Feeling pretty smart

I researched some fabric that I wanted to use for curtains. I found them at Country Curtains, for big money. I researched further and found the fabric, for a fraction of the cost. I just ordered 3 yards!

Love it when I score AND save cash!

Progress

I had the painter over yesterday to estimate the kitchen. She was focused and detail oriented. A true professional. She will be painting the walls, the woodwork and the ceiling over February vacation. We are very excited. It is in dire need of help. If only I could get the floors refinished, but where would our family of 5 live for three days!?

The plumber is coming over today to estimate moving the bath tub and putting the laundry in the upstairs closet. Exciting. I pulled out the picture of my "dream" bath.

We received our insurance claim check yesterday. Many projects need to be undertaken, thankfully KD is skilled. Truly, we would pay a LOT more money to do such things.

Progress! I love it!

p.s. we will meet with the teacher on Tuesday.

No response

Oldest got home at 3:15 yesterday afternoon. I sent an email to her teacher at 3:29. I have had no response. I understand that teacher's do not have constant access to their email during the day. However, I would have expected some sort of response in 24 hours.

Oldest came home today happy as a lark and sat down at the table and did some pages in her work book. Without complaint.

I will be calling her teacher tomorrow, if there is school and on Thursday if there is no school tomorrow.

The Note

Today a note came home from school. It was on a sticky note that was stuck to the paper. The kind of paper with wide lines for a kindergartner to practice writing her name. The paper with wide lines was blank, however, the note had much to say.

Oldest complained when she should have been completing her task, writing her whole name. Her name is long, without question. We knew she preferred socializing as opposed to finishing her work. We were hopeful there was an element of novelty. We had hoped there had been progress since last Fall. There has been none.

Her teacher said "Oldest has to start working a little more quickly at tasks because it takes her a long time to complete things. Please work with her at home on this skill as well."

She, predictably, completely fell apart when I started talking with her. I told her how when I was little I used to say "I am tired" when I really didn't want to do things. She giggled. I told her that it is our job to help her find ways to finish her tasks. She told me her teacher uses a timer and she told me how much she hates it, there went that idea.

We finished one part of her assignment, although I had to prod and coax her along. KD is making her redo the second part of her assignment. She is lamenting and dawdling.

We have a long LONG road ahead of us.

Wash at last

The new washing machine will be delivered on Wednesday. I bought a ginormous washing machine. I never thought a washing machine could be this exciting!

Our eventual plan is to build an addition. Knocking down the breezeway between the house and the barn. However, seeing as there is no equity in our home nor money in our bank, we have to do it in stages. In order to do it in stages, we have to first begin with estimates to re-work our bathroom and to move the washer and dryer upstairs. I left a message for the plumber who came and fixed our burst pipe.

The breezeway connecting the house to the barn.

Progress. I love progress. We have lived here 5 years and we have done a lot to our house, but when your house is almost 150 years old, there is always more, way more, to be done.

Wow, what a day

I have no words...

The best part of the day

Yesterday was our new nephew's Bris and our other nephew's 2nd birthday party. But the best part of the day was this: Nana and her five great grandchildren.

How lucky we are.

Swinging

When she was an infant, KD swung her, on his arm, in the infant car seat. Although we had no money, I ordered him to buy a swing on his way home the next day. We set it up immediately. She was in heaven and only about a week or so old. She had a mild case of reflux so she had to sleep on an incline. So began the sleeping in the car seat routine. Then we reclined the seat of the swing, put it on low, depending on her mood, and she would sleep.

We always played music for her, she responded to it from those first days home. Some days she had a need for speed and we would strap her in, recline the seat, and crank up the swing. On those days I played loud percussion laden music. She napped like a champ.

Recently, we watched A Bug's Life, and saw a trailer for the Disney movie Tarzan. She looked up and said, "Mum, that is the music we have in the car." Of course she was right. It was one of the CDs we had in the car, albeit broken.

Driving her to school this week, we tried it out. The song that she had been singing since we saw A Bug's Life boomed from the speakers. I watched her in the rear view mirror as she swayed her head, with her eyes closed as she sang along, unfettered joy.

Her pure delight in the words and the melody touched me and amused me. It also made me wonder. We played that CD constantly in her infancy. However, we rarely play that CD now and if we do, only in the car. Since it is broken it obviously doesn't get a lot of play time. Could her mind some how some way know that song?

She is still untouched by the social pressures that inevitably render us guarded. She is full of love, wonder and compassion. I know the day will come, much too son, when she will no longer live these virtues out loud and until then, she will sing and sway 'til her hearts content. And as she does, I will look on as my heart swells.

I don't know if it is fair

or if everyone is just happy to have a job.

The new contract, which is for 2 years, was voted overwhelmingly in favor on Monday. It was 170-20. The teachers in Grafton receive no pay raise, per se, but the School Committee has created new "steps." Which enables teachers to receive more pay, based on their credentials, etc.

KD expressed his reservations to me, utilizing his keen ability to see the larger picture, and decided to vote against the contract. One thing that was written into the new contract that was a stumbling block for KD and me as well was this: The teacher's have professional development days whenever the students have half days. This saves me money and saves KD time. This was eliminated for the terms of the contract. Now I have to cough up money and KD has to find the time to participate in professional development.

