The Busy Life of a Single Mom

I would never wish for anything such as Gustav, but I’m actually very thankful that it is in fact hitting during a holiday. Because we are out of school for Labor Day, I’m able to sit here and watch and stay educated. It’s horrendous to see the damage caused by this storm. They are projecting that we will in fact have storms ourselves, but it will be nothing like what we are seeing on the news today in Louisiana and Mississippi. It’s so frightening.  Anyone out there surfing the web today, please take a moment to say a short prayer for all of the Gulf Coast Residents whose homes and lives are in such peril today.

Texas schools are back in session. Almost across the state, public schools started back today (state law prohibits us from starting sooner).  I saw all 90ish of my students today and have decided I’ve been teaching too long (only 8 years), but honestly at the end of the day, my first thoughts were “another first day…they are all the same.” But honestly, I remember being nervous, and then they started feeling sort of the same, but there were lots of fresh faces so that added a little spice to the picture. Today though, there were few fresh faces - after all I’m the English department so I taught the sophomores, juniors and seniors last year.  Only the 16 freshman were new - one class!

Overall though it was a good first day, and maybe the best part was seeing Cameron running across the campus this afternoon full of excitement ready to tell me how great the first day of 3rd grade was.  She was literally bubbling over to tell me all about her classes, and then when we got home she just had to walk down and tell Mamaw about her day.  I miss those days…high school students are NOT excited to be there and past the point of even pretending. 

Now the school/student stories will start……stay tuned.

We soon go back to school so the preparations are in full swing.  Do you have any back to school rituals with your family?

For us, I start the school supply shopping as soon as the sale papers start showing the supplies on sale. We read over each sale paper and each supply on the list each week and by the time school starts, I’ve purchased most of the supplies for VERY CHEAP.

Then there’s the school shopping. We do 99 percent of this each August during tax free weekend (That was this weekend). This year we shopped in several Houston malls and found some great deals (We’re probably going to hit one more on our way out of town tomorrow).

Then there’s the adjustment to school hours. I go back to work on Monday, and I’ll start getting the girls up before I leave each morning to be sure that  by the time the next week starts (when they go back to school), their bodies are a little more accustomed to waking up before noon!

What are your families’ rituals?

Thanks to my Sunshine and blogging pal, Catherine, I found out that Google is in the process of releasing new PR (PageRanks).  It looks like they are releasing slowly over the last few days. If you are a serious webmaster (in particular a blogger), then Page Rank (whether we like it or not) is pretty important.  If you do any blogging for money, then with most companies, you’ll see more offers and higher paying offers once you have a PageRank greater than 0. The higher your PageRank, the higher you appear in search results also.

So what is PageRank? And how is it determined? Well I can’t really answer the second question. This seems to be a mystery that Google wants to keep to itself; however, I will tell you a little about PageRank. I’m by no means an expert, but I’ll give you my simple answer. 

Google ranks pages with a score (or rank) of 0 to 10 depending on how important of a page Google deems a site.  Ten is the goal.  This is what all webmasters dream of when they have happy dreams. So basically if you are considered “important” and “authorative” by Google, then you have a higher ranking. One method that Google uses is the links to your site from other sites.  The ranking of the sites that link to you matter too.  Two zero blogs linking to each other is not nearly as helpful as a site with a pr of 4 or 5 (or even better) linking to your site. See Google claims that if other “important” sites thought your site was good enough to link to, then it must be.  (Interesting theory, huh?)

Once you are ranked, most of us keep our ratings for about three months before Google releases new scores for everyone. No one is safe at this time. A site with a PR of 6 or 7 can be cut to 0 overnight.  So even if you are lucky enough to start working your way up the ladder of PageRanks, do not think you can just relax. You must continue building a successful site, providing new information, and using wise SEO strategies.

Looks like now is the time (thanks again Catherine for the heads up) for us to all get our new rankings. Let me know how this goes for you and check back in during the end of October and let’s see if the three month prediction holds true.

