by Sarah | Nov 15, 2011 | All About Home, Crap, Random
[flickr id=”6348904912″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]On my fridge I have a list. It has 9 cleaning products on it and how I make them. I plan on adding more as I find them.
I’d like to say I do this for a noble cause.
Because it’s better for the earth. Safer for my kids. They clean better.
All of those reasons ARE true.
But the main reason I started was money.
These suckers are a lot cheaper in the long run.
The last item I’ve added to my revenue was laundry detergent.
My husband was skeptical all along. On some days he still is. In the end? I keep doing it because they work. Because I’m not spending scads of dollars every week buying MORE cleaning supplies that are harsh on my nose and eyes and hands.
Now if only I could find a great toilet cleaner I’d be a very happy woman.
***
In a couple of days I’ll go into more detail about a few of them. Mainly the laundry detergent (the saver of my HE washer) and my all purpose cleaners.
by Sarah | Nov 13, 2011 | All About Me, Crap, Random
[flickr id=”6271416484″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]When it is cold and dark outside.
You seek the warmth.
When things seem the darkest.
You look for the light.
Some days the struggle blinds you to the light.
Right now I am stressed.
The new job cuts into my week. I have things to learn and my mind is racing while I’m there with making sure I get things done right. There wasn’t a learning curve so much as sink or swim. I had basic training and was out there. It’s how I like to learn, but it can be overwhelming.
I’m getting over a cold while Angel is getting one (always a panic button issue).
We are still without an official permanent sitter for the kids with my new job. While we’re managing to wiggle through now w/ hubby taking a late lunch daily to watch the kids until Brandon comes home, my in-laws are watching on Fridays until they go down South and my Dad has offered to watch after that for ‘a while’…we need something permanent and set. If Middle School didn’t run a full hour later than elementary (or it was the other way around) we’d be fine. No such luck, though.
We had meetings with Riley’s school several times the past few weeks. Things were not good. We were not happy. Steps have been taken to make things better, but I’m still not completely happy. We’ll see how the next months go along.
Christmas is coming and we are not ready for it. Finances are tight. The new job has started, but we’ve yet to see the fruit of my labor there. We feel like we’re gasping for air, and floundering.
I am always the one that sees the silver lining, but I feel like I haven’t had time lately. For once I’ve been the negative Nellie, tense and short tempered. I know it’s still adjusting to the new job. To the shift in my schedule and my families.
I just want to feel like me again.
by Sarah | Nov 10, 2011 | All About Me, All of Us, Crap, Random
[flickr id=”6070441022″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]The other day it was my Mom’s birthday. I took 2/3 of the kids over for cake & ice cream (1/3 was in trouble). While there it was the usual sort of gaiety and confusion that occurs when so many grandchildren are in one place.
The night was winding to a close when I commented about next year being a big birthday for my mom. She looked at me in confusion and asked what I meant.
“Well, you’ll be turning sixty.”
“No.”
“Mom. You were born in ’52. Next year is 2012. You’ll be sixty.”
“Oh. I thought this was my 58th birthday. I’m 59?”
I laughed and said, “Yeah. Happy birthday I just stole a year from you.”
Ooops.
Quite possibly the crappiest gift I’ve ever given.
by Sarah | Nov 4, 2011 | Crap, Friday Fragments, Random
[flickr id=”6305868642″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]In the great realm of NaBloPoMo sometimes you need to break things up with a bit here and there. So I am going to take part in Friday Fragments. I’m really good at random bullet point list posts – and this is no exception.
****Today I got raving mad. Furious. I was literally shaking in my anger. Once again it was about Riley’s school. Archie is trying to remain calm and logical in the stead of my anger. I’m not handling it.
****The job at the library is great. I’m really enjoying it. We’re still trying to working on the kid-care details. We have hope, but nothing solid yet.
****Just did a spot check of lungs on the kids. So many bugs going around.
****I’ve had no luck fitting photography into my schedule this week. It sucks. Hoping tomorrow I get around to it.
****I have however, found time for my writing. Latest novel almost done. Plus, I started a WIP collaborating w/ my good friend using weekly challenges from Indie Ink. It’s so much fun to participate.
****Speaking of Indie Ink. they have a new weekly photo challenge. SO excited to take part in it’s initial launch week this week!
That’s good for now. Busy watching Green Lantern now. TTFN
by Sarah | Oct 26, 2011 | All About Learning, All About Molly, Autism, Crap, IEP, WTF?
[flickr id=”5885702438″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]School started two months ago. After the gains made last year, and the IEP already in place, we started this year with more hope than last year.
At meet-the-teacher night Archie and I both started to get uneasy.
When we waited after the session to speak to the teacher. We asked about her behavior, to which she replied that it was still too early in the year to say anything. That she doesn’t really pay heaps of attention to behavior – in her class it’s about learning.
That was the first red flag.
Then I mentioned the IEP and her teacher last year, and the response was…
“Well, I don’t look at the past. What happened last year is last year. I give the children a clean slate.”
Alarm bells sounded, dinging loud in our ears. The IEP HAS to be looked at. It’s there for a reason!!!
Still, we sat back. We gave it a chance. We had our IEP meeting for the new year. We thought everything was established and set in it. Everything was put into place. In black and white. The plan was set.
And then it came time for Parent-Teacher conferences.
During the meeting first of the year test scores were discussed. How low Riley’s results were and what they meant. And then it happened. The teacher said:
“It may have had something to do with how she handles tests. But tests are a part of life, we can’t change that and we can’t change how they are given. She just has to learn how to adjust.”
Both Archie & I were stunned into almost total silence. We wrapped up the meeting and got in the car and both said, “What the hell was THAT?”
We have an IEP that states tests are to be given in accordance with her needs. Tests CAN and WILL be changed.
We have decided to switch teachers. There are more reasons than just those two statements, but those alone are enough.
A teacher that doesn’t refer to or care about IEP’s are not what is needed. At all.
by Sarah | Oct 19, 2011 | All of Us, Crap, Random
I’ve never done well with change.
I like to know what’s going on, and unknowns really get under my skin.
But life is about change. Growing. Accepting. Living.
All of my kids are in school now. Only half day for one, but she’s my baby and by this time next year it will be full days of quiet.
The quiet time is nice. I get more done. Not all day every day. But more.
This week has been a week of sticking my neck out.
I put in a job application. It’s for a job I really, really want. It’s so close to home I could walk to work (nice weather permitting). The hours are excellent. It’s in a library. And me and books? Well, we get along so well. Thing is, I haven’t had a job in about five years. Part of me doesn’t want to go back to work. Another part of me is excited at the thought. A bigger part of me knows that me NOT working is no longer an option. I have to.
I submitted some writing to several places. Hoping it gets accepted and printed. It’s not a lot, but I’m trying to get myself to where I write more than long novels and try to get my name out there.
My oldest is a teen. He’s asking for facebook. Looking at girls. He’s already had his first heartbreak.
The girls are getting bigger. Expanding their circle of knowledge and friends. It’s led to some difficult situations, some behavioral problems. But they are changing every day.
I’ve started going to PTO meetings. Me? I’m not a PTO mom. I never have been. I just think that I need to be now.
In this fall season it feels like things are in a state of flux. Changing and shifting before I’ve given them permission. Our days are full and it’s so difficult to sit down and absorb anything.
Just for a little while I’d like to sit back and watch the colors change.
