AuburnChick's Adventures

I have been a busy gal lately.

No, I haven’t been working, per se.  At least not for money.

While the subbing jobs have been lacking, I’ve been keeping myself busy at home.  Ahhh, it’s been lovely too.

After seeing the kids and the Mr. off for their day, I’ve been watching soaps and eating bon bons doing the things that domestic engineers do…keeping the house and family clean, organized, and, to some degree, happy.  This is a full-time job!

I have to tell you that my heart is singing with joy…except for that off-key voice that chirps in every now and then reminding me that this is NOT going to pay the bills at the end of the month.

Despite the fact that I lived this life for a number of years, it still amazes me at how much there is to do when nobody is here.

I remember when, many years ago, I quit my job to stay home with the kiddos.  People joked that I would weigh 300 pounds within the month.

Yeah, right.  Most of the time I was too busy to sit down, much less eat.

Such has been the case since the Christmas break.  By the end of each day, I am left wondering how the time flew by.  What in the world did I do?

Hmmm…

I am a visual person, so I think a list is in order…

In the middle of filing for unemployment compensation, trolling for jobs, and contacting prospective employers, I’ve managed to do many of the kids’ chores.  My dishes are washed, the furniture has been dusted two weeks in a row, the floors are swept, and there has been food in the bellies.  Not easy accomplishments for me.  The family can attest to that.

I’ve attended almost ten soccer games…most of them lengthy drives…uploaded pictures from said games to Shutterfly, kept the dogs in check…visited the school library to hunt for soccer stats…and worked on a few soccer things for the Booster Club.

Wow!

Of course, I’ve earned $0, but that’s beside the point.

I’m of the firm opinion that there should be some compensation for this kind of work.

Don’t you dare start telling me that I’m gettinag the love of my family in return.

Phoo…

I have teenagers who are considering themselves lucky that they aren’t left with a stack of dishes at the end of the day (especially Rooster who tends to procrastinate).

No…I think that free groceries, maybe a paid up car loan…something…anything…would do quite nicely.

All kidding aside, I’m very greatful for this unexpected gift of TIME.  Notice that word again?  THE word that I chose to focus on this year.

This gift of time has allowed me to focus my attention where it needs to be – my family and my home.  I am so very blessed, even though I do complain.

Please pray for me — that as things get more hectic, I won’t forget to stop and make the time to do the important things.

Please also pray that I will find a permanent job of some sort.  Things are very tight.  I’m trying very hard not to be picky about jobs, but I desperately want to work part-time (teacher schedule is fine too) or from home so that I can focus on my family.  I do not do well with full-time, 8-5 schedules.  I’m miserable when I can’t spend this kind of time doing for others.

And now I’m off…to another soccer game…this one in town.

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You may be wondering what significance a cup of hot chocolate might have to me.

I’m more than happy to explain.

Rooster and I spent this past weekend at home by ourselves.  Chicky and the Mr. had gone to a soccer training thing.

Now, as you know, Rooster and I are very close.  There has always been something about our personalities that has just meshed.  Sure, we have our tifts, but they are quickly forgiven and forgotten.

When we’re on our own, we usually have a grand time.  Such was the case this weekend.

With no extra money to spend, we stayed at home.  Rooster figured out how to make our TV Guardian work again, so we watched the movie Black Hawk Down.  Good thing for the Guardian.  Over half of the conversation in the movie was blanked out.  But, we still got to see the action.

I was very moved by the movie, even though I’ve seen it before.  The knowledge that there are still many fighting for freedom is very humbling.

Anyhow, I think I’m starting to digress.

Between movies, football games, and phone conversations that I had with a couple of people, Rooster managed to slip something under my arm onto the end table.

A cup of hot chocolate.  Actually, during the course of the weekend, two cups of hot chocolate.

See, we have this thing.

We both love hot chocolate.

During a run to the grocery store, we saw that there was a Buy One Get One Free on the hot chocolate.  We eagerly grabbed two boxes.

Rooster is starting to get fairly self-sufficient, aside from the reminders to wake up, brush his teeth, take his vitamins, take a shower, and put on deodorant.  He has learned how to make macaroni and cheese, Ramen Noodles, and now, hot chocolate.

