I'm dyeing over here

The drawback of facebook is that I post status updates there fairly frequently and don't update over here hardly at all. Some of the highlights of the last few weeks:

-The Boy turned 8 last month and we went to Bloomington to the rock gym for his party and the kids had a great time. The kid that ran the party (he was 18 or 19 but that is still a kid IMO) was pretty impressed with TB's climbing and suggested he consider the climbing team. I pointed out to the kid that we live in CU and that was too far to drive. I checked the only rock wall we have locally and it is a small wall (34 feet, compared to the 65 he climbed up there) and mostly focused on classes for outdoor climbing and not really for kids. I thought some more about it and we signed him up for the team. We will be driving 45 minutes to Bloomington twice a week, starting in January. Plus other competition around the midwest various weekends throughout the spring. Crazy? Yes. Will he love it? I hope so.

-I'm busily wreaking havoc and creating chaos where I go. I have adopted a new cause. At school, the music teacher has decided that, instead of doing a holiday concert for all the kids, that she wants to concentrate on doing musicals with only the 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade. K, 2nd and 4th won't perform at all. I don't agree with this. Even if my kid were performing, I would be angry at the injustice of this (Like a young friend of mine, I have a "highly develop sense of justice"). So I'm pursuing a way to address the performance needs of these kids through various means. At this point, I'm championing the inclusion of an after school music program, run much like our after school Spanish, self defense, jump rope, drama, etc.

-The biggest announcement? I got a new job! I'm working at MT's preschool. Earlier in the year, I asked the director if she was looking for subs. She said she was always looking for subs and suggested that I apply for it online. I attempted it, but there were no positions listed as available. I contacted HR and they contacted the director who told me that she made an error but to hold off, because there would be an regular teaching position coming open soon. She suggested I apply for it and, then several times over the next few weeks, updated me on the status of the posting. I went in last week for an interview, she called my references that afternoon and offered me the job the next day. Right now, I'm working in the 5 day class but once they get one more person hired to cover some off site classes, I will move to the 3 day class. That happens to be MT's class and she will be moving to the 5 day class since me being her teacher won't work out well.

-The title's meaning? As many of you know, I have a tendency to ruin clothes. Working in a messy environment, such as preschool, only ups the chance that I will spill or splash something on myself. I went a bought a bunch of plain undershirts to wear to work so I don't destroy my regular clothes but after 2 days of plain gray shirts, I was already bored. That didn't bode well for the rest of the year. So today, I went and got some Rit dye and tonight I spend some time wrapping rubber bands around sections of cloth and dropping them in blue dye in my sink. Tomorrow, I intend to wrap the other side of the shirt and dunking it in green to make some pretty blue and green tie-dyed shirts. So, tonight, I'm dyeing over here :)

Big update-y update

So Purple Cow accused me of being inconsistant in my blogging. I seriously have 15 posts written in my head that just never make it to the page. When I sit down at the computer, it sucks all the brain out of my head and with it my posts. Plus, I'm in a winter slump and the deepest thoughts I can manage are what clothes to wear each day. Normally, I don't do updates that often because I see a lot of you regularly and I figure the rest don't care about my day to day stuff. But there is a lot of stuff to talk about so you are getting a paragraph update :)

I picked up my van tonight from Tatman's. In case you don't know, it was parked at Christie parking lot a couple of weeks ago and a guy was pulling into the space in front of it and missed the break, hitting the gas instead. I had a couple of puncture holes in the front bumper but he busted his radiator. It still cost over $800 to get it fixed. We took it in yesterday and I have driving a Grand Prix for the last 2 days. Even though it was a "full size" car, it was tiny and little and I'm super glad to have my van back.

I some super b-day presents all ready for my upcoming celebration. I'm trying to decide if the Happy Bunny would be acceptable as a purse :)

Looseyfur commented the other day "well you guys don't have jobs so it is ok" I knew what she meant and it didn't bother me. However, I've been filling out some online surveys and then yesterday at Enterprise it happened too. The guy askd where I worked and I said "at home" because I dare anyone to tell me that a SAHM doesn't work and he said "what is the business name" I told him no name (although I should make one up and just use it from now on), I was a SAHM and he said "oh, so you don't work at all them" WTF? Seriously?

Apparently, I don't possess the ability to suspend disbelief enough for Lost. I can read all these wacky vampire books where vamps and witches and shapeshifters and demons are all real. I can watch Lost and buy smoke monsters, polar bears in the jungle, secret organizations doing experiments, etc etc etc. But time travel? No way, get real! LOL

It occured to me today (after busting Quigs' chops a little about not posting) that I hadn't logged into Blogger for 3 days. No wonder I didn't think anyone had updated. Duh!

