can work, come home, get the kids off to school and then sleep! I drive three hours a day (more than any other person who works there) and being able to sleep while the kids are at school is really important to me! Plus, because I would be working every Sunday night, it would also keep me working four weekend nights per month, as we are scheduled every other weekend at work (so four-five nights working a weekend every month) If I did every Sunday, it would be half of every weekend, so possibly the same as working every other weekend. A girl can hope, can't she? :)
But it's time to stop talking about work and to start getting ready to go to work, so I will depart for now. Sorry for such a hodgepodge post about so many different things, but it just happens sometimes. And now, I feel ready to start my work night.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Relationships and traditions
Since I said that I was going to be coming back to posting, I have been trying to come up with a topic. Something that I really felt like writing about. But I was coming up empty and it scared me. Scared me that maybe I had lost the knack for writing. But then today, while watching a show online, a topic came to me. Relationships.
Not just any relationships. My kids' relationships. With each other. Now and in the future. Wow, now there's a lot of sentence fragments. But you know what? It's my blog and I'll use sentence fragments if I want to. I talk in fragments too, so just pretend that you are listening to me instead of reading my words.
So for the background information...two kids stayed home sick today. Punky and Boo both were home sick from school today. It doesn't affect me much because I sleep during the day. The only part of it that actually affects me is whether Hubby is being attentive to them and the noise level that they create. Then, when I woke up early this afternoon (much earlier than I needed to or should have - will have to sleep some more later) I decided to check my voice mail messages, since I saw that I had missed a call from the older boys' school.
It was the health tech. NattyNu threw up at school and they had wanted us to come pick him up. They called my phone and got my voice mail. They called Hubbys's number, but it was his old number that I didn't realize had not been updated yet. Then they called my mother-in-law, who gave them Hubby's number. But Hubby had misplaced his phone (it's under the recliner that I'm currently sitting in, but I'm too lazy to retrieve it at the moment) and left a message on his voice mail. Then they called my mother-in-law back and she went and picked Natty up from school. I found all of this out from the tech at the school, then went up to let Hubby know that Natty was at Grandma's house and he should get in touch with her or go pick Natty up or something.
He left to go pick up Natty and then ended up staying over there so that Natty, Punky and Boo could all nap. None of them are feeling well and they all need the extra rest. I was here at home and couldn't sleep, so I decided to catch up on a couple of shows that I watch online but haven't had the chance to since we didn't have internet at home. One of the shows was a Thanksgiving episode. That's how far behind I have been on my shows, which as you might be able to guess means that they aren't that high of a priority to me. I enjoy watching them, but I don't feel that I have to watch them right away and the world will crumble to pieces if I miss an episode.
Anyhow, that is a complete side note about television. Back to the story at hand, I was watching the show "Parenthood". It is a show about a couple who have four grown children with families of their own, and basically the day to day things that happen with this family. They are actually a close knit clan and the cousins are friends as well. Anyhow, it got me to thinking this afternoon about my children.
I wonder what it will be like, twenty or thirty years from now, when they have their own children. Will my children be friends? Will my grandchildren? Will they all stay close to "home" to raise their own families or will they fly the nest? Will they be more attached to our family or to their spouse's family? I mean, I know what I would like to see happening in thirty years.
My desire is that they would each have started their own families. That they are all married and happy and have children of their own. Married and with children are not requirements, but just as this is my blog and I'll use sentence fragments if I want, this is also my dream and I can make them all happily married with children if I want. There's nothing wrong with wanting that for your children, now is there? Nope, I didn't think so either.
Back to the dream for my kids... So they will all have their spouses and children, and they will live reasonably close to "home" and they will talk to each other and love each other and want to share their lives with each other (and with Hubby and me as well). And their children will play together and be friends and will develop wonderful relationships with one another. They will all come over to our home for a holiday (even if it is not on the actual holiday) and we will have family traditions set up that they each cherish as well and want to continue and will feel like the holiday is not quite complete without it. It will be something that they want their children to experience and enjoy and share as well.
And now that I have really thought about what I'd like to see happen in the future and have a goal in mind, I have decided that it's time to put that into action now. Take the steps to make that happen. I just don't know how to really foster strong relationships between them. I didn't have a sibling until I was twelve. My closest thing to a sibling was my best friend, Nick. We have been friends since we were two. We're both 29. We have known each other longer than we have known even some of our own family members.
