The Week In Review

 I have to admit, this past week wasn't all too exciting. I did my weekly grocery shopping, cut the grass (which is already growing by leaps and bounds thanks to the rain we got yesterday), went to church...oh, and I got my first haircut in 7 months. 

I know, yikes! It's one of those things I constantly put off, partly because of time and partly because y'all, it's expensive to get a haircut in South Florida. I had my favorite hairdresser that I've gone to for 15 years, but clearly I'm not driving four hours one way to get a $70+ haircut. Instead, I took advantage of the NextDoor app and looked at who was popular and being recommended. I found a place that's very close to home and was able to make an appointment online.

Now, I'm not gonna lie, it's a very simple cut. Nothing fancy or elaborate. But in South Florida, the cheapest I ever paid for a haircut just like this was $54. Plus tip. Here in Central Florida, I paid $27. That includes tax and tip. At that price, it doesn't hurt my pocketbook if I want to go to the hairdresser more often.

I never heard back from the company I interviewed at, so the job search continues. It's disappointing whenever you're sitting around waiting and all you get is crickets. But I prefer not to dwell on it and trust that God has it all planned out. 

The temperatures have taken a drastic turn. We moved to Central Florida in April, and the weather was absolute perfection. Lows in the 50's, highs in the 70's. Humidity was low; we could go for walks in the park and come home not dripping in sweat. Then June came, and not only have our temps climbed into the low to mid 90's, the humidity (especially the dew points) has risen, to where it becomes oppressive to be outside for too long. I'll be glad whenever this summer weather is over. That, and hurricane season. Ugh.

That's about it for this week in review. Hope everyone has a blessed week.   

The Week In Review

I'm so far behind on my week in review post! I think I'll blame Thanksgiving and all the preparation for the upcoming holidays. So many distractions!

On Monday I went to TJ Maxx to see about some bottlebrush trees for my Christmas village. I'd seen some at Hobby Lobby but I wanted to see if I could find them cheaper anywhere else. I'd already confirmed that Amazon had them but for more than double the price. No bottlebrush trees, but I did find this:

I have been wanting a floor lamp for ages, but they are pretty expensive. I'd found one on Amazon for $86 but it was out of my budget for that month. I waited till the next month, when the price rose to $130! No thanks. I waited again to see if the price would drop, but it never did. I saw another one at Target that I liked, but it was $119, still more than I wanted to spend. As I went around TJ Maxx, I spotted this lamp all by itself, with no price tag anywhere. When I inquired, I was told it was $69.99. I knew that price was way better than anything I'd seen anywhere else, but there was a bonus: Mondays are Senior days at TJ Maxx, and I could get an additional 10% off my purchase. So this lovely came home with me for $62.99! It is a perfect addition to my office.

I spent the week cleaning and preparing for Thanksgiving, while at the same time placing orders for Christmas presents. As soon as they come in, they get wrapped and hidden. I've got a neat little stash, but there's still more to go.

Another thing I've been doing is applying to jobs. I haven't worked since we moved to the new house. My old job was part-time, and since I live about 45 minutes from my old digs, it didn't make sense to keep working there. It was my intention to start looking for work once we were settled in this house. Then a pandemic hit. I've put off looking for work but I really can't anymore. Of course there isn't a whole lot out there, and there's a lot of people looking for work. I'm leaving this in God's hands; He has always come through for me, and I know He will come through again.

Friday was grocery shopping day, and time to get everything I needed for Thanksgiving. I took my weekly trip to Walmart with shopping list in hand.

I'm making the Pioneer Woman's Green Beans which are my favorite, so I bought a big bag of fresh green beans. The chocolate pudding, Oreo pie shell and Cool Whip are for a chocolate cream pie, the boys' favorite. I also got potatoes for mashed potatoes, fresh herbs for the dressing, and yes, a jar of turkey gravy. I'm perfectly capable of making gravy, but with so much food to make, I'll take a shortcut here and there. This is one of them.

There were regular groceries to get as well. Most of it was salad fixings and fruit. As I run out of stuff I like to pick up whatever else I need.

I didn't buy the turkey till Sunday. I don't have a lot of freezer space and I didn't want to try and stuff a big turkey in there (pun intended). I always get my turkey from Publix, and I was so glad to see them at $.49/lb. I got a nice 15+ pounder for under $8. While I was there, I also picked up some sweet tea because Publix sweet tea is the closest to homemade I've ever had. And yes, I'm perfectly capable of making sweet tea too. Shortcuts people, shortcuts. Besides, it was BOGO - can't pass that up!

