Summer is Coming!!!

We live in New England so while the rest of the country is out of school now, we are still in school and making up snow days. Our school district has the last day of school on June 17th. With tomorrow's temperature reaching 90`f it feels like summer.

It's interesting to hear the difference between parents at the bus stop in regards to the summer break. Some can't wait until they can sleep in and slow down in the morning. Some can't wait for vacations, traveling, vacation homes, and getting things done.

Some dread the summer break. They are usually the ones that would then have to pay for daycare while they work during the day. While some are saving up for a trip to Disney these parents are saving up for camps and daycare so they can continue to work.

We no longer have a community. We no longer have one working parent and one at home. It's rare to see stay at home parents now. So think about all those kids that don't get to wake up when they want, they don't get to run the streets like our generation did. They don't get to eat every meal in the backyard and live in the pool all day.

So, my challenge for those stay at home parents out there is this. Take one of your child's friends who would otherwise go to daycare during the summer for a sleep over during the week. Let them sleep in, serve breakfast outside, spend all day doing fun summer things like running through a sprinkler or have a water gun fight. It's their vacation, help them have a long summer day not just on the weekend. It feels so much better when you know you should be in school but you're free.

We should all be working towards building back a community. Including someone else is a step forward in rebuilding a sense of "us" instead of it always being about "me".

I'm in the sick kid time warp!

It's like one minute it's 7 a.m, the next minute it's 2 o'clock and my slow cooker pot roast has yet to be simply be placed inside the cooker. My house looks like a bomb went off and for once it's not due from toys being thrown about. It's from the 101 things I had started today that I've dropped for my two sick munchkins.

It really doesn't help that I'm sick on top of it. My husband is sick also and the sky looks sick. I haven't seen a single ray of sun shine all day. It has been gray and rainy which really zaps my energy. Combine it with the fact I have been taking down my Halloween decorations and putting up some Thanksgiving and my Christmas village. Also, Morrigan has to build a model of a atom due next week but she has a bunch of things going on so we are doing a little bit every day.

Well, that was at least the plan before we all got sick. Now, my table is covered in craft supplies and tiny fake trees. My living room is being taken over by all the unfolded clothes, and my kitchen still has the pots and pans from dinner last night still in the sink.

The kids have been difficult, to say the least. Morrigan's coughing is driving me up a wall, her constant sniffling has gotten on my last nerve to the point that each sniff sounds like someone is running sandpaper over my eardrum. We have been yelling back and forth because the girl would rather sniffle then blow her nose.

Freya has been crying for hours because she wants to eat the faux candles I have in the windows. She won't nap today, did I mention she was up until midnight last night and then woke today at 6 am? So she's a bit sleep deprived as am I.

Of course, my husband walk in the door as soon as Morrigan finally stopped fighting me about the saline drops and blew her nose to the point the sniffles are quiet for now which also quiets the cough. Freya was finally nursing into a nap, and I sat back looking through Pinterest on my phone for some overly ambitious American Girl doll projects. Go figure! I looked at the clock, 3 pm? Guess the sick kid time warp jumped me ahead another hour. Crap!

You know what? These days happen...I'm ordering a pizza!

My Work

Life sometimes gets in the way of things like blogging. We seemed to have had a bunch of different colds circling around our house for the past month. Just as you are getting well, you get hit by the next cold. I didn't just have me to deal with being sick, I  had a sick 5 month old child, a sick 8 year old child, and a sick 32 year old man-child aka my husband, to deal with.  There were two of these colds that made me so dizzy there was no standing, certainly no walking, so nothing got cleaned. My living room and kitchen looked like a bomb went off. It was destroyed. Some might have looked at the mess and saw a terrible overwhelming mess. What I saw was a renewed sense of importance.

My husband's role in our family is very clear. He is the bread winner, the provider. He works sometimes two jobs. I on the other hand stay at home. I hold no job, I earn no paycheck, but I still work and I work hard to maintain our home and raise our kids. The evidence of home much I do actually contribute was no greater than after being so sick I couldn't leave my room. Nothing got down and it was disastrous. My oldest was so happy to see me up so I could find her missing leotard for dance class.

See, I'm not just child care provider, I'm the maid, the cook. I pack lunches, I do the laundry, I wash the dishes, I glue broken things, I change diapers, I scrub the shower and the toilet, I scoop the cat box, I mop the floors, I find lost things,and  I teach things. I'm the official battery changer, a lady of lactation, and a expert boo boo kisser, I play a mean game of patty cake and I wield a laser pointer like no other.

My two human babies and my furry baby count on me through the day for so many things. Not only do I have to attend to their needs, I teach them, love them, play with them, and cuddle with them. All are important to foster a good relationship but it also fills our hearts with love and joy. I give all of my love and attention to my kids even if it means vacuuming the rug. I keep a clean house not just for myself, but for my kids and my husband too. That is what holding down the home front means. That really is my work.

I'm not feeling that great, still have a sore throat, a cough, stuffy nose, and I'm tired but at least I don't feel miserable anymore. I do however feel worse when I look at the overflowing hampers. There is probably 6 loads of laundry to be done and two folded that still need to be put away. But its nearly 11 at night so that will wait until tomorrow.

Ways To Make Money While Being At Home 2

I decided to revist this topic since trying more apps. If you want to look at the apps I have already reviewed here is a link to the past post Ways To Make Money While Being At Home.

• Slidejoy

Slidejoy is an app that puts an advertisment on your phone before you get to your lock screen. Its easy, just swipe left or right depending if you want to interact with the ad or unlock the phone. Problem is it takes forever to earn money. I've had it on my phone for over a month and all I earned was $1.70. I'm not impressed.

• AppTrailers

AppTrailers is an app that will show you advertisments for apps and you have the option of installing what you like. Its a slow process but I love that it can be paid to paypal. However, it takes 500 points to get use it and its about $.50. It took two apps to get 65 points. You can do the math.

• Mobee

Mobee is a secret shopper app that will give you tasks to do when you are in a store. Tasks are few and far between.

• EasyShift

Easyshift is the same as Mobee. My problem is there were never any tasks in my area.

• Swagbucks

I'm revisting Swagbucks as I have found more to earn. Swagbucks is another points website. This one requires you to search on the internet, refer people, watch videos, fill out surveys, among other things to earn points that can be cashed in for items. I just earn for gift cards which they offer Amazon gift cards (yay, cloth diapers!) so you can really buy anything essentially.They even start you off with roughly 80 points just for filling out a profile. The points needed for rewards vary but they ask a lot of point. You can make points will little effort so its not that hard. To add what I had said before on my previous post, I have installed the Swagbucks tool button and it allows me to earn money for visiting sites. I think Swagbucks is my new #1 app!