Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Deciding To Live Your Bucket List


It's True! We've decided to live for today.



There is a price to pay of course.
Throwing away the typical and living the adventure of Life.
But it seems like every 'aha' moment in the last few years have led up to this.


The List?

1. If we can't retire  early - transfer our jobs or work to where we'd like to go. Try out the place then - move again.

2. Save as much as we can. Plow all extra cash into our 401K, HSAs, Investment Funds so we can retire (one day)

3. Live frugal (this is still a challenge for us - a big one since we love to travel)

4. Let go of the house - it's holding us down (I know popular belief is that it's a good investment, but when you don't plan on staying in one place more than 3 years, it's like led on your leg)

5. Live in Freedom - homeschooling my kids has given our family great freedom. We are never going back.

The Big Plan?

Move to Hawaii for 3 to 5 years.

Then try Japan if my daughter still wants that adventure.

Then...who knows, we've already done our top 2! 

INSPIRED BY



Friday, October 16, 2015

Another Week for Improvement



In Life - Sometimes Kissing Makes You Feel Better

And this week - I got plenty from my Little Guy. He must've known I needed it after the last few weeks.

Crazy news since I am on a health kick is I'm going for a Body or Virtual Body Scan. I have to use up some Heatlhcare Flex Spending money before the end of the year and I figured - why not? So stay tuned.

Homeschooling and work this week went off without a glitch. Shocking how life goes up then down and just when you think you want to get off, you see the sun.

For Fun This weekend we went to the ESCAPE ROOM LIVE, a college STEP SHOW, a WEDDING and a BE A CODER event.

SPEED RACER (age 11yrs) my Middle Schooler
Homeschooled at 4th grade on.

He has been working rather independently this week. I get home and he's finished all his seat work and homework in,  English, Grammar and Spelling , Biology, History, Economics and American Government.

Speed Racer has been saving doing started Abeka Algebra 1, with a Teaching Textbook lab on the when I get home, then  CTCMath practice for last.

Time4Writing is getting better and coming to an end in a few weeks. I signed him up for a Paragragh Writing class with Currclick coming at the end of the month and another writing class with FunCation in November. Membean is really helping his vocabulary and word recal. We shelved Python with Techrocket and started Python Programming with Code Academy.



TIGER LILLY (age 14 yrs) the Dual enrolled High Schooler
Homeschooled at 7th grade on.


Has been studying.  Midterm time in her US History 1 course and Psychology.

This week there was a small break in her Landry courses, so she didn't do anything  in C Programming, PC Pro and Japanese.

We are still going to drop her College Math class since she bombed the test. In her Software Application's class she has been going to the lab which helps.

Tiger Lilly is in her last week with Unity 3d and practicing Java since she will begin two more mid-semester college classes, Speech and Intro To Programming. She turned in two pieces of art for her Animation Course.



WORKING PARENT's LOG


Meals Everynight I cooked. I totally nailed it this week. The kids didn't cook on the weekend so it was a sandwhich weekend.

Cleaning. We have a mountain of cleaning to do since we are trying to clear out the clutter of our house so it will be ready to sell next year.

Work & Life Balance. It was a somewhat better week at work. However, I had to work 2 twelve hour days to make up hours for being off last week.

Lesson Planning. So-so as I barely got it done Sunday night..

Rest. I've got 7 hours.

Marriage Check Up. We had an argument over my hubby's hoarding tendencies which will make this packing ordeal painful. So we 'suggested' a date night and went out to eat.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

And It All Came Crashing Down

IT'S BEEN ONE OF THOSE MAD WEEKS




Where everything goes to pot, and you feel like you are losing your mind.

BUT....
I will recover, I did recover?
Well Maybe.



Why is it when you have a few good weeks, heck months, BAM! Something comes along and throws you off your 'A' game. You stumble, scream, jump up and down, then try to get back on steady ground.

Well, that's just life,and it wouldn't be half as exciting without all the drama, but darn, I hate drama.

So let's just give a tally of all the good stuff that happened to set off all the not so great stuff.

'WE ARE MOVING TO HAWAII!' Yeah, we are. It's one of my husband's bucket list items and we figured we would do it when we can both transfer with our companies to work there.

