She’s gone to Chicago. Left this morning in a better mood than normal (but only because she wanted to borrow my headphones.)

Nugget loves band. She plays trumpet, and does so very well, if I do say so myself! This opportunity came up a while ago though school, and – thanks to a partial scholarship – she was able to go.

They will be eating lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, then visiting the Lyric Opera to see a performance of The Magic Flute. She was so excited, and I’m pretty sure the fact that it’s a school bus trip to Chicago trumps the fact that she’s going to the opera!

Thanks, Bloomington Jr High School, for the opportunity. I’m grateful that she is able to take in some culture!

The beginning of another year has passed, and with it, all the promises of change, betterment, resolutions … you know how it goes! I think that every day I resolve to author a blog post, and every day I think “I’ll have to get to it tomorrow” – and my world has become full of tomorrows.

I know I need more focus. I have no idea who my audience is. I never even check the analytics to see if anyone is reading this at all, and maybe it’s time to start doing that.

My next level. That is the blog topic for the week, as declared by Chris Brogan, blogger, author, business mentor and all-around good guy, so I thought I’d use it as my inspiration. I like the way Chris writes. I like the fact that I learn so much from him about Google+ when others have pretty much written it off, I love that he’s not ALL business ALL the time, and I wish I could find my copy of Trust Agents (the book he co-wrote with Julien Smith), because I think I need to read it again.

So, why AM I here? Why DO I blog? I think that I started when blogs weren’t really serving a purpose other than to get all your thoughts down in one place. When blogging was literally electronic journalling, and I’m fairly sure that’s why I could care less if anyone reads it or not. Having said that, I am going to use this as a means for me to keep myself accountable to myself. And that may, or may not work!

Since last time I blogged I’ve worked on setting up a home-based business – I’m a Virtual Assistant – and you can find out all about that over at BN Virtual Solutions. I have a business coach, with whom I trade VA hours for coaching, and I’m working on launching a business that will benefit our local economy through encouraging our local residents to shop a small, independently owned businesses. That is RelyLocal.com.

Add to that a successful local group of entrepreneurs on Facebook, and that’s pretty much how my time is spent lately!

The girls? Doing just great! Paris just missed Honor Roll by one “C” grade, and Ciel made Gold Honor Roll. Ciel still loves her clarinet, the Beatles, Dr. Who and reading. Paris is growing up way too fast and can’t quite decide what she likes, but she loves to cook!

But where were we? My next level. My goal was to be off unemployment by Christmas, and I didn’t make it. So. March is the month that I’ll be earning enough money to fully support myself and my family and I will no longer be reliant on unemployment. That’s my next level. I know I’m growing daily, both personally and in my business, so expect so see more blog posts, and more success, from me!

Those are the words, but that’s not the subject of this post – though it could be very soon. (shhh, it’s a secret … for now!)

I’ve been both lauded and criticized for my method of doling out allowances to my two younger girls. Here’s how it works: each of them gets a dollar per year of age, so Paris currently gets 12 dollars a week and Ciel gets 10 dollars. I provide their food, clothing, shelter and what they need for school. Beyond that, they’re on their own.

If either girl is invited to a party, she has to decide whether to go based on whether or not she has money to buy a birthday gift. They each have a phone – their choice – they pay their own phone bills. Ciel recently HAD to have items from ThinkGeek, so she had me order them online and the amount will be reimbursed from her bank account. Because every girl needs an Adipose Stress Toy, right?

The purchase of candy or other treats is now totally in their own hands! As is the acquisition of “cool” stuff – for instance – we were lucky enough to receive back packs and school supplies through the Back to School coalition this year (and a huge thank you to all involved – donors and volunteers – you certainly make getting these kids back to school less stressful, finance-wise!) However, the girls had their eyes on Harajuku Lovers book bags from Target, so they had to use their allowance to purchase these, as they already had book bags.

But here is my problem. I obviously pay for all this stuff at the time of purchase, and – despite my best intentions – I don’t always recoup the money right away. Or at all. Seems lik there’s a little more diligence due on my end?

How do you handle your kids allowance?

Image courtesy of sushi♥ina @ Flickr

So, when Aldi advertised pineapple at .99c a pound, I knew I had to stock up! I really just had visions of canned pineapple rings. But when Paris found a recipe for pineapple mango jam, I had a feeling that was on the menu.

I should mention here that it’s not easy to find recipes that use fresh pineapple, most of them seem to opt for canned slices or crushed – so we had to go through a few pages of search results to find just the right one!

Two pineapples. That’s all it took. We ended up with four half-pints of jam, and I was fairly confident that was all we really needed. And besides, even though we had used all the mango, there were still 6 pineapples left! So now, we are well into our second jar of pineapple mango jam, and looking like we need to come up with something to replace it when it’s all gone.

