Zombie School, OCD & How To Keep Modern Life from KILLING Us

The Spawn LOVES "Mommy School"

The Spawn LOVES “Mommy School”

Back in 2013 I wrote a post detailing The Parable of the King Who Forgot to Pay the Internet Bill and All The Kingdom was Super-Sad….also known as The Parable of TKWFTPTIBAATKWSS. I’ve had a lot of challenges lately. After Spawn being fired from nursery school for his over-zealous love of zombies, I’m home-schooling.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s FUN and Spawn has come LIGHT-YEARS. I take him to the museum, we study space, and explore fluid dynamics using water guns. We built and launched his own rocket (which he christened The Nebula because its mission was to find “baby stars”).

He still loves zombies (a lot). He plays a zombie, shoots the zombies (and sometimes he mistakes ME for the zombie, though that is totally understandable and hard for me to be too judgy). He carries his zombie NERF guns EVERYWHERE. He makes up songs about zombies, poems of zombies, tales of zombies…

I need a nap. I really miss six hours of quiet time to work. Especially because the constant interruptions and not finishing???? *left eye twitches* Yes, I AM SHELDON.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r60lVSiF1AA&w=560&h=315]

Spawn being home-schooled? Yeah. I get the living room clean, turn and BOOM! My need for closure is being tested to the MAX.

And sometimes?

Screen Shot 2014-06-30 at 8.01.28 AM

Anyway, my old schedule was already hectic but with Spawn at home? I’m out of my mojo and have done some DUMB stuff…namely when I scheduled the Antagonist Class, I was looking at a JULY calendar.

Seriously? *hangs head*

What a Week

Also, after Spawn got booted from nursery school, I put him in Karate. I then signed up at the same dojo to show Mommy Support (and maybe get a workout). I took Brazilian Jui-Jitsu because I used to teach Jui-Jitsu (though I will say BJJ is very different and I am a total noob).

Last Tuesday, I was sparring and went to pin my opponent in a choke hold. He countered with a leg sweep to escape that I countered…with my FACE, breaking my nose.

S-E-X-Y!

S-E-X-Y!

Now, the nose wasn’t that bad, nothing that some ice, tape and Ibuprophen couldn’t handle. In fact, a broken nose can be awesome family fun. I chased Hubby around going, “My nose is CRUNCHY! Touch it!” And he screamed like a girl and climbed up the back of the couch faster than a cat high on catnip.

…then yelled something about me being a freak and I am rather shocked that after six years he’s just now figured that out.

So last Friday I’m running errands for the other family business and, of course my phone was DEAD because Spawn likely broke into my iPhone to play Angry Birds and ended up booking a flight to Dubai.

…and my class was in our digital classroom waiting. And Jay was calling. And no one answered 🙁 .

Where is Kristen?

Um, duh *rolls eyes*. I was totally preparing for class on SATURDAY.

The ANTAG class is MY FAVORITE to teach, so I’d been looking forward to it more than a 6-year-old wanting a snow cone. Looking back, I probably should have rescheduled the class anyway because I didn’t sleep for three days because I’m a belly-sleeper and that doesn’t work so great with an injured face. But, I tend to just press on (like I continued sparring 30 more minutes even with a broken nose).

Sigh.

I need a cone *hangs head*

I need a cone *hangs head*

Which brings me to a new parable. The Parable of the Teacher Who Couldn’t Read a Calendar and All the Students Were Super Sad. I sent out a mortifying embarrassing professional note of apology to the abandoned attendees *weeps*.

Those signed up will get extra cool add-ons provided they forgive me. But good news is the class is RESCHEDULED for this Saturday and Jay has sent the NSA “Ice Cream Truck” to make sure I’m present.

I know it’s a holiday weekend for Americans, but 1) a lot of attendees are NOT in America and 2) we have a recording if you can’t attend in person. And, if you can? I can think of NO BETTER people to hang out with than you guys on a holiday.

What Does This ALL Mean?