Oh, and I went to get my hair cut on Saturday. I should have taken a selfie but I didn't think about it. Us older folks forget about those things because we didn't grow up with a phone attached to our hand. My hair was getting really long - it was all the way down to my shoulder blades. It's just on my shoulders now and I'm enjoying having it shorter. It grows like a weed so it won't be short for long.

And that was my week. I've started decorating for Christmas - can't wait to share that! Stay tuned!

My Week In Review

It was my intention to post more frequently this week, since it was spring break for my son.  So much for good intentions...

For some reason (that no one seems to understand), schools in South Florida all have different weeks for their Spring Break.  Homeschool students were off this past week, while public school students are off next week.  Since many students have dual enrollment, taking certain honors classes online while still attending traditional school, I have to wonder why they couldn't come together and agree on having Spring Break at the same time?  While it's true that homeschooling is flexible, Florida Virtual School has changes to the curriculum that often don't happen till the day before an assignment is due, or at the beginning of the school week.  Trying to get ahead can be tricky; an assignment might be cancelled or an alternate given, in which case the student would have worked for nothing.  I just think it would have made more sense to have both take their breaks at the same time.

Now add to that the fact that private schools don't have the same Spring Break as public schools.  Some private schools will be closed next week, same as public schools, but Catholic schools are off the week after Holy Week.  That's another change I don't understand; traditionally, Catholic schools were closed during Holy Week.  Anyway, our tutoring center decided to close during the time the Catholic schools close since we have so many students from Catholic schools, and because some of the Protestant private schools will be open but the kids will be taking their SAT's so they won't be coming to tutoring.  That would have meant way too many absences, so it's better to close.

This week I spent a good amount of time adjusting next week's schedule.  With public schools being closed next week, we've had dozens of parents calling in to let us know their kids won't be coming to tutoring because they're going out of town for Spring Break.  Unfortunately it's not possible for the center to be closed for two separate weeks, so we'll be open next week even though it might resemble a bit of a ghost town.

I've also been doing a lot of work on my own.  Tuesday marked my one month anniversary working at the center, but I've already been left to take care of the front desk by myself twice.  I've come to the realization that my boss, MM, is burned out.  She and her husband have owned the tutoring center for over 11 years, and in that time she's take one break.  She's run the front desk on her own for a long time; she's had people working there with her, but they've been tutors, who have to leave as soon as their students arrive.  I think she wants to be able to take some time off once in awhile, without worrying about whether everything is being taken care of.  She wants to walk away and spend time with her kids, with her mom who is getting up in years, with friends she doesn't see too often.  I totally get it, and I'm honored that she trusts me enough to leave me in charge, though I know she's a bit of a control freak and won't let go completely.  She still looks over my shoulders a lot, which I have to get used to.

One thing that unnerved me this week, though, was having to tutor a couple of kids.  There's a stomach flu going around, and one of our teachers had to go to the hospital because she became so sick.  She had some students that needed homework help, and there was no one else available to tutor them.  I was "volunteered", which I didn't mind since they were both elementary school students.  What upset me was that I was pretty much thrown to the lions, so to speak: I received no training on any of the programs, no instruction on what to do, and I had no clue what I was supposed to be doing.  Thankfully the first student was eager to explain everything his teacher does with him, and another teacher (who is an absolute doll) showed me where the material was, and I was able to work with the two boys.  They assigned another teacher (she's a wonderful young lady as well) to train me, but that wasn't until the next day.  I think in their minds tutoring would be a no-brainer for a homeschooling mom.  I had to explain what the big difference is: when I homeschool, it's my kid.  If I mess up I don't have to answer to anyone, I just have to fix it.  The kids that come to the tutoring center are paying customers.  Their parents expect a certain level of instruction that I am not qualified to give.  I'm all about being a team player and helping out whenever I'm needed, so long as I'm properly prepared to do the task.  I didn't feel that I was at that time, and it made me feel uncomfortable, which I let them know.

The rest of the week went smoother.  Since I didn't have to homeschool, I polished some of the floors that had gotten dulled from moving furniture boxes around.  Thursday I got a haircut - I went back to the short bob I'd gotten back in October.  My hair had been chin length at that time, and it had grown past my shoulders.  I debated whether to cut it short or not, but since my hair grows so much as so quickly, I decided to go for it and had it cut chin length again.  This way all the dull and damaged ends are gone, and I'm left with healthier hair to grow out.        

