As per our simple livin' resolution for this year, we are getting out more. we finally got around to buying a bike trailer ($125 on craigslist) that is a lot nicer than our old one (which was given to some homeless people who asked for it). we've used it for jogging, also, since it has a jogging attachment. there have actually been a couple of days lately that it didn't pour down rain in the evening, and that's when we are going out. it feels good to move the body--i feel like we've been in hibernation mode for months!
this week we had the sad duty of taking our dog Barry to the humane society of sw washington so we could get him out of the county. the oregon humane society pulled a lot of strings for us to get him in there. he couldn't be in multnomah county any longer because the mailman filed a complaint and had him listed as a "Level FOUR dangerous dog"--it required him to be muzzled, never outside, always on leash, a sign up on our property declaring that there was a vicious dog on the property, etc.! it is so crazy. this dog has been in our family for 6 years and has never even come close to biting someone. the mailman gets what basically amounts to a scratch on his hand and suddenly he's public enemy no. 1. There was no way we could rehome him in our county and no way we could keep him. it was a gut-wrenching decision. we are keeping tabs on him at the shelter, and he is doing well and they think he is going to go fast. if you know anyone who might want a GREAT dog (who just happens to hate mailmen) please send them the link to the shelter.
we are in the process of applying for the oregon health plan right now. i know we probably won't get it because your income has to be ridiculously low to qualify, but we really can't afford health insurance right now. its quite the process, but if we got in, it would be so huge for our family. i don't know what we can do otherwise.
Showing posts with label Challenges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Challenges. Show all posts
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
karma
Jay and I have been complaining a lot lately that our karma has failed us. We used to brag that we had great karma. Since he lost his job, then lost his new job, a lot of other little side events have happened to us. We have just had a lot of stress since this summer.
One of those is that last week our dog, Barry, jumped over our fence and bit our mailman. I know, it sounds kind of funny when you first hear it, like what dog wouldn't want to do that? Unfortunately, it's not really all that funny, because many Bad Things are happening now because of it. One of them is that the post office may or may not sue us. We may have to go to court.
Barry has never bit someone and he is not an aggressive dog. He's never gotten over our fence before, either. But for some reason, he really has it in for the mailman. He just goes crazy when that guy comes. Its like that guy really did something to tick him off. Anybody can walk by and barry might bark, but if the mailman walks by its like he's a pitbull on crack. This is all very traumatizing for us because we are renters and we can't change the fact that the property has a 4' chainlink fence. We have looked at all of our options and have decided that re-homing Barry is the best option. We can't keep him inside 100% of the time. We can't change the fence. Training him would be very, very time consuming and we can't guarantee that it would be 100% effective. Ever since the kids were born, the dogs just haven't gotten the attention and exercise they need. Maybe this will give him a chance to have a better life. Maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better, but I really believe that. I just can't see another way to work it. It is going to be sad and traumatic for our family to do this, but if he had the right set-up, the mailman issue wouldn't be an issue. I don't think he deserves to die because he is aggressive only towards the mailman.
So we were looking at our renter's insurance and realized they would cover it if our dog bit someone. It would also cover a lawyer if we got sued. The amazing thing about this was that we were in the process of canceling our renters insurance because we thought we were moving. We thought it expired. Then we realized it covered us through the end of this month. I wanted to make sure they wouldn't make an issue, so i went in and reinstated it and payed it through March. We came very close to having a lapsed policy through all of this.
This past weekend we all had the stomach flu. jay had it the worst and was in HORRIBLE pain and vomiting really horribly for hours. I called the doctor and they said he needed to go in RIGHT away to the ER. So he went. It was so bad they thought it was his pancreas or something. It was just the flu affecting him really badly, but you can't mess around when you have severe abdominal pain for 5 hours. And this is just FOUR DAYS before our health insurance from my temporary teaching job expires!
Here's another thing that happened: i was randomly flipping through the paper and came across a classified ad that said 'need health insurance?' i thought 'yeah.' so i called it (brilliant, huh?). This guy called me back and we set up an appointment. He's an insurance agent. Normally I would just apply for health insurance myself over the internet and wouldn't use an agent, but for some reason i just thought it was all too overwhelming and decided to do it. Well, though this random encounter a number of really, really good things happened. First of all, he told us that we should not report on our application the prescription drugs we take because they would deny us. He basically told us that insurance companies are evil and you can't tell them that you have ever had any kind of problem or they will just deny you. It never would have occurred to me that this was possible. I would have just put it down and then been shocked when we got denied.
