Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Getting Social Again

I absolutely *LOVE* my house here in TX.  I love it so much that I no longer feel as compelled to leave it…for anything!  So I spend a lot more time at home now than maybe I have in the past, and I’ve been totally fine with that.  But I do miss my friends in VA, and I do miss having events and things to look forward to.  So Image result for february 2018that’s all beginning to change pretty soon.

I’m finally about to start getting out of the nest again!  We’ve been here for 7 months now, and I really haven’t been out much, and I haven’t been out for anything social at all!

But starting this weekend, my February calendar is starting to get busy!  We just joined our neighborhood’s voluntary association.  They do a few dinners a year, including a chili cook-off at the end of the summer.  It’s only $15/year, and we figured it would be a good way to get involved in our community and meet some of the neighbors.  This Saturday, they are hosting a Winterfest Dinner catered by a local place called Cousin’s BBQ.  Sounds fun!  We’re actually kind of looking forward to it, and they always meet in a church building just up the road, right outside our neighborhood.  That’s my first social outing!

Next up is a spa day experience for Valentine’s at my Mary Kay consultant’s home!  She’ll be giving spa treatments and demonstrating products and having specials on certain items while pampering everyone with wine, chocolate cake, and other treats.  So I figured, why not?  She’s a super nice lady I met before Christmas when I ordered some items and she delivered them to my home.  We talked on the porch for a while…she loves dogs and asked about mine, and then we discovered that she used to live in Virginia Beach when she was in the Navy in Norfolk back in the day!  Pretty cool!  Small world.  So I’m looking forward to getting out and enjoying myself a bit.  Maybe I’ll make some new friends!

For the third weekend in February, a lady at church who happens to live about a block down from me in my neighborhood is hosting a Valentine’s Tea for the ladies and girls in the congregation.  Haylee and I are planning to attend in our best tea dresses and hats and take a goodie along to share!  We’re looking forward to mingling with some of the ladies we’ve gotten to know at church, and it should be fun for us girls! 

Lastly, I’ve signed us up for a homeschool field trip with a South Tarrant County homeschool group that we just joined.  I’ll be taking the kids to the C. R. Smith Aviation Museum in Arlington for a whole day of activities!  They’ll see a film, tour the museum, and participate in educational programs for their own age groups.

So that’s 4 weekends in a row that I have plans in February already!  Hard to believe after spending all these months at home with absolutely no social life.  It should be fun! 

And after that, Haylee and Holden will start playing soccer down in Burleson at the very beginning of March.  Time flies! 

Somewhere in all that busy-ness, I’ve got to fit in doing taxes.  Ugh!  It won’t be much fun this year, since things are so unusual for us this time around.  We have to add the VA house as a rental, we have to file taxes in two states, we have moving expenses, we had two months without health insurance, and we made withdrawals from both of our retirement funds to renovate the VA house, so we’ll have penalties to pay on that…the list goes on!  And that’s in addition to our usual rental income.  It will just be a bit complicated!  And I’ve got banking all over the place.  I sure hope I’ve received all the statements I’m gonna need!  I don’t want to overlook anything, so I’m a bit nervous.  Oh, and add that to the fact that Hayden became an adult and started working, so I’ll have to help him file taxes for the first time, too. 

Anyway, at least I’ll be busy for the next few weeks!

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Homeschooling: The Winding Down Years

We’ve been off school this week…our monthly week off (we school year-round).  I’ve been using the time not so much to rest (I’m still getting over being sick) as to take care of a growing to-do list of tasks that needed to be done.  I completed a bunch of paperwork and mailings and filing of documents and that sort of thing.  I returned/exchanged a deep freezer that died after only a few months.  I ran some errands.  I signed the kids up for soccer and selected a pediatrician under our new insurance.  You know…all that nuisance stuff that isn’t a big deal on its own but that adds up to blocks of time you don’t always have every day.

Now that the little but important things are mostly taken care of, I stayed up last night preparing school for the next few weeks, and finishing my copying for the remainder of the school year so I don’t have to do this every month.  Normally, I get the whole year ready before the school year starts, but with the move last year that happened right when I would have been getting that stuff ready, there just wasn’t time to get it all prepared before it all got packed up.

That led me to start thinking through the next school year, which starts in June for us, and making lists of what I’ll need to buy to complete the curriculum I’m planning to use for Holden.  You’ll notice I didn’t say “and Haylee.”  That’s because this is Haylee’s LAST year of homeschooling.  Pretty soon, I’ll be registering her for public school here, as she’ll be starting high school in the fall.  I believe very strongly in sending my kids to public high school.  I think it’s an important experience for them to have, not only to try out different subjects, clubs, and sports to find out what they are most interested in, but also to experience other people in the world who are different from them…not only diversity, but also different personalities and backgrounds…good and bad.  You see, I’d rather they experience that while still at home with me, where I can help guide them through the shock of it.  It’s territory that is all new to them. 

I remember when Hayden first went to public high school.  His was a charter school for kids in an advanced program called IB, so that was a nice transition for him…smaller classes, hand-picked teachers, advanced classes…and mentors assigned to each student.  But because the charter school was inside of a regular high school, he still got exposed to a lot.  I remember his tales of fights in the lunch room, lockdowns, guns on students, and public displays of things that shouldn’t be public.  But as a whole, it was a good experience for him, and he learned how to deal effectively with people and situations that were new to him.  That’s what I want for all of my kids.  We can’t shelter them forever.

