Coconut Oil Day 3

Ok – so i’ve googled everything i can and i can find lots of good information about what coconut oil is supposed to do for you, but no real reviews from real people about what it actually DID for them – so i thought i’d try it out and see what the outcome might be – and i thought i’d post here every so often to update anyone that might be looking to see a real live review.

I bought pure cold pressed extra virgin coconut oil from GNC – it was about $13 for a 12oz bottle.  It is a solid at room temp but we’ve had the windows open the past few days and it’s gotten a bit warmer than 76 in the house, so it is not virtually a liquid.  It has a slight coconut smell and taste – i actually like that.

So for the past 2 days i’ve been taking 2 tablespoons a day – one in the morning and one at nite.  I take them on an empty stomach (no other reason than i heard it might work better that way) and i just take the oil by itself.  Yep, you read that right, i take out my tablespoon measurer thingy and dip out 1 tablespoon in the morning and at nite  and take it like medicine.  I have to have a drink waiting on me as soon as a swallow – it’s not too bad but it’s just the idea of swallowing a tablespoon of oil – eeddgggddddassss..

Anyway, today is day 3 and i’ve taken my oil this morning already.  Below are the claims that i’m watching to see if it helps with..

More energy – not noticing anything yet

Weight loss – maybe 1 lb. but i don’t think it’s due to the oil at this point (i’m also lower-carbing it)

Skin – no difference yet

Blood pressure – no difference yet

I had my cholesterol checked prior to doing this, so i will monitor that as well and report in when i have new bloodwork done in about 3 months.

Help the Teacher, Help YOUR Child

As a room mom for going on 5 years now, i’m astonished at the number of parents that want to sit back and do nothing.  So today i guess i’m going to be getting on my soapbox for a bit.

When my oldest daughter was in Pre-K, we had FIVE room moms!  It was my first time experiencing this and we had a great room mom leader.  It was not hard at all, we all worked together and learned a lot and also laughed a lot.  It took so much pressure off of the teacher so that she could focus her attention on teaching our children.  It was a great experience.

However, going forward with my oldest in school, i’ve found that less and less parents help.  Now i’m not talking about taking a day off of work to come and hang out at the school – but i’m talking about simply sending in items when the room mom or the teacher asks you to – or volunteering for a few hours on a Saturday to help out with a fundraiser. 

Our teachers are not paid enough to have to go out and buy extra supplies because the parents aren’t providing them – or to go out and do cupcakes, drinks, chips, and games for a party all by themselves.  Over the course of a school year, most teachers spend way more than they should on our kids – why is it that parents can’t be bothered to send in a couple bucks for a teacher’s birthday or a bag of candy to help out with making goodie bags.  I honestly just don’t get it – someone please explain it to me.

While we may “think” that we are paying for this with our tax dollars and therefore shouldn’t have to shoulder any more of the cost, it’s just not true.  You, as a parent, should be actively involved in their school and with their teachers – you should know that when a teacher or room mom asks for assistance with something – THEY NEED IT – and as an involved and caring parent if you have the ability to provide it, you should.

Now, with the economy the way that it is, not everyone can afford everything and i’m not saying that.  It costs nothing to donate a few hours of time at a fundraiser – or to send in some games from your house on game day – or to help the room mom or the teacher plan a party. 

  What i’m trying to get across here is that these are still your children and your responsibility – step up to the plate and be involved -don’t act like it’s the teacher’s  or the room mom’s responsibility to make sure that your child has an awesome Christmas party, because it’s not.  It’s yours, each one of you parents, that need to shoulder those type of endeavors for your child.  Our teachers cannot do it on their own and they should NOT be expected to – help out where and when you can, give them a hand when needed. There have been parties over the years where it’s just been the teacher and I paying for everything for your childs’ party – and i’ll do it again and again because this is MY child’s party also – but it is shameful of  you to expect that and not pitch in in some way.

Here are some examples of things you can do…

In September when all the school supplies go on clearance (Target is the best place for this) buy a ton of crayons (if your child is still at the age where they use them) and send them to the teacher – they run thru crayons pretty fast and by mid-year are usually out.  Same goes for pencils, paper, GLUE, scissors, kleenex, clorox wipes, etc..

Offer to help at home with some project that the teacher needs to have partially completed – such as cutting out laminated sheets for her or piecing together some sort of craft.

When a room mom or teacher sends a note home, asking for donations (monetary, candy, games, etc..) send something in, even if it’s $1 or one bag of candy – do something, help out in some way.

When you are asked to volunteer some time, do it, yes you can take off 2 hours from work or a long lunch and come help – this is not asked of parents on a routine basis and 1-2 times a year is not going to break the bank.

Remember the teacher’s birthday – most of you will get a note of some kind from the room mom about this – if you can’t send in $ to go towards her present, send a home-made card from your child to their teacher, send a card that you write thanking the teacher for all their hard work – do something to show appreciation for what they do for your child.

Basically GROW UP and quit being selfish, give a little bit of your time, your energies, your finances to help out our teachers and in turn help your child’s education.

