I’ve shared in the past that I’m a Founding Parent for a Charter Middle School that is hoping to open it’s doors in the westside of Los Angeles in the fall. We got the best news this afternoon, the school’s charter was submitted to LAUSD months ago, and today they ruled on it, and approved it! This is great news because now we can get a location! On to the next step.
1.10 yo’s favorite sack lunch 2.burn time 3.photo book arrival 4.and bother 5.tried shellac 6.greta’s new hip hop class 7.how aaron copes sitting next to his mother in law at family dinner? napkin in the ear 8.1st of several doctor appts 9.she likes to graffiti her homework 10.school clothes 11.burn 12.one of those days 13.single parent dinner…pitfire pizza 14.3 days in 15.twitter chat snacking 16.under the weather 17.kardashian marathon 18.cucumber snack 19.what a difference a day makes 20.$$$$ smile 21.expander 22.mama feelin real bad for her boy, yogurt it is 23.hate the first week of the month 24.playdate 25.stealing kisses 26.laguna tide pools 27.gorgeous day 28.greta teaching me how to draw an owl 29.thanks steph 30.practice 31.flipping through some old albums 32.my sister once had straight short hair 33.one more of the bffs
Although I’m going to be away from this space for a few days, I wanted to let those of you on Twitter that I’m a panelist for a Twitter Chat that is being sponsored by Dermalogica, and hosted by MomsLA. If you would like to be part of it, (there’s some great prizes from Dermalogica), check out the info here. You will have to RSVP to the event and be sure to use certain hashtags (this is a whole new vocabulary for me!) I’m a panelist and will be answering questions about skincare tomorrow night from 8:30-9:30. My twitter is @deborahjustine. I literally just got a twitter account last week at the urging of my husband. And what do you know, a few days later I was offered a pretty cool gig. Hope to see some of you on there!
-i wish i could fast forward a week until saturday is here. this happens to be one of those weeks. too busy, too many obligations, just overwhelming.
-i wish i could vent for real, but that’s what besties and sisters are for right?
-i wish i had a little less responsibility, it’s a lot to take care of 3 little ones and make sure they make it to all their appointments from eye dr to allergist to instrument to dance to ballet, all in the same week, in addition to making sure everyone gets their haircuts, brushing and flossing, eating properly, homework complete, school on time, picked up on time, library books in backpacks, field trip slips signed, sunscreen applied, PE shoes on days of PE class, soft foods only packed for the kid with orthodonture work, see? a lot some days.
-i wish people could just be kind. i don’t think it’s that hard to do, i am kind. i don’t understand sometimes.
-i wish insecurities did not get the best of people.
-i wish i was better at making lists. i think i would be less anxious knowing what i had to do and in what order.
and because of all these lovely little bullet points, i think i just told myself that i need to step away from this space for awhile.
1.they are getting longerrrr 2.lunch date with a sick kid 3.checking out baldwin hills for a potential middle school site 4.art volunteer time 5.2nd grade math 6.nightly ritual 7.looking svelte 8.walking to school 9.solo lunch date with my pellegrino 10.ballet 11.torture 12.quinoa and a green smoothie 13.1/4 of the day’s laundry load 14.comic book store 15.fraction machine 16.hawaii blurb book arrived 17.writing 18.working 19.field trip to louise’s 20.delish 21.school pickup 22.new uniforms 23.dinner 24.got my burn on 25.kids scored in clothes 26.lunch date with This American Life 27.friday cubby clean out yielded 5 water bottles and 2 sweaters 28.chillin in his cousin’s carseat 29.park time 30.swinging 31.modeling her new clothes 32.gorgeous mid century 33.view 34.she keeps me humble 35.new cut 36.trumpet practice 37.how we roll on a saturday night 38.10pm snack 39.flea market find
Here’s some things around the web I have found inspiring:
-Cakies-Aaron just made this oven baked fried chicken and it was delicious. And of course so much healthier than actually frying chicken in any oils. Highly recommend, and super easy ingredients, we didn’t even have to make a trip to the store for a single ingredient.
-A Beautiful Mess-Elsie shared such a simple tutorial for a simple cotton top that is inspiring to give my sewing machine a go again. I really really REALLY need to take a class, but until I find the time for that I still would love to experiment with easy and beginner things. This looks just up my alley.
-All for the Boys-such a great and easy idea for mini tents/forts for Lego guys. Which we have a ton of this house, lego guys every.where.
Other inspiration I’m finding at the moment?
-The need for green. Aaron and I have been having green smoothies for dinner a few nights each week, and we both are feeling great. Tonight he paired it with quinoa with almonds, pomegranate seeds, green bell pepper, and green onions. delish
-Sore muscles. Yes, the soreness is inspiring for me. I’m back to regular exercising and I love that stiff feeling in the morning til I stretch and get going.
-Caffeine. Back on caffeine a little. A few lattes a week is all I’m allowing myself, but it’s oh so good.
everything. I promised to write with good news if I had any. And I do. You see two weeks ago Aaron was laid off from his job. First time we have ever been in this situation. We kind of thought this would happen last September, but once it didn’t in the fall, we were pretty certain he was safe. Most certain a few weeks ago when he was offered a job at another company. Being the kind of guy Aaron is, he went to his supervisor and told him about the job offer. Once he was assured and reassured about his job at this company, he felt confident enough to turn down the offer. And then 48 hours later, he was laid off. Talk about shady. Talk about sucky. No good.