But the REALLY fortuitous thing was we were talking about our life insurance application we put in a few months ago and we mentioned that it was taking forever to process. He was like "huh, that's weird" and then we mentioned some of the things we'd put on THAT application. He was like "WHOA! you told them THAT?!?!" needless to say, there are some things you just should not tell a life insurance company. it is a need-to-know basis, and they do not need to know. But we're so naive. man, we are SOOOOOOOOOOoo naive. It turns out that there is this health database and anything you tell them goes on there...for 7 years. You'll never get life or health insurance or anything if you tell them that you've smoked like 1 cigarette in the past year. So anyway, he tells us to call them and withdraw our application before it goes in this database. man! i'm so glad we were able to do that.
So things i'm thankful for (THANK YOU, UNIVERSE!! KARMA, WE WILL PAY YOU BACK!)
1. That i was able to get a reasonable paying job right after jay got fired (i shudder to think what we would have done if i hadn't gotten my teaching degree yet.)
2. that jay and i both worked for a short time enabling us to get some savings to weather this month where we would have had a deficit
3. that the one and ONLY time that anyone in our family has gone to the ER it was while we still had kick-ass public employee health insurance that we have to pay nothing out of pocket for (4 days under the wire...)
4. that we may have just saved ourselves from being branded uninsurable for 7 years and not being able to get health insurance due to a random encounter with a really cool, really nice insurance agent
5. that our renters insurance is still in effect and covers barry biting the mailman (dammit, barry, why?!? why?!!?)
6. that we are all in good health
7. that we have wonderful families who support us and were even willing to let us move in with them, if it came to that.
so even though our family has been through a LOT of, dare i say, shit, in the past 6 months--way more than our fair share in my opinion--there have been a lot of silver linings, too, that have really saved our butts.
One of those is that last week our dog, Barry, jumped over our fence and bit our mailman. I know, it sounds kind of funny when you first hear it, like what dog wouldn't want to do that? Unfortunately, it's not really all that funny, because many Bad Things are happening now because of it. One of them is that the post office may or may not sue us. We may have to go to court.
Barry has never bit someone and he is not an aggressive dog. He's never gotten over our fence before, either. But for some reason, he really has it in for the mailman. He just goes crazy when that guy comes. Its like that guy really did something to tick him off. Anybody can walk by and barry might bark, but if the mailman walks by its like he's a pitbull on crack. This is all very traumatizing for us because we are renters and we can't change the fact that the property has a 4' chainlink fence. We have looked at all of our options and have decided that re-homing Barry is the best option. We can't keep him inside 100% of the time. We can't change the fence. Training him would be very, very time consuming and we can't guarantee that it would be 100% effective. Ever since the kids were born, the dogs just haven't gotten the attention and exercise they need. Maybe this will give him a chance to have a better life. Maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better, but I really believe that. I just can't see another way to work it. It is going to be sad and traumatic for our family to do this, but if he had the right set-up, the mailman issue wouldn't be an issue. I don't think he deserves to die because he is aggressive only towards the mailman.
So we were looking at our renter's insurance and realized they would cover it if our dog bit someone. It would also cover a lawyer if we got sued. The amazing thing about this was that we were in the process of canceling our renters insurance because we thought we were moving. We thought it expired. Then we realized it covered us through the end of this month. I wanted to make sure they wouldn't make an issue, so i went in and reinstated it and payed it through March. We came very close to having a lapsed policy through all of this.
This past weekend we all had the stomach flu. jay had it the worst and was in HORRIBLE pain and vomiting really horribly for hours. I called the doctor and they said he needed to go in RIGHT away to the ER. So he went. It was so bad they thought it was his pancreas or something. It was just the flu affecting him really badly, but you can't mess around when you have severe abdominal pain for 5 hours. And this is just FOUR DAYS before our health insurance from my temporary teaching job expires!
Here's another thing that happened: i was randomly flipping through the paper and came across a classified ad that said 'need health insurance?' i thought 'yeah.' so i called it (brilliant, huh?). This guy called me back and we set up an appointment. He's an insurance agent. Normally I would just apply for health insurance myself over the internet and wouldn't use an agent, but for some reason i just thought it was all too overwhelming and decided to do it. Well, though this random encounter a number of really, really good things happened. First of all, he told us that we should not report on our application the prescription drugs we take because they would deny us. He basically told us that insurance companies are evil and you can't tell them that you have ever had any kind of problem or they will just deny you. It never would have occurred to me that this was possible. I would have just put it down and then been shocked when we got denied.
