Happy Halloween!

Change of season

How quickly it has become fall. It is so dark when we get up in the morning, and dark before bedtime. I am enjoying the change of season, though I am starting to feel a little sad that we will be alone for the holidays. 

Beautiful sunrise at the bus stop

 Last of the summer evenings...

Foggy morning

Grandma Eileen Thompson

A few of my aunts posted on facebook today, which reminded me that it is my grandmothers birthday. She would be 95 if she was alive today. I am so grateful that she has a strong place in my memory and in my childhood. I thought I would take a minute to dot down a few things about her on this day, October 10th 2014.

• I remember her voice, it was a comforting sound
• I remember her taking us to a play about panda bears and it was really fun. 
• I remember her, in her home in Santa Anna, a home filled with wonderful memories for me.
• I remember her room there, simple, faithful. Not the master bedroom she shared with her husband; a smaller room, the room where she was a widow. 
• I remember her soft brown eyes, the freckle, her curly grey hair. 
• I remember her presence, though a slight women always, her character was strong.  
• I remember going to church with her. 
• I remember her cooking brown rice and uber healthy bran muffins. 
• I remember her meeting Reagan who was just a baby.

And memories...they fade, so I write them down when I can. Love you grandma, and I miss you. 

New Job!

I got a job! Yeah! The family we met with on Friday evening is going to hire me to watch their newborn son, starting November 3rd. I am really excited about it. I will be bring in about 700$ a month, which will make all the difference to us until we get our cars paid off. It feels really good to be helping out my family while still maintaining my stay at home mom status and not giving our family time on weekends and evenings. It is going to be an adjustment, and I will be busy! But I feel up to the task:-)

New washing machine

I think appliances know when money is tight and they pick that time to break. They are such a-holes;-) Our washing machine died last week...right before Craig left town for his grandmother's memorial service, and as I got a knock out cold. Grrrr. We thought we could fix it by ordering a part, come to find out the part we ordered got fried because of another part going bad. Needless to say, the new control board (130$) got fried as well. Double Grrrr. Anyways, we did some research and bought a new Samsung top loader washing machine. We got a good price on it and so far I love it. It has a huge load capacity.

A while back I mentioned that I am looking for a child care gig. I talked with a friend about watching her two kids, but that didn't pan out for various reasons. Since then I have found two families in need of full time care for their new baby. We are meeting both families soon (one this Friday and one next Wednesday), and hopefully one of those situations will work out. It will just be for a year or two, while their kiddo is little. Kind of like what I did for the Longcor's back in Portland. It is going to be an adjustment for me and for our family, but the extra income will be great until we get our cars paid off (the van only has 18 more payments, yeah!). I will keep you all updated on how it goes!

Much love, B