autumnreign (original) (raw)
Tue, Oct. 26th, 2010, 10:52 am
So, as most of you know, Tim and I are without income. We're not like...Starvin Marvin poor, but like almost Kenny poor. Thankfully my parents, and food stamps are helping to keep us from having to eat creamed corn, creamed corn, and uh...creamed corn.
Now, having no money to speak of would not be so bad were we not in the process of raising a preteen girl. I am not bragging when I tell you that my 12 year old daughter is nearly perfect in every way and deserves more than just the satisfaction of a job well done.
She cleans her room every day with minimal reminders. She never whines about having to do homework. When something is bothering her she is open and honest about it without being rude. She readily helps out around the house and even has FUN washing floors. She is eager to learn, polite, respectful, loving, and mature for her age. This kid has earned an allowance many times over, and we can't afford to give her one. She at least deserves the opportunity to earn one.
Preteen girls need spending money. They need the freedom and opportunity to buy ridiculous and frivolous things like hot-pink lipstick that tastes like gatorade or glow-in-the-dark nailpolish or pick out their own clothes, or just go out for ice-cream with friends without being a mooch.
So I've thought allot about it and the only way I can see for this to happen is if she earns her money herself. I have her at home for homeschooling, so I thought why not use our art lesson to make something she can sell on Etsy? I could set her up with her own account and the money would all go to her to use as she pleases.
It's the only solution I can think of. Do you think it'll work?
Sat, Oct. 9th, 2010, 11:39 am
So living with my parents is not half as rocky as I thought it was going to be. WHile I feel awful that we're taking up space mom had set aside for guests and office/craft space, I have to say now that we're settled, we're all getting along really well. I do think Mom and Ember and I all need to find a way to have more free time though. We're working too hard with this homeschooling thing. We need to scale it back a bit.
But my Dad is getting to know Tam allot better and learning that they are more alike than he ever thought. Mom is still uncomfortable with my choice of religious beliefs and likely will be until the day she dies. But she's learned to be more respectful of it, and not try to step on my toes where Amber is concerned - also Amber's at an age now where I don't mind her learning what Grandma has to teach because I've already got a good foundation in place for her and where Amber takes it from here is ultimately up to her.
My Dad is re-living my childhood through my daughter, and both my parents keep calling her by my name. That's okay though. As long as I get to see him smile again it's all good with me. Occasionally I get a little jealous because I can't make my Daddy smile like that anymore, but I need to take it all with a grain of salt. We all know old grumpy men are suckers for their little girl. I'm just not his little girl anymore.
Today we're going to the pumpkin festival - another of many outings my dad has planned for us since we moved in. When he originally invited us we said "Sure that sounds nice! Amber won't be here (she was spending the night at her cousins) but we'd love to go." Dad's face fell and looked grumpy again and he said "Oh well there's no point in going if Amber's not gonna be here..." So we had to work out a way for her to be able to come.
That tweaked a nerve but I'll get over it. I'm sure we'll all have a great time today. It's a beautiful day and the Autumn winds are blowing strong. We woke up to warm pancakes and bacon this morning. We're going to see jack-o-lanterns lite up the night. It's gonna be a great day.
Fri, Oct. 8th, 2010, 09:15 am
Right, so now that I've gotten my rant out of the way;
I've been homeschooling my daughter. I've had lots of help and yet, I feel nearly overwhelmed. It's a full time job. I think we're doing a really good job with her but I can't help but notice that my own plans and activities for myself have dropped off the map completely.
I have had a sculpture sitting half finished for three months. I keep forgetting to go to my belly-dance classes. I haven't had time to look for a job. My clean laundry is in a pile rather than put away and I haven't yet gone to inquire at the college about scholarships.
I will admit that the laundry part is mainly due to my SL playing at night, but as for the rest of it - I just haven't found the time and at the end of the day I don't have the energy. I have thought about it and I know all this would be easier if I just sent my daughter to the public school, but I know that would just be selfish. She can't learn there what I can teach her here. I would be sacrificing her well-being and future potential for my own.
I just have to figure out how to manage my time better so that I can do both
somehow....
Thu, Oct. 7th, 2010, 09:34 am
So I've started homeschooling my daughter....
Let's back up and do a little catch-up:
My husband and I lost our jobs and then our house. We were fortunately welcomed into my parents home and we're living here until we can get back on our feet. The unfortunate part is that my parents house is in the Nashua school district. Having experienced that first hand I decided that I would teach my daughter at home so that she would learn something other than the fact that big kids like to beat up little kids. My mother, a retired teacher, is helping me as is my husband who is teaching her computer.
