Current happenings

Spring has arrived.  I am so thankful, what a long cold winter it was.

 I am working on a few projects, one of them is a knit blanket for a brand new little nephew that will be born in August.  The blanket I made for Jericho, his big brother to be, was pretty... but we didnt know if Sarah was having a boy or a girl when I chose the yarn, so I made it from a variegated baby yarn in pale blues, purples and white.  The new blanket is definitely different, it's going to be very bold. 

The yarn for Parker's blanket.

 

Jericho's blanket

 Maddy is doing well with the homeschooling.  Right now I would say that World history and Latin are still her favorite classes.  We need to start lining up her materials for next year, but I still have lots of time to find just the right stuff for her.  Tentatively next year she will be taking English, Geometry or Algebra 2, US History, Latin 2, another lab science as well as some "fun" classes.  Fun being the point... so it will be totally Maddy driven.  We have some local art classes, including stained glass, pottery, as well as things like Karate etc.  She will also be getting a part time job in the fall... and sometime over the next year will be taking Driver's ed through a local program.  We will also be utilizing a SAT program to help her get ready for that in the spring of 2014. Her Junior year is going to be a busy busy year for us.

In July, the husband and I will be going on our first vacation (alone without children) in 23 years.  A group of our friends, that we met online, get together every year in July for a weekend.  This year the stars all aligned and we are able to go. *knock on wood*  Its also the year of our 25th wedding anniversary, so we decided to extend our trip past the weekend and visit the area.  I am so excited, and nervous, and excited, and just can't wait, and excited...

Eileen has moved into a new place with her young man.  He is a full time culinary student as well as a  full time sous chef at a local restaurant.   Eileen will be returning to college in the fall. She is also working full time as a pharmacy tech at the state's biggest hospital.  She is a pretty busy young lady but she knows what she wants to do with her life and is moving herself that direction.  I am very excited for her.

Its a lovely day outside... there is a soft breeze and the sun is shining.  Its a very nice day and I hope you are having a great day as well.

~Regi

In progress...

Started a new project, because you know.... its not like I have don't have enough stuff going on. *grins* I swore after the baby blanket that I knitted for Jericho, that I would never knit another thing. I even warned my girls that knit blankets for their eventual children were out of the question, and yet I find myself casting on stitches to make little Jericho a baby sweater. I found the pattern at the Lion Brand Yarn website and its very sweet. I got the yarn yesterday, its Caron, Simply Soft and the color is Ocean. Its a very pretty dark blue... almost a dark denim color. I think it will be very sweet and manly lol... My only concern is that it calls for two little buttons. Can I secure them on tightly enough that they dont present a choking hazard? Or should i try to find a different way to close the sweater. So far I have about an inch done... the yarn is so soft in my hands and almost silky. I am enjoying the texture of it so far. Here is a picture of what the final project is supposed to look like.

 

In other fronts, work is going well, we are all adjusting to the husbands coming home on weekends, and staying up in that area during the week.  Maddy is doing well in school, and the eldest has decided to get married in the fall, though she has no details picked out.   The weather was glorious yesterday, in the high 50s with a warm wind, a hint at what is to come and it was so refreshing.  I can not wait for spring even though it brings the mud.  hehe.  

Guess thats all for now... still haven't found the camera or its cord, might splurge with some christmas money and get myself a new one.  

*hugs*

Reg

ps... as much as I love this yarn I bought for Jer's little sweater... how I long to use pink.  I definitely need a little girl to knit for.

... And it's November!

Time sure flies when you are having fun!  *grins*

I have been getting between 32 and 34 hours a week at work and I am really getting into the swing of the job.  One of the CSMs told me last night that everyone has nothing but nice things to say about me... so that was good to hear.  I will have my 3 month performance review the first week of December and also my discount card.  That will be nice!!  Things have been getting busier and crazier at work as the holidays approach.  The weekend before Halloween everything was orange and black... costumes and scary themed food and candy.  I worked Halloween night and it was really dead.  I had a day off and when I came in next there were Christmas decorations up, Christmas trees in the entrys and Christmas music playing.  I felt a bit disoriented lol.