This is a picture that he took with his phone one night recently when we were hanging out together and having deep, meaningful conversations over (cough, ahem) mixed drinks. But regardless, I want my children to have the kind of relationship with each other that Nick and I have now. Only I want them to actually spend more time together than Nick and I do.
But it is really being impressed on my heart to help the kids build that kind of relationship with each other right now. So now I am thinking of ways to do that. Or at least trying to think of ways to do that. Punky and Boo already have that kind of relationship. They are the best of friends (and the worst of enemies when they want to be, which thankfully is not often). JoNo and Natty are developing that as well. They often play together and they share many friends, in spite of having a gap of three years between them. And when their friends are not available to play, they willingly play with each other. That's a good basis, correct? I'm sure hoping so! And Natty also has a good, albeit different relationship with Punky and Boo. JoNo and Punky have a pretty good relationship going as well. They get along and fight about even amounts, but that is where JoNo and Natty were before as well. And they are different genders and they have that same three year age gap between them also, so I am hoping that their friendship will come with time, just as Natty and JoNo's did. JoNo also seems to get along well with Boo. They enjoy playing with the same toys and watching the same movies and doing many of the same things. So I think they are well on their way also.
Maybe that is it? Maybe I just sit back and let their friendships among each other develop naturally? Maybe just provide them the opportunities to build those relationships with each other. Say no to some of the outside activities that really draws our family apart from each other and say yes to the activities that draw us closer together? Just as we have been doing for quite some time.
And maybe at the same time, throw in some family traditions that we have every year that we all look forward to. The one tradition that we had that we did EVERY single year from the year before we were married (in 2000) until this year (2010) was our "Friends Thanksgiving". Every year, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we would have friends over for a full all-out Thanksgiving dinner. The kind of meal that I had growing up with tons of side dishes and everything. We didn't do it this year because I had to work overnight that Tuesday and Wednesday both. :( But maybe that's part of what is causing me to think about this - the lack of one of our traditions. I would definitely like to start new traditions with the kids as well. For instance - with Christmas presents, like I mentioned in yesterday's post. I'm also interested in doing a Jesse Tree project each year as we gear up for Christmas. I had forgotten all about it. I heard of it last year and thought about it for this year, but then forgot about it this year until I saw Michelle's blog the other day. And it was a great reminder of something that I want to do with my kids. I'd really like to start a meaningful tradition to go along with every major holiday that we celebrate and put our own spin on it too.
But it's time to grab a quick rest before I go back in to work tonight. I'm exhausted and I still have 3 hours of driving, 8 hours of working and 1 hour of an in-service ahead of me yet. *yawn* So tired!
Not just any relationships. My kids' relationships. With each other. Now and in the future. Wow, now there's a lot of sentence fragments. But you know what? It's my blog and I'll use sentence fragments if I want to. I talk in fragments too, so just pretend that you are listening to me instead of reading my words.
So for the background information...two kids stayed home sick today. Punky and Boo both were home sick from school today. It doesn't affect me much because I sleep during the day. The only part of it that actually affects me is whether Hubby is being attentive to them and the noise level that they create. Then, when I woke up early this afternoon (much earlier than I needed to or should have - will have to sleep some more later) I decided to check my voice mail messages, since I saw that I had missed a call from the older boys' school.
It was the health tech. NattyNu threw up at school and they had wanted us to come pick him up. They called my phone and got my voice mail. They called Hubbys's number, but it was his old number that I didn't realize had not been updated yet. Then they called my mother-in-law, who gave them Hubby's number. But Hubby had misplaced his phone (it's under the recliner that I'm currently sitting in, but I'm too lazy to retrieve it at the moment) and left a message on his voice mail. Then they called my mother-in-law back and she went and picked Natty up from school. I found all of this out from the tech at the school, then went up to let Hubby know that Natty was at Grandma's house and he should get in touch with her or go pick Natty up or something.
He left to go pick up Natty and then ended up staying over there so that Natty, Punky and Boo could all nap. None of them are feeling well and they all need the extra rest. I was here at home and couldn't sleep, so I decided to catch up on a couple of shows that I watch online but haven't had the chance to since we didn't have internet at home. One of the shows was a Thanksgiving episode. That's how far behind I have been on my shows, which as you might be able to guess means that they aren't that high of a priority to me. I enjoy watching them, but I don't feel that I have to watch them right away and the world will crumble to pieces if I miss an episode.
