Musings on Cleaning and Other Stuff

I don't know how our house becomes so messy, but it seems like it just never stays clean. It's definately not as bad as it could be since we've kept it moderately clean these last couple of weeks, but I look around and just sigh because it always needs more work. I guess I'm burning calories as I clean! The worst part is laundry. I never realized how much I hate folding it and putting it away. Sure it's satisfying to see your closet all nice and neat with all your clothes hung and ready to go, but it is so depressing to know you'll need to do it again in a week. Is it acceptable to just live out of your laundry basket? No, you say....okay.... I ran across an internet article about 10 things that will make you love your house more - maybe I'll try a couple like making my bed and taking three minutes to make a room ready to use before I leave it. Well, then that brings me back to laundry because I need to wash my sheets...arg!

Anyway, we had parent-teacher conferences on Thursday. I was nervous about meeting with one parent so I dressed as professionally as I could for that day - my thought was I'm not going to give her any more ammo to make me look like a bad person. It turned out fine when my parent who was adamant the The Road was a terrible, awful book finally just told me that she'd rather her daughter read another book. That's certainly fine with me, but I'm still ticked that she made it personal and tried to make me seem like a bad person and teacher because of my book and tv show choices. Why have all this drama!? This still might not be the end of the story because my principal told me that she might be going to the school board. We'll see.

In other news, Carter is almost crawling. It's just as well that the house is clean because Carter is EVERYWHERE! He just rolls across the floor to where he wants to be. He can get on his hands and knees and kind of slide himself forward so it's just a matter of time before he starts following me everywhere and putting anything and everything in his mouth. Colby is having a fun day with his daddy today. Brandon took him to Roanoke to be part of an activity that the PD is doing. They're filming new scenarios for their virtual reality simulator on a couple of air planes so Colby is going to be a passenger I guess while police officers take down some "bad guys". It's all pretend. He'll probably love it because he gets to get on air planes AND watch some "bad guys" get arrested. Cleary this is something only a little boy could appreciate. This afternoon Colby gets to go to a birthday party, so I'm sure he'll be pooped by the time he gets home.

What a Busy Week!

This week has been a crazy week. It started with Carter's daycare calling to tell me that they thought he had pink eye and that I needed to take him to the doctor. I knew he didn't have pink eye...the area UNDER his eye was red, but not his actual eye. I still ended up having to take the rest of the day off to take him to the doctor. He didn't have pink eye. He had excema under his eye that is not contagious and is now cleared up with the help of some hydrocortizone cream. I made sure the doctor put it in writing and gave it to daycare to put in his file.

This weekend we also had our first experience with respite care. Lets just say that I have a whole new appreciation for foster parents who bring difficult children into their homes. Not that he was horrible but we had some issues with aggression and impulse control - not all that unusal with three year olds - but most of the time it was directed toward Carter, which is a problem. Colby was also a bit of a drama queen so if the other little boy even put his hands on him, he would come crying to me. I certainly won't do something like that again unless Brandon is off from work - that was the longest afternoon of my life.

The last thing I did this weekend involved the garden. I finally got my seeds from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. I chose a lot of heirloom seeds. I decided to start a few things this weekend - peppers, eggplant and parsley. In a couple weeks I'll start another set of peppers and tomatoes! I'm excited!

Lately...

Things have been pretty calm in my life lately. There's been a little drama at school with a parent...but you're almost not doing your job right if there's not a parent causing drama. The end result of the drama is that I'm not allowed to show the movie The Road, which is rated R for non-sexual naked butts, to my students even if I have parental permission, even if we already read the book. I'm glad to still be able to read the book though. Surprisingly my students really enjoy The Road, especially my boys, and it would be a shame to not be able to read it.

Yesterday we went over to my in-laws' house to clean out their garage. It took about three hours to get it looking good. My brother-in-law suggested we go over to each others houses once a month to clean - I would totally go for that...they can all come to my house next month and help us clean up and organize the attic. It's craziness up there! Yesterday I also started sewing a Vera Bradley-style purse. I had found some fabric at Walmart I liked and I had some extra batting from a quilt I made, so I started cutting and sewing yesterday and finished today. It looks pretty good except for the batting on the inside showing...I might have to come up with an idea on how to make it look better because when you look down into it you can certainly tell that it's hand-made. Looks good from a distance though!

Today I decided that since it wasn't icy cold outside that I'd go do some weeding. I ended up cutting my hands up a bit - use gloves! - but I got a bunch of stuff to add to my compost pile! The next time it's nice out I need to work on my two raised beds...I should be getting some strawberries for them soon and need a place to plant them that's weed free!

My Take on Country Music

I very much enjoy country music. I don't think it's depressing - I think it's real, but not necessarily depressing. If someone says "It's so depressing" then I know they haven't listened to much country music, especially lately. Songs I am currently loving that aren't depressing - Gary Allen "Every Storm", Randy Housers "How Country Feels, and Tim McGraw "One of Those Nights". Carrie Underwood with "Two Black Cadillacs" was surprising to me, but not depressing. Little Big Town, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert and yes even the Justin Beiber of country music, Hunter Hayes, have turned out some catchy tunes that are also not depressing. There have been a few songs that have come out in the last several years that do get me every time. Miranda Lambert's "Home" makes me homesick. When I'm really stressed and missing my family I have to change the station to avoid ruining my mascara. Before that was Tim McGraw's "If You're Reading This". If you haven't ever heard that song, you should look it up on Youtube. If you're not misty-eyed by the end there's something wrong with you. Lately the song that's been getting me is Lee Brice's "I Drive Your Truck". I first payed attention to the lyrics while I was cleaning the kitchen and I litterally cried. When I'm driving in the car and it comes on I have to hold it back or change the station. I looked up the story behind that song - a mom who'd lost her eighteen year old son said she coped by driving his truck - and now I don't think I'll be able to listen to it again without crying. So yes country music can be sad, but it's about real life...except for a few songs of course.

Crazy Weather!

The weather has been bizzare lately. Last week it was in the sixties and I zipped home to go for a walk and bike ride with Colby and Carter. Then the next day it poured all day long and then the wind kicked up and it rained some more. The temperature dropped through the floor too! It was so windy on Thursday that we didn't have school - I think they were afraid the wind would be an issue for the buses. Plus it kept raining and I'm sure some places were too flooded to get out. Then on top of that it snowed on Friday and we got another day off from school! I can't tell you how many warnings and watches we've had in the last six or seven days, it's been a little ridiculous. As I type it's snowing again!

Having all these days off has been pretty good (aside from the thought that we'll have to make them up sometimes...sigh). On Thursday Colby asked if we could go to the pool. I agreed and Brandon and I took him to the pool while Carter was at daycare. That was the first time I've had a bathing suit on in a while and while I wasn't super model confident, it wasn't so bad to be seen in a bathing suit :-) After the pool we went to Chick-fil-a. Yesterday we chilled, but today we went to the circus! I haven't been to the circus since I was a little girl and I enjoyed it. The best parts were the scary ones - the globe with the five dirt bikes, the dirt bike guy that made several huge jumps and the trapeze artists. I enjoyed the animals too, but was disappointed that they didn't have any horses. Tomorrow will be a low key day - I'll be making low carb chili for the superbowl :-) I hope the commercials are good!