Working Moms and Sick Children

It has been a week. Since I am now a full time employee, I now have to worry about choosing if my children are well enough to go to school or miss work and keep them at home. It is a hard decision when you know one child wants to stay at home and may mislead a parent to get to stay home.

Since I am home with my children this week at night while my husband is in the hospital, I am the only one that can stay home.

First, I did not go to work Tuesday since my husband went into the hospital for his first chemo treatment.

Second, my daughter threw up Wednesday night so we stayed home Thursday.

Now, my son threw up on the way to school today, so we are home again.

Three days in one week. I have a great supervisor who knows our family situation. How can a parent stay home this much if they have an unreasonable supervisor or a job only one person can do? You see it portrayed on TV, the parent leaving the child with someone else because they HAVE to go to work. Or moms lying about having children so someone will actually give them a job.

My thought- if it is a problem, they will have to fire me.

I cannot leave a throwing up child with anyone else. It is just not worth it or fair to my child. I am fortunate that I can stay home, even though my sick days are almost depleted, after 45 days of work!

So continue to pray for our family. We need it!

Chemo, Chemo, Chemo

Chemo started yesterday. My husband is doing an inpatient treatment to keep him hydrated and protect his kidney. If I am lacking in my blog, you will know.

His treatments are for 5 days and out for 15. It will go over three or four courses. Keep praying!

Thank You Day!

September 24 is Thank You Day. And do we not say thank you enough? Not hardly! So I am taking the time today to thank some people in my life- some who may never read my blog... but the thanks is out there and hopefully they will see it.

Thank you to my husband for all that he does for me and our family. I could not do it without you! Thank you for your faithfulness and your bravery as the new journey begins.
Thank you to my children who teach me something new everyday and are a blessing each and every day.
Thank you to my mom and dad, who do not get enough thanks, for all that they have provided for us and the love they give us each and every day.
Thank you to my Sunday School class for the wonderful prayers of support and healing for my husband and I as he begins chemo this week.
Thank you to my brother and sisters, who is all the fun times and the annoying times, have always been there.
Thank you to Kim, Amber, and Betsy, who are my greatest friends and business partners. Thank you for the opportunity you have given me to grow and change these last months and thanks for the success we will have in the future.

And most of all, thanks be to God in heaven: without Him, I am nothing!

Post you comment about your thanks today too!

A Green Switch for your Home

I was listening to a program on going "green" in your household. While I used to be very good at recycling (I even started a school based recycling program in high school), I am not so good at it now. One of the biggest things I want to change is the amount of power we use in our house. We keep our air at 81 degrees most of the time, now going to 83 during the day while we are gone, and down to 79 when we are sleeping. That is pretty good compared to most Floridians who have their AC at a constant 73 degrees. Our thermostat is programmable, so that is very helpful, especially since I know how to program it! I try to turn off the lights as the children leave the rooms. And I even bought a counter top oven this summer so I would not be using the big huge oven each and every day and heating up the house. But our bill is still somewhat high and I would love for it to be lower.

One of the things I am most interested in is the Green Switch. It is a wireless switch that you can hook up all of your light switches and inessential electronics to turn off when you are gone. It just takes on switch. You have to purchase the outlets and the light switches, but the convenience and the power you will save look like a great benefit. It also is able to be used in any home at any time. They even say those with some electrical knowledge can install it themselves.

If you are looking to go GREEN, check out the Green Switch. Also check out the other green ideas.

Holiday Deals at Coupon Chief

I have mentioned Coupon Chief before, because who would not want to get coupons for things you are already going to buy online!?

Since Halloween is coming up and every mom wants a cute costume for their children, I have two recommendations... Old Navy and the Children's Place. Both stores have wonderful selections of all children's costumes. Coupon Chief offers Old Navy coupons and Children's Place coupons. These coupons may be reduced shipping or $$$ off your purchase.

And don't forget Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up soon. Why shop at the crazy stores after Thanksgiving when you can get almost everything from the comfort of your home with a discount included! Coupon Chief offers discounts at tons of stores, likeTarget coupons, Home Depot coupon codes, and Pet Smart deals, plus tons of other online stores. You have to check it out!

ABC Meme

Lara tagged me with a challenging one…

A-Z Meme

Rules: List ONE word for each letter of the alphabet that describes you. When you post yours please comment me so I can read them.

A - adventurous

B - blessed

C - courious

D - dynamic

E - entrepreneur

F - faithful

G - gatherer

H - hopeful

I - individual

J - justifying

K - kind

L - lovable

M - Mama

N - noteworthy

O - optimistic

P - personable

Q - quizzical

R - realistic

S - sociable

T - teacher

U - unbelievable

V - voluptuous

W - wonderful wife

X - eXciting (who can really come up with an X one!)