Man, I was hoping you guys could tell me. KIDDING! No, just that the life of a modern writer is uncharted territory. A lot of you are moms, dads, single parents, grandparents, etc. You have day jobs and kids and maybe your laundry also owns cloning technology.

Maybe you’ve been through illness, deaths or are caring for a loved one who is sick. I’m helping care for my grandmother who just had two strokes and has dementia that’s going downhill faster than my heart can bear.

We might be writing late at night or early in the morning. We just about go to pat ourselves on the back that we’ve got everything under control, when something we forgot PATS us on the HEAD…with a hammer.

Some Tips:

Write It DOWN—When I fail to write lists and get this notion that “I can totally keep this in my head”? That’s when I get in trouble. For instance, I might have SEEN the error in dates if it was WRITTEN on an actual calendar.

I can be in the middle of working and be assaulted with a NERF sword. This breaks concentration—Ya think?—and then it goes downhill from there. A written list is invaluable and Jay is going to teach me Excel which, frankly, is like Sanskrit to me

But I WILL say, Modern Society kinda ticks me off sometimes. They hand us an app or a tool to “get more done” and instead of it freeing time? I just get loaded with more stuff to do. When we get to where we’re sorting e-mail in the bathroom? Time to back away from the smart phone.

Okay, I know none of you have ever done that. Just me. I own it.

Delegate/Ask for HELP—I’m struggling with this one big time, but baby steps. I’m a workhorse and I kid you not, it usually isn’t until I’m exhausted and in tears that I realize I could have possibly maybe asked for help.

THIS is how the keys end up in the fridge and the mayo in my purse.

Laugh—Is it embarrassing to make mistakes? OH YEAH. But mistakes help us learn and keep us humble. Just about the time I think I am all super-smart? *winces*

And this isn’t an excuse for me to just goof off and not strive for excellence. But, if I keep focusing on where I blew it? Definition of unproductive.

Give Grace—Every magazine ad or commercial tells us where we suck. It shows us we are old, have too many wrinkles, big thighs, a messy house and our kids aren’t properly prepared for college (even though the kid is only THREE).

The thing I’ve learned is that perfect people are 1) boring and 2) lying. Imperfect people are real. REAL=AWESOME. We have good days and bad days and OMG WHY AM I ALLOWED TO LIVE/BREED days. But it’s just a day. It passes and one day it will be a great story 😉 .

…like The Parable of the Teacher Who Couldn’t Read a Calendar and All the Students Were Super Sad.

And if I don’t blog again this week? Happy Fourth of July!

The laaaand of the FREEEEE! And the home of the…

Next.

What are your thoughts? Do you have days where you couldn’t find your own butt with a team of sherpas and a GPS? Do you struggle to balance life, home and writing? Are you sometimes too hard on yourself? Do you have a hard time discerning giving yourself grace versus making excuses? Does modern society vex you too? Oh, there’s an APP for that. How about a NAP APP?

Are you a Sheldon too and when life changes, you have a hard time adjusting? Have you caught yourself answering/deleting e-mails in the bathroom on your phone because it’s the only place the kids/pets can’t chew through the door? Okay, probably just me.

I LOVE hearing from you!

To prove it and show my love, for the month of JUNE, everyone who leaves a comment I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. What do you win? The unvarnished truth from yours truly. I will pick a winner once a month and it will be a critique of the first 20 pages of your novel, or your query letter, or your synopsis (5 pages or less).

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

THIS SATURDAY is my  Antagonist Class  PINKIE-SWEAR!JULY 5th). Use WANA15 for $15 off. This class will help you guys become wicked fast plotters (of GOOD stories). The GOLD level is personal time with me either helping you plot a new book or possibly repairing one that isn’t working. Never met a book I couldn’t help fix. This will save a TON of time in revision and editors are NOT cheap.

For more help with your social media/author platform/author brand, please check out Rise of the Machines—Human Authors in a Digital World.

