Consider this a counter-post to the previous one:
1) Yesterday Penny turned three. She celebrated by throwing up in the middle of the night and getting chicken for dinner as a result.
2) I think I finally felt the baby move the other day. And I'm halfway done cooking him.
3) My youngest sister just got engaged! January has given a lot of genuine happiness to my family.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Budget woes
Today the proposed state budget came out. Looks like a lot of cuts, including, of course, education. This means schools, which means teachers, which may well mean me. I'm writing this in immediate response to this and the warning from my principal that cuts would be, in his words, "unprecedented". So while I've had to deal with this for the past four years, this year feels different for a number of reasons.
We all knew this was coming. Last year the school district barely squeaked by because we managed to raise taxes just enough to cover the deficit in spending. But now the governor has proposed a cap on how much to raise taxes...and I can't blame him. The state can't keep taxing everyone to death because it's so screwed up financially that the only way out is to gouge its citizens. I live in the county with the highest taxes in the COUNTRY. Don't think I don't know. Frustration just boils through, that it always seems as though education gets cut first instead of reorganizing and trimming fat from places we damn well know could lose some. Or a lot.
I'm scared. Being 34, a mom, and jobless doesn't fit well with my mental picture of my life. I know I'll land on my feet, but my position is at best precarious. I've played this game of Survivor and stayed on the island, to stretch the metaphor, so far. However, I've never had so much at stake before. We have a child coming, and I can't afford not to work. Yes, I'll find something--I'm qualified and have good references. T will get another job if he has to. But I don't mind expressing that the meantime doesn't feel good at all.
I will try very hard to work on what I can control. I've updated my resume. I'll stay calm. No more extraneous purchases. Keep baby healthy in utero. Particularly, I can focus on the rest of this school year and making damned sure I give those students everything I've got. Best of all, I'm not in any way in this alone. I have a wonderful support system in my husband, family, and friends, and we will come out of this.
I just have to remember that.
We all knew this was coming. Last year the school district barely squeaked by because we managed to raise taxes just enough to cover the deficit in spending. But now the governor has proposed a cap on how much to raise taxes...and I can't blame him. The state can't keep taxing everyone to death because it's so screwed up financially that the only way out is to gouge its citizens. I live in the county with the highest taxes in the COUNTRY. Don't think I don't know. Frustration just boils through, that it always seems as though education gets cut first instead of reorganizing and trimming fat from places we damn well know could lose some. Or a lot.
I'm scared. Being 34, a mom, and jobless doesn't fit well with my mental picture of my life. I know I'll land on my feet, but my position is at best precarious. I've played this game of Survivor and stayed on the island, to stretch the metaphor, so far. However, I've never had so much at stake before. We have a child coming, and I can't afford not to work. Yes, I'll find something--I'm qualified and have good references. T will get another job if he has to. But I don't mind expressing that the meantime doesn't feel good at all.
I will try very hard to work on what I can control. I've updated my resume. I'll stay calm. No more extraneous purchases. Keep baby healthy in utero. Particularly, I can focus on the rest of this school year and making damned sure I give those students everything I've got. Best of all, I'm not in any way in this alone. I have a wonderful support system in my husband, family, and friends, and we will come out of this.
I just have to remember that.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
The new ride
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Wednesday, January 26, 2011
A dog's life
I haven't blogged about Penny in a while. I think it's ok to entertain you with Penny Tales.
My dearest Pen loves, loves, LOVES the winter. This has upsides and downsides. Watching her run around like a fuzzy little bullet, blazing her way through the drifts and burying her snout in the snow just to look excitedly at me as if to say, "HI! Mama, this is the best thing EVER! Nowigodoitagainagainagain!!!!!", makes me laugh with delight. However, once we get her home, as you have seen, getting the snowy crust off her wee legs and tummy takes quite some time. She looks like The Thing from the Fantastic Four, only with snow. Inevitably she has to spend time thawing in the back room until we finally let her small, damp self out.
She then goes to find a bit of couch to dry out, curled up in a Pennyball. However, I don't want Her Sogginess on our nice furniture, so I drape towels on the cushions for her to lie on. Inevitably, she will manage to get to the one place I didn't cover and snuggle riiiiight...there.
As we tell her at least three times a day, what a rough, rough life she leads.
My dearest Pen loves, loves, LOVES the winter. This has upsides and downsides. Watching her run around like a fuzzy little bullet, blazing her way through the drifts and burying her snout in the snow just to look excitedly at me as if to say, "HI! Mama, this is the best thing EVER! Nowigodoitagainagainagain!!!!!", makes me laugh with delight. However, once we get her home, as you have seen, getting the snowy crust off her wee legs and tummy takes quite some time. She looks like The Thing from the Fantastic Four, only with snow. Inevitably she has to spend time thawing in the back room until we finally let her small, damp self out.
She then goes to find a bit of couch to dry out, curled up in a Pennyball. However, I don't want Her Sogginess on our nice furniture, so I drape towels on the cushions for her to lie on. Inevitably, she will manage to get to the one place I didn't cover and snuggle riiiiight...there.
As we tell her at least three times a day, what a rough, rough life she leads.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
pictures of my new niece!
Here you go!
Mommy and baby
Proud parents
Baby feet!
Little C
Uncle T and his niece
Mommy and baby
Proud parents
Baby feet!
Little C
Uncle T and his nieceOh, boy....
Item 1: Good thing I didn't take a picture of our new bedroom light because T has whacked his head on it several times, so it's moving to my office and we'll get one that's more flush to the ceiling.