Y - youthful (hahaha)

Z - zany

Most of these are words that I could at least think of with the letter, not necessarily complete descriptions! :)

OK…I am tagging…
Amber's Homeschool Blog
Betsy's Make Money From Home Blog
And on Tuesday, Kim at 4fabmoms

First Born and A Higher IQ

I was reading Parenting magazine yesterday that had a story about higher IQ in the first born. This story was released earlier this summer. I did not pay much attention to the article and research this summer since I do not put much thought into IQ and how I am effecting my children.

First, many people believe your IQ is pretty much set from birth. While things can change and make an influence, your God given gifts are there the day you enter this world. The nature vs. nurture idea does have some clout and environment can definitely have an impact. But I do know do a lot of "extra" activities trying to make my children gifted. I do ask a lot of how and why questions to encourage thinking, which I think is a lot more important than a number from a test.

In the case of this study, there are many ideas that allow for some flawed logic First, the study was done in Norway. Those of us in the US may not have the same genetics or experiences to compare. Second, the study was only done on boys. What does that mean for the girls. Third, they used data from MANY DECADES- not current testing and statistics. The testing procedures and populations have changed over the years. And lastly, a three point difference between the oldest and youngest is not enough to be concerned with. Testing have a range of scores to take into consideration testing environment, learning environment, and cultural and economic difference.

So do not place a lot of weight in your child's birth order. Love your children, provide them with lots of learning activities, but most of all, let them play and discover what they love!

More Hospital Time

My hubby is back in the hospital... again for lung problems. He had trouble breathing and a pain in his chest. So he went in and has had a full cardiac workup. They think it is a lung infection. He was given steroids and antibiotics and is doing better. More hospital time! I am glad one of us is healthy....

Please keep us in your prayers. He will have an out patient biopsy on his lung Wednesday. We are pretty sure it is cancer but they are making sure before the prescribe chemo.

More to come!

Thank You Day

September 24 is Thank You Day. It is another one of the "days" that you wonder who came up the idea. But what a great idea for a day.

I would like to see how many people we can thank on Thank You Day. If you would like to participate in thanking someone in your life, post it on your blog, linking to this Thank You Day post and then leave a comment on this post with the exact url for your post. On Thank You Day, I will list all of the posts on my post for that day.

What a great way to tell someone thanks!

Dave Matthews Band in Concert

Seeing Dave Matthews Band for the fifth time, we again were rained on and were amazed by what we do to see one of our favorite bands. We saw a really great concert, despite the downpour during a drought. (Moms get to have fun too.)

My husband and I are long time fans. It is funny to see the wide variety of people that listen to the music. There were people lots older than us, lots younger, lots drunker (we did not drink a thing!), and lots wetter. In the old days, we got seats on the lawn, through the rain and all. This year, for the second time, we got seat in the covered amphitheater, and still got rained on. The concrete was good, but you have to love Dave Matthews band and their long songs sets to really enjoy the concert. Most 4-5 minute songs on the CD's become 10-15 minute songs in the concert. They have such great musicians that can continue to play together so wonderfully (although sometimes it gets a long...). If we had just bought the rain ponchos when we got there, we would have been a lot drier!

I will have to decide if we do the next tour with an outside concert... I may be getting to old for this!

Working and working and working

Working full time and trying to carry on the other activities I was involved in is difficult. There, of course, is not as much time to blog, time to search on the internet, or time to spend with my friends. Just the other night, my friend Betsy and I finally talked on the phone after over a week! We used to talk daily. There is just not as much time.

So if you don't see me blog as frequently, you now know the reason... too much to do and not enough time!

I used to do most of my work in the evenings; now I am in bed at 9:00-10:00 pm.

I used to have the day during my daughters nap to catch up on emails; now she naps at school when I am at work.

The working moms schedule changes! I am changing as part of my new title. Hopefully it will all work out soon!

How Many Are There?

There are 37,845 Rebekah's in the USA. My last name is not registering any others, but my husband has the same last name (I think his grandmother told me in 1996 there were 49 in the US- many more in Germany! About 1 in 10 names are not listed in the database- check yours out!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Are You Ready for Black Friday?

It seems a little early to start making preparations for Black Friday, but it is never too early to start making a plan. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when all of the stores have the greatest deals, before 8:00 am! I live in a rural area, so for the past few years, my mom, my sister, my sister-in-laws and I have pack up Thanksgiving night and drove at least an hour and a half to go to the closest biggest city, spend the night in a hotel (one time the hotel was IN the mall) and then we get up at 4:30 am to be at a super store at 5:00 am when the doors open.

And it is crazy! No carts, people fighting and pushing for the best deals (of which there are usually on one or two per store), and mass chaos for the first hour or two of your day.