Now before you protest (if you were planning to), I have already heard all the arguments in existence against homeschooling. I myself was home-schooled during this time in my life and I found it very beneficial. Also, I'm working with the local public school to enroll her in chorus and sports and drama, so worry not, she's getting plenty of social exposure.
Ember as an individual has some serious attention issues when she's trying to learn in a group, and this is compounded by the fact that most other kids find her personality quirks rather odd and take pleasure in picking on her during class while she's trying to learn. I want my daughter to actually be able to learn and grow intellectually. She isn't able to do this in a public school setting. I plan to return her to public school once she's reached the high-school grades so that I don't in any way jeopardize her college career, and also I'm sure that by that time the other kids will have matured enough that she'll be able to relate to them.
Yes, I'm aware that this all sounds very snotty. If you work in a public school, please don't take it as an insult. You do your best with what you have to work with.
I'll write more later but it's time to teach health class. Until next time.
Mon, Jun. 22nd, 2009, 11:40 am
rain...rain.......more rain.....
Well it looks like NEXT week might finally be sunny. I've managed to get Amber practicing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on her violin this morning, so I feel like we're off to a good start for the summer \o/ ! Mom's coming over Thursday so I imagine we'll end up doing stuff in the basement since the forecast for that day is thunderstorms. Course if she doesn't feel comfortable driving out in a thunderstorm it's okay. I hope she really enjoys her religous retreat this week. The rest of today will be spent on putting away laundry(that mom was kind enough to do for us since our washing machine is broken), doing dishes, maybe visiting with neighbors, and then grocery shopping after Tim comes home. I've reactivated my facebook but I'm still nervous about it. YES I'm paranoid, I admit it, but there you go.
Fri, Jun. 12th, 2009, 01:03 pm
I have this huge victorian dollhouse waiting for me at the Nixons abode. I would love to take it home and put it in my basement to toy with it until it surpasses perfection but my basement, despite the recent leak-fix (thank you Karl) sadly does still mold and rust things.
I was simply going to build this dollhouse and make it all pretty as one tends to do with dollhouses....but....my recent interest in steam-punkedness has led me want to turn said dollhouse into a tiny mad-scientists victorian steam-punk mansion. In my head it is a beautiful thing. Will it ever happen? I don't know...but wouldn't that be just awsome?
Thu, Jun. 4th, 2009, 12:17 pm
So I'm spending the weekend at Jay and Cat's, starting tomorrow. My daughter's going out of state with Grandma and Grandpa to visit family. But before anyone goes anywhere I have to get my yard ready to be inspected by the Fire Chief so we can get our yearly permit for our firebowl.
This means MOWING THE LAWN as it is waist height and probably would make the Fire Chief very nervous. I hope I have enough gas to do the whole thing.
Of course my daughter and I are in love with the wildflowers that grow in out yard so I have to mow circles around patches of pretty purple daisies and little "fireflowers" to keep the fairies happy. :D
I don't mind the mowing so much, but by the time I'm done mowing I'm usually too tired to rake up the clippings. Oh well.
So my garden is making a come-back....mainly because I planted all new seeds cause the first batch bombed due to my neglect. Tam asked me to plant indian corn but it looks like none of that is going to survive. :( I may have to sneak out and buy a new packet of that to try again. I need to replace my mums and rosemary anyway.
Oh wait. That's right. We have no money.
Well hey....Anybody got some mums or rosemary or indian corn seeds I can have? I can trade you bib lettuce! And maybe a watermelon plant or a cucumber plant! How about a carton of fresh organic eggs from our chickens? They're BLUE! I mean come on, you can't beat that.
Fri, May. 29th, 2009, 02:43 pm
Yeah so apparently the fancy computerized tax forms they made my husband use at work in 2007 failed to file my income at all. Yeah.
So umm, we suddenly owe the IRS $3,635.
yeah....
Well the good news is that we have the money to pay it - just barely.
The bad news is that we're going to need to use all the money we saved for Ember for college.
Tue, May. 19th, 2009, 10:07 am
Oh my gods I'm SO not ready!!!
What the hell am I gonna do I haven't finished ANYTHING!
I still gotta call Andy and pack and shop and sew and shit I never got my hair cut and gods I'm so unprepared!
*pants*
What am I worried about? We'll make it there by the skin of our teeth, forget half our shit and still have a great time - as usual.
Duh.
It's Creathorne.
I knew that.
Fri, Dec. 26th, 2008, 08:02 am
For those of you that didn't get the Myspace Bulletin, I'm inviting anyone who cares to come to my birthday party tomorrow on the 27th at my house. Show up anytime after noon and stay as late as you like. Bring food or drinks if you like. Bring your kids if you need to. Ours will be here. Messege me back if you need directions or whatnot. Love you all.