Anyhow, that is a complete side note about television. Back to the story at hand, I was watching the show "Parenthood". It is a show about a couple who have four grown children with families of their own, and basically the day to day things that happen with this family. They are actually a close knit clan and the cousins are friends as well. Anyhow, it got me to thinking this afternoon about my children.
I wonder what it will be like, twenty or thirty years from now, when they have their own children. Will my children be friends? Will my grandchildren? Will they all stay close to "home" to raise their own families or will they fly the nest? Will they be more attached to our family or to their spouse's family? I mean, I know what I would like to see happening in thirty years.
My desire is that they would each have started their own families. That they are all married and happy and have children of their own. Married and with children are not requirements, but just as this is my blog and I'll use sentence fragments if I want, this is also my dream and I can make them all happily married with children if I want. There's nothing wrong with wanting that for your children, now is there? Nope, I didn't think so either.
Back to the dream for my kids... So they will all have their spouses and children, and they will live reasonably close to "home" and they will talk to each other and love each other and want to share their lives with each other (and with Hubby and me as well). And their children will play together and be friends and will develop wonderful relationships with one another. They will all come over to our home for a holiday (even if it is not on the actual holiday) and we will have family traditions set up that they each cherish as well and want to continue and will feel like the holiday is not quite complete without it. It will be something that they want their children to experience and enjoy and share as well.
And now that I have really thought about what I'd like to see happen in the future and have a goal in mind, I have decided that it's time to put that into action now. Take the steps to make that happen. I just don't know how to really foster strong relationships between them. I didn't have a sibling until I was twelve. My closest thing to a sibling was my best friend, Nick. We have been friends since we were two. We're both 29. We have known each other longer than we have known even some of our own family members.
This is a picture that he took with his phone one night recently when we were hanging out together and having deep, meaningful conversations over (cough, ahem) mixed drinks. But regardless, I want my children to have the kind of relationship with each other that Nick and I have now. Only I want them to actually spend more time together than Nick and I do.
But it is really being impressed on my heart to help the kids build that kind of relationship with each other right now. So now I am thinking of ways to do that. Or at least trying to think of ways to do that. Punky and Boo already have that kind of relationship. They are the best of friends (and the worst of enemies when they want to be, which thankfully is not often). JoNo and Natty are developing that as well. They often play together and they share many friends, in spite of having a gap of three years between them. And when their friends are not available to play, they willingly play with each other. That's a good basis, correct? I'm sure hoping so! And Natty also has a good, albeit different relationship with Punky and Boo. JoNo and Punky have a pretty good relationship going as well. They get along and fight about even amounts, but that is where JoNo and Natty were before as well. And they are different genders and they have that same three year age gap between them also, so I am hoping that their friendship will come with time, just as Natty and JoNo's did. JoNo also seems to get along well with Boo. They enjoy playing with the same toys and watching the same movies and doing many of the same things. So I think they are well on their way also.
Maybe that is it? Maybe I just sit back and let their friendships among each other develop naturally? Maybe just provide them the opportunities to build those relationships with each other. Say no to some of the outside activities that really draws our family apart from each other and say yes to the activities that draw us closer together? Just as we have been doing for quite some time.
And maybe at the same time, throw in some family traditions that we have every year that we all look forward to. The one tradition that we had that we did EVERY single year from the year before we were married (in 2000) until this year (2010) was our "Friends Thanksgiving". Every year, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we would have friends over for a full all-out Thanksgiving dinner. The kind of meal that I had growing up with tons of side dishes and everything. We didn't do it this year because I had to work overnight that Tuesday and Wednesday both. :( But maybe that's part of what is causing me to think about this - the lack of one of our traditions. I would definitely like to start new traditions with the kids as well. For instance - with Christmas presents, like I mentioned in yesterday's post. I'm also interested in doing a Jesse Tree project each year as we gear up for Christmas. I had forgotten all about it. I heard of it last year and thought about it for this year, but then forgot about it this year until I saw Michelle's blog the other day. And it was a great reminder of something that I want to do with my kids. I'd really like to start a meaningful tradition to go along with every major holiday that we celebrate and put our own spin on it too.
