Week 13: Will school ever start back?

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I just dreaded school this whole week. I know that sounds like a broken record but I did. I need tomorrow to get here so at least the dread will go away. It's so stressful. I did have a lot of random things go on this week so I was distracted a little.

Friday I had dog kennels poured. That was a project he was working on and had already talked about so I did it. Since the kennels were already coming I had the guys doing it pour a walkway to my front door as well. It's never mattered but now so many people stop by (which is nice) that sometimes my underwear are in the laundry room in front of unsuspecting folks. Haha. You have to go through it if you come in through the garage so I'm hoping the walkway will be a deterrent for garage entry now. I did wonder how many people would judge my walkway and kennels as me "just spending money" so I didn't tell anyone except a handful of people. It wouldn't matter that we had talked about it and planned accordingly. That is a frustrating thing to worry about. Why does it matter to people? These aren't people who worry about me financially. People who know me well worry about that the least. It's just talking. It happens everywhere so I know y'all know what I mean.

I also decided to go ahead and buy myself a new vehicle. This is not a decision I made lightly. We had talked for a year about getting something bigger while going through options. We knew what we wanted so when I decided to take the plunge it was easy as far as that was concerned. I still have all of the same reasons for needing it other than one person being in it. We had been putting money back for it and planned to purchase right after the kids got out of school. It just took me a little longer. It is a huge change since I've driven the same car for 15 years and I HATE to spend money. I really do. All jokes aside, it breaks my heart. Lol. I spent Friday evening at the dealership. It was my first big purchase alone. They did have to transfer a vehicle so I couldn't pick it up until Monday but everything was handled Friday. It was a little stressful but it went great. The only thing I didn't get was black wheels and since anyone who knows TJ knows how big of a deal that would be to him I'm going to spend the little bit extra and get some so we can have exactly what we wanted. I do what I can. 😀

Saturday I went school shopping again with a friend and his kids. I learned school shopping is stressful no matter who you are. Haha. I had to pick up a gift card for one of my best friends' son since his party was the next day. Normally I'm the fun gifter but he's growing like a weed and needs lots of clothes and to throw away some toys like every other kid I know so I got what he needed. The party was the next day and my whole crew was there so I didn't freak out once. Even when it got rained out and the crowd packed inside I held it together. Okay, there was one time I laughed at a kid that fell down but I don't think that counts. And yes, it was funny. Had it been an adult I may have laughed even harder. Kid was fine by the way. I'm not heartless. Isn't the birthday boy precious? 💙

Monday was truck day! I'm not a bells and whistles kind of person but I do love the satellite radio. Of course it rained while I was driving it home. I learned the buttons and knobs real quick. Need those wipers! Lol. I was so apprehensive about spending the money on it that I couldn't get very excited about it. Sad I know. Plus I didn't post it anywhere because of people talking about my spending habits. I just didn't feel like justifying my purchase to a thousand different people. Even with all of that, Tuesday morning when the kids got home and L2 said, "Mom! It's like a spaceship in here. Dad would love this thing!," I managed to get excited. 

I also found the best picture of a memory from 4 years ago on Timehop that day so it was an especially happy morning. 

Yesterday I flooded my laundry room. I washed actual carpet that had been ripped out of the floor of my linen closet by someone who didn't even ask (it was fine and funny) because something had gotten spilled and soured. Carpet lets so many fibers go in the washer that it wouldn't drain. I figured out what to do last time this happened so that wasn't an issue. The issue was it was a 3 person job the last time and now there was just me. So I drained it. It flooded. I threw tons of clean towels in the floor to soak up dirty water. I cussed. I mopped. I cussed some more. I threw all the wet stuff in the mudsink, started washing loads of nasty wet stuff, and then I cussed a little more. Before you ask, yes, it did make me feel better. 

After that catastrophe we had errands to run so we did those and got to L1's Open House about 5:45. We met all of his teachers and they seemed great. Since his aunt teaches at the school he's going to this year we're hoping that if he does have a bad day he can escape to her long enough to calm down and gather himself. He's pretty excited about that. I think he really is afraid he'll have a breakdown in front of people. It has happened once before and he hated it. Dinner and bed came quickly after all the Open House excitement. They have got to get on a normal schedule again. Ugh. 

