I'm finding myself faced with a dilemma. It's becoming more and more apparent that I need to find work, paying work that is. As college and cars for three children is looming in the near future, and the economy continues in the toilet at the hands of Mr. 'spend and then tax' Obummer, I find myself increasingly concerned about how we're going to pay for everything coming our way.
I'm actually toying with the idea of... get this.... school bus driver. Doesn't sound too crazy when you consider that I am essentially that anyway, just with 3 instead of 30. I've learned to tune out the screaming and rowdy play that sometimes erupts behind my head while I'm negotiating an on-ramp. I'm skilled at dodging flying objects when I have to hit the brakes a little hard. And I've gotten really good at booting the kids out the car door while barely slowing down at the curb, then laying rubber on my way to the next 'almost late' stop of my taxi run. True, the dash to school has become less frequent as they have gotten older, and I would have to rise at O'dark:30 to start my day. But, I would be home after school to help with homework and during most days to (being optimistic here) keep up with housework and keep doing websites. Those are both big pluses.
Alternatively, I could get busy and start promoting the website business in earnest. I've only toyed with it so far, just doing enough to break even or bring in a little. With the right business model, I think I could do okay with it. Guess I need to have another cup of coffee and think it over some more...
Well, we're off and running on another busy hockey weekend. Jason has high school games tonight and tomorrow, both in Lexington, home games on Saturday and another high school game on Monday. Jenny has games all weekend in N. KY (hate that rink) and a lousy schedule so we'll have to spend the night up there. I'm getting sick of hotels and I don't think I can fit any more of those little shampoo bottles in my ditty bag. I like this one from Amazon:
I worked concessions last night with a hockey parent of a younger player and he commented on seeing Jason play for the first time last weekend. "Your boy is a beast! and he can go end-to-end". Always fun to hear such remarks. Yes, Jason is a beast on the ice, but he's still my baby boy at home, until I ask him to do a chore or two, then the smile vanishes and the whine comes on like a dog whistle. Makes my ears bleed!
Katie on the other hand is a great help around the house. She has become a mini-me, only better because she is the me I was before menopause and adult onset ADD.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Day 265 of hockey season
1 house, 3 kids, and 5 hockey teams, what were we thinking?
I'm beginning to wonder what the guidelines are for calling snow days here in Kentucky. We had 2 snow days last week, one just on the possibility that is might snow before the kids were heading home. Today we woke up to an inch of snow on the ground but no snow day, not even a delayed start.
So, the Thunder (girls team that Jenny plays on) is heading to their last weekend of games and then the year end tournament. They've only lost 1 league game all season and look good for the tournament in March. So happy to see them having success this year. They really play like a team now and they're so fun to watch. Plus, they don't smell as bad as the boys do. Thank you P&G for Febreze!
We're on day 4 of 4 consecutive game days for Jason. Friday was High School, Saturday was 2 Stallions games in Northern Kentucky (hate that rink) and Sunday was 2 Stallions games at home against one of the Columbus Ohio teams. Tonight is High School again. Sometimes it seems to never end, maybe because it doesn't. So glad we bought an iPad. The girls keep themselves entertained during the long waits before and between games. I'm thinking of buying one of those keyboard accessories for it to make typing emails easier. I found one I like at Amazon:
Playing in Northern Kentucky is always a visit to the weird side, but this time seemed particularly bad. Besides the dirty/old/freezing cold rink, rude players, rude parents, and bad ref's, Jason was missing one of his elbow pads. He didn't bother to let anyone know until he was headed out onto the ice of course, but he did improvise with a hockey sock tripled up and taped in place. Bob managed to find a spare for him to use for the second game and we found his missing one at home when we returned. He's decided that it's cool to pull off his jersey after a game leaving his elbow pads in the sleeves. Since we're swapping jersey's out all the time, its pretty easy to miss one. We'll just add this to the long list of items that have been left behind when we hit the road for games. Sticks, helmet, gloves, jerseys, skates, ....
Speaking of gear, a couple weeks ago we were in Ann Arbor for a tournament. Jason and a teammate wanted to go shopping for hockey gear at Perani's so we indulged them for what I hoped would be a short and not too expensive excursion. The boys immediately headed to the pants section, both claiming they needed new ones like right now. While Jason was trying some on, his teammate encouraged him to really test the padding before deciding if they were good ones. Jason's idea of testing the padding was to jump into the air and throw his feet out in front of him, landing directly on his butt, on the cement floor. I could feel the gray hairs popping out all over my head as I came around the corner just in time to see him hit the ground. We didn't buy any pants and I left the store feeling sick to my stomach.
The miles of hockey travel has really taken its toll on my car. I knew I needed new tires and brakes but this weekend the battery died and it wouldn't start. We could get by on just one car for a while if we didn't have to go different directions for hockey on the weekends. I called the dealer to get prices and gagged on my coffee when they told me it would be over two grand. I wonder if I can get a hockey bag on my bicycle?
I'm beginning to wonder what the guidelines are for calling snow days here in Kentucky. We had 2 snow days last week, one just on the possibility that is might snow before the kids were heading home. Today we woke up to an inch of snow on the ground but no snow day, not even a delayed start.
So, the Thunder (girls team that Jenny plays on) is heading to their last weekend of games and then the year end tournament. They've only lost 1 league game all season and look good for the tournament in March. So happy to see them having success this year. They really play like a team now and they're so fun to watch. Plus, they don't smell as bad as the boys do. Thank you P&G for Febreze!
We're on day 4 of 4 consecutive game days for Jason. Friday was High School, Saturday was 2 Stallions games in Northern Kentucky (hate that rink) and Sunday was 2 Stallions games at home against one of the Columbus Ohio teams. Tonight is High School again. Sometimes it seems to never end, maybe because it doesn't. So glad we bought an iPad. The girls keep themselves entertained during the long waits before and between games. I'm thinking of buying one of those keyboard accessories for it to make typing emails easier. I found one I like at Amazon:
Playing in Northern Kentucky is always a visit to the weird side, but this time seemed particularly bad. Besides the dirty/old/freezing cold rink, rude players, rude parents, and bad ref's, Jason was missing one of his elbow pads. He didn't bother to let anyone know until he was headed out onto the ice of course, but he did improvise with a hockey sock tripled up and taped in place. Bob managed to find a spare for him to use for the second game and we found his missing one at home when we returned. He's decided that it's cool to pull off his jersey after a game leaving his elbow pads in the sleeves. Since we're swapping jersey's out all the time, its pretty easy to miss one. We'll just add this to the long list of items that have been left behind when we hit the road for games. Sticks, helmet, gloves, jerseys, skates, ....
Speaking of gear, a couple weeks ago we were in Ann Arbor for a tournament. Jason and a teammate wanted to go shopping for hockey gear at Perani's so we indulged them for what I hoped would be a short and not too expensive excursion. The boys immediately headed to the pants section, both claiming they needed new ones like right now. While Jason was trying some on, his teammate encouraged him to really test the padding before deciding if they were good ones. Jason's idea of testing the padding was to jump into the air and throw his feet out in front of him, landing directly on his butt, on the cement floor. I could feel the gray hairs popping out all over my head as I came around the corner just in time to see him hit the ground. We didn't buy any pants and I left the store feeling sick to my stomach.
The miles of hockey travel has really taken its toll on my car. I knew I needed new tires and brakes but this weekend the battery died and it wouldn't start. We could get by on just one car for a while if we didn't have to go different directions for hockey on the weekends. I called the dealer to get prices and gagged on my coffee when they told me it would be over two grand. I wonder if I can get a hockey bag on my bicycle?
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