A chill is in the air as fall and winter begin to descend on Northern Indiana. I should consider myself lucky that we had such pleasant weather lasting through September, but now I can see the leaves go from green to the yellow and red shades for fall. The warm colors belie the coolness in the air though. We had our first frost this week.
My tomatoes never did well, nor did anything else I planted this year. I know part of it was the sheer distraction we experienced with the losses we suffered this summer, but I also blame the groundhog for eating my beans and the ground for sucking so hard. There just isn’t enough good dirt to grow anything useful. So, next year, Big Guy is building me a raised bed and we’re going to go through and add real dirt to the soul and hopefully do much better.
I finished my super secret project, which was a 9 square blanket for my sister-in-law for her birthday. It turned out much better than I could have hoped for, considering the crunch I was under. 9 granny squares of 9 rounds, with each grouping 3 sets of triple stitches. Clever enough for a birthday that occurred on September 9, 2009.
I’ve also been busy teaching. I just finished a round of Composition 2 and am preparing to start a class for the basics. This will be my first time teaching this particular class, so wish me luck! I was telling Big Guy, I really do love teaching and it is rewarding to see people connect with the language.
We received our Angel Food Ministries box and already have made some tasty meals from it. My personal favorite involved pork chops, pears and fresh sage from my garden. It was truly delicious and the pears complemented the pork beautifully. I also made chicken and beans in the crock-pot because we received two HUGE chicken breasts so I used one breast with beans and I think the other might be slated for some homemade chicken soup. Yum!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Half Time Work, Full Time Life
Well, Big Guy’s job situation was finally clarified and his hours were cut. Down to practically half. He’s now on contractor status but can only work a total of 24 hours per week, no benefits. So, we’re implementing some serious budgeting measures.
We’ve gone back to ordering from Angel Food Ministries and I am going to prepare weekly menus. Angel Food Ministries is an excellent source for good cheap food. $30 and you get an order of food that is billed as “enough to feed a family of four for a week”. This month’s order comes with steaks, chicken, pork chops, ground beef, veggies and fruit, eggs and a dessert. It’s pretty well balanced and you can come up with ways to stretch it. We order one box at a time and can generally make it last the whole month.
I’ve also got a running tally of our funds on an excel spreadsheet to keep track of our budget. We’re going to run into some issues because what we’re bringing in is less than what we need per month. If we’re careful with the payout for his vacation time, we may be able to limp along until he either gets another job or they decide they need him full time.
He is looking for another job, both full and part time, and I’m working on teaching. If we can keep it up, things should be OK.
We’ve gone back to ordering from Angel Food Ministries and I am going to prepare weekly menus. Angel Food Ministries is an excellent source for good cheap food. $30 and you get an order of food that is billed as “enough to feed a family of four for a week”. This month’s order comes with steaks, chicken, pork chops, ground beef, veggies and fruit, eggs and a dessert. It’s pretty well balanced and you can come up with ways to stretch it. We order one box at a time and can generally make it last the whole month.
I’ve also got a running tally of our funds on an excel spreadsheet to keep track of our budget. We’re going to run into some issues because what we’re bringing in is less than what we need per month. If we’re careful with the payout for his vacation time, we may be able to limp along until he either gets another job or they decide they need him full time.
He is looking for another job, both full and part time, and I’m working on teaching. If we can keep it up, things should be OK.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Life and Lions
I know I’ve been gone for a while but life and work have taken up most of my attention. Our garden, despite late breaking efforts, has not fared so well this summer. Big Guy and I both think that our difficulties this summer had something to do with it. I am able to harvest some very delicious tomatoes which are FINALLY turning red. The coolness of the weather this year affected their color and I still have more green tomatoes than red ones.
We’re coming to the end of the August class. Starting next week, I have another class of students and the cycle starts all over again. I’ve decided to go in a different direction in some cases, especially since I have access to a nice computer and a projector.
However, in the meantime, I need to finish up my OMGSUPERSECRET project because I lost a week I thought I had to work on it. And that is what I am doing today. I am over 2/3rds done, I just need to get that final push done and finish it this week. Once that’s done, I can breathe a little easier and actually have some free time. Go me!
Right now, Little Guy and I are watching MSNBC’s coverage of the death of Senator Kennedy. It truly is a sad day. I can only hope the health care bill doesn’t fail because of this. That would truly be horrible. Something that man worked so hard for, he got so close to seeing the frution of his life’s work… And then he dies. It’s truly a tragic story, and perhaps another chapter of the Kennedy Curse. I’ll post more thoughts on this later, particularly my reactions to the disgusting comments the Rabid Right have posted across the internet.
