September 24, 2007

Time: Can I Buy Some?

I am having "time" issues. I'll leave it at that. It's daycare related... isn't it always?!

I went to go tan today... the place is closed. For good. Shut down. Out of business. I was sad. Now I have to go back to the other place where I don't think they change the bulbs. Maybe I'll drive a ways and go somewhere better.

My poor dad had the flu this weekend. So sad to see your daddy sick. He's been the only one so far so *knock on wood*... maybe my mom and I are wrong and he really did get sick on the clams he had at Red Lobster?!

We didn't do great with our schoolwork today. OH OH OH... speaking of which... OH MY GOSH, I found the most awesome online curriculum... TIME4LEARNING Go there now!! Seriously... if you homeschool, click it... NOW... I'll wait.... So what do you think? Pretty cool eh?! AND... only $20 a month! Get out! We're going to sign up as soon as we get back from Disney. T1 loves being on the computer so this will be perfect for him and T2 will have fun playing all the learning games. This will be a great way to add more curriculum plus computer into our schooling.

Well, I'm off to bed. I went to bed last night about midnight and woke up at 3:45 ready for the day. I think I finally got back to sleep about 20 minutes before my alarm was to go off. And to make a VERY annoying story short... I only had 2 daycare kids today... and my early drop off (7:30) decided to wait until the last minute to call and let me know they weren't coming.... I didn't have any kids until almost 10:00 this morning. Of course no one bothered to let me know that YESTERDAY, so I got up, got ready and sat around thinking of all the other things I could do besides daycare!! I'm serious.

September 19, 2007

A Fall Fashion Accessory MUST!


What do you get for $156? Two beautiful dog collar "charms" and two freaked out dogs who may, no, who WILL pee all over the car if we should ever happen to accidentally drive by the vets office again. But it's not over yet... tomorrow they're both going to get groomed. Poor babies!

Fall fashion tip... Bells are IN!

OH... and don't get me started on tonight's Deal or No Deal... a TRUE Colts fan would NEVER have let all that go!!! Wow, could you tell who wears the pants in that marriage? Poor guy!

September 15, 2007

Quick Updates

*My mom's tests all came back fine. PTL! Now we just need to move on to the next possibility of what it could be. At least we know now that her heart is in good shape.

*The lady from the company we got our curriculum from called and said we could send back what we didn't want and they'd only charge us for the stuff we want to keep. Thanks Christian Liberty Academy!! Today, you rock!


We just got back from Subway. I had a BLT, some chips and a chocolate chip cookie. I don't know WHY I'm being such a pig when in 3 weeks I'll be somewhere where I'll have to get into my swimsuit each day! Monday I start tanning again.

I'm "working" today. I'm watching one of my former daycare kiddos for about 4 hours tonight. After that we'll probably make the trip to Muncie and go to church there tomorrow. I've been thinking about going back to the church we use to go to. On our way to Subway, I heard their pastor on the radio. We may have to go back one of these Sundays. My friend Nicole is good at reminding me that we're welcome to come back. She's so sweet!

September 14, 2007

So Glad It's Friday

This has been the longest week! My mom is still not feeling well. They should have her tests back today, so hopefully we'll get a phone call and know what's going on. The girl who was doing her MRIs told her she thought she was having mini strokes. I'm not sure that's the case, but if her doctor tells us one more time that she's his "mystery patient" I think I'm going to tell him that my mom will start paying him with her "mystery money".

I will only have 2 kiddos here today, so I'm thinking about taking a field trip to the library. This would kill two birds with one stone. The daycare kids need to get out and I need to take my own boys there to get some books for school. I'll call the parents in a little bit just to make sure it's ok and that they know we'll be out and about. It's also feeling like a Mc Donald's day. I'm just tired. I've worked pretty much the whole week myself and I've gotten up early every morning since Tuesday. I know, Whaaaa!! I'm just saying if you're not use to it, it's hard. Did I mention I'm glad it's Friday?!

