I'm Baaaaaack!*

Hello, everybody!

How's your summer been?  I hope you've been on lots of fun trips, and gone camping, and soaked in swimming pools and stuff.  You deserve it.

We've had a crazy crazy crazy crazy summer.  Here's a quick recap:

2 working parents

2 kids

2 cats

2 horses (Yes, we got a second one at the beginning of the summer.  His name is Snip.  He's cool.)

1 car

and...

2 babysitters.


All of which equals:

a dirty house

a dead lawn

two dead bike tires

a couple of exhausted parents

persisting 3-year-old prayers that Mommy not go to work

one temper tantrum telling Mommy to go back to work

a diploma

a new dining set (I now have the coolest table ever!)

and a "condolences in this time of sorrow" card given to me at my graduation.  (It was pretty funny.  I laughed.)



I did learn a few things while I was up there.  I learned that I don't work well with people with cognitive disabilities.  I learned that I'm absolutely terrified of high ropes courses.  I learned that I really really really appreciate organization and consistency.  I learned that one can get culture shock only an hour away from home.  I learned how to better deal with difficult situations and difficult people.  I learned more about how to have patience and be calm.

It was, overall a very good experience.  It was a huge juggling act, trying to balance 30-40 hours of work a week, 10 hours of driving time, a house, two kids who suddenly don't have parents, a teenager out of the house for the first time, an exhausted husband, an exhausted me, and four animals, not to mention the fact that the work was a huge learning experience for me.  Still, like I said, I learned a lot.  I can't even articulate most of what I learned, because so much of it was simply the experience of being there and of coming to peace with myself in a new environment with a new population. 

Can I tell you what I did, though?  For my senior project, I created a training manual template for the company.  Basically, they have several different programs up there, but each one is run in its own little way, without much of a sense of cohesion between them.  I created a template that each program supervisor will just have to fill in the blanks to complete, and voila!  Questions answered, all information covered appropriately, and a sense of cohesion built throughout the company.  I was pretty pleased with the results.  I'm curious to see if my efforts will actually help them.

So, for the past few weeks, I've been putting my house back together, harvesting our garden, cramming all the fun we should have had over the summer into a few brief hours over the weekends, and working on starting a business.  (More to come on that later!)

Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't blogged very much lately.  Blogging fell off my list of priorities for awhile.  Truthfully, I'm not sure how much time I'll have for it in the next few months, either, but I will try.  In the meantime, keep watching for updates on facebook.  We're getting a website set up!  It'll be awesome. 

See you all soon!





*Rachel, this post was instigated by you.  Thanks for facebooking me!