On the humerous side of this story. Senator Kennedy was known as the “Lion of the Senate.” Every time that moniker is placed on the screen, Little Guy exclaims: “Oh! A Lion!” He recognizes the word. My sweet boy, so smart and turning in to such a good reader!
We’re coming to the end of the August class. Starting next week, I have another class of students and the cycle starts all over again. I’ve decided to go in a different direction in some cases, especially since I have access to a nice computer and a projector.
However, in the meantime, I need to finish up my OMGSUPERSECRET project because I lost a week I thought I had to work on it. And that is what I am doing today. I am over 2/3rds done, I just need to get that final push done and finish it this week. Once that’s done, I can breathe a little easier and actually have some free time. Go me!
Right now, Little Guy and I are watching MSNBC’s coverage of the death of Senator Kennedy. It truly is a sad day. I can only hope the health care bill doesn’t fail because of this. That would truly be horrible. Something that man worked so hard for, he got so close to seeing the frution of his life’s work… And then he dies. It’s truly a tragic story, and perhaps another chapter of the Kennedy Curse. I’ll post more thoughts on this later, particularly my reactions to the disgusting comments the Rabid Right have posted across the internet.
On the humerous side of this story. Senator Kennedy was known as the “Lion of the Senate.” Every time that moniker is placed on the screen, Little Guy exclaims: “Oh! A Lion!” He recognizes the word. My sweet boy, so smart and turning in to such a good reader!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Turn the Page
It’s been a busy week. I have to admit, I am glad it’s almost over. For me, it really is. I don’t have class tomorrow because they are moving to the new building and that means no teaching at all until Monday. What a break!
Now, aside from grading, I really have time to focus on some other things… Like writing in my blog and working on my OMGSOSUPERSOSECRETPROJECT and working on my novel. It’s been a rough summer, and it is probably only just beginning to hit us exactly how rough a summer it was. I am going through, getting rid of clothes and gathering up toys, now that the house is mostly empty. We’re still trying to adjust to life without the kids and it’s beginning to hit me exactly how much I put into the kids.
When Big Guy and I got together, I was determined to be the best step-mom ever. I read books, made sure I didn’t overstep my bounds, and tried to follow the best, most rational advice available. I offered support and guidance to my husband when he tired of the games his ex was playing and really devoted a lot of time and effort into both the battle and making sure the kids had the best chance at sanity that I could provide. So, for six years, I threw myself whole-heartedly into being a step-parent, to the exclusion of many things that I really should have been doing for myself. And this May, when that effort was revealed to be useless, I really felt betrayed and destroyed by it. But, through June and July, other things occupied my thoughts and time. And now, I’m left with myself, Big Guy and Little Guy. And it’s leaving me feeling a bit jittery.
So, where do I go from here? Well, I work on something else. I focus on the things that are important, like Big Guy and Little Guy. I work on my projects. And I sit back and breathe, take stock of where I am and figure out what I am feeling (aside from the surface emotions). This is a new chapter in my life, let’s see what it says…
Now, aside from grading, I really have time to focus on some other things… Like writing in my blog and working on my OMGSOSUPERSOSECRETPROJECT and working on my novel. It’s been a rough summer, and it is probably only just beginning to hit us exactly how rough a summer it was. I am going through, getting rid of clothes and gathering up toys, now that the house is mostly empty. We’re still trying to adjust to life without the kids and it’s beginning to hit me exactly how much I put into the kids.
When Big Guy and I got together, I was determined to be the best step-mom ever. I read books, made sure I didn’t overstep my bounds, and tried to follow the best, most rational advice available. I offered support and guidance to my husband when he tired of the games his ex was playing and really devoted a lot of time and effort into both the battle and making sure the kids had the best chance at sanity that I could provide. So, for six years, I threw myself whole-heartedly into being a step-parent, to the exclusion of many things that I really should have been doing for myself. And this May, when that effort was revealed to be useless, I really felt betrayed and destroyed by it. But, through June and July, other things occupied my thoughts and time. And now, I’m left with myself, Big Guy and Little Guy. And it’s leaving me feeling a bit jittery.
So, where do I go from here? Well, I work on something else. I focus on the things that are important, like Big Guy and Little Guy. I work on my projects. And I sit back and breathe, take stock of where I am and figure out what I am feeling (aside from the surface emotions). This is a new chapter in my life, let’s see what it says…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)