My niece, who got married in August, is pregnant.  Well technically, she was pregnant at the wedding, but it was early on yet and very few people knew.  She now has a baby belly... although its a little one and she finds out on Wednesday what the gender of the baby is.  I keep reminding her that not all babies want to share that info right off... but she is confident her child will behave and show the appropriate bits hehe.  Boy does she have a lot to learn about being a parent lmao... i cant wait to see it all unfold.  I hope her child is as much a joy and handful as Miss Sarah was for her parents.  I am trying to figure out what to make for this little one.  My sister is making the traditional (well in our family) cross-stitch blanket.  My eldest has stated she is making a quilt, so either i make some clothes for the child or knit something.  I may just go ahead and make a quilt too... a baby cant have too many quilts, but we will see.  I found a very cute pattern for a knit hat... it resembles a small berry, pattern can be found on Ravelry here.  Also found a pattern for a little knit blanket with a waffle pattern that looks adorable.  I think I will wait till we know on Wednesday (or dont know for that matter) before i finalize my plans. 


Paul and I had a long talk yesterday... he told me he fully intends to take the new job in Jan.  Its going to be very hard for the family to adjust but its going to be a good thing.  The pay is wonderful for this area, we will have medical insurance for the first time in a very long time... 401k, etc... and the town this business is in has a wonderful highschool.  Its actually a private boarding school but families that live in the town get to send their high school kids there.  Maddy will have the opportunity to get a fantastic education which will only benefit her in the future... and its half way between my sisters town and the town my eldest daughter lives in.  I just found out today that the library there is a Carnegie library.  That's exciting!  They also have an Egg festival in July... a week long festival of egg stuff.  >.>  hehe.  It will be nice to be part of a town again.

I guess thats it for now... i will try to post pictures of the projects I am thinking about doing for the baby.

*hugs*
Reg

Whoa... It's October already?

Hah... been some time since I posted, life has been a bit crazy.

Training went well, had about 3 days with my sponsor before I was set free.  I made sure that the CSMs up front knew I was a bit nervous being alone, so for the rest of my first week and all of my second, I was put at a register near a more experienced cashier.  It went very well.  I have been getting an average of 32-34 hours a week and they have mostly been afternoon into late evening shifts.

About 2 - 3 weeks after I started at Walmart, the husband went into work and left unemployed.  He was laid off with a bunch of his other co-workers.  They are all considered displaced workers as their jobs went to a company in Canada. As such he has additional unemployment benefits such as training etc.  Its been such an odd transition... He was the breadwinner and i the stay at home parent... and now its completely reversed.  He has a good job prospect about an hour north of us but that position doesn't start till Jan 3.  In the meantime he is enrolled in a program to help Maine workers start up businesses etc.  When he was laid off the last time (2008) he was in this program then as well. We are both hoping it will take off this time, he has a lot of great ideas.  We are just taking things a day at a time at this point, its all you can really do in these situations. 

I need to start getting my Christmas projects done, I know what I am making for a few people, need to figure out the rest of it soon.

I will try to remember to post every so often ... especially when the holiday projects start flowing.

*hugs*
Regi

Update...

Well lots of stuff has been happening around the old homestead.

I finished up my "orientation" to my job and moved on to the actual cashiering part.  Oh my gosh there is so much to remember, so many steps to making the process flow smoothly.  Codes to remember for fruits and veggies, procedures to follow for dealing with food stamps and wic, processes to go through for filling and selling phone cards, checks are used differently now... i was so surprised.  Anyways I have been on the registers for 4 days now, 2 days by myself.  I am still having to ask for help from the nearby cashiers but its happening less and less.  Had my first unhappy customer today and I just gritted my teeth, smiled and wished her a "pleasant day" all the while wishing her to the deepest parts of Hades.  One wicked weird thing happened... im still a bit in shock over it.  When my family moved here to Maine back in 1975 or 1976, the first girl I met was named Wanda.  We became very good friends during Junior and Senior High.  We lost touch after I went to college, I invited her and her mom to my wedding but they were unable to attend.  Over the years I have attempted to find her.  I even joined that classmates site just to see if she was registered there, as well as the Facebook group for our class.  I haven't been able to find her in any phone book or by asking ppl who live in our old hometown.  Today I was working the register and a couple came up.  I check them through when the woman said Regina?  I looked at her and smiled, lots of ppl say the cashiers name so I didn't think anything of it.  She looked at me and said " Do you remember me?" I looked again and saw my best friend from when we were children.  "Wanda?" I said... I was so surprised.  Come to find out she lives not 15 mins from me.  Unfortunately she doesn't use Facebook and I didn't catch her married name.  Hopefully she will come to the store again.  How amazing is life at times.

