January 31, 2007

This Better Work

So... I had to do it... I had to switch to beta blogger. Why? I don't know. Why didn't blogger just switch everyone instead of acting like we had a choice. DUH.

Anyway, I'm here, I'm not queer but get over it anyway.

Things are all on hold right now. In my life that is. I thought I had a plan, but now I don't. I'm so glad the Lord knows our plans. Now, if He could just share those plans with me along with a detailed map and message, we'd be set. But then again, all the work and adventure is the fun part, right?!

I guess the daycare is staying put for now. I have thought about it, prayed about it and I feel that with the money I'd be spending in rent, along with what I would have to pay out of pocket to fix the rented building up, I could use it towards my own house and not owe rent for the rest of daycare life. I think it's a smart decision. And no, I'm not a risk taker. Not with kids who depend on my income.

That's it for tonight... I have a huge headache, again... (I woke up with one this morning) so I am going to take an advil, get ready for bed and hopefully fall asleep pretty fast. Tomorrow is Thursday... all my kids will be here, I teach preschool and it's always a hectic day trying to get everything done.

January 28, 2007

Can I Get Another Day, Please?

It's almost over. My weekend that is. Although it's gone fast, it seems like it's really been very long. I guess that's because we went to Ohio today and road trips always mess me up like that. Like, it doesn't seem that we went to Taylor's basketball game yesterday, but rather a couple days ago. Anyway, I need another day cause I'm not ready to move on to another week. Nope. I want to spend tomorrow in bed! I love my bed.

So we got up bright and early and were on the road by 8:15. We went to Ohio for my grandma's 90th birthday party. I'm so glad we went. I hope that this is teaching my children the importance of family and even though sometimes you may not want to do things, you need to! My grandma was just grinning from ear to ear the whole day and I almost cried when she said she'd never had a birthday party before. The woman is NINETY and had never had a birthday party? Oh my goodness how sad! But, that's how she is... always worried about taking care of everyone else. So we had a great meal, and then had cake and had her open her presents. At the end she cried and gave this little speech about how she loved us all and how she always wanted children but were told she never could have them but then was blessed with three. Then she told us all how she prayed for us every day and it was just very sweet. I cried. And because that side of the family is so "non emotional", I think I was the only one. But I didn't care! I covet the prayers that woman has said for me. I know she's on her knees for her family daily and what more could you ask for. She claims this will be her last birthday. I think we'll end up throwing her another party on her 100th! And let me tell you, that woman is sharp as a knife! She said that was one thing she thanked the Lord for every day was that she still had her mind.

My family sees the other side of that on my mom's side with my grandpa having alzheimers. It's horrible to have to watch. The person is still alive, but they're not the person you use to know. It's heartbreaking to try and have a conversation with him knowing that he has no idea what you're talking about or who you are.

People should just not get old. At least not that way. Everyone should get to live until they're 100 and then just pass peacefully in their sleep. I'm so glad we won't have to worry about this in heaven.

Well, now I'm off to get all the daycare parents tax forms and yearly totals in order. Then I get to clean the downstairs, finish laundry and get ready for bed. Fun!

January 27, 2007

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

There's lots of "good"! Taylor's doing great in basketball and we're having a blast going to games and practices. Tyler's almost 13 and is a good kid. Both healthy. My parents are doing good, no major physical problems and they're both working. I am pretty healthy as well with great kids, wonderful parents, a close family, good friends and a pretty well paying job. What more can you ask for?

Now to the bad and the ugly... the "pretty well paying job", ya, I think I'd rather be homeless. (ok, so maybe not homeless, but maybe in a smaller home?) I'm about to lose my mind. And honestly there's just SO much I could share but:
1. I don't want to waste my energy, and
2. Who knows if any of my daycare parents read this.
I'm sure some of them do, and if you are the ones who are the reason I'll probably end up back on zoloft and 30 pounds heavier again... well, you, YOU can KNOCK IT OFF already!!! Good heavens people! Do you have anything else going on in your lives other than expecting me to be at your beck and call? It seriously is getting. out. of. control.

