Spring in the land of pleasant living

Okay, I am ashamed to admit this. Especially because I admitted in my first post that the main reason that we moved down here from Baltimore is that we really love living near water.

But during the winter months, I tend to not notice the various bodies of water are there.

That isn't to say that I don't see them at all. I am in no danger of driving into the Eastern Bay or the Kent Narrows due to my lack to notice. I just sort of see them in my peripheral vision and don't really pay that much attention. I mean, most of the time they are covered with ice or some kind of winter scum and aren't all that pretty or noticable anyway. Plus, I rarely if ever cross the Bay Bridge, so I don't have the whole of the Chesapeake smacking me in the face usually.

And then a day like today happens. The first real warm day of spring. There is a little bit of a chill still in there air, but you can feel the potential for warmer temperatures later on. The sun is out, and the light hits the Kent Narrows Bridge just right. There is a slight haze on the bridges that suggests how they might look this summer during the dog days of July and August. I love this time of year. The towns, Grasonville, Chester, and Stevensville, appear to be waking up from a long winter's hibernation, and the water looks like it could actually sustain a life form or two.

As I crossed the Kent Narrows Bridge today on my way back from the Safeway, I could see all the way to the lower half of Kent Island. I was suddenly reminded why I love living here. I love the fact that there is, just feet away from us, an entire ecosystem of life. An entire population of creatures that live in a world we can only imagine, but have no idea of the world above them. Rockfish, crabs, water snakes, and various other types of marine life are swimming among the sea grass, blissfully unaware that just above them we are rushing around trying to get kids to school, pay bills, buy food, and meet the myriad demands of human life on this planet.

I find contemplating their existence to be comforting. So, little fishies, enjoy the arrival of spring! At least until the weather gets a little warmer and I can try to catch you!!!

See you then!

Deja-vu, all over again, and again, and again!

Wow!

That's all I can say at this point. Wow!

It has been way too long since I have been on here. I almost couldn't remember my password, it has been so long.

Things have been really busy. Sometimes I feel like that proverbial chicken with her head cut off, or at least running to keep her head from being cut off. (That's a really gross saying, now that I think about it. But all the really busy descriptors seem to be) I found an extra curricular activity for my daughter that requires the appropriate shoes (soccer) and I found, and then lost, and then almost found a job again before I even started going back to work.

Did that sound confusing? I wish I could say that the news was better, but I can't. My fabulous tutoring job for the fall, the one that fit perfectly with my life, is in serious jeopardy. I was supposed to teach a class of homeschooled eastern shore middle and high schoolers about American History. The hours fit perfectly with the very popular preschool that I already enrolled my son in, and it was going to be my entry into secondary education (which is where I really want my career to start to move towards). Sadly, the school did not enroll enough students to justify my position.

I wish I could say that this is the first time this has happened to me, but it isn't. The private school where I taught second and third grade had a similar situation about 5 years ago. I got to wait all summer for word on whether my class would even exist for the fall. The first year they didn't enroll enough children and I had to go work at a job that I absolutely hated. The second year luck worked in my favor and I was able to teach my class again.

So, here it is, 5 years later, and it's deja-vu all over again. Everything old is new again, and I get to wait all summer to see if the fates will work in my favor. The tutorial said they would keep registration open all summer in the hopes of still having my class. All I can do now is pray, and have a lot of faith that things will work out in the end.

So, if you know of any high school home schoolers in the Queen Anne's County area who are dying to take an American History class with a FABULOUS teacher, please send them to Bridges Christian Tutorial in Centreville, MD.

If you don't, I am probably going to have to work at the mall. Yikes!

Oh, and don't forget to see the bottom of this post to vote for the Kent Island Discovery Zone to receive money from Pepsi to reopen it's doors. Help my friend re-open our beloved center, and give local kiddos a safe place to play!!

Dial 1 for Absurdity!

I was just last night presented with a possible business opportunity that I may not be able to pass up. I have been thinking about it all night since I had the initial conversation on the side of Route 50 on Kent Island. (I would tell you why I was standing on the side of the highway, but I don't want to embarress the person who's truck accidentally ran out of gas. And no, it wasn't me) The woman who came to bring us a couple gallons of gas and rescue us from having to walk home started a converation with me that sounded a lot like she was pondering a business arrangement with me. I don't want to say too much right now, in case I misunderstood her, but it was very interesting and right in my wheelhouse.

Sadly, I didn't do the smart thing and ask to ride home with her and continue the conversation. I also didn't get her email address or phone number. All I got was her husbands name and her address.

I had planned on trying to get in touch with her early next week, but my curiousity and impatience got the absolute best of me and I decided to call her today and try to set up a lunch where we could talk. Getting up to get the phone book seemed like too much trouble, so I picked up the phone and dialed 411. I connected to Vonage 411 and the computer voice directed me to "press 1 for English". Well, I pressed 1, and the system HUNG UP ON ME! Not to be deterred, I tried again. This time, when I pressed 1 for English, I could hear the system click me over to another line and start ringing. I counted the rings, and 17 rings went by with no one picking up. WHAT IS THIS COUNTRY COMING TO??? Seriously? Vonage cannot find English speaking telephone operators on a Sunday?? Thank God I wasn't trying to dial 911 or anything. I would probably be dead by now!!!

Do you know what I ended up doing? I got up and found the trusty old phone book. Already written in English and guarrenteed never to give me attitude about it!! I quickly found the woman's number and dialed it.

Busy Signal!

No matter, I will not be deterred!

Why a Chicken Necker?

The title of my blog is Confessions of a Chicken Necker Mom. Seems weird, I know. Before I introduce myself I should probably explain what the heck a chicken necker is. The short definition is someone who was not born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, but insists on living here anyway. The term is also used to describe tourists to said area. Nobody has explained to me yet how long you need to live here before you aren't a tourist anymore. I am still waiting for clairification on that one.

To introduce myself, I am a 37 year old mother of two. I have a 5 year old daughter and a 2 year old son. My husband works in computers and I am a stay at home mom. Basically I sit in front of my computer all day and try to figure out ways for it to make me some money. In my pajamas. While I change my son's diapers and plead with him to use the potty.

I was raised in the Baltimore, Maryland area, and my husband and I made the decision two years ago to move our little family to Maryland's Eastern Shore. To the uninitiated, I live in that little sliver of land located across the Chesapeake Bay from things that most people would consider "civilization". I plan on sharing my perspective as a parent raising children in a land that sometimes seems as foreign as Neptune. I anticipate some of the subjects I will be writing about include my frustration over the lack of street lights, theatre, and the presence of the school fog delay. I may also start complaining about the sheer amount of time it takes my husband to get home across the Bay Bridge on summer Friday nights.

It's isn't all bad, living here, though. There are many good reasons to live here. When people ask why we moved our entire lives away from our families and everything we knew, I can recite a variety of reasons. The school system here is one of the best in the state. The crime rate is so low it is almost a crime that we have to pay police to work here at all. (Although I think perhaps that the low crime rate is BECAUSE of the police here, now that I think about it). Located on the eastern sliver of a state that has made taxing things a recreational sport, we enjoy very low property taxeds. Oddly enough, these reasons, while good and worthwhile, are incidental to our real reason for moving here. Plain and simple, we just like living near water.

So stick with me and hopefully I will entertain you as I negotiate the waters here. (Look, I made a pun!) I already have an entire notebook full of things to complain about, as well as my marvel at the wonder of nature. So stay tuned.