Back to School

Happy Sunday evening everyone! Thank you for all the kind comments on my last post (last week). They made me feel cared for. This whole separation is HARD on everyone. It doesn't help that it is now to the point of hurting the kids. I wish I could say that this week was better in regards to that, but it hasn't been. The kids spent the day with him yesterday (Saturday) and they had a hard day. I won't go into everything that happened, but let's just say that things were said to the kids that really hurt them and Rebecca and Ben were in tears. It is such a sad situation and quite frankly I am angry and frustrated with him. It is a good thing that I also have a sense of self control. Let's just leave it at that. 

Let's move on to better things! The kids went back to school this week. Ben started middle school on Thursday!! He was excited, but also very nervous. In fact, he cried when he got out of the van to go into the building. 

However, he had a great day and he was all smiles when he was telling me about his first day. (For our school district's middle and high school, the first day of school is just for the incoming 6th and 9th graders (and any new student) so that they aren't too overwhelmed by EVERYONE being in the buildings.)

That meant that Jacob and Rebecca started back to school on Friday. Jacob is in his last year at the middle school. Rebecca is a junior this year!!!! They also had really good days. 

Rebecca's schedule this year is extremely difficult as she is taking 2 college classes (honors pre-calculus and human physiology), AP English, AP Government, AP Spanish, along with audition choir and an art class. She said she is kind of overwhelmed but it will all be good. 

I worked a lot and tried to get some things done. Next week, I am actually taking on a new role as the Pre-K teacher, as the program that I work at wants to implement a more academic pre-k program so that the kids are better ready for kindergarten. So, I will start to implement that tomorrow. It should be fun, I hope. A little overwhelming, but should be good. As far as work goes, I have decided to stick with it. I think I am also going to start researching online college programs that will allow me to go back and get my teacher certification. I really enjoy working with the kids and have rediscovered my love of planning and teaching. It won't be anytime in the near future as money is TIGHT, but I want to figure out it if is doable next fall. 

This weekend has been good for me. Yesterday, while the kids were at their father's, I spent the day with my mom doing some shopping and hanging out. We went to a late lunch/early dinner at a local Chinese restaurant and it was so good. Then we shopped at Goodwill, Shoe Sensation (where she bought me a pair of sketchers sandals that are so comfortable! She said it was my belated birthday present.), Marshall's (where I used a gift card from a friend to buy 3 new tops and a pair of pants), and then to Walmart for a couple of things. It was just a fun, relaxing day (well at least until I found out what happened with the kids and their dad.) 

Today, I have been a busy beaver. We went to 8am mass. Then Rebecca and I went to Aldi as I needed peppers and tortillas for our chicken fajita dinner that she requested. I went to Lowes for a dryer vent part and CVS to pick up 2 meds as well. Then home, where I fixed the dryer, started laundry, made and ate lunch (red bag chicken in the air fryer!) with the kids, did the dishes, deep cleaned both litter boxes, spent time figuring out lesson plans for tomorrow, made dinner and cleaned up from dinner, and folded 8 loads of laundry and put them away. I also just got the boys in bed, painted my toenails (which they desperately needed) and am typing this up. After I publish this, I will probably head to bed myself as it my alarm clock goes off way too early. 

It's going to be another busy week. Jacob has his first football game of the year this week. Ben has football pictures. Also we have to get used to a week long school and work week. 

How was your weekend? Until next time, I hope all of you have good days.  

Well...it's been a while

 Happy Sunday everyone! I hope everyone is well. I have been lurking around reading blogs but not really commenting and obviously not writing on here. Part of the issue is that I am constantly on the go and dealing with life, and the other part it that many times I am reading blogs on my phone during my lunch hour at work or late at night in bed and I hate typing on my phone. So I have been keeping somewhat apprise of what has been going on in some of your lives. 

As for my life... well crazy, busy, emotional, hectic, stressful, and peaceful would all make good adjectives to describe life right now. I knows it's been over a month since I last wrote. It seems like a lifetime ago. I had to go back and re-read where I was at in my life at that point. As a recap, my ex-husband had just moved out. I started a new full time job. I was still recovering from knee surgery. And life was crazy. 

So let's do an update on some of these topics....

As for as the situation with the ex. He finally got most of his things out as of July 28. I told him that was his deadline, as I was going to have a yard sale on July 29 and whatever was left would be put in it. I did have a shortened yard sale that day (for 5 hours as it rained in the morning), got rid of some items, made a little bit of money and donated everything that was left. Felt good to get crap out of my house. 

