When God closes a door...

I've always loved the saying "When the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window." And it seems to be very true in my case. My last post consisted mostly about lamenting that I didn't have a job. Then, lo and behold! I got one!

A couple of months ago, out of desperation, I applied for an online teaching job. I never heard anything from them, and then the week after I found out I didn't get the prison job - I got an email from the director requesting my resume. I am now an online teacher for kids that are literally from all over the world. I teach English and Social Studies - and have 14 classes that I "teach". It's a great job. I can make a little money (not a fortune mind you) from home and no daycare or gas comes out of that! It's awesome!

I wish it made a little more money, but hey! I can't be picky, it's a start and I'm estatic about it. I'm really enjoying the work so far, but would like to be able to put more time into it. The kids seem great, and the main issues are plagiarism and that you can't see them. Just email, etc.

I'm excited about what this job means to me, to Mac, and to our family's life in general!

The No Job Blues

Throughout this summer I have been feverishly applying for jobs. Teaching jobs. And not just at schools dear reader, I applied for a prison job as well. Federal prison.

Hey...desperate times, desperate measures.

I had a few interviews, which felt good, but getting a job would have felt even better, let's just be honest.

I have figured a couple of things out by staying home this summer. I am one of those moms who is torn by the work world and by the stay at home world. I so envy the moms that can stay home with their kids, teaching them all kinds of invaluable lessons and playing with them. But I also envy the working moms, the ones that can seemingly do it all. Work, play, and have dinner on the table at a respectable hour. I know that I love teaching. I love being in front of a class of kids, teaching them new things, and sharing with them a love of history. I also love being there when Mac learns a new animal noise or a new skill. I have days when dropping Mac off at daycare breaks my heart and then I have days where I sigh in relief as I pass her off to the daycare provider.

Love the paycheck too. I am envious of women who can stay home and not worry about money. How do they do it? It is too tight for comfort at our house so I mostly just feel guilty and stressed out instead of appreciating my time at home. Why isn't there some kind of money paid out to housewives? I always love those articles about how much housewives would be paid if they earned a paycheck for what they do. It's usually pushing 6 figures. Well...pay up!

Bottom line: I want to work for that paycheck and have the reward of being a teacher, but I want to be home with my girl too.

Blargh!

Sincerely,

Not Satisfied!

Summer Fun In Pictures

Craft Beginnings

In an interest to do some creative projects this summer and hopefully have those results save us a little money, I started a couple of projects. The first one I attempted were hair bands for Mac.

I had seen similar hair things on other people's blogs, etsy shops, etc. and thought that I could try and make a couple of them. Low and behold I did it! I made two ponytail holders. Yay!!

First I had to figure out how to make a pinwheel from some existing fabric I already had.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with this stay tuned for pictures.

I tried making one and it didn't look so great:

Then I reviewed the tutorial again, an

d adjusted my stitches and came up with this:

Much better!!! So I kept making them in plans for the hair clips. Here are my four finished pinwheels and what they ended up looking like when all put together. Plus another pic to show them on my beautiful model!

I only put one in her hair because she wasn't feeling super patient that day. But suffice it to say - two looks even better than one.

The next project I have undertaken is a rag rug. Mac's new room in our house is a

big, bright, sunny room with gorgeous wood floors. But the room really needs a rug. Too much hard surface. So I began looking online and in stores for rugs. They are outrageously expensive. I found a couple I liked but there is no way that we could even wish to afford them. Sheesh!! So I had the idea of making one. I searched online and found a couple of tutorials, lots of pictures, and decided to make the commitment. I bought sheets in several of the colors I wanted at thrift stores or garage sales, washed them all, and then began cutting them into two inch strips. Here is a picture of all the strips cut and ready to be used. Apparently, they also double as a dog bed.

Hubby made me the "rag rug tool", which is really just an old tooth

brush that we cut the head off of and ground down the tip to a point. Then we drilled a hole through the handle. Very simple, but extremely useful. If you decide to start this type of project - the tool is a must. The plan is for the rug to fill up a pretty large area, most likely 5x7', so needless to say it will take me awhile. I've been working on it for about a week and have gotten much further than the picture below, but it is slow going. I work on it when Mac is in bed at night and we are watching a movie. I'll hopefully keep posting to let you see how it is progressing. Wish me luck on this rug and other future endeavors of crafting!!

Back at it!

School's out for summer!

And I say, thank God!! I was ready to be done. The kids were restless and not so friendly, and boy does that affect the remainder of the year. You forget about how those last few weeks of school go if you aren't in a classroom. Instead of being sad to see their little faces march out that door, you do a hallelujah dance and jump for joy. "Aren't you going to miss us Mrs. Scott?" My honest response - no, absolutely no!!

So now, I am at home with the Biter, getting our house to rights. We may have moved in 2 months ago, but I feel like we never really got settled. The last week has been spent cleaning, organizing, and blissfully playing with my sweet girl. Because I spent so much time away from her in the last 6 months, it's so much fun to see how much she has changed. When I started this job, my girl was crawling. Now she is running!! She talks a mile a minute - and some of what she is saying is actually English! Hubby says that it is good she speaks Mandarin because if we ever adopt a Chinese baby - Mac will be able to speak to her.

I bought some craft items last week and am looking forward to creating some things. But I have to get to the room first. You know that room. It's the room that collects all the crap from your move. The stuff that you have no idea where to put. Perhaps it was hidden in random cabinets and closets - but if you don't have room for it, it piles up in that extra room or "office" that you are planning to put together. The rest of the house is set up, so that is my goal now. There is going to be a block sale on Saturday in our neighborhood and I plan on having a good pile of stuff to greet people looking to make my junk into their treasures. Buy away happy people! Of course you need that toilet paper holder!! It would look great in your bathroom!!

Good luck to me!!!

The Biter

"There was a little girl, who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead,
And when she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid." - Longfellow

I could just leave it at that, but perhaps an explanation is necessary.

My small daughter is at a daycare that involves being around other children. Normal yes. But she apparently can not get a long with others. A couple of days ago her sitter informed me that she saw my small girl going at another child with her mouth open ready to bite. She stopped her but wanted to make sure I was aware of it. I went home, told my husband about it and was beside myself.

Yesterday, she upped the ante by actually leaving teeth marks (every tooth she had was imprinted on this child's arm - I saw it and you can't mistake a cleft teeth bite!) on another boy, and then left a tiny mark by biting my good friend T's son who is also at daycare with her! Unbelievable. Instant shame and panic washed over me. Then the sitter hit it out of the park with "well I won't kick her out since we only have a few weeks left til summer, but other places would!"

OH MY LORD!!!!

I was upset by this. My husband is upset by this. What can we do? I began analyzing our parenting. We play with our girl, and sometimes biting her thighs is part of the game because well...they're delicious! But it isn't in anger. So now we have to stop biting her delicious thighs I guess. She doesn't bite us in anger - and believe me, with her attitude lately, anger is just part of the deal. So where is this coming from? And she's sneaky too, the sitter never actually catches her doing it. So if she isn't doing it at home - how do we stop her? Did I maybe eat too much meat when I was pregnant with her and she's possibly just hungry?

What is there to do?

Sincerely,

Chewed on in Fresno

My Daughter the Nut

Really no words are necessary!