2018 in the books.

2018 was replete with highs and lows. Some more obvious – like our remodel, which was a major low, though we are finally beginning to enjoy the benefits of it. An obvious high – our amazing trip to the east coast this summer.

Other highs and lows we keep close to the heart – too private to broadcast to the world. It’s safe to say that lows are part of the human experience, though Instagram would have us believe otherwise. To be sure, 2018 presented its fair share of heartache and joy.

I would be remiss in putting the year behind me without recording a few poignant lessons learned in the process.

  1. Toddlers and teenagers are one and the same. Except one is much cuter than the other. Thankfully for my children, I love them both.
  2. The scriptures continue to be my lifeline. Where would I be without a constant source of truth to pour into my soul to combat the myriad of opinions that bombard from all sides? I am grateful to have them to ground me and remind me what is real and most important.
  3. Relationships must be nurtured if we want them to last.
  4. Stress and weight gain go hand in hand.
  5. The benefits of family meal-time are plentiful and well-documented.
  6. Experiences are more valuable than things.
  7. To add to that, things are only valuable if they facilitate experiences, particularly those that involve building relationships.
  8. I love need naps.

I learned some of these lessons in very painful ways. 2018 was rough. But it could have been worse. One thing for which I am grateful is the perspective that our rough days (months, years) can work together for our good. I am determined to use the stumblings of 2018 for my benefit (while secretly hoping I don’t have to repeat those experiences. Ever again.)

Here’s to a new year!

December recap.

2018 was an “off” year for us. The remodel did not bring out the best in each of us. When December rolled around and we still were parking our cars in the driveway because contractors were using our garage as a makeshift workshop I was at my wits end.

We spent the better part of November and December paying sub-contractors because our general contractor failed to do so. The house was freezing cold as our new contractors wrapped up the finishing touches. We didn’t even put up the Christmas tree until less than a week before Christmas.

As per usual, a couple of strands of white lights had burned out and I couldn’t spare the time to go buy more. We made do with red ones at the top of the tree. When Christmas Eve rolled around and we still hadn’t put ornaments on the tree, we called it good and went without. Needless to say, the holiday spirit was in short supply at our house.

Still, old habits die hard and we managed to whip up goodies for neighbors and friends.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to bake with this cutie around to wash dishes for you?

We attended several choir and band Christmas concerts, piano recitals and even caroled at our local retirement home with Jack’s Joy School class (and their families).

This year, I fulfilled a dream of mine to rope my girls into singing an SSAA arrangement of a Christmas song with me. I selected a jazzy rendition of I’ll Be Home for Christmas, and I have to say, we killed it.

Four parts and everyone nailed it. It’s so fun to have musicians in the family. Now I have to get them to do it year-round.

My parents and two youngest siblings joined us for a few days. We cooked, ate, played games, watched movies, danced and had a marvelous time. Despite our delayed jump into the season, Christmas can’t help but being wonderful.

Paul Gauguin Watercolor Landscape

Paul Gauguin is such a downer to teach elementary students.  They love success.  They want to hear about artists who made a name for themselves while still living.  

No such luck when studying Gauguin.  He died sad and penniless, with nary a credit to his name.  Well, he’s certainly made his mark now.  Definitely an artist worth studying – and plenty of fodder for elementary art projects to boot.

I thought the fourth-graders would enjoy a stint using liquid watercolors.  In my mind, the vibrancy of color they provide most closely matches the colors used in Gauguin’s paintings.  

As always, I wanted to include an art principle, so despite the flatness and minimal perspective used in Gauguin’s works, I taught them about fore, middle and background, loosely using his Tahitian Landscape as a model.

  • Draw a simple background lightly in pencil.
  • Add a few things in the middle ground.
  • Draw at least one large object in the foreground.
  • Outline your entire drawing in black sharpie.
  • Add liquid watercolor to all white space, using colors one would not expect.

Here’s the slideshow I used to instruct the class on Paul Gauguin and to explain the steps of the project:

Gauguin – Watercolor Landscape (fore, middle and background)Download

November Recap.

We’ve officially entered birthday season at our house. One birthday per month until April. (Tim is the outlier in September). Rachel kicks it off in November.

On even years, the kids get to celebrate with friends so Rachel opted to invite a gaggle of girls to dinner at Panda Express and roller skating in Nampa. It was a blast. And we walked away with about 20 B1G1 coupons so we’ll be back for more…on Lily’s birthday!

