Mothering Many

Let’s discuss vacations. Let’s make them dreamy vacations, unfettered by such silly notions as: budget, logisitics and reasonable assumptions. Let’s pretend we can go anywhere we want to go. If that were the case for me, I’d likely call Gebhart Properties and ask about their Hawaii vacation rentals. They have one that sleeps 8, and since we are just nine, and several of us are small, I bet it would be big enough.

Hale Ke Kai, our luxurious 3BR/4BA two-level private home in Kailua-Kona will comfortably sleep up to 8 people. It features full-sized kitchens and expansive lanais on both levels, two master suites, a private wading pool, and a location so close to the ocean that you can frequently feel the spray from the ocean as waves break against the coastline.

We only have 3 bedrooms here, and just 2 bathrooms, so I am sure that would work. It would be great to just hang out and relax with the family. I spend so much time saying “I need to abc”, “You need to mno” “We have to xyz”, that it would just be really nice to just ask “would you like to 123″. Sigh. Maybe next year, because this year, it’s all about must.

One of the most rocking things I ever did was to go to Europe when I was in high school. The trip was organized by my French teacher, and we went to France (of course), Italy and England. I had wondered if there was anyway to do something like that for my kids, since we home school, and today I found out, that YES, it is!

Hemisphere Educational Travel offers international student travel tours, and they have no minimum group size. Discounts usually start with groups of 15, so it would even be relatively easy to pull together a group of home schoolers large enough to qualify for them. Hemisphere also offers custom tours with ethnic or religious focus. They can accommodate those with special dietary needs, as well. And if, English isn’t your groups first language, they can take care of that, too: they have bilingual guides.

Today is Tuesday, and I have (had??) every intention of playing Tackle-it Tuesday. I’ll be working on either my dresser or the changing table. However, the morning got spent with the children, playing and schooling, and now someone little is sleeping on my bed, and where does the time go?

Now it’s time to work, and then it will be time to cook, and then it be time to eat, and tidy the kitchen and then play a game with the kids, and put them to bed. See? Busy. I’ll have to post later if I actually got anything done, but right now…….chances are looking slim to none.

You know I am all about the sale. Life is too short, and money is too tight, to pay full price when it can be avoided. One way I save money is by using promo codes when I shop online. KeepCash.com is updated daily with the latest coupons and deals. I found some sweet free shipping coupons for dELiA*s there, and combined with the sale prices on the site, you can have a little cyber-shopping fun without breaking the bank. dELiA*s specializes in things for teens and young women. I’ve decided that can be construed to apply to this 40 year old mom, too, LOL! I’m as young as I feel, right?

Monday: leftovers– the frig is crammed so full that we must eat some stuff before I can cook
Tuesday: salisbury steak–if anybody wants it, I can give my recipe)
Wednesday: chicken, probably fried
Thursday and Friday: I’ll have to figure it out, I’m still not quite sure what we have from our blessing

I wanted to tell ya’ll about Synovate real quickly. I’ve been a member for several years, and I enjoy being able to tell manufacturers what I like or dislike about products they are considering marketing. It’s fun to think that i might influence them to better tailor a product to meet the needs of larger family. Yeah, the 6 ounce box of cereal?? LOSER. The double size package of cheese?? WINNER! If this type of market research interests you, check them out.

I am blessed this week in that I have spent more time with my children, and less time at the computer. I made myself a schedule of sorts, and I’m sticking to it, and things that should be done are finally getting done. How cool is that?

And there is also this:

Spidey’s scout leader and called and said a guy he works with had collected food for a family who refused it. He wanted to know if we would take it, and I said yes, if he couldn’t find someone who needed it, because we were fine in the food department. He called Friday evening to say he was on his way, and I expected a few bags of staples. Umm, wow. There were staples alright. And also, meat, eggs, milk, and toilet paper. Overwhelming does not even begin to describe how this feels.

I read an short article today about the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. One of the finalists is Ethan Willis. I did a little research on Will to write this post, and here’s what I found out (I think. If any of these facts are wrong, I hope he’ll stop by and let me know.)

• He’s from a family of nine. You know I like to hear stuff like that, having 8 children myself.
• His company, Prosper, made a substantial donation to Trekking for Kids. To me, that indicates he thinks about others.
• He’s co-author of The One Minute Entrepreneur. That says he’s willing to share what he knows. Yeah, he certainly made money on the book, but he just as easily have written an auto-biography, ykwim?
• His business partner is the man who beat him for president of the student body in college. He doesn’t take himself to seriously.
• He has built and then sold at least three successful businesses before Prosper with the same business partner. This demonstrates flexibility and commitment to pursue dreams.

There are dictionary definitions of entrepreneur and then there are demonstrations. In my mind, Ethan Willis is entrepreneur. This is the kind of person I want my children to grow up to be: successful, confident, giving.

Today has been busy so far, and promises to get busier. I was up late last night working, and then this morning, I took Diva to Walmart. She’s having a birthday party, and we needed food. No, that is incorrect; we needed non-food edibles: chips, ice cream, sodas. And also sandwich fixings. The kids will start arriving around 2 , and The last ones will leave around 1 AM. Don’t panic, those belong to my cousin, LOL! I’m watching them and he’s buying my husband a ticket to the race. Time is tick, tick, ticking, and here I sit at the computer. I’m with it, ya’ll. There’s really not that much to do to get ready, though, so it’s okay.

So, how is your day shaping up?