What a year!!!!

Hello Everyone,

What a year! I am 35 school days away from the end of my first year teaching and I have have had a blast! On my first day teaching, August 11th, my house flooded because one of my dogs chewed a water line under my sink and made my house an indoor swimming pool. Construction just ended this week and I must say as much as I hated that dog in the past, I LOVE HIM RIGHT NOW! (but probably not for long) My new kitchen and wood floors are beautiful! I did not realize how different a wall looks with baseboards. We have had no baseboards throughout most of the house since August and now that we have them, what a difference. We had to spend all of the money the insurance company gave us, so I had all of the doors repainted along with some additional work and with the repairs from the flood the house looks great! I used some of the undamaged kitchen cabinets around the house. I had some hung in the home office, the garage, and on the back porch. Like I need more storage space. I still have a few cabinets in the garage. I am going to offer them to my brother and sisters. If they don't need them, then I will try to sell them!

2008, and so far 2009, has been tough! Sales in the retail industry, as most of you would expect, are down and with me being a teacher, my income low, paying bills is almost a joke in this house......

Our creditors have killed all of our financial plans. As they have with most Americans, they have cut our available credit down to our current balances. Our mortgage company even did the same with our equity line of credit. We had a line of credit of over 65,000 and when they decided to cut our available credit down to our current balance, unfortunately, we only owed 23,000. Had I known they were going to do that, I would have wrote a check to myself for the difference. I need that to money to play with to stock Play N Trade, our retail store.... Well, trying to keep a retail store up and running it has made life more miserable than we could have ever expected. I did find out that we do qualify for "Freddy Mac" with our home mortgage, and I am "still waiting" for a call back from them to see what they can do for me????? (It has only been 21 days since I called them) Is that the male version for Fanny Mae????? Well, it isn't better. As most men are, I am still waiting for "him" to call me back!!!!!

With all of this, our spirits are high. We MUST have a gas leak!!!! Oh yeah, we don't have gas in the house! We know, we have done ALL we can and it is up to God to keep us afloat. He has been there in the past and we pray He will not give up on us now!

Did I tell you, 35 days until summer!!! I know because the children tell me EVERY day. They have even talked me in to tracking the days left on my board in my classroom.

Sarah has talked me into having a sleepover for her birthday this year.... I will have 11, 7-9 year olds staying the night at my house next Friday. We will make homemade pizzas, have popcorn and cake, and watch a movie. Doug informed me that he will be closing the store that night. Typical men. I told him I would close the store, but I don't have a clue how to work the register! So, I will be here! It'll be fun.......

I will try to stay on top of my blog in the future.

Christmas Break

I made it through my first semester as a teacher. This 2 week break is exactly what I need. Who would have thought teaching 6 hours a day would be more exhausting than a 10 hour day at the office..... The last 2 days were the worst. The children were soooo excited about the break it was impossible to keep them quiet and teach them anything. My main goal for those two days was to just make it through the day without a computer being broke or a child hurting themselves on the damn office chairs the children sit in. I have asked the principal if I may change out the office chairs for regular chairs becuase at least 3 time a day every day for the past 18 weeks, I have a child that can not sit properly in the chair and fall right out of them and then of course once they fall the chair goes flying across the room (because it is on wheels) and hits another child. I hate those chairs... I tried giving my first graders a sticker at the end of class if they sat properly in their chair and not fall out! It didn't work....... I have given up. I now just make sure the fallen child is okay, make sure the child hit by the flying chair is okay and put the fallen child back in the chair and cross my fingers.

I am also responsible for the yearbook and what a task. There are about 250 children ages
3-17 at the school and with this being my first year there, matching faces to names to class has become agravating... I have about 1/3 of this book done and it is due no later than the first week of February. So, over the next two weeks I am going to attempt to get it complete and then spend January fixing faces with names. I have decided to print each teachers page and have them sign off that the names are spelled correctly and the face goes with the name. I can't wait to see how many repairs will need to be done!!!

Once I do return in January, the second semester of this school year, I teach Journalism. I will also spend these two weeks trying to come up with my plans for the class. I have never taught Journalism so I am having difficulty thinking of what to do with this class to make it educational for the students. I have 15 upper school student 5 days a week for 18 weeks...... I am completely open for any suggestions. HHHEEELLLPPP!

As for Doug. There is only one word that can describe him right now. STRESSED. Actually 2 words, COMPLETELY STRESSED. Money is going out and slowly coming back in. He has been spending a lot of time and money on advertising and stocking the store for the holiday season. I keep telling him that for only being open 6 months he is doing a hell of a job. Our bills are paid and most of the stores bill are being paid. Can't ask for much more than that. This Monday, he has decided to go to the bank and see about a business loan to help with the bills. Being in business for such a short time I do not know if they will give him the loan.

Well, I am having all of my family over at 1pm today (in 5 1/2 hours) and my house is in shambles and I haven't started Christmas shopping yet..... I guess I should get started.

I hope everyone has a happy Holiday Season and a Merry Christmas.