I’ve been out of town for THREE nights, and it killed me.  I couldn’t stand it. When I called home yesterday, I actually teared up and I could hear the tears in Cameron’s voice on the phone so I kept trying to keep my voice upbeat.

So is it this way with all parents? Or is it harder because of it being just the two of us for so long?  I had spent two nights away from her at rare times, but I can’t think of a time when I spent more than two. I can’t remember tearing up over our time apart though in a long time.

When she was first born, my dad was resolved to keep her every Friday night as he said even though I might not have realized it, I needed the break.  I can remember that first Friday like it was yesterday. Cameron was one week and one day old and off she went with her Papaw and home I stayed and cried all night!  Slowly I did come to appreciate and use that time until Cameron started having “Mommy withdrawal” because I was working and going to school full time. One night Cameron cried and cried at her Papaws and after that, Daddy didn’t keep her until she was big enough to ask. He said it broke his heart to see her cry…..

The next set of tears of separation came when she started daycare at the age of three.  When I went to leave her there, she cried so I cried the entire way to work. And then a couple times during the day. I felt so guilty for abandoning my baby to strangers, but when I went to pick her up, the first words out of her mouth were “Can I come back?”  I wanted to scream!  I had been miserable all day long, and she wanted to come back? We continued this routine for 2 or 3 more drop offs before I decided she was ok, and I didn’t need to cry.  It wasn’t too long until she wasn’t crying at drop off anymore.

And this past few days I think was number 3…Yep…the third instance of crying because my baby girl and I had to spend time apart. I had a teacher’s conference in Austin the last few days and 3 days away was way too many for me, and I’m so happy to be home. I got home about 7 so we rushed in the pool before dark, and since coming in we’ve had a fun supper of Mickey pizza and french fries and played Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, Yahtzee and Uno Spin. Now we’re going to watch some of the shows and movies we had set up to record on the DVR whiel I was gone.

Again…I’m not sure if this is typical in all homes or if it is harder because we’ve been on our own for so many years, but I know Cameron actually missed me this time too (unlike at day care and those first visits to my dad’s) becaues she’s not moved more than about 2 breaths from me all night.  It’s so nice to feel loved and missed!

As a teacher, I know just how critical it is that our kids continue to learn over the summer, and I don’t just mean the things we learn on vacation. Yes, those are important skills, but we need to encourage them to continue reading over the summer and practicing their math skills.  When school does start back in August or September, their teachers must assume that they remember the skills from last year and move on, but I know that to not be the case. With younger kids in particular, they need to continue mastering the skills through the summer in order to be ready to excel in the next grade.

So this is my summer struggle.  First I have to be disciplined enough to set aside “school time.” Second, I have to find fun ways to accomplish this goal. For the month of June, I really only had to work on math because my daughter was in the summer reading program at the local library, and to win the prizes and such at the end, she was motivated to read most every day without me even reminding her.  But that program ended last week, and I was wondering how I would encourage her to continue to read through the rest of the summer (oh why, oh why couldn’t she just be a bookworm like her mother.  I never needed encouraged to read. In fact, my mom rewarded me with uninterrupted reading time when she wanted me to do something.)

I think maybe I’ve found something though so I wanted to share it with other Busy Moms out there who have children home for the summer. Barnes and Noble is hosting a summer reading program called Summer Reading with Andrew Clements, and if your child reads 8 books over the summer, they earn a free book.  My daughter may not like to actually sit down and read everyday, but she loves new books, and she loves to go to B&N and pick out a book and get a cup of hot cocoa at Starbucks. 

To particpate your child will record the books they read in their reading journal and then bring their completed journal in to a Barnes and Noble store by September 2nd. At this time, they will receive a coupon for a free book. The book choices will be listed on the coupon. This program is for students in grades first through sixth. So as an English teacher and mom, I encourage you, print out that reading journal and get those kids reading. 