It must stop and if I have to look like the bad guy, so be it. I can't physically or emotionally take it. If there were only a few parents who were disregarding the "reminder" letters being sent home, policies, and overall general use of MANNERS and COURTESY it would be one thing, but this is becoming an every day issue. And when it starts interrupting my family time and weekend... it's a problem! Big time!!

This only makes me want to get the daycare out of the house and into a building even more, because with having it in a building, the cost of daycare goes up and although I am not silly enough to believe that people who make and will pay more money for daycare will treat me any better, I do however think that my policies will seem more valid if I'm not just "babysitting" out of my home and that I will have more authority to implement them.

I hope.

January 23, 2007

It's Only Tuesday?

This week is going slow. Today was a long day. I had all the kids here and the twins are just not fitting into our schedule. It makes things really rough when you have two 8 month olds screaming all day and you're trying to get preschool done and all the other things you have to do each day with the kids. I'm afraid that I may have to let this family go early, which makes me feel horrible because I feel like I made a commitment to them to care for their kids until March. But I'm not sure I can. Tuesdays and Thursday are just too hard and I feel like my preschoolers aren't getting all the attention they need from me. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. And I'm too tired to think about it, so I won't.

I was SO exhausted tonight and by 5:30 I was dreaming of eating a quick dinner and heading for bed. Well, that was a nice DREAM! I soon remembered T2 had basketball practice. I wanted to cry. Seriously. I was SO tired I didn't think I could make it. I really wanted to tell him we just couldn't go, and since it was just practice, it really didn't matter. But it did matter because I want to teach my children the meaning of commitment and when you commit to something, you do it whether you're tired or not. So we went. And it wasn't that bad. I got a second wind and my son got a star for his jersey for saying his Bible verse that he has worked so hard to learn all week. (Another reason why I KNEW we had to go!)

Tomorrow will be easier. I hope. I am sleeping in a little. Or rather, I am not setting the alarm clock. Don't get too jealous though, I'll be up by 7:00 am. The one and only child that comes at that time, makes tons of noise. He's either crying, whining or make loud noises. So he'll either wake me up, or I'll be awaked by my neighbor's dog. I had a horrible headache Sunday night and as I was laying in bed trying to get over it, that stupid dog barked for over an hour straight. I love dogs, but I was secretly praying that this dog would drop dead.

I had an interview last night. Not sure about it. The parents seem really nice and the kids seem ok, but the dad was very concerned with the thing dads are concerned with most... price. I'm pretty sure they would be paying twice what they are paying now if they came here. But, you get what you pay for. I do charge more, but I have a small group, I provide everything but diapers and formula and I do more with the kids than just sit them in front of the tv. The home daycare they're at is illegal, has a ton of kids and is cheap. The dad was shocked when I pulled out a weekly menu for them to look at. He said he doesn't have a clue what his daughter eats at their daycare. They also mentioned some other issues they've had and I was just amazed that any parent would continue to keep their child in a situation like that. My other question is, WHY is this woman still doing daycare? She's done it for like 20 years and I'm just shocked that no one has turned her in. And even more shocked that she has so many kids and that there are so many parents out there who are only looking for cheap daycare and not concerned with the quality of it. Why wouldn't you pay more for better daycare?

Anyway, I'm tired and I need to get to bed. Good night! Sleep tight! Don't let the bed bugs bite! See you in the morning light!

January 21, 2007

WhoooHoooo!

We're going to the Superbowl!!!! Go Colts!!!
Wow - what a close game! Get ready Bears!

January 16, 2007

AI

Let me start by saying I like Jewel. I respect her and admire her because even with her fame, she kept those crooked teeth. And I'm serious when I say that! I love when celebs keep what makes them, them. Like Kelly Ripa... she's not my favorite person and I find her annoying at times, but I admire her for not getting a boob job and staying "small". Anyhoo... back to AI... why is Jewel a judge? What is the point? It's just stupid! Is this just a one time thing? Let's hope! Cause oh my goodness, she would cause me not to watch!

