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A week of sick kids, high stress and no sleep has left me feeling like poop on a stick, but I wanted to share a linky to a news story on what I’ve been up to.
More later, when I’m feeling better.
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Been keeping busy at work: we wrapped up the Career Fair Friday; the Pink Slip Festival is a week and a couple days out, and there’s still a ton of details to handle for that; the day after the Fest I have another two classes to coordinate … I’m looking forward to August – when Dan will be on vacation for a week and I’ll be sitting around with my thumb up my butt. Comparatively speaking, at least – there will still be tons of copy writing, web site maintenance, Tweeting and status updating on his behalf, brand-building … the things I do and have learned to do on this job are so awesome for my resume and future employability. Assuming I ever leave this job 
I had a dinner meeting Thursday (I am starting to gain weight from all the dinners and drinks lately … lunches weren’t that bad for me, since I could make good choices – but dinner and beer … ugh.) to start the ball rolling on the next event Dan’s thinking about – a golf tournament. More on this later, because I really can’t take all of that in until I wrap up the Pink Slip dealie. But yeah, a golf tournament. Thankfully I know rules, etiquette and terminology since I’ve dated a lot of golfers. I even understand *how* to play; I just wouldn’t subject anyone to playing with me.
Bean’s b-day party is Sunday the 19th at a drop-in daycare place, Wanna Play Playcare. They do private parties on Sundays so that should be a nice change from the flashing lights, loud noise and frantic chasing around at places like Chuck E Cheese – I’m anticipating this being a lot more laid back and less stressful because the kids will be locked in a couple thousand square feet and the parents won’t need to watch their every move.
Although I won’t be running my usual zone coverage on the girls – Dave and his parents will be there, as will my folks. With that kind of support watching the girls, I could hold the party at the beach in heavy surf and feel a bit more relaxed than I do when I’m on zone defense. I just usually never get to talk to anyone because I’m tracking Bean and O; it’ll be nice to have them both confined and to have extra eyes on them.
And speaking of Bean, who sent her and O the Sherlock McBiscuit book? Too, too cute!
Bean’s behavior the past two nights has been horrible. It’s like she can make good choices and be well-behaved until like 6:00, and then it all shuts off. She won’t listen or do what I ask, she runs away laughing, she ignores me … it’s enough to make my tiny little brain *snap*. So there’s hollering, screaming, threatening and, sadly, sometimes a spanking – that she laughs about and then ratchets my blood pressure up like a bazillion. And then right when it’s time to lay down, tearful apologies and promises to make better choices so she can have her stories back that she lost, get to change out of the pajamas I put her in when she wouldn’t listen, etc … like that makes it all okay and that gets her everything back. She can’t act like a sh*t for an hour and then say “sorry, I’ll make good choices” and *poof* get everything back. I actually took her new Ponies away and ‘threw one in the garbage’ last night. Seriously. Well, ‘seriously’ in that she thinks it’s in the garbage, but I really went that far in an attempt to get her to listen and behave. It worked for 3.5 seconds.
And then when it’s all over she wants me to hold her and apologize to her. And then tells me I’m bad when I won’t apologize. Good times.
I’ve got a tired, crying toddler to deal with (up at 4:45. Joy.) so I’m just going to wrap this up so I can post something … I’ve been working on this since the 9th!
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I have some thoughts that will be shared *privately*, but let me just say that sometimes, I feel like kicking people in the shin. Hard.
Two days from now I’ll be chilling, poolside, in the balmy Sarasota and enjoying a beer with my BFF. I cannot wait. I haven’t seen her in almost 10 years, and it’s a long overdue visit. I’ll be down there for my 20th high school reunion – oddly enough, from the school I left after 10th grade. But Pine View is a kind of special case, where most of us were there from 4th-10th, so my leaving my junior year isn’t the same as if I had only known them two years, yanno?
I’m really looking forward to seeing my old classmates; I’m looking forward, too, to time spent with Kelly and Kerri, to being in my old stomping grounds, to seeing my sister, to the sunsets and sand and emotional recharge of Siesta Beach … And hopefully to not burning to a crisp when I go to the beach on Friday. I think it’s been just shy of a gazillion years since I’ve been to a beach. Actually, it’s only been since I was on a cruise about 5-6 years ago, but still. I’m fairly certain there are vast tracts of skin that have forgotten, entirely, what the sun is.