But as I began planning the homeschool year for Holden, I realized that it will very soon be just the two of us doing school together!  It has not been that way for such a long, long time.  It reminds me of my early days of homeschooling only Hayden.  How strange that will be!  But in a way, it will also be kind of nice.  I hope to make the year more fun…to do some field trips and get some “extras” that will make learning fun again.  Because of his ADHD, he really needs the extra attention and the lack of distraction of another student in the house, so it will probably be a positive change for him in terms of his learning.  This is the period where it was most difficult with Hayden, too.  Post-puberty, the ADHD symptoms improve so much, but this is the crucial time where I need to adapt the approach and make it work for him so he establishes good work habits for the years to come.

I just have 4 more years of homeschooling to go before Holden heads off to public high school himself!  That seems so surreal to me.  I’ve been at this job for 15 years now!  So as I enter this transition stage of winding down from homeschooling, I realize it won’t be long before the next stage comes of not homeschooling at all, and soon after, perhaps being an empty nester!  Life is changing all too quickly now.  Where did the years go?  I shed a little tear for the changes to come…how I miss my babies in all their cuteness, learning and growing and discovering new things every day!  But alas, God tells us there is a season for all things, so I realize there are new things in store for us just around the corner!

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Driving and Cell Phone Use

How do you feel about people using cell phones while driving, be it talking or texting?  I don’t think there’s any doubt that it splits the driver’s attention and poses a risk to those around them.  In Virginia, it wasn’t illegal unless you were an under age driver, but it was certainly discouraged.  I can remember being annoyed with people on the highway who were talking away and driving 10-15 miles under the speed limit, or texting as they swerved all over their lane (and sometimes between two lanes). 

When we arrived in Texas last summer, I noticed right away all the signs in school zones noting big fines for using a cell phone in a flashing school zone.  But then in the fall, they passed new legislation making texting anywhere in TX illegal.  You can talk and use hands-free options, GPS navigation, etc., unless your city or county prohibits it.  You are allowed to use it at a stop light, but not while the vehicle is in motion, and big fines have been set up for any offenses of this no-texting-and-driving law.

Case in point, just tonight, my oldest son was riding around the neighborhood on his little brother’s brand new bike…the one he got for his 10th birthday just 3 weeks ago!  He’s 18, but he hasn’t gotten a bike since we moved last summer, and he wanted to catch up with my husband and daughter who were out running together.  As he crossed from one side of a neighborhood street to the other, a car came off the main road making a left turn and hit him!  He slid on the road and got some road rash, and his little brother’s bike sort of fell apart because the joints came loose.  My husband was able to tighten it back up, except that the street took two big chunks out of the seat.  Ugh!  So get this…the driver stopped and checked to see if Hayden was okay…he was an EMT still wearing his name tag and carrying his medical bag.  He checked him out and said he thought it was only road rash.  And then he left!  He didn’t call and report the accident, he didn’t offer his name or info, he didn’t offer to pay to fix the bike, and Hayden was so shaken up that he didn’t think to get the license plate or take any pictures.  So he called me while I was out grocery shopping and told me about it, and I could hardly believe it!  So here is the kicker…the guy told Hayden he was talking on his cell phone while making the left turn and didn’t see him!  This is *exactly* why cell phone use should probably be prohibited while driving altogether, for either talking or texting.

So what are your thoughts?  Is cell phone use while driving allowed, restricted, or prohibited in your state?

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Word of the Year - 2018

So I’ve had some friends ask me what ONE word I would pick to describe what I envision for myself for 2018.  That was easy for me…CONTENTMENT.

My family went through so much change in 2017.  Our oldest son graduated from high school.  My husband took a new job in a new state and headed off there without us.  We searched for a house online and purchased it with a few stumbling blocks along the way, but the pieces came together in such a way that I felt it was meant to be.

I threw away half of what I owned, packed up my house with the help of my friends, and said goodbye to people I’ve known and treasured for most of my life.  I headed across the country with my 3 kids, 2 dogs, 3 turtles, 3 fish,20180110_151041 and a whole lot of faith that the Lord would see us through to the other side of this incredible journey before us.  We were blessed to stay with friends along the way, and we arrived safely at our destination after 3 long days of driving!  We trusted the house would be everything we hoped it would be, and we were not disappointed!  In fact, we've sat together many nights, wondering how we ended up with this whole new life in a totally new place in such a wonderful home with our whole family together.  I had a lot of emotions about leaving behind so many people I loved in VA, but I learned one thing when we got here and were reunited as a family:  Home is wherever we are together.  I liked that phrase so much that I made a sign in my word processor, printed it, colored it with pencils, and framed it to hang on my wall.

Since we’ve been here, I’ve had an overwhelming sense of peace and…well…contentment.  There’s that word.  By the end of the year, we had finished the renovations and repairs to our old house and turned it over for rental.  Just before Christmas, we were again blessed to have a tenant move in!  And at Thanksgiving, we learned that Hayden’s accident from the year before when he was struck on his bicycle by a van was settled out of court, and he received his settlement from that in early December.  Everything came together, and all the loose ends were tied up.  That left us free to feel as content as we wished to be for the new year!  Hayden’s settled into his first job, our homeschooling has continued without a hitch, Steve has settled into his new job, and we’ve settled into our new home.  Contentment reigns! 

I’m looking forward to this new year!  I’ve begun reading through the bible again chronologically, studying with my best friend in the world and discussing it as we go.  We’ve found little ways to keep in touch, and I’m thankful for that…true friendship continues, unhindered by the lack of physical presence.  That’s a blessing, too.

Contentment.  That’s my word for 2018.  What’s yours?

Monday, January 8, 2018

Special SchoolhouseTeachers.com Promotion!!!

Check out this special sale on the newly updated SchoolhouseTeachers.com website!  Click the image below for more details and to read the newest reviews of SchoolhouseTeachers.com from the Schoolhouse Review Crew!

Act now while this sale is on for the month of January!