Noooooooo!

La Shish closes 11 metro eateries

My #1 favorite restaurant, gone!

Best Baby Shower EVER

I went to a baby shower today for one of Jeff's cousins. At a SPA. Sadly, the mother-to-be lives out of state and couldn't be there, so the grandmother-to-be opened the presents. We all got manicures & massages, had champagne, and Chicken Caesar Salad (or salmon) for lunch. Heaven!

I made my first baby blanket as part of our gift:It's cute, and wasn't very difficult or very expensive, but if I ever make another one, I will either find my quilting ruler or buy a new one. I am not precise enough with scissors to get really even squares, which are necessary for the "prairie points" around the outside.

Working

For the past few months, I've been working very little. Like, "six hours a month," little. In some ways, it's been nice--lots of time at home. In other ways--financial ways--it's been the pits.

Now the pendulum is swinging back in the other direction. Just today, I started teaching computers at a local private Christian school. It'll be 11 hours a week, which is a nice chunk, and it's only a ten minute drive. The downside is that the pay rate is considerably less than what I usually make.

Next week, I'm starting a German class. That'll be four hours a week, but it's at least a 45 minute drive. I usually won't go farther than half an hour, and they knew that, so I managed to get an extra $10/hour out of them.

I'm also trying to get my evening adult computer classes running again. That one is about half an hour away, though I don't know how much it will pay. I'm hoping it will also be four hours a week.

So if everything pans out, I'll be looking at 19 hours (over two days and four nights) a week. That's kind of nuts for me, especially considering that co-op takes up most of another day. I think I'm going to go look at once-a-month-cooking sites again . . .

Big Hair

Back in the 80's, I rocked the big hair look. Of course, it took an hour and a half to achieve said look (that was with the curling iron or the hot rollers).

I don't think Lauren is going to have that issue. I washed her hair last night, and was a little disappointed that it didn't curl up at all once it was wet. It was still a little damp when she went to bed. When I saw her this morning, I was kind of taken aback. Sweet merciful crap, look at your hair! I thought. Some curl had managed to erupt, but only in one section. I had her put on a headband to keep it out of her face, and I'll try to tame it with some water before we go to co-op in an hour. I think it'll be ok, but this just serves to remind me that I know diddly about curly hair. Maybe it should be cut with some layers? Maybe I should have had it thinned out a little?

Maybe I should pray for the 80's look to come back by the time she's a teenager.

Haircuts

Not mine! I'll be interested to see what Lauren's does next time I wash it.
Edited to add this conversation from last weekend.
Sarah: How old do I have to be to dye my hair?
Me: . . . Um . . . a teenager.
Sarah: Oh, so 13 or 14.
Me: No! . . . Um . . . 16.
Sarah: OK.
Me: What color would you want to dye it?
Sarah: Oh, bright yellow, like sunflowers, because they're my favorite flower.
Me: . . . So what got you thinking about dying your hair? (There's a couple teens at our church who frequently have blue or hot pink chunky highlights.)
Sarah: I don't know, I was just thinking about it.

So now I'm wondering what her first shade of Manic Panic will be!

Crawling out of the sludge

Last week was rough. All of us had nasty colds, and there was more than one day that I didn't leave the house. Lauren had the worst of it--she missed dance, the library, and her first Daisy meeting. We all seem to be over it for the most part, though.

So back to the grind for us! Lots of school work to catch up on, and I agreed to do a website for the company that put in our tub liner. I might also have a job at a nearby private Christian school as their computer instructor. The website payment would be a nice shot of cash, and the teaching would be steady. I haven't heard anything back about the evening computer classes.

I'm also helping a friend's daughter with her schoolwork. She just started homeschooling, and since she's a teen, she's working pretty independently. I'm going through her English and History with her--she's ok on the Biology and Algebra herself.

Oh, and I also got some camel colored polar fleece and leopard trim, to make Easter coats. Normally, I just make dresses, but since I got a gift card to JoAnn's for Christmas, I splurged a little. Hope they turn out cute!

So Cool

Check it out!
Coffee Table Touchscreen Computer

Thought Provoking

I saw an interesting link at Marcy's Musings today: Dumbing Down America. Like Marcy, I thought the video was interesting (but not terribly surprising, sadly), but it was the last paragraph that really got me thinking.

Then consider the greater than $48,000 average cost (four years) of state college tuition and the fact that many students (I’ve seen figures as high as 78.7%) require remediation once they are there. Consider that in 2005, starting salary averages for college grads were between $29,733 and $53,279. Add to it all the idea that you need be degreed before you can answer a phone and it becomes clear that our education system has been set up to weigh students down in debt before they make a dime.

I was lucky to not have excessive debt when I got out of school, thanks to grants and loans from my parents. I did have some government loans, but they weren't crippling when I finally got started in the real work force (not counting my au pair stint). I have no idea what my kids are going to do in 10 years when they reach college age.

Seriously?

I took the girls skating last week to a rink that is fairly close to our co-op. It was billed as "homeschool skate," so I figured we might see some friends from co-op. Nope, didn't see anyone I knew, which wasn't a big deal. The girls had fun, liked skating with the other kids. There were a few teens, but no one was rowdy. I even saw a few deliberately go out of their way to avoid my oblivious younger child when she skated into their path.

