Private vs. Public Schools

I mentioned before about trying to get my son into a new school for next year. I'm going to expand on that today and tell you why I decided not to do it.

What originally happened was that I wanted my son in another school district. That's why we had to

look into alternative schools. We looked at a charter school and a private school.

Now, I went to a charter middle school, which was the best school out of all 4 I'd been to (until college), so I really thought it would be a great environment for my son. Yes, the school was a good size, and that have great projects for the kids to do. Then I started realizing that I didn't want to be just project based, I wanted it to also be based on the fundamentals that you would get from a public school. So we had to move on.
Then we looked into a private. It's a Christian school, which would have also been great because my son loves going to church and hearing Bible stories. Anyway, the school looked great, my only downside was that the classes were very small. I'm talking like 5-6 kids in kindergarten. The money ended up driving me away because I thought "There's no way I could afford this."

So after a year of public school, I decided to look into private again. I talked with people who work there about getting help to pay for the school, and they made it seem like no problem. What I had to pay would be based off my income, and I could make payments on it. They also said that if what I was requested to pay was too much, they would be able to help me. I still felt uneasy about not knowing yet, but I handed in my paperwork and paid an enrollment fee. Then when I was given the paperwork for "getting help", I see at the top that it was another $10 for that, which was never mentioned to me! That needed more paperwork that I didn't have with me so I left. Ever since then, I've been regretting paying that enrollment fee and rethinking my decision.

Last week, I got an e-mail from, who would have been, his new 1st grade teacher about meeting up. I thought, "'Ok, maybe this will make me feel better and we can still make this work." Until I saw it.... $25. $25 to meet with his teacher to see what level he was at. That ultimately pushed me into completely giving up on this school because #1, I've already paid a good amount of money that could have gone to other things (its non-refundable), and #2, WHO in their right mind would pay that??
If I knew what was going on, I could have handled the financials, but if you're tacking on extra fees for ridiculous things, I'm not interested.

If I Had A Billion Dollars.....

At the beginning of the semester, one class had us do an activity where we chose a paper with a random question we had to answer. It was so we could "get to know each other", even though we've been together almost two years.

My question was : If you had a billion dollars, would you continue to work/go to school? I answered yes. Of course everyone thought I was insane. Why do all that when you have so much money to take care of everything??

I try to stay optimistic, but I also know how the real world works. Did you know that to retire

comfortably you need to save almost $1 million?? Well, now you do.

So if I had a billion dollars, yes you might see me driving around in that lifted F-150 I dream about every night, I'd have all my bills paid, we've live in a nice house with a big yard, and my son would have college already paid for.
Howeverrrrrrr, why would I drop out of college now when I'm soooo close to graduating! Plus, I know myself enough to say that I'd be bored. I'd miss my co-workers (even though they sometimes drive me up the wall), and seeing my favorite customers every day. Getting a boat-load of money won't stop me from wanting to accomplish all my goals.
I guess part of that is the fact that I'm almost done with school and my management training. Why let all that hard work go to waste?

Mother's Day

Sorry this post is late, things are getting hectic! Business plans for school are due in less than 2 weeks, meaning the term is over soon! After that, we have a big presentation, which honestly I'm not even worried about compared to just getting this thing done! The week after that, it's off to Pittsburgh for 3 days on a work trip! So things are pretty crazy.

Mother's Day was no exception. After work, my son took me out to Cracker Barrel. We don't go there often, but he loves that triangle game they have at every table. Mother's Day gets better as he gets older because now he can actually write cards. He wrote and colored a whole book at school about us. He even pointed out that he colored my clothes purple because that's my favorite color (yes it is!).

Last night, he went on this rant about going to a baseball game because Ike the Spike and some of the Spike's baseball players came to his school. He went on and on about how after church, we can go home and get lunch, then nap, then go watch a baseball game.


These kids never stop amazing you. Aiden's the type of kid who will tell me he loves me right after he wakes up, just because.

What To Do When You Make A Mistake

Mornings are always rough for us. Yesterday especially. As always, my son got dressed last minute because he'd rather lay on the couch with our dog Bandit then get dressed. Lately, he's been wanting to pack his own lunch, which is fine with me as long as it's not a bunch of junk food. Before we left the house I checked it... all junk food. From a bowl of chips to maybe 8 packs of fruit snacks. I told him to pick two for snack or he wouldn't take anything.


So once we finally get to school, the bell is about to ring. As we were getting out of the car, I saw that Aiden still had his lunchbox, which I thought was still packed full of junk. We had an argument in front of the school, with parents and teachers around watching, as he wouldn't let me take away his lunchbox. Once I finally got it, he had to walk into school crying, and I left crying.

I had to run back to my house for my purse, and I saw a bunch of fruit snacks laying on the table. So I checked my son's lunchbox, and there it was: a kool-aid and small bowl of chips. I immediately felt so bad that this big argument was over nothing. Maybe for a second I thought about how I was going to be late to school, but then I thought about my child spending the whole day at school upset.


I took his lunchbox back to school and asked them if I could see Aiden. When he came out I apologized to him and gave him his snacks back. He was so happy and he also apologized.


The point is-- when you make a mistake like this, even with your kids, you need to fix it right away. If you had an argument with a co-worker or friend and realized you were wrong, you'd apologize, right? Kids are the same way! I couldn't stand the thought of Aiden being sad the rest of the day because of a mistake I made, so I fixed it.


Thankfully, I have an amazing son who just wanted an apology (and his snacks).

What is Moming?

Hey everyone, my name is Brittany, and welcome to my new blog! I'm sure you're wondering why I named this blog what I did, so let me explain:

Have you ever had someone ask you what you've done, or what your plans are for today? Then you have a million things going through your head of everything you've done/need to get done.

"Well, (big breath) Jimmy needed help getting dressed, so I got behind on my morning routine. We didn't have time for breakfast, so I gave him money to get some at school. I was right on time to work, but before I could even get to my desk, I was handed more work. Right after work , I have to pick up the kids and take them to soccer practice, then I have to drag them with me to get some groceries. They'll probably want to eat out again, which is fine because I'll have no energy to make dinner tonight."



And so on. My point is, a mommy always has things on her mind. When you add up everything you have to do between work, home, school, and kids, it's a lot to handle.

So, why can I help with this? Well, I have all of these things going on right now, and people ask me all the time about how I do it. It's not a simple answer. I think by now I've gotten some kind of grip on handling everything, so I want to share what I've learned with everyone to let you know it CAN be done.


Here's a little about myself:
I'm 23 years old, and I have a five year old son named Aiden. He's currently in kindergarten, and I'm in the process of registering him for a new school for next year. He also takes tae kwon do classes three times a week. I'm in my third year of college. I'm studying Management and Marketing at South Hills School of Business and Technology. I work part-time in the food industry; I'm currently doing management training there as well, which includes online work, book work, and classes to attend.


Crazy right? Well, I've been handling it so far, so I must be doing something right. Don't get me wrong, managing all of these things is a constant struggle. However, I promise you, it's worth it. Within the next year, I plan to be a certified manager, have a newer car, and be in our own place. That's pretty accomplished for a young single mother.


That being said, I want this blog to help everyone. I'll be posting things about time management, organizing, keeping things manageably clean, some fun crafts, and anything else that pops up along the way.

I'd love any feedback, comments, concerns, or ideas, so PLEASE comment with anything on your mind. (This blog will be moderated.)

Until next time,

Brittany