I’m also looking forward to getting my iPhone at work tomorrow. My poor boss – it was supposed to be for when I was there 90 days, but I’m going on vacation after being there two months So my punishment is an iPhone; that way I can do work when I have some free time. Because I’ll have sooo much of that. I figure it’ll be great for airport time.
And I’ll have a QWERTY keyboard!! Yay!! Do you have any idea how hard it is to text on the old Razr I have? It’s so sad.
Actually, I’m a little stressed about taking the time while I have so damn many balls in the air, but it is what it is. I’ll bring my laptop and the new phone and maybe be able to stay on top of a few things. Sort of.
And, since it’s way overdue, a couple pics of the girls.
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And yes, she is out cold
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Ahh .. a little Los Bad Apples, a little Blue Moon … it’s a tough life but someone has to live it. All business meetings should include beer and martinis.
(FYI, I was all about the Blue Moon and *not* the martinis. Martinis + Blue Moon would equal very bad decision-making. Even in the marketing world.)
Nothing says summertime like a weiss beer with orange slices. Nothing. Kels, you may argue that Corona says it better, but you just need to come to terms with being wrong. And nothing says “solid bidness skillz” like weiss beer and bidness. I even built a bridge over troubled waters.
Yes. I am *that* good.
Work is crazy – I’m coordinating a career fair, 11 career building classes and a community event for 500+ people. Oh, and yeah – still doing my ‘regular’ job of copy writing, branding and client communications. I’m two weeks out from the career fair and only have half the employers I need confirmed; and 30 days out from the communit event (The Pink Slip Festival) and still identifying balls I’ve dropped on that one. I said I had event planning experience when I landed this gig, but was pretty specific that it was corporate events, so I’m a bit over my head here.
Doesn’t make my job any less fun, just a bit more overwhelming at times. I’m falling asleep thinking about all the stuff I need to do, dreaming about work and waking up remembering something *else* I have to do. Le sigh. I have ‘to do’ lists everywhere and if it’s not on the list and no-one reminds me, it’s in the dead zone – hopfeully I’ll remember, but if I don’t, hopefully someone will ut me some slack.
I have a 9:30 meeting tomorrow to wrap up more Festival loose ends, then need to get back on the phone lining up companies and recruiters for the job fair on the 8th. Oh, and did I mention I’ll be out of town the 25th thru 28th? I will. And likely with limited or no Interwebz … ah well, it’s extra motivation for Dan to get me my damn iPhone
On Sunday I got to see a coupe of the guys I went to college with; they were in town visiting (one was in Kileen on bidness, the other now lives in Houston) and Dave invited me to spend a little time with them when I dropped off the girls. It was really great to see them – it’s funny how those of us who go to college a little later really don’t change much over ten years. But man, do situations change. Last I saw these guys, I was getting ready to get married; now I’m dropping the girls off at Dave’s for his turn on parent duty. But sitting and talking to those guys was just like talking to them in 1999 while we were all studying at Marston Science Library at UF or over-indulging while we tailgated for Gator games.
Makes me even more excited about seeing my old middle/high school friends at my reunion this weekend …
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Was listening to NPR on the way home and caught a broadcast of PRI’s The World. What a cool show.
I caught an interview on The World with a woman, Sahar Gabriel, who recently moved from Baghdad to Detroit. Sahar was a translator for the NY Times in Baghdad, and moved the the US to live with her favorite uncle as she didn’t feel like Baghdad was her home, and she was concerned for her safety since she worked for and with Americans. Her perspective on American and Americans is refreshing and a little naive, but in an enjoyable and guileless way. She still blogs on the Times’ Baghdad Bureau site.
In her interview, Sahar told the show’s host that the conversation she was having there was the first real exchange she’d had with an American. Her experiences living in Detroit have been kind of insular, in that she’s living with relatives and the area she’s in is, to paraphrase her, basically like living in Baghdad. I commented on her blog that I’d welcome starting a conversation with her; not that it’s likely it will happen, but her story and experiences really stayed with me long after I was done listening.