But the REALLY fortuitous thing was we were talking about our life insurance application we put in a few months ago and we mentioned that it was taking forever to process. He was like "huh, that's weird" and then we mentioned some of the things we'd put on THAT application. He was like "WHOA! you told them THAT?!?!" needless to say, there are some things you just should not tell a life insurance company. it is a need-to-know basis, and they do not need to know. But we're so naive. man, we are SOOOOOOOOOOoo naive. It turns out that there is this health database and anything you tell them goes on there...for 7 years. You'll never get life or health insurance or anything if you tell them that you've smoked like 1 cigarette in the past year. So anyway, he tells us to call them and withdraw our application before it goes in this database. man! i'm so glad we were able to do that.
So things i'm thankful for (THANK YOU, UNIVERSE!! KARMA, WE WILL PAY YOU BACK!)
1. That i was able to get a reasonable paying job right after jay got fired (i shudder to think what we would have done if i hadn't gotten my teaching degree yet.)
2. that jay and i both worked for a short time enabling us to get some savings to weather this month where we would have had a deficit
3. that the one and ONLY time that anyone in our family has gone to the ER it was while we still had kick-ass public employee health insurance that we have to pay nothing out of pocket for (4 days under the wire...)
4. that we may have just saved ourselves from being branded uninsurable for 7 years and not being able to get health insurance due to a random encounter with a really cool, really nice insurance agent
5. that our renters insurance is still in effect and covers barry biting the mailman (dammit, barry, why?!? why?!!?)
6. that we are all in good health
7. that we have wonderful families who support us and were even willing to let us move in with them, if it came to that.
so even though our family has been through a LOT of, dare i say, shit, in the past 6 months--way more than our fair share in my opinion--there have been a lot of silver linings, too, that have really saved our butts.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
merry post-holiday greeting
happy new year everyone...
This post will serve as the substitute for the more traditional letter-in-a-christmas-card that informs everyone about what they have been doing. we have not gotten our act together to do anything for the holidays in terms of cards, baking, gifts, etc. I had big plans to bake stuff to mail to the far-away relatives, and never did get a chance to. We did give a few books this year, and i bought people some things in ireland (more on that in a moment).
we were really pretty pleased/impressed with how restrained our families were this holiday season. most presents were hand-me-downs or used, which was awesome. there was a minimum of wrapping paper, most of which was recycled, and the stuff for us adults was very small. still, it can be a bit overwhelming to consider that this (photo below) is what counts for trying for a very minimalist christmas. our entire couch was covered in presents for the kids.
we continue to be pretty non-committal about any gift-giving. we just aren't into it, and kind of refuse to feel like we should buy things for people and get all stressed about it. when the kids are older, i suspect that we will make some things, but right now that idea seems kind of ludicrous since we don't even get time to do dishes.
as for how things are going, the kids are doing well. as you can see, emmett is huge and has become an official toddler. he's 13 months old now. he runs around after elsie now and we've seen brief moments (of up to 10 minutes!) of them playing together and entertaining each other, whilst leaving us alone. hopefully it's a taste of things to come in the future. he also loves to eat everything and does a lot of babbling and playing with all sorts of objects. he understands what we say now and can follow simple commands such as 'hand me that ball'. he is much more eager to please, sensitive and compliant than elsie ever was. he will cry if we tell him 'no', whereas elsie never cared if we told her not to do something (and still doesn't!) elsie is growing bigger by the minute, and will be four in 2 months. she has started sounding out words, and can write her name and several other words. she loves to read still, and proudly announces that she now reads "chapter books" which she requests constantly. her vocabulary amazes us on a daily basis, saying things like "i have this memorized" and "is this a sand-hill crane, mama?" (today, she brought me a picture she found of a crane. where she heard about sand hill cranes, i have no idea). we've kept to our TV free lifestyle but do allow her to watch movies which we get from the library or video store. emmett hasn't watched any movies or tv.
elsie loves spending time down at her grandparents' house and we send her down there as often as we can. her behavior has gotten easier recently, and we've noticed that we aren't feeling like ripping our hair out quite as many times per day. the terrible threes are hopefully coming to a close.
my job as a teacher ended just before christmas, which is at once a relief, something sad, and something stressful. i really felt like i came into my own as a teacher toward the end, and i was sad to have to leave the job after hitting my stride. i was really enjoying my students. they were really sweet on my last day, many of them getting me christmas presents, cards, and flowers telling me that they will miss me and that they wanted me to stay. there were a few tears shed and i had a couple of students tell me wonderful things such as i was the best teacher they ever had (sniff). it was sad to realize i wasn't going to see them any more. it feels good to know that i really picked the right career and i learned a lot during these past months. i am excited to get a 'real' teaching job for next year or the year after.
at the same time, the job was taking a lot out of me, and it was very hard to keep up with.