56 comments

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  1. I was home with two kids, ages three and one, and remember watching my son read a Dr. Seuss book upside down on the kiddy potty thinking “and I went to college for this?” The good (and bad) news is it passes. My kids are now 22 and almost 25. The 22-year-old introduced me to zombie chase races. What a hoot. I think the spawn would love to see one 🙂

  2. Not to worry, Kristen, you can say you were making a real-life demonstration of the Antagonist’s role with your unexpected thwarting of everyone’s plans, making this the “Fight Club” of writing education… 😈

  3. I don’t do well without a checklist or something to helpe remember everything that is going on, and I find that gets worse as I get older. *LOLz*. All this technology can be as distracting as it is helpful.

  4. I’m petrified that I’m going to forget to pay a bill, or that my computer is going to go down before I upload my writing. I worry that someone will email me with something critical (like the message to get my advertisement paid because my book was accepted) during work hours. There are days when the WordPress notifications to approve comments on my blog go all night long because I’ve got a lot of readers from Australia.
    I’ve learned to shut ALL the notifications off at night. Only a desperate phone call is going through while I sleep anymore. And there is no way I’m ever doing any of this while driving!
    And I agree about the apps that are supposed to help you but make life more complicated instead. Ugh, I’ve got THREE calendar apps that I don’t know how to use! Yay me!

    • Tamara LeBlanc on June 30, 2014 at 10:39 am
    • Reply

    Yes times seven in answer to your questions. I HAVE to write things down, at work, at home, at the gym (when an awesome story idea hits me) but sometimes I end up forgetting the list, like at the grocery store. I hate when that happens. I end up walking the isles with a confused look on my face and end up buying extra wine I don’t need 🙂
    Thank you for the pat on the back, and I LOVE that your sweet spawn loves zombies. He’s so cool.
    Have a great week,
    Tamara

    • Kessie on June 30, 2014 at 10:41 am
    • Reply

    You missed your class? Oh no!! I confess to laughing a bit, though. I’ve done the exact same thing. I have four munchkins of my own, seven and under, and I’m watching a neighbor’s 4 year old for several weeks. It’s … Interesting! But I have got revisions done on two books, and I’m beginning work on a third, all because of my iPod. So it’s possible for life to go on!

    1. I know *hangs head*. I’d apparently been looking at the wrong month when I scheduled so I was prepared…just had the wrong day *lip quivers*. But this is also why we offer the recordings free. I have lost count how many freaked out e-mails I get from people who looked at the time wrong or forgot or didn’t get the right time zone. So long way to say, we are ALL human. Some of us more than other.

    • Ron Estrada on June 30, 2014 at 10:46 am
    • Reply

    Every day I notice a kid missing. Since they are 18 and 20, this is not an emergency. Not for 48 hours, according to the police. But, being Typically Male, I am afraid to ask my wife where the child is because she probably told me and I’ll be in trouble for not paying attention. I’m afraid not to ask because she’ll say, “Don’t you care where your sondaughterdog is?” To which I would honestly answer “No,” but I find that honesty is not a good way to keep a marriage happy. You ladies have no idea the stress we endure in our lifelong quest for a happy evening. Happy, which here means, yeah…THAT. Anything we say or don’t say most definatley will be used against us. So we pretend something needs fixingmowingshoveling and wander off out of earshot until bedtime. I hope this matches the post, because I totally forgot what we were talking about.

    1. Well, this is why I like to include the guys. You have just as much going on just differently. And it’s okay because I forgot what we were talking about too.

    2. SECOND big belly laugh of the day. It started out just like Joanna’s and now it’s already a LOT better! Mwahahahahaha!!!

  5. This post reminded me of my favorite kid’s story, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” by Judith Viorst. I sometimes think I need to run away to Australia as well when things start dominoing into “The Revenge of All Things Forgotten.”

    I miss a deadline on a review. Or I forget the story all together. I put stuff on my calendar and then forget which calendar it’s on (I really need to learn to sync this stuff). I’m pretty good about remembering it’s my day to pick up, run around, or tutor grandkids, but there are times when I triple book myself and end up trying to solve problems while running those errands. And this is while my characters are fighting over what goes into the next chapter of my book.

    And with a dandy case of Fibromyalgia, which causes pain and exhaustion, the need to have a coma nap (we really need to get that app) sometimes just going to happen regardless of my intentions.