Work is going really well. I’ve been kicking a$$, cranking out tons of good work and really enjoying my days. The time flies by, especially on the days I leave early to pick up the girls. I like what I’m doing, I’m meeting tons of interesting people and I’m feeling really fulfilled and happy. Don’t tell Dave, but in a way I wish a I had started work long ago. In a lot of ways, I’m glad I had that year to stay home with the girls, especially for Miss O’s sake, but I much prefer finding a work-life balance to finding the ‘drown myself in a bathtub’ – ‘enjoy watching the kids grow’ balance.
I’m going to go relax with a glass of wine and watch some TV. It’s a mommy-flying-solo weekend and I plan to enjoy it
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TGI Thursday. Why Thursday? Dave has the girls tonight and my sleep-deprived self can get some sleep.
Tuesday night and Wednesday night both featured marathon, middle-of-the-night nursing sessions that kept me awake at least an hour until I had had enough, stopped Miss O and then spent 30+ minutes trying to get her to sleep. Tuesday night she woke up several times *before* the nursing session, but last night she at least slept solidly until the session. Idiot mommy stayed up until 11:00 reading, as they typically sleep until 6:45 or so nowadays. Except today, when they woke up at 5:45. Actually, Miss O was up a little before that nursing. Again. So maybe 5 hours of fractured sleep for me? Like I said – TGI Thursday.
Here’s how Bean woke up – I was laying and nursing O, and heard Bean pass gas. She sat up and said: “Mommy can you say Pootle? Poo-tle. The first letter is P and the fifth letter is T. Pootle is a funny way to say gas.”
At least I can start my day with a smile. And plenty of coffee, as I have an extra hour of pootle-around time.
Sleepiness aside, I’m doing really well. It’s a bit of a mad shuffle to get the girls out the door in the morning, and fed at night, but I’m finding my groove. Clara, thanks for the crockpot suggestion – I’ll be using this kid-free weekend to look at menus and meals and do some shopping and pre-planning. I can do that and bag some frozen meals to throw in the fridge to thaw and then heat when I get home, too. I need to buy a smaller crockpot, I think. My parents very kindly gave me their hugantic one, but it’s just too big for daily meals. It cooked the ever-loving crap out of the homemade mac and cheese I attempted once, I think because it was spread so thin on the bottom.
But I really am liking being back at work. My brain is actually hitting on all cylinders most days, and I knocked out a ton of stuff yesterday. Still working on a Twitter handle for the boss, but we may be making some progress – thanks to everyone who gave me input when asked It’s so nice to be a grown-up for such a big chunk of the time now … being a single mom, I think, makes the stay-at-home part even harder as there is so very little grown-up time. And when the other parent has the kids, it’s hard to get grown-up time because that’s when all your friends are doing family things. Throwing work into the mix means 40 or so hours of guaranteed grown-up time a week, and that’s pretty cool.
The gym right by the girls’ school is running a “$9 to join, $9 a month, no contract” membership drive and I’m very tempted. I could do M/W/F pretty easily … assuming they have showers there. It’d be a pain to come all the way back home. Not impossible, but a pain. I guess I could just as easily get my lazy tookus out for a power walk/run every morning that the girls aren’t here. I just need something for my upper body …. hmmm …
A couple Beanisms for y’all before I hit the showers and get this show on the road.
Mommy: Bean, would you like some crunchy strawberries and bananas?
Bean: Well, my brain thinks it’s okay …
Bean: C had macaroni and cheese and broccoli for lunch
Mommy: mmmm. That sounds good (totally lying thru my teeth). My favorite way to eat broccoli is raw with ranch dressing.
Bean: My favorite way to eat broccoli is that nobody eats broccoli.
Bush Sr. would be so proud …
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Pony-related Beanisms of the morning:
Thank you for buying me all these pink ponies. Once they see their homeland they will be happy.They still like Rainbow Dash, even though she’s not pink.
All the ponies are saying they have their brand new island. Now, Rainbow Dash doesn’t have to go in anymore. Flower Butt has to go in though.
I now have like 10 My Little Ponies sitting on my mousepad – their island – and they’re making me feel a little claustrophobic. Miss O has liberated a few, but I’m still being stared down by a handful of flat, expressionless eyes. And it’s a little creepy.
