When it rains....

Given the weather in the last few weeks, with a title like that I could actually be talking about the weather. After all, the storms that blew through here last night were pretty loud and rough!

But I'm not talking about the weather... Usually, life around here is pretty quiet, predictable, and generally uneventful (or as much as it can be with 3 young kids!). And I'm quite content with the quiet life we lead. Last week, the drama started to unfold, with the announcement of the closing of Blake's preschool for next fall. That was more than enough drama for me, as now I have a new task of finding a preschool that I like and that fits in with the rest of our life.

But yesterday, more drama... I have a new boss. Or more specifically, my boss is no longer with the company. The reasons, while not really important here, are totally bogus. Why is a new boss drama? To be honest, I've been debating returning to my job for a while. In fact, for most of my pregnancy, I debated if I would return to my job. Don't get me wrong, I really like my job, and LOVE my boss. I work for Market Day, and love that profits from the food I sell, go back to the school to help education. I also love the products, and find it easy to sell something I love. And, I work from home, doing a lot of the work when it fits in to my schedule, and that lets me be a mom during the day, and do my work after the kids go to sleep.

So why debate returning to work? Lots of reasons, like how young Izzy is (I didn't work until Trevor was 5 months, and Blake was 9 months), and how hectic life with 3 kids is going to be, and how irregular my work schedule is (some days I'm gone for 2 hours, others for 6...that's hard to plan around for a nursing newborn!). I've been watching want-ads for ages now, to find another job that would work for me... which is a tough bill. After all, with the flexibility of my current job (i.e. doing lots of work after the kids are in bed, and not paying a sitter) it's hard to beat my current "hourly" pay rate. Add to that the awesome-ness of my boss, who will do pretty much anything for me or any of the others who work for her, and it's a little hard to find a "better" job. But now the boss is gone.... my motivation to go back after maternity leave is GONE! I have no motivation to work now....

Oh yeah, money. I guess that should factor into the return to work equation. Especially since, if I go back in June, then in late June, July & August, I get to claim "under-employment". Claimed through the unemployment department, but for a "lack of work" (since most of my work is in schools, lots of it disappears for the summer). So I get paid from unemployment the difference between what I usually make during the school year, minus whatever actual earnings I've made during the summer. It's a VERY sweet deal....getting paid when you're not working! So, I was planning to go back the first week of June. Now I'm seriously re-thinking that.

Then today, the third "drama" event unfolded. Hubby's car (formerly my car) that is 9 years old, has been leaking some kind of fluid for a while. When he drove home earlier this week, he told me something smelled like it was burning.... great! So we took it to get looked at today, and it needs some major transmission work that will cost at least $1500... maybe more, depending on what they find out. The car is only worth $2-3 thousand anyway, how much do I really want to spend on it? And it will be there for at least 3 days! Joy, happy, fun. We just bought a new car...we really can't afford 2 new cars at once (and I really don't like buying used cars!).

So that's the drama as of late. It seems bad news always comes in three's. So I hope we're done for a while around here. I guess some of the drama has be "solved". I really should keep my job, at least through the summer and until I find a new one, so that I can earn some money towards fixing the old car or buying a new one!

Quality Time with Blake

As is often the case, child #2 seems to get the short end of the stick. I felt awful SO many times when B was young that I didn't have the energy, time or ability (since he's #2) to spend 1-on-1 time with him. I tried to make myself feel better that WHEN T went to school, we would have our mornings. Alone. Together. Last year it was 2 days a week, now it's 3. Promising thoughts. This is what our quality time amounted to this morning...

We drove home from school, the LONG way, spending 1/2 an hour to save $0.30 a gallon on gas. (I paid $3.01 and filled up for less than $60 for the first time in who knows how long.) Maybe the price of gas was worth it, but the loss of 1/2 an hour....not so sure. Then we got home and came up to the office. This is standard procedure for most school mornings. B 'works' at his desk, and I work at mine. Usually, after a while, B is in my face asking for computer time, wanting to play his "Thomas" game. And he usually gets to, since when both boys are home, he doesn't get much time on the PC.

Well, this morning I had tons of work catch-up to do, and lots of personal stuff too. So, here's the educational, valuable, enriching activity that B took on.





He found a roll of yarn in his craft stuff, and decided to make a spiderweb. It was a wonderful spiderweb.... just maybe in a poor location (such as a hallway, where Mommy wants to walk to get out of the office eventually!). Taz joined in the fun and played with the web making it more twisted together.... but she would not cooperate for the photo shoot (darn cats!).

Oh well, it was easy to clean up, although we're not bothering to un-tangle it!! At least it wasn't paint or crayon on the wall, right? And I'm sure he had some educational 'ah-hah' moments while constructing it, right???

Random Photos

It's been ages since I've posted anything, and I kinda feel bad. But I still can't think of much to blog about....hmmm? Wonder why that is?

The kids and I have been busy enjoying summer. We've been to parks, and played with friends. Nothing fancy or spectacular leaps to mind, but enjoyable none the less.

I'm getting back into the swing of things with work. August means back to school, so I'm back to work attending Open Houses at all my schools and working to get my sales up for the year (yeah, in this economy, good luck with that!!). So, maybe that's where all my time and energy are going instead of here....oops!

The next few weeks will be busy with work for me, and the last two weeks spent with a good friend whose two boys are great friends with my two boys. She's leaving us and moving back to the other side of the lake, so we've got lots of plans for the next two weeks.

Here are some random recent photos that I just downloaded off the camera. Enjoy!!

Daddy "working out" with the boys!!



Trevor shivering after completely LOVING the water slides at the pool!

Blake loves Daddy's cooking so much, he licks the plate clean!
Daddy's new toy....ice shot glasses


Father and sons bonding!!!