Business up front, party in the back!

Funny things happen when children are left unattended.

Take Cherry for instance.... supposedly Armondo was watching her this morning, when she snuck away and got a pair of scissors, which she used to cut her hair so that she wouldn't end up looking like Rapunzel. (her words). As he took her up the stairs to her daycare today, she whispered to her daddy "We're not going to talk about my hair, okay?"

This is the result of said hair cut:


But that's not the funny part... the funny part is that, at the exact same age, I myself had bad hair....
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In fact, I had the exact SAME HAIRCUT.



And since I've been home from work today, each time I've looked at my eldest daughter, it has almost been like looking into a 25 year old mirror. Way creepy!

There's a good ending to the story though, tomorrow we get some quality mother-daughter bonding time though... at the hairdressers!

And here, one after the other, so you can see the comparison better:

On, marriage, career changes, and teenage obsessions.

So sorry to leave you all with that depressing post!

My life has been full of upheaval. It always seems like it is, really... But the truth is that I have actually been LIVING, and haven't had much time to WRITE about living....

Armondo and I are doing well now. Marriage is sooo hard. Commitment is hard. Stick-to-it-ive-ness is hard! We are heading towards our fifth wedding anniversary. We've been together for about 6 and a half years. Due to all my moving around through the years, and my shuffling through different family units, I can say that I've only really had three friendships (including with Armondo) that have even lasted that long. (I mean friendships where I still talk to the person all the time, and keep in constant contact. I have lots of friends who I've known for way longer, who, of course, I will always consider to be friends, but who have drifted away here and there for various reasons.) So, staying close to someone for this long is very strange for me. Through counselling with our pastor, and with lots of hard work from both of us (Armondo, mostly, if I was to be honest) we're working through it all! And I'm so glad about it. I was so ready to give up!

I've started a new job. I was upset about having to find a new job at first. I had put so much work into starting a daycare and was sad to give up the dream due to not being able to find permanant clients. I was also upset about leaving my kids all day to go to work. It's turned out to be not that bad, really. I don't start work super early in the morning, and I get off at dinner time, and I only work 30 hours a week, so really, I'm only missing out on about 4 hours of my kids' day (because when I was home all day, 3 hours of the day was nap time anyway). Armondo is home every morning, I'm home every evening, and our shedules only overlap three days a week, so the kids only have about 12 hours of daycare a week. And the job is pretty great so far. I'm just training right now, but it looks like it'll be a good job. (I'm working at a bank. I cannot give too much more info than that for legal reasons. I'm not allowed to blog about my job. Says so right in the rules!) The drawback is that I'm pretty tired in the evenings, and can't stay up late enough to see Armondo when he gets back from work. We really only get two full mornings and two full evenings with each other a week, with an hour here and there in between. But we survived him leaving for months at a time fishing, so I'm sure we can survive this!

I'm reading the Twilight series right now. I had first heard about it from my babysitter. Then I heard about it on www.truemomconfessions.com, then on the news, then the movie came out, etc, etc. I'm not obsessed or anything, though I can see why a lot of people are. I just finished the second book tonight, and will start the third tomorrow. The books are quite juvenile, which is fine, as they were written for teens, and they're a quick read, which is also fine, 'cause I don't have a lot of spare time, but they're enjoyable as well. I find reading them takes me back to a more innocent, wonderous time in my life. Things were always nuts for me at home growing up, and school wasn't all that much better most of the time, but I always had an active imaginary life. In my imaginary life, I was much more naive, more eloquant, more likeable, more chaste, and in reading these books, I'm not brought back to my real teenage years, but brought back to my pleasant imaginary, teenage years. The pretend life I had where the boy I crushed on actually liked me back, so, I didn't settle for every other guy who looked my way. The grades I got in school were good, in spite of me moving every semester or two. Where both my father and mother loved me, even though a time and space distanced me from at least one of them at any given time. That's where these books are taking me back to. And I love it. I AM Bella Swan. Just like millions of other girls and women out there.

And that's where I will end this tonight. I have a dishwasher to fill before I drop my head on my pillow!

A. Big. Fat. Mess.

My Marriage is on the rocks. Big time.

I want to just give up, but he wants to keep on trying. I'm a mess, he's a mess. We're taking counseling, and he's dealing with some personal demons, as am I, but I'm not sure if it's going to work out.

So, again, I have yet another excuse as to why I haven't been blogging.

Bad Luck

I try so hard to stay positive. I really do. I've been battling depression for years now, and some days I just tell myself to "snap out of it" and sometimes that works, but most times it doesn't.

I try to look on the bright side of things, and not wallow in self-pity. I know I'm blessed, and I know many have it much harder than me, but I wonder why so many seem to have it easier.

Moving up here to this nowwhereland town has been a good move for us financially. We were able to pay off bad debts and since there's not much to speak of for shopping in this town, we're spending less money. So, we figure that now's the time to try to start to get "ahead" of the game, maybe start saving money...

I finally got two clients for my home-based daycare. I was so excited! This meant that I could finally start doing what I've been working towards for months, plus I'd be bringing in more money so we could work towards some goals. Later the same day as my clients committed, my husband finds out that his hours are cut back to less than 20 hours a week! With no notice! So much for saving money! We're now behind again.

But we looked at the bright side: at least I had the income from the daycare now, so the cutting in half of the hours wouldn't affect us too deeply.

But now, just days after they started coming for care, my clients have backed out. They have a relative coming to live with them who will take care of the kids in their home. Great for them, not so great for me. And I have really been enjoying the work! To top that off, I'm not even 100% sure if I'll get paid for the work I've already done, 'cause I'm waiting on the Gov't subsidy to be approved or denied.

So now, pretty much the only realistic option for us is for Armondo to go fishing again. That is, IF there is a boat available for him to work on. Luckily, the Canadian dollar is weak again, meaning that the fishermen are making good money again. (in theory)

So, back to that depression thing. It's driving Armondo crazy. He can't stand that I hate to get out of bed in the morning. He can't stand that I have to pay for prescription pills that aren't a magic fix-it-all pill. But since I had this daycare job, for a few days I was finally getting my act together, getting out of bed early and keeping the house clean. And it felt good to get up early! It seemed like it was something I could get used to. I felt like I had a purpose, like I was contributing more to the family, not only by bringing in money, but by also providing my children with socialization, and education. (I'm trying to do my daycare in sort of a pre-school style). But after being told by my clients that I wouldn't be needed anymore after the end of the month, and then having them cancel care today, it just took me right back into "slump" mode. I crawled back into bed and didn't want to get out. When the time came for me to force myself out, I got out of bed and put my fake happy face on for the kids. Then we all got ready and went out and spent some family time in the park. Which was good.

But this post isn't just about the day care situation, it's just about bad luck in general. Our house is full of mice. There was evidence of mice in the house before we moved in, but I cleaned everything and bleached everything, and assumed, incorrectly, that the mice must have moved on, considering the house had been empty for 8 months before we moved in. It's an old house, built during the second world war. It has three stories and in the spaces between the floors and in the walls are what seem like hundreds of mice. Very few have made it out into our main living areas, and I most likely have to thank the cats for that, but the constant "scritch scratch" and "scurrying" through the walls and ceilings has been driving me batty! I have nightmares about them every single night. Funny, coming from someone who used to have a dozen pet mice and four pet rats at one time.

Plus there is all those other bad luck things that have happened in the past three years. Here's a summary:

~Armondo got fired from his new job right after Cherry was born.
~So, Armondo came up to our current location to find a job, and got a really good one. I was left alone with the baby for months.
~We tried to sell our house for six months, and it wouldn't sell.
~So Armondo went fishing and the fishing sucked. And he was gone for very long stretches of time.
~Life was pretty okay for awhile, but things sucked having my husband away. We had Peach.
~Then our house flooded.
~We tried to sell our house again. Success!!! One thing which wasn't bad.
~We moved up here and after a month and a half bought a house.
~The roof leaked almost right away.
~The weather was really bad while Armondo was trying to re-do the whole roof, so we had days of pots and pans catching drips all over the house. This is within a month of moving in.
~Gaping holes formed in various parts of the ceiling. Ceiling drywall rotted and had to be replaced in one area, still hasn't been replaced in another area. (that area doesn't have rot though)
~I try to start a day care and spend a significant amount of money and time getting it together.
~A massive storm destroys our outdoor shelter that was set up over the children's only outside play area.
~Our basement leaks during each rain. It rains about 90% of the time.
~A whole bunch of stuff went wrong with our van, including a few pretty bad dents. Good luck though, we only had to pay deductibles for the fixes.
~And currently, I'm dealing with the whole day care fiasco, Armondo looking for a new and/or better job to tie us over until he goes to school, and with mice scurrying over my head constantly.

I'd really, really, like to be able to catch a break at some point! Which brings me back to the depression thing... Am I really, clinically depressed? Or do the crappy circumstances of my life just keep on bringing me down? Is it chemical? or situational? I just don't know. Maybe my life isn't all that rough, and I'm just a whiner. If that's true, then I'd assume that the depression must be chemical. If my life really IS crappy, and I have reason to be depressed, then I guess I'm just wasting my money on meds.

About Me, My Family, and This Blog

I'm getting a bit more traffic here now, and though most of you are here from my old blog, some of you might not know me yet. And since I let my old blog rot for awhile, there may be things you just don't know that are going on in my life!

Let's start with the basics!

I, CeCe, am a stay at home mother of two girls. My eldest, whom I call "Cherry" is just over three (Born July 2005) and my youngest, whom I call "Peach" is just over a year and a half (Born January 2007).

My husband, whom I call "Armondo" is currently employed as a cook at a funky, late night restaurant in my town. He is hoping to go to school next semester to become an electrician. We got married Spring 2004 in a small ceremony that cost us less than $200. (Just some fun trivia for you.)

I'm starting a day care out of my home, and just got the approval to be "registered" today. YAY! Now I need to find some clients.

I moved to this town about five months ago. It's a small town, and I love it. Everything is so beautiful here, the people are great, and I can walk everywhere! Where we used to live, it was in a rural neighbourhood, with no sidewalks, and no real safe place to go for walks, except for up and down our dead-end street. I love my new house, it has great character, and is pretty much perfect for our needs, minus one bathroom! (we'll work on that).

This blog will mostly be about day-to-day life. I will share some of my day-care activities with you, as well as some peeks into the lives of my children. I suspect that I will share my joys and pains that come with seeking out and making new friends in a new place, as well as sharing my struggles with being a home owner!

There are a few reasons why I let my old blog get funky.... And it all started with the major flood that occurred last December. That flood devastated me. Even just going back and finding the link for that post made my heart sink. We got off really lucky, and I'm thankful for that, but that flood shook my world. I had nightmares for months afterwards.

On top of that, I had troubles with some in-laws reading my blog and getting offended. This has happened a couple of times. And I know it's happened to many other people too. I'm going to try AGAIN to have a blog that's under the radar. I'm also going to try to be less negative on here about family members.

Which brings me to another reason why I sort of stopped blogging. This relates to the last reason. I spend a lot of time on www.truemomconfessions.com and the sister sites. There, I can rant about family and friends, and get feedback and no one will ever know it's me.

Then, there was the whole selling the house thing. The first time we tried to sell our house, we had it on the market for months and months with only one offer, and that fell through. This time, trying to sell the house, we had that flood against us, and I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't scared $h!tless that we wouldn't be able to sell the house this time around either. But we did. The first people and the third people who looked at our house both made offers, and the first people bought it after a tiny bit of haggling, at a very reasonable price. But, it was still stressful, none the less.

Then.... We moved to our new town, just weeks after selling our house, and we lived in an internet-less house for 6 weeks. So not too much blogging happened then.

After that, we moved again, this time into our own home, but between me working at that time, part time, and Armondo working opposing shifts, and our roof leaking like crazy and ruining the ceiling in three rooms, I didn't find much time to blog.

Then we went on vacation *whew*

Anyway... after all that stuff, I just couldn't "pick up where I left off" on my old blog, 'cause there just seemed to be so many empty spots! So, here I am, I'm settled in my new home, I'm starting a new child care career, my kids are doing fun things, and I'm ready to document it all!

So, please, sit back, relax, read, comment, and enjoy!

*hugs*
~C

Lacing Cards

As I quickly mentioned before, I'm trying to start a day care in my home. It's a slow process getting this going. I've taken a first aid course, had criminal record checks done, I've written a 13 page "handbook", created menu plans, had two home inspections, and have done 3 of four days of a child care course. I still have to complete the child care course, and have another inspection before I can be a "registered" licensed not required family child care centre. Before my next inspection, I have to get a cover for a light fixture, re-adjust some lattice work on our stairs (the rails are too far apart, so we had to put lattice up, and apparently some of the gaps between the lattice and the steps are too far apart, so we have to adjust those) and I need to figure out a way to store bleach and water spray bottles so that they are easily accessible, yet out of reach of the children. And apparently having them on a 5 foot high shelf in the bathroom isn't in-accessible enough. Whew... it's a lot of work, and I'm not even getting "Licensed"!

But enough with the whining. There is a lot of good stuff happening while I'm going through this training.

I'm becoming a much more "involved" parent. I've noticed a real positive change in my girls' behaviour. Cherry is so much happier and compliant than she has been in the past few months, and is eager to spend time trying out the new activities I've been bringing home.

I've also learned a lot about child development, milestones, guidance, etc. This has really helped me to cope and deal with the changes my girls are going through. I've always been respectful, and pretty positive when dealing with my kids, but just tweaking my language just that little bit has made things a lot better around here. But more on that another time.

Today, I want to talk about lacing cards. About half a year ago, I saw a post in a blog that I regularly read. It was a sappy post about a way-too-cute little girl. A lovely letter written from a mom to her daughter. I love reading these posts that Julie makes for her little ones, and every time I read them, I wish that I could write a post even half as eloquent for my little ones. But this particular post caught my attention because in it, Julie mentions LACING CARDS! Now, I remember doing lacing cards when I was a child. I used to call the activity "sewing" as a child, so I never thought to call them "lacing cards" in particular. Months before I saw this post, I had this little memory of "those things with the holes in them, that you put the string through, you know? with pictures and stuff" but had no idea what to call them. Then I saw the post about them. And I had a mission! I went out to find them. I looked high and low. I looked in toy stores, I looked in craft stores. No one knew what I was talking about. I probably looked through close to a dozen stores. Then I moved to my tiny little town with barely any place to shop, and pretty much gave up on the idea.

Until today.

In my child care class today, we watched a video about quality care, and there was a short clip of children using lacing cards. Our instructor mentioned how great these were, and I chimed in with my story above.

Then, the instructor said "They're so easy to make!"

Uhh... Of course! Why didn't I think of that?!?!?

So, I went out and bought the supplies, and Cherry and I made some today. And below, I will take you through the steps!



Here is what you need:
~A roll of clear "contact paper" or "mack tack".
~Some sort of paper to cut into shapes. We used old paintings that I didn't want to throw out, but that were taking up space and looking sort of clutter-y. Another idea is to use colouring pages.
~A hole punch. A single hole punch is best, but I couldn't find mine ANYWHERE today, so I had to use the three hole punch. Wow... I wish I had the one hole punch!
~Scissors
~Yarn
~Enthusiastic child(ren)




Cut shapes from the paper. Cut around the outlines of your simple colouring pages, or maybe do a theme shape or two. This is my fancy leaf cut out of a piece of paper which we finger painted on a couple of weeks ago.



Cut some of your clear plastic "paper stuff" I've provided this photo so you can see what it actually looks like, if you have no clue what I'm talking about. This bit came off of a roll that cost under $10, and I think it's over 3 yards long.



This is me putting the film over my leaf. If you have a laminater, you can obviously use that instead. This way is cheaper, but laminating is more "permanent".



After you've coated it, trim off the excess, and then punch holes into it. Here you see my "Turkey" coated, but with no holes, and my "Hand" with holes and yarn laced through.
I might have done a better job making the shapes and punching the holes, but Cherry was in such a rush to get them done, that it didn't leave much room to be "perfect". She helped every step of the way as well, which also, doesn't leave much room for "perfect".



The ends of the yarn will become frayed easily, and will be hard to thread through the holes. When I was a kid, I'm pretty sure my lacing cards came with a large plastic needle. I just used some of the contact paper and wrapped a bit around the end of the yarn. It worked great.

I love this project. They were fun to make, and they're fun to lace. Lacing helps to develop fine motor co-ordination, and it's a quiet activity that requires a child to sit and think while they manipulate both the card and the yarn.

A few tips:
~Punch the holes through both the paper and the plastic. If you punch it just through the plastic, it'll tear easily. This won't be an issue if you're actually laminating the project.
~Don't leave the yarn too long. I don't know if I'm alone on this, or what, but I found it really hard to figure out how long to make the yarn for each card. If it's too long, it just gets tangled all over the place, and if it's too short, then you can't finish the card. If someone can figure out a fail-proof way of figuring out how long to cut the yarn, be sure to let me know!
~Make sure you tie the yarn through the first hole. Your kid will get very frustrated with the task if the yarn keeps on coming out!

Have fun!

Sexy New Bedroom

Will add some details later... I'm tired!

*****edited to add*****

So, This room was a bit of a project. It started as our guest room. It was a yellow colour, and relatively boring. We didn't choose this room right away, because it's at the front of the house, closer to the road, and because the room that we DID choose has some cool windows. But then, we got a major roof leak, and the ceiling was totally cracked and nasty, so we had to re-do the ceiling. That was a MAJOR task, as we had to dry-wall it, then I did all that plaster over top so that it would look okay. And since we did all that work, we decided we might as well do the whole room and make it our master! So, coloured primer, four coats of red-ish paint, wainscoting, chair rail, crown, and two coats of white later, we have our sexy new room!