As a side note, can I just say how much I love small towns? (I’m speaking of Nampa). Don’t get me wrong, I love living within 15 minutes of convenience and culture, but there’s something so refreshing about a small town environment. The people are a wee bit friendlier, in my opinion.

Moving on… Rachel has looked like a twelve-year-old for like two years now so this birthday shouldn’t have surprised me. But it did. For all intents and purposes, I now have three teenagers in the house. Three teenage girls, no less.

One of our birthday traditions is to shower the birthday girl (or boy) with compliments as we devour cake and ice cream together. There isn’t enough good to say about Rachel. She’s fun, helpful, obedient, responsible, inquisitive, problem-solving, and simply lovely.

We made a red velvet cake for her party and a peanut butter chocolate cheesecake for the family celebration. I’m a sucker for elaborate, from-scratch dessert requests. And they turn out spectacularly, if I do say so myself.

Earlier in the month primarily consisted of Rachel’s school basketball team’s tournament. They did well, despite having more fifth than sixth graders on their team. They went down in the third round when they played the team that ultimately went to the championship (before losing).

She also auditioned for and was one of the leads in the school play. She auditioned on Monday, memorized an abominable number of lines in 3 days and performed on Friday.

Eve also auditioned and was cast in the opening act, where she got to jam to Greatest Showman tunes and practice the back walkover she had recently mastered. We were proud of them both.

We spent Thanksgiving in Utah with family. My parents had recently accepted an offer on their home of over four years so it was a sort of “last hurrah” at the home my girls had known as grandma and grandpa’s house for a decent chunk of their working memory.

Good food, great company, fun games and gingerbread houses as usual.


We took pictures in front of it before leaving, of course.

We arrived home just in time for me to take Eve downtown to the Festival of Trees. She had entered an elementary art contest and received a top ten prize. Her drawing was on display so she indulged me in a picture or two in front of it. A mom can be proud, right?

Rachel dominated my November post, but we’ll just chalk it up to being the birthday girl.

On to December!

Never ending remodel saga.

As one can probably tell from my infrequent posts of late, I’ve been preoccupied with none other than our never ending remodel saga.  Frankly, I just want my life back.  It’s been six months.  It was supposed to take two.  Yes, I was realistic enough to know that it would inevitably take longer.  But not THIS much longer.

So here I am, living life without a master bedroom door for the 181st day.  Five children.  No master bedroom door.  Think about that.

When I complain about our remodel experience, I feel a little guilty.  I acknowledge that the inconveniences we’ve endured are truly first world problems.

Still, for the sake of journaling, I want to document some of the things I’ve come to appreciate more deeply in my current state of perceived deprivation.

  1.  Privacy.  This goes without saying.  I miss being able to use the restroom without hearing our contractor call out my name.  I want to do laundry without worrying about someone catching glimpses of our piles of underwear.  I want to be able to leave my house without wondering if someone will start thumbing through drawers.  I assume they want to be professional, but it simply gives me the creeps opening up my home to total strangers.
  2. Naps.  Without a bedroom door, it’s safe to say that my regular power nap has pretty much gone out the window.  Along with my even temper and my mental health.  (And if I even hear you working parents mention how spoiled I was to get one in the first place, I just might clock you.  See what I mean?)  Those 20 minutes of shut-eye every few days may have saved my life on more than one occasion.  Not to mention my kids’ lives.
  3. Temperature Control.  When we came home at the end of July to a barely-framed addition with only recently-installed windows, the temperature in our house was 88 degrees.  With the air conditioner running all day long.  It’s now November, and, while redoing those same doors and windows that were not installed properly the first time, we have the opposite problem.
  4. Friends.  It’s safe to say most friendships are not one-sided.  So imagine how detrimental it might be to those friendships when you can’t invite them over.  Ever.  For six months.  Because you live in a freaking construction zone.  Our friends (and our kids’ friends) have been more than accommodating but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel slightly disconnected from our usual social circles.

As the saying goes, “absence makes the heart grow fonder”.  I can personally attest to an increased affection for things I previously took for granted.  I have the remodel to thank for that.  If nothing else.

October Recap

We kicked off October with Joy School at our house.  Except that the condition of our home provided less than ideal circumstances for 2 1/2 hours of access to preschoolers.  So we scheduled a field trip and called it good.  Keeping 4 two and three year-olds from running off in different directions at all times was no small task.  I whipped out my very best bribery techniques and somehow we all survived.