Another thing that happened this week was an unfortunate run in with a case of water... in trying to help a customer I hurt my back and its had an impact on the week for sure.

And the last huge thing that happened was that my husband was laid off on Wednesday.  All the management team was notified that there would be another round of lay offs in September.  He has spent the last two weeks helping to choose who would stay and who would go among the hourly employees.  I would see him come home all tired and just discouraged.  He hated helping to make those decisions but it had to be done.  On Tuesday some important customers came in and he dressed up for his meetings with them, but when I asked him about it that night, he said he hadn't gotten to meet with them at all.  Then bright and early the next day he was informed that they had to cut several people from management and he was unfortunately one of the ones to have to go.  *sigh* I am just flabbergasted at this... he had been told that his job was safe... he has taken not only a pay cut to help keep the company up and running but never got his initial raise that was promised to him in his employment contract from 3 years ago.  Because his job is being lost to Canada, he and the other employees are considered displaced employees and they have additional benefits under state or federal guidelines... but that doesn't help right now.  I am really discouraged and just plain tired.

Thankful thursday on Saturday

Its been a crazy week in the Smart household.  =)

On Sunday Irene hit and we lost power until Tuesday.  It is the longest we have been without power here in this house and for that we are very fortunate.  There are still people who are waiting to have their service restored.  Living out in the country means we are on a well... and the electricity powers the pump that brings water into the house.  A situation that many many people are familiar with, but it was eye opening for me when we moved here 2+ years ago.  I will never forget, shortly after we moved here we were pulling into the driveway and our landlord was by the barn and said in a very matter of fact way... "we have been without power for 4 hours or so now.  If you need water for the commode you can get it at the lake" and he pointed down the road.  I had no clue what he was talking about until we got inside the house and realized without electricity we had no water... and no ability to flush the toilet.   I think it hit me wicked hard at that moment how very different our lives were going to be in this new home.  Hahaha.  Since that time we have had bats in the house, a snake that likes to come visit the sun room.  Beavers swimming feet from us at the lake... deer behind the house, stopping and waiting for turkeys and all their babies to cross the road lol.  Very different from living in perhaps Maines second largest city, coffee shoppes at every corner... a library with 3 branches and a grocery store within 5 mins.  Anyway... we got our power back Tuesday afternoon and we were so very happy.

Maddy started high school the next day.  She is now a freshman... its so hard to comprehend... my baby is in high school.  It definitely didn't hit me as hard when the eldest was a freshman.  Wednesday the school was open to only Freshmen and Seniors... the upper class-men were there to help the younger students acclimate.  Then Thursday and Friday all the students were there and Maddy is loving it so far.  She adores her English teacher, the woman has a System of a Down poster on the wall that Maddy thinks is wicked cool.  They are reading the Odyssey next and when Maddy raised her hand and asked... "What if you have already read it"  The teacher was very excited, even more so when Maddy shared at the end of class when they were doing a "lets get to know each other" exercise that she loved Shakespeare.  My daughter is going to love her English class.  They did an experiment in her earth systems class already and she was so excited about that... and very disappointed that some of the kids in another class were being idiots as she put it.  When handed a globe and asked to pick out a country and give a fact Maddy said " This is Australia... here (she pointed) is the great barrier reef and blah blah blah something about sharks." ( Maddy loves sharks and has since she was maybe 7 years old)  Another student pointed to Canada and said " this is Canada... Justin Bieber comes from there." and another said " this is Florida, its hot there."  She is already being driven insane and we got a lecture in the car  about idiot students.  *sigh*