My relationship with him is still a mess. For some unknown reason he is ticked off that I don't want to be around him. We are seperated, if I wanted to still be around him I would be. That has caused many flare ups of emotional abuse, including him posting defamatory things about me on facebook like I am not a good mother, etc. I had to threaten to get a lawyer involved to make him stop. He still tells people that I am irrational and am keeping the kids from him, which is not true at all. We have our agreement in place that he has them on his 2 days off per week, whether he takes them on those days or not is his problem. It's hard. Like I told a friend, I really wish money wasn't an issue right now, and that I could win the lottery so that I could afford to have our paperwork filed in court and get this process over with. However, money is an issue and so that won't happen anytime soon. 

Moving on to better things.... I became an aunt again! My youngest brother and his fiancee had my new niece Naomi 3 weeks ago. She is the most precious thing and we are all in love with her! Our local hospital told my future sister-in-law that Naomi had tested positive for Trisomy 13 when my sis-in-law was having the testing done when she found out she was pregnant and they were trying to get her to abort Naomi. Well, after switching to a high risk doctor (who said that the bloodwork was inconclusive and not positive), Naomi was born perfectly healthy.

 

I am mostly recovered from my knee surgery. I was released by my ortho who told me that when he went in to do my surgery that the damage was more extensive than he thought and I might need further surgeries down the line if my knee starts hurting again. So far it feels better. It still hurts at times, but it definitely isn't impeding what I am doing. It does not help though that my current job is very physically demanding AND I have several troubled preschoolers who love to hit and kick me. I even had one throw a chair at me and kick me right in my incision site. And guess what, NOTHING happened to that child and his parents weren't even called. My job has turned into a s*** show and I am looking for other opportunities unfortunately. I might write a blog post about the drama later. 

As far as the kiddos go... they have been troopers through all of this. Rebecca has been a HUGE help with her brothers and with helping out. She got to go away to 2 camps this Summer. She spent a week at an academic summer camp at a local college that allowed her to learn about being an education major for the week. 

Then she attended Catholic Youth Summer Camp and had a blast. 

She also passed her learner's permit test last week to learn how to drive so that is an exciting milestone as well! 

Jacob and Ben also attended two camps. They attended a week long day camp at MVNU focused on basketball. Then last week they attended Catholic Youth Summer Camp, which was Benjamin's first sleep away camp. 

The boys are keeping me busy as they are both playing football this year-- Ben for our local colt flag football league, and Jacob for the 8th grade middle school team. (And for those of you who have never had football sons, let me tell you when they come home from practice with pads on, that is a new level of stinkyness!) 

The kids and I attended a family reunion last weekend. I saw family that I hadn't seen in 15-20 years. It was a huge turnout which is wonderful. The kids had fun! 

I also got a surprise visit with my college bestie. She lives in Singapore with her hubby and 2 sons, but was in Pittsburgh helping her mom move to an apartment and selling her house. She made the drive over to Ohio and we got to hang out for the night. It was so much fun and I miss her so much. She really has been a rock to me all these years and it was SO good to see her. The last time we saw each other in person was 2016. 

On July 28, I turned 44. The boys spent the night with their dad the night before as Rebecca was at camp. I worked and when I got home, all 3 kids were home. And on the counter was a handwritten Happy birthday note from my ex and on top was my child support check for August. So tacky. He didn't have the kids get me anything or do anything special for me. In fact, the only thing we did was I went out and got Wendy's for dinner as I wasn't cooking. I know birthdays aren't about things and celebrations but it did suck that there was nothing. I was happy my kids were all home but it still hurt.

Yesterday, was our last event for the summer. Rebecca performed in the youth showcase at our town's music and arts festival. She did amazing and I am so glad I got to hear her sing! Definitely a highlight of my day. 

So that is pretty much the highlights and lowlights of the the last month+. This week the kids go back to school... Ben is starting at the middle school and is super nervous. Jacob will be in 8th grade and Rebecca will be a junior. So we will have schedule pickups and back to school nights, football practices, and more this week. It will get a little crazy, but I am just trying to enjoy the ride. 

I hope everyone is well. I am going to try to be a better blogger, but I am not promising anything! I am still here, still navigating this single mom life and still trying to figure things out.