jay has been doing some work here and there for his friend david, who just started a cultural resources company (david was the one who also got fired along with jay and 2 other people from AINW in august). in combination with substitute teaching for me, we are hopeful that we can make it through the next 6 months financially with both of us working very flexibly. it will be kind of nice to switch off working/staying at home on an as-needed basis. we have talked about moving to salem and renting a cheap apartment, while i sub there, but we are going to hold off in the hopes that jay will land a full time job in the next few months and then see if moving is necessary. the idea of moving is almost more than i can deal with. i'm just so sick of moving. but our place is kind of expensive and it would be nice to save some money. however, if jay does end up getting a job, it would be silly to move to salem and then to move back. we have some reason to hope that david will have a full time position for him in the next 6 months. i'm hoping that he can work and i can work part time, as i'd rather not jump into full time teaching next year unless i have to. i'd rather wait until emmett is 3 to tackle that. still, if jay doesn't have a job, we'll have no choice. subbing is OK money, but we might have problems when summer comes if jay doesn't have a job. we are trying not to stress about it too much. sometimes it just feels like we can't take any more changes and adjustments, though. nothing has been stable since August.
In other news, i just got back from an 7 day trip to ireland, which was absolutely amazing. My good friend roy got married to a wonderful irish woman, which was the reason for the trip. it was amazing and crazy to be by myself with no kids for so long, and offered me an unprecedented chance to think and take care of my own needs for a change. the kids and jay weathered it fairly well with lots of support from my family. i decided while over there that our family should not postpone happiness for some time in the future, when things might go a certain way; that we have each other, and in that regard we are very lucky and blessed. we are all working on focusing on the positive for now and realizing that everything is temporary. i felt very grateful and very, very fortunate to get to go on this trip and to be with my friends during this time.
the wedding feast in longford, ireland
roy and i at trinity college, dublin.
at some point i will post pictures of the kids and everything, but right now i don't think i can take any more elsie harassment about 'when will you be done?!?'
just one final thought: during these past few months it has become apparent to me that it is entirely impossible for people who are in a crisis to think about the environment, or anything beyond just their day-to-day survival. a lot of things fell by the wayside as we contemplated more important things, for example: are we were going to have to move in with my parents? how we were going to get health insurance? how we could afford to heat our house? etc. people all over the world, and in america, are in crisis and are just trying to survive. many, many millions of americans are only one paycheck or medical problem away from disaster. how can people think about their choices affecting the earth when they are just surviving? i know we didn't. we went back to whatever was cheapest/easiest, which always means less organics, more trash, less mindful consuming, etc. it's a pity, but its hard to imagine anything changing in a meaningful way while so many people are in poverty. its obvious that global poverty and environmental catastrophe are linked, and our family now understands the reasons for this first-hand.
here are a few pictures to appease the masses. thanks for reading this long ramble.
This post will serve as the substitute for the more traditional letter-in-a-christmas-card that informs everyone about what they have been doing. we have not gotten our act together to do anything for the holidays in terms of cards, baking, gifts, etc. I had big plans to bake stuff to mail to the far-away relatives, and never did get a chance to. We did give a few books this year, and i bought people some things in ireland (more on that in a moment).
we were really pretty pleased/impressed with how restrained our families were this holiday season. most presents were hand-me-downs or used, which was awesome. there was a minimum of wrapping paper, most of which was recycled, and the stuff for us adults was very small. still, it can be a bit overwhelming to consider that this (photo below) is what counts for trying for a very minimalist christmas. our entire couch was covered in presents for the kids.
we continue to be pretty non-committal about any gift-giving. we just aren't into it, and kind of refuse to feel like we should buy things for people and get all stressed about it. when the kids are older, i suspect that we will make some things, but right now that idea seems kind of ludicrous since we don't even get time to do dishes.
as for how things are going, the kids are doing well. as you can see, emmett is huge and has become an official toddler. he's 13 months old now. he runs around after elsie now and we've seen brief moments (of up to 10 minutes!) of them playing together and entertaining each other, whilst leaving us alone. hopefully it's a taste of things to come in the future. he also loves to eat everything and does a lot of babbling and playing with all sorts of objects. he understands what we say now and can follow simple commands such as 'hand me that ball'. he is much more eager to please, sensitive and compliant than elsie ever was. he will cry if we tell him 'no', whereas elsie never cared if we told her not to do something (and still doesn't!) elsie is growing bigger by the minute, and will be four in 2 months. she has started sounding out words, and can write her name and several other words. she loves to read still, and proudly announces that she now reads "chapter books" which she requests constantly. her vocabulary amazes us on a daily basis, saying things like "i have this memorized" and "is this a sand-hill crane, mama?" (today, she brought me a picture she found of a crane. where she heard about sand hill cranes, i have no idea). we've kept to our TV free lifestyle but do allow her to watch movies which we get from the library or video store. emmett hasn't watched any movies or tv.
