Back to karate

When the girls were very young Darren and I decided that we wanted them to be able to protect themselves. When Meghan was 4 years old we signed her up for karate. It was right across the street from y mom's house, so we had gone there several times and watched. She loved it from the beginning. Her younger sister would watch and do the moves in the viewing area. When she turned 3 we signed her up too. Nicole was a little more into it than Meghan. She was very intense. We went to karate every Monday, Wednesday, and most Saturdays for 9 years. When we decided we were ready for a break. both girls were third degree black belts.
After watching the girls for years, Darren and I decided to give it a try too. We made it to purple belts when we took a break. We decided to take a break because the girls class was 6-7 and ours was 7-8. We also live 1/2 an hour away so it took up a large chunk of time a few days a week. When we stopped going it was also Meghan's first year of high school. Since Meghan has always struggled a bit I wanted to make sure that her first year of high school she could really focus on her studies.
This past month a friend of ours opened up a new studio. It is not any closer, but the girls are older and have their study routines established. we thought it was time to go back. We are starting back 1 day a week right now. We might increase later, but until I am done with my master classes I am good with 1 night a week. Now we are all in the same class beause the girls are older.
It is a great workout for all of us. I have always felt that it has helped the girls academically as well. They have not really experienced the shyness that other kids have. They have always had to do their katas and techniques in front of others when they are in karate and I think this has carried over when they have had to do oral reports and answer questions in class.
As we all go back I can only hope that I am so embaressed becuase my 12 and 15 year old can kick my butt!

Meghan's First Day of Work

Well this Saturday was my daughter Meghan's first day of work. She went in for training. She is 15 years old. I wasn't sure about her working yet (she is still my baby!), but she was anxious. She is working at a friend's blueberry patch. They own cranberry bogs and this patch has been in the family since the 1930s. The road is a dead end and my friend's house is right across the street from the blueberry stand. She works on Tuesdays from 8-5. She can bring a book while she sits in the stand. She gets paid $8 an hour (under the table). If she picks blueberries and puts them in containers then she can sell them and keep the money. The blueberries are $1.60 a pound for anyone who picks them and $3 for a pound container that Meghan picks and sells herself.

Meghan is so excited to be making her own money and have that little bit of freedom. It is really hard for her dad and me. We kept stopping by to "visit". We had to bring her a snack, more water, lunch, etc.. I am glad that our friends are so close. I know that they are around and can check on her during the day. I also know if she has a problem that she can call them on her cell phone and they will be right there.

Hopefully this will get easier for us and she will continue to love her first job!

Embroidering

As the summer gets going I am trying to do all those things that I haven't gotten done all school year. You know, clean the closet, go through clothes. This week I am reacquanting myself with my embroidery sewing machine. It is a Janome Memory Craft 10000. It is awesome and can sew any design you put into it. When the girls were younger I made all their clothes and this was a handy way to get some designs on them. I stopped using it a while ago because it was frustrating me. My husband bought me this didgitzing software that is supposed to help really add those extra touches. I could never get it to work and I was beginning to work more teaching so I just put it to the side to be dealt with later. This frustrated my husband to no end because the machine is a little expensive and I was using it as a dust collector.

I talked Darren (my husband) into helping me figure this out last week. It is still frustrating and not doing exactly what it should, but I have been using it for small projects. Today I am putting a Patriot's logo on the back of a muscle shirt for Darren. So far so good.

The sewing table in the picture was made by my husband. He likes to build things for fun and relaxation. He made this a s a gift for Christmas a couple of years ago. It sits in my bedroom and matches our other furniture (the bed, bookcase, and entertainment unit he made too).

Our deck

My husband is the master deal person. If something is a deal, we have to get it. Whether we will be using then or not. Sometimes it is really good other times we might use it eventually. Well this week Darren got a deal. He found some fiberon composite dcking on Craig's list real cheap. If anyone has done anything with it or looked at it, you know it is super expensive. Some guy in RI had some leftover from a job he did and we got 18-16 foot boards for $400 and he gave use a bag and a half of clips ( they are grooved-no screws!). The dealwas great. Picking them up in our truck, which has a 6 foot bed and a 2 foot tailgate was crazy. we had to drive all the back roads from Pawtucket RI to Wareham MA. It took forever. Then we needed a few more boards and thought it wouldn't be hard to get a few more. We were wrong. We finally found some down in Falmouth! What fun it was to drive over the bridge in Cape traffic to get wood. Although we did pay $20 a board instead of $45 because this color is not a big seller. Gotta love my husband's projects! Once it is done I am sure I will look back and be excitied we did this and the great deal we got. However, my husband is not known for his leisurely pace when completing projects. He makes me wish for a little rain just so we can take a little break. We did 6 boards tonight. Putting the deck on is easy, but getting the old deck off is proving to be a pain in the butt! We will be back to work first thing tomorrow to try to finish this. To motivate myself I keep reminding myself we got $1550 worth of fiberon and clips for just $700. If it weren't for one of my husband's great deals, we wouldn't be doing this at all!

July 7, 2009

I have never had a blog before so I am a little unsure what to write about. I have decided to treat it like a jornal and let everyone take a look into the lives of my family.
One ofthe biggest events that is takingplace in our worldd right now is we have sold our fish tank. We had a 125 gallon salt water tank for the last 10 years. It was my husband's pet project,but we all loved it. It was a soothing presence to have in the house. We had all the fish from Nemo to Dori. It was a tough decision for us to make, but the tank required a lot of maintenance and it was difficult to ever goon vavcations because of the fear of losing power and the pumps not working. We also had to run the ac constantly to keep the temperature down in the tank because the fish were very sensitive to temperature changes. On the plus side I have so much more space in our living room now. I am also hoping to see a good size drop in our utility bill since we won't be running the pumps, halide lights, etc. constantly. I am searching for a picture to add so everyone can see our fish before they were given to a new family to enjoy!