Catch-Up

It's been a while since I last blogged and I thought I better take some time to catch-up on the last couple of weeks. I must say that time has flown by so quickly. I haven't mentioned much about my new job since I started, so I will tell you a little about how that is going.

When I took the director position at the daycare, I knew that things were in pretty tough shape there. I just didn't realize how screwed up every aspect of it was!! My first major change was to increase the tuition and change most of the payment policies. I can't believe that the hourly rate for childcare was only 40 cents more than 15 years ago. We did lose several families due to the increase (and I feel bad about that) but we can't give our service away for free.

We've been slowly purchasing equipment and toys to replace worn out stuff. We just got cots that are more sanitary to store than the old ripped up mats they were using. I can't believe how excited the kids got over "new beds". We also bought a toy kitchen set with dishes and pots and pans. Arranging the room into learning centers and switching out the toys has also helped reduce behavior problems.

We have a long way to go to be considered a "quality" childcare center, but we are slowly making progress. Most days I really enjoy my job. When I get home in the evenings, I struggle to get my mind turned off and usually look forward to going to work each day. The downside is that I have a hard time figuring out how to get laundry and housework done when I am gone so much. Mostly I miss not seeing Jeff all day every day like I have for the past 2 1/2 years.

Good Eats in Louisville

First, let me say that the conference last week was really good. The worship band was versatile enough to be able to do traditional hymns as well as contemporary/christian rock so we got the best of both worlds so to speak. They had some great speakers and I really enjoyed meeting many pastors and connecting names and faces. But one of the best parts of the week was the food!

The breakfasts at the B&B were really yummy. We especially liked the lemon raspberry crapes. Lunches were just whatever we could get close by the conference center and was usually either fast food or a sandwich at an all-American type of restaurant. We did have one afternoon free and ate at the cafe at Churchill Downs where we were served fried green tomatoes and Kentucky Derby Pie.

Evenings is when we tried to find something different. We took advantage of many ethnic restaurants in downtown Louisville. We ate authentic Mexican and Italian food as well as at both a Moroccan and a Persian restaurant. The Moroccan place was unique in that it was also a store, so it was filled with jewelry, rugs, robes, framed art, and pottery. My favorite was the Persian place. Persian food is from Iran. These are pictures of what we ate - sorry, I'm not sure what it is called except that it is a rack of lamb. After a week of eating out, I am sure glad to be home and eat cereal and PBJ's!!