Just a few things...

So I went to Family Dollar during lunch. I had no intention of buying anything, I just went to get out of this building for a while and clear my head while enjoying the beautiful day we have. I ended up buying the first three things for new kitchen. They had so much red but I couldn't pass up these things because they were on clearance and the only ones left. So for $6.80 I got a dish strainer, a paper towel holder and a cute clock. Can you believe the clock was only $1.80 ! I didn't buy more things because I realize that what I buy, I have to pack and that just seems insane but you can't pass up a bargain !

Something is going on with Nathan

This is Nathan. Nathan is somewhat shy but he is very loud and outgoing in comfortable and familiar souroundings. He loves anything to do with Art and loves animals. He has always loved school and has, for the most part, done very well in school. Despite the fact that he was diagnosed with ADHD when he a little over 3, he has not had any problems in school. According to the doctors, it is because he thrives with consistancy and routine. Also a reason that I have always had a problem with him at home. I have not been able to create that same consistancy and routine at home. It is never too late and I will never stop trying.

Well, I got an email from Nathan's English teacher yesterday letting me know that she is concerned about him. In her class and in his Math class, he has not been himself since December according to her. He is not turning in projects, not finishing classwork, not doing homework and not making anything up. As if that alone wasn't enough, she also added that he is not the same child that started there in Septemember, he is quiet and withdrawn where he had been the class clown and center of attention. Of course I scheduled a conference call with his teachers and actually got to speak to them the same day.

Basically the same thing was reworded to me that she had emailed me about him in English and in Math. What puzzled me was that in his Social Studies class and in his Science class he has been good. So I wanted to know if his behavior had changed in those classes as well. Quite the contrary though. Both his Social Studies teacher and his Science teacher confirmed that he is still himself, maybe just not as loud at time. He actually came home yesterday with a pink slip for acting up and being too loud..ironic huh? His Social Studies teacher did tell me that he is having a much harder time focusing on his work. He seems to start everything and finish nothing until she guides him back to where he needs to be. Some of the same info from his Science teacher.

So this got me thinking. I am clearly concerned because there is something going on with Nathan and I am not quite sure what it is. What could be the difference between his English and Math classes in comparison to his Social Studies and Science classes? Could there be a student or students picking on him? Could he be having so much more trouble in English and Math to the point that he is giving up? Could this be his ADHD catching up to him in classes that he can't handle? Could it be a lasting effect of the situation with my mother? Could it simply be the teachers? From knowing them personally throughout the year, I do know that his Social Studies and Science teachers are more nurturing and caring and are more likely to lead him by the hand, only emphasizing what his Social Studies teacher had told me herself about her redirecting him back. I decided to clear my head and talk to Nathan when I got home.

I asked Nathan to explain to me the differences in the classes as he sees them. It did come down to what I thought, at least part of it. He did mention that his Social Studies and Science teacher give consistant homework so he always understands what is expected of him. That they help him when he is confused. That they don't overwhelm him. His English and Math teachers are always giving him various things to do and he claims that he can't remember what and when things are due because it is so confusing. The classes are harder and the teachers don't like to explain when he doesn't understand. I tried to explain to him that he has been very lucky with teachers. Up until this year, he has had one main teacher and that teacher was always made aware of his ADHD and she would always make sure he was focused and redirected. With middle school, it's many teachers and with high school it will be the same. Not all teachers are going to go out of their way for you and some will expect you to fend for yourself. I told him that he doesn't have to like the teachers or the class but he does have to deal with it and pass the class. Not sure he liked me much after that statement but life must go on.

I guess I wasn't completely convinced that was the whole situation because I went on to ask him more questions. I asked him if he was being picked on in school and he began to cry and yelled "no". I told him that it was ok for him to tell me the truth and he just cried more and told me "nobody believes me". I am not sure who else has asked him this question or if he was just emotional but I did end up dropping the subject because it seemed to upset him a great deal.

