Normalcy Recovering

Last Friday we went through the heat treatment on the home and there were some causalities. I had forgotten to take out the plants so I called and asked them to remove the plants but all they grabbed was my parsley and forgot Katherine's cacti so two of them died though one survived so now I'm on a hunt to replace them exactly. The blinds in the kids rooms warped though are still usable but the blinds in my room will have to be replaced and our vertical blinds in the living room warped so we will have to have those replaced. The plants in the front yard near where they brought in the tubes were nearly burnt to a crisp those plants included were my sage, lavender and my mum. I'm waiting to see what happens to those plants and not doing any trimming because it appears about half of each plant was okay so I'm hoping they recover. And we had one picture fall breaking the frame glass but the picture was fine other then being slightly crinkled in a couple places.

Today was pretty much a bust for me. I took the kids to Summer Camp and then got the grocery shopping done and started unpacking a few boxes of the items we could not heat treat (chemicals, make up and medicines mostly) and then had lunch with Peter. Our eat out budget has completely been blown apart with everything going on it was just too much hassle to attempt to cook. I then took a nap expecting about my normal 20 min but slept for 2 hours! Peter said I needed the sleep because we've been so busy over the last couple weeks that no one has rested well. I got the kids this evening and then took them out for new shoes for school which I found out Brielle went up 2 shoe sizes this summer! I had no idea because she never complained about her shoes being tight but I did notice she walked in them funny and they had been torn up pretty good so it was time. I let the girls pick out one new outfit for school they have lots of clothes but going to school in a brand new outfit is always a nice way to start off the school year. When I got home we made breakfast for dinner and the girls decided it was pancakes this time instead of biscuits with gravy. I was able to get the dishes done and clean the stove and almost have caught up on washing the laundry but haven't even attempted folding it all yet as I settled down to a couple shows with Peter.

We had planned a trip to Holiday World next Monday as a way to go have some fun before school started but it looks like it will be moved to next Tuesday instead because I was going through my date planner and realized I had both the girls down for eye exams next Monday.

This Thursday I take both kids down to their registrations at their schools to get schedules and meet their teachers. I'm sure I will be ran ragged because I can't take the day off and the registration times over lap horribly so I'll be running from one place to another with them.

In all this fuss I haven't been able to practice my belly dancing and we will be having our last class of this session and I really liked this routine so I'm sad to see this session end. The sad thing is is that out of 8 classes I was only able to attend 5 of them thankfully though I can save up unused classes and I'll use them for the next session.

In the end I just have to wonder how all these super moms do it with working 40+ hrs a week and here I am working half of that and I still can't seem to find my sanity. I'm going to try and stick with this weeks menu the best I can because we need to cut down on our eating out again and work on eating at home and saving money again.

It is hard to put yourself back in the mind frame of not having much after taking the financial hit that the heat treatment caused us but I know we can pull through it. We have a little savings left so we can rebuild and if push comes to shove we do have a line of credit open that we have never used because we would rather pay with cash up front than worry about high interest rates and a new bill hanging over our heads.

Lately I've been dealing with my van it sounds like I need to get the A/C looked at it again though the last time it cost quite a bit of money so I'm holding off and all this heat has caused the headliner by the windshield to separate from the roof so I've been having to use adhesive spray but it was so hot that even that separated the first time I did it. I'm hoping this time it doesn't come apart again.

Eventually things will get back to normal and I know after the treatment Peter's stress has dropped but I also know I have a lot of work still left to do and once I get caught up it'll be about time to start another project around the house.

