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The Preschool Decision

July 25, 2008 at 6:02 am | In adventures with Hali, family, self awareness | 7 Comments
Tags: education, homeschool, preschool

My baby girl is preschol age this year. It’s hard to believe. Even harder to believe? Is how difficult it is to decide what to do about preschool.

Public? Nope- quickly found out we don’t qualify for that (you either have to be pretty dang broke or not speak English as your first language)

Private? Well, there’s the private preschool just down the road that Hali will have a friend or two in. It’s reasonably priced. It’s only twice a week for a few hours a day. Don’t know whether or not that’s good.

I love the idea of Montessori, but the closest one is about 20-25 minutes away. And tuition ain’t cheap.

Homeschool? YES! I get to keep my baby girl at home with me for one more year. Selfish of me, yes- but she’s only this age once, right? Honestly, I was really worried that Jeremy wasn’t going to like the idea. I was wrong, thank goodness. He actually brought it up himself one day and I was so happy I nearly cried.

Growing up we both knew a couple of families that homeschooled, and that’s not really a good thing. They kind of gave us reason to shy away from it. They were that bad homeschooling stereotype. So for us to consider it so quickly, was really quite something.

We are more than likely only homeschooling for preschool, though. Beyond that, I think it will be more beneficial for us and for Hali to attend the local public elementary school. Though, I must admit, if there was a charter school in our area, I’d be all over that.

So, being the over-prepared woman that I am, I checked out half a dozen books from the library on homeschooling. I ordered a few more from Amazon. And I read. The more I read, the more I realized how pleased I was with our decision. It felt like all that worry was for nothing. Of coursewe’re going to homeschool for preschool! Why would I even think of doing anything else?!

On I read. I made out a list of what goals I wanted to reach throughout this school year. I found out what Hali would need to know before entering kindergarten. I started listing what things I thought shewould want to learn about. I researched what the state of Texas requires for homeschooling (nothing for preschool- not much beyond that either). I learned to identify what kind of a learner Hali is- how she learns best. I poured over all the different methods.

Finally, one book had an extensive quiz that told you what might work best for you and your family. Unit Studies it was! Which was perfect, because that is the way I was already grouping things together anyways! I felt so relieved after all that fell into place. I’ve been jotting down ideas for the past few weeks- ideas for different units. It’s actually been a lot of fun.

I surprised myself with all my enthusiasm for it all, I have to admit. But the more I think about it and the more ideas I come up with to incorporate into different areas of study, the more excited I get! We are going to have a blast doing preschool ourselves! Plus, the money that I would be spending on tuition, can now be spent on fun field trips!

Luckily, there are a few homeschoolers in our area with younger kids, so we will be able to continue to meet up during the week as we did this spring. I friend of mine has even decided to homeschool (for preschool) her son who is Hali’s friend as well. Knowing that Hali is going to continue to get plenty of opportunities to play and socialize with other kids of course makes me feel better about our decision.

Vacation 2008

July 23, 2008 at 4:00 pm | In Holidays, adventures with Hali, family | 2 Comments
Tags: family, Idaho, vacation

Visiting my family in Idaho was absolutely awesome. Who can say that? I just really enjoy Idaho. I just have this feeling there that I can’t describe. Even when we lived there, that feeling was around. Almost a lighter, more casual feeling. I have many good memories of that area. I just wished that Jeremy felt the same- poor guy of course got a cold while we were there and that was compounded by an ear and sinus infection. Hali got a cold as well, so no one slept as well as we wanted to.

Our flights there were a mess. The flight leaving got canceled so we were transfered over to another airline that had our seats all over the place. And they only gave us one boarding pass for the flight after, from Phoenix to Salt Lake City. So that caused us to miss that flight, which meant a two and a half hour layover. Hali was so great about everything, though. Hali’s dad? Not so much.

Hali is now a pro at the “additional screening” which we had done for both flights there. She holds her arms out like a pro without even being asked. Then she whips out her Webkinz and pats her down, just like she was just patted down. You have to watch out for those four-year-olds, you know. Bombs in their shoes 50% of the time. Suprisingly, it’s almost always the left one.

Of course, I can never pass up an opportunity to tease my 25% Lebonese husband when we fly. Especially because of how often we have to do the additional screening. I have my very own redneck, LDS, Lebonese terrorist every time I fly! Yay!

Oh, and the secret thrill I get from being patted down by a woman! Whoohoo! I must say, the woman in Phoenix did a more, urm, thorough job of it than they did here in Texas. She felt up my muffin top and everything.

We saw WALL-E. Well, I took my little brother and daughter while everyone else saw a drunk super-hero. No, not that one, this one. How many super-heroes with drinking problems do we need?

We road the four wheeler up in the foothills, and saw some of the most amazing veiws.

