The economy and us.

I've been considering getting a part time/temporary job. Our mortgage doubled when we moved up here, and then Drew had to buy a car, and you all know how expensive gas and groceries are!! Just feeding my family breakfast requires at least 6 eggs, 5 or 6 pieces of bread, and about 8 pieces of sausage or bacon or whatever breakfast meat we have. Add that up, moms. You know what I mean. ;)

Anyway, we would like to be saving more money for the future, paying our house down, and not having that "We only have $100 left" conversation about a week before payday. We pay the bills fine now, but it's the savings that is bugging us. You all know we like to have a cushion, and we can't afford to even stuff a small pillow right now. :)

I am trying to do this in the least invasive way possible, and in such a way that my kids aren't raised in a daycare facility. I feel blessed that I get to walk them to and from school, tuck them in at night, and go to all the field trips and school activities. This is my first and most important career, but I also have to be realistic about our family needs. Like food and gas.

Thoughts? Advice? Complaints? Let 'em rip...

The thing I hate about "am pm" gas stations.

Those centrally located payment stations. They suck.

I try often to get gas on the cheap at the am pm at the intersection of Junction and Washington here in Roseville. I do not think I am of below average intelligence, and I cannot seem to make those idiotic things work properly. "Please swipe card and enter pump number." Yes. I have done that. Several times. "Card read error. Please see cashier." Well, you see, I do not want to drag three kids out of the car just to pay for gas in 100 degree heat. Now, bear in mind I am actually having an audible conversation with this machine. Even the freaks who hang out at this particular am pm (and they are fairly substantial freaks) are eyeing me with something akin to concern.

So, I drive to Safeway and am rewarded with my three cent gas discount, in addition to my twenty cent discount for spending fifty bucks on food for the troops. Yeehaw!

Elsa kindergarten

I dropped Elsa off at Kindergarten today! She tried to act like she didn't want me to leave, but I wasn't buying it. She sits across from Dianne Farrell's little girl Jessica; Dianne is the PTC treasurer and a funny lady! Her little boy Ryan is only a few months younger than Evan and they sat next to each other in their strollers while Dianne and I dropped off the girls.

I hope Elsa has a great day!! I can''t believe she's in kindergarten!

First day of school!

Today is the first day of school! Emma starts at 8:40 this morning and Elsa starts at 11:40. Both girls get out at 3. Drew has SWAT today, and he hopes he will be home in time to pick them up with me.

As you can see, LLBean & Land's End Kids back packs are very reflective. :)

We walked to school with our neighbors Rachel and Rebekah, and found out that Emma and Rebekah are in the same class. Yay!

Accursed budget cuts!!!

Elsa is, as you know, in an afternoon kindergarten class. Starts tomorrow. Anyway, I saw Miss Lewandowski today and asked her how the p.m. kindergarten thing came about. Well, due to budget cuts the K teachers have no aides. How on earth are you supposed to teach K without an aide? So, Miss L. is going to be in each of the other two K classes for an hour each morning, then teach her own afternoon class. But, on "minimum days" when Kaseberg lets out at 12:25, the afternoon kindergarten class will meet from 8:30 a.m. until 11:50 a.m.--The regular kindergarten hours. This will be fun.

Also, all the K classes are over size by one kid, at least. The district makes them wait a week, to see if all those kids really show up, before they can hire another teacher and add another K class. Then, if they add another class, the classes will be broken up and reorganized. Pray that this doesn't happen! We really want Elsa to be in Miss Lewandowski's class.

Wish us luck!

kindergarten and camping

We found out today that Elsa will be in Miss Lewandowski's class for kindergarten. Yay! We love Miss L. She's a wonderful kindergarten teacher. The interesting thing is that it will be an afternoon kindergarten class! Wow! Roseville schools generally try to do morning only, but there were so many kindergarten kids this year that they had to add an afternoon class. Elsa loves Miss Lewandowski, so all should be well. Wish us luck!

We also reserved our camping trailer for our September trip to Patrick's Point state park in September. We ordered a trailer hitch for the van, too, and Drew will be installing that himself. Going to be an expensive trip, but we're all looking forward to it!