Mental Struggle of a Working Mom

I go to a great deal of other blogs for crafting ideas and shopping deals but for those sites that also include articles either by themselves or from readers I'm starting to notice a resounding theme: Well you should have time to do this...
And the 'this' is coming from stay-at-home parents. I'm not saying that stay-at-home parents do absolutely nothing heck during this clean out of the house I found my old chore list with times and days of week that I had when I was a stay-at-home parent and I was doing 8 hours of work on the house every day other than Saturday and Sunday. I used to dedicate 6 hrs a week just in couponing. I'm not saying that stay-at-home parents don't work but I am saying they aren't burdened with the same kind of work. They don't have the demands of those that work around them and then the demands of the household. They don't have to worry about being at their building, seat, or position right on time and work for hours on end for things that don't help the household other than that paycheck once a week or every few weeks depending on your pay schedule.
Now I have been blessed because I do have pretty flexible hours and I only have to work 20 hours a week. But, it is because I am blessed in that manner that the budget, chores, shopping, children and appointments are on my plate. Things are not split up so when a person says, "You should get more sleep" I get annoyed because I would love to get more sleep but then I have to let something else go in my life. I hate it when I hear, "You should exercise more" because I've tried to work it into my schedule and again I have to let things fall.
In the end it comes down to priorities. I always learned that if you want to stay healthy, happy and save money then you need to take care of the things you have. That means trying to keep up with the household which is no easy task. Some people put exercise ahead of the household chores which is fine that is what is best for them. It is the people who do not have a traditional job and then act like the rest of us should have time for spending time with our kids, keeping our house clean, exercising, making home cooked meals every night.... it is those people that have been grating on my nerves.
When I'm at work I think about what I need to do at home and when I'm at home I am consumed with thoughts of work. It's a never ending struggle and I just want to pull my hair out. I just wish people would recognize the struggles of the primary care giver that also works.
Well that was my entire break at work (means I don't get a cigarette which is a good thing because I really need to try and get back to quitting) so back to work with me and I hope I haven't offended too many people.

Fun, Chaos and Embarrassment

The family went on our yearly vacation out to the North Carolina beach this year but before that the chaos had started. Let me first go over the highlights of the good stuff before diving into what has been hell.

 This is the Currituck Lighthouse.
Peter and I love climbing lighthouses and can't wait until the girls get a little bit older and we can have them start climbing them with us. It had its charm to be sure.

Peter and I then went on the short walk and saw deer and other wildlife that live on the outer banks and just generally enjoyed being able to spend some time together.


























On the last day of our trip we took the kids to the Wright Brothers National Museum and I wish I would have thought of going there sooner because there are always so many Ranger led activities. Anytime to plan to make a trip near a National Park find out what they are offering for the kids!

Both of the children became honorary Park Rangers and took an oath. There was a lot of hard questions we had to go around the Museum and even all the way up to the monument on a very hot day. It was worth it though but we we were all grateful for the water fountain after.

To wrap up our trip Peter and I left the kids with the grandparents and took a night walk on the beach and then up onto the pier and sat down and just looked out into the pure blackness that was the sea and the sky though there was no telling which one was which. 

We spent every day down on the beach for some amount of time as I had made that my goal this year. This is a picture with my kids and my nephew and niece who I also took down with us one day. 

We also went down to the beach to watch the fireworks for the 4th of July although parking was horrible and we drove up and down the street trying to find a spot and ended up in an old shut down restaurant parking lot about half a mile away from where we dropped everyone off the show was definitely worth it. 

That was our summer vacation for 2012. 

What did we leave before we went on vacation... oh well that's where things get messy. 

I had floor damage in my bathroom so we decided to remodel. We are only now almost done tomorrow the trim goes up on the tub, we need to change the piping on the tub faucet and need to re-level the toilet but truthfully for what we've been through that's not much. 

The new floor got down before we left and we had glued up the sides of the shower but this was by no means a little job and it ended up being a big pain. We had to do the piping 4 times! And we had no water for 5 days in the house. By the way PEX does not work with pipe glue did you know that? We do now.

 Over all this turned out to be $1000 project but we have paid for some labor to be done just because Peter and I are so limited with time and sometimes the willpower to get things done.






This is our new bathroom:

Toliet is back and fresh coat of paint with the new floor.
 I was able to find a light set up like my old one so I just had to change the face plate. Nothing is yet on the walls here though that has changed now. We also changed the faucet.

Our new bathtub surround and faucet. 

I'm happy with my new bathroom. 

Now on to the Embarrassment part. 

Right before we left on vacation we found a bed bug! Now a friend of ours had had bed bugs but we had thought everyone was taking all the precautions not to spread them so before we left we tore the house apart and started spraying. When we got home from vacation we found yet another bed bug. In the end we found six of these bugs around our house and it was enough to prompt us to get pest control out here. On the 27th we will be heating up the house to 140 degrees or I should say the pest control service will so we are currently in the process of tearing apart the house once more to unclutter it, throw things away and to collect everything that may melt or explode or catch fire while the house is brought up to temp and kept there. We will not be able to return to our home for 8 hours and even then they warned us it may still be unbearably hot. It is hard to admit these bugs got into my home because while I'm disorganized I do try to keep things clean but the truth is it doesn't matter how clean or dirty you live they will like your blood no matter what. It has taken a chunk of our emergency fund and we no longer associate with that particular friend but I am just looking towards the future and us finally being able to get our lives back.