Love to all,
Kris

It Has Been Too Long!

I know it has been a while since I have updated my blog. This year has been "difficult". With Doug and I both being laid off in February, opening a new retail store, and me not finding employment until August, life has been crazy.

Well, the store is doing great. The economy is not the greatest right now, but Doug is holding his own. Bills are being paid. We are anxious because of the holiday season. We hope the sales will be enough so we can start paying back ourselves all the start up money and begin to get back to where we were in February. It will take a few long years to completely recover, but it will be worth it in the end.

I am now teaching at a private school. I teach computers to 1st - 5th grade, and Yearbook and Journalism to middle and upper school. I also tutor Algebra twice a week after school. So far it has been awesome! I absolutely love what I am doing. Sarah attends this school as well. This makes our schedules so much easier. I do not have to worry about how I am going to get her to school and pick her up at the end of the day. It is nice to be able to take her with me and her be at school with me when I need to stay late. I do have her in one of my classes on Mondays for an hour. At first it was difficult for her to adjust to me being her teacher but she has done very well. With Doug's new schedule of pretty much 24/7 and me teaching, Sarah doesn't have to live in daycare and camps during vacations times. I am looking forward to the two weeks off at Christmas. I am ready for a break.....

Daymond is doing well. He is attending Valencia Community College earning his AA degree and also working for Doug's parents with the roofing business. I have to say when he first started working for them I was mad and jealous. I loved my sales position with the roofing co. and to this day I still miss it... But I have grown to love teaching and would not change it for the world.

Now that everything is calming down, Doug and I are happier with our new lives. How one day in February can go from the worst day in your life and turn in into the same day that changed your life for the better is amazing. We are thankful that we survived and can begin to relax and move forward. Well, I can begin to relax. As for Doug, I can only say one word..... RETAIL! :)

I will post a new blog weekly. I have time to myself on Sunday mornings so check back then. I hope everyone is doing well.

Love to all,
Krista

Play N Trade "Coming Soon"

Doug is at the final stages of getting the new store ready to open!!! YEAH! Our first employee, our store manager, started yesterday and it seems that we will open the doors mid next week. We are planning our grand opening either late July or the beginning of August. What a relief. I am not sure how much more stress this family can take. Yes, this has been an exciting adventure but also an extremely stressful one. I must say we are out of money and this family is living on credit! I am still looking for a job and about to "loose it" staying home all day. Unemployment stinks......

I have been receiving a lot of "flack" not keeping my blog updated. Frankly, I do not have an excuse since I am home everyday. Except to say, " I have nothing to say!" That will soon change. Especially over the next month or two...

I will update picture as the store is stocked and cleaned up!!

To Whom needs to know how to add an image: click on the picture next to ABC above and simply bowse for the file and double click on the file and it will add the image to your blog!!

Our New Store

Doug's new endeavor is well on its way. He purchased a franchise with Play N Trade and we are finally through the legal and corporate steps and are now waiting for our build out truck to be loaded and shipped. This truck has all the shelving, counters and wall signs for the interior. In the mean time he needs to build a few interior walls, paint the entire store black and install dark gray carpet. He is planning his "soft" opening June 27th and then his grand opening mid July! We have been told by other Play N Trade franchisees that a few franchisees are not happy that Doug was given this location because they wanted it. The demographics are perfect for this type of business. We sell new and used video games, game consoles and movies. The difference between us and the competition is you can play the game before you buy it and we also hold tournaments for groups. As the build out progresses I will post pictures.

With the gas prices only going up I was forced to sell my convertible Mustang GT and buy a 05 Camry. I must admit the ride is awesome and it has more pickup than I would have ever expected. I put 45.00 in the tank on Monday and I am only at a half a tank. With the Mustang I would be on my 3rd 45.00 so far.....

I hope everyone is doing well and it is time for the morning rush in this house so I must go!

OLD COINS

Does anyone know anything about old coins??? Where would I take old coins to have them apprasied and how do I know they are not screwing me? ANYONE!!!!

NO MORE KNOCKING ON DOORS

Well, my day???
Where do I start? The first place I went to was a local laundry mat and boy was that woman RUDE!! Not a good start. I went to 28 different places and they day ended up with 10 appointments with the business owner and 2 group meetings for next week!! Not bad, however, it was raining soooooo hard that I stopped at a shopping center to go into a Ross to see if I could find some dress shirts, and I did, but you will never believe what happened to me on my way back to my car.......

I fell! I was on the phone and carrying what I had purchased and down I went. Right in the middle of the parking lot... Now I have a story when people say what was the most embarrassing moment in your life! And I have pictures!!! I did not want to get up nor tell the business owner that I was on the phone with why I kind of disappeared for a minute. When I got home I must have had the look of pain in my eye because immediately Doug asked me "did your day go as bad as your face says it did?" I told him YES, showed him my knees which the picture does no justice it actually looks much much worse and went to bed!! The family senses is I need to be in the air on roofs and not on the ground!!!