The musical choices were interesting. Ok, interesting isn't the right word. I'll let you guys come up with a better adjective in the comments. I noticed early on that there was a distinctly Christian vibe going on. It was kind of hard to make out all the lyrics, but I caught a few talking about Jesus and my Savior, etc. Hm. Not my cup of tea, but they also played the Scooby Doo theme song, which thrilled Lauren to death. However, when I heard lyrics like, "would you take the nails from his hands; would you take the sword from his side," that was excessive to me.

Here's the kicker: I was talking with the manager, and she asked me, "Do you find the Hokey Pokey offensive?" I actually turned around to look at her. "Do I what? Huh? What?" Utterly perplexed. What the hell is offensive about the Hokey Pokey? She told me that someone from this particular group had complained about the Hokey Pokey and the Chicken Dance, because both have you "shake your butt."

Are you kidding me? I told her that as long as it wasn't "Baby Got Back," I was pretty much ok. She laughed and said that was for Friday Nights, ha! I'm not in favor of sexualizing children, but I think those two songs are pretty innocent.

I think that if we went back to that rink (which is unlikely, since I've found one closer that also has daytime "homeschool" skating), I'd have to ask them to alter their music.

In other news, our online library network has been down for a few days, and it is killing me that I can't put any books on hold. What is up, librarians?

Close Call

Lauren got some new skates for Christmas, and she & Sarah love skating around the basement. She's fallen a few times, but been ok. So when I hear her start crying really hard yesterday, I didn't wait to head down to the basement. She was standing up again, but still crying really hard. I didn't see anything, and was about to tell her she was ok, when I noticed a little blood on the under side of her chin. Whoops, a little scrape, I thought. I briefly wondered how she would do that--wouldn't she put out her hands as she fell, stopping her from scraping her chin on the floor?

We got her skates off, and brought her upstairs for a drink of water. She wanted a Band Aid (she loves Band Aids, wants them for every little thing), but I told her I had to clean it off first. When I took a closer look, I realized it wasn't a scrape, bit rather a slice, and a fairly substantial one at that. She was still doing that sobbing, can't catch my breath thing, so I got her a little more calmed down, then called our neighbor (thank you again, God, for moving me across the street from a family where both parents are nurses). The dad was home and confirmed my feeling that a visit to the Urgent Care Facility was in order. (We also found out that what she hit her chin on was a wooden doll bed. More incentive to do a mass garbage dump of all the stuff down there!)

I have to say, the UC did a good job--we were there less than an hour, and in the end Lauren didn't need stitches after all, but only a Steri-Strip and a gauze strip & some tape. A Super Band Aid, if you will! She even made it to dance class after that, and where is she right now?

Down in the basement with Sarah, rollerskating. Back on the horse, that's my girl!

Not Quite What I Expected

The flight down to Orlando was good. I hadn't gotten much sleep, though, so I was a little groggy all day. There were two other instructors that came down on the same flight, and at various times, we all asked each other, "Are we all here for the same job? Is this training, or an interview?" We all thought we "had the job," and all the hours that went with it.

In actuality, the company wants a pool of potential instructors up here, so that as they get more clients, they have people that they've already seen, and already know how to use the materials. Also, the current client is apparently being a little flaky and not ready for more than one class to start right now.

For me, this in an inconvenience. I don't want full time work, and the $ that I bring in is to make our lives easier. We can still pay the bills if I'm short on hours, although there's a lot less wiggle room. The other two instructors are both single. For them, the job is the main source of their income. I felt badly for them, especially the one who said that he'd turned down other opportunities because he thought this was a done deal.

So this job isn't quite what I thought it would be. In a way it's good--I won't have to reschedule as much stuff, and if I can get my evening classes running again, that would actually work out better. I'll be calling to try to get that rolling in about an hour.

Can I ask for more luck again? :)

Ouch

"My" car has been having trouble lately. (Note: "my" car is actually the kids' car, no matter which of us is driving it.) It's been stalling out while driving, which is really unnerving. It hasn't done it on the highway, but who's to say that it won't eventually?

I took it in to the place where we get our oil changed, and they told me that it needs a tune up, and for the fuel injectors to be replaced. $300. I took it to a mechanic for a second opinion, and although they agree with the tune up, they said nothing about the fuel injectors, even though I mentioned it. They also said that a ball joint needs to be replaced immediately, as it's dangerous. $167 for the tune up, $152 for the ball joint.

He also mentioned that it was badly behind on maintenance, which I conceded. The other things that are going to have to be taken care of this spring are:

• rear brakes & rotors--$179
• two new tires & alignment--$196
• struts & mounts--$359
• spring insulator bushings--$85
• fuel system cleaning--$85

I really hope this new job pans out.

Today's List

Today's To Do List included things like laundry, dishes, library, groceries. It also included "get a job." I haven't been working much lately (like four hours a month), and it's been frustrating. The money I bring in really does make a big difference to us, even though it isn't a lot. I don't want to work a lot of hours, but something reliable and steady is so helpful.