So, I got a call back today from the hospital. They ARE interested in leasing space to me in their medical building. WOW! I'm shocked!! I was totally not expecting the guy to call back! He has given my name to a lady who is going to be working with me. So now I have another choice. Sometimes it's easier when you only have one choice, although I'm glad for two at this point. I know the lease is going to be about 3 times as much as the store I looked at. But, at least I have options. With a brand new bigger space, I could have a bigger daycare. That's scary!! My only thing is the financial backing! I know that my father could get a loan for as much as I needed, but I don't want to do that. Tomorrow I will be looking online for child care grants. I know they're out there! Now to find them and figure out how to get them.

After today, I'm shocked I want to continue doing daycare. Babies who are not full time and haven't been in daycare for the first 8 months of their lives and have a schedule that is not compatable with the daycare's, leads to a very stressful situation. Add the fact that they are sick on top of that and it's even worse. Not sure what I'm going to do. We didn't even get all our preschool stuff in today. That's not fair to my full time families who are paying for preschool! It's always something.

T2 had BB practice tonight. He got to wear his uniform (jersey and shorts) because they got their pictures taken. If you're a parent, are you like me and get suckered into buying way more pictures than you'll ever need? I have no backbone when it comes to pics of my kids. You should see all the sheets of pics I have from when they were little. I always spent way too much and got way too many pics but it's hard to say no when it's your kids!

Oh, and because I sometimes rag on my daycare parents, I think it's only fair that I give credit when credit it due... I have had quite a few sick kiddos in the last couple weeks and the parents have been so wonderful at keeping them out of daycare. Trust me, I haven't had the best of luck with this in the past, but now I have some parents who truly care about the other kids and don't want them all to get sick from their child. I appreciate that and I'm proud of all of them!

We got snow today... our first of the year/season.

January 15, 2007

Decisions. Decisions.

I went and looked at a building for the daycare today. It's ok. It needs a little work, nothing major. Kind of small. I guess I thought it would be bigger. The rent is awesome and the landlord is a very nice guy who basically just wants to rent it out, make a little money and let you do your own thing. Which is good. Like I said, it's not that big... about 20' x 40'. This place could only hold a small daycare. Which is ok... smaller daycare, less people I'd have to have work with me. I'm not really too excited about having anyone other than my mom working for me anyway.

Tonight I talked to another guy about leasing space in our brand new medical building. A long time ago they had advertised it for other things other than just medical offices, so I called and talked to him briefly. He sounded like he was in a hurry and so I didn't get any info, such as: price, space, etc. I know this place would be quite a bit more than the place I looked at today, but would be brand new, bigger and very nice with no extra work needed. It would also look more professional. The only concern (other than high payment) would be the noise factor. Kids are noisy.

The building I looked at today is attached to a whole block of buildings right downtown. (Well, as "downtown" as you can get in my small town. lol) These buildings were built well and are very sound proof. Many of them have apartments over the stores, but not the one I looked at (which is a plus). One side of the place, next to what would be my "store" is a beauty salon that is frequented only by elderly ladies and only opened a couple days a week. (Good.) The other side is an empty building that has been for sale for a very long time. The inside needs a lot of work, so I'm sure it won't be selling anytime soon.

There are a lot of pros and cons. I'm not sure how fun it will be to be away from home all day, (especially for my boys) but I think it would make my business look more professional. I also could make more money. (Big pro!)

Nothing is going to be decided today, but I do need to get back with the guy rather quickly. I would have to borrow the down payment (first month's rent and deposit) if I needed to get it soon. So that may be a problem. I guess if it's God's will for me to move the daycare, He'll work it all out. In the mean time, I'll pray and wait.

January 13, 2007

Do Not Rent This...

"Idiocracy" = Horrible! Just take my word on this one!