elsie loves spending time down at her grandparents' house and we send her down there as often as we can. her behavior has gotten easier recently, and we've noticed that we aren't feeling like ripping our hair out quite as many times per day. the terrible threes are hopefully coming to a close.
my job as a teacher ended just before christmas, which is at once a relief, something sad, and something stressful. i really felt like i came into my own as a teacher toward the end, and i was sad to have to leave the job after hitting my stride. i was really enjoying my students. they were really sweet on my last day, many of them getting me christmas presents, cards, and flowers telling me that they will miss me and that they wanted me to stay. there were a few tears shed and i had a couple of students tell me wonderful things such as i was the best teacher they ever had (sniff). it was sad to realize i wasn't going to see them any more. it feels good to know that i really picked the right career and i learned a lot during these past months. i am excited to get a 'real' teaching job for next year or the year after.
at the same time, the job was taking a lot out of me, and it was very hard to keep up with.
jay has been doing some work here and there for his friend david, who just started a cultural resources company (david was the one who also got fired along with jay and 2 other people from AINW in august). in combination with substitute teaching for me, we are hopeful that we can make it through the next 6 months financially with both of us working very flexibly. it will be kind of nice to switch off working/staying at home on an as-needed basis. we have talked about moving to salem and renting a cheap apartment, while i sub there, but we are going to hold off in the hopes that jay will land a full time job in the next few months and then see if moving is necessary. the idea of moving is almost more than i can deal with. i'm just so sick of moving. but our place is kind of expensive and it would be nice to save some money. however, if jay does end up getting a job, it would be silly to move to salem and then to move back. we have some reason to hope that david will have a full time position for him in the next 6 months. i'm hoping that he can work and i can work part time, as i'd rather not jump into full time teaching next year unless i have to. i'd rather wait until emmett is 3 to tackle that. still, if jay doesn't have a job, we'll have no choice. subbing is OK money, but we might have problems when summer comes if jay doesn't have a job. we are trying not to stress about it too much. sometimes it just feels like we can't take any more changes and adjustments, though. nothing has been stable since August.
In other news, i just got back from an 7 day trip to ireland, which was absolutely amazing. My good friend roy got married to a wonderful irish woman, which was the reason for the trip. it was amazing and crazy to be by myself with no kids for so long, and offered me an unprecedented chance to think and take care of my own needs for a change. the kids and jay weathered it fairly well with lots of support from my family. i decided while over there that our family should not postpone happiness for some time in the future, when things might go a certain way; that we have each other, and in that regard we are very lucky and blessed. we are all working on focusing on the positive for now and realizing that everything is temporary. i felt very grateful and very, very fortunate to get to go on this trip and to be with my friends during this time.
the wedding feast in longford, ireland
roy and i at trinity college, dublin.
at some point i will post pictures of the kids and everything, but right now i don't think i can take any more elsie harassment about 'when will you be done?!?'
just one final thought: during these past few months it has become apparent to me that it is entirely impossible for people who are in a crisis to think about the environment, or anything beyond just their day-to-day survival. a lot of things fell by the wayside as we contemplated more important things, for example: are we were going to have to move in with my parents? how we were going to get health insurance? how we could afford to heat our house? etc. people all over the world, and in america, are in crisis and are just trying to survive. many, many millions of americans are only one paycheck or medical problem away from disaster. how can people think about their choices affecting the earth when they are just surviving? i know we didn't. we went back to whatever was cheapest/easiest, which always means less organics, more trash, less mindful consuming, etc. it's a pity, but its hard to imagine anything changing in a meaningful way while so many people are in poverty. its obvious that global poverty and environmental catastrophe are linked, and our family now understands the reasons for this first-hand.
here are a few pictures to appease the masses. thanks for reading this long ramble.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
so...um...
jay lost his other, newer job...
we're not sure if its because of the kids or what, but it would seem that way. the guy wouldn't give a reason. he just said "its not a good fit." after only 2 months. this would be the day after jay had to leave work early to pick emmett up from daycare because emmett was sick. jay wasn't willing to work unpaid overtime. he wasn't willing to go out of town on a moment's notice. he left work every day after 8 hours to get his kids. he wasn't willing to be a corporate zombie slave.
the sad thing is i think this happens to a lot of people. people get fired because they have small kids, get pregnant, have a sick spouse, etc. and there isn't jack crap you can do about it because you live in a "will-to-work" state. meaning, you can be fired at any time, for any reason (for no reason, actually).
so the tables have turned. he is a stay-at-home dad and i'm making the money. its sure going to suck come january when i'm no longer doing this job, and i just substitute teach, and our family has no benefits. yup. sure will suck.
everything else has been so out the window these past 3 months. its been beyond stressful.