I've been having some breakouts this week.  I hadn't had pimples like this in ages, but Wednesday I had three - THREE! - on my face, two of them plainly on my chin.  I scrubbed them good, and two of them actually popped.  Then yesterday after lunch I started noticing a different kind of breakout.  I have several spots on my face that are not zits.  These look like hives, like when I have allergies.  My allergies have been running rampant lately thanks to the warmer weather, but I suspect this may have been from the fish I had for lunch yesterday.  I made it myself, and I've had tilapia before, but reactions can happen at any time.  I took a Benadryl last night but this morning they're still there.  At least there aren't more, nor has it spread to any other part of my body.  Not that I like having them on my face :P.  Yesterday they were a bit itchy; that isn't the case today.

That was my week, in a nutshell.  I'm off to clean bathrooms now - thrilling, huh?  Have a blessed weekend everyone!

Thursdays Post...On Friday

Yep, I'm late with my post again.  I was pretty busy yesterday, and by the time I remembered to blog I was already in bed, half asleep.  It happens.  Certain times of the month, it happens.  Girls know what I'm talking about.

No school yesterday or today - teacher service days, meaning my son's teachers are still grading papers and getting calls made.  My son still doesn't know his algebra grade.  He's got A's in all his other classes, but I suspect he got a B in math, just because he had an 89% before midterm finals, and he got C's in 2 of those.  We don't know what his score was on the last portion of the exam, but whatever it was, it wasn't going to be high enough to bump his grade back up to an A.  Still, I'm pretty satisfied.  His grades are improved from last year, and I'm sure they're better than they would have been had he been in public school.  His science teacher called him to say he'd gotten one of the highest grades on his exam: an 87%.  He was so thrilled about that; he'd always worked hard in science but his grades would never reflect it.  Last year his science teacher was very disorganized, and she had zero control over her class.  She spent 70% of her time disciplining or yelling at the students, then the end of the grading period would come and she was behind in all the lessons.  I was the one that ended up teaching him from his book.  She was always behind in posting grades in his grade book, so I didn't know what areas he was having trouble with.  I would email her but her answers, when they came, were vague.  It was so frustrating, because I wanted to be involved in his schooling but it seemed some of the teachers were working against me.  Not the case anymore.  His teachers are on the ball, even though they have more students.  And I'm his primary learning coach, so I have full access to all his lessons and can help him better.  Homeschooling may not be for everyone, but it's been a win-win situation for us.

Since there was no school, my son asked for a haircut.  E had initially said he wanted to go to a hair stylist and get his hair styled, but in the end he realized he doesn't want his hair to be too long.  Most styles now are fades, with the hair on top of the head long and the sides short.  The problem with that for my son is, he has wiry hair.  The hair styles that are popular for men now are for straight hair.  He'd have to let his wiry hair grow out long enough to blow dry, and he's not going to do that.  He can't stand how it feels.  So I cut his hair, then cut R's hair as well.  My boys appreciate the fact that I'm cutting their hair: E because he can jump in the shower right away afterwards, and R because it saves him money.  Another win-win.

I made jambalaya in the crock pot.  It was spicy and delicious; so much so that there were no leftovers.  After lunch I went to pick up some dried up coconuts and branches from the yard, and saw that my little pepper plant, which looks more like a weed than a plant, had 4 more peppers on it.  I haven't even been attending to these plants, but they're producing.  I figured it out: this is the time to plant in Florida, not in the summer or fall, but in the winter.  So I cleaned up my garden area (which had become overgrown with weeds), threw away everything that had dried up, and moved my pepper and tomato plants closer to the house.  I then got some of the larger containers, added more soil to them, and planted green beans, green peppers and cucumbers.  I was going to trim the raspberry bush, but I saw a bunch of buds on the branches.  Who knows, we might finally get some raspberries from this bush!  I'm excited to see if I have better results from my garden this time around.

I was debating whether or not to go to the ladies bible study at my church.  The group started up again last week, and I missed it because of midterm finals.  My son E was actually encouraging me to go, so I did.  Boy, am I glad!  We're doing Beth Moore's study of the book of Daniel, my favorite Old Testament book.  Let me just say, this is not a study for wimps.  She goes into this book deep, both biblically and historically.  I'm super excited now!  I have to catch up in my workbook since I didn't attend last week's class, but I'm determined to do 2 lessons per day so I don't miss any of the information.  Can't wait till next week for our next class!

After that I came home, cleaned up the kitchen, then went to bed.  I had a slight headache, which hasn't gone away yet.  I'm gonna take some Tylenol, then get started with my day.  Catch up with you later!

It's Tuesday, And I'm Back!

Surprise!  Two days in a row!  I haven't done that in a while.  Shame on me.

My day started pretty early.  At 6 am I heard my oldest son get up to go to work and I wasn't going back to sleep, so I spent about 45 minutes with the Lord.  My morning routine is prayer time, devotion time, get ready for my day time.  Some days prayer time lasts 30 minutes, sometimes an hour or more.  It's my special time with God that makes the rest of my day go smoothly even when my circumstances don't.