    Maybe we need to declare a regular “Alexander Day” where we just relax, pretend that the world is going on without us, and catch up on sleep, reading for fun, and order out for supper.

    That would be cool.

  6. I totally have to write things down. My newest skill: I think, “I need to call the eye doctor and schedule my annual checkup (I really need to so this).” Later, I wonder if I did call the eye doctor. I remember thinking about it so I must have done it. Thinking about it now equals doing it in my mind. Except I have not acquired Professor X mind powers. *hangs head* You guessed it! I still need to call the eye doctor.
    Don’t be too hard on yourself. We all love and forgive you (because we have been in the exact same spot feeling mortified that we could ever forget such an important event).
    It will take awhile to adjust to the new schedule. Any like-aged kids in your church? Perhaps there would be a mom or two who would consent to take Spawn for a play date a few hours one day per week (find three of these and you will have some uninterrupted work time).
    Chin up. As you see, life continues even when we drop the ball.

    1. Actually, church lately has been a HUGE HUGE HELP (back to that delegating/asking for help thing). I am the FIRST to volunteer to shoulder some work for another person but when it comes to me? Er, I can do that? A DEAR new church friend took Spawn to a water park with her kids this morning and OMG! Quiet!

      Hubby is funny because he’s home on a Saturday with Spawn howling like a radioactive spider monkey. After an hour, he has a twitch. And I am like, “Um, I have this all day every day.”

      I really am grateful you guys are SO GOOD to me. I wouldn’t make it otherwise.

  7. Cracked me up. Then made me exultate gloriously because my official emptynesterdom rocks. You will survive. I just spent time with my college roomie who home-schooled one daughter and public-schooled one son for the last couple of years before he was accepted on a nearly full scholarship in violin to a fantastic music college. (Her beautiful daughter completed college and just married.) When my ‘spawn’ left, I cried. Then I embraced it. These skills you are developing now will help you later on when you least expect it. I promise.

  8. Oh, and my prof with three kids was 45 minutes late for my 45-hour review in grad school because he turned off his electronic calendars, his smart phones, etc., so he could nab some writing time. Happy to say I passed the review. (Maybe he should keep a write-down calendar… on paper.)

  9. Glad to see the Spawn is enjoying his new school!

    I also want to say that this post is motivating me to work harder at my own writing. If you can teach, write, AND homeschool a Spawn, I can certainly fit writing into my far less busy schedule!

    P.S. In case you were curious, yes, there are days when I cuss because I can’t find the earring I already put on or the pen that’s in my hand. You are not alone! 🙂

  10. I’m so glad I’m not alone in this!

  11. I laughed all the way through this post, thanks for sharing. It lets the rest of us know it’s okay to mess up once in a while. Just take a breath and carry on, 🙂
    Jacquie Biggar

  12. Wow. I think I’ll just keep you as a permanent member on my prayer list.

    1. That would probably be helpful *hangs head*

  13. probably time to lose the “spawn” moniker. The internet is forever. Funny, but kids seem to find a way to consume all the free time one might muster.

    1. I would but my following is pretty big (a blessing) but the public at large doesn’t need to know his name. If he has issue with it later, he can get over it, :D.

      1. could be a Johnny Cash song about it 🙂

        1. LOL, right? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

          1. I can say that one of our home school daughters graduated from college with honors, and the other got accepted into the three top art schools in Europe and the US. So homeschooling doesn’t have to be too much a disadvantage if you carry on. 🙂

      2. No matter what you do right as a parent, they will blame you for something you never even remembered doing when they are, oh, say between 18 and 25. Around age 27 they become human again and that’s a fun time, I hear.

    • Lisanne Cooper on June 30, 2014 at 11:49 am
    • Reply

    All I can say is, 1) you crack me up; 2) we’ve ALL been there; 3) I once dated a check at the market 1986. It was 2001…

    It will get better. You and Spawn will find your groove, he’ll get a little older and not need all your attention all the time. In the meantime, hang in there and KEEP THOSE ZOMBIES AT BAY!