Us girls did a little shopping, followed by a trip up to Ririe Reservoir for some boating in the new boat my parents bought (they recently sold the boat that they bought when I was 6). Here lies my favorite sunglasses. Dad enjoyed whipping my mom and I around on the double tub a little TOO much. Ouch. I was sore for a few days after that.

It’s pretty incredible to be a boat sitting in the middle of this lake carved into the mountains (foothills?). Makes you feel tiny.

There were late nights on the back porch making s’mores and melted starbursts. Melted starbursts? Yes. That’s what I said. Try it. One of the wonderful things about living in the north versus south is that it cools down quite a bit at night there. As in “grab a hoodie” cool. And we did:

Classy, aren’t I? I thought we were adorable in our matching pink sweatshirts.

The 4th of July was absolutely amazing. People come in to Idaho Falls from all around to see the fireworks display. It is that amazing. A town with 60,000 people gains about 40,000 more every July 4th. AND it’s all timed out to music which everyone tunes their radios into the same station to hear. The show is nearly half and hour long of solid fireworks. And impressive ones at that. I’ve never seen anything like it.

It was wonderful looking around at all the family that had gathered onto my grandparents front yard for the show. Hali had several cousins to play with- some of who’s parents I used to play with every time I visited Idaho growing up and hadn’t seen for 10 years.

The Fourth of July was long and exhausting. We started by watching the parade they do every year downtown. Then hurried home to beautify ourselves for pictures. We finally did it! Professionaly done pictures of my whole family! It’s been a long time since we had any done- most definately not since I started my very own family. After the big group shot was done, Jeremy, Hali and I did some of just us as well. We have never been in- I’ve never even taken Hali in. I’m a bad mom, I know.

Then it was back to the house to change and out to lunch. Back home to pack our bags, as we would be leaving the next morning, then out to my grandparents to await nightfall and the fireworks display. We did a little walking around down by the Snake River. People park RVs and stake out spots days in advance just to ensure that they have a good spot to view the show from. I’ve never really experienced anything like it. Definately a lasting memory that Jeremy and I will always be able to look back on.

Check out my flickr pictures over there on the sidebar to see what else we did! Just click on the pictures and it will take you to flickr where you can see all of them.

Does This Bow Make Me Extra Pretty?

July 21, 2008 at 4:59 pm | In The Mundane, clothing | No Comments
Tags: clothing, night clothes, target, complaint

Dear Gilligan & O’Malley clothing,

Your stretchy soft comfy night shirt that I recently purchased at a Target near me is the perfect thing. I do not enjoy wearing pajamas during the summer. It’s just too dang hot. But, my heart goes out to my daughter and neighbors, who should never have to see that which should at least be covered by a bathing suit. Your sleep shirt is a great compromise. It’s comfort is unparalleled.

However, I do have two issues with it:

Upon an early(ish) morning burst of energy last week, I decided it was time to do a quick clean up in the living room. Bad idea. When I commenced to bend over, your lovely night shirt refused to stay put. No longer was it covering up my girlie bits as I believed it would. I was thus bent over at a rather unfortunate angle, with my rear end facing the uncovered window when traffic started zooming past my house.

I can only apologize to any nosey neighbors who had the great misfortune of nosily looking into my house. And to my poor daughter, who is luckily too young to understand just how disgusting that all really was.

Might I suggest adding just a few inches to the bottom, so that it maybe reaches my knees?

My other beef is, well, this:

Why the tiny bow? Does the bow make this night shirt so wildly sexy that I should not be showing it on the internet without special licensing? I do not understand the bow. I consider myself to be something of a girlie-girl. But this has me stumped. I asked my husband if he found me more appealing with the tiny bow on my nightgown. Considering he didn’t even look away from the tv to answer me, I am guessing NO. It doesn’t make me feel prettier, either.

Rest assured, my handy tiny sewing scissors did a wonderful job of rendering me bow-free. Sorry if you feel I have desecrated your garment. I promise, worse has happened to your night shirts.

The Real Texas Mama

July 17, 2008 at 5:18 am | In redneckedness, self awareness | No Comments

Living in a small southern town has a lot of advantages. Sure, you may wanna lock your doors at night, but your elderly neighbor notices that you haven’t been around in a few days and kindly calls your cell while you are out of state on vacation just to make sure everything is ok and to let you know he’s been keeping an eye on the place. Towns here in Texas definitely do have a certain charm to them.

Especially if you just let go of your pride and accept the fact that you are, indeed, a redneck. It is a state of being that I have long denied in myself. But I am ready to come out and say it, finally after years of denial: I AM a redneck. There. I have said it.

As the years go by, the fact that I am a redneck seems to be manifesting itself more and more. And while I would like to blame it on my husband, its not all his fault.