"when you look into an abyss, the
abyss also looks into you."
we're not sure if its because of the kids or what, but it would seem that way. the guy wouldn't give a reason. he just said "its not a good fit." after only 2 months. this would be the day after jay had to leave work early to pick emmett up from daycare because emmett was sick. jay wasn't willing to work unpaid overtime. he wasn't willing to go out of town on a moment's notice. he left work every day after 8 hours to get his kids. he wasn't willing to be a corporate zombie slave.
the sad thing is i think this happens to a lot of people. people get fired because they have small kids, get pregnant, have a sick spouse, etc. and there isn't jack crap you can do about it because you live in a "will-to-work" state. meaning, you can be fired at any time, for any reason (for no reason, actually).
so the tables have turned. he is a stay-at-home dad and i'm making the money. its sure going to suck come january when i'm no longer doing this job, and i just substitute teach, and our family has no benefits. yup. sure will suck.
everything else has been so out the window these past 3 months. its been beyond stressful.
"when you look into an abyss, the
abyss also looks into you."
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Quick update and last post for a long while (probably)
I just wanted to give a quick update about our family and what's going on (in case anyone is still reading this). Below are some pictures of our garden today. we just picked about 10 lbs of tomatoes and are making sauce today. we are also putting in our fall crops today including kale, collards, beets, broccoli, spinach and a few others.
I am started teaching 8th grade science full time last week. i will be teaching through Christmas, then the woman whose maternity leave I'm taking comes back.
Its hard knowing that my kids are in daycare all day, but we found a wonderful person who is watching only 4 children to take care of them, and they are adjusting well to be being gone during the day.
Most of our environmental stuff continues, and has become habit at this point. Other things just kind of fell by the wayside and we've stopped. In general, we continue to reduce our waste and don't use disposable products, although not buying anything with non-recyclable packaging has proved impossible for us for the time being. Driving to work has become a necessity with dropping off and picking up the kids. Making stuff from scratch is pretty much out the window. We are saving water as much as possible and conserving energy by not using the dryer and things like that.
When December rolls around, we will re-evaluate how things are going...if we aren't enjoying this arrangement, i'll stop working at that point or just sub a few days a week possibly. Its nice that i can get my feet wet teaching, but know that its only 3.5 months and then i can stop if i want. Its kind of overwhelming teaching and being mom to 2 young kids, but i have a lot of lessons planned out for me already by the woman whose leave i'm taking, so that is much easier. I have a lot of support at the school also because I student taught there, and I have a lot of mentor teachers to draw from.
I am enjoying my students and looking forward to doing fun stuff with them this year. I do have a lot of mother-guilt about leaving my kids, but in many ways i'm feeling really happy to have my own thing separate from them. Elsie still has her school 2 days a week, so she can see her old friends. Emmett is eating a lot of food, and not relying very heavily on nursing right now (in fact, i struggle to get him to nurse most days because he's so interested in crawling around, exploring and trying to walk) so that takes a lot of pressure off of me. He is a very happy, easy going guy who takes well to people, and doesn't seem at all upset that I leave him during the day. I think it helps that his big sister is there to help with him. They really love each other.
So that's about it. Life is going to be very crazy for the next few months.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
freak out
I think "a big freak out" pretty much characterizes our mood in the past three weeks. Basically, Jay lost his job. Well, Jay got "fired" for very, very unjust and unethical (and probably illegal) reasons. If we were litigious, or even interested in thinking about his boss ever again, we'd probably have grounds for a lawsuit. But, as it is, we're just moving on. I'd type the story, but if I ever have to tell the story again I think I might suffer a boredom-induced aneurysm.
We spent 3 weeks stressing out, nail biting, applying for jobs, wondering, worrying, etc. In the end, Jay got another job that pays slightly less, but is going to be a great new experience where he will learn a lot (and not have a boss who is a huge b*t&h) . Simultaneously, I got a job at a middle school. Its a temporary job teaching 8th grade science, which is going to work out well for me. Its a good first gig teaching because a lot of it is mapped out and I don't have to set up a classroom or anything. But I will have to be the real teacher for these kids from now until Christmas.
We found a great person to take care of our kids at our house while we work. She is going to bring her two kids--age 4 and 18 months--as well.