Monday night Anna participated in and won third place in a barbershop competition.  Their quartet walked away with $300 in prize money.  Not to shabby for forming a week earlier and, therefore, having minimal practice time.

We scheduled hardwood installation early in the month and we’re “kicked out” of our house for two days while the fumes of the finish died down.  We made it a long weekend by pulling the girls out of school on Thursday and Friday and heading down to visit family in Utah.

We then had a few days before carpet installation began that Friday.  They completed half the carpeting. Then we spent the weekend shifting furniture into newly recarpeted rooms so they could do the rest on Monday.

Sunday night I received word that my parents were getting a divorce.  (Just shy of 45 years of marriage).  Still processing that one.

Monday morning’s carpet installation coincided with Jack’s regular infusions (3 consecutive days) which also coincided with Tim scheduling our phones to get their batteries replaced.

So, we had workers at our house while I was stuck at the hospital without a phone.  For three days.  And honestly.  It could not have gone more smoothly.

Did you catch that?  I survived mothering five children ages 3-15 for four days without a phone.

On the down side, without a phone, I didn’t have a camera with which to take Jack’s pic with the frog at the infusion center.  Ah, nuts.  Here’s the last one, for old times’ sake.

Can I just say how luxurious carpet feels when you’ve been walking around on sub-floors for over two months?  Rachel loved it so much she ditched her bed to sleep on the floor of her newly-carpeted bedroom the first night.

The flooring was the big project of the month but we also installed bathroom and light fixtures, got siding and a roof (but not before 2 inches of rainfall in a single day, and a resulting leak into the new bathroom).

Our house still looks rather unfinished, as the columns in the downstairs living area are…well, unfinished.  We told our contractor that we’d be hiring someone else to do those.  After seeing his lack of attention to detail on other aspects of the remodel we called it quits and are looking for someone else to the trim work.  Wish us luck.

Rachel played basketball at her elementary and pretty much towered over every opponent.  Except one.  It was very frustrating to have someone a full head taller than her but I hope it gave her a bit of perspective on how others feel when she’s in the game.  She makes basketball look easy.

Both Anna and Lily had choir concerts…on the same night.  I took the kids to the high school for Anna’s and Tim had Lily duty.  Anna sang a solo in her jazz choir and nailed it.  That girl was made to sing.  Such a smooth tone and perfect pitch.  Proud momma moment, for sure.  Sadly, I didn’t get any pictures of the occasion because I spent all my energy wrangling the toddler in my lap.  Sorry Anna.  Luckily we got to watch footage on Twitter with Tim and Lily later that night.

The fall colors stun all around.  Raking just might be one of my favorite chores.  Especially when there’s company.  It never ceases to amaze me how intuitive it is for kids to jump in a freshly-raked pile of leaves.

The elementary school held their annual Monster Mash over a week before Halloween. Here are our “Glow Stick Skeleton” and “Unicorn” (with friends).  Jack made for a pretty adorable Yoda but only lasted about half an hour at the party.

Halloween was a different beast for our family this year.  As the kids get older and graduate from their trick-or-treating years, it becomes much less “hands on” for mom and dad.  Anna went over to a friend’s house, Lily had a bunch  of her friends over at ours, Rachel blasted through her friends’ neighborhood trick-or-treating and Tim took Eve and her friend collecting candy in our neighborhood.  Jack(Yoda) handed out candy with me at home.  It couldn’t have worked out more perfectly.  

Grandma Moses Watercolor – Elementary Art Lesson

At the beginning of each art lesson, I ask the students to venture a guess as to where the artist was from, based on the sound of their name.  Consequently, they’re learning that many of the “masters” originated in France (and Italy, and the Netherlands).  They are also discovering that the French drop the sounds of consonants at the end of their words, that Italian might be the easiest foreign language to pronounce, and that artists from the United States are multi-cultural (as one would expect in a pluralistic culture such as ours).

When I posited the question during this lesson on Grandma Moses, I got my favorite response of all time:  “I’m thinking she might have been from Egypt.”  After all, Moses was from Egypt.  Classic.  But no, I had to inform this worthy guesser that Grandma Moses was, in fact, from the United States.  Laughed out loud.

