Thoughts On..

Wildlife
It's everywhere. Monday morning we woke up to a child screaming at the top of its lungs. Later when we kept hearing it all day we realized it was the elk across the street. Saturday we were driving along through town and some little critter peered at me from 5 feet from my window. We thought it was a groundhog but it wasn't - I've forgotten the name of it. We've seen dead porcupine, foxes, & pronghorn on the side of the road. And EVERYWHERE you look are deer. We're so used to seeing them everywhere that it's no big deal to see them at the gas station. Magpies are also all over. They look a little like bluejays but they are quite a bit bigger.

Church
For the past two Sundays we've gone to the same Baptist church. It has been nice, contemporary like Bethel. The preacher was earnest and the teaching was Biblical. The people were very friendly. However I think it may be a little bit too casual for us. They have some kind of coffee shop in there and the people in Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops sipping latte's while the pastor poured his heart out was a little disturbing to Adam and I. The teens didn't have to come into the sanctuary - they had their own little sofa area in the back where they could hear the sermon but sat there texting each other. What was important was the message of course, but unlike Bro. Tony's message that always spoke to my heart, I just didn't feel anything at these. So the search for a church home will continue next week. I know how important it is for us all to find the right place for us.


Grocery Shopping
I absolutely can NOT wait for Wal Mart to open in November. Right now we have Safeway and City Market for groceries and K-Mart for other things. The prices on groceries are outrageous - everything is on average $.50 more per item than it is in La. It adds up fast. I don't know if my girls will be eating chicken noodle soup again - it's $1.60 per can here instead of 60 cents. Yeah Wal-Mart cannot get here soon enough. The stores are VERY nice though, especially Safeway. Very high class looking inside. And the buggies are adorable. There are little cars on the front of the buggies and the girls both sit inside and pretend to drive their car around while I shop. They LOVE it.


Job Hunting
Last Monday morning I checked with the principal of Audrey's school to find out if they needed any subs and indeed she was happy to find out about me. She gave me the numbers of two babysitters and a good daycare. I called the babysitters - they wanted $30 to watch Rynn and $15 for Audrey for the half day! Rynn had to be potty trained for the daycare. One babysitter was full and the other could only take them on Wed. and Thurs. To put that into perspective I used to pay a little more than that for a whole week for Rynn with Marie. Tuesday I went to the school board to find out the pay for subs to see if it would be worth it after day care. They pay $85 per day for subs but $160 per day for long term subs with teaching degrees. Then I still would have to figure out how to leave school to get Audrey and bring her to the babysitter. Adam's enjoying me playing Miss Mom around the house right now anyway so I'm going to stick with that for a bit.



Being a Homemaker
This is what I've always wanted! I don't know how long I'll get to do this, but I'm loving it. A typical day looks like this - walk Audrey to school by 8:00, then walk back to the house with Rynn. Rynn and I hang out for a few hours, cleaning and maybe watching Wiggles, Yo Gabba Gabba, and other disturbingly enjoyable programs. We walk over to the school to get Audrey at 11:00 and the kids both play on the playground there for 15 minutes. Then we come back and have lunch at the apartment. Then we go to the grocery store and run errands or we do laundry and go to the apartment playground. We've been to the library, or to visit Daddy at work a couple of times. Then we are back to clean up for Adam to come home and get dinner ready. I've done gumbo for Adam's office which they loved, and did some taco soup from a recipe I got from Mrs. Tessa (the lunch lady back at Bethel) as well as lots of other dishes. Yeah you guys thought I couldn't cook - life just didn't allow time for it before.