the leaf has been turned

i've always hated the whole hype about one year ending and a new one beginning. i've never understood why we are only supposed to make new goals and resolutions once a year. i thought we were supposed to be constantly trying to strive to something better and achieve what's next. but then i get stuck in a rut when i feel like i'm 'committing' to the same thing over and over and over again. maybe it's better than not committing at all?? i haven't decided yet.

i have once again restructured our daily schedule, redesigned the kids' lesson plans, and revamped the school process. i wonder how many stinkin' times i'm going to do this? and i keep wondering if i'm reinventing the wheel? or if these changes every few months are helping anything at all. well, we'll see in about 10 years or so whether anyone is happy with the outcome. but for now, we start a new system yet again on monday. who knows how long we'll stick to this one or if we'll accomplish any more than we did with the last. but at least the change creates a renewed sense of dedication in everyone.

photo shoot

hopefully recharged

we just spent 5 days away...away from home and kids and daily grind and real life. it was nice. of course, because i'm a pessimist, i am going to say it could've been better. and i won't lie and say it was perfection. we decided to take our christmas money and get out of town. i can never resist an opportunity to leave town, especially if it means escaping winter. so we found cheap flights to cancun and a place for our kids and we counted down the days until we could get to sun, warmth, and sand. it was just our luck that the weather reports changed to gloom and rain the day before we left. oh well. it was too late to change our trip at that point. so we went. we left philly at a nice 28 degrees. i'm not sure what the temp was when we landed in cancun, but i definitely wasn't sweating. it was windy and i kept my sweatshirt on. it was windy and rainy for some part of each day we were there. then the sun came out, and the wind subsided as we packed our bags to head for the airport. but despite the bad luck of weather, it was great to get away. it was great to be where pagers and cell phones (at least ours) weren't working. it was great to have been disciplined enough to leave my laptop at home (even though there was free wireless where we were staying). it was wonderful to eat at whatever time we wanted and not have a curfew. it was great not to need socks and shoes and to take a nap if we felt like it. we had the most wonderful inexpensive food ever! we had a great hostess for our little apartment and we enjoyed the smell of the ocean. Click here to see where we stayed, and here to learn more about the island we stayed on. We will definitely go back, and hopefully with the kids next time!

i'm crossing my fingers that this 5-day break will help me get through all the normal and extra stresses of the next 6 months as we have lots of planning ahead and it's been weighing on me. i feel ready to recommit to school and schedules and getting the house ready. (of course that could change tomorrow)

shop til you drop

i've started a new blog dedicated specifically for storing all the info about my clothes-buying process for my kids. many have asked questions about my system. i'm not sure if it's a good one, but it has worked well for me so far. check out the new blog, and tell me what you think. if there is a certain topic you'd like me to post on, by all means, leave me a comment or email me and let me know!

Pure Kryptonite

so spoiled!!

i do try to avoid talking politics of any kind with anyone as much as possible. i have strong opinions that are RARELY approved of or agreed with by anyone. so far that fact hasn't seemed to change the opinions i have. (not sure if that's good or bad) i've just tried to accept i'm a black sheep. but because i'm grumpy and intolerant today, i thought i'd stir the pot a little.

everyone has had strong and varied opinions on the wars that are going on. and today i read this article...

people REALLY can't comprehend (including me) how spoiled we are to live in this arrogant, self-serving, materialistic country.