Around Here

Yes, I dropped out of the blogosphere for a while again. I can't believe I didn't lose any followers! Thank you my dear friends for sticking around! As always, just pure busyness has kept me away.

I finished up my school year on June 3rd. It was a bittersweet ending as it was the toughest school year I've ever had as a teacher and because it was the last one at the preschool I've taught at for the past 7 years. I gave my notice back in March so that my boss would know in plenty of time that I won't be returning in the fall. I've decided to try to get my master's in special education. I just completed my first 12 week course and will begin a 6 week course next week. Between these two classes I have to earn 3.0 GPA to officially be accepted into the program. (Because I didn't have a 3.0 when I graduated from college 22 years ago! Boys were more interesting than school was back then. Just being honest! Actually, I earned two degrees simultaneously back then....a BBA and an MRS!) Hence, homework has kept me very busy, especially when being a teacher and a student overlapped for two months!

I know it may seem odd that I quit my teaching job in order to earn a master's in teaching, but I knew I couldn't juggle work, school and my family. Since my kids aren't going anywhere in the near future, work had to go! And I think my whole family is happy about my decision! Even though I have homework, I'm much more relaxed.

Of course, I'm getting little jabs from my boys. My oldest likes to tell me that I'm lazy since I quit my job, and my youngest's comment was, "Good, now you can clean the house!" Nice, huh?! Even one of my classmates said, "So, you're going to do nothing?" Oh to be 23 and naive! Okay, so for the last two weeks I haven't gotten out of bed before 9 AM, but I have been cleaning!! I even took the curtains down in our living room and hand washed them in the bathtub! Come on, give me some credit!

Living on one income again is an adventure. I've definitely been cooking and baking a lot more. However, I have found that it is cheaper to buy a brownie mix than it is to make them from scratch. We didn't join the pool this summer because we didn't feel we got our money's worth the last two summers. Naturally, one of our vehicles has had issues since I stopped working. It sounds like a rocket and will go even if your foot isn't on the gas pedal! And our mechanic can't figure out what's wrong with it. The kids have been good about waiting for movies to hit our local cheap theater. You can't beat $3 matinees and $5 evening shows! Even the snacks are cheap.

Then there's the dog. I've been dreading having to take him to his yearly vet appointment this summer because it's always so expensive. Rather than doing that yet, we've had other vet bills because poor Otto has actually been sick! He's six years old and this is the first time he's been ill like this. Apparently he picked up a parasite from somewhere, and we are now shopping for new carpeting! As they say, when it rains, it pours.

This post kind of sounds like a downer, but I'm actually pretty happy. Like I said, I'm more relaxed now and I'm getting to spend a lot of time with my family. My kids are excited because I'm baking for THEM rather than my students. I even made my very first cheesecake for Father's Day. It was delicious! Thanks to our friends who own a beach house, we will get to take our yearly trip to the Outer Banks this month. We just won't be able to stay as long since I can't miss class.

I hope life is slowing down for all of you this summer so that you can enjoy just being with your families! I'll check back again soon!