Then on Thursday I went in for an interview for a job, but after waiting almost an hour they asked if they could reschedule it due to the computers being down.  That evening the husband had a phone interview with a new company that does things just up his alley.  The interview was over an hour long and afterwards I could see how very excited he was about the possibilities.  Its a company here in Maine that does some similar things to his current company, but they will be able to use his test engineering background.  The problem is that this company is almost an hour from the house and we are locked in to this house for another year or so.  Maddy has just started  high school... I dont want to rip her out of it... but on the other hand the husband seems so very intrigued by this new company... and the current company is getting ready to go through another set of layoffs.  His job is safe for the current time but during the last round of layoffs another manager that had been there longer then Paul got demoted with a paycut in order to keep her job.  We have already been through a layoff (before we moved to this area) and it took him 6 months to find this position.  If the current job hadnt shown up we would have had to move out of state which I wouldnt have minded but would have torn him up.  =(  Next step is a visit to the facility including meetings with HR, owners, and other engineers.   I just want him to have a job where he is challenged and where he absolutely enjoys his work.  I would also like to have health insurance again... its been sometime since we had that.  This new job has a fantastic benefits package which would be lovely.

Friday I had my interview (and boy was that nerve wracking) and they offered me a job as cashier, but only if I passed the pre-job screening and a background check.  Later on in the afternoon they called (which I missed because I didn't have my phone with me) and said everything looked good and I needed to call and set up a time for orientation. 

This weekend the kids (Eileen and Shaun) want to come visit us on Sunday, we also need to get down to visit Paul's parents, borrow the truck from them (until we can get another vehicle) and the landlords want to do their yearly walk through and get a list of things that need to be worked on.  Busy busy busy.

So... back to the thankful thing...

I am thankful for..

~ opportunities that are coming our way.
~ cool english teachers who inspire my 14 year old.
~the fact that my daughter will never conform to fit other kids ... but in fact will continue to march to the beat of her own drum.
~ the lake at the end of the path that allowed me to get water each day we were without power so we could flush the commode ... hahaha.
~backgammon =)

~Reg

Update on us...

We took lots of pictures of the house we looked at on Sunday but have decided pretty much we wont be taking it. The biggest reason we said no was heating that house would cost an arm and a leg and perhaps a torso or two. The pellet stove not only wasnt in yet... but they hadnt ordered it. So that would mean the house was heated entirely with propane and its one huge house. The fireplaces dont work at all and it was very ramblely... rambly... spread widely out... sheesh!

I fell in love with it though, it had so many period features. Beams to hang flowers and herbs to dry, cast iron bathtub, original pieces in the fireplace to hang pots on to swivel them into the fire... a iron box built into the hearth to bake bread... the history buff in me cried... "Mine... mine... all mine" *smiles* But, the mom inside me looked at how the house was laid out, the distance between the rooms, the various problems that still hadnt been fixed and put her heels into the ground and said no way! So I listened to the mom in me. *cries*

We have 3 other houses we are in contact with owners about... Paul is looking at one on friday before he heads home. So I am keeping my fingers crossed and I know that the right place will come along eventually.

The bathroom is coming along slowly but surely now. Packing is progressing ... the list of things we want to do to the house is shortening every day... so things are moving on that front.

Eileen has finally gotten to talk to her roommate at college, which has set her mind to rest on that front. She has put in notice at her job ... and she is engaged.

Yes.. eileen, at the ripe old age of 18 is engaged.. her young man spoke to Paul and I before he asked her, assured us that they were definitely waiting till after college graduation to get married, but that he was joining the national guard and wanted to make a commitment to her before he made the commitment to them. She is happy, looks at us as if we are insane if we even mention waiting till after grad to get married... "of course we will mom... sheesh!" so things are ok... but scarey on that front. Not sure I am ready for my child to be engaged, I really wanted both my girls to get out there and taste life a bit before settling down, and I am worried too about Shaun and being in the national guard. He however feels strongly that this is something he needs to do. Not only to help the two of them financially... but to be there in support of our country. I know my father would like this kid... Wish he and mom were around, they would be so tickled with all their grandkids.