But it's time to grab a quick rest before I go back in to work tonight. I'm exhausted and I still have 3 hours of driving, 8 hours of working and 1 hour of an in-service ahead of me yet. *yawn* So tired!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Back again
It's been awhile again but I'm back and not planning to go anywhere anytime soon! We have had quite the past two months. In October, Boo started school and has been doing well with it.
This was as close to the boys' first day of school pictures that I could get Boo to cooperate with. He didn't want to stand next to the tree but he would push the play mower around and occasionally look up at the camera too.
That month, I also started a new job an hour and a half from where we live - so long commute every day but well worth it! I also got into a bad car accident that following week. The van was totaled. Miss Punky was in the van with me when it happened. Another driver ran a red light and hit us in an intersection. Thankfully, no one was hurt and we have already replaced our van with a new one. It is newer and has fewer miles but does not have all of the bells and whistles that our old van had. It's also a bit smaller as well, but it works for our family anyhow.
Then in November, Hubby and I went for a week-long, kid-free mini vacation to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Hubby's aunt and uncle own a second house (which we all refer to as "the cabin" even though it's actually a two bedroom house and not a cabin) where we stayed. It's on a private lake and has it's own beach and it was just gorgeous! We definitely want to do that trip again!
And now, we are geared up for Christmas. I have some of the Christmas shopping done. Hubby is done and we got a big gift for the family as well. And then the kids I decided were going to get gifts in the following categories: an outfit, a game, a puzzle, a book, and a toy. I feel that giving them each one thing in each category is sufficient. What do you all think?
Oh - and I normally don't discuss knits on here because I have a different blog for my knitting business, but I just have to share these with you! I was making a knit hoodie sweater for my dear friend's son and I, um, messed up my gauge so one of our teddy bears ended up with a sleeveless version of the hoodie.
Well that will conclude with the catch up posting. Stay tuned for regular posts!
That month, I also started a new job an hour and a half from where we live - so long commute every day but well worth it! I also got into a bad car accident that following week. The van was totaled. Miss Punky was in the van with me when it happened. Another driver ran a red light and hit us in an intersection. Thankfully, no one was hurt and we have already replaced our van with a new one. It is newer and has fewer miles but does not have all of the bells and whistles that our old van had. It's also a bit smaller as well, but it works for our family anyhow.
Then in November, Hubby and I went for a week-long, kid-free mini vacation to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Hubby's aunt and uncle own a second house (which we all refer to as "the cabin" even though it's actually a two bedroom house and not a cabin) where we stayed. It's on a private lake and has it's own beach and it was just gorgeous! We definitely want to do that trip again!
And now, we are geared up for Christmas. I have some of the Christmas shopping done. Hubby is done and we got a big gift for the family as well. And then the kids I decided were going to get gifts in the following categories: an outfit, a game, a puzzle, a book, and a toy. I feel that giving them each one thing in each category is sufficient. What do you all think?
Oh - and I normally don't discuss knits on here because I have a different blog for my knitting business, but I just have to share these with you! I was making a knit hoodie sweater for my dear friend's son and I, um, messed up my gauge so one of our teddy bears ended up with a sleeveless version of the hoodie.
Well that will conclude with the catch up posting. Stay tuned for regular posts!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Back with the pictures as promised
My handsome boys before their first day of school this year.
JoNo is going into first grade.
NattyNu will be in fourth grade.
Silly faces at the bus stop. Hoping to get some silliness going this morning to put them in a good mood for school. They were already pretty excited.
Here comes the bus, but the boys were looking the wrong way. Actually, they were telling some of the other boys waiting that the bus was coming.
NattyNu getting on the bus for the first trip to school.
JoNo getting on the school bus for the first trip to school.
Once again, it has been a large chunk of time since I last updated this blog, but without internet at home, it presents a challenge to post regularly. We have had a good summer. I have been working 55+ hours every week, which seems to be typical over the summer. Families go on vacation a lot during the summer and therefore, need care for their loved ones in their absence. I do love providing in-home health care.
