braces again?

So about 3 years ago, at 13 years old, Doodles got braces on.  Things went well, the teeth moved, and she got them off in about a year and a half.  Now, a year and a half later, the teeth have moved despite her wearing the retainer as instructed, prompting the dentist to recommend she go back to the orthodontist.  Today we went to see him and got the bad news that there was nothing he could other than put braces back on her.  The good news is that he won’t charge us for this and he could get it done by the time she will be leaving for Spain.  Yay.  Well that’s not what Doodles thought.  She does not want to get braces on again, especially with this being her last semester of high school here and senior pictures coming up this summer.  I really want her to get them because after paying so much for the braces, I think she should have near perfect teeth.  I also think she needs to look at it long term rather than short term – she would only have them on for 7 months at the longest.  However I also recognize that she’s old enough that she needs to make the decision herself and I won’t give her a hard time if she doesn’t make the same decision that I would.

one step closer to Spain

We got an e-mail today from our district Rotary Youth Exchange Officer (YEO) with the Exchange Agreement between the Rotary multi-district in Spain and our Rotary district. It listed some of the basic rules. Apparently Doodles will need to be in Spain by the first week in September for an inbound orientation…..less than 8 months away….and she will be there for at least 10 months. The host club there will provide her with 70 euros a month allowance.  In return, they will be sending one student here who I happen to know will be sponsored by our Rotary club and we will be the first host family for that student.  It also said the guarantee forms must be returned by May 15 so I guess that will be the latest that we will have information on exactly where Doodles will be going including her host family as well as who will be staying with us.  Then the joy of getting a visa will begin.

an apple a day

I have been struggling with high cholesterol for years now.  My doctor blames every little problem I have on my high cholesterol and nags me on a regular basis to take a statin for it.  I politely decline.  I’ve done enough research that I’m not thoroughly convinced of the need for it without other risk factors.  Prior to taking thyroid meds, my total cholesterol level hovered around 250, and dropped to about 225 after being on thyroid meds.  I thought that might appease the doc, but I was wrong.  A few months ago, I read this article An Apple a Day Keeps Women’s Cholesterol at Bay and decided that I was going to do my own little experiment eating an apple a day.  So, for two months, that’s exactly what I did.  I might have missed a day here or there, but not many.  A few days I might have eaten two apples.  I didn’t change anything else about my diet or exercise.  My cholesterol dropped from 225 to 188 in those two months!  I’ve decided to continue with the experiment to see if it will keep dropping or if that’s as low as it’s going to go with one apple a day.  When it seems like it’s stabilized, I might go crazy and try two apples a day to see if that makes any difference.  Even if it doesn’t drop any more, I think I’m at a level that my doctor might accept, and I get to enjoy biting into a nice crunchy apple every day instead of swallowing a pill that might or might not be damaging my liver.

excitement vs. sadness

You know how when you are really excited for something to happen that you can’t wait for it to get here?  Well what if the thing you are really excited about is also going to make you really sad?  Then it becomes a case of wanting the day to arrive, but not wanting the day to arrive.  That’s where I’m at.  I’m so excited for this whole exchange experience for all of us.  Doodles is going to have the experience of a lifetime and we are going to take a complete stranger from a strange land into our home and make him/her part of our family.  How exciting is that?!  But, I’m going to miss her so much while she’s gone.  No doubt there will be many tears shed on the day she boards the plane for Spain.  Honestly, there have already been lots of tears shed and we are 8 months away from it.  But not letting her go would be totally selfish on my part.

the last semester of near normalcy

Tomorrow will start Buster’s last semester of homeschooling, Doodle’s last semester of American high school, and my last semester of the life I’ve come to know.  Wow.  As much as I’d like to really enjoy every moment of it, there’s so much to do.  I have to make sure that I have Buster prepared for high school next year, have him take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, and learn algebra well enough to pass the school’s test so he can get credit for it.  This semester might run into the summer for him…..  Doodles will have to finish up 2 AP classes and test for them, take senior English including a senior project even though she’s a junior, take a couple of SAT II subject tests, take the ACT, make a list of colleges she’s interested in and start visiting them, get to know the senior counselor at the high school so she will be able to do recs for her, sign up for dual enrollment calculus to take over the summer, and learn more Spanish.  It’s really hard to cram junior and senior year of high school into 1 year.  I don’t even want to think about what this summer will be like.

