Eleven Days and Counting

The kids returned to school this week and we are trying to return to "normal". I managed to get dinner on the table 4 of 5 nights this week which is a feat in itself. It always helps when someone is sick though. I didn't feel too well so I stayed home from work and was able to get a lot more laundry and some filing done. Oh yes, I am also keeper of all things financial. It is a job I do not like, yet a requirement to keep things afloat. School for me begins in 11 days.

As if I don't have enough on my plate as it is, I have taken on the search for good, happy meat. You know, the kind where chickens and cows and pigs are free to eat grass and grain and not pumped full of antibiotics? Happy farm chickens. Well this is proving to be a little more difficult that expected. I bought some chicken at the Co-op that was extremely expensive. I will have to wait a few months to get the fresh farm ones and order some to keep frozen. We are definitely going to need a BIG freezer. I am really excited that the whole family is on board with this. My kids are eager to try new veggies when we start getting them in the spring from a local farmer through a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). This is the most amazing thing I have discovered yet. You can find one near you at www.Localharvest.org .

The next crazy thing I have decided to do is something that will be very hard right now, but extremely beneficial to me in my future career. My major in school is Biology for Natural Resources. The MK Nature Center in Boise is hosting a Master Naturalist Volunteer Certification program. This will be 48 hours worth of instruction and classes and 40 hours of volunteer work. I hope for my future employeer to be Idaho Fish and Game so I see this as an excellent addition to my resume'. Not only is this going to take some time away from my studying, but it will be the first time I will have to leave my baby somewhere on a regular basis. I know it is only a few hours once a week, and I know he will be fine as I trust where he will be, but he is my Baby! And the only kid I have had to leave somewhere before they were old enough to enter Preschool. I'm already sad that he is turning one in less than a week. It seems time has gone by way too fast.

I hope that I can finish my "to do" list before school starts and I hope I can make it through another wild and crazy semester with my sanity intact. It's like the Little Engine that Could. "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can". I just have to keep chugging along. With the support of my family and friends, I KNOW I can do it.