The Sewing Mom

My daughter is finishing up her Junior year in high school and we are already seeing that with her Senior year starting in the Fall, there will be many changes, mostly to personnel at the high school. Now I’m not sure of any details, and I don’t care to speculate, but in at least one instance, I think a former teacher may be looking into drug rehab centers for himself.

Other teachers who are leaving or stepping down into lower positions are as a result of poor performance in their current job. Honestly, in the case of the Varsity Softball coach who was the poorest excuses for a coach I’ve ever seen, she may be wishing she was visiting drug rehab centers instead of just being demoted. I think her performance over the last six years has become nothing short of disgraceful and I am certainly glad she will no longer be involved with the high school softball program.

We have actually recommended that our daughter’s softball batting coach apply for the newly opened position. She has played the game since she was a young girl, played in the Junior Olympics, played the game for a D1 college and even played 1 year as a professional softball player. Not too many women have that on their resume! She is also wonderful with the girls she works with and her knowledge of the game would be invaluable. The only thing she would need would be to get her teacher certificate which, since she all ready has a bachelor degree, I don’t think would be a problem. She wouldn’t be able to get it in minutes, but she could definitely have it by the start of the next school year.

I’m sure the stress of the job, whether it’s a band director, a teacher, or a softball coach, can be immense. As mentors to so many teens, I would hope they were strong enough as individuals that they wouldn’t need to know where the nearest drug rehab centers are like their former colleague I mentioned above. But we really don’t know what some people are battling in their personal lives, do we?

Anyway, my daughter is certainly looking forward to her Senior year, including all the changes!

Post written by me, Lynne Peck, and all opinions are mine.

I found myself sorting through stacks of paper and mail that had collected on our kitchen counter over the past month or so. Good thing I took the time to do so since my husband had failed to show me an important letter we’d received from his employer regarding our health insurance coverage. I discovered that I now have just 2 weeks to provide evidence that I am indeed his spouse and our daughter is indeed his true dependent.

Of course, it’s simply a matter of provided a copy of a wedding certificate and birth certificate, but had I not found out that we are being required to supply this documentation, mine and my daughter’s health insurance coverage would have automatically been dropped.

We are a fairly healthy family, but just getting an annual mammogram for myself would be quite costly if I didn’t have health insurance. My daughter plays softball and has suffered minor injuries in the past that required medical devices of one sort or another. This year, we’re planning to have her wisdom teeth extracted and need the insurance to cover the procedure and any medical devices she might need for her recovery.

We’ve jumped through so many hoops during the past couple of years to not only keep our health insurance coverage, but also to try to keep the cost down as well. This is just one more annoying thing we have to do and all because of people abusing the system, claiming dependents on their coverage who aren’t truly their dependents. Honestly, I would love for everyone in our country to have health insurance coverage, but it’s the people taking advantage of the current system that are causing rates to skyrocket and coverage to go down.

If you haven’t had to pay out-of-pocket expenses lately, count yourself lucky. Just click on this link to see many of the various medical devices that may or may not be covered by insurance. If you’re having to pay any of these out of your own wallet, you’ll find out fast just how expensive it can be.

Anyway, now I’ve got to go dig through files and find the appropriate certificates so we keep our coverage. The good news from all of this? My kitchen counters are now completely cleared off and look amazing! Wonder how long that will last!

This post written by me, Lynne Peck, and all opinions are mine.

Just caught this guy outside my window, I could watch him all day long. Isn’t he beautiful!

I’ve seen quite a few cardinals this spring and I love having them around. We were in Arkansas over the weekend and noticed bluejays in abundance. I don’t see to many of those around here, but they were very pretty too.

This post brought to you by apartments.com. All opinions are 100% mine.

Relocation, a subject I know a bit about.  As a kid, my family moved about every 2 years since my dad was in the Air Force.  As an adult, my husband and I have relocated times and have lived in 5 different states since getting married.  It’s not something I enjoy, but I have become pretty efficient at it.

Each time we have moved, we’ve also had to sell an existing home and purchase a new home.  Now this isn’t an easy process when you’re doing it in the same town or even same state, much less when you are moving across the country.  The most difficult thing, after finding the new home, is trying to get the closing dates on the sale and purchase to match up.  It doesn’t always work out, so finding temporary housing can come to be a necessity.  This is where apartments.com comes in handy.

Whether you would be looking for an apartment or condo, or even something larger like a rental house, apartments.com lists them all.  It’s super easy to use, just type in the city and state or the zip code, and the search results will show you just about anything that is available.  The website is super easy to use.  It provides excellent detailed descriptions of the properties listed as well as photos and floor plans.  It even shows you on a map where the property is located.  I like it because it’s easy and takes so much of the guesswork out of finding temporary rental home.

Relocation is stressful enough so it’s nice to have such a helpful website.  Follow apartments.com on twitter @aptscom and even download their mobile app to use their services on the go.

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This post brought to you by Mrs. Smith’s . All opinions are 100% mine.

Once again, I attempted to bake my own holiday pie for Christmas.  It was farely simple, the most difficult task was slicing the apples and I did the with a sharp knife and a confidence I didn’t know I had when it came to baking!  Unfortunately, the pie did not turn out to be as tasty as it smelled.  And yes, it smelled wonderful while it was baking!  The apples and crumbly top were pretty good, but the bottom crust was dry as wood and not tasty at all.  Thank goodness for Mrs. Smith’s pies.  I’m no dummy, I made sure I bought a tasty apple pie and had it as back up in my freezer, so we certainly didn’t go without dessert.

Visit Mrs. Smith’s Holiday microsite to check out all the different flavors of pies and cobblers available.  My favorite is the Deep Dish Dutch Apple Pie with Caramel Sauce, makes my mouth water just thinking about it!

While on the Mrs. Smith’s pies  microsite, I sent a holiday e-card to my mom.  The benefits included both of us receiving a coupon for a future purchase, and Mrs. Smith’s will donate $1 to Operation Homefront for every single Mrs. Smith’s Pie sold during the months of November and December.  By the way, Mrs Smith’s also provided pies to Operation Homefront to celebrate Thanksgiving this year too.

Basically, even if you’re a wonderful baker, if you’d like to save yourself some time & trouble, celebrate the holidays or any day (can’t have too many reasons for having pie!) with a Mrs. Smith’s pie.  They are so much easier, and taste delicious too.  Plus, less clean up means more time to spend with your friends and family!

Happy Holidays and have some pie!