We've done great this week with our schooling. The last two nights however, we've been sitting at the kitchen table well past 9:00. Yesterday I had all the daycare kids but one and it was a preschool day, so I just didn't have time to get the boys' schooling in. So, we do late night schooling on those kinds of days. And it works. Of course that makes for a VERY long day for me, but I'll deal.

Speaking of schooling, I am a little disappointed with the curriculum. And very disappointed with their customer service department. Half of the curriculum is worthless (not to mention from the 1980's) so I picked out what we could use, and wanted to send the rest back. Well, they said since we bought it as a set/group they won't take part of it back, it has to be all. I didn't understand their logic, because online it's all priced out seperately anyway. Oh well, live and learn.

Well, the timer just went off - our Monkey Bread is done. Time for breakfast!

September 12, 2007

Don't Hate, You Can Do It Too

I am SICK of hearing people say home daycare providers are lazy and we don't do anything but sit around watching tv and how we get paid to stay home and "wow, must be nice to be home all day doing nothing!"

Ok, well first off, when you have your child at home, do you get to just sit around doing nothing, or are you busy taking care of your child? Yeah, well take that and times it by 5!

If I didn't run around like a chicken with my head cut off, my house would be destroyed by the end of the day. Do you know how much damage a group of five kids, ages 18 months to 3 years, could do if I wasn't on my toes?!?

Then there's the pay... and I'm not even going to go there because honestly, I'm just sitting here laughing too hard to type!

So, here's a suggestion to all you jealous people... You can do it too! If you think it's SO darn easy and if you think we are getting paid the big bucks to sit around, watch tv and snack all day... Then quit your job, put your ad in the paper, get some kids and enjoy your new "make millions doing nothing" job!

Oh, but do me a favor... after you've gone crazy and broke 3 days into your new career, could you please leave your apology in the comments section below. Thanks!

September 10, 2007

Where To Begin...

This weekend was pretty much a blur... it started out nicely on Friday night with us TRYING to order a pizza from Papa Murphy's. When we finally DID get through, the person who answered told us to "please hold" and then the phone hung up. We tried calling for about 10 minutes and all we got was a busy signal so we gave up and decided to take out two pizzas from our freezer and make them. We don't really have any good pizza places in our small town, they're ok, but when you have so little to choose from you get tired of them quickly. We rented 'Georgia Rule' - not sure what to say about that. It was ok. I wouldn't recommend it for children. Then again, if I would have taken the time to look at the rating, I wouldn't have rented it. I thought for sure it was PG-13 but it was rated R. Jane Fonda was really good it though!

Then we get to Saturday when my mom headed out of town and ended up in a hospital 40 miles away with heart issues. That's a whole tiring story within itself so we'll just say that by 11:30 Saturday night we were ALL exhausted. I made two trips back and forth from there to my house. But the cool thing was that I was already nervous (who wouldn't be) and I had no idea how to get to the hospital after I got off the interstate and I didn't have time to look for directions so I just prayed that God would show me and I told God he'd have to take me there and I decided not to worry about it. I'm sure you can guess that I got there with no problem! My mom had 2 EKG's and blood work done twice. She got to leave around 11:00 that night. She did not want to stay and they couldn't make her. Well, she woke up today with the same problems, pain on her left side from her neck down to her arm and chest pain... I talked her into going to her doctor here and so she went. She is having a stress test tomorrow at 9:00am. The doctor said if everything comes back ok from that, they are going to start looking into stress as the reason why she's having all these problems. That's what I'm betting on. Anyway, whatever it is, we have to get her high blood pressure under control.

Sunday was pretty normal. We went to church and came home. We ordered Applebees car side to go and got it from an Applebees we've never ate at before and will never eat at again. It was horrible. I spent over $30 for me and two kids and it tasted terrible... very disappointing!

Today has been just a normal day... my daycare kids aren't acting the best, but that's how Mondays usually go. Maybe they'll be happier after nap?! Hope so!

We haven't gotten our homeschool curriculum yet and I'm running out of things to review!! I hope it comes soon!