Then this happened:

1) Razor Ray and Rose Siblings got into a Loud - In - Your - Face Argument O-o
2) Tiger Lilly concealed she'd failed a test in her college math class because she hadn't been checking her homework.
3) Speed Racer has been having a VERY Disrespectful mouth and attitude that came to a head during a homeschool session where he ended up punished, and drove mom to yelling.
4) Mom found out she had high blood pressure (that's a surprise)
5) Mom's job had a snotty boss became a monster with a micro-management feast to the 10th degree and caused me to want to YELL at him too (but I kept my cool -which is another reason why #4 may have happened)
6) Thought my hubby got the job in the location of our #1 choice - but they cancelled the interview when they realized it was for Hawaii
7) Speed Racer slipped into a tantrum. I mean REALLY at 12 yrs old? I thought we were 10 months over that? Guess not.
8) Tiger Lilly will have to change Colleges for her Dual Enrollment - oh, but it will only set us back about $1K a year (eek!)
9) Mom had to work late a lot these last few weeks which made our workload more lax but caused Speed Racer to decide he didn't want to pick up the pace again.
10) Mom had to do a sleep apnea study, just because I have a bit of a snoring problem. That's what I get for having a physical after 6 years.

SPEED RACER (age 11yrs) my Middle Schooler
Homeschooled at 4th grade on.

It has been a horrible few weeks. BUT (this week has been better) Getting through school has been a major chore and biting, nashing of teeth through the smart, sassy comments, and comebacks. It has gotten progressively worse the last 2 weeks.

He barely finished viewing and taking notes on his Classroom DVDs with the Abeka curriculum for English, Grammar and Spelling , Biology, History, Economics and American Government he barely did the 'homework' and seatwork for each class.

We dropped Saxon. He started Abeka Algebra 1, with a Teaching Textbook lab on the weekend in Algebra 1 and CTCMath for remediation and practice of basic math facts.

Time4Writing is in gear and he's doing 'OK' and we both know it's not his best work. Membean is puttering a long, he doesn't complain about it. In Techrocket is going well, although, he basically is cutting and pasting the code, which is alright for now with Python Programming.

At least we survived without hurting each other.

TIGER LILLY (age 14 yrs) the Dual enrolled High Schooler
Homeschooled at 7th grade on.


I even yelled at her this week.  Yep, when I found out she lied about her failing grade last week. This week, we are working towards a solution or back up plan.

So far she's doing good in C Programming, PC Pro and Japanese and loves Landry's teachers.

The Community College courses were going great until her 'B' in College Math dropped to failing grade. The professor told her she could bring it up if she past the final. So we are waiting to see what her next test looks like before we drop the class. Her Software Application's class is where she had another slip up. She forgot to do an assignment it and bought her high grade down to a 'C'. Her US History 1 course and Psychology, are holding on to their high numbers.

Tiger Lilly is doing well with Unity 3d and practicing Java. Her Animation Course started and she's liking it. I already see an improvement, even though she was already rather good.

And I registered her for University of MD, University College online classes...
They take homeschoolers (Yay!)

Several reason
1) The Community College doesn't have online computer science courses and Tiger Lilly said she isn't ready to take more live classes.

2) Since we are moving, she won't be able to get her AA degree from the Community College, so we decided to just let her work away at her BS online which would graduate her at 18 yrs old with just taking 2-3 classes a semester for the next few years.



I need a massage, warm bath, and some wine.

WORKING PARENT's LOG


Meals.I cooked, but went on strike the weekend. I refused to purchase fast food, and they complained. So...they pitched in and cooked. Hunger works that way.

Cleaning. It has not happened at the level I'd like it, so I stepped over the clutter and piled it up to put away this weekend.

Work & Life Balance. Crazy these last few weeks. But I'm treating myself to every other Friday off, which means I have to work two 12 hour days every other week. Also, the job had an emergency shut down so...I went to lunch with my oldest daughter, Rose, and invited two great friends. My daughter really enjoyed them and I enjoyed the Indian Food we had. Yum!

Lesson Planning. Slipped up and had to do it on Monday - yikes!.

Rest. Well, sorta, I have a problem of staying up way too late and waking up entirely too early. However, I did get 7 hours sleep most days.

Marriage Check Up. We love each other, even when we aren't at our best.Now we missed our hang out date time the last 2 weeks.