TGIF

The kids are cuddled up in the armchair watching Curious George so I figured I would pop on here for a little bit while they’re behaving and being quiet. 

We’re going to have a busy day.  We have an appointment to get our taxes done at 1:00, but before that I have to pop into work for twenty minutes or so to help fix a framing order I took that somehow got screwed up.  Hopefully that won’t be too complicated.  We might end up going out to lunch with the in-laws after our tax appointment (my MIL does our taxes), but I’m not sure yet. 

I’m looking for the tax refund, even though it’ll take forever to get it back.  I have to file injured spouse status because of Aaron’s back child support (the courts retroactively charged him with 8,000 in child support for the first three years of Jacob’s life – when Stacy had basically kidnapped him and Aaron didn’t know where he was), so I have to file IS so the IRS doesn’t take my portion of the refund to pay his child support.  I’m hoping I still get a decent refund despite that, because I’d like to have enough to replace my stove (the insulation’s going out of it) and my fridge, and maybe get some nice lawn furniture. 

My work hours are going up this week, which is fantastic.  The extra money is really going to help out.  We had a meeting last week and found out the company has changed a bunch of policies, including our employee discount.  It was 20%, but they raised it to 30%, which is awesome and will save me a ton of money on all my craft stuff.  Our discount is valid on sale and clearance stuff, too. 

I haven’t made a whole lot of progress on crafty stuff this month; just trying to get through the last of school with my brain intact, although I have made time for a few scrapbooking layouts.  I’m slowly but surely getting things together in the kids’ first year albums.  It helps that I was able to get 100 free 4×6 prints through Kodak Gallery the other day.  I got 50 free for signing up, and I got another 50 using a coupon code, all for $2.00 in shipping. 

Chloe starts "school" on Monday.  I got the books I’d been waiting on, and we’re starting to learn phonics and reading this upcoming week.  She’s still very young, so I don’t plan on working on much else right now until she does learn to read, although as smart as she is, I really do think she’ll be reading before she’s four.  She knows her alphabet backwards and forwards, knows a good bit of the letter sounds and she’s showing interest and "reading" books to Ben everyday, so I think she’ll pick it up quickly.  The book I’m using to teach her to read is "The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading" by Susan Wise Bauer.  I’m teaching her using the true phonics method, which I believe is the most effective way to teach reading. 

Okay, Ben’s trying to ride the bathroom plunger like a hobby horse; guess that’s my cue to sign off.  Lol.

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