I recently read a blog by Sweetmama that I thought was wonderful. And just a joy to read.

I too am a stay at home mom and I homeschool my son whose 9. He was in Public School until this last Fall when we decided it was time to HS.

I have had a couple jobs in the 11 years my husband and I have been together. They were nice to get out of the house and have the bit of extra income, but In my situation it wasn't the greatest thing. I ended being just rude and such to my husband. I didn't like that and a lot of it was because of those I worked with.

The last job I had was working for the State just 6 miles from home, which where we live doesn't happen often.....lol. It was a great job and just seasonal, I do miss the income but not the way I became while working there. The only reason I had to get that job was because at the time my dh was looking for a job when they shut down the sawmill he was working in. AND was only told about it because my husband asked the boss right out. So we were without any income for at least a month.

But we got back on track and I then decided when my son was in 1st grade that I would not be going back. He had been having troubles in school and such. It helped that I was home while he was in 2nd grade in PS although it might also have been nice to not always get the negative calls. Not that the school meant to do that, I had talked with the Principal several times and she indeed liked my son and just wanted to help him. So its nothing like him being *attacked* by any of the staff. It was all good intended.

Anyway to get back on track, I did work with a member of my husbands family. And now that I homeschool I've still heard comments from just one person about getting a job outside the home. Like "oh you should apply to such and such in the photo department. I just simply say, I homeschool my child, I have no time. Then I get the comment of, well after your husband gets home you could work. I just sit and think WHY would I do that, then we wouldn't have any family time at all.

So yes would probably could use the extra income, but in the end its not worth it for us. We live in the boonies and any job would have me driving 25+miles one way. And for what? MOre gas money going out and less family time. I think not.

I have NO issues with anyone being a working mother, because sometimes you just can't make it work without 2 incomes. We have somehow managed and I couldn't be happier with being able to stay at home, and homeschool my son.

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Posted by Lizziebee

Hi Emily,
Generally, if a lilac has not been pruned on a regular basis, it will have less and less leaves and blooms as the years go by. So, the thing to do is to prune either in the fall (when leaves have fallen but you can see bud production) or in the early spring (before the buds leaf out). By examining the bush you can see which branches are dead or have become unproductive. There are two ways of trying to fix the problem. One is to cut the lilac way down in the spring and let the bush produce suckers (this is the reaction to being severely pruned). The suckers will grow like wildfire and within a few years you should have a very bushy and productive lilac again. The other way (which is what I am doing) is to prune back all the dead and nearly dead branches (including suckers, branches that are growing crosswise into the bush rather than outward), and then feed the bush and make sure it is getting enough water. Then I'll do that again next spring and see if I can't coax some more growth out of it. All this takes a few seasons, especially if the plant has been neglected. All the best and thanks for visiting my blog!

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Posted by Emily23

I forgot to mark down checking back with you.

I'll have to check things out again when it warms up a bit again with no rain and prune some more. I've tried the past 2 years to slowly prune but its hard work indeed....lol

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