No matter what is going on in this school, it will all change in four weeks when he switches schools which he is very excited about. This only raises more red flags since most kids are not excited to leave their friends and a school they are familiar with unless they are not happy or something is going on. So I still don't really know what is going on. I sat with him and did homework last night. He seemed to not know where to start or how to break things down. I fear that his ADHD really is overwhelming him. It would explain why he is doing good in Social Studies and Science. Those teachers are leading him by the hand and helping. I am not saying that all teachers should do this, I am actually thinking that I need to take extra steps to show Nathan how to try to focus on one thing at a time and get organized. I noticed he wasn't writing a lot of things down and this weekend we are going to buy a small homework notebook. He has an agenda but to my knowledge it is not always with him so that clearly isn't going to work.

I also know that the lasting effects of what happened with my mother will continue to be part of him. Just because she is gone doesn't mean that it's over. She has made him feel worthless and that doesn't just go away. It will take time to build him up again and make him realize that those words were not true. This will be a long road that we will need to travel with him. A road that we are more than willing to travel with him. He needs to know that he smart, creative, fun and a great well rounded kid. God will help me through this. :o)

The Fun Starts

So we all know that with moving comes a whole lot of stress. There is throwing things away, packing and of course, cleaning. But in the middle of all this caos, there is also a lot of fun. It's a new house, a new home. It can be anything we want it to be. So I have started my planning.

The room that I am the most excited about right now is the kitchen. The kitchen as we first saw it should have scared us right out the back door but it didn't. Seeing the potential in things is what I do best. Here is our kitchen before. To start with, the kitchen was a dark yellow and thanks to my wonderful new landlords, we will have a white kitchen. The cabinet doors were missing, and it was really dark as you can see in the picture below. The before picture is actually pretty horrible but it will make the after picture so much better. :o)



So with some hard work and determination, I am looking at the picture below for some inspiration to what will be my new favorite room in the house. It has a pretty similar layout as our kitchen and I am hoping not to copy it so much but to run with it so that my own personal creativity can come through. And it so happens to have my favorite color too.



I can't wait to start on this new project. Just as soon as I finish packing up our current house, move everything over and unpack again...lol. It is a good thing that I am an optomistic and outgoing person.

I think that this house is going to be a great new beginning for us as a family filled with many wonderful memories. After all, it is what you make it and we are making it HOME.

We took it !

I wanted to keep you all updated. We decided to take the house. We went by again on Sunday and saw how much work had been done to it already and we loved it even more. We are signing the lease Wednesday night. Here is a pic of the outside of the house. I can send you all more if you want them.

I also wanted to add that I didn't mean to offend anyone who currently lives in a community. I know that not all communities are like ours, we just happen to land in a stuffy one. We are making our choice based solely on our experience.

The Discovery

So Jose and I have been searching high and low for a house. Just Friday and Saturday alone were hours of looking, making appointments, seeing what's available, seeing what we like. We have to come to a sunning realization. What we thought we wanted is not at all what we wanted at all.

Don't get me wrong, we want to live in a nice house in a beautiful community like we do now but with that comes a price. The price is the feeling that we don't belong....because we don't. We are not people who want to keep up with the Jone's. We don't try to have a house bigger and better than the next person. We don't try to be something we are not. Then how come we have been doing it for almost two years?

This move, as I have said before, has meant so much to me on so many levels. It is a chance for us to save some real money and do things that we have not been able to do. It is a chance for me to leave the horrible memories of my mother behind and only carry with me the ones that I cherish. It is a chance for Jose and I to find what we want...just the two of us with the kids.

So what do we want? We want to be around real people. People who have problems and don't pretend to be prefect, only making us feel more imperfect. We want to be around people that come home after a hard days work and sit outside with a beer without worrying what their neighbor will think, and maybe even ask their neighbor to join. We want neighbors that want to get to together on the weekends for BBQ's instead of hiding in their perfect houses cleaning and only come out to mow the lawn. Well we haven't found this in a subdivision so we are going way out on a limb and trying something new. We are thinking of moving to the downtown city part of Concord. This means real streets where there is traffic, people walking the streets to get to places not just walking their dogs, city buses dropping off people and so that I am being completely honest with you since you are our friends....this also means that it is more dirty and there is more crime. Now in the city there is always more litter and because it is not being carefully manicured by the HOA committee, obviously there will be far from perfect situations. It's ok though because we don't like perfection...we have discovered it is extremely boring. And about the crime...we are not moving to NYC so it is not that bad. It is real people with real problems. It reminds us a little of where we can from but not. A little piece of home in NC. This must sound like the strangest and stupidest thing for some of you. We are not saying that subdivisions are bad. We are simply realizing that they might just not be for us.