Maddy says she is excited about going back to public school... but I feel sad about it. I seriously enjoyed homeschooling her, and feel its a wonderful option in todays world. I have struggled with this decision for some time now... but we are going to give it a try. We have heard wonderful things about this school, it will give her a chance to meet kids in this new place we are moving to where we know no one. It will remind her what public school was all about... and if for any reason it doesnt work... we know homeschooling works for us. Hopefully this time we can find a support group we feel more comfortable in. The old one was nice but we just never clicked. Maddy herself has already requested that we continue studying things on our own... she really liked the whole child led education, we spent a heck of a lot of time on colonial new england and the revolution... not because I wanted to... but because she was absolutely fascinated with it. Anyways... as soon as we know for sure we are moving into the district I will call and make an appointment for a tour and any testing they might need to perform.

Maddy's first day of school will be Aug 27 (paul and my 20th anniversary) and Eileens first day of college is Aug 29th.

Paul is still loving his new job... the company puts him up during the week in a hotel so he has a lot less commuting to do... but its still a long haul for him, and we definitely miss him being home during the week. I cant wait till we are all living in the same space again.

Guess thats all from this front...

~Regi

A gaggle of girls

Miss Sarah came to stay with us for a few days this week while hubby was up in Winthrop. I truly love this kid... and have since the day she was born. She is my sister's oldest child and happens to be almost exactly 2 years younger then my oldest. She has the prettiest dimples and when young they could get her out of all sorts of trouble.

Last night we were waiting for hubby to come home from work. He had stayed up near winthrop for the last several nights but decided to come home at the last minute so we waited supper for him. The girls were all outside with the dog waiting patiently. They wrote welcome home dad on the driveway in chalk... chased each other... sat in the road and giggled while waiting to see a particular van pull onto our road.

"Is that him? I think its Dad... no its the wrong car. Is that him? Maddy dont push me... Dang it... where is he? Oh look its a car... is that him? Sarah dont step on my drawing" Anyways it was very cute to watch... Finally Hubby arrived and I bet he was a bit surprised to see the gaggle of girls lined up and waiting on him *smiles*

The two oldest dyed each other's hair, they all have done each others make up, gone shopping at the mall and out to lunch, watched movies till they fell asleep in the living room at 1 am, slept in late, loved on the dog... giggled, fought, smiled, whispered, and just made me grin watching them.

I really can't imagine anything better then a gaggle of girls.

Harried days and the long commute.

Cell phone~ white screen of death, fixed by tech department at verizon

Disposal~ refuses to grind up food or even rotate, replaced

Dishwasher~ refuses to drain ( directly related to new disposal put in over the weekend ) waiting on hubby to return from winthrop area... take out new disposal and pop out plug that is *supposed* to be popped out if you have a dishwasher feeding into disposal. With the plug the water cant drain. *sigh*

Loss of internet~ chooses weird times to just not work... and then is working fine 20minutes later

loss of phone~ someone unplugged the cord that goes from the answering machine to the wall... I kind of enjoyed the lack of constant ringing *smiles*

Check coolant light on car dashboard~ checked coolant... level is fine, sometimes the thing is on... sometimes the thing is off. I am ignoring it in hopes that it will just eventually go away.

Outside faucet (of course the one on the second meter for use on lawn and pool) wont shut off so every time we water i have to turn it off inside the house at the meter using the shut off valve.

wii wont connect to the internet~ probably related to the on again off again internet access.

I am afraid to even wonder what will go belly up next.

On a different note... hubby seems to be really enjoying his new job. The commute is really a lot to handle though ... especially on extremely busy days so he is staying up in winthrop area this week and will be home either tomorrow or friday after work. Once we can trade in his old car for a more fuel efficient one perhaps on less stressful days he can sleep here and commute... but right now they are smack dab in the middle of end of month/end of quarter for one of their biggest customers so its kind of crazy there.

I cant wait till we can get ourselves up there and in our new place. Havent found it yet... heck havent listed this house yet... waiting on this dang bathroom. Soon as its done or even at the stage where the walls are up but need mudding and painting we can list it. But with it not even close to being done we are in a holding pattern. Hopefully hubby can get the subfloor in this weekend. If things werent so expensive i would hire it out... but we just cant manage that right now.

