Grandparents Getaway Day #18

New Phrase in our house

So this week we added a new phrase to our house... "Load the dishwasher!"

A contractor friend of ours hooked us up with a used dishwasher and rebuilt a shelf unit to house it!  It has been 8 years of hand-washing dishes and it is now over!! Thank you sooooo much Diehls! 

Grandparent Getaway Day #14

Quality Time

Just a picture of Princess #1 and I dreaming of a dishwasher... going on 8 years without one!

The Messy Teacher

I am a teacher and here's what I think I look like....

But reality strikes and I realize I am one of those "messy" kinda teachers.  Ya know the kind that if given a choice of 3-4 activities to "enhance" your subject I am always gonna pick the painting, dig in the dirt, glue lots of little pieces of paper to the paper kinda project.  I love when kids dig in a get dirty with the projects!...

 What I have trouble accepting is that while messy teachers are fun teachers, "messy" teaching creates- well, messes....

I am working on being ok with my piles.  I really am!  I am working on finding the balance between fun "messy teaching" and cleaning up after myself to create a home that is welcoming and well cared for.  It is a not an easy balance for me.  I struggle more often than I care to admit and my Prince Charming and little ladies generally get the brunt of my frustration.  

Today I am feeling a little overwhelmed with my piles of stuff and yet balancing that with my looming lack of preparation of lessons for this week.  Someday I really hope that I find a balance between what I should do and what I want to do... but for now I really need to go get cleaned up and plan some school lessons....

Living in a Rural Area

For all of you who are out there in blog-world when I say I live in NY state you immediately think of this don't you?

You would probably be surprised to find that my area looks more like this

Pretty huh?  Well to be honest today it looks more like this....

Somedays it is pretty tough living in an area so rural... Here are some random facts for your useless knowledge bank so I can rant a little....

My dear Prince Charming has to drive 30 miles one way to get work...literally over the hills and through the woods (it takes him about a hour each way)

The nearest grocery store is about 7 miles away but it is small and expensive, the second closest is 20 miles way (about 30 minutes) so there is no "quick run to the store'" for us

We do have a really nice metropolitan area once you get there about 30-40 miles away... I generally make there once every few weeks... Usually has to do with some doctor or business appointment because that is the closest we have for most everything.

Our local school is 20 miles away and if my kids rode a bus it would be a 45-50 minute bus ride.

Our little town consists of one small corner store, a post office, a bank, a library, and a church, and one manufacturing plant.  Yup you read that right not a restaurant or gas station in the town... There is a gas station 3 miles away but you can guess that they are not always the best deal in town.  The closest restaurant?  Subway is 7 miles, but other than that it is roughly 30 miles in any direction so there are not a "let's go grab a cup of coffee" for us either.

Living in NY state also means that we have an 80 year old house in need of repairs on about 3 acres of land and we paid double what we would pay in almost any other state for the same house.  On top of that our tax payment each month is equal to or exceeds our mortgage payment.  

Why do we live here?  Well for one Prince Charming grew up here (so did I) and we have family here...

But also more importantly... God put us here... So here is where we stay... Rant done!