This kid is all kinds of awesome! I wonder if he needs plain folk support for his cause? (I'll post a video of his interview if I can find it)

Finally a conversation with MT.

MT: yak yak yak, something about laser tag
Me: nods head
MT: yak yak something else about laser tag (I swear to God she talked about laser tag for over 10 minutes by this point in the conversation, I had moved on)
Me: nods again
MT: MOM, you need to respond to me when I talk to you!
Me:I did respond, I nodded
MT: Well I can't hear your brain rattle, now can I?

ROFL

SAHM I am

I was reading Mommy Track'd which is mostly for working moms but there is plenty of stuff that is just funny and entertaining for me. On it, they have a section about worst mom moments. In it I found the following:

"An evening board meeting was just getting started when my cell phone rang, seeing it was my husband, I silenced it and turned the phone off. I was pissed he called at 6:05, knowing the meeting started at 6. He had to leave a message to tell me my 3 month old first-born son had fallen off the couch onto his head, which I didn't pick up until 2 hours later. (ps. In the end my son was fine.)"

First let me comment that most of the posts where so poorly written, they were barely in English so I didn't find much of anything I could identify with but this one just boggled my mind.

I suppose my reaction to this is part of the reason I'm no longer in the work force. Everyone talks about balance but I never got that. My kids were more important than anything and they came first, period. If my husband was with the kids and he called, I would have either taken the call, thus being able to be there for the trip to the hospital or I would have checked my voicemail as soon as it was left, thus beng there for the hospital trip. Either way, work would have had to wait, the building wouldn't fall down because I left.

I've always felt that way about work/family issues. And I've always pondered whether that stemmed from having a "job" versus having a "career". When I worked full time, I was a receptionist. Not a real long term job that I intended to advance in so I had no real incentive to please people.

Scrapping and paper routes

I've been busy tagging the CATW kit. Talk about blah. I remember how overwhelming it felt to tag all my files orginally and this feels the same way. It is too much, but I can't do anything else until I get it done. That puts me behind on the project for my parents and I haven't scrapped a current picture since C's b-day in October. I have several that need done but it is going to be awhile. I've finished all the backgrounds and I have 300+ more elements to go. :( I have deleted a TON of stuff that I will never use. Really how many snowflakes does one scrapper need? I need to apply the same theory to my current files but somehow I can't. I think "I don't want to tag all these frames because I never use frames. I've used frames on maybe 5 layouts ever so I don't need to keep these" By that reasoning, I should just dump my whole "frames" folder, but I can't do it. I might need a frame for something someday and I'll be mad as heck if I don't have it :)

Going through all these files has made me question some of the designers I like. I have a few fave designers that I dl pretty much anything they put out there (free only because I don't pay to scrap). I don't use a lot of the stuff but I feel like I should have it because I might need it and hey, it is free. I see some of their stuff in CATW and it is UGLY. When I think about it, most of their stuff is ugly, yet I keep dling it because there was something that I liked at one point. Again, I need to delete a BUNCH of that crap, but I probably won't. I'm a packrat, what can I say.

I quit my paper route today, via email because I'm a coward. He told me they want a month's notice to quit but that seems so extreme. I told him that it is more physically demanding than I expected and I won't be able to do it anymore because of the pain that it is causing me. My back has been hurting again since I started it and I don't need that. I just got it were it wasn't killing me every time I moved and now it is starting up again. So Friday will be my last day as a paper girl. I told C I would work up a list of things he could do to earn money and I'll figure out something else that will bring in a little bit. I don't want any major commitments (I hate being tied down everyday) so it is going to have to be something on and off. I might start subbing again so that I can make a little bit but aren't commited to doing anything all the time. I might also offer babysitting services to my playgroup on a drop in basis, as long as they don't mind their kids running all over hell's half acre with us :)

Paper route

Day 2 of the paper route and it SUCKS! My mom gave me a really hard time about it last night and I ended up saying to her "no one asked you to do it. If you don't like the idea of a paper route, then don't do it. Oh look, you aren't. Problem solved" She was pissed but at least she dropped the subject.