After all was said and done, we had made jam using 2 pineapples, we ate one with ice cream (yum!) and I cut 5 of them into chunks and canned them (resulted in 8 pints). There’s a lonely pineapple sitting there in the kitchen. My options are to find a recipe that uses one pineapple, or to go back to Aldi and buy more. Today is the last day of .99c pineapples.

… and then there’s the 10lb of apples in the fridge …

“Did you notice, Mom? Did you notice I’m wearing all pink?”

To be honest, I hadn’t, and responded with a surprised tone, I guess.

“No, I hadn’t noticed! It looks nice though” – and smiled the approving mommy smile.

She was so happy to tell me that one friend had texted another, who passed the message along, and it went on along the line – and all the girls decided to wear pink to school for breast cancer awareness.

And her smile told the story.

Her smile told me that she had done something good with her own circle of friends. She hadn’t needed me to say “we’re going here to do this”, or to remind her to wear a certain t-shirt with a certain slogan. She and her friends had done it on their own.

Happy Pink Tuesday, 6th graders. Happy Pink Tuesday!

Image credit: Flickr/gmtbillings

It’s getting harder and harder as the months go by, and I do my best to take things in my stride and not complain.

This month I was really stretching to make it to the end of the month. My food stamps have been reduced because I am being paid for 4 hours of work a week. One hundred and seventy dollars has to last me all month, and so to keep my food budget to $50 a week is a struggle.

It really is no wonder that when relying on government assistance to help feed the family, there is no room for health considerations. For the cost of two apples, you can buy four boxes of instant macaroni and cheese. If you have a family to feed, there is no option – no apples for you!

Organic? Sure! I’d love to do organic … but that just adds to the price.
Local? Again, a dream of mine, but shopping at the farmer’s market is more expensive than buying those veggies sourced from who-the-heck-knows-where.
Fresh? I can guarantee freshness if I pick it from my garden, but otherwise, no idea!

So, last month – June, I was so pleased with myself! My Link benefit is deposited on the 4th of the month. Today is the 2nd, and I still have $10 left on my card!

I have to admit, it’s been a creative struggle. We’ve eaten some strange combinations, including a soup made by Ciel that contained Liquid Smoke as one of the ingredients. But we’re going to make it another two days without having to dip into my non-existent savings account. And that’s really important!

Image credit: Flickr/sdc2027

Paris has taken over the coupon responsibilities, proclaiming “I think I’ve found a new hobby!” She is subscribed to many of the couponing sites, and loves to work out the deals for each store using the store flyer and the coupon inserts. Her first trip out was something of a disaster though.

She had spent days going through the inserts and clipping the appropriate coupons, asking me about the store’s coupon policies, and getting her list together. We entered Kroger, coupons and list in hand, and went to find our first deal. We couldn’t find the cans of soup that had been advertised, and the lunchmeat that was on her list was not the same price as she had transcribed from the coupon site. And neither was the pasta. The coconut milk couldn’t be found at all. We did get Goldfish crackers for free, but I had added them to the list right before we left home. Once I had proclaimed my confusion about the prices and coupons not matching, she said “well, this was the list from last week!”

OK

Next week, we shall try again!

It happens on a daily basis. Just this morning I woke up and Paris was already up. She had been cleaning – as evidenced by “stuff” she had brought up to my room and left at the end of my bed. I was surprised not to see Ciel, so I asked “Is Ciel still asleep?” There was no reply for a while, then after pottering around for a bit, I heard “did you check?”

“Did I check what, baby?” I asked, never remembering a conversation from 5 minutes ago.

“Oh, never mind!” was the reply, in an eye-rolling voice.

“No, really, what was I supposed to check?”

“It doesn’t matter!”

At this point, any further questioning is futile. We just go our separate ways.

…. until she wants her breakfast.

Paris with her favorite camp counselor, Thumper

Well, as predicted by many of you, Paris did way better at camp than I did at home! I picked her up yesterday and she had a ball! Didn’t want to come home, wanted to stay another week, and made many new friends.

Of course, I got lots of “I missed you” hugs, and the poor child is covered in bug bites, but she seems strangely more grown, more independent. And isn’t that what the camp experience is all about?

The first night she was there, we horrendous storms here at home. Yet it seems that the storm wasn’t as severe where she was, 30 minutes away from us.

Mud - for rolling in )

She participated in many activities, some of which I haven’t even heard about yet. Singing, swimming, kayaking, hay rack rides – and from the looks of one of her t-shirts – painting. The most fun, she said, was when they got to put on their “messy clothes” and roll in the mud, followed by rolling in the sand, then washing it all off in the lake. I guess that’s when the girls are glad that Mom isn’t standing there with the Tide-To-Go pen in hand!