changing the main topic of this blog

Since I know I’m going to be writing more and more about this whole student exchange thing, I figured I might as well just make it the main topic of my blog. When I started it, I really intended for it to be mostly about life as homeschoolers and it’s become less and less about that as the kids have grown. Buster pointed out the other day that we’ll only be homeschooling for a few more months and then I should change the name of the blog. Perhaps I will change it, but not yet. Baby steps. I’m still trying to get Doodles to start her own blog to document her exchange from the very beginning, but so far she has resisted thinking that she doesn’t have anything to write about. Funny that I feel like I have so much to write about. Most of it is repetitive though – the excitement, the fear, the excitement, the fear…. It’s going to be an adventure for all of us though, that’s for sure!

Today, we went to get Doodles passport. She already had one, but it will expire too soon. $10 for the pictures and another $135 for the passport. We waited until she was 16 so it’s good for 10 years. It’s the last one I’ll be buying for her. I also found out that since she is 16, there was no need for any parental signatures or approval. I guess it’s the first official thing she’s done on her own – even her driver’s license required one of us.

it’s the day before the night before Christmas

Loved this song as a kid….

our slightly early Christmas present

I talked Boxman into getting us a new microwave for Christmas this year.  Neither one of us especially needed anything, and the old microwave was annoying me.  It was nearly 14 years old.  The glass plate had broken years ago and I was never able to find a replacement one that would fit even looking at on-line places.  This summer, the bottom of the handle broke, and I started dropping hints about getting a new one soon.  Christmas seemed like the perfect opportunity.

We started looking for one on Black Friday.  I wanted something nicer than the cheap ones, but not super expensive.  There should be lots of choices, right?  Not really.  Then the woman at Best Buy showed us a convection microwave that was on a good sale.  She had all kinds of great things to say about it, but we had just started looking.  We went to Home Depot later and Boxman was drawn to  the same one.  Knowing Boxman, I came to terms with the fact that we would not be getting a $250 microwave like I originally thought,  but would be spending nearly twice as much to get the convection microwave.  It was delivered on Monday and it only took us 2 days to work up the courage to drill the holes and install it.  Buster was excited to bake some egg rolls in it for lunch and I just baked some lemon bars.  So far so good.  The only thing I don’t like about it is that there is no number pad on it.  It has a dial and you can only set it in 15 second increments to microwave.  However, it is loaded with all sorts of short cuts including reheat, beverage, and a popcorn button that actually seems to work well, and a sensor that somehow is supposed to decide when your food is warm.  I’m still missing my number pad on it, but hopefully as I use it and get used to it more, I’ll learn to love it.

just a quick note

Just had to say that I got a call from our Rotary District Youth Exchange Officer (YEO) telling me that he got an e-mail from Rotary in Spain and they have accepted Doodles as a student for next year!  I guess that’s pretty official now.  We just have to be patient and wait to hear where exactly she will be going and who she’ll be staying with along with who we might be hosting.  It seems to much more real now.

cha-cha-cha-changes

As Christmas is approaching, I’m reminded even more about how much and how quickly life changes.  A year ago, things were normal, nothing big going on in our lives.  Doodles was in her second year of high school, Buster still had another year of homeschooling left, and things were just normal. I still had my gallbladder….   I never could have predicted how much different I would feel this year.  I have only 5 more months of homeschooling left and much of that time will undoubtedly be spent worrying about whether Buster is thoroughly prepared for high school.  I have only 8 more months left with Doodles living at home full time.  When she returns from Spain, she will only be home for a month or two before heading off to college and of course it will only be summers and Christmas at most from there on out.  And by the time she leaves, we will have a high school student, most likely from Spain, living with us.  I hope his/her English is really good because my Spanish is definitely lacking. Boxman has been super busy with work.  His company bought out another one, he has a new boss, and who knows what all could happen there.  I’m not really worried though – perhaps if there weren’t so many other things occupying my mind, I might be. 

Despite the challenges of the changes, I’m so grateful with regards to each one.  I’m excited for the opportunity that Doodles has.  It’s undoubtedly a life changing experience.  I’m so glad that I had the chance to homeschool both of my kids all through elementary and junior high and know that I can continue if we decide that’s the best thing.  I’m grateful that Boxman has a job that he loves, and can work from home most of the time.   Now I just have to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life…..