Item 2: MY SISTER M HAD HER BABY YESTERDAY!!!!! Hah! I totally fooled you about the mundane nature of this post! Baby girl C is absolutely beautiful and already lifts her wee head up and looks strikingly like my sister. I will post pictures ASAP. I have a ton. On another note, I sincerely hope my labor goes as well and quickly as M's did. Everyone looked elated and a bit tired, as one would expect.
Item 3: We're having a boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We meant to wait until we got to dinner to open some silly envelope, but please. We had to know then and there. Fortunately his little bait and tackle were right there to see. Now I just have to compromise with T, who wants to paint the baby's room in Buffalo Sabres colors. :-)
Never did a Monday hold so much utter and complete happiness.
Pictures to follow!
Item 2: MY SISTER M HAD HER BABY YESTERDAY!!!!! Hah! I totally fooled you about the mundane nature of this post! Baby girl C is absolutely beautiful and already lifts her wee head up and looks strikingly like my sister. I will post pictures ASAP. I have a ton. On another note, I sincerely hope my labor goes as well and quickly as M's did. Everyone looked elated and a bit tired, as one would expect.
Item 3: We're having a boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We meant to wait until we got to dinner to open some silly envelope, but please. We had to know then and there. Fortunately his little bait and tackle were right there to see. Now I just have to compromise with T, who wants to paint the baby's room in Buffalo Sabres colors. :-)
Never did a Monday hold so much utter and complete happiness.
Pictures to follow!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
This awesome house
Hi. HI! How've you been? Me? Thanks for asking. Weeeell, this was a trying week because I got a cold. (Big deal. Blow your nose, drug up, and move on.) Weeeeell, not so much. According to my gorgeous, wonderful, brilliant OB, I could indeed take certain types of cold medicine, including Tylenol PM. This helped. Tremendously. The downside is that my little system doesn't have quite the immunity it usually does, so this sucker has lasted me the entire week. Fortunately, misery loves company, and T had it all week as well. Plus, I have found that I get a heck of a lot of sympathy and extra kindness for being pregnant. I don't take it for granted, but I won't deny it if it's given.... I figure I tend to push myself pretty hard most of the rest of the time, so taking nine months of my life to take it somewhat easy is acceptable.
On a much lighter note, last week we did some great around-the-house stuff that, while not major, made major changes. I realize how I've come to a certain point in my life where light fixtures and sofas and faucets can make my week, which I never saw happening. But then, I never thought I'd get excited about going to bed at 9pm. Does that mean I'm a grown-up? At any rate, we've had the same light fixtures since we moved in, meaning the previous owners' choices. I think they got those lights sometime during Reagan's presidency. His first term. [Shudder] But we pooled our Christmas money and got new overhead lights for the kitchen, T's man room, and our bedroom. I don't know if you've ever done this for yourselves, but it changed the whole dynamic. They're glorious. It's as if we repainted the rooms. Here! I'll show you! (I don't have comparison shots; I'm sorry. We threw them out. Trust that they were ugly.)
new kitchen lights
new den lights
So shiny! Now we have a working sprayer and a soap-dispenser!
I feel like a Rockefeller!
Finally, the new sleeper sofa. We inherited one from my stepdad R which is now going to go to a charitable cause at school. It had a good, long life, but we figured since the guest room will now become the baby's room, we need a nice new sleeper for guests--and it's downstairs away from a potentially crying baby (or parent, depending on how long the baby's kept us up). This sofa is a gorgeous, buttery, dark brown and it looks perfect in the room:
Doesn't it look nice against the red?
Not bad, huh?
P.S. My sister M is due THIS WEDNESDAY and we find out the sex of our baby TOMORROW.
On a much lighter note, last week we did some great around-the-house stuff that, while not major, made major changes. I realize how I've come to a certain point in my life where light fixtures and sofas and faucets can make my week, which I never saw happening. But then, I never thought I'd get excited about going to bed at 9pm. Does that mean I'm a grown-up? At any rate, we've had the same light fixtures since we moved in, meaning the previous owners' choices. I think they got those lights sometime during Reagan's presidency. His first term. [Shudder] But we pooled our Christmas money and got new overhead lights for the kitchen, T's man room, and our bedroom. I don't know if you've ever done this for yourselves, but it changed the whole dynamic. They're glorious. It's as if we repainted the rooms. Here! I'll show you! (I don't have comparison shots; I'm sorry. We threw them out. Trust that they were ugly.)
new kitchen lights
new den lightsWe don't have the bedroom light up yet, but I'm sure it will be life-changing as well. We also had help from a handyman at T's work who helped (IE did almost everything because we don't know doodly about it) us redo the plumbing for the kitchen sink--good thing, because the old metal pipes leaked and were so soft that T could squeeze them and dent them with his hand. We also got new fixtures:
So shiny! Now we have a working sprayer and a soap-dispenser!I feel like a Rockefeller!
Finally, the new sleeper sofa. We inherited one from my stepdad R which is now going to go to a charitable cause at school. It had a good, long life, but we figured since the guest room will now become the baby's room, we need a nice new sleeper for guests--and it's downstairs away from a potentially crying baby (or parent, depending on how long the baby's kept us up). This sofa is a gorgeous, buttery, dark brown and it looks perfect in the room:
Doesn't it look nice against the red?Not bad, huh?
P.S. My sister M is due THIS WEDNESDAY and we find out the sex of our baby TOMORROW.
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