Jelly Belly Factory!!

Yesterday we took the kids to the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield. They had a good time! The tour is interesting, and pretty thorough. Who knew that so much went into making a simple jelly bean? Drew ate a bag of sour gummy worms, and I drooled over all the yummy chocolate in the Chocolate Shop. Mmmmm...chocolate cell phones...

To preserve the top-secret nature of the jelly bean production process, no cameras were allowed in the factory. So, here are the only shots I managed. Enjoy!

I have four kids...

...one of them just happens to be 35 and employed by the state of California.

Drew bought this little 1968 Honda mini trail 50 motorcycle from his Dad's neighbor. It hadn't been started in about 2 years but we brought it home, Drew kicked the starter, and VRROOOOMMM!!! He and the kids have been terrorizing our neighborhood for the past few days.

It only gets better...

I hope!

We put a whole chicken on the BBQ yesterday, and cooked it out there in an effort to keep the house cool. Well, after cooking it and eating some, it just wasn't a very good chicken, flavor-wise. So I opened the grill to let it cool off before I carried it to the trash can, and I came in to do some cleaning. Evan--you know, the one who doesn't nap anymore and has to find ways to keep himself awake--let Desi out back while I was steam-cleaning the carpet. Apparently, Desi likes chicken. She ate it, bones and all. The only bits I found were the lemons I had stuffed into the cavity of the bird.

Whole chicken+lab=diarrhea.

Somebody kill me now.

On a happier note, I have decided not to torture myself by going back to college. As you can see from my last few posts, God has apparently been trying to tell me that our home life requires my full attention and then some.

Where's my vodka?

The fun continues

Evan has discovered that he can drag chairs around the house to reach things he normally can't. Like the 10-gallon aquarium on his dresser. Yesterday he dumped half a container of fish food into the tank.

And today he dumped the other half in.

He has also decided that he is on the every-other-day plan for naps. Fun times.

I continue to confuse and befuddle the folks at Sierra College. I called yesterday with a question about the assessment test, and the woman with whom I spoke informed me that the test was full for the 19th and there was no room for me. "Never mind."

So, I struggle on, dealing with college red tape. It will be a miracle if I actually get any classes this semester.

Now I remember...

...what I hated about going to college.

I met with a counselor yesterday at Sierra College and came away frustrated, overwhelmed, and feeling defeated already. I pretty much need to wade through all the courses on my own, reconcile them with the requirements of the college to which I ultimately want to go, and then attempt to register for them. So, what's the counselor there for? Oh, yeah...to tell me her opinions of what I should do and where I should go for my master's degree. Wait a minute, lady, I'm just trying to get my associates degree! Let's not talk about my master's just yet, okay?

I also get to take the junior college assessment/placement test again. Yippeee. I sent in a waiver for that, to no avail. They have to make sure I can read and write. Hey, guess what, I just gave you my transcripts from Mendocino College, on which my 3.4 GPA was displayed. I think I may possibly have the reading thing under control. I am 32, not 18, and I just want to get on with it, folks. The kicker is that I am not allowed to register for classes until I take the test for which I sent in the waiver. The classes I had wanted are all down to one slot left, so by the time I take the test next Tuesday...well, you get the idea. The computer also has no record of my meeting with the counselor, and also tells me I need to do the orientation--I sent in a waiver for that, too, by the way. Forgive me if I don't want a tour of the library.

But, the fun part is that although the counselor thinks all of two (yes, two) classes I took at Mendo College will do me any good, we really won't know until Sierra College officially looks at my transcripts, which will not happen until I've already taken 12 units from them. SCREAMING inside my head. Are you kidding me?

So, in essence, I get to start all over again from scratch for my two year degree, while attempting to not fuck up my daily schedule at home with Drew and the kids. Yeah. Right.

Can you tell how frustrated I am? :)

Well shit!!

Damn, damn, damn!