So this morning, even though it was raining and I was all cozy in my two heavy comforters, I had to get up early. But it was worth it. T2 had basketball practice. Their first game is next Saturday so today they got to practice dividing up and playing an actual game. T2 has never played basketball before. He has had practice shooting and stuff, but not an actual game. I don't think he ever got the ball, but that's probably for the best as he had such a huge smile on his face that I'm not sure he would have realized what to do with it once he got it. He is one of those kids that some parents would probably get really annoyed with (and trust me, I've had to stop myself a few times) because he is just SO happy to be doing just about ANYTHING. He just LOVES life. So while he's caught up being so happy in life, his little mind tends to shut out everything else around him. I finally realized he wasn't ignoring me all the time and he didn't have a hearing problem, he was just so happy living and enjoying his little life and everything around him, that he honestly didn't even know I was around. Now that I understand that, I LOVE it!! And I love watching it. And it sure could teach a lot of people what livings all about. (Including me.) He definitely is one of those people who "stops to smell the roses". Or in his case stops to look at the tiniest bug or rock or blade of grass, cause it's ALL GOOD!! And it's all wonderful! He's so great and so honest and so wants to do everything right! On our way to anything that has a set arrival or start time, he'll ask every 5 minutes if we're going to be late. He hates to be late. He also took it upon himself to go upstairs alone tonight while everyone else was watching the movie. We just thought he was bored and wanted to watch cartoons. Well, he came back down about 15 minutes later and I asked what he was doing and he said he went upstairs because there was "just too much cussing" and "I don't need to hear stuff like that". Ok, OUCH!! That hurt! What a horrible mom I am! In my defense, I thought the movie was PG-13, but it's rated R. We didn't watch the whole thing anyway. How did a 10 year old get smarter than me? Not only mentally, but spiritually too?

And because I don't play favorites... T1 is a wonderful child too. A little more like his mom (Lord help us! lol) but very kind hearted and helpful! And wonderful with kids! He just got hosting for his very own website. Grandma helped him and because Grandma doesn't trust anything that has to do with buying or paying or giving out credit card numbers online, she sent a check for it snailmail. lol So, he's waiting for everything to clear and then he will have his very own website. Which is cool and as far as I'm concerned, totally a part of his homeschooling! And considering I have NO computer or website experience, and he hasn't had any sort of training or classes when it comes to these things, I think he's pretty darn smart to be able to figure all this stuff out!

I should find out this week what direction my daycare is going. There are some things to iron out, but we may be moving it out of the house and into it's own building. Nothing has been set in stone, we're still very much in the "pros and cons" process. But it's fun to think about!

January 9, 2007

Things That Irritate Me

These are just a few, (trust me - there's more):

-People who blog about their child's MONTHLY "birthdays". Oh my gosh... when your child is 43 months old, do we really need an update? I mean, my youngest just turned 120 months but you didn't see me writing out a whole darn post about it.

-Daycare parents who have a total lack of control of their children when they walk in the door to pick them up at night. Just grab your kid and get out of here, ok? If not, I will so have your child standing at the door in their coat and when you knock, out they'll go.

-25 year old "Anna Nicole Smith" wannabes with 75 yr old husbands who call my dad during dinner wanting to know if he will tell them how to set up their bluetooth. Then, when my father explains that he's at home and not the store but he'd be happy to help them if they'd come in to the store tomorrow (so he could actually look on the screen of the phone to see what was wrong), the little gold digger refuses and demands that my father go through the steps a million times over and over. Then, because most of her brain cells are probably filled with plastic like the rest of her body, she doesn't understand and calls back about 2 minutes after they hang up the first time and makes him go over it all again. And then asks stupid questions like: "Can I use this anywhere?" and "Do I have to answer my cell phone and bluetooth at the same time when it rings?" lol
This just proves once again that I am not meant for any kind of job that requires customer service. And you know what, that's ok! Because OH MY GOSH, I'd get fired left and right!

-Britney Spears. And whatever it is that she's doing/buying/wearing/not wearing. Don't care. Although when they showed the pool of her new mansion on tv last night, I said to my mom "How much you want to bet one of her kids drowns in that!"

-Spending more time on the computer than reading to my kids. ("Hello guilt, my name is Tonja and I'm a blog-a-holic!")

And with that, I'm off to read to my kids! (Although in my defense, I just spent an hour sitting at basketball practice, along with a 40 minutes drive time round trip - that has to count for something!)

January 8, 2007

I'm On Tiggers Side!

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
I've seen the video, have you? Poor Tigger, he didn't do anything wrong! I'm boycotting Disney! (Just kidding, if we get the chance to go, we're going and I'm making my kids stand right next to the new Tigger and taking my video camera along! I mean, we want to be millionaires too.) Cause you KNOW these crazy people are going to get a nice settlement because of this. It's the great "American Way". *sigh*

My day was great today! Not too bad for a Monday. The daycare kids were good, I got to get out and do my grocery shopping for the week at about 9am when the store is empty. (love that) The kids all took good naps and I had quite a few
parents who were early at pick-up. Let's hope this is a just a taste of what the week will hold.