I wasn't really ready to go back to work, but it seems like this is a situation where we will all pitch in and just do what needs to be done. I'm actually excited to get back into the classroom. I think a lot of me felt like the longer I wasn't working, the scarier and scarier teaching was becoming. This will help me get a job next year. Part of me wanted to use this whole Jay-getting-fired-thing to just say "let's get out of here!", pull up roots, do something crazy like go live in a commune or buy an RV and drive across the country or something. Honestly, what stopped me was that I'm so incredibly sick of moving that I think if I have to move again in the next two years, I will puke. We've moved 7 times since 2000. Yes, that's once a year. We just told our landlord we would be here for two more years (because of the whole rent-raise thing, he agreed to not raise the rent again for two years at least and insulate the attic), and like the next day the specter of moving reared its ugly head. I was offered interviews at far-away districts, but really couldn't stomach it. Maybe next year. We have a whole year now to decide if we want to move. Maybe jay will really like his new job, and it won't even make sense to move.
While all this was going on, garbage increased and I think in the last month and a half I have put the garbage can out twice, but I can't remember. We started eating tons of food from our garden, and haven't bought any produce (save some fruit and avacados) from the store in about two months. We are up to our eyeballs in tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, pole beans, summer squash, herbs, peppers, lettuce, broccoli and chard. I'm still a little stunned at how well the garden has done, despite our ignorance in gardening. The whole thing has made me wonder why in the hell anyone ever uses chemicals? If you just use some compost and water a bit, you get a crop. There are so many spiders and ladybugs and such out there, i haven't seen hardly any problems. Maybe a few veggies here and there get relegated to the slugs or whatever, but hardly any. I guess doing huge monocrops for profit is different from what we're doing, but still.
I have been hearing a lot on NPR lately about people doing more with local food, global warming concerns, concerns about consumption (esp from China) and things, it really seems like people are starting to take a look at their personal choices more.
Another nice thing is that with our new jobs, it is very easy for both Jay and I to take the bus to our respective jobs. Mine is a 4 block walk and a 15 minute ride. Pretty good.
Sorry for the lag in posting. I will do better. While this whole thing was going on, I couldn't think about anything else. I think that is why the earth is screwed while so many people live in desperate poverty. Its hard to think about something nebulous like the future or the earth when you are wondering if you are going to be able to provide for your family.
We spent 3 weeks stressing out, nail biting, applying for jobs, wondering, worrying, etc. In the end, Jay got another job that pays slightly less, but is going to be a great new experience where he will learn a lot (and not have a boss who is a huge b*t&h) . Simultaneously, I got a job at a middle school. Its a temporary job teaching 8th grade science, which is going to work out well for me. Its a good first gig teaching because a lot of it is mapped out and I don't have to set up a classroom or anything. But I will have to be the real teacher for these kids from now until Christmas.
We found a great person to take care of our kids at our house while we work. She is going to bring her two kids--age 4 and 18 months--as well.
I wasn't really ready to go back to work, but it seems like this is a situation where we will all pitch in and just do what needs to be done. I'm actually excited to get back into the classroom. I think a lot of me felt like the longer I wasn't working, the scarier and scarier teaching was becoming. This will help me get a job next year. Part of me wanted to use this whole Jay-getting-fired-thing to just say "let's get out of here!", pull up roots, do something crazy like go live in a commune or buy an RV and drive across the country or something. Honestly, what stopped me was that I'm so incredibly sick of moving that I think if I have to move again in the next two years, I will puke. We've moved 7 times since 2000. Yes, that's once a year. We just told our landlord we would be here for two more years (because of the whole rent-raise thing, he agreed to not raise the rent again for two years at least and insulate the attic), and like the next day the specter of moving reared its ugly head. I was offered interviews at far-away districts, but really couldn't stomach it. Maybe next year. We have a whole year now to decide if we want to move. Maybe jay will really like his new job, and it won't even make sense to move.
While all this was going on, garbage increased and I think in the last month and a half I have put the garbage can out twice, but I can't remember. We started eating tons of food from our garden, and haven't bought any produce (save some fruit and avacados) from the store in about two months. We are up to our eyeballs in tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, pole beans, summer squash, herbs, peppers, lettuce, broccoli and chard. I'm still a little stunned at how well the garden has done, despite our ignorance in gardening. The whole thing has made me wonder why in the hell anyone ever uses chemicals? If you just use some compost and water a bit, you get a crop. There are so many spiders and ladybugs and such out there, i haven't seen hardly any problems. Maybe a few veggies here and there get relegated to the slugs or whatever, but hardly any. I guess doing huge monocrops for profit is different from what we're doing, but still.