Sixth-graders are a great bunch to teach.  Most of them have dubbed themselves as either artists or non-artists by this point.  So the trick is to reel them in through art history, and/or use a medium with which they have little to no experience so they know they can chalk up any perceived failures to it being their first time.  In this lesson, we did both.

First, we read this book.  I’m a big fan of Mike Venezia’s series.  I especially enjoyed that he mentioned that Grandma Moses’ depictions of the simple life resulted from the lack of availability of modern technology.  Like movies, TV, and CD players.  No mention of handheld devices.  I checked the publication date: 2003.  Ancient history by now.

Second, I breezed through this powerpoint, giving a additional background on Grandma Moses, introducing a few art principles (horizon line, foreground, middle ground, and background), and explaining the project step-by-step.  Here it is, in a nutshell:

It worked out well.  In the assignment, kids were expected to include objects one might have found in a typical Grandma Moses scene.  Trees, fields, people, buildings, animals, a path or stream.  It kept them engaged and there was little to no mess, as a bonus.

Materials used: Watercolor pencils, watercolor paper (9X12)

Difficulty: Easy.  Sixth-graders were encouraged to take their time.  Most used up the full hour and a half they were given.  Instruction took about 30 minutes.

Survival guide to a major home remodel.

About this time last year, Tim and I began considering adding onto our house.  “It’s now or never,” I said, realizing that our growing kids would make far better use of an expanded home before they start trickling off to college in a few short years.

We’d tossed around the idea for years, but had laid it aside due to our strong aversion to debt.  But, having paid off our rental property last year, we felt a bit more secure in our finances.  And, we wanted our kids to enjoy time with their friends at our house without us breathing down their necks (or relegating ourselves to the upstairs bedrooms).

Sure, we toyed with the idea of purchasing a larger home close by, but, wouldn’t you know it, at the time there was only one home available for sale in our neighborhood (of over 1000 homes).  Plus, we LOVE our view of the foothills, our neighbors (and the fact that we don’t have any backyard ones), and our proximity to schools, church and work.  We decided to shop around for general contractors and draw up plans.

Fast forward to April, we’d picked a contractor, designed a 700 square foot two-story addition and were prepared to break ground in May.  With the goal of being done by mid-August.  At the latest.

Well, it’s now late September and we have been walking around on sub-floors for almost two months.  We lack a working kitchen sink.  We need siding and a roof.  And maybe a mental health evaluation.

While I am in the throes of the remodel, I figured I’d mention a few ways in which we’ve coped and things I would have done differently, had I known what I was getting into:

1. Get used to the fact that your home is no longer yours.  It is a construction zone.

Strange people will walk in and out of your house whenever they darn well please.  They will ask you important questions as you are walking out the door, late for an appointment.  They will use your brooms, your footstools, your toilet (when your contractor forgets to order the porta-potty), your fridge.  They may act polite when you are around, but they don’t really care about your living space.  Repeat to yourself: this is no longer my home.

This is our backyard while we were gone on a trip. Blatant disregard for the condition of our lawn.

2. Take the projected completion date and bump it out at least double the time.

We were told it would take two months.  It’s been four (and we’re still waiting).  Then take your projected budget and add 25%.  There are many working parts in a home remodel and any no-shows, sick days or mistakes screw up the schedule more than you can imagine.  I cannot tell you how many times we have had to reschedule our hardwood installation because we did not want contractors walking around on our newly-installed (not to mention, expensive) hardwood floors.

 

3. Prepare for an emotional roller-coaster.

Over a week ago, the fabricator came to install our new countertops.  I was over the moon excited.  We soon discovered that we had not adequately communicated that we wanted to replace our wooden supports with metal ones.  He could order them and finish installation the following Wednesday.  My excitement was again squashed when I realized that our contractor had not scheduled our plumber to install the new faucet.  And still hasn’t.  Nine days and counting.  Stuff like this happens over and over again.

 

4. Pretend you are living in a different country.  Or century.

For seven weeks, we’ve been walking around on sub-floors.  It almost seems pointless to sweep, but we do.  Jack and I have done a few loads of dishes in the bathroom sink.  We started using the bathtub this morning, for the sake of efficiency.  When I find myself complaining, I remind myself that there are places in the world where dirt floors and no running water are a daily reality.  And that makes me grateful and able to push through the inconvenience of life without simple pleasures we often take for granted.  Like home-cooked meals.

Which leads me to another point.

