A New Beginning

I have started a new chapter in my life. Actually I've just set the wheels in motion and we'll see where it takes me.

Today I received my final paycheck. Rather than continue to crawl around begging for teaching jobs, I've decided to change me career path. I'm not sure how all the details are going to come together yet, so forgive me if I don't provide much info. What I do know is that I've applied to a community college and hope to begin classes after Christmas. I still have to see what classes, if any, will transfer from my bachelor's degree.

The whole idea of going back to school is somewhat intimidating. The fact that I'm going to try a completely different field makes me a little anxious. I'm not that concerned about being so much older than the other students. I am worried about the 1 1/2 hour one way commute. There may be a move in our future, in order to get closer.

In the meantime I will just continue to plug along here. There are kids to raise, meals to cook, volunteering to do, and order to bring out of the general chaos of our lives.

Project Update

Mr. Socks sits on the grout haze--Bad Cat!!!

I was going to wait until we finished the floor to post pictures, but I changed my mind. I just finished the grouting on the area between the bar and backdoor. This is the most challenging part of the project because of the diagonal lines. Each piece had to be measured precisely.

Tiny details matter

A few tips for anyone who is considering putting down their own ceramic tile. Make sure you have the right tools. Although I don't have pictures of us actually working, we have put some money into getting the proper trowels, mixing utensils, sponges, floats, and a wet tile saw. I have also been using haze remover to clean up after grouting. You could use water, but the haze remover works after one application. Water tends to just spread the grout around. I learned to use rubber gloves as well. The mortar and grout really suck the moisture out of your hands.

Voila! The finished product

Leave It Alone

I have gorgeous impatiens taking over my bushes out front. Here is the view you would see if you drove by my house. The funny thing about these flowers is that I didn't plant them. Not this year anyway. They have reseeded themselves from previous years and came up volunteers. I did try to move some of them, but most I just left where they sprouted. They seem to like being right up under the bushes.

If you were to come knock on my front door and looked over the side of our stoop you would see them growing like mad behind the bushes. I consider it my Secret Garden.

Sometimes wonderful things can happen if we just leave it alone. The hard part is knowing when.

School Traffic

I remember the scene in Mr. Mom where the school crossing guard is explaining the drop-off/pick-up line to Michael Keaton. At the time I was in elementary school and I thought it was bizarre because everyone I knew walked to school. We didn't have an elaborate system for cars to navigate when picking up students. Occasionally a parent would pull up out front to get their child if it was raining or they had a dentist appointment after school. Now every school has a detailed guide for driving up to the school. Every year I have to sign a form promising to obey those guidelines.

Everyone picks their kids up. We don't have school buses for the city elementary schools. The county does bus all the students, but several choose to drive their own kids. If they didn't we would need double or triple the buses and I don't know of any school districts in the country who could swing that right now.

So we end up with traffic jams in our tiny town. Mostly this is because there is a one lane bridge going across the river. Notice that the traffic is only backed up on the side of the road where everyone has to merge. (Sorry such poor quality picture.) That is the middle school traffic. We don't have a middle school on our side of the river. Notice the other direction is pretty clear. That is the traffic going to the high school. They don't have a high school across the river. There are probably more cars going to the high school, but it doesn't back up because there are two lanes going over the river from that direction. Good reason to upgrade the northbound side of the bridge.

Until it gets fixed, we just make sure to leave early so we beat the traffic. You'd think living in a small town in the middle of nowhere you would be able to avoid traffic. Go figure.

Sick Day

After two weeks of school, and working 26 hours a week as well, S has hit a brick wall. She is sleeping as everyone else is off to school and work this morning. So being a good mom, I'm taking a break from my Monday Hike and staying here to lend moral support. Although, with her asleep I'm basically just doing normal house/gardening stuff.

Saturday the girls went to Six Flags with the youth group. Late in the sweltering afternoon, S passed out in line for a roller-coaster. Luckily two of the other kids caught her, so no serious damage. She threw up on herself while she was out, and then was somewhat disoriented when she finally came to. The park security offered to take her to their hut for some water, but she refused.

Sunday Hubby took her to the walk-in doctor who diagnosed a sinus infection and gave her a shot as well as anti-biotic and decongestant meds. Instead of looking better, she looked and sounded worse this morning. So I sent her back to bed. She was irritated; now she'll have to go in 1 1/2 hours early one day to make up a biology test.

I remember in It's a Wonderful Life when Zuzu has a 99 fever and the doctor makes a housecall. I don't know if that's an accurate portrayal of how illness was handled in the 1950's, but if it is we've done a 360. Now we push ourselves through until we simply give out and can't go anymore. I think it's a reflection of our society in general. No one takes time to just relax and let their body catch up.

A Belated Birthday

The 17th was S's 17th birthday. Her Golden Birthday. Since her work schedule is Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri this week, we celebrated on Thursday. After cake and ice cream she went to battle practice. When she goes off to school next year we probably won't even notice a difference.

We had planned on getting her a super cheap car for her birthday. After her speeding ticket we decided against that. Instead she got a super expensive (still cheaper than a car) laptop. The reason it cost so much is because we got the 4 year protection coverage. Usually we by-pass this, but considering that S is the one who accidentally stepped on Hubby's old laptop we thought it was a good idea this time. I think she'll get a lot of use out of a computer. Almost as much as a car.

Monday Hike

I decided to go here to hike this week. I had never been, so I'm glad I printed out directions before I left. TomTom hasn't been working lately because it can't find a satellite signal. M blames it on solar flares. She blames everything on solar flares. Radio station fuzzy: solar flares. Internet running slow: solar flares. Homework not done: solar flares. You get the picture.
There were several trails in the park. I picked Cascade Trail since it sounded scenic.

 The entrance was promising.

I saw these awesome, colorful mushrooms.

And here is where there should be something cascading down the hill. A little disappointing. I continued on some but was disheartened by all the construction in the woods. I didn't take pictures of it because it was so ugly. They have driven bulldozers through the woods and cut down lots of trees. The trees that are left all have bright plastic ribbons tied to them. Maybe they are doing some kind of massive overhaul of the trail system. I didn't ask.

There was a gorgeous lodge in the park. Although this wasn't the best hiking experience I think I'd like to come back in the future to see what, if any, improvements have been made.