Turns out my cousin took a pic of me introducing my abs to The Ball. And is laughing at my pain.
Doesn't every 7 yr old have their own laptop bag for travel?
This time tomorrow will find me in a tiny little town in East Tennessee (OH the alliteration!) visiting my Mamaw. It’s been far far too long since I’ve driven across/over/around the mountains. We won’t be gone long though - I’m wary of disturbing her routine too much.
Unfortunately, my Dead Laptop will not be making this trip since it’s uh…y’know…being repaired.
(I gave my laptop to a local business for repair. They told me it would be done yesterday. I’m less than pleased at the moment.)
In the absence of an internet connection, I’ll be updating to Twitter with my phone and taking notes with a pen and paper. I’m hoping to get Mamaw on video but I’m not sure if I’ll be posting said videos or not.
Packing still needs to be done. I should probably go do that.
Be good to each other, and if you’re that cute guy that I saw at the store Friday night and then Sunday afternoon again - congrats! You’ve found My Other Side (which is not to be confused as THE other side. I’m a very multifaceted person).
- Crankiness :: is next to sleepiness.
- Backpack :: homework
- Clone :: wars
- High ground :: head for
- Dreams :: deferred
- Lovingly :: cuddled
- Mistake :: marriage
- Carson :: City
- Errand :: run
- Dozen :: eggs
There was a condo listing in the local paper. The listing was vague, but I was familiar with the neighborhood already. I knew it would more than likely be big enough and so I called the agent to arrange for a viewing. His voice was big and friendly and I thought that FINALLY I would be able to move.
And then it happened: I told the guy I’m a single mom with 3 kids.
The change in his tone of voice was immediate. He went from telling me about the fabulous neighborhood and how UN-lived in this condo was to telling me that he would be out of the office for a week, a month, a year who CARES because I’m SO not selling this condo to YOU you low-income parasite.
(Okay, so maybe he didn’t say that last part out loud.)
His sudden disinterest in the conversation threw me off. I stammered out a question about the square footage of the condo. He didn’t have the book in front of him, and well - it’s probably 1000. Or 1100. Or 900. And the condo is furnished. Or maybe it isn’t. If I want to cut a deal for the stuff I can.
Someone will call me with an appointment.
Someone will call me LATER with an appointment.
(Don’t worry - I’m not holding my breath.)
- Memory :: sweet
- Original :: just like everyone else
- Exclusively :: yours
- Listings :: house
- Bucket :: lolrus
- Knight :: Rider
- Dusty :: trail
- Choice :: pro
- Sunlight :: bright
- Change of plans :: divorce
The last bastion of The Life I’d Planned for my family is crumbling in front of me. I am only one Mama, and I cannot do it all.
See, when a relationship shatters the only thing you can think of is keeping things as close to the status quo for the children. I was an at-home mom in the time Before the Breakup and I stayed at home for as long after the breakup as I could. Longer than I should have, perhaps. It was bad enough that I had to leave him, leave our apartment, leave our life. (And the later insult to injury - that he’s stayed out of our lives.) At least I was still there.
Depressed, hormonal, pregnant/nursing, and out of my flippin mind - but there.
Getting out of the house was necessary for my mental health, I discovered. I went to school and remembered what it was like to talk to people who have actually read the same books I have. I went to work and remembered what it was like to interact with people.
I felt guilty because I wasn’t home with the kids and I enjoyed myself.
Over the last two years of school and year of work I did my best to continue schooling the boys at home. My daughter elected to attend public school for high school and I let her go.
I let her go. Good god that sounds pathetic, dunnit? Like I just threw her under the bus or something.
The plan was to work my scheduled hours, school the boys on my days off, hang out with the local homeschool group at the park and generally enjoy being with my kids. The hanging out hasn’t happened more than a few times - if I’m not scheduled to work when the group gets together there’s laundry and shopping. And Writing. And Homework.
And. And. And.
It’s time for me to change jobs - time for me to exercise something other than the absolute bottom level of my skillset. The job I have is perfect in that it does not require a lot of thought. The job I have is horrible in that it does not require a lot of thought. I’ve stayed in this job, knowing that I can do more, make more money, that I Am More Than This because my supervisor has done really well by me. She has gone out of her way to work with me around my school schedule. She has become more than my supervisor, she is also a friend.
And I’ve stayed in this job because I was afraid to shake my own tree, afraid to take on something different that would detract from my studies. Afraid to change my schedule AGAIN and wreak (temporary) havoc on our lives.
Much like holding out and hoping that some miracle would allow me to continue staying home with my children, I’ve held onto homeschooling. Obviously I’m not going to change everything all at once since that’s usually an invitation to failure. Changing jobs will be first, then we’ll evaluate. I don’t want to give up homeschooling my boys.
But I can’t hold back the entire family because of that want.
Turning the laptop on its side is the only way I can keep the juice flowing.
The External Hard Drive of Doom arrived safely so that I can back up the laptop and get it healed.
The drives have been imaged. Then I ran the Vista M$ backup. THEN I copied every file as-is from the hard drive to the external.
Maybe you should be just a tetch more interested in site stats? Then you wouldn’t be lookin’ at this:
That first step is a DOOZY!
Please refer to the troubleshooting flowchart, specifically the segment that asks Is it after 1am? when you’re contemplating further changes to ANY plugins, decorations, and/or webby-type stuff.
Love,
You.
PS: Gold star, however, for making sure that at least ONE tracking code was hardcoded into the theme.
The Love to Learn Homeschool Resource and Information Conference will be held at Catawba Valley Community College Multipurpose Complex. From their website:
This conference was created to fill the need for up to date, accurate, unbiased, information concerning issues that affect the climate of homeschooling in North Carolina. We want to provide a variety of speakers and sessions on a wide array of homeschooling topics. There will be something for everyone from the beginning homeschool family to those more experienced. We invite you to visit our vendor area to peruse the latest in homeschooling resources and speak with those that create and/or sell items of interest.
*Love To Learn Conference - Home Page.