Procrastination

We’ve all done it – put off something we really didn’t want to do until ultimately we HAD to do it – or someone else did it because they were tired of waiting on us to do it.  The girls start school this week and there are some things i’ve been procrastinating on around the house.  To give you an idea, we put new flooring in our kitchen last summer and i decided that i wanted to paint.  So we did – then i decided that i didn’t like the color and i wanted to paint it red.  We’ve been painting that kitchen red since January and finally finished it up this weekend.

So now i’ve got a list of things, projects actually, that i want to get done while the girls are at school – but i don’t honestly WANT to do them, they are just on the list and NEED to be done and so i guess i’ll have to do them, but i don’t think i’ll enjoy doing them but i know i’ll enjoy the rewards when they are done.

Isn’t that how it is with God a lot of times.  There are things He wants us to do, and we KNOW He wants us to do them, but we just don’t wanna?  We drag our feet, we pretend we have something better to do, we pretend that we know better than Him what is best for us, we run from Him any which way that we can, and even sometimes in the midst of doing what He wants us to do, we are doing it begrudgingly.  We don’t want to do it, so we do it with a bad attitude, we do it will way less than joy in our hearts, we don’t do it with the joy He intended for us to do it with.

But in the end, don’t we usually get to enjoy the finished product?  Sure, the end might be a long time coming and take longer than painting the dresser that i need to refinish, but don’t we still get to enjoy it?  Sure, there are times that we may never actually see the product that comes from our labors for Him until it’s time for Him to call us home, but we will eventually get to revel in the joy of completing the task He gave us to do – maybe we should be a little bit more joyous about actually doing it.

I HATE sales calls!

Yes, i used to work for a company that did this and yes, i used to love working for that company and yes, when people used to call my house to take a survey, etc.. i would always try to be nice and listen to them, etc.. but it’s just gotten ridiculous being on the other side of that now i guess.  I get calls starting at 8am and i’ll get some as late as 9pm – usually it’s the same thing ” Please call us at #####, we have a great opportunity for you” – so i can’t even tell them to put us on their do not call list because there is physically no one there.  Sure, i don’t answer the phone most times after i see the caller id but i hate not being able to answer my phone.  And it’s not just companies that i have no relation with, our own credit card companies call us to try to sell us credit insurance or to open a new account or to buy stocks or to tell us about their other accounts – hey dude, if i WANTED another account, i would call YOU!

So today i changed my number, added it to the DNC registry and made sure it was unlisted – maybe i’ll have peace for a year at least.  One thing i know i’m going to quit doing immediately is putting my phone number on any online order that i do – they have my email if they need to contact me..

Lacking motivation

Yep, that’s how i feel right now.  There are several things in the house that i need to do, but i just don’t wanna – LOL!  And if i set my mind to it, i’d have them all done and completed in under a week and could move onto other things.  But for some reason, the sheer fact that i don’t have anywhere to be first thing in the morning, just keeps me in my jammies until noon. 

The girls go back to school in 22 days – maybe then i’ll feel like getting up and doing something.  In the meantime, i’m reading a lot, washing clothes, trying to keep the house straight – all while in my jammies.  Hey, don’t knock it, it has saved me a lot of money in shopping trips this week – lol!!

School or Work?

In this economy, i truly wonder which would be best for me and my family.  I’d love the best of both worlds, but it seems that breaking into the school system around here is very difficult.  Not to mention that they do not seem to be hiring anyone and even letting some teachers go.

I worry about not being there for the girls – not being able to go on all the field trips, parties, picking them up from school as soon as school is over, etc… I haven’t had to leave them in anyone else’s care since before Grace was born (read : daycare like setting).  And so i’m just not sure how i’d feel about doing that.  But with almost any job i’d get, it would be hard to work around their schedules – oh yes mr. employer, i can work m-f from 8:30-2:30, but i’m going to need 2 weeks off at Christmas, a week in the winter, a week in the spring, and 2 months off for the summer.  That stuff just kinda doesn’t fly…

So i’ve been thinking about going to North Metro Tech and getting a medical billing certificate – it would take me 39 credit hours and i’d be certified.  Whether you agree with the president on health care or not, it does seem that these jobs are going to be ones that are available and hiring the most.  And i might not be able to get all the time off that i’d need to be with the girls all the time, but i would imagine that i could at least work part-time.  I need to work for my own sanity and to help out our family.  With groceries and utilities going up and up, i need to find a way to help shoulder some of the burden.

I babysat some kiddos last year and that really helped out, but their father lost his job, and so i lost mine.  I’d like to do something outside of the house if possible – somewhere that i felt valued and had some adult interaction.  I’m just praying that a window or door or something opens soon, the girls start school in a few weeks and i’m still very undecided….

WOW – it’s been a long time huh?

Guess i’ve let time get away from me – it’s been almost a year since i’ve updated this thing! 