Things are looking up for us... I just keep telling myself that we have to be patient a bit longer.

Endings and Beginnings...

The graduation party for teengirl and her boyfriend (teenboy) went very well, filled with tons of food, tons of loved ones, lovely neighbors, sunshine and an ever popular moon bounce. Hubby and I worked our butts off getting ready for the event, our yard never looked so fine, the house was ok as well... but the main setting was the yard. The peonies were beautiful, the lupine gorgeous and the lawn green and lush. We had so much food it was amazing, hamburgers, hotdogs, pulled chicken, shrimp, salsa rice, bean dip, chips, crackers, cheese, fruit salad, potato salad, grapes, strawberries and a host of goodies headed up by pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and a pumpkin roll. We had so much food that an entire dessert tray was forgotten inside the house and not missed. The graduates loved the moonbounce... they even shared it with the other kids... and some adults as well *ahem* Even Jasper the dog had a party guest... Teenboy's grammie brought her dog and Jazzy was in heaven.

The next day was fathers day and it was very low key... so low key in fact we are celebrating it next weekend. We had to run to the mall and get hubby all outfitted for his new job which started today. We got him lots of new dress pants, dress shirts, ties and so on.

This morning dawned bright and early in the Smaht household with a phone call at 5 am. Our lovely neighbors Linda and Maryanne kindly gave us a wake up call. They are up every day at that time... so they offered to make sure we were up too *smiles* I adore these women, I truly do. A few minutes later I looked out the kitchen door and what do I see on the porch railing? Two cups of coffee covered by tinfoil to keep them hot.

We have truly been blessed with these women as our neighbors for the last 9 years or so. I will miss them terribly when we move and have been trying to convince them to move north with us. So far they arent budging but who knows...

So hubby is off to his first day on the new job, I hope he really loves the place... Good luck baby!

*blink blink*

Teengirl has graduated, done her project grad thing... the big family grad party is this weekend... I hope i survive it.

Hubby got the job in Winthrop... omg... hubby got the job in Winthrop... omg. *smiles*

hubby got the job....

so we have to get the house ready to sell, Sell the sucker... find a new place to live, get caught up on the stuff that tends to fall in the wayside when you arent working... find him a car that doesnt guzzle gas... has airconditioning or at least windows that work right... and is road worthy (always a good thing) ...

omg hubby got the job in Winthrop...

The weekend of the 21st we have orientation at Leen's new school... she is going to be staying in a dorm... hubby and I will stay in a hotel, Maddy will be with her Mimi Linda.... and Jazzy is (hopefully) going to go stay at the kennels he has been to before where the doggies get to play in a yard all day long with other doggies... he loves it there so very much. They fit dogs that match in temperament... and have two different doggy yards. They sleep in individual large doggy crates at night with blankies they bring from home and their special toy. He will come home exhausted but in a very good way.

omg hubby got the job... WOOT!

Soaps are doing fine... I need to take teengirl to the fabric shop to get the stuff for her quilt... She wants a log cabin like maddys... but she gets to pick out the colors herself. Heck if i get good enough at this everyone will be getting some kind of quilted thingy for holidays... (just gotta get the quilting part of it figured out...)

Guess thats all for now...

~Regi

wonderful wednesday...

Maddy returned home from her amazing adventure with her grandparents. It concluded with a trip to the Shrine Circus with her Mimi, her sister, her aunt Nan and cousins Sophie and Gabe. The circus was the awesomest (is that a word) she had ever seen.

Eileen.. aka Teengirl is spending the day with her Mimi tomorrow. Grammie is coming at 10:30 to get the child/teen/young woman... and who knows what mischief those two will get into. This whole job thing has been incredibly stressful for Ms Eileen. Its her senior year, she is going to prom in a week, graduating in a month, going to college orientation 3 weeks after that and then to college end of August. She doesnt have her license yet... up until this week her job wasnt giving her more then 5 hours a week... and the financial aid package she was offered is $8000 short of covering her costs for school. So anyways... a day away with grammie will do her some good.