You know how you read in books and magazines about how you should have a 6 month cushion in your savings account? There’s good reason for that. And we didn’t have that nice cushion to fall back on. In the line of work both Aaron and I are in, if we don’t work for a day, we don’t get paid. Simple as that. There’s no such thing as a paid vacation, severance, sick days. Nope. You work you get paid. You don’t you don’t. So this came as a huge shock to us, and then once the surprise wears off you start to stress about it. I wasn’t stressed that he would be unemployed for months, or even an entire month, but when there is no paycheck coming in, and you still have all the same bills going out, that’s kind of stressful all by itself. And it’s not like I can just add 10 new clients a week to pick up any slack. To top it off, his work vehicle and cell phone all came from his job. So he had no vehicle, and no cell. So I’ve been carless for almost 2 weeks now, still will be for another day or two.
The good news during all this was December happened to be an extremely expensive month for us, it seemed every bill came in at once. Property taxes, car insurance, water and power, all our really heavy ones came in and were paid for. So this month was a lighter month, otherwise I think I would’ve ended up at a few spas passing out my resume to pick up some shifts.
The even better news was that he interviewed last week at a new company, and this morning got the call to come in and start filling out the paperwork. He was in safety training most of today and hopefully will have a work truck delivered by Wednesday. Which means that this mama can finally sleep at night, and soon will stop walking the kids to school. Seriously, walking 3 tired and hungry kids home, with 3 backpacks after school is no bueno.
What else is new around here? My Yukon is gone. During the midst of all the job changes, or I should say WEEK RIGHT BEFORE(!), we decided to sell our car. I really thought I was going to have that car for another decade. But we sunk a lot of money into it last winter, and this winter we had to do a few more repairs, so we had to make the choice. Either we commit to this car and decide we will spend whatever it takes to keep it running, or sell it now when it’s still worth something. So we did the later, and for the first time in our lives, we leased a car. Leased! As in, it’s not really mine so I have to be careful with it! A bit nerve wracking, but whoa has technology gone a lot of places since 2004!
Did you know when your cell rings, you can answer it through your stereo?! Or when I am listening to music or a podcast on my phone, the car senses that somehow and broadcasts it through my speakers!? Or when I reverse my car there’s a whole video of it with lines that tell me exactly how many inches and feet I have before I run something over?! Truly amazing. Where have I been all these years. We decided to get a Honda Pilot. We knew we had to get a car that seats 8. With 3 kids, it’s not unusual for me to have 6 kids in the car, 1 friend for each kid. The third row is really just for smaller sized people, but the seats fold completely flat. No more lugging my humongous and heavy Yukon seats out of my 3rd row every time we pack up the car for a road trip. I love it and cannot recommend it enough. It’s just the right size, without being too big which sometimes I felt my Yukon was. I sometimes felt my SUV was in your face and anti eco-friendly.
So there’s been lots of changes around here for this change-hating mama. Seriously, I fight change. I hate it. It stresses me out when Aaron tries to get me to try a new ice cream when all I want is my old faithful mint and chip. Why change something that is good? Why do you have to strive to get something better when good is great. I am learning to embrace the new chapters we have. I am learning to be excited for my husband to get to work on new equipment and work with new people. He has a reputation in the industry that precedes him and I’m so proud of him for that. But I admit that I am not one for so much change at the same time.
There you have the new things going on. In fact, there’s even MORE new changes coming. But I cannot share it just yet since it’s not ready. But it’s something I’m so proud of and so excited to finish. It’s been something I have wanted to do for a few years now, but haven’t really had the guts or the know how to do it. Well, I figured it out finally and hopefully in the next few weeks I can share it with all of you.
Change is good, right? Right?!
Hopefully I will come back to this space with good news Monday, waiting is hard isn’t it? I’m not the most patient person, so it kills me. I’m not a big optimist, no, I leave that to Aaron to take care of. I’m the realist and the pessimist.
For those of you who recently found this little blog of mine, welcome! Not sure how you stumbled upon it, but it’s awesome that you have all subscribed to it.
I’m jealous at the moment when I read my own blog feed of everyone at Alt Design Summit in Utah. Been wanting to go to that conference for years, and maybe just maybe I can make that happen next year. We will see, but how fun would a weekend spent in Park City, surrounded by panelists speaking and teaching on my most favorite subjects, photography, business, crafting, sewing, and blogging. Pure joy. One can dream. That’s optimistic right? Right?!
I will be spending my afternoon teaching a Louise Nevelson art history lesson to a bunch of 7 year olds followed by a discussion on Collaboration and Ancestry for our upcoming art show at the kids’ school. We have big plans for this 2nd grade class. But I can’t help but panic at the thought of still coming up with equally amazing plans for my other 2 kids’ classes. I’ve been enjoying a few days of unexpected time with Aaron, it’s a bit strange having a sidekick again during my days when the kids are gone. But it’s pretty nice to have someone to share the chores with, have lunch dates, and schedule work for myself whatever time I want. Fingers crossed though that this is short lived.
Hope you all have an amazing weekend enjoying the snow if you received some, and the rain if it comes, or the cold that has returned to Southern California. I will be working tomorrow and hopefully get to start this phenomenon you all are raving about called Downton Abbey, mixed in with some downtime with the family. Be back with an Instagram post in a few days.
I finally sifted through all our footage of Mammoth, and got some shots from our friends to supplement my phone pics, so if it looks like it was taken without an iPhone, and you haven’t seen it posted on the blog before, I didn’t take the photo. Thank goodness someone documented it, or else the entire video would be instagrams. I tried to compile the video where there’s a photo of the kid before they ski or snowboard. Greta is easy to pick out because she’s in the polka dot jacket and on skis, but the boys are both snowboarding. You can tell it’s Sawyer because he is snowboarding in class, and the video of Gunnar snowboarding is with us. If it’s someone who is snowboarding very fast and looks like he could possibly incur injury, then that’s Aaron. I love the music for this video. In case you are wondering it’s Avalanche City, ‘Love Love Love’, and Mat Kearney, ‘Hey Mama’.
