Turtles

We had a couple of boxes laying around today, so Shawn got creative.

Here are our little turtles

This one is eating fish, probably to stay in character Kezie is doing her "turtle walk"

Work wanted

Gerontology student with bachelor's degree in human development seeks job. Has ability to smile when people are being stupid, ridiculously loyal and willing to work overtime, honest, and not wholly without brains. Will work night shift and swing shifts. Does not eat other people's sandwiches out of the refrigerator, hum under her breath, or bore coworkers with play by play recaps of child's dance recitals. Gets along especially well with kids and the elderly.

The job hunt goes...not at all. I've emailed resumes, filled out ridiculous online applications, and my resume is on a bunch of job boards. Not a peep. I had not forgotten at all how much I hate job hunting, and it hasn't gotten any better. I wish I could be honest in my application and just say, "Hire me because I'm better than some of the morons you have working for you!"

I wish I had a picture

Ivy was throwing a fit yesterday, and stomped off to her room.

After she screamed for a few minutes, she got really quiet, so I went to check on her.

She was sitting in a little alcove created by Kezie's bed and their desk, fast asleep.

Her little head was nodding, but she was sitting without even leaning on anything, and was so out of it she didn't wake up when I turned the light on.

Life at the moment

I don't post much lately, for a number of reasons. Here's a quick update:

I took the girls for their well checks the other day.
Kezie is in the 75th percentile for height and the 45th for weight
Ivy is in the 25th percentile for height and the 8th for weight. Considering where she began, this is very good.
They are both healthy and doing fine.

I'm still enjoying school quite a bit, though a full time class load hasn't been easy to handle this last few months. Today, I'm taking a deep breath and preparing to dive into finishing term papers, presentations, and final exams, all due in the next two weeks. Next semester will be part-time and should be much easier.

Shawn has been ill again. We really don't know what is going on, despite a number of tests. He ended up in the ER about six weeks ago because he was too light-headed and weak to stand up. Abdominal pain, which he has dealt with constantly for seven years, has been worse. He's lost more than twenty pounds in the last month and a half. They've ruled out the most obvious and life-threatening possible causes, so that's a relief. He may have been experiencing a relapse of the mono he had last spring. We really don't know. He has been feeling better the last week or two, and is able to be up and about most of the day.

This sickness made Shawn unable to work for a few weeks, which did not make his employer happy, so he is now unemployed.. He applied to graduate school at Utah State, so we are waiting to hear if they will accept him to start in January. Chemists are paid (but not well) to go to grad school, so this would be a job. I will go to work as well, and since I'll finish my gerontology certificate in the spring, I hope to find a job in the field. We may be moving back to Logan in the next few months. Though that would mean being further from family and leaving our house, we loved living in Logan and would love to live there again.

As we wait to hear from USU, we are planning life without income for a little while. We are fortunate to have built up a savings account with enough funds to live on for at least three months. We also have a pretty good sized food storage, which is helping immensely. Just a few weeks ago, we bought a bread maker and have stopped buying bread. We also have a freezer full of meat and the world's largest bag of potatoes that my mom and stepdad generously brought us the other day, so we are doing just fine. Health insurance was our only worry, but it looks like things will work out in that area as well. I started a blog about our budgeting and living on less. I warn you that it will be terribly boring to anyone but me, but I am posting budget-friendly recipes, so if you are curious, it's in my sidebar.

All in all, things have been a little rough lately, but they are working out very well. We aren't worried. We shouldn't even notice a difference at Christmas, as we have always celebrated with a budget, and I bought some of the gifts months ago.

I look back on a time that was really hard; seven years ago, when my dad was dying of cancer, Shawn's health problems were just beginning, his family was having problems, money was a constant concern, and I think that if we got through all that, we can certainly get through this. We'll be better for handling the difficult things, and do our best to enjoy the good.

Guess who's two?

Ivy is two!



Ivy wakes up happy most mornings, and immediately demands to eat "muck," which is oatmeal.
Her favorite things to do during the day are play and dance with her sister, and look at books. She also likes to watch TV, and Dora the Explorer is by far her favorite show. She loves to go outside, too.

More of Ivy's favorite things:
Trains (choo-choos)
Her Grandmothers
Her sister Kezie (Sis)
Treats. But only homemade treats. She won't touch store-bought cookies, she really doesn't like ice cream, and candy bars are acceptable only if they contain chocolate. She will eat cake like there's no tomorrow.
Hugs. She will walk up to me at any time of day and ask for a hug. How you resist that? You don't.

The girls go to our neighbor Jenna's house every morning while I go to class. A couple of days a week, a little boy Ivy's age is there, too. Today, they were all listening to a story when Jenna heard kissing noises. She looked over, and Ivy is kissing the little boy on the cheek. She didn't want to stop, either. Right now it's cute that she's so affectionate, but if this keeps up, I'm going to get worried!

Hey, Universe: what did I ever do to you?

I might survive the semester. But not if I keep having mornings like this one.

I had a paper due at nine o'clock this morning, and it's been giving me fits all week. I finally went to bed at one o'clock this morning, deciding that it was as good as it was going to get.

At one fifteen, Kezie woke up, calling for me, and needed to be calmed back down and put back to sleep.

At three, she did it again.

At four, Shawn got up, and so did Kezie. She'd had a nightmare, could she please come sleep in my bed, because she was scared. It must have been quite the nightmare, because she didn't get back to sleep. I spent an hour dozing occasionally, trying to get her to calm down and fall asleep, trying to get a little bit of rest before the alarm went off at six.

At five fifteen, my phone rings.

Shawn was at the frontrunner station, but the train left without him. Someone had stepped in front of a northbound train (he will be fine), but the resulting chaos blocked the passengers from reaching the southbound train. Shawn was stranded, could I please take him to work?

I had just enough time to shower, and we were out the door with two groggy kids at six. We hadn't even left the driveway, when the tire pressure light went on.

Two gas station stops later, the tires are full, and we're off. We made it to Shawn's school just after seven, and I set out with two hungry kids to find a drive through breakfast, and to try to make it back home before my class began.

We made it home with just enough time for me to print out my paper, take the kids to the sitter's house (in their PJs), and to arrive at the university, and just miss the shuttle to campus.

I was ten minutes late to class, but it was o.k. Class was canceled today.

If my day doesn't get better, I'm going back to bed.