We got the news today that Hubby isnt getting the job with the company in central Maine... according to them " they still are interested in bringing him on board" but they are talking months... not weeks. They did mention an opening they currently have... were almost embarrassed to offer it... but heck I dont know... if they can give him a position now... that will lead into a different one say 6 months down the road... its a job. On the other hand if he took it we still wouldnt have health insurance and couldnt afford to buy it on our own... and we would have to sell the house yesterday... move up there tomorrow... cause we couldnt afford to pay for him to commute. I just dont know anymore... I am getting rather discouraged. Heck ... forget that. I am moving past discouraged and onto Angry with the world. So I spent the day slapping primer on purple walls and trim... and muttering. Im not angry with hubby ... not even angry with the company... just sad and depressed and I want it to just all go away.

just call me cranky pants...

~Regi

Life in the fast lane...

We worked on the yard a bit more today, spent time in the fresh air and digging in the dirt. Maddy made another "stew" and then proceeded to host her own show about the best way to make meatballs to go in said stew. The kid is a natural born "foodnetwork" star... her admitted heros are Rachel Ray and Paula Deen... the kid has a future I tell ya.

We grilled hamburgs and one Amy's Veggie burger for dinner and followed that up with the chocolate cake i talked about yesterday. Dang the thing is good... and it only takes 20 minutes to bake. Yum!

Hubby hasnt heard yet from the company up north... I am trying hard to not be discouraged by this. I know they will get in touch... its just a matter of when.

We have a few plans for the weekend... my sister is coming down for the day tomorrow. She needs help with her Statistics class work, and she is bringing my niece and the bf. Her hubby and the boys are staying home but hopefully next time they will come and visit. We are going to continue to get some work done in the yard, as well as the house. I need to get out and purchase the paint for Maddys room, and perhaps get the good stuff for my trim paint... its either that or repaint all the trim in the bathroom, living room and dining room to match the new cheaper aka crappy trim paint we picked up a month ago.

The kids are both off for April Vacation next week so other then the days Maddy is with Mimi and Papa and the time Teengirl spends with them we will be all busy busting our behinds working on the house.

I also want to try and get some more work done on Ms Maddys quilt. She has now taken to hinting that it would make a fine birthday gift... as long as its done. She started saying this in January. Does she know her procrastinating mom or what? Granted... January is when life started its little rollercoaster dance... but still! I have one strip of border on... need to continue it around and then 3 other border strips to go... Its supposed to be a twin... we will see.


Wishing you a wonderful weekend...

Regi

ch..ch..changes..

Life is changing... the merry-go-round that seemed to be running smoothly took a drastic nosedive and has transformed itself into a roller-coaster. Up and down, around the curve... the last few months have been mind-numbing.

Hubby was laid off in March after a couple of months of short weeks. He has been searching for a job, I have been searching for a job and we have been in a bit of a slump. We have tightened our belts, held tight to our girls and through all of this we have learned some surprising things about ourselves and what we are capable of.

Hubby has a hot job prospect in central maine... but its been an incredibly slow process. We should hear by Thursday, and we are all keeping our fingers and toes crossed for good news. We are acting on the premise that the job is his... and that the job offer will be one we can accept, in which case we go into overdrive getting the house ready to sell.

Maddy and I have continued to homeschool through out this. I readily admit that somedays were incredibly short and other days it just didnt seem to stop. We are still working in our Saxon math book... and the things she is learning boggle my mind, I sure wish i had access to such a book when i was her age. Perhaps my fear of math wouldnt have followed me into my 40s. *smile* Social studies is going well... We are learning about the beginning of the revolutionary war... She seems rather fascinated with the whole thing. In science we are learning about ecosystems... what happens if a creature is taken out of its environment and moved to a foreign one... etc. We are using the Oak meadow courses for both Social studies/English and Environmental Science. Not sure i would sign up for the science again... but the other is pretty dang awesome.

I am in hopes of updating this blog a little more frequently... until we talk again...

I wish you peace,
Regi

changes

Since the last time I posted we have been through many changes in our family.