  14. You’re lucky. There’s time for your kid to develop but not sure whether home schooling is the answer. I’m a behavourist and believe me, kids develop far better when surrounded by other kids. However, I understand your frustration with the school. I worked in schools here in the UK, with the difficult ones 😉 Or, to be honest, the ones that challenged the poor teachers. I’ve seen kids sent out of class not by the teacher but by a baying herd of stupid children who, unable to cope with the lesson decided on the best way to disrupt sir or miss (the teacher) was to gang up on another pupil, usually the quiet one.

    Anyway, how about getting your kid into a Steiner school? I don’t know whether you have them where you live but I love them. I worked for a while at a State run Pupil Referral Unit [yes, I know, sounds terrible doesn’t it,] which was situated right next to a Steiner School and I used to love watching the mums and dads bring their cute little off-spring to and from school every day. They would arrive in all manner of carriages, bicycles, skateboards, wind-propelled carts which their parents had made out of recyled materials, cars that ran on vegetable oil etc. And the little darlings would be dressed just like their mums or dads whereas my lot would be delivered to the PRU in a taxi under armed guard and be dressed in the regulation uniform of Blazer, trousers, shirt and tie which, I can guarantee, their parents wouldn’t be seen dead in. In fact the only time that you will find a person over fifteen years of age dressed like this would be when they had been prepared by an undertaker ready for their funeral.

    I’m a parent too although, my kids are probably older than yours [30 and 32]. Unfortunately, my kids had two very liberal parents, me and her [mum], who only wanted the best for them. However, my idea of best, differed somewhat from hers. For example, whenever I chose to reprimand my kids or simply suggest that they didn’t do something, mum would go, “Well if that’s what they want, where’s the harm?” Trouble is, it always fell to Mr Nasty here, to clean up the mess afterwards but that’s what for parents are there for isn’t it? For example, I’d arrive home late from work on an evening to be told that there’s been an accident. Somehow, the neighbours car windscreen had got smashed and now our lovely neighbour is upset because she’s due in court (she’s a lawyer) in the morning and she needs her car. Nothing has been done about it, it’s 9pm in the evening and all my youngest can say is that he’ll pay for the damage. Yeah, out of the money I give him every week for doing nothing! So, to cut a long stiry short, I get on the phone, find a firm who are prepared to come out and repair the windscreen for a tidy sum. Job sorted by midnight but do I get a thanks, do I f***! Kids eh, who’d have ’em?

    1. Actually, I am in Texas and the homeschooling network is HUGE. Like when we went to the museum it was with a group of other parents and kids. And so far it has been great for him, just a MAJOR adjustment for me. We will see how it goes. Thanks for the story and LOL! Right? Lucky they are cute.

    2. We homeschool too and have a great network. Socialization is rarely a problem for homeschooled kids. In fact, it’s possible for homescooled kiddos to get better socialization. Cross my heart, it’s true. My kids are comfortable with folks of all ages and life experiences, welcoming of new folks and adept at encouraging others. And this is far from unusual, in my experience.

      Of course, there are lots of wonderful socialization experiences in all different kinds of learning environments. I’m not putting down public/private school in favor of homeschool. I’ve just heard the socialization comment/question many, many times before. It’s something that’s understandably misunderstood, especially when most folks have only experienced public/private school.

  15. I actually burst (more like busted!) out laughing somewhere around the “Laugh” instruction. Until then, it was all “yeah, un-huh, yep, been there, God yes…etc.:” I’m becoming an author when my spawn’s spawn is nearly old enough to have her OWN spawn. And on it goes – the joy is definitely in the writing (and you are not alone deleting in the bathroom! and at stop-lights, and up until 3 or 5 am…crazy – what if I just let them pile up? And went off to write. OR what if I deleted them all? I’m such a boob, everyone would believe me when I said it was an ACCIDENT…

  16. If it is any consolation on the “my kid isn’t ready for college” front for ya I have one who is about to start his fifth year (!) of said higher learning, another who is in community college and the last one lurking around the house for a couple more years doing all she can for a soccer scholarship. Your kid is rarely ready. Neither are you. Do the best you (both) can with what ya got and more power to YOU for home schooling. If I had decided on that I would be in Super Max somewhere, hoping not to get shanked and looking way less good in “Orange” than that Piper chick does, the skinny you-know-what! Fun post. I know the feeling, on many levels.

