Another week begins tomorrow and I feel like the last one never ended. We went to see Up! on Friday, to my dad's on Saturday, and today my DH and the older two kids went on a long bike ride, getting home in the late afternoon, which kind of shot the rest of the day. I just felt all blah today, not like doing much, and I feel like I didn't have much of a weekend. The movie was cute though, I recommend it, it has a plot that grown-ups can get into, at least I did.
We discovered yesterday that the gophers (my mortal enemies) are drinking out of the dog's water bowl at night. So, no more water bowl, we have a thingie on the hose that lets the dog use it as a drinking fountain, and I think that's better, now he'll have fresh water all the time, not just when the bowl gets filled in the morning.
Shortie and I were out in the garden yesterday and she was getting a big kick out of cutting asparagus for dinner. Nothing else in the garden is edible yet, but she is loving the Asparagus. She also keeps checking the apple tree, and gets very frustrated when I won't let her pick the green apples.

Summer Fun

Last night I spoke to a friend in California who is coming for a visit when her kids get out of school in a few weeks. We were trying to figure out what there is to do here besides hang out in the yard. We don't have a pool, so we planned on a visit to the public one in town and looked into a few things worth seeing, like a local zoo and museum, and finally we settled on going tubing down the Salt River. Between that and getting to play paintball (in our backyard) they should have a pretty good time.
While we talked the issues of schools and stuff came up. My friend doesn't want to send her sons to the local high school, they're too overcrowded, just for a start, and I know that when I lived there the thought of sending my kids to those schools bothered me, that's why we were homeschooling our as soon as they hit middle school, we just moved before anyone else got there and here we are fine about sending the kids to the public schools here.
But I digress, what else is there to do here in the summer? I guess we could go to Phoenix to Castles and Coasters, or to other places, like Sedona or Jerome. There's plenty to do if you just go do it. There's always some of the national parks, there are several around here where you can see how the Native Americans lived.
And then there's the fact that they can actually go for bike rides around here, or walk to the store for ice creams or candy, and play water pistols and hang in the tree house. It's just a little more old-fashioned fun, from before video games and movie channels.

working Moms vs Stay-at-home Moms

I used to be a stay at home mom, I worked while my kids were at school for a couple of years, but that was about it for a long time. Now my kids are all older, the youngest is nine, the oldest 15, and I'm trying for a new job that will mean I will be out of my house for 10 hours a day. My current job is short on hours and even when I get 40 it's stretched out over 6 days and the hours are very flexible, which is why I decided to do it in the first place. My husband has a very flexible schedule, and so far things have worked out well, but this new job, if I get it, (and I want it) has me worried. I would have set hours and be home for dinner every night, but not home when my kids get home from school most likely. They get off their bus around 4, so they wouldn't be home long and the older ones are competent babysitters who know the rules but I still feel a bit of trepidation. Probably because for a long time I felt most mothers didn't have to work outside the house and should have saved the money they spent on day care and stayed home. I am working because I have bills to pay, not because of some misguided "men are evil you must take care of yourself" thing. I have gotten jobs, even after being out of the workforce for several years, with very little effort on my part. So I know that at least some of the "keep working or you won't get hired again" is, to a degree, false.
Now I'm faced with the fact that I need to work at this time, and while I know I have good kids and a solid support system of a husband who works from home part of the tie and who can arrange his days around emergencies, (not that I couldn't) and most likely be home when they get here, I still worry. I'm the mom. I'm the one who has 15 years of running a household. How can he do it? Why am I not doing it?
I have to get it through my head that now we do it together. Dear Husband can do everything in the house but laundry, and all the kids except the 9 year old know how to do that. All the kids have chores too, it's not like I do it all.
Most women who work look at their career and family and think they have it all. I can't help but look at my family and wonder, if I get this job, what I'm going to miss.