I convinced C to help me out and I told him I would pay him a dollar a day, for each day that he helped me with the papers. He has been thrilled to do it the last couple of days. We'll see how he feels about that when I drag his tail out of bed at 6 on Saturday to go with me. Honestly, we'll see how I feel about it when I have to get out of bed at 6 on Saturday. I doubt I will be pleased because I hate mornings :(

I honestly don't know how long I'm going to stick it out. The weather is terrible, there is 6 inches of snow on the ground and we have to tromp through it to deliver the papers. It was 34 degrees today and windy. Taking the kids with me makes it take a lot longer than it should. C told me he would be really upset if I quit since I told him that I will pay him a dollar for each day he helped me out. He is crazy excited about the potential to have money of his own to spend (I told him he has to break it into 3rds so that 1/3 goes to long term savings, 1/3 goes to short term savings, and 1/3 can be spent on whatever he wants). It ties us up every afternoon and it means we can't stay and play in the afternoons. It means that we can't go to early afternoon playgroups and I have to get up early on the weekends. Lots more negatives than positives. The only pluses are the money (which after taxes and what I offered to pay C, is insubstantial, less than $100 a month, which is no where near what I wanted to make) and the excercise. I work up a serious sweat running around out there and that is good. I need to find some other way to get motivated to excercise and then that wouldn't even be a bonus. That would leave me with only disappointing C as my motivation for keeping the route. I could probably come up with something for him to do around the house to earn back some of that money :)

New "job"

I got a paper route. I needed something that I could do to make a little money, that the kids could go with me and that wouldn't take up a ton of time. I looked through the paper, thinking I would do some sub work or something like that. I figured up how much I would have to work and it wouldn't have been the minimal amount that I was looking for. The newspaper is always advertising for carriers and adults being welcome. I decided that that sounded like a good choice so I called and the guy brought the paperwork over yesterday. I'll make around $150 a month (piddly, I know) but that is enough. Evan's check covers the bill, but only just. This will be extra money for the "things" that come up all the time. Either holiday presents, school charges (spirit-wear, that I spent a fortune one, field trips skating rental, etc etc etc) car expenses, dinners out, whatever. I told C if he would help me, I would pay him a portion of the amount. That way, he has the opportunity to earn a little money as well. He has been asking about an allowence, but I think 6 is too young for that. Having him help me and paying him for the amount of help he gives (probably a price per paper he helps with) will hopefully help him learn about money and money management.

In other news, we got a really strange check in the mail yesterday. A few months ago, we got a letter from child support enforcement saying that dh was $1200 behind in his support (he wasn't). Since then, we have been trying to figure out what is going on, talking to CO, trying to talk to IL (they have this horrible automated system that basically says "if we didn't answer your question, get on the website" which requires a name and password we don't have), talking to the people at work, etc, etc, etc. Our checking account was frozen and I opened a new one in my name alone to take care of bills and things still. Since then our account has been unfrozen (although I only knew that because I tried to send a bill payment, not because I got any notification). Despite the fact that this mess is still pending, we got a check yesterday for over $2000 from child support enforcement. Of course, we can't call IL to see why we got the check or what we are supposed to do with it. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. $2k right before Xmas could be a really good thing, if it actually ours to use. I know what I would like to do with it but what is actually going to happen is that I'm going to deposit it in savings and leave it set for some time. At some point in the future, if the state hasn't contacted us and said "oops, we didn't mean to send you that", we'll use it to help pay off some of our debt, which will be awesome :)

Odds and Ends

This is what the post the other night was supposed to be about.

Thursday, I registered C for K. It took almost an hour, between filling out all the papers, talking to the bus people, talking to the public health people, and joining the PTA. I don't know whether I'll be the teachers dream parent or worst nightmare. Either way, it should be a fun year. :) The way schools work here is that if you live within 1.5 miles of the school you are considered proximity A and have an 85% chance of going to that school. You list your top 3 choices and are entered into a lottery to see what school you will go to. We got our first choice school (good thing because our second 2 choices fill on the first round and if I hadn't gotten one of those 3, I would have homeschooled for K and tried again to get our first choice for 1st). The concern is that you don't get bus service if you are prox A unless "hazardous walking conditions exsist between home and school" We live on the other side of a major road and I would consider that hazardous walking conditions but I needed to see what the school said. They said that yes, they think that is hazardous and gave me his bus pick up and drop off point. Problem? Yes. the pick up point is further away from our house than the school and it crosses not one, but two major roads. I have to call tomorrow and see if that is possibly right and if not get a new location. C will unlikely be riding the bus ever but if I need him to, I need to know where to go.

