Peek

This is my new living room. So much potential.

My coat closet has a window and wittle bitty shelves for wittle bitty plants.

I have a nook for my computer. It will be cute one day real soon.

Look! A real dining room.

The bookcase next to the sliding glass door to ....


A wonderful covered porch. Ahhhh. There's another fenced in back yard to the right of the garage.

The kitchen looks better now, but I love the layout.

A loooooong hallway. To the right, Pfunk's attic bedroom. To the left, the rest of the house.





Pfunk was ready to do back flips for me to get this room. This is a few days after we moved in ... although it still looks about the same. Teenagers! Shhhhh ... don't tell her there's no way I'm letting her stay downstairs and me not be able to hear her upstairs. Whatever it takes. I am jealous of that walk-in closet, though.


My bedroom has a nice feel to it AND it has two closets.

The bathroom is nothing special, and either is the laundry room, so no pictures of those. I'm super excited to have space to entertain, light for plants and my sanity, storage, and a garden to tend. Now I just need to learn how to tend.

Stop on by. I'll put the coffee on.

Moving On Up

I'm moved in ... well almost. The landlords at the new place wanted me in right away, so I have a LOT of time to get out of the old place. That means I won't have to find a washer and dryer for a month, or get the internet hooked up. I just have to visit the dark cave of an apartment that I can't believe I lived in for as long as I did a few times a week.

I still need to steam clean and get rid of my pile of stuff not worth moving.

As soon as I get around to it, I'll post pictures of my cute, cute garden with wisteria growing up the wooden fence, my huge red covered deck, my adorable kitchen, and Pfunk's super HUGE attic bedroom with a walk-in closet.

I already have plans for garden parties and potlucks. This feels right.

Ch-ch-changes

After almost 3 months of not having a washer / dryer because crack heads broke into our laundromat, stolen items, hearing the neighbor "dance" rhythmically in the middle of the night, rude neighbors parking in my spot, moldy toilet leaking water from upstairs onto mine, broken doors repaired by idiots, and more, I found a new place to live. It is slightly more money, but it has a covered deck, a garage for my bikes, and an already established organic garden. It is a block from the bike trail that goes to my work and still close enough to the places I like to haunt. The place is owned by private owners (which is so hard to find in this place). They actually asked me what I could afford and are letting me pay that amount. How cool is that?

They still have to check my references, but it should be fine. I'll take pictures when the place is mine .... ALL MINE!

Kelly has been staying with me and I have to say that she is a wonderful roommate. I'm somewhat sad that it looks like she found a place too. Her place is super cute, near hiking and downtown bars, shops, and used clothing and bookstores. Who is going to help me core apples? Good thing Eugene isn't that big. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of each other.

Work

I wish I could post some of the photos of the kiddos*. Pfunk came to school to volunteer for a few days when she didn't have school and the kids loved her. I've never seen them showing off so much before.


I help with an after school program to help children who don't have English support at home with their homework. We have sooo many kids, that its usually a zoo in our room. After a few weeks, the dust has settled, and we have the older kids reading with the younger ones. Too cute*!



I have been using a wonderful positive behavior plan with my groups. It mostly reminds me to give specific praise, but also reminds the kids of what I expect of them. At the end of my lesson, I have silly prizes for the kids. They might get to write on the white board, chew gum for 3 minutes, make me dance, take silly photos of me doing whatever you ask me to, throw recycle balls, blow bubbles, etc. My favorite prize is when I have them make a movie. I can't show you them here*, but you can take my word for it on the cuteness.


*RR

Update

I have no idea why I haven't blogged in the past month. The computer being in my bedroom closet might have had something to do with it. I didn't really like going on it anymore. Despite the ugliness of it, I moved it back into the living room.
Here's a quick look at the past month.

Pfunk started high school and became a cheerleader*.


I've been biking to work again, but only committed myself to two days with an optional third. The other two days are for running. Yes, running. I've discovered the book, Chi Running, and have falling in love with my slow progress.
This is what I see most sunny days on the way to work.


I met my cousin from the UK a few weeks ago. My uncle, mom, cousin, and I went to the butte, Salsa dancing, and had a quick get to know you few days. Sometimes I feel cheated out of cousins. I never grew up with any around and a lot of them are really cool. Thank you, Facebook for getting us back in touch.




Pfunk and I have been babysitting a really young baby to raise money for her really expensive cheer leading. I have some major issues with cheer leading, but we'll leave that to another blog.


Why am I so happy?


My friend, Kelly, is moving to Eugene! Now that's something to cheer about.

*rr

Horseback Sunday

No words. No time. Photos. Here. Enjoy.

Parenting

All summer long I have taken care of a family friend's child. I realized this summer that I am uber patient with him and all the children I work with, but not always with my own child and I love her way more than anyone else. What's up with that? I had to reevaluate my role as a parent.

I made a promise to myself to put her first again. She is what is important right now. She is my job for another couple of years only and I will never get those back. I have been attempting to be super patient with her, dropping phone calls, emails, internet stuff, dates (ugh ... good thing he's patient and understanding). I've also been "suckin' it up" by driving her to her friend's houses and cheer leading practice without complaining. I have also been doing things like going to the mall (shiver), or horribly cheesy movies. She needs to feel like she isn't a burden and I need to find things I enjoy doing with her. The activity isn't what's important here. I'm pretty stuck in my ways and I was pushing her further and further away from me. I have been asking her to go garage sale hunting and hiking with me for way too long.

A few months ago, I talked to her dad about this and we agreed to both put in money to a fun fund each week. The fund goes towards things we normally wouldn't do, due to my financial situation. There are a few rules ...

1. Friends and boyfriends cannot accompany us.
2. We cannot take the easy route and just go out to eat and a movie every weekend.
3. We don't have to spend all the money every week. We can save up for something big.
4. Once a week, no matter what, we have to do something that lasts a few hours together.

... you get the idea.

We haven't done anything really big yet. We have gone to the movies, out to eat, hiking (to save money for dress shopping the following weekend bleh). Today, we're going horseback riding at the coast. I reserved two horses for two hours and have lunch reservations.

She's responding quite well to this, but it is wearing me out. Where do I fit in my personal activities without compromising my sleep? I need to find a balance and I think that'll come when my nanny job ends.

Besides the lack of personal time, I'm responding to this experiment well too. I feel I have my child back. The time I spend willingly with her is coming back to me, as well as the patience and compromise. I'm not sure how long this'll last. Teenagers are really good at stirring up emotions and conflict. I'm willing to do whatever it takes. We'll get through this.

*RR