Goofus Maximus

Pteradactyl?!

Caught mid monkey face.

With that strategically placed tree vine and those little tooth nubbins and scrunched up nose I can't help thinking she's bearing a strong resemblance to a rat!


...and this one's not so goofy, but man-oh-man does she remind me of Lillian in this picture. I guess you just can't deny those genes!

Personal Goals

• Make the bed everyday.
• Use reusable bags on 90% of shopping trips.
• Make homemade bread weekly. (Of course you're invited!)
• Get out in the sunshine everyday.
• Drink more water.
• Find a way to recycle. (All we have is a dumpster!!)
• Eat out twice or less per month.
• Throw away less, give away more.
• Do a better job at keeping in touch with friends.
• Write a children's book.
• Make time for art projects.
• Start running again.

How about you?

Perpective

I just finished reading Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. The topic of the book is approached quite interestingly as Dr. Ehrenreich actually tried to live the life of the working poor by taking various 6-7 dollar an hour jobs (sometimes two at a time) and tryibg to make ends meet. The book was quite good, and very near the end was the following paragraph, written in regards to how the middle and upper class should feel about the working poor, which I found quite insightful:

"Guilt, you may be thinking warily. Isn't that what we're supposed to feel? But guilt doesn't go anywhere near far enough; the appropriate emotion is shame-shame at our own dependency, in this case, on the underpaid labor of others. When someone works for less pay than she can live on-when, for example, she goes hungry so that you can eat more cheaply and conveniently-then she has made a great sacrifice for you, she has made you a gift of some part of her abilities, her health, and her life. The "working poor," as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes wil be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high. To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone else."

Consider that the next time you find yourself ready to derail "those people" out there living it up on your tax dollars, abusing welfare. Perhaps we're the ones who are abusing them...

Frugality

I love a good challenge!

Ok...so staying home with Sofie is going to require our family to make some budget cuts. There has never really been much extra room in our budget to begin with which means that those cuts will need to come out of our gasoline and food allowances.

I am no longer making a commute to and from work each day and Ben recently bought a small motorcycle so we are already experiencing some big savings in the gasoline department. There is a little bit of room for me to cut out unnecessary trips out or piggyback them to conserve even more.

As far as food goes I have intentions to cut out most of our dining out (Just wait'll Ben gets wind of that!) and...here's the important part...I would like to try an idea that came from the Pettyjohn family. When they were living in Ohio they collaborated with a few other families to prepare a month's worth of dinners at a time. The dinners were stored in the freezer for quick preparation (half an hour or less). The method obviously has convenience and time-saving benefits, but additionally the cost worked out to around $100.00 per family. I realize that groceries have become quite pricey recently but even if this could be done for $150-200 a month it would definitely save our family money. I suppose it would be possible for us to do this on our own each month but it seems like it would be much less overwhelming and quite a bit more fun to do it with a few others. Anyone interested?

I've also got visions of craftiness, yard sales, and odd jobs floating around in my head to contribute to the budget. Please share any ideas or suggestions that have worked well for you!

Crossroads

So, after an eventful weekend out of town with my good friend Heidi, which you can read about here (and incidentally the only pictures I took were of Worm and the PJ dog, Willow!) I think I have finally made some decisions about my plans for the near future that I feel peaceful about. It has always been much too easy for me to become caught up in everyone else's expectations of me and unfortunately I often allow the expectations of others to cloud and distort my own. Some time away from my everyday environment, spent with solid old friends who remind me that my worth is not measured by the number of abbreviations that follow my name, was exactly what I needed.

I have been wrestling quite mightily between my strong desire to be a stay-at-home mama and the sense of obligation I feel towards my profession. The former is fueled heavily by the fulfillment I've experienced over the past few weeks and the sinking feeling that has come with the realization of just how numb I allowed myself to become in order to get through the past ten months. Along with the latter comes the fear that choosing not to pursue a career right away might seriously hinder my ability to pursue one down the road. Additional factors to weigh include the fact that realistically Ben's salary is not quite enough to responsibly make ends meet long-term and the expectation that we will be making a big move in the near future.

After much contemplation I've decided that the knots that I'm satisfied will tie these loose ends together include the following:

• The clinic has graciously agreed to allow me to continue to gain experience in the subspecialty that I am passionate about pursuing, cochlear implants, on Mondays. This will allow me to keep my skills fresh and up-to-date.
• Rather than seeking short term employment here I will concentrate on networking in Colorado over the next six months to hopefully find a position that I feel good about accepting. (Part-time working with cochlear implants in some capacity.) We will plan to move around January. (This will allow Ben to complete a year in his current position.)
• For the next six months I will stay home with Sofia Tuesday through Sunday. Yay!!

I can't begin to describe how relieved I feel to have made some decisions that resonate for me and I am ridiculously excited about the blessings and the challenges I expect to encounter in the next six months!

Sprout's First Swing

I took Sofie to an outdoor playground today for the first time to try out the baby swings. As you can see she tried a couple of different options...

Goofball thought the swings were sort of fun and sort of scary for a few minutes and then the novelty wore off...inspiring her goofball mama to take her on a ride down the swirly slide. Whee!

Exhibitionist

I suppose, technically, that someday she might claim that her parents encouraged her to dance naked from a very early age...!