My dear, dear friend Carolina and her family are leaving California. Her husband, a pilot for the US Navy, is being stationed in South Carolina. I feel like crawling into bed with an extra large bag of semi-sweet chocolate morsels, but I won't do that just yet.

I'm happy for them, since their families are all on the east coast. I am bummed for me, as my friend won't be 3 hours away anymore. Of course, we both know how to use the telephone, type, and buy airline tickets. :)


I was able to quickly find two pictures of Jack when he was littler, but I don't have too many of Maddie. We moved when she was so little. I'll have to dig up my pics of the DuPonts!!

Aerospace Museum

The kids (and Drew) had a blast here. It's at McClellan AFB in Sacramento, and has a lot of cool old planes. Many of them are open and the kids had a good time climbing in and out. Evan was especially amazed at being inside the "cocter." That's "helicopter" for those of you without a 2-year-old. Click on the pics to see a larger one in a new window. Enjoy!

Good morning!

Good morning! Nothing earth-shattering to report this morning, but a few updates.

I applied online to Sierra College yesterday. Hopefully I can start taking some online courses, and not drag the two-year AS/AA program out too long. I am going to get my teaching degree, and minor in Spanish. I'd like to start working again when Evan is old enough to be in school all day. Not sure how this school thing will work out with our family schedule, but, as Drew said, he'll have to "do more." Amen! I have an appointment to meet with a counselor on Wednesday at 3 p.m. Hopefully I will find out exactly what I have to do to transfer to Sacramento State University.

I am now the secretary for Kaseberg elementary PTA/PTC. This means I have to pay attention to the entire meeting. We had our first meeting for the 2008-2009 school year yesterday. I am in charge of rounding up 100 volunteers to work food and game booths at our Fall Family Festival. Why do I get out of bed some days? I have been e-mailing church and Girl Scout/Boy Scout organizations. Cross your fingers for me!

Emma and Elsa are ready for school to start, and so am I. I am searching for a after-school daycare kid, to help make a little extra cash. Wish me luck on that topic, too. Evan is a two-year-old boy. Enough said.
Drew will be spending every Saturday until October training/practicing for the SWAT challenge. This has made him crabby, this sacrifice of his Saturdays. I'm used to it. :)

Horse back riding tomorrow, that will be fun. I want to take lessons myself!

Teething

So here it is is 3:30 in the morning and I am up with Evan; have been up with him for an hour. I hate teething. Nothing is on TV, of course, and he is antsy and cranky. We are watching Thomas the Train. Yippeeee.

charity knitting

Knitnpurlgirl (Courtney) in my knitting group made this cool button for our charity knitting. We are making preemie items, as well as youth/adult-sized items for chemo patients, etc. It's fun to make things for other people who really need them, and know that they will be used for good. :) Plus, it gives me more of an excuse to knit! ;)


Visit us on www.ravelry.com Our group is called Chicks With Sticks. My username is mom3x.

School starts soon!

I can't believe it! School starts on August 26th. Elsa will be starting kindergarten, and Emma will be in first grade. Pray for great teachers! we requested to have Miss Lewandowski for Elsa, since we had a great experience with her as Emma's K teacher. We'll cross our fingers...

Emma will be using the same LL Bean backpack that she used last year. It refuses to die,, and still looks brand new. Elsa chose a pink flowery back pack from Land's End. Of course she did. :) It has cabbage roses all over it, for heaven's sake. It's very Elsa. Both girls got lunch packs to match their packs. Emma will be staying at school for lunch!! It will seem so strange to not see her from 8:30 until 3. She's getting big! We'll see how she does with the all-day thing; she was tired after morning kindergarten. Elsa will be very tired, too, I just know it.

The coolest thing is that both girls will be at Kaseberg, which is within walking distance. Literally, it's about two blocks away. I plan on never driving there again...unless it's pouring frickin' rain.

We went to Target and bought school supplies. Elsa went with me, and we picked out glue, pencils, crayons, and markers. Each girl has to take a bag of these items to school to contribute to the classroom supplies. They like this shopping trip!

Looking forward to school starting! And, fall clothes for Mommy. ;)