Then we go to the mall. More craziness and more deals, but at what price! Not to mention I buy so many things that are not even Christmas presents because I cannot resist the deal!

This year I have a new plan. It is a great website that provides you with all of the black friday ads by email alert before anyone else. You don't have to wait for the Thanksgiving newspaper! You can purchase all of the items online WITHOUT standing in line through direct links from the Black Friday ads.

The store I go to first every year is Target. And Black Friday list Target's after Thanksgiving specials via email right when they get them. Then you can sit at the comfort of your computer and place your order for the same deals that are available in the stores (I am sure there are some limitations to some deals and times to purchase, but it is STILL better than standing in line!).

As the holiday season gets closer, the Black Friday website will be my main source of planning for the great deals! I WILL NOT be in line this year at 5:00 am! I will be in the comfort of my home with my crazy family instead!

I am a Top Momma

I finally made it to Top Momma. Vote for me to see how long I can last. It is the same picture that is on the corner of this blog. Thanks for your help.

Back to School Tips

I am participating in the Smart Moms Back to School Tips contest to win a $25 gift card to my choice of a few different places. Of course, I cannot win, because I am a Smart Mom, but I still want to promote it in case any reader wants to participate!

My back to school tip is to schedule a fun activity one day of the week after school. We have made this day Thursday, because our children's museum is open late on Thursday's. I pick up the kids at 4:00, we go get ice cream at our local ice cream shop, and then go to the museum for an hour or so. It is our special event. Especially when I am convincing the 4 year old to go to school, it is a good motivator! We may add in dinner out (and some restaurants may offer free kids meals on Thursday's) but right now they are a little tired to sustain that long.

Plan a special week night event, especially if you have older kids- my parents used to call it "family night." We were all forced to join in, no exceptions, and now I am thankful to have had that time with my family!

One Word Meme

I was tagged by Make Money From Home and thought it would be fun to do.

One Word Meme: A fun idea. Simply cut and paste these questions onto your blog, answer them and then find other blogs to tag! It's fun and easy and something a little different!You can only answer each question with ONE word.

1. Where is your cell phone? car
2. Relationship? Married
3. Your hair? Blonde
4. Work? teacher, entrepreneur
5. Your sister? four
6. Your favorite thing? my family
7. Your dream last night? too long ago to remember
8. Your favorite drink? COKE
9. Your dream car? BMW
10. The room you’re in? family
11. Your shoes? None
12. Your fears? thunder
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? at home
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? Ali & Stephen and Rick
15. What are you not good at? cleaning
16. Muffin? Banana Nut
17. One of your wish list items? financially free
18. Where you grew up? Florida
19. Last thing you did? fix links
20. What are you wearing? shorts and t-shirt
21. What aren’t you wearing? shoes
22. Your pet? dog
23. Your computer? gateway
24. Your life? busy
25. Your mood? frantic
26. Missing? ?
27. What are you thinking about right now? conference
28. Your car? vibe
29. Your kitchen? empty
30. Your summer? Hot
31. Your favorite color? green
32. Last time you laughed? a few minutes ago
33. Last time you cried? days ago
34. School? continuous
35. Love? my family

I am joining the "I Reply Movement"

I am making an effort to reply if you comment on my blog. So check back for the reply later- let's make a blogging community!

A Screaming Toddler

Our toddler girl has been screaming every morning and afternoon for three days. Not screaming over pain, but over frustration and anger. We don't know if she is taking it out on us that she is in preschool now or if she is not sleeping well or if she is just frustrated over her lack of speech!

It is not really a tantrum at first, but can certainly move into one if we make her do what we want her to do... she is a determined child!

Here are some tips from experts on how to handle toddler tantrums and some discipline tips for toddlers that may help me out and anyone else suffering!

I Won The Picture Of the Week

I was on of the selected winners of the picture of the week from Mommy's Coffee Break.

You can join too- just go to the Mommy's Coffee Break to see the rules.

Thanks Lara!

Newberry Award Considerations 2008

After some research this morning on the Newberry Award considerations for this coming year, I was astounded by the amount of wonderful literature there is available from this year. I was disappointed to not find a very good list of the books that are possible considerations.

I have heard about and know something about the Newberry award, but I did not know that there is not a published list of books that are being considered by the committee. It is a big secret. There are books submitted for approval that are read, judge, and finally announced as the winner or as honor winner. The books for consideration must have been published during this calendar year, which is exciting to see all the new children's literature during one year!.

I created an Amazon Newberry Award List from the two sources I found. These books were given as suggestions from qualified individuals (not me!).

There is an online Newberry discussion group and some a Newberry blog to keep up with. I hope you will read some of these books before the announcement of the award winner in January 2008. Maybe you can start your own Newberry group! These books selections would be great to read with your children or have your children read at home.

For past winners, please visit the American Libraries Association for a complete list.