I got a nice letter from my Grandma today. It was sweet. You could barely read her writting but I got the jist of what she was trying to say. It's hard for me to believe just how old my grandparents really are. Where did the time go?

Speaking of time, where did it go with my oldest son? I can't believe he is turning 13 next month. NEXT MONTH! Oh my gosh. Tell me this isn't true. I have to be dreaming. I'm not ready for teenagers!

My 10 yr old is loving basketball (even though he's just had one practice). We have another practice tomorrow night. I'm hoping my dad gets off work early enough to go watch since he'll probably have to miss most of his games. T2 and his papaw are tight little buddies. Always have been.

Well, I'm off here for the night. I have to get up early again tomorrow. I started work at 7:30 this morning and will again tomorrow. I know that's not real early, but when you're not use to working until 11:00, it's early.

Oh ya... Go Buckeyes!!

January 7, 2007

Not A People Person?

I'm beginning to wonder. It's not that I'm not a "people person", it's that I'm not an "idots person". There are many around and it makes me want to head for the hills, set up a little log cabin, and live the rest of my days alone.

My neighbor's dog is out of control! This thing barks constantly. This isn't the neighbor behind me whose dog use to bark all night long... no, this is the neighbor right beside me whose garage (where the dog is) is right where the headboard of my bed is, thus being where my HEAD IS. I can not tell you the number of times this dog has woke me up. And around 7:45 this morning, it did just that. And then continued to bark nonstop for the next 45 minutes.

I'm beginning to think I'm not suppose to sleep for more than a couple hours anymore.

Next idiot... whoever it was that called me "privately" this morning at 2:30. It's one thing to call someone at that time and it's another to make an effort to hit *69 so your number won't come up. Maybe if you're too embarrassed to call someone at that time of the night, YOU SHOULDN'T DO IT!!

I'm trying to love everyone, as God wants, but sometimes it's so hard! I'm sure that people feel the same about me at times. No one is perfect, we all have our flaws. However, I think it would be easier for me to love if I could get some sleep!

January 6, 2007

Early To Rise

My day started out at 3:18 am. My dad (who has been sick for over a week) was up again in the night and went downstairs to sit up on the reclining end of our couch. Well, that's fine, he's got a horrible cold and can't breathe when he lays down. But, he turns the lamp on right by the couch. The light from that lamp goes right up our open staircase and into my room. Do you know what that does to someone who is use to waking up naturally when light comes into her room? Yep, it wakes her up. So, I woke up thinking it was morning and that I needed to get up and get ready to take T2 to basketball practice (until I glanced at the clock and realized it was only 3:18).

Do you know what happens when I have a lot on my mind anyway and then are awakened in the middle of the night? I stay wide awake and think about all the things that are on my mind. I think I finally got back to sleep around 5:30/6:00. Just in time for a couple more hours of shut eye until the alarm rang at 8:00.

And what exactly was on my mind you ask? Well, many things... but mainly I am dreading a daycare decision I made. I don't think it's going to work out and I have a feeling it's going to end badly. I know that's "putting the cart before the horse"... but in 7 years of doing daycare on my own, I have had these feelings before and I'm usually right. It never starts out good when a parent knows your daycare schedule but has her children on a totally opposite one and let's you know that she's not changing it and basically you'll just have to deal with it when the kids are at your house 10 hours a day. (which means it's going to be absolute chaos) It's also never good when they tell you that the mom can never be reached during the day, dad can't take off work ever and they have no back up care. UGH! Well, what are you going to do if your kids get sick? It IS cold and flu season and they can't come here sick. I'm just very nervous about this situation. Mom cops an attitude pretty easily anyway and I'm thinking that if things don't go her way that it's not going to be too fun. And in all honesty, the money is not worth the possible problems. I should have charge them a lot more but I was trying to be nice. I am dreading this. Big time! It's too much pressure and I hate being put under pressure. There shouldn't be this kind of pressure, I am the boss! This is MY business, I make the rules. Just pray for me. Thanks.