We have attended a baseball game for our city’s team, the kids have gone camping a number of times, boating and just going out to the lake to go swimming. They have gone on long bike rides with their grandpa. My six and nine year old boys each rode 14 miles in one day, which is just astounding to me that they were able to do that. They have more stamina than I give them credit for (and trust me, I give them lots of credit for stamina!)
Let’s see, we have also gone to the park and gone fishing, we have gone on a mini vacation to Worlds of Fun, where my nine year old, NattyNu, actually rode the Mamba. He claims that he really did like it, but he didn’t want to go on it a second time. I loved the picture that was taken but unfortunately, we did not buy a copy of it, although I would have loved to do so. The ride that six year old, JoNo chose to go on the most was the Fury of the Nile. That child definitely takes after me, as I am not a fan of roller coasters either. Meanwhile, Punky and Boo were both at home with Grandma. Punky split her eyebrow open while we were down there and had to be taken in and have dermabond applied to seal the wound. According to her, “glue holds little girls together” which I thought was an adorable perspective.
We made two separate trips to Missouri (apart from the Worlds of Fun trip). One trip was to get my mom and bring her up to spend a week with us, the next trip to take her back home. She moved to Missouri in mid-April without telling us, then came back for a week and a half unannounced a week later. Then, while she was up here visiting with our family for that one week, she apparently made plans to move back up here, because just last week, she called Hubby and told him that she was living here again and had been for about a week. I don’t understand her need to sneak around and hide and lie but I do my best to deal with it. I had a feeling when she was here visiting that she was making plans to move back, but she denied it and told me an elaborate story to cover her lie. It’s just very disappointing.
The boys start school tomorrow morning (well, technically, since it is after midnight that I am writing this, I guess it’d be later this morning). Their open house was on Monday evening and they met their teachers, saw their new temporary school building and I finally got to meet the Cub Scout leader for their school’s Pack. The boys will be starting up with it this year. NattyNu was in Scouts in first and second grade at his old school, but when we moved to their current school, he didn’t transfer Packs. Now, he finally will. And JoNo is finally old enough to be in Scouts this year. They are both really excited about it, as am I.
Punky starts her school next Wednesday. I am excited because she is going to be going three days a week and in the morning, which means that she will be able to have a nap in the afternoon. Boo will be starting school five days a week, in the morning this year. It seems odd that the youngest child will be spending more hours in school each week, compared to his next oldest sibling, but it’s because he will be in the early childhood special education class and needs the extra time offered. He may also start an intensive speech language therapy program with at least two sessions per week in the afternoons. His language development has really been improving. He is putting together a lot of words and phrases and mostly social ones. He is also starting to use words independently that he had previously only used as part of a phrase. For instance, when he would call our dog, he would say, “Freddy, woo hoo.” Woo hoo was his substitute phrase for whistling. But now, he is just calling the dog by his name, and is starting to give Freddy separate commands as well, such as “Freddy, up!” or “Freddy, down!” It’s really cute and I am so proud of him! I think he actually knows and uses more words than I realize.
I signed up to be a Tupperware consultant this past week and I have my first party scheduled for this coming weekend, so if you know of anyone interested in having a party (and is within an hour’s drive of me – aka Southwest Nebraska area) let me know and I will host their party – or if you or someone you know want to host an online party, I can do that too. Just let me know if you are interested in it. I am a little scared about doing it, but even if it doesn’t turn out well, I would have made a great investment of money for the amount of product I would end up being able to keep. It’s also not a venture that I entered into lightly. I have been considering doing this for at least four months.
I have also started knitting again. One of my online friends, who has become a dear personal phone friend as well, has been trying to convince me to start knitting for profit again. I haven’t done that seriously since the early part of 2008. Last year, I think I made something like $1,500.00 for the year in profits off of knitting. But as I am working nights and have a lot of time on my hands, I am considering it. So while I was at my inlaws’ house today, I set up my business promotional supplies orders for both businesses, updated the blog that I have associated with my knitting and will be starting to update the blog some more before going live with the full scale sales and advertising. I have been busy working on some armwarmers for my friend’s two daughters and have made a number of hats for my children, a friend’s new niece and have a couple of extras as well that I will most likely end up selling online.