My oldest son R left for work before I got to the kitchen.  He showed back up about 15 minutes later.  He was complaining about a stomachache and nausea, headed to the bathroom, then went to bed and slept for about 4 hours.  I thought it was a fluke, except that my youngest son E was also complaining of a stomachache.  He didn't feel as bad as his brother, thankfully, since he had plenty of schoolwork.  Maybe it was yesterday's pizza...

I checked my emails and found that my son had yet another live class to attend on top of the two already scheduled.  I wasn't too thrilled about that, since he had work from yesterday to complete.  When he went for his second class, he realized no teacher was there.  Come to find out the class had been rescheduled for next week, which was great because we got started on algebra.  He finished his  morning classes before taking a much needed break.  Doing school at home means he can make up his own schedule, so long as he does the required 25 hours per week.  He usually takes a 2 hour break for lunch; his buddies are so jealous!  He was able to do another hour and finish English, but when he tried to do his algebra work, the internet started acting up.  It tends to do that on rainy days, and today has been on and off rain all day.  I figured he could leave it till tomorrow; really, he didn't have much choice.

At breakfast I typically do an online codeword puzzle, but today I watched my favorite youtuber, Shelbey from www.loveshelbey.com.  I'd been pondering makeup products for myself and my daughter, and seeing as how my hair stylist always looks so pretty and her makeup looks fresh no matter what time of the day it is, I asked her what brand she used.  She told me she liked Bare Minerals.  I told her I was looking for something new that would be gentle since I have sensitive skin, and that my daughter with even more sensitive skin can use.  She asked the esthetician on staff and she also said she liked Bare Minerals - or Mac, of course.  I had heard of both, Mac being the expensive brand, but I was unsure about Bare Minerals, or any powder foundation.  Living in South Florida's humid weather, it would seem like powder foundations wouldn't be the best choice, but I trusted my hair stylist.  I went on Youtube looking for tutorials and product reviews and found Shelbey, a 21 year old makeup artist who works at a Bare Minerals store and who explained the step-by-step application.  She made it seem so easy, that I had to give it a try.  Once I did, I was hooked!  I still enjoy watching her videos and learning more techniques.  Just goes to show, a 50 year old mom can learn from a 21 year old girl!

Today was haircut day.  I've been cutting my boy's hair for, oh, probably the past year at least.  I'm not a hair stylist or even a barber; I'm just a lady with a machine ;-).  I bought a Wahl's haircutting system from Costco a while back, and after watching some tutorials I started cutting the boy's hair every other month.  I was mostly concerned about my youngest, but he enjoys getting his hair cut at home where he can immediately jump into the shower when I'm done.  My oldest likes the fact that he saves money; even a $20 haircut isn't as economical as mom's free one.  I don't even mind the mess much.  It's easy to clean up, and we save money.

I got some more presents in the mail today.  This year I've done about 75%, if not more, of my Christmas shopping online.  What with homeschooling and everything else I've had going on, I haven't had time to go to the stores or malls.  The internet makes shopping easy, and since we have Amazon Prime I don't pay for shipping.  By Thanksgiving I had all my Christmas shopping done, and everything I'd received I'd already wrapped.  The only thing missing was my son E's birthday present.  E and his sister share the same birthday, two days after Christmas.  I got A's present but I didn't know what to get for E.  His dad made it easy:  he took the two youngest kids Christmas shopping this past Saturday (R was at work and couldn't join them), and Dad went ahead and got E the Wii U console system from Game Stop that brings a couple of games.  I knew my son wanted some other games for the Wii U so I went ahead and ordered them on Cyber Monday, before the electricity went out (see yesterday's post for details).  Those should arrive tomorrow, and with just a few items still awaiting delivery I'm pretty much done.  Yay for no procrastination!!  We have a tradition in our home - the day after Thanksgiving we start decorating the house for Christmas.  Once everything is done inside the house, I will put one present under the tree for each of them every night.  Even the older kids go over and check to see what mama has stashed underneath the tree every morning (though R tries to play it cool, like he's not really interested.  He doesn't fool me).  I love those kinds of traditions that we look forward to each year.

I did a load of laundry this morning; it's still in the dryer.  E and I were watching A Muppet's Christmas Carol and I was dozing off.  It's been a busy day, and I think it's time I started winding down.  Today I'm thankful that my Christmas shopping is done, that I have no Christmas shopping debt, and I'm especially thankful for the relaxed schedule of homeschooling.  What are you thankful for?