So we got up and went to basketball practice. My friend Rebecca was waiting for me and we sat and chatted the whole hour. She just had an ultrasound this past week and it's offical... another boy. This will make 6 boys - 10 years and under. She's due at the beginning of May and has the cutest little pooch. She's real tiny anyway and she's just got this little tiny stomach. It's so cute. We had a nice talk about pregnancy, birth, homeschooling, boys, etc... It was nice to sit and talk to another adult. I need to do that more often.

We got home a little after 11 and ate some lunch, then got ready and headed out. We went to the Teacher's Education store. It was busy and the people were not friendly, but I got some great stuff. They had the cutest little heart cardboard boxes for $1.30 each. I got 5 along with some red and white paint. I was looking for pink and then it hit me... DUH! white and red make pink. lol I also got some different sized foam heart stickers and some other puffy heart stickers to go on the boxes after the kids paint them. Of course this is for next month, but it never hurts to plan ahead. I was a little disappointed of the lack of "winter" things, so I didn't get much for this month, but I've got enough planned that we should be ok. I got a days of the week poster, some more ABC cards, a valentine poster, some extra numbers for our calendar, some stickers, a "Healthy Teeth" poster for next month (Dental Health Month) and took the weather chart and a couple other posters that I already had and got those laminated. OH and I have 2 clip magnets on the back of my door (where the parents come in) and they are shaped like little stick figure people, I use them to hang stuff for the parents to take home, well I found 4 more in all different colors. Yay! I have been looking all over for more of those.

Somehow the boys talked us into going to Toys R Us after that. I really dislike that store. But, we went anyway. It wasn't real exciting. They were out of everything from Christmas and didn't have any good sales at all. So basically it was just like all the other times we go into a Toys R Us.

After that I wanted to go to Goodwill to see if they had any scarves and hats. I need them for part of our "Winter" theme. I have tons of mittens and gloves but needed some hats and scarves. I wanted to use them as part of our gross motor skills by having the kids dress themselves in them. Well, they didn't have any. Can you believe that? What do people do with all their old hats and scarves? I did find a fishing game, it was new and they had quite a few of them all stacked in one section. Well, I'm glad it was only $2 because when we got it home and put a battery in it, it didn't work. Oh well. I did find 2 lamps for the boys' room. They are both the same as far as shape only one is black and the other is green. They were 99 cents each. They need shades, but a trip to Walmart should remedy that. T1 will get the black one and T2 will get the green one. (to match all his John Deere stuff.) They were both in perfect condition and you can't beat 99 cents.

I always feel dirty after I come out of Goodwill and it's not the store, and it doesn't matter which Goodwill I go to, I always feel like I need to wash my hands right away. Thank goodness for hand sanitizer. My mom went to the car ahead of us and by the time we got there she had her sanitizer out and was using it. The kids and I used ours right away too. T2 said he wanted a BIG glob of it. Wonder why that store makes you feel so dirty?

This evening I've been working on getting my preschool stuff up in the daycare room and finishing the last bit of our monthly activities. Tomorrow I need to run to Kroger and get some cornmeal. I'll put it in a plastic storage box and let the kids go at it. Add some plastic spoons and measuring cups and they'll have a blast scooping and digging in it. I though about using oatmeal too. We'll see which one is the cheapest and go with that. (considering I have a feeling half of it will end up in my vacuum cleaner. lol)

I think that's about it for our day. Not too exciting, but fun and yet pretty tiring. I'm not used to running all over the place. That's hard work!

January 5, 2007

Whatever

Why do people get upset over things that another person has no control over? Why do they linger their silence so long that now, no matter how comfortable you use to be talking to this person, when they do finally decided to talk to you again it will be very awkward? Why do people do this? It makes no sense to me and I don't undertand it. But whatever.

Anyway... TGIF!

Today both my babies were horribly cranky. Not sure why as there were only 3 kiddos here and they got tons of attention. They were tired and irritable and just plain ticked most of the day. One good thing was that one of their dads came and got him 3 hours early so that was nice.

