Author: Deby Ciui (Chewy)

I am a wife and a mother to 2 beautiful girls. I want to share my experiences with anyone willing to listen...
Fun North Carolina Animal Encounters for Homeschool Families
Fun · Homeschool Life

Fun North Carolina Animal Encounters for Homeschool Families

Deby Ciui (Chewy)Leave a comment

We are two weeks into homeschooling this year and have officially had our first field trip. I’ve lived here for so many years and somehow am only now hearing about so many cool things to visit and experience. This week we visited the Greensboro Science Center, a museum, aquarium, and zoo, all in one. Aside from the heat it was quite an enjoyable experience. Some of the zoo animals were understandable hiding/sleeping due to the temperatures but we still got to see otters playing, the adorable red pandas snuggling up together, and many many more. I have been to North Carolina Zoo several times but in terms of ease, I do believe I enjoyed this place even more. As much as we love the big NC Zoo we do tend to get overwhelmed and exhausted whenever we visit. The Greensboro Science Center let us take our time and enjoy ourselves at our own leisure. Of course, now that I know what to expect, I think I’ll wait to return during the spring/fall when it is much cooler.

Every year I am excited to plan out field trips with the girls. It is one thing I always loved when I was younger and wished that I could have more of but they seemed to no longer exist after elementary school. So, since I am the teacher now, I get to plan as many field trips I want. For now though, I’ll admit that majority of our field trips often involve animals of some kind whether they’re wild animals or domesticated. This year promises to be no different as I already have a list of places I’m looking forward to exploring with the girls.

  • The Carolina Tiger Rescue
    • This is somewhere I have visited on multiple occasions but have not taken the girls to yet. I am excited to see their faces when we are so close to the big cats. I personally always enjoyed the tiger rescue and learned something new each visit.
  • Carolina Raptor Center
    • I have lived in NC for almost 20 years and somehow only just discovered that this place existed! This is also on my list of field trips this year but will take some planning due to distance.
  • Aloha Safari Park
    • Another place I only recently discovered and am looking forward to visiting.

The list goes on, between local museums that we have visited before and the usual zoo/aquariums that we always love. I don’t know who looks forward to our field trips more, me or the kids.

Picture of a sand clock with the bible verse about not worrying about tomorrow. Embrace the Present: Celebrate the Victories
Life

Embrace the Present: Celebrate the Victories

Deby Ciui (Chewy)Leave a comment

I’ve come to the realization that lately, a large portion of my time has been spent thinking about the future.

  • I’ll do this when I get a new job…
  • I’ll finally be able to do this once I have more…
  • I can’t wait until we move and I can…

To give some examples of future dreams that are always on my mind. But I also find myself getting lost in the to-do lists of the future. Whether its getting stuck thinking about how busy I am going to be when homeschooling starts again in August, everything we have to prepare for our vacation next month, planning the budget for this month. These are all tasks and goals that will eventually need to be done but why am I letting them stress me out now? Why am I getting overwhelmed now, for something that I’m not going to have to deal with until months from now and in all likeliness will not even be as bad as I am making it out to be in my head.

When you are a new mom they tell you to enjoy the moment while it lasts because you will blink and they will be grown and getting ready to move out. That statement is very much true. When you’re younger it is like time moves at a snail’s pace everything takes “foreeeeeever” as my daughters would say. But when you’re grown, without even realizing it, time seems to hit the fast forward button. One minute you are celebrating New Years with your family and the next you realize half the year is already gone.

So then back to my main statement, why am I wasting the precious time I have with my mind on the future? Don’t get me wrong, thinking about the future is good. Having dreams is wonderful (I have so many of them). But I need to stop getting so lost in ‘the future’ that I am not present in the, well, the present. I seem to get lost in the fog of it and it is overwhelming to think about all of the things I want to do with my life and many times I find that I forget about the accomplishments that I have made until that point and treat them as if they didn’t really matter.

I want to change that part of my mindset, starting now. So I have been thinking about different ways I may be able to do that.

  1. Health/Weightloss: Instead of thinking about how much time and work it is going to take to get to my goals, focus on what I can do today. Did I make good choices, today. Did I try to do some kind of exercise, today. And so on.
  2. Homeschooling: We are on summer break, don’t stress about the homeschool schedule that is going to be to months from now. Focus on today, what can I informally teach my children today? Maybe they have a question or need help learning how to do something or use something.
  3. Household Chores: My nemesis. Let’s face it, these never end. I already implement my strategy of Micro To-Do lists, but I need to make sure I stop adding something to that list if I already know there is no way I am going to be able to finish it. If I want to do something big, like re-organize the pantry, I know I will not be able to finish that within the span of today, not with work and everything else I have going on. So my plan going forward with these ‘big’ chores, is to pick 1 thing that I know I can accomplish that day that will get me one step closer to my goal. Falling back on the example of the re-organizing the panty. I know I wont be able to finish the full re-organization today. But if my pantry has 6 shelves then I can start from top to bottom and re-organize 1 shelf at a time.

These are just 3 main categories from my life. But my method moving forward is to focus on what I can accomplish now. What can I get done today, with the time that I have. I don’t want to give myself impossible tasks that I know I won’t be able to do because I am just setting myself up for failure. If I know I am going to be gone from 8am-8pm then why would I add clean the living room to my to-do list (yes, I have done this)? I’m just going to feel defeated when I see the list and nothing is crossed off. But you know what happens when I assign myself tasks that I am able to accomplish and I get to cross those items from the list? I feel a sense of accomplishment and renewed energy. The same can be applied to my health/weightloss journey. If all I do is focus on the number of pounds I want to lose I will be too focused on the future. Instead I want to focus on what I can do today. I am going to eat well-rounded meals and take breaks from my desk so I can do a few minutes of exercise.

My goal moving forward is to set myself up for success, not failure, and to celebrate the victories no matter how small they may seem to others.

Impact of bilingualism on Life Experiences
Fun · Writing Prompts

Impact of bilingualism on Life Experiences

Deby Ciui (Chewy)Leave a comment
Daily writing prompt
Which languages do you speak and how did that impact your life?
View all responses

I’ve never answered one of these writing prompts before but when I read this I thought, oh hey!

I am the only child from my family that was actually born in the US after my parents/siblings came to this country as refugees in the 80’s to get away from Communist Romania, ooh boy is THAT a story.

I grew up speaking English and Romanian. How did this impact my life? When you grow up in a bilingual family you find yourself doing things that seem totally normal to you but is completely different to other people. Like translating what teachers or doctors say so that your mother can understand. Imagine getting in trouble at school and then having to translate what your teacher is saying to your parents. Or helping you parents put together invoices for clients or respondings to text messages and emails on their behalf. Not to mention those awkward moments when they have to call a utility company and then randomly hand you the phone to speak for them.

Some key things I find this experience has shaped in my life:

  • I’ve found that it is often much easier for me to understand foreign clients with thick accents than some of my colleagues and I have to avoid offending the client by repeating what they say so my colleagues can also understand.
  • Got me used to talking to strangers/utility companies on the phone (I’m used to it. But I still try to avoid it.)
  • Taught me how to build out invoices. (I wonder if I should include this on my resume, just kidding.)
  • ACTIVE LISTENING – You have to actively listen to someone to be able to translate for them.

It also taught me that there are different levels of fluency of a language. Sure I might consider myself fluent in Romanian, I can carry a conversation, can read and write, etc. But when I had to deal with a Romanian customer using technical IT terms I realized very quickly that I do NOT in fact speak technical Romanian. It’s like a lawyer speaking ‘legalese’.