Our beloved "Ms Bear" has passed. The entire family was affected but Maddy who loved her bearbear best has had a pretty tough time of it. Bear had been withdrawing a bit and we thought it was because Jasper had been a bit rough with her. I went down to do laundry one day and found her laying in her kitty bed, she looked fine to me until i went to pet her. She was skin and bones. Ms Bear was an extraordinarily fluffy cat. Even sick as she was she was poofy. So when we would see her .. we didnt notice she had lost as much weight as she had. I called the vets office the next morning and took her in. They did an xray and discovered a mass in her lungs. The cat was struggling to breath. The vet was very honest that Bear was dying and encouraged us to have her put to sleep as she was suffering. We spent a bit more time with her... and then brought her back to the doctors office that afternoon to have her put to sleep. Paul and I stayed with her and stroked her and then went home to comfort our girlz. Maddy is having a really tough time of it... Ms Bear was her best friend ... and had been with Maddy since she was about 3 years old. We love ya ms bearbear!

Pauls hours were cut down to just two days a week shortly after my last post, and he and I started looking for work. He found a company in Central Maine that was interested in possibly making a position for him.. but in the middle of the talks, Pauls job was terminated. Just not enough business to keep him on ... and then the company in Central Maine decided that it was important that the third owner who lives in NJ meet with paul before any decision was made. Its a wee bit scary... neither of us working... bills pouring in... but we keep on going. We are both looking hard for postions... trying to keep things on an even keel for the girls.. trying to keep some semblence of normalcy in our lives. As long as we trust in each other... and that this is something we are meant to go through and that something better will arise out of it... it will be ok.

saturday morning...

Today is a glorious day... the sun is shining and a cool breeze is blowing through the windows. I sure wish the weather would decide what season we are having. I am just thankful we havent had any freak snow storms lately... April was bad enough. Today it feels positively autumnish... and part of me expects to smell that glorious scent of woodsmoke in the air.

Everyone in the family is up now... well 'cept for Daddy... he is still snoozing away, even with the alarm shrieking at him every 15 minutes or so. As soon as teengirl is out of the shower I will pour Dad a cup of coffee... poke him until he rouses and jump in the shower myself. Then it will be a matter of directing him in that general direction and we can hop in the van and head north.

Generally traveling any distance in the car with the girls is unfun... you know that saying that goes... that which doesnt kill me makes me stronger? I think Nietzche knew my girls and what its like to be trapped in the car with them...lol today I am taking Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix with me... Maddy can take her copy... Teengirl will have her cellphone and probably spend the time texting her bf... and daddy will drive and mumble to himself.. and hopefully we can all get there with a minimum of stress and bickering ...

There is a family game night tonight with the homeschooling group... just found out about it last night... *sigh* I really should use a different email address so that the notices come straight to my regular mailbox... Tomorrow is Mothers day and I know Maddy and Daddy have some stuff they need to do tonight...Teengirl already shopped and if Maddy doesnt have something to give me tomorrow she will feel awful =( I really dont want to be rushing through the museum today but we will see... if we get home in time and they can get their stuff done we will go... I would hate to miss another though... we missed the last one too.

Since we pulled Maddy out of PS in mid march we have been trying to "complete" her school year and deschool her all at the same time. Some of the things we have done have been Maddy-directed... but for the most part we have tried to continue on with the Maine studies... and keep up with the learner results that Maine participates in. We did get the Saxon math curriculum for 4th graders... it was one area Daddy and I both agree we need to emphasize.. Teengirl has struggled so much because of lack of basic math skills, and the funny thing is Maddy isnt the only one becoming more comfy with math... Mom is too. *smiles* The kid is doing basic algebra and the way the books are introducing it... its natural (well as natural as 5n=5x3 can be LOL. Next year I forsee being totally different, more relaxed ... and more spontaneous.

I have spent a lot of time lately reading other peoples blogs... seeing how they do things, wondering what would work for Maddy and I... what I know wouldnt work for us... I have added a huge number of blogs to my list.. and i have been trying to read them all... I have become addicted to reading homeschooling blogs lol...

Well Hubby/Daddy/Puterdude just wandered by with his towel... so I gotta scoot.

~have a great one... and peace
Regi