I’ve given up on not nursing Miss O at night. The screaming is just Legen -wait for it- dary. And I can either have her working herself into hysterics, waking Bean and eating away even more of my fractured sleep, or I can let her work on reestablishing my milk supply as I drift off. Which one do you think I prefer?
Well, *prefer* might not be the right word, but there’s one that makes my life easier in the short-term, and you’re damn Skippy that’s the route I’m going. It’s either that or me spending a half hour at a time trying to make her be quiet and resenting the ever-loving heck out of her. To the point where at 2 a.m. I’m thinking “I wonder if I could modify the custody agreement and just give O to Dave forever and just keep Bean … “
We’ve been hosting a career fair and career-related workshops at work for the past few days. Turnout has been awesome, and it’s great to be doing something to help people with their job search. We had close to 200 people show up for the career fair on Wednesday, and each of the 12-13 companies there had at least 5 jobs available. I know that at least one of the participants already has an interview scheduled.
Yesterday one of our workshop speakers was a no-show, so the guys who were doing the videotaping stepped up to the plate with a presentation they had with them on using social media. If there’s anyone local who needs some filming work done – or speaking on social media – think about Reel social Media. Their presentation was funny and engaging, and provided tons of useful info. And they’re just really nice guys.
They also made me realize I am going to have to start Tweeting … I’ve been resisting, but it’s time for me to be assimilated … I know you’re all waiting with baited breath, so I’ll post my id as soon as I sign up. ‘Course that’ll mean not falling asleep with the girls again tonight
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Bean and I were talking yesterday, and I can’t remember exactly what she said first, but it was something silly. When I said she was being silly, she followed it up by saying “I was just kidding around. I just wanted to set up a joke material for you.”
Better yet was when I was giving my mom the run down of things she could do with the girls while they were all here yesterday, and I started talking about painting. “You can always let them p-a-i-n-t if you want. There are brushes and stuff in the closet and both girls like to do it.” My mom may better recall what exactly Bean said, but the gist was: “You’re talking about paint. That’s what you keep in the closet.”
So, no more spelling if there are context clues involved.
When I left for work yesterday, Bean flipped out – crying and screaming and running out to the garage. It was the first time I’d left her after being reunited with the kids, and she was not happy about letting me out of her sight 
I held her and talked to her, got her calmed down and promised I’d be back. Hopefully by my keeping that promise, she’ll be fine going forward.
It’s definitely tough juggling everything at night when I get home from work, and getting them to bed at a decent time. My parents aren’t really able to get good naps for the girls, so hopefully when they return to school, they’ll be napping again and the evenings won’t see me coming home to exhausted kids But getting into a real routine, instead of this kind of suspended animation of my parents pitching in and helping (a ton!), will be nice when it finally happens!
Those of you who have done the working parent(s) thing for awhile, how long does it take to feel comfy with the routine?
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Ahhhh …
All is right with the world. I went to work – yes, I still have a job – and went to pick up my girls at grandma and grandpa’s afterward.
You read that right, the girls are home. I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people happier to see me than they were. Bean was ecstatic when Dave called to tell her I’d be picking her up; my mom said she screamed “my mommy’s coming to get me!!” And Miss O … she came walking over to me with this huge smile that didn’t leave her face until bedtime. Just beaming up at me, and reaching up to hug me over and over.
Bean announced to me: “I worked really hard and I earned you back, mommy.”
This is the email she dictated to grandma today:
Dear Mommy,Feel better soon and have me come to your house soon. And you always have to have a dog again and make sure you never forget that you will never make your dog leave. And please I really want to come to your house today and I really want you to be married to grandma and you always can stay with me all the time and stay with me overnight. And you are supposed to clean everything in your house and make sure your house stays alllll tidy and dusted up and when you make a recipe everyone can come to your house. Make sure you buy all the toys your kids want.
So when Dave sent me an email asking if I thought I could take the girls tomorrow night, I said absolutely! We went back and forth a bit about what the girls’ school would say if my test for H1N1 comes back positive and the girls are now with me, but we decided that even by the most conservative estimates (me getting H1N1 the very day I tested positive for it), today is 8 days later and the CDC says people are only contagious 7 days. So then the discussion switched to is it okay for me to have them starting tonight, do I feel like I’ve recovered fully, etc. Dude, wild horses could have trampled me nearly to death at lunch and I’d still have said “I’m fine!”
