Life got in the way

I took a three-year, unintentional break. Life got busy and Samantha hit 4th grade. And so here were are in 2017--Alyssa is heading into 4th grade and Samantha 7th.

In the last three years, Al has transitioned to a job he loves, working for a local elementary school. McGraw-Hill sold CTB in 2015. I spent the first year struggling with the unknown. I was one of the few "long-term" layoffs, which meant the new company could lay me off at any time or could decide to hire me. I spent the first six months turning my depression and anxiety into work. I learned how to be patient at I updated our crappy builder-grade kitchen from this into this.

Original cabinets and counter

Painted cabinets, new quartz, tile backsplash

In the last three years, Samantha has learned to play the flute. She's a natural with just about any instrument. In fact, she spent the last week playing about 10 hours of flute for fun. We had to tell her to give her mouth a break.  She stopped dancing last year, but played basketball with her 6th grade class. She also joined the inaugural robotics team at SHPS as the only girl. She loved it.

Harlequin dolls (Alyssa on right)

Alyssa is still dancing and has advanced two ballet levels in the last three years. She's got her eye on a pair of pointe shoes. She danced the Nutcracker in 2016 and had a prized role as a harlequin doll. Recently she's taken up the violin. 

I am now content with my new role with DRC, the company who bought CTB. I am working with a few folks that I've known for over 8 years, which makes things a bit easier. In August I'll be marking my 18th year in educational assessment. Yikes, I'm old!

Waiting for the Rain

It's been a good Saturday. Samantha and I took a little trip to Gilroy to look for a special toilet seat that has a kid seat and you can flip it up for an adult seat. We couldn't find one that fit, of course. But then I remember that there is this nifty potty training concepts web site that sells these kinds of things. Our trip wasn't for naught--Samantha did get her two swords. Yes, swords. They are foam and were at the dollar spot at Target. She and Daddy love to play Peter Pan and Captain Hook, so I thought she could learn the right way to use a sword.

We're waiting for four massive storms to head our way. The National Weather Service expects the low-lying inland areas to get between 4-8 inches. It should be fun. We're stocked up on food, water, and batteries. So we'll be okay should we lose power. The kids have never seen rain like this. We'll see whether or not they go stir crazy. Hopefully we can keep it interesting. If all else fails, we have FOUR rented kids movies for this weekend.

Al has been busy meeting with a job consulting service in San Jose and trying to get a hold of unemployment. They finally sent a notice today, but his income wasn't right by nearly $10k. Don't know what we're going to do there. . . . I bet it will take another two weeks to get that straightened out.

Other than that all is well. Kids are busy and happy. Alyssa is adding new sentences or words each day. Her new favorite is "cookie."

I've also started another blog. You'll see it to the right in my blog list. It is called "One Mouth at a Time." I'm blogging about food, which I love to eat and create. I've been creating my own recipes for a while now, so I decided to write about it. Hopefully there is some interest. I'll include my home-tested recipes from time to time. Please let me know if you've tried them and if they were successful.