I went on line to check out Craigslist, and there amid the ads for "type at home," Kaplan test centers, teaching in China, and piano & voice teachers, there was one for "Certified German Teacher Needed."

Well. There you go.

I checked it out, and it's for an instructor for a group of professionals, and looks like it's in my area (I generally try not to drive more than half an hour to a class site). I called about it, and it sounded promising. It would be four days a week, two hours a day. I prefer to work more hours on fewer days, but that wouldn't be an option here. There would be some scheduling issues, with dance classes and co-op, but I can work those out.

They're based in Orlando, and would fly me down a week from Friday for a couple workshops and for me to do a presentation so they can see my teaching style and how I work with their materials. I'd just be there for the day, but Jeff is already teasing me about clubbing with cabana boys, etc. The whole thing made me a little nervous at first (finding a job on Craigslist is kind of like finding a spouse in a chat room--it happens, but it's kind of unconventional, and what if they're not on the up and up?), but I think I'm going for it.

I'm going to be so nervous about this for the next ten days . . .

Here's another one

This Little Light of Mine

Hee . . .

Still not done

but I don't really care. What gets done, gets done.

I'll be posting video & pictures over the next couple days--here's the first. Hm . . . I can't upload a movie. Must have something to do with the file format. Dang, I probably won't be able to mail them, either. Have to talk to Jeff.

In the meantime:

Sewing 911

That's what I'm calling my mom these days . . .

I got the zipper in Lauren's dress, and I'm satisfied but not happy with it. Luckily, her hair is long enough to cover the top. Now I'm glad we haven't gotten in for a haircut yet! Last night, I was about to cut out Sarah's skirt, when I realized that the plaid would be going in the other direction from Lauren's dress. It's hard to tell, but in Lauren's, the blue and green stripes run vertically, and the gold runs horizontally. If I lay out the fabric for Sarah's according to the directions (and I can't see a way around it), it will be the opposite. I'm probably the only one who would notice, so I should get over it and just get it done.

I still have to go to the post office (today!), make more cookies (I practically burned a batch of tarts last night, grumble), and do some more shopping. Also, the Christmas party at church is back on this week, so I need to make something to take to that (ate the hummus from last week), make some dessert to take to my Dad & Stepmom's for the 24th (Christmas torte and baklava are both totally out of the question this year), and more hummus & a veggie tray for the 25th.

Oh, here's a preview of the dress. The neck facing doesn't lie perfectly flat in this picture, but that will be fixed before she has to wear it anywhere. And yes, those are glittery ruby slippers she's wearing. They each got a pair, though I had to go to two different Target stores to find the right sizes.

Tuesday

Lauren's dress was going so well yesterday, that when I got to the zipper, I just stopped. Zippers have always given me trouble, although the last time I did them went better, because I, you know, followed the directions. Amazing what a difference that makes. But I was still a little intimidated. For the record, both velveteen and taffeta are not that hard to work with, but they both ravel like crazy. The pinking shears are my friends on this one!

So I'm going to call my mom and have her give me some tips/walk me through it first thing this morning. It'll be the third such call on this project, and those calls have really helped.

Then we'll head to the library and shoe shopping for the girls. I told Sarah that maybe they could get red shoes instead of black, and she was thrilled, heh.

I didn't get any cookies made yesterday, because it was a snow day, so dance class was canceled. The whole point of getting the cookies done was to take some to dance teachers. We'll see if class runs today. If it does, I'll try to get at least a few done. If it's canceled again, they're out of luck.

Sarah has Brownies tonight, and hopefully I can go shopping after I drop her off. But since Jeff is likely to be working late all this week, I might just bring Lauren home again. He got home about an hour late last night, but by doing this, he's more likely to be able to stay home all next week. It's a worthwhile trade off for all of us.

Monday Again

We made it to church yesterday, only about 20 minutes late, and most of that was because I had to get the car cleared off. Most of the roads weren't plowed, but our sub was the worst. Luckily, when I did get the car stuck, it was right outside church, so I got the kids inside and went back to dig out. A few people helped, and it wasn't hard to get me back on clear ground. Sadly, the roads were still bad enough that we canceled the Christmas program. It would be great if we could do it in the future, but don't know if that would pan out.

Today's agenda:

• sewing until noon
• cookies after lunch until dance class
• dance class in the afternoon
• (quick?) stop at the post office after dance

Crying Wolf

Every time there's a hint of snow, the local weather guys make a huge deal out of it. It's gotten to the point where Jeff refers to every rain or snow fall as "DeathStorm! 2007" or whatever year we're in.

Case in point yesterday. They were calling for four to six inches overnight, and with more today. It so rarely occurs, so I just hoped it was another case of crying wolf. Today is the one day that a huge mess of snow would be the worst, because we're supposed to be at church by 8:30 for rehearsal, and then back by 3:30 to get ready for the show.

When I woke up and looked out the window this morning (about 15 minutes ago), I saw easily half a foot of snow. At this point, I have no idea what we're going to do, but I'm going to iron the angel costumes, and make the hummus (supposed to bring an appetizer for the party), because if we make it there, and the show isn't canceled, I'm not coming home in between.