True, he put me in a big ol’ Super Duty Turbo F250 Lariat with a 6 inch lift on it. But it was me who actually likedit. I surprised even myself with my love of that monster of a truck. I liked the power I felt from behind the wheel of a truck I could do almost anything in. You know, in case the need for me to go off-roading into a ditch in order to save some from the jaws of death. Or more likely, the occasional Texit (that’s a Texan Exit- meaning you just bail off of the freeway in your truck wherever you please, illegally) when my patience with traffic had reached its limit.

I enjoyed the surprised look that I got from men when I literally jumped out of my truck. I suppose a blond 25 year old mother wasn’t who they were expecting to be driving a truck like that, and I got a kick out of it. Driving that truck was an eye opening experience for me. I went from denying my redneck status to proud acceptance. No longer am I hiding who I really am- my true self.

I now sport my big highlighted blond hair, hiked up boobs, cheap heels from Payless, and too tight jeans that create a huge muffin top with PRIDE. Texas redneck pride. I can really let go now- no more stopping myself from using words like “ya’ll” and “fixin’ to”. That’s what we here in Texas say when we are getting ready to do something, for all you who don’t speak Texan. Who am I kidding? Heck, I even like saying “get her doooone!”!

Yeehaw, ya’ll!

I Don’t Want to NOT Be a Stay-at-home Mom

July 16, 2008 at 7:27 am | In adventures with Hali, family | 2 Comments
Tags: adventures with Hali, family

Helping out at the shop a few weeks ago made me realize how much I love my job and how much I don’t want to leave my days as a stay-at-home mom behind. Sure, the hours often times suck, but it’s a really good job. I just cannot stress how happy it makes me to be a stay-at-home mom. I literally spend all my time with Hali- most of the time within a few yards of her. And while this can often times become a complaint, it is a blessing.

Before we got married, Jeremy and I talked about our future often and about our plans for a family. We both agreed without any debate that I would be a stay-at-home mom when we started our family. There was never even any question about it- it was just what was going to happen.

And while it would have potentially made things easier on us financially, I have truly never worked outside the home since Hali was born. We were so extremely poor when Hali was first born. We had just started a business and it simply wasn’t bringing in enough money (new businesses in general aren’t going to bring much in for the first year or two). But we persevered, and have been blessed for it.

Jeremy and I derive a lot of satisfaction from the fact that I am and always have been at home to take care of our girl. I know there are women who, when asked what they do, don’t really feel as pleased with themselves as they should when they answer that they are a stay-at-home mom.

I used to feel like it wasn’t enough, and would try and act as if my role in helping Jeremy with our business was a little larger than it really was. But by the time Hali was a couple of years old, I figured out that I really was proud of myself and of my husband because of the fact that I was able to be at home all the time, concentrating on raising our daughter. I really found myself in that identity of simply being what I was. I wasn’t embarrassed to say ” I stay at home with Hali”. I didn’t feel the need to tack on other things to my job title, after all, mine was an important, all-consuming, difficult job.

Looking at the road ahead, it is difficult for me to imagine life once Hali is in school. I feel like once she is in school I should find some way to contribute financially. Which means a job. Starting over in the professional world after what will be over five years at home is a scary thought to me. What will I do? Who will hire me? Will I be able to find a job that enables me to be home whenever Hali is? Will it be something I truly like? Should I also go back to school? Will that help me get a better job that meets my requirements?

Just thinking about it stresses me out and makes me sad to think that I won’t be able to call myself a stay-at-home mom for much more than another year. We are constantly arriving at new stages in life- especially at this early point in our time as a family. The next one will be the upcoming year of preschooling at home. It’s the stage after that I’m worried about. It’s going to be a bg change for me, and one I am glad I have another year to get used to the idea of, because right now, I don’t even want to think about it.

Stealing is Not Nice

July 16, 2008 at 7:11 am | In Uncategorized | 1 Comment

It’s 2:00 a.m, and I am still all kinds of angry on behalf of Loralee. She has had the unfortunate experience of being plagiarized. By a woman who apparently has made a habit of it, as we discovered that she has stolen from at least two other fellow bloggers. You can read all the back story here, in Loralee’s entry and comment section.

American Sweatpants wrote a wonderful piece that was apparently too good not to steal.

As was Chelsea’s review of A New Earth.

There may be more, but I am tired of looking. Archives have been saved, so we shall see. The truly unfortunate part (well, aside from that stealing is a crime and very bad and morally wrong) is that she LIED about it. She tried to pass it off as someone else’s fault. Obviously, this thief has issues. How unfortunate for those who’s words she stole that they got involved in her problem.

Loralee was, while angry, pretty understanding about it, even in her anger. I just hope that things are righted as they should be and that no more people have been stolen from. What a night.

And shame, shame SHAME on you, you dishonest person- stealing from people like that. And involving other websites- I hope you understand the possible legal ramifications of your actions- and if what you say about your future plans is true, then you should understand all too well.