Sick and Tired

Well, I had good intentions of trying to post everyday, but you know how that goes. Busy weekend and then was up all night Sunday with an upset stomach and have been feeling sick all day today. Did I mention that the flu is going around the small town that I live in? I just hope my kids don't catch whatever it is. School just started and I hate for them to start missing days right off the bat. There is so much going on at the beginning of the school year and it's not the best time to be home sick. That being said, if my kids are sick, I do keep them at home. It is a pet peeve of mine when people send their children to school sick. First of all, that's how things spread and secondly, they need to be home in bed resting, poor things. Of course, then I feel guilty for judging people. Sometimes when both parents have to work to get by and they have no one to watch their kids, they don't have a lot of options short of leaving the kiddos home alone to fend for themselves, and that's not ideal either. Anyway, hopefully, I just had a little bug and it will be all better tomorrow. I have got to get to the grocery store! We are out of a lot of things and I'd like to get back in the kitchen and hopefully post a recipe or two pretty soon. I also am about to start working on some cards that I may start selling, and I'd like to post those as well to get some feedback. I do have to make a birthday card tomorrow for a sweet baby boy at church who is turning 1 year old. He is the cutest little thing ever!

First post....a little about me.

How did I become an "accidental housewife"? Well, it's been a long journey to get here, and it's definitely not what I ever imagined my life would be. I would not trade being where I am now for the world, though at times, I might want a little vacation! My mom was a housewife and I can remember some really hard times. We grew up without a lot of material things, but my mom was always there to take care of us. When I was 13 years old, my dad passed away, and my mom was left with 3 young girls to care for and no job skills at the age of 43. It was hard as a teenager to not be resentful at not having as much as other kids our age and that's when I decided that I would NEVER let what happened to my mom happen to me! I was never getting married or having kids and I was going to have a job that paid a ton. I earned a scholarship to college and decided to double major in Economics and Law and that I wanted to be a corporate attorney. I would be rolling in the bucks and life would be perfect....right? Wrong! It took me struggling through two semesters of college to decide that there was no way that I wanted that life. It was boring and lifeless (no offense to any economists or attorneys out there-if that's your passion, then more power to you) Growing up, people always told me that I would make a great teacher. I was good with kids and loved working with them. Of course, I fought it tooth and nail. Teachers don't make any money. Well, after taking a year off from college, that's exactly where I found my passion. I went back to school and started working towards a teaching degree, which is not so easy when you have to work full time to support yourself. My life was soon to take yet another unexpected turn when I met the love of my life, Erik. I had just sworn off guys, so of course, that's when we would meet. He asked me to marry him on our 3rd date, and on July 8th, we celebrated our 14th anniversary. We have 3 awesome and wonderful kiddos-Katie (13), Justin (11), and Jordan (10). I had to put college on hold since we had our kids so quickly because I had to work to help support the family. My hubby is in the Air Force and when we married, he was very low in rank and made no money. Of course, my job at a professional photo lab only paid me about 5 bucks an hour, so needless to say, our first years were tough! I kept wishing that I could stay at home with my babies and finally about 5 years ago, we took the plunge. It has been so great. I am able to be at every party, concert, play, first day, everything. With a husband in the military who has missed a lot of these things, I feel blessed that I have been able to be there for my kids when he can't. It hasn't always been easy financially, but I don't regret it for a minute.

Now that my kids are getting older, I'm feeling a little lost, I guess. They don't really need me as much, or really want me hovering, so this is giving me more free time. I used to feel so sad to even think about the fact that they are growing up, but lately, I'm feeling a little excited for my next chapter in life. What will I do now? Do I want to go back to school? Do I want to continue to stay home and take care of the family full time? For now, I do primarily stay at home, but I also substitute teach part time, and I love it. I am able to do something that I love, which is work with kids. I don't have to deal with angry parents or paperwork or grades. I get the fun aspects of teaching. Plus, I can work as much as little as I want, which gives me time to pursue some of my other passions. I love cooking and I love creating. I love to get in the kitchen and come up with my own recipes. Sometimes, I go way of Martha and make everything from scratch. Other days, I go a little Sandra Lee and take boxes from the pantry to come up with something my own. Some recipes work and others fail miserably. Usually, one person is going to have a problem with something I serve. It's very rare that every one loves the same thing, which used to drive me nuts! I love making crafts and I've really gotten into stamping and making cards and using my Cricut. My hope for this blog is that it will be a place to share my thoughts, recipes, cards, etc. Maybe I can connect with others like me, who ended up somewhere that they never imagined they'd be. I'd like to hear some of your stories, too. I really love writing, but haven't really done it much over the past 14 years, so if I'm a little rusty, I apologize!