5. Work some money into your budget for eating out/healthy freezer meals.

I cannot overemphasize how unmotivated I am to whip up a healthy meal for my family without a working dishwasher and kitchen sink.  If it had been two days, we would have easily managed.  But now that we’re going on ten days, we’re feeling the effects of cold cereal for breakfast and frozen meals for dinner.  We’ve gone from 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day to 1 or 2.  It’s not particularly good for the psyche to fuel your body with junk.  So do yourself a favor, and plan on splurging on eating out (healthy).

 

6. You may be tempted to leave the house (or maybe even skip town) until the horrors die down.  Don’t.

We had a three-week vacation planned during some of the louder/messier stages of construction.  We thought we were dodging a bullet and hoped to come home to a transformation.  To the contrary, we arrived home to find that we still had no walls or insulation.  We had no electricity upstairs.  Our windows had been installed only days before (meaning that our entire house had been exposed to the elements for two weeks between demolition of our exterior walls/windows and installation of new ones.  We half expected to find critters nesting in all corners of the house.  Or better yet, squatters in our attic.

Tim remarked that it’s a good thing we don’t have anything of real value because it could easily have been stolen while we were gone.  Add to that the fact that our builders had made themselves at home while we were gone, using our toilets, leaving trash on the counters, and stashing food in my recently emptied and cleaned fridge(which we had cleaned out in hopes that the hardwood would be installed while we were gone).  Instead of our back doors being installed – there was a piece of plywood nailed up (with a gaping hole almost a foot wide in one corner).  It really was that bad.  As I said before, the contractors don’t really care about your house.  If you do (and I assume you do), you would be wise to spend as much time hovering as you possibly can.

This is what our downstairs looked like when we arrived home from our trip. I about started crying.

This was the “inside” of our house. I had our neighbor take pictures daily so we could stay abreast of the changes (and have a record). I didn’t bother to show them to Tim. Would’ve ruined the trip for him.

7. Designate space in your home as a “safe haven”.

We lost use of half of our downstairs living space and half of our upstairs living space.  Our garage has become a storage area for furniture building materials and tools.  Our master bathroom contains everything we emptied from the upstairs bedrooms.

The toddler’s been sleeping in our master closet.

We haven’t had a door to our bedroom for four months.  But, our girls do.  And two of our downstairs rooms are relatively unaffected, so we moved our couches and TV into those rooms so we can still have some semblance of a gathering space.  And our girls can find peace and quiet in their bedrooms.  So there’s that.  You are going to feel cramped, but you can mitigate that by making the remaining spaces in your home livable.

 

8. Procrastination will become your friend.

Every time my kids ask me when something is going to happen, I simply reply, “When the addition is done.”  End of story.  “Mom, when can we buy new school clothes?” (When we have space to store them…after the addition.) “When can I have friends over?” (When our home isn’t a collection of hazards…after the addition.) “When will we go for a family bike ride?” (When the builders get their stuff out of our garage so we can access our bikes again…after the addition.)  “When are you going to make dinner again?”  (When we don’t have to wash dishes in the bathtub…after the addition.)

The answer will always be the same.  Because I did a lousy job anticipating all the ways in which this remodel would put our family out, as well as how much time it would take, I can justify answering them (in a most exasperated tone) in this manner.  It would be funny, if it weren’t so frustrating.

 

9. The dust.

Oh, the dust.  It will be everywhere.  You’ll get so tired of cleaning just to have it look equally dirty the next day (sometimes the next hour) that you might throw in the towel.  I pretty much have.  I’m tired of spinning my wheels.  So, with the exception of my food prep areas, and, for the most part, my “safe havens”, I have relegated myself to living in filth.

10. A little bit of gratitude goes a long way.

I might be sick of my sub-floors, but I can appreciate that the gaping hole left in my backyard fence allows me plenty of wildlife viewing.  I might be getting weary of parking in my driveway, but at least I have one.  I might not love washing dishes in my bathtub, but I’m grateful that Jack happily joins me for the occasion.  Living in an industrialized country spoils us rotten.  Deprivation can be the antidote to our sense of entitlement.  And gratitude is what develops if we allow it.

It’s easy to see that home remodels are not for the faint of heart.  If you’re prone to dust allergies, are finicky about cleanliness, have an aversion to noise, dislike interruptions, have perfectionistic tendencies, lack patience, or are super stingy when it comes to budgets, just don’t.  I thought I was strong.  But it turns out I’m not.  Ask me in a year how I feel about it all.