The first time he surprised me was when I was on the phone with my sister.  After hanging up, he told me that there was extra water in the tea kettle, so he figured “Why not?” and made me a cup.  It was still a kind gesture.

The second time he surprised me, he proudly announced that, “I had to put in extra water just for you.”

I added extra brownie points to this gesture as it required him to go out of his way to make it.

As I Plurked about the kindness of my son, I got a response back…

“What does he want?”

Yes, I know.  Teenagers don’t typically do things for the pure sake of doing them.  Especially not 14 year-old boys.

Not this boy.

Rooster has a vein of kindness that runs deep inside.  I’ve seen him demonstrate it when he selects Christmas gifts — selecting personal items from his room for everyone in the family, in addition to store-bought items.

I know I’ve gone on and on about a little cup of mocha, but I thought it was time I give Rooster some credit.  After all, Soccer Chick gets most of the press around here…what with her teenage antics and soccer feats.  Rooster lives a more quiet life, preferring to be in the shadows.

A cup of hot chocolate goes a long way towards soothing an anxious mother’s heart.  I think that somehow, Rooster has figured this out.

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Isn’t it interesting how a few words in a conversation can stimulate your thought processes?

Yesterday this happened to me.  Yeah, I know.  Stimulating thought processes?  Shouldn’t these happen regularly?  Not for a non-thinker like me.  I dare not tread in those waters too often.  Doesn’t take much for me to drown.

Anyhow…

After telling someone about joining Facebook, the person commented that they had no desire to catch up with high school acquaintances.

I began to wonder why I did not feel the same way.

My high school years were not fun for me.  Technically, a person is only in high school for grades 9-12; however, in my small school, seventh through twelth graders attended school in one building.  Although you didn’t necessarily have class with the upper classmen, you were still walking down the hallways with them…even eating lunch at the same time as them, although definitely NOT at the same tables.

So, I consider grades 7-12 my high school years.

They were, at times, traumatic.

Sure, I know.  I’m not the only one who probably feels this way.  In fact, I’d venture to guess that every single person has some pretty bad memories of that time of their lives.

As the new kid in town, I never felt like I really fit in.  Most of the kids had gone to school with each other since kindergarten.  There were well-established cliques that were very difficult to break into.  Some of them were based on which town you lived in.  My school was comprised of students from a number of very tiny “towns.”  I think there were a couple of buses that transported kids from the towns farther away, but for the most part, parents drove their own children to school.  This made after-school get-togethers pretty much non-existent if you didn’t live in the same town as another friend.  You couldn’t exactly walk down the street to their house, given the rural location.  I think this contributed to the formation of certain cliques.

Add my lack of confidence and a series of very bad hair cuts to the mix, and it was a combination that doomed me.

I’m sure my lack of maturity, as well as that of my peers, also had something to do with those bad years.  I wish I knew then what I know now.  I wouldn’t have spent so much time worrying about what people thought.

Regardless, it was a lonely life.

Growing up and moving away was very therapeutic for me.  I gained a lot of confidence through the various jobs I held.  Focusing on my children has helped me to look outward…away from myself to others.  There is so much about me that is different from my youthful days.

Time and distance has had a way of helping me to forgive and forget some of those hurts that happened on a daily basis way back when.

That’s why I am so excited to reconnect with people.  I am really curious to see what everyone made of themselves.  I want to see how they’ve changed, and I want them to see how I’ve changed.

I read an interesting comment in this week’s People magazine.  Some superstar said that she couldn’t believe how religious some of her friends had gotten over the years, given what she knew they had done in high school.

Isn’t that the neatest thing about growing up?  The fact that you can change.

That is what I find to be the neatest thing about this Facebook experience.

Oh sure, maybe I’m not really getting to know these people again.  Perhaps we’re all putting our best foot forward.  To some extent, it’s still superficial.  However, I can’t ignore that part of my life.  It had such an affect on me and who I am today.

Anyhow, I’d like to think of it as a fresh start…meeting these people again with a mature outlook on life, various life experiences under my belt, and an eagerness to let the past stay in the past with a desire to move forward, sharing that commonality of a shared era of time that others who didn’t know us “back in the day” wouldn’t understand.

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