BTW, I called nanny #2 and left a msg on her voice mail when she was an hour late.  She left me a msg after 8:30pm saying there was a schedule conflict with her other client and she couldn’t call earlier because her cell phone service was cut off.  Hmmm…her phone rang before going to voicemail when I called.  This from a 30 yr old woman with a child of her own who was seeking full-time gainful employment.  Great way to keep a job huh?

Because I need to concentrate fully on my work, we have hired a fulltime nanny who will start tomorrow.  When I interviewed her I really liked her, what she had to say, and how she related to my kids.  Her 2 references, whom she still babysits for occasionally, couldn’t recommend her highly enough.  She’s 21 and has provided childcare since age 12. She was also raised up in our city, in the same part of town where we live, and still lives close by.  I’m hoping this arrangement works out very well for us and becomes longterm.  I’ll still be homeschooling my 5yo daughter and working mostly from home.

That all being said, I’m so glad we moved, I really like the nice big house we’re in, I like the neighborhood, and I like the location (centrally located, close to interstate). We’re still renting not buying because my husband is still working on getting financing, but the rent is not bad for the size house we’re in.

Today I’m going to get some tomato plants from someone’s yard (thanks to Freecycle). We weren’t going to do any gardening this year because we were so busy, but after the salmonella tomato scare I think we’re now officially done with commercially-grown, mass-produced tomatoes (and pretty much any other produce of that kind for that matter) and I think it’s better late than never to get in on growing our own. So I’m heading out shortly to check out some books on square foot gardening, get the ‘mater plants, and make the time to get started growing. I’m also going to study up on composting and organics b/c I’ve always been interested in safe, chemical-free methods of growing and nourishing ourselves, my why has just never gotten so big as it has very recently, and you’ll start to see where I’m going with all this in upcoming posts.

This was also the first year I had a white Christmas tree. I had always wanted a white tree but I was the only one in my family or household that liked one, so we always had green. This time around we needed to buy a new tree, we didn’t have a lot of money, and I saw a cute 6-1/2ft prelit tree for only $30 at Walmart. We really don’t have room for a big tree anyway so I got one. We decorated it with blue balls, glittery icicles, and some assorted other ornaments that didn’t clash with my blue and white theme, and it turned out very pretty. I’ll have to take and post a pic before it comes down.

We also officially started the path to home ownership this new year. Our 3BR rental house, though nice, is really too small for the 6 of us, and though we have 1st option to buy it, we really need a larger house. We found a big 5BR, 3-1/2BA home w/a 2 car garage on a corner lot in the same neighborhood that’s been sitting on the market for months. It’s a foreclosure that needs a lot of cosmetic work inside (paint, trim and bathroom remodeling), but it’s in good shape overall. I have already claimed this house as our own in my heart, please pray that we can get financing at decent terms for it.

If we just lived in our house the one we’re in would be fine for a while longer, but we also work out of the house and need another 2 rooms in addition to regular living space for the whole arrangement to work out. Right now the “office” is a 2-car garage converted into a big room. My Ebay stuff is mixed up with my husband’s computer business stuff, and the room is always cluttered. It makes it hard for us to be efficient, plus it gets on our nerves, esp. my husband’s, because he wants me to clean my stuff up and put stuff away neatly, but I really have no more space to move anything around. I really need my own room for my business.

BTW, I didn’t get my eyes fixed yet; I’ll tell more about it in another post. I hope to get around to posting more often now that the holidays are over.

BTW, I have lost 9lbs after 3-1/2 wks. I lost 7lbs after 5-6 days, then leveled off for a week and a half, then over the past couple of days I lost another 2lbs. Now I haven’t been keeping strictly to my diet, but I have been eating a lot better and seeing some results. I also haven’t had much time to exercise. So I’m going to make time to exercise and study the diet some more and redo South Beach Phase 1 to pick up the pace on my progress.