I have been hearing a lot on NPR lately about people doing more with local food, global warming concerns, concerns about consumption (esp from China) and things, it really seems like people are starting to take a look at their personal choices more.
Another nice thing is that with our new jobs, it is very easy for both Jay and I to take the bus to our respective jobs. Mine is a 4 block walk and a 15 minute ride. Pretty good.
Sorry for the lag in posting. I will do better. While this whole thing was going on, I couldn't think about anything else. I think that is why the earth is screwed while so many people live in desperate poverty. Its hard to think about something nebulous like the future or the earth when you are wondering if you are going to be able to provide for your family.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
How the man likes to keep us down
Maybe this blog should be called "it's getting more difficult all the time" because sometimes that is what it seems like.
We just found out a few days ago that our health insurance premium is increasing $30 every month. I just love it when my insurance company sends me a letter: "just to let you know..." There's nothing you can do about it. Except go without health insurance. The kids and I don't get coverage through Jay's work, so we have to buy it privately. Nice, huh? I am not the only person that thinks that our health care system (or lack thereof) is going to destroy the middle class. A survey of people who filed bankruptcy in 2001 and again in 2005 showed that a full half filed because of a serious medical problem. Of those that filed because of health problems, 75% had health insurance. That is how sucky our health insurance problems are. Even if you are covered, if you get really sick, you are SOL. If you don't have a job that pays for insurance, you are screwed as well. Or maybe your boss just doesn't think they should have to shell out for your wife and kids. I'm personally really looking forward to Michael Moore's new movie about our pathetic health care system.
Then, today, we found out that our landlord is increasing our rent $100. That would be a 12% increase. Way more than inflation. And its not like this represents some increase in costs for them. They just want to make more money. Meanwhile, people like us struggle.
Oh, and PGE has announced that electricity rates are going up.
These aren't like luxury items. One kind of needs a roof over one's head. Portland used to be a very affordable city, but I guess that is about to change. Lord knows the houses to buy are way too expensive for the average first-time home buyers now. Basic items like food, shelter and health insurance are becoming expensive at a rate much faster than pay can keep up. Its just another way that people get stuck on the debt treadmill. What was congress' response to this problem? Make it harder, impossible really, for people to use their last resort: bankruptcy. People who have to do this are treated like deadbeats, but really, half of them just got sick.
Its just all so annoying. Sometimes I swear, I wish I didn't have to live in this society. If anyone out there says "love it or leave it!" I will say: ok, leave it. I'm sick of america and its stupid problems that nobody will do anything about. blah! can you tell that i am in a bad mood about all of this? Maybe I should go bomb somebody to make myself feel better. I hear Iran might make a good target.
We just found out a few days ago that our health insurance premium is increasing $30 every month. I just love it when my insurance company sends me a letter: "just to let you know..." There's nothing you can do about it. Except go without health insurance. The kids and I don't get coverage through Jay's work, so we have to buy it privately. Nice, huh? I am not the only person that thinks that our health care system (or lack thereof) is going to destroy the middle class. A survey of people who filed bankruptcy in 2001 and again in 2005 showed that a full half filed because of a serious medical problem. Of those that filed because of health problems, 75% had health insurance. That is how sucky our health insurance problems are. Even if you are covered, if you get really sick, you are SOL. If you don't have a job that pays for insurance, you are screwed as well. Or maybe your boss just doesn't think they should have to shell out for your wife and kids. I'm personally really looking forward to Michael Moore's new movie about our pathetic health care system.
Then, today, we found out that our landlord is increasing our rent $100. That would be a 12% increase. Way more than inflation. And its not like this represents some increase in costs for them. They just want to make more money. Meanwhile, people like us struggle.
Oh, and PGE has announced that electricity rates are going up.
These aren't like luxury items. One kind of needs a roof over one's head. Portland used to be a very affordable city, but I guess that is about to change. Lord knows the houses to buy are way too expensive for the average first-time home buyers now. Basic items like food, shelter and health insurance are becoming expensive at a rate much faster than pay can keep up. Its just another way that people get stuck on the debt treadmill. What was congress' response to this problem? Make it harder, impossible really, for people to use their last resort: bankruptcy. People who have to do this are treated like deadbeats, but really, half of them just got sick.
Its just all so annoying. Sometimes I swear, I wish I didn't have to live in this society. If anyone out there says "love it or leave it!" I will say: ok, leave it. I'm sick of america and its stupid problems that nobody will do anything about. blah! can you tell that i am in a bad mood about all of this? Maybe I should go bomb somebody to make myself feel better. I hear Iran might make a good target.
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