If the economy was booming I have to wonder if this contract would have been voted down. At least this contract only goes until 2011 and negotiations will begin in Spring of 2010. I can only hope that the Grafton Teacher's Association has a stronger leader by then.

Notables

On Friday, whilst at home with Baby, who has a nasty cold, he said: "I half to go get my shoes, I half to go outside to go bye byes in my space ship because you will miss and I will come back because you will miss me." And he turned and walked out of the room, with green boogies dripping from his nose.

Oldest has a fondness for scrounging things out of a closet that contains clothes from the Before Children era, you know, they no longer fit as I birthed 3 in 3. In said closet are also items of hers that she wore for special occasions and I just can't bear to part with. One dress is a 12-18 month tulle bottomed cap sleeved number, with matching sweater. She wore it to her cousins Bar Mitzvah. She was precious. Sadly I did not provide a bib and the dress was stained. In any event, on Friday night she. put. it. on.

Then she added accoutrements.

People she will be SIX in 7 weeks, wears a 4/5, weighs 43 pounds. She most certainly does not wear 12-18 months!

Middle is a natural born snow boarder. Truly. It took him three tries to get the hang of it and he was off.

The adjuster is writing up an estimate to replace the ceiling, the floor, the sub-floor and the walls. The washing machine is all screwed up and that is being serviced on Wednesday. That is a long time not to do laundry!

Yes, that is standing water in the laundry basket.

Yes, that rug is SOPPING wet. Humphf.

But the BIGGEST notable? We have a new nephew! Born today approximately 12:30, 8lbs, 4 oz. We can't WAIT to meet him!

Adjuster is there

I have so many things that I want to write, but I never have enough time to hone my craft.

The Insurance Adjuster is at the house now, KD is home, as my anxiety would cause verbal diarrhea and in this case, it wouldn't be good.

Middle stayed home on Monday. He wore pj's with his Spider Man costume over them. On Tuesday, to get him out of the door, I told him he could wear his pj's with his costume to our babysitter's. It worked. Yesterday school was cancelled, there went my opportunity to get him into "regular" clothes. He wore the same outfit yesterday. Today KD stayed home so he could deal with the adjuster, he objected to Middle's outfit. I explained to him that he has fresh pj's, fresh underpants so who really cares. He is into it and he is happy. Tomorrow he has school and he will have to wear "regular" clothes. He knows and inquired if he could wear the costume on the next home day. To which I replied, "Absolutely!"

Oldest has refused to buy lunch for months now. Our school allows parents to pre-pay for lunches. For example, I can send in a check for $50 and then Oldest doesn't need to deal with cash, which I never have. We did that at the beginning of the year. She came home one day and told me that her pre-pay was gone and then she started to cry. I inquired who told her that. She said it was her friend, Mark, I assured her that Mark wouldn't know if her pre-pay had run out and that I hadn't heard from her teacher that her cache was depleted. Every month we would go over the school lunch menu to no avail. I tried to overcome her resistance to buying lunch and then she got a wallet in her stocking.

So I sent her on Tuesday with two one dollar bills and a quarter. I got home on Tuesday and inquired immediately if she got her lunch. She did, however, as she was telling me about it, I noticed the quarter in the bottom of her bag. Then she told me that she lost her quarter and that her teacher gave one to the lunch lady.

Snow day yesterday so no need to deal with lunch.

Today the menu was her favorite, grill cheese. Tuesday night on the way home from work, I went grocery shopping on and got ten one dollar bills. I was prepared this morning and sent in an extra quarter for her to pay back her teacher. She had a rough go of it this morning. After a brief period of frustration on the part of her dad, it was decided that he would purchase her an alarm clock.

I have to admit that I am such a pushover when it comes to my kids. When my kids were babies their crying never bothered me, it came with the territory. Now that they are older and they cry in response to unpleasant things, yikes. I am a total TOTAL pushover! Oldest was crying after KD yelled at her to get dressed. I felt awful, but he had asked her 3 times AND warned her that the next time he asked her it wouldn't be nice. It is so hard to be little and to crawl out of a cozy bed and rip your clothes off to put on cold clothes. I totally understand, but she really needed to get dressed. I left early and took the boys so my heart hurt for her. I called after I dropped the boys off, it got worse after I left. I called when I got to the office, after the bus had come to pick her up. KD told me that she was fine when she left and they had discussed solutions which is how the alarm clock came to be.

Serv-Pro and the plumber

We have called an Adjuster.

We called our insurance company.

Serv-Pro was here today. They removed portions of the wall and ceiling. They took all the wet clothes and will return them to us later this week, washed and folded.

The plumber fixed the pipe.

Waiting on the Adjuster to get back to us.

My cold seems to be stuck between absolutely debilitating and a nuisance.

NOT so brilliant, after all

It was raining in the breezeway last evening. Pipes burst.

I have acquired quite a horrid cold.

Perhaps it was me

I have been sucked into the Twilight Saga books and went with a fellow follower to see the movie last night. Please bear in mind that the two of us are older than the "young adult" for whom the books/movie are targeted.

My mouth hung agape within minutes of the opening scene. It was in a word, awful. Simply awful.

The direction of this movie was absolutely abysmal. However, there is hope. The director was fired from working on the sequel. I have a degree in geology and I could have done a better job. Seriously.

Kristen Stewart's portrayal of Bella was constipated and under developed. Has this actress had acting lessons? Again, as a 40 year old mother of three with a degree in geology, I could have acted this character better.