I am so, so happy to have them home. And since they’re still not “allowed” back at school (no test results for me yet), it’ll be a slightly easier transition to working mommy, because my folks are willing to come here and watch them for the next day or two.
Work went well today. My brain was actually firing on all cylinders and I had a good day. More on that after I have a few days under my belt, but so far, I think I’m going to be happy here. And I think I’m going to like being a working mommy … tho after 10 days without my kids, I’d like nothing more than to spend the day with them tomorrow. Oh well – that’s what weekends are for, right?
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So, as evidenced by the death and graveyard conversations, Bean and I talk about all kinds of stuff. Interesting stuff, sometimes, completely banal stuff other times. We haven’t done rocks in the belly, yet, Julia, but if your explanation to C involves pictures, or, better yet, visual aids, I may drop Bean off for the show and tell portion
Tuesday (in addition to dead people and cemeteries) we talked about how and why one would go about resurfacing a road, including trying to explain how cars and weather degrade the surface of the road, and how they lay down a new layer of asphalt without removing the old layer. She just couldn’t wrap her head around the concept of how the road surface would ‘wear out’. When I explain things to her, I ask “Did that make sense? Or should I try to explain it another way?” But really, how many different ways can one explain ‘wears out’. I tried using holes in clothes as a comparison, but I think she’s still pretty cloudy on the wearing out thing …
Later, when she and I were talking about why she shouldn’t run away from the grownups she’s with, I was trying to be kind of vague and not scary about everything at first, telling her that it was dangerous and bad things could happen. She said “I need you to explain it a different way.” That’s when she got the ‘taken by a stranger/run over and die’ bit. Now every time she doesn’t understand what I’m saying, she says “I need you to explain it a different way.” Bed time takes even longer as I explain every nuance of her books to her, usually once but often enough at least twice. Le sigh. Kinda makes O’s non-communication look good by comparison.
Melissa, I’ve been thinking about you this week – how did it go for you and for R?
I’ve been at work one day this week. I felt like crap Wednesday, but I medicated it into submission and went in, only to be rewarded with a 101.5 fever Thursday morning, and the kind of sick that makes even your teeth and hair hurt. I’m waiting on chest x-ray results for possible pneumonia. Fun. I’m pretty sure I’ve strained my lower back and ab muscles with all this coughing, and my head is constantly pounding. Great way to start a new job, huh? Hopefully, *hopefully* they will be understanding, and by Monday I’ll be well enough to go in and kick some serious butt. And this will just be a few days we all forget about in short order.
Thankfully my folks were around to help out with the girls yesterday, so I could go to the doc and get the x-ray solo, then even get a nap in in the afternoon. I slept 9 hours last night, and plan on repeating that tonight. I already got a good nap in this afternoon with Miss O, so while I still feel like death, I’m getting some of the rest I need (and that the doctor ordered – ha!) to help my body recover.
O has made a few appearances in her daycare room this week, and she loves it. Today, she watched Dave walk out the door and turned back to what she was doing. After he took Bean to her classroom, he came back and she was happily wandering around doing her own thing. I hope, hope, hope she is going to do well with this. I am really encouraged by Dave’s report, and by my own experiences of her playing happily and making friends, and cautiously optimistic about how it will go for real on Monday.
I got the sweetest phone call from Bean last night when she was at her daddy’s. I was on the phone with Kelly, and clicked over on the call waiting to join a conversation in-progress (she doesn’t grasp that she needs to wait for someone to answer the phone before she starts talking.) She had gotten an ant bite and jabbed herself on a “pokey plant” while at the park with daddy and wanted me to know. She was also worried about me, asking if I was resting and “soaking”, as I told her I soak in a hot tub when I don’t feel good. Poor Kelly gave up on me, as there’s no way to explain “the other line” to a 3.5 year old, nor did I want to rush her off the phone. I spent a few minutes talking to her and then called Kelly back.
I’m anticipating a weekend of laying around like a lump as I try to kick this. They told me I should start feeling better within 48-72 hours, and if I didn’t I needed to come back in. I’m holding the doctor to that, because I cannot imagine feeling this rotten for much longer
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