The girls start school on August 6th and i’m in a quandry about what i’m going to do.  I’ve been looking at going back to school but i worry about the finances but i also don’t want to sit in this house all day while they are gone.  I’ve taken the para-professional test so that I’m qualified to be a para in a school setting now, but with this economy there are no openings in either our city or county schools.  I’m a sub for the city schools but i guess the need is  just not that large because i only get called on a few times a year for that.

The problem is that i want something that is part-time – something where i can still attend the girls’ functions, be home with them when school is out, and still have some adult interaction and feel like i’m contributing to our family finances.  I’ve been praying about it and i’ll keep doing that – ma ybe God will show me exactly what He wants me to do. 

The funny thing is that the last job I had – preschool director at Oak Leaf Church – i resigned from due to stress and such on my marriage – looking back now i see that it was more burn-out on my part.  It is a hard job and i respect anyone doing it and doing it well.  I loved working for a church – but maybe the teaching of the children of it is more my cup of tea

Forgetting and Forgiveness

Has anyone ever wronged you?  Lied to you?  Hurt you?  Of course they have, we are human.  But how do you forgive AND forget?  If you can’t forget, did you truly forgive?  If that person messes up again, do you instantly remember how they’d wronged you before – is it cumulative?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately as i’ve had someone very close to me lie to me about some pretty important things.  The person has apologized but i can’t shake it – everytime i see them, i think about what they did.  I went walking this morning and i was just thinking about how God forgives us – how He sent His son to die for us, knowing that many of us would reject Him, would even hate Him.  And He did it knowing that we would lie to Him, knowing that we would cheat Him, knowing that we would curse Him – and He did it anyway.  Why?

And then i thought, how many times have i tried to hide something from God – not that He couldn’t see what i was doing – how many times have i lied to someone else – how many times have i hurt someone else – and yet He forgives me, over and over again, and doesn’t keep track of all the times i’ve stumbled.  Jesus died for me regardless of what i do or what i have done – He knew i would deny Him and turn away from Him at times and He still did it. 

Shouldn’t i be strong enough to forgive and forget no matter how much it hurts?

Ok – no new job :(

Well, i went the first day for planning (no kids) and basically found out that i’m a glorified janitor.  For $7 per hour (this is about 1/2 of what a para professional in the public school system makes), i’m supposed to serve the kids breakfast, lunch, clean the bathrooms (all 4 of them) clean the sinks, mop and sweep the floor and do laundry!  There is basically NO time with the kids at all, i just walk around them and clean while they are engaged and then handle the food and cleanup after the food, etc..

To top it off, i found out that their school calendar is nothing like my girls – so that would mean i’d have to hire a babysitter for a week in the spring, 4 days in the fall, a week in the winter, etc…plus paying the $50 per week in after school care because i wouldn’t be able to pick them up from school right when they got out – so after talking to my mother in law and husband, we decided that the best thing was for me to not take the job.

So i sit here, cleaning LOL!  I have applied to Bartow County and Paulding County as well and I guess we’ll just have to see what happens – in the meantime i might be watching two little kids M-F from 9-5 – so that would be some $$ coming in (thank you Lord!)

Guess i’ll have to wait and see what God puts before me

A New Job!!

So last year, i decided that i’d sub at the girls’ school – i mean, i was there almost every day anyway, might as well get paid for it  LOL!  Plus, i figured it would give me a good idea if that is something that i really enjoyed and would let me know if i thought i could do it on a continual basis.

I subbed a few times and loved it – i loved the kids, i loved helping them and laughing with them – it was great!  So i decided to take the para-professional exam in June and i received my passing results in July.  I applied to both the city and county schools but unfortunately there were no para positions open with either district.

So, on a whim, i found out that there were about 6 preschool centers in our area that have the Georgia funded pre-k programs – so they have to adhere to the salary, rules, curriculum, hours, etc.. that all of the public pre-ks have to follow.  So i found out who the directors of each center were and i sent them my resume with a letter of interest – i mailed these out last Thursday. 

On Monday i received a call to interview – i interviewed on Tuesday and was offered the job on the spot!  My first day of work will be Aug. 6th – and i’ll basically be off when the girls are off – no having to find childcare during spring break or summer break!  It will change our lives a little bit – for instance Noel will now take the girls to school in the morning and they will have to go to afterschool for a bit in the afternoon, but only until about 4pm – so i’ll have them both back home by 4:30 or so.

But this is going to be a big change for me – working at the churches i’ve worked at in the past has always been a blessing – and my hours were, for the most part, able to be worked around the girls’ school schedules – like if they had a party i’d be able to attend or if i needed to go on a field trip, i could do that, etc..  Now it will be a bit different since i can’t just take off and run over to their school for a few minutes.  And with Grace just starting kindergarten, that does have me a bit worried and sad.

But i am excited about how the extra $ is going to help our family and i guess it’s time for me to get back out in the work force in a full-time way – of course if we see it negatively impacting the girls we’ll have to re-evaluate and i’m sure it will take me a month or so to get into a new routine and not just fall down exhausted  in the afternoons

I’m still holding out for a position with the city schools – they said you never know when something might come up during the year – so if they call me….