Back to school.

Epic road trip and family reunion out of the way and we could gear up for another school year.  We have them at all three schools this year-meaning multiple start/end times and, therefore, lots of carpooling.

Anna started high school this year and is killing it.  She auditioned for the vocal jazz group (and made it), loves seminary and is taking French 1 online in her spare time. Anna makes school look easy and is honing her piano and voice skills through lessons.  She’s teaching piano in our home to earn a bit of cash and has her driving permit(ahhhh!).

Lily is in 8th grade, enjoys the audition choir at junior high, likes to retake math exams, and is enjoying dance as a pastime.  We’ve had to put the reins on her internet use, as she was wasting her life away on Instagram.  Her confidence is getting her through those rough junior high days.

Rachel runs us ragged with her crazy sports schedule.  She plays school basketball and league softball one after the other.  She also takes math at the junior high in the early morning and then finishes her day at the elementary.  Somehow she fits piano lessons in.

Eve is a mover and a shaker and wants every minute to be filled with fun and friends.  She also loves dance, plays basketball, and lives to make homemade slime.  She is Jack’s best friend or his worst enemy.  Braces are in her future but we sure love to make her smile.

Even Jack started school this year!  Joy School.  He’s a bit on the young side, but it’s a very casual mother’s co-op preschool on one day of the week.  It is SO good for him.  And I make the most of the 2 1/2 hours I get to myself when I’m not teaching.

Somehow I got roped into chairing art night at the school this year.  I’ll teach art and sixth and fourth grade, as well.  Jack is demanding and I swear I never get anything done with him around, but I adore him and love enjoying my fifth and final toddler/preschooler.  It is my very favorite age.

We’re grateful to Tim who supports us financially so I can chauffeur all the littles to their activities and manage the home front.  What would we do without him?

This sort of reads like a Christmas letter.  Time to get a family picture, then copy and paste.  Check.

I want to stay home with my kids, but I don’t want my education to be wasted.

These were my daughter’s exact words to me yesterday.  We had been discussing our recent beef with our HOA board and she mentioned (as she has dozens of times before) that I should really become a lawyer.  “You can argue anything, mom.  You really need to go to law school.”

Flattered, but unconvinced, I responded that I am perfectly happy being mother to my children and see no reason to pursue another career at the present.

She paused, then opined that despite not wanting her kids to spend their days with anyone other than her, she did not want her college degree to go unused.

My response, “What makes you think that staying home with your children is a waste of an education?”

To be fair, I understand that most degrees train someone for a specific field of work.  I realize that not pursuing that particular career makes the cost associated with one’s education yield a low financial return.

However, here are a few reasons I disagree with the assumption that my college degree has been “wasted” because I’ve spent all but two years since earning that degree raising my children.

  1.  If/when I decide to get a paying job, my earning potential exceeds that of a non-degree holder.  I think of it as an insurance policy.
  2. Being an educated woman means I know how to learn.  I’m not scared to tackle new projects or experiences.  I just do my homework on how it’s done and jump in with both feet.  In fact, pretty much everything I’ve learned about being a good wife, mother, homemaker, etc. is predicated on that fundamental ability and confidence to learn new things.  Now I could teach my own class on a variety of subjects, despite not having a formal education in any of them.
  3. It sounds silly, but, with the exception of eighth grade algebra and on, I can actually help my kids with their homework.  I still read enough that I haven’t lost all memory of things academic. Consequently, my children still consider me an authority on all sorts of topics.  It’s kinda awesome.
  4. This one may seem shallow and it certainly isn’t the reason I attended college.  But, having done so gave me exposure to the kind of dating pool full of eligible bachelors whose earning potential would allow me to stay home forever, if I want to.  I’m not saying we’re swimming in dough, but we can still live comfortably without my having to offer financial support.  It’s safe to say that Tim and I found each other because we were both pursuing an education.  He wanted an educated spouse and so did I.  Quite possibly for entirely different reasons.  😉

So, dear daughter, my college degree is certainly not wasted.  It’s not even lying dormant.  It very much facilitates my success as a stay-at-home parent, despite the lack of a paycheck.

So unless you think money is the only way to make a college education worthwhile, feel free to pursue that degree.  And then feel free to stay at home with your kids, if that’s what you want.  No guilt.