Today we are looking, for the second time, at a house that we very much like...might even say love. It is everything this house is not and vice versa. It is small and charming and engulfed by multi-cultural people. It has arched doorways. It only has one bathroom...omg the horror ! It is a craftsman brick house. Many of the original elements are still in the home. The kitchen is the original farmhouse kitchen. It is everything that I never knew that I liked until we saw it and fell in love. There are hurdles with this house. It has smaller rooms because it is an older home. The closets are much smaller than we have here but I think that we have decided to use this move as an excuse to get rid of all the things that we don't use and haven't used since we moved here. We need to step outside our box and our comfort home in search of what we are looking for.

I think that this might the house we pick. Did I mention that we will be saving $310 a month on the rent alone and that is not including what we would be saving on the water because of our issue here and the heat and the electric because it is a smaller place. The possiblities are endless. I feel like a little kid waiting for the first day of school at the thought of moving back to a REAL neighborhood. A little piece of the ghetto here in NC...lol...but so far from it in so many ways. This is where we feel we belong but we worry a bit the others won't understand our decision. Who am I kidding? Jose is worried, you all know that I don't really give a crap. If you don't like where I live then don't come visit me...lol! As a little birdie suggested to me...if we don't like it then we move when our lease is up. The perks of renting. We can try it all until we find what we like.

I will keep you all updated as we make a decision. Don't know if one will be made today or not but it will have to be soon. We did our application yesterday and have already been approved. This house is ours if we want it. Do we want it? Will we take it?

I LOST...

my first 10 pounds ! I am so excited. It has taken me almost two months but I finally did it. Now I am tackling my next 10! I am so motivated.

We practically spent the night driving around looking at houses. We have yet to find the right house for us. There is one that we are waiting to see but the tenants are still in there so we will have to wait. They are supposed to be out by the end of the month. Not really sure why they have it listed yet but whatever. So our hunt will continue. I know that all we need is a little patience. We are also looking at an apt complex on Saturday...against Jose's wishes. He doesn't even want to consider it but it is so cheap and pretty decent size too and he wouldn't have to mow the grass either but he is really not feeling and we both have to agree. I know that with time will find something. We will probably have better luck after the first because that will be when everyone is moving out. So just keep us and our house hunting in your prayers.

I am going to put the job hunt temporarily on hold now so that I can have time to pack and try to find us a home. Then I will get back into seeing if I can find something better....unless of course I have a bad day here and then I will be back on searching...lol.

It's Official...

we are moving and we are downsizing. So here is our deal. We moved her in May 08 to this beautiful large southern style home. We have called it home for what will have been two years. Unfortunately, we moved into a pretty stuffy community and as a result, we still don't know any of our neighbors. Add to that,that my mother moved out and we have way too much space and you start to see where we are coming from. We pay more to heat/cool the house because it's bigger, we have more to clean because it's bigger...ok so "I" have more to clean..lol. So we made the decision not to renew our lease on May 1st.

We started looking and found a few options. We officially gave the reatly company our notice that we will not be renewing so the race is on. We now need to find a home and fast. And we need to pack the whole house. And we need to keep the house looking decent through all this because I am sure they are going to want to show the house. So the next couple of months are going to be a little crazy for us but the excitement is there. Moving someplace new means a new start for me on so many different levels. This will be our place for Jose and I and not with lingering with the memory of my mother.

Those of you who live here in NC will be hearing from me for help and those of you in RI will hearing from me to vent...lol. We are very excited !