  17. Finding a balance it challenging especially when you have kids. I recently rescheduled a book sale but forgot to reschedule the blog post announcing it so I had to scramble to delete posts to my social media. ACK!

    Things get so crazy my to-do list needs a to-do list. I try to smile and remember that this too shall pass and I can learn new things. 🙂

  18. Kids are something else. Your spawn seems to be very smart! Knows how to get attention :).

  19. I have about ten alarms set on my phone – I would probably not remember to go to work at the right time on the right day without them, the way my schedule is.

    Sometimes, it’s okay to just “say when.”

  20. Longest apology I’ve read in quite a while, Kristen, and I totally and utterly forgive you about misscheduling the class. Then again, I didn’t sign up for it. 🙂

    • Becky Fyfe on June 30, 2014 at 3:16 pm
    • Reply

    I call those “mommy moments” and I have them more often than I would like to admit.

  21. Hugs. I forgot an appointment today. Only realized it when the other person called half an hour before the meeting to reschedule. The reason I forgot it? Same as you, didn’t write it on the calendar. *facepalms* Anyway, now it’s next week. Right in the middle of Camp NaNo and not just one but TWO book releases.

    I’m taking a breath.

  22. Okay… I have to admit, I know about broken noses, but thankfully mine didn’t break (yet) from a fight (I prefer doing this to others) – my experience was with the plastic surgeon, but that’s another story…
    I too admit here: I’m an easy “adjusting” girl… usually I see some adventure “fly” by – and I jump in, head first, and consider some of the “lighter” consequences on the ride.
    Have I ever regretted things? – Oh – only for a minute or two – I would have more regretted NOT trying… No kids but three cats – and one of them needs constant surveillance… Is that comparable? 🙂

  23. Hi Kristen. Very much yes to writing down to-do lists. Also, writing down how it turned out. A friend of my has a saying. “If you don’t write it down, it never happened.”

    I so sorry you’ve been knocked out of your comfort zone. But…I know you well enough that you will find it again.

    Silent

  24. Hugs!! You tell the funniest stories, Kristen!! Lol. I laugh so hard though because I can identify.

  25. I found it very frustrating not being as productive as usual when I had two at home. A bit like summer holidays except I have a new neat plan. All the complicated technical stuff can wait until they go back and I’m focusing on creating new poems which is super flexible. I wrote nine watching tennis and soccer today. There’s a lot of folks home-schooling. I believe they do their writing in the afternoons. You have so much more going on though with your classes though. This is one subject that isn’t one size fits all. Good luck!

    • Sarah Brentyn on June 30, 2014 at 8:11 pm
    • Reply

    This is timely. For me. And absolutely horrible for you. I am so sorry about your nose!

    Just reading this post is making me hyperventilate. You’ve got a lot going on there. I do not have a broken nose, but I do have a hell of a lot going on in my life. To say that I’m having a tough time balancing life, home, and writing is a gross understatement. I’m overwhelmed and frazzled. I’m completely fried but, since I’m not as popular as you, I get to hide it. Mostly. 🙂

    So…thank you for sharing this. Thank you for letting all us stressed-out people know we are all far from alone. And thanks, too, for the tips.

  26. You’re one tough cookie! Hope your nose heals quickly!

  27. No day job, no kids, no high-maintenance pets, no major health problems – no excuses 🙁
    But I truly believe there are fallow times in our (writing) lives when it’s best to stop pushing, shovel a bit of manure on, and lie doggo for a bit. You’ll know when the sap rises.

