Friday, July 21, 2017

My Life As It Is...

As I sit, eating cheddar broccoli soup from a coffee mug, in my new kitchen, in my new home (not apartment, HOME) I can't help to feel a little home sick. Home sick for the days when mom would have a baking day and Allison and I would sit and watch Little House on The Prairie as it snowed out side.
 I miss being home sometimes. But at the same time, I am in absolute love with the life I have here in North East Arkansas.

 I am the lead teacher in my one year old class at the learning center. I have a wonderful boyfriend who went out of his way to get us a house to share. He makes sure the bills are paid and that there is always enough money for us to spend on a date night once a week. Now that we have the house, I'm going to start gardening again, and maybe even sell at the farmers market. Who knows, maybe I'll become good friends with some people at the farmers market that I can talk them into coming to the learning center and talking to the kids about home grown food.

 I'm also looking into starting a sensory garden for the school as well. I hared of them while at a seminar. The lady who was speaking had talked about how her son who has autism, had done very well with the garden they started in their back yard. He would go into sensory over-load with the lest bit of change, so the garden introduced change in a healthy way for him to cope. I would love to start a flower garden with my class and show the kids how to be gentle and use soft touches with the flowers, and how to care for them and not just rip them up. Then I'll move on to vegetables.
 I have so many great ideas for my class, but like many teachers out there, I really don't have the time or the means to make my ideas happen. But I'm slowly getting there.

 Now, I'm sure you are wondering. "When did you get a House!?"
At the begging of the year, Josh and I started to look at some homes, and get an idea of what we could afford. As we were looking at some homes, we came upon a new subdivision in the town were the learning center is, and we fell in love! We were able to build and customize our house, pick the colors, the style, a jetted tub, carpet, hardwood floors... everything was picked out by us. I am so happy with our home. I'll work on uploading some pictures. Our back yard is big enough for maybe 4-6 garden boxes, and we are even looking into getting a green house! I'm very excited for the green house. Next summer I plan on going full force into back yard gardening again. I'm hopping momma can come down and help me out and maybe even grandma Joanne. I do need to start doing more research on gardening in the south. Like when to start certain plants, what type of veggie would do best in the excessive heat, how to harvest and store the plants. So I may become friends with the extension office at the college. And, I'm ok with that.

 Other than teaching and being a home owner. Not much else has been going on. No word on engagements or marriage for Josh and I. Not yet anyways. And that's ok. I'm fine just being with him and learning about each-other and going on adventures.
 We did got to Florida last September. I got to see the Magical World of Harry Potter!!! I was like a little kid again. I bought so much candy. I would love to go again, and get more wands, and maybe some clothing items. But I would also love to go to the beach again. 

 This summer is about the house. We are new to mortgage payments, so we decided to stay home and work on saving up. And I'm ok with that.

 Right now we are planning out our holiday vacations. We might be going to North Carolina to see his dad for Thanksgiving, then Ohio to see my family for Christmas.

 With that said, I'm out of things to talk about. I will work on getting some house pictures up, and that is all for now.

 Many Blessings.
~*Arielle*Caitlynn*~