I had to talk to public health because we don't have an actual dentist. We go to Parkland, which is great. Unfortunately, their exams don't count for school. Since the kids have Kidcare (state insurance), not all dentists will take us. I called the hotline and was given a list of the 6 closest dentist, all of which were in Peoria or Galesburg. Not exactly close :( Fortuantely, public health does exams at school for all the kids needing them in December so we are set! :)

I joined the PTA as well. I had planned to do it but I was a little put off because it cost $5. Seems odd to charge for a volunteer organization. Whatever, I paid it and got my little card. I also signed up for a couple of things to do. I said I would help with Teacher Appreciation stuff (probably buying gift certificates and things like that) and I said I would help take pictures for the year book. I figure,I'm going to be there taking pictures of the events anyway, why not take a few extra burn them to a disk and give them to the yearbook people. I signed up to help in C's classroom sometimes too (I plan to do this a few times a month, while Evan can be home with Lizzie)

Also, Lizzie is working really hard on potty training. She has been pooping in the potty pretty much full time (once in awhile she won't but anything is better than nothing) for the last couple of weeks. Since Weds, she has been dry all day, except naptime, while wearing a diaper. A couple of times she has had an accident in the evening but she tells us right away that she went. Mostly, it is about the time she is getting ready for bed and I think she is just tired and not thinking about it. I'm so excited. I'm ready to be DONE with diapers forever more.

Dad and Dave got back from Sturgis yesterday. They had a really good time, although they were ready to be home. They brought stuff for everyone. The kids got a couple of T-shirts a piece. C got a bobble head buffalo and "wild west weapon set" with bow and arrow, dart gun, bowie knife, etc. Lizzie got a stuffed Buffalo and a cow. She brought the buffalo to Evan and said "see my kitty?" He told her it was a buffalo and she said "oh. Meow?" LOL Evan and I got t-shirts as well. Evan's came from a place that turned into a strip club at night and all the dancer wait tables during the day. Dad got mine from some vendor. It has a white scowling skull and crossbones surrounded by flames and says, in red, "Sturgis, Live to Ride" on a black shirt. Dad told the guy "I'm looking for a shirt for my daughter" and the guy showed him some junk with butterflies on it. Dad said "You don't understand, my daughter is mean. Really mean. And rotten" The guy held up this shirt and Dad and David both proclaimed "that is perfect"! Do they know me or what :)

Evan started full time today. He was extra number 5 of 12. Basically he spent the day sitting on his butt. That is going to be the story of his life for the next week, until his regular run starts. Glad to finally have 40 a week no matter what.

Secret update

I can finally talk about my secret. Dh got full time at work! We knew last week, but they hadn't finished interviewing everyone else so we couldn't talk about it. He has worked there for 2 years and has put in 2500 hours in the last year and nearly that many the year before. Full time status includes being assured of at least 40 hours a week (Typically he works around 60 hours a week but is sometimes, like over Xmas and all summer, dropped down to barely 20), access to insurance (we are keeping our current insurance for the time being because it is cheaper and covers more) and, best of all, a $7/hour jump in pay!!

The only draw back is that there are 105 people picking runs in front of him and they all have to pick at least 40 hours. He will be stuck doing the worst of the worst for another couple of years until he can move up where he gets some choice in the matter. Probably nights and weekends, although he is really hoping not to have to drive "safe rides" (a service for our university that involves drunk college students calling and requesting a ride anywhere they want to go). Honestly, nights and weekends will work out well for us. It will allow me to help in C's classroom while he stays home with Lizzie. It will also help when I go back to work, if one of the kids is sick, he'll be home so I won't have to take off nearly as much time for that sort of thing.

I have a secret

I was really productive today (no that isn't my secret, I'll get to that in a minute). I didn't get up until almost 10 but in the last hour I have cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom, picked up the living room, swept and mopped the kitchen, living room and bathroom, straightened up the laundry room (none of the clothes are put away, but they are all sorted into baskets and off the floor). I changed the sheets on mine and C's beds, fed both kids, ran two loads of laundry and took a shower. Now I have to feed myself and figure out something to do that doesn't involve going outside, since the weather bites. This is about the cleanest my house has been in 3 weeks and it all started because I decided the sink in the bathroom was icky and I was going to wipe it down before I got dressed this AM (I keep Clorox wipes in there so I can wipe stuff off because I hate to actually clean the bathroom). Since I was doing that, I decided that the rest of it needed done to and then I decided to do the floor but I hate to get the Swiffer out for just the bathroom so I picked up the living room so I could do it to and then just caught the kitchen on my way through. Since the floor was done in there, it made sense to clean everything else so that it would all be done. The laundry was just a different beast but I've been putting off doing it for at least 2 weeks so I finally just had to suck it up and get it done.

My secret is about dh's job. I can't tell and it is killing me so I'm going to tease you so you can die with me. Hang tight for next week though when all will be revealed. :)