September 8, 2007

In One Month...

At this exact moment, I will be on a plane going to Florida . Hopefully I will not be freaking out and hopefully the trip will go well. I'm getting a little nervous as it gets closer. Not that I'm afraid the plane will crash, but more that I will just feel horrible the whole ride there. I have been having major sinus issues and I just read that plane rides are harder for people with sinus problems. So, I guess I could take something for that, but then I'm more concerned about taking something for my anxiety. Hmm, maybe the sinus meds will work as well as the anxiety meds? Most of the time when I take my sinus meds, I get that "don't care" feeling (which is why I don't take them often) so maybe I could kill two birds with one stone. Oh, but wait... now we have the whole "cramps" and "heavy bleeding" thing to think about.

Warning: TMI alert!!
Ahh, yes... once again my body decided that after 3 months straight of starting my period on a Monday, this month we'd change all that and wait to start on Thursday... closer to Saturday, the day we're leaving for vacation. This makes Saturday my bad/heavy day. What a fun way to fly! I knew it wouldn't work out for me. And let me tell you, I'm not ashamed to say this is something I have been praying about!! I believe God cares about the welfare of the people who have to put up with me on a 2 hour plane trip if I'm on my "heavy" day.

If I could have stayed on a Monday start day for just 2 more months, I would have been almost done by Saturday (the day we leave) and I would have had a period free vacation. (Every girls dream!) But OH NO... that couldn't happen, not to ME!!! So, now I'm back to Thursday and hey, maybe next month I can start a day later and be on it my WHOLE vacation, cause you know, that's the way I like to roll!!

Note to my uterus: Once I turn 40 (my cut off date) and there's no chance of me having any more kiddos, you are so OUTTA HERE!!!! Enjoy screwing with my life now, because you only have 5.5 years left to ruin every vacation and special event! Use your time wisely!! And don't laugh too loud my dear ovaries, you're getting yanked out too!! Thanks for giving me the two kids and everything, but somehow it just doesn't make up for all the times you've decided to work your magic on the days I have major plans!! What did I ever do to you?!?

September 6, 2007

Laura Ingalls Wilder Rocks


I love the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. So much so that I'm making my boys listen to me read a chapter every night before they go to bed. Or rather as they fall asleep since that's what usually happens. We started last week with the first book, "Little House in the Big Woods". My grandma had gotten me the whole set when I was little and when we were cleaning out some boxes my parents had brought over from their other house a couple weeks ago, I found them. I was SO excited. I was going to start reading them on my own, but there is so much History and things that my kids would never normally know about (like what a "patty pan" is, or what "pokeberries" are...)that I had to incorporate it into our schooling. AND, get this, I found some curriculum to go along with it online yesterday. And it even includes tests on each chapter.

September 5, 2007

Dodged a Bullet

Although I need the money (really, I DO!), and I've been praying God would send me just one more daycare child, I refused one last night. One that could have started today. One that would have paid more than any other child I have in my daycare right now. Not that I was trying to charge them more, but it was for an infant and infant rates are higher. However, I am pretty protective when it comes to my sanity and I think this little "ray of sunshine" would have caused me to lose what little I have in the first place.

To make what could be a long, ranting story short... A grandmother called me yesterday afternoon in desperate need of daycare for her granddaughter. She had been watching her but had been hospitalized and would no longer be able to watch her. She sounded so sad and I really wanted to help her. She asked if her daughter could call me later tonight and I said "Sure!".

Fast forward to about 5:30... the mom called and left a message. I wasn't by the phone and didn't realize she'd called until almost 6:00. I called her back and our conversation began like this:

Her: Hello
Me: Hi, this is -----, I am calling you back regarding child care.
Her: yeah
(long silence)
Me: Ok, are you still in need of child care?
Her: yeah
(long silence)
Me: Ok, well, could you tell more about what you're looking for?
Her: Someone to watch our baby. (like DUH!)

