Back To School Insanity!

Monday was my children's first day back to school, as I'm sure some of your children's as well. As my expectations would prove, both kids (in the same grade) came home with their lists of "required materials" from their respective teachers. (5 teachers per child). As I stated, I expected to have a shopping list from the teachers. What I did NOT expect was the $100 I was paying at the register at the end of the trip. (This was over 2 days, because of course, on the first trip, I forgot some things and had to go back for more).

So, here's my questions....first, what about those parents' who cannot afford to purchase all of these things? Will those kids be penalized for not being able to get those items? WHERE on Earth do the school taxes go? I mean it's not like we have new schools to pay for.  As a matter of fact, we just laid off teachers and closed one of the elementary schools. So, where does the money go? And, what ever happened to just having a notebook and a pen? Since when do the kids now have to have individual binders, plus the notebooks, plus highlighters and sharpies AND flash drives? I mean really?  Furthermore, it would have been nice to receive these shopping lists in the mail a few weeks ago when the schedules came out. It would have given us parents an opportunity to spread this purchase out over a few weeks.

Give Yourself Permission To Have Fun

Josh and I spent the weekend camping with dear friends of ours. Here is everyone else trying to determine the most logical move in our "Ladies vs. Men Checkers". Of course you will not see me in the picture due to my self image issues, but that's another blog for another day.  However, as hectic as everyday life is, (between our 2 families, there are 12 of us) every once in a while, it's Ok to sneak away, without the kids and have some adult fun times! We were also lucky enough to meet up with other friends I work with who were at the same campground that weekend and just ate, drank, told funny stories and laughed out loud. You know, the kind of laughter where you lose your breath and start crying...yeah, that kind. So, I encourage all of you to try that once in a while. It's like therapy!

My Morning View

Take tiny moments and enjoy a beautiful sunrise to a new day. Happy Friday!

Simply Exhausted!

I know I am not the only woman / mother who feels this way. I don't know if it is expectations I set on myself, or those set by society. As a woman / mother who works full time, goes to school and participates in my children's activities, I am exhausted! My problem...I haven't really learned yet how to say "no". When my daughter's Girl Scout troop needed a new leader..yup, you guessed it, I volunteered. When my son's Boy Scout troop asked me to be on their council, yup, again, I said yes. In my justification, it's for my kids who are only young once and I want to set good examples for them. I want to know in my heart that I have done everything I can to be a good role model for both of my kids, regardless of what it does to me emotionally and physically.  I now understand why I walk around all day talking to myself....so I don't forget anything. It gets so crazy that today I got our dinner ready ahead of time (so proud of myself) and put it in the Crock Pot...and then halfway here on my way to work, I realized I forgot to turn it on! Argh....Oh well, tomorrow is another day. Be well and thanks for reading  :-D