She sent a couple of letters home, saying she had made a new friend. Summer, she wrote, was her age, and a few (maybe 3) inches taller than her. She was so eager to tell me that every time someone walked by their tent they had to turn their flashlights off because they were supposed to be sleeping. And that the girl (as yet unnamed) across from her had borrowed her pencil so she had to write with her Sharpie.

The second letter contained a message for Ciel – the words to a song called “I’m nuts”, and I’m sure I’ll hear them both singing it very soon!

I haven’t had much time to talk about her camp experience since she’s been back, because after a couple of hours of being home I took the girls to their dad’s so I could attend the Neville House fundraiser at the BlueLine Nightclub. I guess they’ll be staying there until early this evening as they are grilling ribs.

So, the first camp experience was probably harder on me than it was on her, but she vowed to return next year. And Ciel can’t wait to sign up either!

The school held an “Everyone Has a Story” night, where parents could come and read all the books, it was attended by what seemed to be a greater number of parents than most other events. We all had a chance to read our children’s books, and books the other children had written – what a treat! Ciel’s book was made up of journal entries from the journal she keeps in the classroom.

Paris’s book was entitled “Heroes”. As I read, I learned what she considered a hero to be, what she felt the qualities of a hero should be, a definition from dictionary.com, and a story about Eleanor Roosevelt – as an example of a hero. But it was chapter 3, entitled “My Hero” that made my heart skip a beat. Here it is, word for word.

Everybody knows someone who has encouraged, inspired, helped or improved their or someone else’s life. That person could be your hero. My hero is Victoria Baptiste. She is my mother. Three qualities that make Victoria a hero are responsibility, kindness and peacefulness.

First, my mom is responsible. She is responsible because she only loses something if my sister uses it. For example, one time I found my mother’s calculator under my sister’s desk. She is also responsible because she makes sure that I take a shower and go to bed every night. My mother is also responsible because she takes my sister and I to school every day.

Victoria is also peaceful. She is peaceful because when my sister and I don’t respect each other, she separates us. For example, if my sister yells at me, then my mom would tell my sister to go into the kitchen. Another reason she is peaceful is because every day she has time alone in her bedroom. She is also peaceful because when my sister yells, my mom sometimes punishes her.

Finally, my mom is caring. She is caring because every night she kisses my sister and I good night. Victoria is also caring because she feeds my sister and I and gives us clothing. For example, every Sunday, my mom and grandma go to Goodwill. Another reason she is caring is because she makes sure than Im always safe.

Our world is filled with many heroes. Heroes foster many qualities that make them heroic. Heroes can be normal, ordinary people. Are you a hero or can you be a hero?

I just love that child!

Since their father moved to Oklahoma two years ago, my girls haven’t really had an authoritative male figure in their short lives. Of course there’s Grandpa, but Grandpa has to be a grandpa – that’s just what grandpa’s do, right? I firmly believe that boys need a man in their lives to teach them all the “manly” things they need to know and I also believe that girls have that right too.

Wouldn’t it be a perfect solution if a wonderful organization like Big Brothers, Big Sisters could match “bigs” and “littles” of different genders? Sadly, today’s society forbids such a practice as this … at least along traditional lines, but what if a “big brother” could be introduced as a family friend? A friend who would accompany Mom and the “little sister/s” to the park for a picnic. A friend who would come out to the lake to spend the afternoon fishing. There would, of course, be a perfect platonic relationship between the adults, and the children could have the chance to form a bond with a male figure.

Is that just a pipe dream? Maybe. Who knows.

The real reason for this post is to sing the praises of two wonderful men who have made a difference in our lives. Both my girls have male teachers this year. Paris has had male teachers for the past 3 years, but this is Ciel’s first experience with a man at the head of the classroom. Let’s call them Mr D and Mr R.

Ciel comes home from school with stories about Mr R and things that he did at college or stories about sports, or how he spent his vacation, or stories about his boys. Mr R, we thank you for making teaching your career choice, and thank you for all you do for your students.

Paris’s teacher, Mr D, is another influential male figure – and, of course, Ciel is hoping that Mr D is her teacher next year! I love that my girls know something about their teachers home lives. I honestly couldn’t tell you one personal detail about any of the teachers I had in my years in school. Except, maybe, that our chemistry teacher was the head mistresses son. (Just in case you’re a little confused here, I went to school in England where we have head masters and head mistresses instead of principles!)

So, please Mr D and Mr R, keep on doing a great job, and take pride in the fact that there are some little girls in your class from single parent families who really look up to you and respect you, and are watching your every move, soaking up all the information you give them, and then coming home to tell their mom all about what they learned that day. Not just the regular curriculum, but the “life curriculum” too. Hey, it’s a big job, but I know that you to have the task in hand, and you have my utmost respect.

Thank you.

(Regular readers of my blog will know that it’s my usual practice to name a post with a song title that goes with the post. Please know that for this post, it’s purely the title that’s the match. The lyrics have nothing to do with the post!)