Today is a very rare June Texas day. It’s a mild temperature that doesn’t require the use of the air condition.  So today we have sat around the house playing with the windows and door open. We now have a new guest - a pretty little bird.  It’s stuck in the house. Flying around - currently in the loft.  And the question is - How the heck do I get it out of here?  Cameron and I find it amusing, but it has to go. Evening is approaching and this dang thing is still flying around.  So how about it readers? Any ideas? How do I get this new friend out of our house.

Yes. I know (and I apologize), I haven’t been around much. It seems things keep getting in the way of my downtime, but I will have lots more now because starting today I am officially on SUMMER VACATION!!!  Can you tell I’m excited? :)  We actually got out on Friday, but I didn’t consider myself on vacation until today as we are always out on Saturdays and Sundays - that makes today the first OFFICIAL day of summer vacation!!

So what are my plans? Well I’d love to tell you nothing, but sadly that’s not the case.  I actually plan to work at least 3 or 4 days a week for 2 to 4 hours a day on curriculum. This was my first year to teach all four levels of English at the high school so I did good to just keep my head above water at times; however, I now have some idea of where I want each grade to go so I plan to do as much planning as possible this summer to make the upcoming school year a little less stressful.

We also have a Disney trip in August so I have tons of last minute planning to do. We’ll have to develop a tshirt plan (we always wear matching tshirts), Cameron needs a Cinderella dress (her birthday present) and I plan to make our autograph books this time too. Oh, and we still need to scrapbook our Christmas trip.

What else? Well I NEED (yes need) to get in some quality time with my best friend that lives 3 hours away. We haven’t done so yet, and I am totally missing her.  I need the quality down time and girl bonding. 

Hmm..and Becka is signed up for two camps this month that she’ll need transported to, and Cameron is signed up for the reading program at our local library which is two days a week throughout June.

Oh yes, and I MUST get on some type of diet/exercise plan. I’m sooo tired of not being in shape and carrying around this extra weight.  I am trying to decide if a Wii Fit would help me (if any of you out there have one, I’d love your reviews).  I need something that will slowly get me in shape, but also that I will enjoy and therefore I will continue to do.

Wow! I almost forgot, the pool is still not open for the summer!!  I need it moved so I’m waiting on the good grace of my dad to prepare the land and help me move it.

Yes, I’m thrilled it’s summer and that I’m just moving my busy life to a new focus for a few months.  (and people think teachers get all this vacation time…lol)

After several weeks of being at a plateau with my weight, the pounds are starting to creep back up so I’ve got to figure something out pretty quick.  As you know I had a decent amount of luck with Lipocerin a few months back, but this new bottle doesn’t seem to be doing the same trick so now I’m off browsing the Internet looking for best weight loss pills. I’m not sure though. I fear the side effects of most diet pills so I will probably stick with the Lipocerin through the summer. I do tend to do a lot of snacking when I’m home all day in the summer so maybe that will help curb this bad habit.

I’m also happy that we just have a couple weeks left of school as I have an exercise plan ready for summer vacation - I have a morning walking partner and I’ve bought 2 new videos to help keep it slightly different so I don’t get bored. I read that it takes 30 days to make a habit so I’m hoping with 2 1/2 months off of school I can use that time to make some good habits with physical activity too. I will be sure to keep you posted.

If you have a Disney trip in the works or you’ve been considering taking a trip to Walt Disney World, check out the lastest special being offered by Disney for those vacationing between May 26 - June 7, 2008.

Book by May 25 at select Villa Resorts for a savings of about $100 per night. The number of studios available at this rate is limited. So you’ll need to act quickly if you think you are interested.

Minimum length of stay requirements may apply for Friday or Saturday arrivals. According to MouseMisers, any trip days outside of the window (May 26-June 7) will not receive the discount.

Book your vacation online or call (407) 939-7785. The promotional code you’ll want to apply towards your vacation is CXY.