So, that is where we stand now. Hoping that with the kids back in school and my work schedule slightly more settled down, I will be able to post more frequently. I am definitely going to attempt to do so. I will also be posting a link on the sidebar to my Tupperware site and to my knitting blog. But my knitting blog will not lead back to here. Just so that you know ahead of time, so you can be prepared to use your back button to get back here, unless you want to bookmark this site or both of them.
But for now, I will end this and will hopefully be back later to post pictures of the kids before their first day of first and fourth grade. And before their first (and likely only) year of riding the bus.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Yet Another Catch-Up Post...
Well, for starters, we no longer have internet at home, hence the inability to post regularly. Although, I must admit that I rather like the fact that my husband and children are no longer controlled by computers or the internet. Okay, maybe they weren't controlled by them, but some days, it sure felt like it. When my children are whining and complaining and fighting over who gets to be on the computer first, I think we have a problem. And granted, they mostly play educational games online but still...too much of a good thing is still too much and turns it into a not good thing.
Second, I quit my job at the gas station. I had been having some severe health problems, which I think I may have posted about (I could open up another tab and check but I really want to just continue on with this post and not get distracted, which is likely to happen.) and I have started back doing home health care. I have a lady that I do private duty healthcare for. Basically, she is in charge of her own care, she hires, fires, schedules, trains, etc. and I take care of her. It's private duty because I don't work through an agency - it is essentially self-employment - and that is how I claim my wages at the end of the year when ol' Uncle Sam wants his share. So, anyhow, I'm back working for her. Just for reference, I refer to her in everyday life as m'lady, due to HIPPA regulations and such. Even though she doesn't care and has invited my whole family to come to a party at her house. Even though my whole family has met her.
But I'm back with m'lady and I am so happy about that! I work overnights for her, which to me is a huge honor to know that she trusts me enough to take care of her while she is asleep and not able to direct her care as much. Mostly I do household stuff, but there are other (very important!) things that I do for her in the middle of the night. And I love working for her. I had forgotten how peaceful it was and how fulfilling it was to work for her when I was away from her. After being able to go back, I remembered something that I thought last year after arriving at her house after an especially stressful day with my extended family, which was, "I'm so glad that I work tonight. I definitely needed a good dose of m'lady to renew my spirits and energies."
So, to make a long story short, I am no longer at the gas station. I am working for m'lady and I recently was hired on for a position doing home health with an agency here in town as well. I have been assigned to two people so far and both have cancelled before I even started with them, so I have yet to actually work a shift through the agency, but soon...hopefully and most likely, next week I will be doing a shift (actually two as it is currently scheduled).
I have also been busy tutoring. A friend of mine, Gabby, is in Intermediate Algebra in college and I have been helping her and a classmate study. And then another girl that Gabby introduced me to, Angie, is taking Accounting I in college and I have been tutoring her in that as well. I love math and numbers and accounting in particular. And I love teaching! And I'm pretty decent at doing it too...just sayin'. :)
I will also be starting to help a lady with some accounting-type stuff. It is m'lady's sister. The sister owns a bed and breakfast and she needs help with some data entry and learning how to use QuickBooks. I had never used QuickBooks myself, but I got online, looked it up on youtube for a tutorial and voila! I found one. And I am really really excited about it. So excited about it that I think I scared the sister a bit when I called to tell her that I had found some information on the program and could teach her to use it and how it works. Apparently the words assets and liabilities and equity and such scare some people, especially when spoken with intense enthusiasm. :) But it's all good and I didn't scare her off. I think I will be starting to work with her this weekend, with any luck.
This weekend will be a different one, as my inlaws will be getting back from a vacation in Florida. We have been at their house this week (hence the internet capabilities) and when they get back, we finally get to go out and celebrate Hubby's birthday with them.
May has been an interesting month for us. Punky's birthday was on the second and she turned four. Then Hubby's birthday was on the sixth. Inlaws left for Florida on the seventh and will be getting back on the sixteenth, which is when we will be going out for the birthday celebration. They were gone for Mother's Day as was my own mother. We had an evening with friends that night instead. Gabby and I went to pick up her friend (the one that is in her class right now) and we brought back pizza with us. And then when Gabby's boyfriend got home from work, he joined us too. We just spent time together, playing cards and having a good time. It was a lot of fun.
