Making A Home And Family

 I am awaiting Friday May 30th with bated breath for the release of (the best movie ever I’m sure) Sex and the City!  My mom, sister, and I plan on making a girls night out of going to see it.  Maybe we’ll even do dinner before or a couple drinks after.  I have my outfit picked out already, and I will not admit for how long I have had my outfit picked out.

I just wonder if all of our questions will be answered or if they’ll leave us hanging again.  Is Carrie really going to marry Mr. Big?  Without a hitch?  Will Charlotte get her baby girl from China or will she conceive?  What will happen in Miranda’s house with Steve’s mom still there?  Will Sam and Smith still be happily together?

Sometimes… I get down about girlfriends.  They are hard to come by the older you get, and when I have those times I put in a couple episodes of Sex and the City.  As sad and lame as it sounds, they’ve become my friends.  The show gives me hope that there are good friends out there.  Will you see the movie as it releases this weekend?

To see what others are talking about this Tuesday, go here!

My DH and I own our business, and we work from home.  But this means that I am doing something that isn’t necessarily my calling.  I feel my calling is to be a nurterer and a teacher, and after 3 years of college I finally decided to take the right path for me – teaching.  Owning our business though has put the cabosh to a teaching career, which is okay with me to a point.  I don’t find the public schools to be the perfect place for me to teach, but I think it’s in my own home where I will be called when I have children of my own.  Until then, I try to still be involved with children as best as can by babysitting or volunteering.  I did, however; find out about a great opportunity at our local YMCA.  They have a summer program called Y Kids, and I applied and subsequently had an interview there this morning.

Interviews are interesting social encounters and they can be nerve wracking, but I tried to be calm, collected, and ready for this one.

1.  I changed my attitude.  I was going there to interview them!  What a concept!  I went there to find out if that was the environment I wanted to teach in, to make friends in, and to spend my time.

2.  I read over some interview questions and prepared some responses in my head, so I would be able to answers quickly and efficiently but without sounding canned.

3.  I woke up early enough so that I wouldn’t be rushed getting ready.  I wore something nice, but not over the top.  I knew that the employees there usually wear workout attire or khakis and a polo shirt.  I took it just one step above that, but I definitely didn’t wear a suit.

4.  I was honest, friendly, and open about my answers during the interview.  I didn’t put on a front because if they were going to hire me – they were going to hire the real me.

5.  With all of that, I can confidently say my interview went well.  He told me before I left, “I’m not making any decisions now but from what I have seen so far, you are at the top of my choices.”

Go see what other people are talking about this Tuesday at The Lazy Organizer.

 As many of you know, my DH and I went to a 4H Challenge Leader orientation this past weekend.  We slept outside in tents for two nights through a thunderstorm that included a lot of rain and wind, and it also included a cooling down of the temperature.   We learned quite a bit about 4H and the mentality of challenge – to put children in situations that may be a stressful in order for them to challenge their minds and bodies and learn to cope and solve problems in those types of scenarios.  Challenge involves trips backpacking, rock climbing, ice climbing, canoeing, caving, and other outdoor things like hunting.  DH and I have to be trained in the many different areas before we can lead trips alone with kids, but we are leaders now and we can be chaperones on trips with a designated leader.

The following is a list of things to pack while you are camping.  Some of the ideas listed below are to make sure you stay warm and dry while camping.  These are just ideas that I have learned through experience or from my training this past weekend.

• Make sure your tent is waterproof.  If you’ve had it awhile use a spray to re-waterproof it such as Nickwax.
• You need a good mummy sleeping bag when it’s cool outside.  Make sure it’s rated for the temperature and add a fleece liner to warm it more.  Use a pad underneath it to protect you from getting moisture onto your sleeping bag.
• If you get cold at night, try doing crunches in your sleeping bag or get up and walk around.  Add a Nalgene filled with hot water to the bottom of your sleeping bag to keep your feet warm.
• Wear Smartwool socks so they wick sweat away but also keep your feet warm.  I also pack a pair or two of dry ones so that I have dry ones to wear to bed at night.
• If you are cold and you are shivering, it’s your body’s way of trying to keep your core temperature up.  If you stop shivering and stop feeling cold, without a weather change, you could be hypothermic.  The theory is now to try and warm up from the inside out, so drink a hot cup of water/tea/cocoa then start warming from the outside.  A new warm set of clothes that aren’t wet, an emergency blanket, cuddling with another person is a good start.  The next step is delusion and this is where is gets really serious!  Get emergency help.
• Wear smart layers.  Wear something somewhat tight and wicking next to your body like Underarmor, then layer a fleece, and ontop of that a jacket that is warm and breaks wind and rain.  Always wear a warm hat because you lose 70% of heat through your head.  Bottom layers could be fleece pants or synthetic wicking pants like running pants covered by windpants or rainpants.  Wear smart wool and boots that breathe a little on your feet.  Only wear one pair of socks or it could restrict blood flow and actually make you colder.
• Pack easy to cook foods.  We made quinoa and boca tacos, fettucine alfredo, and fried summer sausage for sandwhiches on bagels with cheese.  For breakfasts and snacks, we had granola and milk powder, granola bars, and trail mix.  Try to remember fruits and veggies and teas so that you remain “regular” on your trips.
• Don’t forget your camping first aid kit.  Bandaids, alcohol swabs, benadryl, ibuprofen, tweezers, gauze and tape.
• A survival kit is also a must when camping.  It should include things like a small flashlight, extra batteries, whistle, compass, a few glowsticks, waterproof matches, a fire starter, emergency blanket, warmer packets, and a few PA tablets so you can drink river water just to give you an idea.  This survival pack should keep you alive until someone could find you.  Remember we don’t need water for 3 days or food for 3 weeks so keep it simple.

So that’s what I’m talking about this Tuesday.  To read more, go to The Lazy Organizer.