Monday a new daycare girl starts and I'm starting our preschool program. I'm excited. I love teaching preschool.Tomorrow I'm taking a trip to United Arts and Education. I LOVE that store. I could spend hours in there. I have a couple charts I need for our preschool area. I already have a weather chart and season chart, a cool map of the United States, numbers, letters, shapes, colors and all that fun stuff, but I want to look for a "Helpers" chart and some other things. I'll probably end up spending why too much money in there.

T2 has basketball practice bright and early tomorrow morning so no sleeping in for me. ugh This will be his first practice and I think the only Saturday one. He'll start having his other practices on Tuesday nights and then games on Saturdays. I have informed my daycare parents that I need everyone out asap on Tuesdays and late fees will be given no matter what the excuse. I have to draw the line for my child. I mean, he's stuck here all day with these kids, he deserves to have some freedom to do things. 5:30 starts my family time and I don't like to be mean about it, but I have to make the cut off at some point in the evening.

Well, I'm off to bed. I bought Season 5 of Will and Grace last night when we went to Best Buy and I haven't had time to watch any of it yet so I'll probably pop that in before I get into bed. Karen is so funny!

January 3, 2007

Where Are They Coming From?

How absolutely cool is this... I have another family with two kids who are wanting to enroll. Thank you Lord! Where are these people coming from? Not that I mind... I'm actually very excited and so ready to start making some real money. Oh, and I'm excited about starting my preschool program too. Better not make it sound as if money isn't all I'm looking at here. Honestly, it's not. I really am excited about doing preschool again. I love teaching preschool! But, I will admit that having extra money to spend every week, having the bills paid on time, and then having a little extra to stash away, makes for one very happy gal. I see a nice summer vacation in 2007! Now, where to go...

January 2, 2007

Tuesday - My Monday

Today was my first day back... so it was like a Monday after a really long weekend. I think you can imagine how that went. The good news was that I only had 3 kids today. The bad news was that 2 of those kiddos came back with ear infections and 2 kiddos pretty much screamed all day. But, I guess you'll have days like that right?

On a better note... the mom I had an interview with a few weeks ago came by today to pay the enrollment fee. Her daughter will start on Monday. I also got a call today from the mom's good friend. She wants to bring her two children as soon as I have openings. I told her that I wouldn't have any openings until March and she said that was fine and they would wait until I could get them in. Do you know what this means? I have a WAITING LIST!!! I actually have people waiting to get into my daycare. This family has 2 children who need full time care. If I didn't have another family coming part time for the next two months, I could have taken them now and would be making twice what I'll be making with this other family but, I already agreed to take this family for a couple months, so I feel obligated to do that.

That's all I got for today. It's 8:00 and I'm ready to relax.

January 1, 2007

It's All About The Resolutions

This is the time for resolutions to be made. What will we strive to accomplish this new year? How will we enrich our lives? What are our goals for 2007?

Lose weight? Exercise more? Work harder for that job promotion? Build a better portfolio? Have another child? Fix a relationship? Go on a vacation?

I have resolutions of my own, but I'm not sure I want to pinpoint specific ones, not to mention I'm not sure I want to share them with the whole blogger world to see and keep track of. It's easy to fail when resolutions are made and let's face it, we have a whole 365 days to do so. That's a lot of time to mess up. Who needs that pressure?!

I think this year, I'll just play it by ear and see what happens. I know I'm growing as a person and I'm better than I was a couple years ago. Older and wiser right? Or maybe it's just that you get more comfortable with yourself as you get older?

Anyway... do you ever stumble across PBS television and actually watch it? I did today. They had Dr. Wayne Dyer on and I just have to say he is an amazing speaker. I've seen him before and was very impressed. If you ever get the chance to watch him or read any of his books, you should.

That is also where I came across a very heroic woman by the name of Immaculee Ilibagiza. Go HERE to find out more about her and the 1994 Rwanda genocide. She is just amazing!! She has a book called "Left To Tell", I am buying it this week. I think it will be a great unit study for our homeschool. We can also rent "Hotel Rwanda". I think my kids are old enough now to watch it and understand what's happening. This amazing lady, Immaculee, was trapped in a bathroom for 91 days. I'd like to come up with something for my kids to do or not do for 91 days. Any ideas? Please leave a comment.