I know that this post is jumbled, but I'm just trying to get all of the things recorded that I have missed recently, so I apologize for the lack of order and flow in this post. Well, I guess that is all for now. I'll try to get some pictures from our zoo trip up soon too. It'll be dated for the second of May, but I assure you that it will actually have been posted on the fourteenth. :)
Second, I quit my job at the gas station. I had been having some severe health problems, which I think I may have posted about (I could open up another tab and check but I really want to just continue on with this post and not get distracted, which is likely to happen.) and I have started back doing home health care. I have a lady that I do private duty healthcare for. Basically, she is in charge of her own care, she hires, fires, schedules, trains, etc. and I take care of her. It's private duty because I don't work through an agency - it is essentially self-employment - and that is how I claim my wages at the end of the year when ol' Uncle Sam wants his share. So, anyhow, I'm back working for her. Just for reference, I refer to her in everyday life as m'lady, due to HIPPA regulations and such. Even though she doesn't care and has invited my whole family to come to a party at her house. Even though my whole family has met her.
But I'm back with m'lady and I am so happy about that! I work overnights for her, which to me is a huge honor to know that she trusts me enough to take care of her while she is asleep and not able to direct her care as much. Mostly I do household stuff, but there are other (very important!) things that I do for her in the middle of the night. And I love working for her. I had forgotten how peaceful it was and how fulfilling it was to work for her when I was away from her. After being able to go back, I remembered something that I thought last year after arriving at her house after an especially stressful day with my extended family, which was, "I'm so glad that I work tonight. I definitely needed a good dose of m'lady to renew my spirits and energies."
So, to make a long story short, I am no longer at the gas station. I am working for m'lady and I recently was hired on for a position doing home health with an agency here in town as well. I have been assigned to two people so far and both have cancelled before I even started with them, so I have yet to actually work a shift through the agency, but soon...hopefully and most likely, next week I will be doing a shift (actually two as it is currently scheduled).
I have also been busy tutoring. A friend of mine, Gabby, is in Intermediate Algebra in college and I have been helping her and a classmate study. And then another girl that Gabby introduced me to, Angie, is taking Accounting I in college and I have been tutoring her in that as well. I love math and numbers and accounting in particular. And I love teaching! And I'm pretty decent at doing it too...just sayin'. :)
I will also be starting to help a lady with some accounting-type stuff. It is m'lady's sister. The sister owns a bed and breakfast and she needs help with some data entry and learning how to use QuickBooks. I had never used QuickBooks myself, but I got online, looked it up on youtube for a tutorial and voila! I found one. And I am really really excited about it. So excited about it that I think I scared the sister a bit when I called to tell her that I had found some information on the program and could teach her to use it and how it works. Apparently the words assets and liabilities and equity and such scare some people, especially when spoken with intense enthusiasm. :) But it's all good and I didn't scare her off. I think I will be starting to work with her this weekend, with any luck.
This weekend will be a different one, as my inlaws will be getting back from a vacation in Florida. We have been at their house this week (hence the internet capabilities) and when they get back, we finally get to go out and celebrate Hubby's birthday with them.
May has been an interesting month for us. Punky's birthday was on the second and she turned four. Then Hubby's birthday was on the sixth. Inlaws left for Florida on the seventh and will be getting back on the sixteenth, which is when we will be going out for the birthday celebration. They were gone for Mother's Day as was my own mother. We had an evening with friends that night instead. Gabby and I went to pick up her friend (the one that is in her class right now) and we brought back pizza with us. And then when Gabby's boyfriend got home from work, he joined us too. We just spent time together, playing cards and having a good time. It was a lot of fun.
I know that this post is jumbled, but I'm just trying to get all of the things recorded that I have missed recently, so I apologize for the lack of order and flow in this post. Well, I guess that is all for now. I'll try to get some pictures from our zoo trip up soon too. It'll be dated for the second of May, but I assure you that it will actually have been posted on the fourteenth. :)
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Easter Saturday
We celebrated Easter a day early with my father-in-law's side of the family. We got to see cousins that we don't get to see very often, which is always a wonderful time. We love visiting with them! Unfortunately, I didn't pull out my camera until it was almost over. However, I did get some great candid shots of my kids (and my youngest brother-in-law) playing together outside. I will say though, that I did not get one unblurry picture of Boo's face, so the all the shots of him are from behind (as he was generally running off from one of us). Enjoy!
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