We are now fully in the swing of the school year. I have been swamped at work and therefore, have had limited online time. Basically, at work I have taken on a managerial position and I am now in charge of communications, documentation, scheduling and also have a key role in hiring and firing people. For the first time this week, I had to fire someone. It's hard to do. Well, sort of. The situation that the employee created made it a very easy thing to do, but even still, it took a few minutes to pump myself up to do it.

Hubby got a new job at Applebee's. I haven't quite yet decided if this is good or bad. I mean, it's good obviously because it is steady income (or at least steadier income than previously) but the food is so good and he gets a discount that ranges from free (during his shift) to 50% off (an hour before or after his shift) to 25% off (all the time).

We like to go to Applebees on Wednesday nights when I get off of work because they have their 2 for $20 (two entrees and an appetizer for $20) plus they also have 99 cent kids' meals (limit of four meals per adult entree) so we often get the 2 for $20 plus 8 kids' meals (two for each of our kids - they eat one right away and then save the other one for dinner for the following night). All together, our meal ends up around $28.00-$30.00 before tax and tip. But now, with Hubby's discount, it will end up being $22.00 before tax and tip. Our Wednesday/Thursday dinner will only run around $30.00 total. Which is still quite a bit, but overall, totally do-able on our budget. And that's TWO nights of meals for everyone. (Hubby and I almost always have leftovers as well) $15.00 per night divided by 6 people equals just a little over $2.00 per person. Not too shabby, in my opinion. And that is based on the lowest discount available to Hubby.

We got the older boys enrolled in Cub Scouts this past week. We now have a Webelo and a Wolf. And then Punky is now enrolled in Girl Scouts as well - she is a Daisy. And I am enrolled in Girl Scouts as well. I'm a Daisy Leader. Woot! I have no clue yet. LOL! Still have to go through my training and all that yet. Hopefully, I will get it all figured out soon though!

Natty is enjoying fifth grade and is actually being very responsible about his homework. I finally found a system that works well for him. Money. He is given 10 points each day for homework. Five points are allotted to his planner. He has space for five subjects. He has to have SOMETHING written in each subject to receive his points for the day. The other five points are allotted to getting the work actually done. Since we implemented this system, he has only missed one day of not having his planner filled out. Oh - and each point is worth a penny. Just my price. It does add up (along with some other things that he is expected to do each day for his chores) but I don't mind paying him to be responsible. That's what happens at our jobs as adults, isn't it?

JoNo has also had homework each night. Spelling and Math mostly. He loves it! It's quite surprising, really. He is in a special reading group because he is not on grade level for reading and last year, his spelling was HORRIBLE! But this past week, he only missed 2 words out of 16 on his pre-test. If he missed one or gets them all correct on his pre-test, then he gets the challenge list for the week instead. My poor reader is a good speller? Somewhere that doesn't make sense. But maybe that just means that the reading is about to jump up to grade level?

Punky is thoroughly enjoying her full day of school every day of the week. She is such a big girl now. I don't know what it is, but suddenly instead of being my little girl, she's jumped up to my big girl. *sniffle* It's okay, I'll be fine.

Boo is attending school everyday as well, although he only attends half days. He gets to ride the bus to and from school each day, which he LOVES! And he is actually talking about school quite a bit here and there. His communication skills have really improved over the summer and even since school has started. He still has some very strong and noticeable characteristics of his developmental delay but he is adjusting to a new school, a new routine, new teachers and new friends very well.

Boo might actually even start going to a babysitter a few days a week, when Hubby and I overlap with our work schedules. That will be a new experience for sure! I'm actually hoping that I will be able to start being at work half an hour later than I currently have to be there. That would be great for me, because then I could be the one to drop the older kids off at school and then drop Boo off with the sitter instead of needing to have all four stay the night with my inlaws and have them bring the kids up to school. It's funny the difference 30 measly minutes can make in a routine!

We have been working hard here at the new place to get it all adjusted and organized and comfortable. I have it mostly there right now. The hard part has been with my work schedule lately. It has since calmed down (beginning this week). It is really hard to maintain a house when you aren't IN the house. I seriously was working 2 7 hour shifts, 3 12 hour shifts and 1 4 hour shift each week. It was CRAZY! Plus, most nights I brought work home with me. That's just the way it had to be for a while there. I actually have work that I brought home on Friday that I had planned to have done by now, but the way I see it, I don't have to work again til Wednesday so I have a little bit of time yet. And worse case scenario, I do that work on Wednesday while I'm at work. No biggie. But I'd really like to be caught up at work before I start my work week on Wednesday. Ya know, just for once.

In the meantime, I have plenty to keep me busy here at home. I have laundry to do, menus to make, shopping to do, meals to make, kids to feed and bathe and supervise and entertain. Scheduling to do and keep. Eye appointments to go to, rooms to clean, chores to oversee, homework to supervise, allowance to give, kids to hold and hug and love on. Because you know, the last part is the best part of being a parent.

♥   NattyNu   ♥   JoNo   ♥   PunkyPie   ♥   Boo   ♥

Finish It Friday

Well, with it being Friday, I am supposed to be finishing up something that I started this week. Let's see...since I didn't do much of anything today, this may be a tougher post that I thought it would be. I guess for starters, I finished up Freddy's vet visits. Tuesday, he went to the vet for his rabies, distemper and two other vaccines. Today, he went to the vet's office for a grooming. They have a nice service there, that is affordable plus they express his anal glands as part of the grooming process, which is awesome. Because let me tell you, when my dog farts, it can make a dead skunk smell like a bed of roses. Seriously. Yuck!