Oh my gosh, I felt like I was talking to a brick wall!! So anyway, on with our "conversation"...

She started out telling me her 6 month old was "high maintenance" (first red flag) and that she cried a lot (second red flag) and that she was breastfed (third red flag) and absolutely refused to take a bottle and only nurses at night (fourth and almost final red flag). I asked how long she has been back to work and she said she went back full time when she was 6 weeks old. So in the last 5 months she hasn't been getting milk during the day?

Ok, I have experience with breastfed babies, I will take them and I have no problem with that, HOWEVER, they need to be able to take a bottle! So I asked mom, "Well, how does she get milk, will she take a sippy cup?" Mom says, "OH NO! anything like that makes her even more angry!" So I say, "Oh, ok, well then how do you console her and how do you feed her during the day?" Mom says, "Well, my mom had to just feed her some baby food every now and then and a few times she was so inconsolable she had to bring her up to my work so I could feed her." My reply, "Well, you understand that I will not be able to do that, right?" Mom, "Yeah, I guess."

So, then I'm asking her what they do to console her if she won't take a bottle, won't take a pacifier, etc... mom says there's nothing you really can do but let her cry. (Ok, FINAL red flag!) I should have ended the conversation there and just told her sorry, but I didn't think it would work out, but I have a heart and felt bad for them so I just kept talking.

Mom said they HAD to have an interview TONIGHT and the baby would need to start tomorrow. It was 6:00 already and I hadn't had dinner yet, so I wanted to give myself some time to eat and get things ready for them to come over, so I said "Ok, well why don't you come over around 7:30" to which mom replied "Well, if we have to come then, the baby is going to be a grouch because that's her bath time." Umm, well, sorry, but if you're demanding an interview the same night you call needing daycare, you're going to have to let me work you into my evening! I do have a family to think about, I'm not dropping everything because your baby may get a little grouchy because she missed her 7:30 bath. Anyway, we left it for 7:30 and hung up.

I was already irritated at the conversation but when I sat down to dinner and started telling my parents about it, I started getting even more irritated. The more I talked about it, the more I decided there was no way this would work.

So, I did what any honest Christian would do... I called her back at 6:30 and told her Labor Day messed me up and I forgot tonight was Tuesday and I wouldn't be home at 7:30. Then I said quickly, "If you want, you can call me tomorrow. Ok? Thanks. Bye." Then I packed up the kids and left at 7:30. (Ya know, cause I'm not a total liar!!)

I now understand why grandma said "We just can't find ANYONE who will take her!" Really? That's crazy, cause I would have jumped at the opportunity to take a baby who is exclusively breastfed for 9 hours a day, minus the boobs needed to keep the child happy.

On a concerned note... how is this 6 month old getting proper nutrition? And WHY didn't they do something about this when mom went back to work when the baby was 6 weeks old??? I just can't believe a mother would be ok with this. I'm not sure who has the bigger issue here, the mom or the baby. My bet is the mom.

All I have to say is, I KNOW made the right decision! Oh, and I'm making a list of all the other local providers I don't like, just in case she calls today. (Kidding!) I wouldn't wish that nightmare waiting to happen on anyone!!

September 4, 2007

A Foot Off

I have been wanting to get my hair cut for months now. I thought I'd do it this weekend when we went to Muncie, but I chickened out. So, I woke up yesterday morning and decided it was the day. And to make sure I had to go out and get it cut, I actually started cutting off the ends in various sections. (You know, because then I'd HAVE to do something or go around looking stupid.) So, I pulled it back in a pony tail and off I went. I decided to get about a foot off although it's still not too short to pull back. The lady who cut it kept asking, "Are you SURE you want to do this?" and saying "Oh honey, I'm not sure I can do this, you have such beautiful hair!"... I was like, "Just cut it already!!" and when she made that first cut I looked down and thought "What did I just do?!" but it turned out great and it's cute and it makes me look younger and it's very easy to do, so I'm glad I did it. I don't really have before and after pics, but you'll get the jist.

Before and after: