More Changes in the Wind

Michael has been with St. Luke's for nearly twelve years now. He has gone through many changes of job title and changes of department. He has loved each shift and we are thankful for all the good that has come our way. One of the only parts of his job that has stayed the same is his annual trip to Sun Valley to serve as tech support for a medical conference. This is his tenth year supporting the conference. The first year we brought all the kids with us (Sam was only a couple months old), but since then just Michael and I have gone.

He has worked and I have been able to just take a break from being mom. We've eaten tons of wonderful food, taken hikes, and enjoyed just being a couple. It has been a wonderful weekend and the conference organizers frequently tell me how much they rely on Michael. Unfortunately, this is likely going to be Michael's last year supporting the conference. His latest job shift has made his job much more about photography and videoography. Doing tech support no longer falls under his job description.

We will be sad to see this weekend go. Michael enjoys hosting it, but I think he also enjoys giving me a weekend were I can just relax and enjoy the beauty that is here. We have enjoyed our years up here and we made sure to enjoy this weekend as well. 

We even managed to play some pool and air hockey. I crushed him at pool but he destroyed me at air hockey, so I guess we are even.

I will miss our Sun Valley weekend, but now that the kids are older and less needy, I don't need it as much. I'm so thankful that we have got to do this for the last ten years. I'm excited to see what the coming years bring.

All My Free Time

With all the kids in public school, I've been worried about how I would fill all my free time. Between sick kids, weird days off and watching this guy several times a week, I've been just as busy as ever. The first three weeks of school I still had someone at home almost every day. Now that the school schedule has settled and kids have gotten healthier, I did get a few days off. 

For several days I just fixed things. Little things that have broken over the years and no one had the time to fix.  Things like replacing the toilet paper holder that has been prone to falling off the wall for the last couple years.

I've worked in the garden, helped install a new peep hole, fixed a broken wheel on our bench and helped Michael fix the broken wheel on the computer chair.  I've set about poisoning my neighbor's trees that refuse to die. And yes, I have her permission; I haven't gone completely loopy. I installed a doorbell. I'm going to replace some bathroom fixtures. Basically, I have been fixing all those little things that I could never concentrate enough to fix before.

The few days I've had with no kids or husband around I have enjoyed the feeling of having a complete thought process, such as: I need to fix this toilet paper holder. I'm going to check if Amazon has one. Now I am ordering one. This is a process that has taken me days to work through, but without a person interrupting, it takes ten minutes. When Amazon delivered it, it took me 45 minutes (I'm being generous) to find the correct tools and install it without having to referee a fight or have someone asking to picked up from wherever they are. It's been amazing. I don't think I've had a complete thought process in the last fifteen years!

I still have a few items on my to-do list, but I can't fix everything at once. We still need money for food and housing! Amid all this fixing chaos, I've come the realization that we may not be able to afford for me to stay home. I'm eyeing new flooring for the patio, new paint for a couple rooms, new paint for the kitchen chairs; I just keep adding to the master list. There are so many projects that I keep finding that I might just bankrupt us.

So in the interest of earning a bit more money and curtail my home improvement projects a bit, I also signed up to be a substitute teacher. I finished the training and my fingerprints are cleared. I'm hoping to be able to start next week. The girls have begged me to never sub for their classes. The boys couldn't care less if I teach them; at least some of my kids love me.

With my free time I even took a quick girls' trip to Baker City with my friend. We posed with every animal sculpture we found. I love these things. I want some smaller scales ones for the front flower bed (me staying home without kids to chase gives me much too much time to start projects that then cost money).

I'm enjoying having moments to myself with all the kids in school. Grace and Sam are enjoying public school, although Sam still has some doubts. He is asking to come home because school is so long. He loves his friends though and has discovered playing Pokemon with friends. I think he will survive. I think we all will. This is going to be a great new chapter for all us.