Last week of School

School lets out this week! Yay! I get 2 months of not having to get up at the crack of dawn to get my kids to school 30 miles away. I really don't mind the drive, just getting out the door by 7 AM.
Another bonus is that most kids with Juvenile Migraines can go off their meds in the summer, so there's a possibility that there will be no headaches for my son. I think his having a few months of remission will do wonders for him, although he's been doing very well since his last medication change. Also since the grade books closed.
The kids are all looking forward to their vacation. We have friends coming to visit for a fair amount of the summer, as well as my in-laws. I think we will be pretty busy. The kids will have plenty to do too, between helping with the garden (we got it out of the pots and into the ground) and playing around the yards and the tree house. We usually have a mandatory reading time during the day, when it's hottest out they have to come in and read for a while. Some days we do movies. The only thing they haven't realized they will be able to do is play with the hose; but they might have written that off since you CAN NOT run around in bare feet around here because of the goat heads and other thorny things. I guess they forgot about their surf socks. I guess I will have to point that out to them. Just another fun thing to do. I should probably pick up some water pistols too.

Summertime cometh

So, school will be out in a little over a week. My kids will be running free for 2 months. We have some plans, friends coming, paintball games, frisbee golf to play, and a huge house to cool. We are thinking of using our swamp cooler, now that we are in a place where we can, but when Monsoon comes it will be to humid. However, the rains cool everything off, so maybe we won't cook.
The end of the school year always seems busier than any other time, we have school things to go to, activities are ending for the year and have things to give the kids closure. We have been out a lot in the last few weeks for band concerts, school fairs, and we still have a Girl Scout function and maybe a sports banquet. (same night as GS) If that's the case we will have to tag-team it.
Now that we love out in the wild, we have to think about more things to do at home. It's 60 mils round trip just to get groceries, so we can't just run off every time we et bored. We have to figure out how to stay entertained. It seemed easier when I was a kid. We didn't have all the things kids have now, and I don't remember being bored that much. Maybe I just need to introduce my kids to roller skates and a radio.

A wild life with local wildlife

The joys of country living! Since we've lived in the new house, I have seen, in the wild, Javelinas, gophers, quail, roadrunners, gophers, jackrabbits, and something that was too small to be a rat and to big to be a mouse that crawled out of a flooded gopher hole. We also have toads hopping all over after dark, and apparently we will be seeing pheasant soon. We have the little cottontail bunnies here too, but I haven't seen them in the yard yet. I like seeing the rabbits, and as long as they stay out of my garden, which the previous resident thoughtfully closed in with about 2 feet of fencing under ground level, we will get along fine.
The wild pigs were a surprise. We were driving out and one was standing by the roadside while his cohorts ate a neighbor's flowers. Of course we saw them after the hype about the swine flu hit, not that I think they carry it or anything. It was just very funny timing that we see them while the world is hysterical about getting the flu from pigs.
I planted my garden last week, in pots for now, to be moved to the garden patch when they are big enough. I planted corn, zucchini peppers, pickle cucumbers, regular cucumbers, watermelon, tomatoes, pumpkins, and radishes. I think the kids will have fun with the pumpkins.
The fruit trees are doing okay, despite the fact the gophers are trying to eat the roots. I'm trying to get rid of them, but it's not easy. Ran a hose down a gopher hole to try flooding them out and was surprised when whatever it was crawled out...it wasn't a gopher. My youngest came out and was looking at it, when her dog ran over, grabbed it and took off. I think they heard her screaming in Phoenix. I told her to go get her dad, (I knew he couldn't do anything but at least she wasn't screaming at me) and the dog took off every time I went after him. (I may not like rodents, but that's a horrible way to go and I don't want the dog to get sick) After a while Shortie calmed down and asked me to flood another gopher hole. Go figure. I don't think I'll be doing that again, but I want to knock down the gopher population. I don't like the holes in my yard or that the dogs think of them as snacks. That's just too gross for me.

Adjusting to new places

So, we have been in the new house for a week. It's a big adjustment, since we are taking our kids to their old schools, since the ones close by aren't so hot. It's a very small district, so anyone who wants their kids to have access to honors classes has to drive to the next one. A lot of the parents here do that.
Most of the boxes are unpacked, and we are almost completely out of the new house. All we have to do now is clean it up.
The kids are enjoying the property. With 5 acres and 2 dogs they are outside a lot, except for the oldest who is recovering from the flu. She's looking forward to being out in the yard when she has the energy.
Right now all I want is to get to that point where the trash collector catches up to the empty boxes.