Today was L2's Open House. I wasn't worried about her at all. Her age makes her much more resilient the rest of us. It makes me sad for her every time I think about how much she won't remember but it also makes me glad that she isn't going through exactly what we are. She's a sun in the dark for me sometimes. We got school supplies together during the day so we were ready to go when it was time. I even managed to help a friend with some baby shower decorations. It's nice to help and have something productive to do. 

Another week down. Tomorrow is the big day. Send up some prayers or vibes or whatever you think will help because I can tell you now it's going to suck.

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Week 12
Week 14

Paperwork Chaos Undone.

My kids started back to school earlier this month. They are loving it. My 4 year old, Bacon, seems to love everything about Pre-K but she especially loves the bus. I never let my 8 year old, B, ride the bus before, but since his sister wanted to this year we decided to try letting them ride it home. My anxiety level was through the roof for the first week but I've gotten over it now. They enjoy it and honestly it saves us some time and hassle. It comes by much too early in the morning for them to ride it to school. Thankfully B is liking the 3rd grade. He changed schools this year to a MUCH better district and it seems to have done him well. A huge difference is this school actually sends home paperwork. Looots of paperwork. Mix that with the mail that has been coming in and I've got a mess. Staying at the MILs is helpful money wise but we don't have a lot of space. One bedroom for us, one for the kids to share.

The kids have a good setup and have done surprisingly well in the same room.

Our pit bull, Roscoe, LOVES to photobomb. You'll probably see a lot of him.

Here he is again. At least he takes some of the attention off the mess.

I can't seem to break the hubby's habit of dropping everything right beside the bed, including his horde of Girl Scout cookies. (He's a Thin Mint junkie.)

Our YorkiePoo, Baylor. She does not sleep with us. Our dogs are inside but aren't allowed on the furniture. As you can see, she got an opportunity and sneaked right into Dad's spot.

As you can see we've done well with the space provided. Other than the t-shirts my husband refuses to throw anywhere but everywhere and the desk. Oh, the desk. It has been the bane of my existence for the past month and I have been ignoring hoping it would just clean itself. Didn't happen. So I took all the papers off and got them in a pile.

This is just part of them. They're everywhere.

That is what I got. That doesn't include all the papers I've been storing at work and in my purse. Papers everywhere. I also have refund checks from every bill we had. This is good news for us. My system of paying every 4 weeks instead of once a month has paid off. Woohoo! Maybe a post on budgeting sometime... Anyway, then I went shopping for supplies. Let me tell you, I'm a cheap shopper. If I can find a deal, that's what I'm doing. 

My steps were this: 

1. I got 2 plastic milk crates (1green, 1pink)! from Walmart for $3.97 each. I also "borrowed" some recycled file folders and tabs from my office. (My boss is great.) 

2. Decided to make one file for each grade per kid. 

3. I make binder covers every year, so I printed off an extra copy to put in the front of each file in case the tab pops off.

Bacon's binder cover this year. She loves
purple and stars.

B's binder cover this year. He loves
green and skulls.

4. I made tabs for the folders.

5. I put a couple of folders in each crate with tabs on them labeled with their current grade.

6. I put an extra folder in one crate so that we can put our paperwork in it while we're at the MILs. I'll move it to my normal filing spot when we get settled. 

My baby's first tag from school ever. *tear* We picked them up every day for the 1st week. 

The crates look empty but at the moment  they both only have one month of one grade in them. I figure that by 12th grade they'll be full.I thought about getting a box with a lid but for now it's more convenient to just drop stuff in. I may change later on. If so, I'm sure I'll still be able to find a use for these crates. I'm much happier with this than the method of "throw it on the desk and hope you can find it later".

Look at these little almost empty crates. B's will be half full by the time I put his paperwork from the past 4 years in it.

One big HUGE upcoming project for me is to create a homework command center. The kids aren't big enough yet to worry with a family command center. I know where they are at all times no matter what and I keep track of all appointments on my phone. But the homework command center will be a big help I think. Bacon brings home a monthly homework calendar and B has a weekly one in conjunction with the daily assignments he has to write down in his planner. They also have different lunch menus and memos from their schools, so I think one place to keep all of it central will be great. We'll see I guess.

**Afterthought: Isn't it CRAZY how much homework kids have these days? He has as much in 3rd grade as I did when I was in high school. Sometimes I just feel like they don't get to be kids anymore.**

-jFree