  28. I home schooled all three of my kids at one time or another during their school days, so you have my sympathy and understanding and most of all my THANKS for making me laugh! Just because my kids are grown doesn’t mean they aren’t still waiting for just the right moment to interrupt my writing time! : ) The grandkids are the best though — the 8 year old is a computer freak/geek and begs me for time on my computer. What can I say? I’m a marshmallow when it comes to my kids/grandkids.

    But lately I’ve been saying “wait a while” or “no, I’m writing” and surprise, surprise, she takes it in stride! Turns out I don’t have to make everyone happy all of the time! Who knew? I love your blog! I always learn something new or remember something I used to know but that three kids, two grandkids, a husband, a Corgi, two demanding cats and Life have stolen from my brain. Also, sending prayers for you and your grandmother. I helped care for my dad during his last days and it was hard, very hard, but still glad I did it.

    And yes, I am definitely Sheldon. I have my spot on the couch, the temp has to be just right, I only eat in restaurants I’ve eaten in before, I don’t like change, I love Star Wars and Star Trek and games and arguing about time travel–and writing about it too! So thanks again Kristen–you rock!

  29. Pretty much my day everyday. 😀 Which is probably why it’s taken me 2 (is it 3?) years to write this novel…which I’m still working on.

    Except for the ninja stuff. I don’t do that. But I want to.

    Writing notes to myself is a lifesaver. Thank goodness for smartphones and email because I used to just write on receipts, envelopes, my hand, money, etc. Making a note to myself on the phone and emailing it is so much easier than trying to make the cashier give my dollar back so I can copy down my note.

    I’ve homeschooled my kiddos all the way through (so far, anyway) and my eldest is 12. I love it. We have a big network as well and the kiddos never lack for socialization. Plus, we get to do things in our time and our way.

  30. I actually have my own team of Sherpas whose yurt is currently in my backyard–I still haven’t been able to find my own tush due to EPI–Extreme Puppy Interference. Thanks for the chuckle! But not about the broken nose…and though the visual imagery did spark a snort, I quickly scrunched my face and asked God to forgive my evil sense of humor.

    1. Sherpas and GPS … LMAO

  31. Having homeschooled my kids for that last 10 years I can let you know the house will never be clean. It’ll look like it did on the weekends every day now.

    Some of your best memories will come from the time you spend teaching, though. In the grand scheme of things that’s worth a little mess.

  32. So relieved I’m not the only one who scrolls through email I’m the bathroom!!! I don’t usually know what day it is…until Saturday. Three kids, full-time day job, part-time author, and oh yeah, catching up on my Kindle reading and episodes of 24, Nashville, and Scandal because I can’t stay awake at night/have more pressing obligations…jeez I’m yawning as I type. But at the end of the day, everything gets done. Small wins. 🙂

  33. Kristen– Wasn’t sure if you knew, but Texas has online public education called K12. The Texas sector is TXVA and TOPS. It is an excellent program and free to Texans.

    http://www.k12.com

    If you need further information, email me. My daughter is an online teacher for K12 and I can connect you to her for more detailed information.

    Your blog is inspiring and keeps me going. Thank you.

  34. OK so I don’t homeschool my lad but I have a club meeting I go to on the last thursday of each month and yes, you guessed it, last week I didn’t realise it was the last thursday of the month and I missed it. You know being obsessed with zombies sounds like a pretty lightweight thing to get chucked out of school for. Sounds like them rather than your wee man. For what it’s worth, like the other lady I say… it will pass. My lad is 6. It is easier now…. although, if I get them then, in the holiday he’s going to have to do some radio appearances with me. I might change my mind after that.

    Take care you.

    cheers

    MTM

  35. PS and chill… we’ll still be here.

    1. Seriously, you guys are a lot of why I have not had a nervous breakdown some days. I am very capable and generous but when life goes after me, it seems to dog pile and you guys and hearing from you keeps me GROUNDED. A lot of what I’ve been through the past couple of years? I’d have never made it if I hadn’t been a blogger, teacher and on social media. I might feel helpless (anxiety) but never hopeless because of you guys.

      1. It’s great to know we can help. There are so many writer mums out there – and some dad’s too – and we can all understand what you are going through.

        Take care.

        cheers

        MTM

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