Another thing that I wrapped up today was a job contact. I called someone earlier this week about a job and today I had my interview. It will be a while until I hear something for sure due to insurance regulations and such, but that is something else that is finished up today.

The other thing that I was starting to think that I finished up was my ankle. As in, done for. Not to be utilized again. I didn't use crutches yesterday and wore my brace only part of the day while we were working on things around the house. In all honesty, I know I overdid it yesterday. But I knew that I was scheduled to work tonight and I was planning on going in, despite the doctor's note saying that I couldn't. But I was just trying to prepare for the night. And yeah, no go. Once I was done with my interview today, I picked the dog up from the groomer, came home, put my foot up, had Hubby put my air cast back on and took pain medicine. It may have just been over the counter, but it helped some and then I fell asleep because that was the only way I could deal with the sheer amount of pain that I was in.

So, that's that, I suppose. Dog appointments and job leads. Complete for this week.

When It All Comes Crashing Down...

I'm kind of in a dumpy mood tonight. Yesterday, I had some things that I wanted to get done and in the end, I was only able to accomplish a small portion of it. While coming down the stairs from the bedroom level of our house, I rolled my left ankle and fell down the stairs. It hurt like crazy and I just laid there for a minute, trying to get a grip on the pain and inhaling deeply. And also realizing just how badly our carpet needs to be cleaned. Pee-eww!!!


But I managed to get up and spent the rest of the day trying to do the best that I could. My foot and ankle hurt but I just stuck it out and did my best. The pain mostly went away until later in the evening. Then it was back and absolutely horrible so I went to sleep.

Woke up today and could barely walk on it. Decided to go ahead and get it checked out. The good news is that it wasn't fractured. It is just a sprain. The bad news is that it is a sprain. Did you know that bones take only 6 weeks to heal whereas ligaments and muscles can take up to a full year?

The doctor put me in an air cast, which is like a splint. It has two air chamber thingies that I blow up with a tube and then I strap it onto my leg. The two chambers are connected to each other by this strap thingie that is under my foot. And so I am supposed to wear this until I am able to walk without pain or 3 days, whichever comes last. And he put me on crutches, which I am supposed to use for the next week at least. It's just depressing.

We have had such a horrible run medically since I started the job in the little town. I have been in two car accidents, I had a sinus infection that was so bad, it blew out both of my eardrums, JoNo has had bronchitis, Hubby had influenza, then he had to have emergency oral surgery, I had bronchitis, I sprained my ankle. And then of course, there are other illnesses that are of a less severe nature. I'm just done. I'm exhausted with this stuff. And I'm afraid that I'm going to end up losing my job.

I have been looking for a new job anyhow. Technically, I shouldn't be working at my current facility because of the family supervising family rule. And there are some issues between me and my co-workers. And I really prefer home health to facilities. But I haven't gotten any of the jobs that I have applied for. It doesn't help that my attendance at my current job has sucked either. But it isn't like there was a lot I could do about it either.

In other news, I have another job interview on Friday. This one is for private duty home health, which is my absolute favorite. And I will probably try to see if I can get some hours with my other private duty lady as well. I'm seriously scared about the future of our financial status.

It will work out though. I know it will. And it doesn't help to worry about it because worrying doesn't solve the problem. What does solve the problem is taking action and that is what I have done. I have put in applications, I have had interviews, I make contacts daily and I keep my job search open.

So if I can get the job on Friday, that will help and if I get some hours with my other lady, that will help even more. It won't be enough, but it will be some extra. And I put an ad on craigslist tonight to try to generate some more leads as well. We'll just have to see how that goes.

 
And the whole parenting thing - yeah, that's going a bit rough right now too. I am trying to figure out the best way to handle screen time and chores and allowance and privileges and I thought I had a good system worked out and then today, my system turned on me. Hubby and I had decided to limit the kids to one hour of screen time per day during the week. And it only happens after their chores and any special requests have been completed. Then on the weekends, they can have up to three hours each day, but once again - only after chores are done. Allowance will be given every so often (we were trying to decide between weekly, every other week or once a month) and the amount was to be $1 for each year they are old. So Natty would get $10, JoNo would get $7, Punky $4 and Boo $3.

But then yesterday, JoNo buckled down and really kicked tail on helping out around the house, knowing that I was in pain and I totally appreciated it. I didn't even ask him to do anything beyond his room and to just do a quick sweep through the den. Oh yeah, and he also cleaned up the yard outside too. Meanwhile, Natty moaned and groaned and complained about having to do any chores and not being able to just play video games right away, so on and so forth. In the time that it took JoNo to clean up his half of their room, the bathroom, the den and part of the kitchen, Natty got almost half of the living room done. It was ridiculous.

Then today, JoNo brings home his book order and shows me the books he wants to get out of it and asks how much he earned for helping out yesterday. When I tried to explain it to him again that chores just needed to be done before screen time and that allowance was going to be a set amount every so often, he got tears in his eyes because he had worked so hard yesterday and he was wanting to use the money that he earned to pay for some new books.

Yeah, I suck. So I need to figure it out. I'm thinking that they will have their set chores to do to earn their screen time, they will have their allowance that they get at whatever interval and they can earn money for doing extra work and going above and beyond. I think that might be the best solution. I just don't know. This parenting gig is tough!

I just have lots of things to sort out and figure out and hopefully soon, it will all come together. And in the meantime, my carpets really need to be cleaned and I'm not supposed to bear weight. Oh Hubby!...