Changing work schedule

Today I started my new work schedule, which is really my old schedule, for the most part.  I don't know how full-time working mommies do it and keep sane.  I went back to work full-time in December, after a few years of 32 hours per week.  I just can't get it together!  Our company merged, so the new company policy is to work 35 hours per week to keep benefits, so that's what I'm going to do.  Since Dan works a contract, we get our benefits thru my job.  I know that doesn't seem like much, but being able to log some hours from home will be awesome. 

Well, the past few months, I've been a bitchy, stressed out mess at home and at work.  My house is a complete disaster. I can't keep up with laundry, can't volunteer for much at Zoe's school, can't even have lunch with her.  By the time I got home from work, I was physically and mentally exhausted.  I actually like to cook, but just didn't feel like doing that or much of anything.  I would get up very early and try to do house stuff before getting Zoe ready for school, then rush off to work.  After work, I would rush home to meet the school bus and take Zoe to whatever activity scheduled for that day.  It really felt like I was doing everything I did at home before, plus working 40 hours, with little or no help. 

So, I really hope I have made the right decision.  Tomorrow will be a "home" day, and I am actually looking forward to cleaning, straightening and getting my house in order.  I will log in remotely to work.  I was so much happier before, when I had this schedule.  I hope I can find that happiness again.  Of course, I'm totally stressed out now and have convinced myself that someone will complain.  I never had complaints in the past, but I still worry.  Jobs are scarce out there and I'd probably never find a job that allowed me to have a flexible schedule.  So, hopefully all the years I've put in and work I've done will keep things going smoothly.  Fingers & toes crossed.

Girly Day!!

Zoe dubbed yesterday “Girly Day”. It was fun. It’s nice to do something girly every once in a while and get pampered. She and Lizzie really seemed to have a good time at the nail spa. Something tells me we’ve created monsters. I have to hand it to My Nail Spa, they were awesome with the kids. I’m sure it could get frustrating, but they treated the girls like princesses. They got to pick colors for their fingernails and toenails, and tiny decorations to make them really fancy. They even got to soak their feet and sit under the nail dryer.

After that, we took the girls to lunch. They picked Burger King. Yuck, thankfully Ali and I ate something else since we were at the mall. Then we went to Gymboree and they picked out some clothes. Both of them picked out hats. Lizzie picked a fabulous floppy sun hat, while Zoe added another “secret agent” fedora to her hat collection.

We rounded out Girly Day with a trip to Build A Bear for Lizzie’s birthday party followed by cupcakes. On the way out of the mall, the girls stopped by the exhibit for the Broadway show "Wicked".  Can't have Girly Day without pink feather boas and tiaras!  (And a magic wand of course!)

All in all, I think the girls had great day getting pampered and having fun. Now I just need to make my appointment at My Nail Spa.

Spring Break 2010

My first official spring break with Zoe wasn’t too bad, all things considered. Next year, I think I will take the easy way out and just go visit family in Virginia for a week. I can pawn her off on grandparents, aunts, cousins, etc. Spring break kind of snuck up on me this year. We created a list of potential activities, so we could choose one “fun” activity a day.


Day 1 – Went to the Lego Store. Zoe made three Lego people, which was cute, but we have like a thousand of those tiny Lego people. Then we went to Claire’s to ask if they could pierce both ears at the same time. They said yes, want to do it now? So we did. Zoe did great. She is very happy about her earrings. Then we visited Game Stop and took a look around at the games on sale.

Day 2 – Met grandma for lunch at Bear Rock Café. I try to do lunch with my MIL and Zoe when we can. After that, we went to the 10th circle of hell, known as Chuck E Cheese. Ugh. Zoe had a great time, so I guess that is what counts.

Day 3 – Ate lunch at Burger King. (Zoe’s favorite, not mine.) Then went to a free golf clinic for kids. Zoe had a blast. It was neat to see all those kids out there playing in the sunshine. I got to read my Kindle for a couple of hours. Can’t beat that!

Day 4 – Daddy took today off, not one of Zoe’s better days. They went to the movies to see How to Train your Dragon. That was cool. Had a little quiet time at home. After the movie, she went back to being bad and pushing daddy’s buttons. She succeeded.

Day 5 – Zoe started the day off by pushing Daddy’s buttons some more. She managed to tick him off again. For our fun activity, we had breakfast at Denny’s and then headed to Build A Bear. We had a great time. Got home and Zoe took up her favorite activity called “How quickly can I tick Daddy off”. She may have scored her best time yet. Got to spend quite a bit of time in her room, screaming, throwing things, etc. Good times!

All in all, it wasn’t too bad. The last couple of days were a little shaky, but that’s it. I think we are all looking forward to her going to school on Monday.

We thought she was writing a nice note!

Boy were we wrong. We were way off! I remember when she wrote this one. She told us she was writing Jack a note. She got some paper, some crayons and sat down at the table. Then asked if she could go deliver it. My mistake was not looking at the note. I mean really, of course my little girl is writing something sweet and nice, right? Big fat WRONG!


Fast forward to a few minutes ago, the doorbell rings, it's one of my neighbors. She's holding a note. She asked if it was Zoe's handwriting, I said yes, that looks like the note she was writing the other day. She said it blew into her yard and thought I might want to see & read the note. I'm like, OK, sure. OMG! It was an "I hate you" note! I am so embarrassed! (Her penmanship has improved though, so I guess that's a positive.) The note said "Jack" on the front, with a red heart crossed out with an "X". On the inside it said (complete with backwards "J") "Jac I hat you becus you are men". Then she drew a picture with an arrow pointing to it with "Jack" written over the arrow. The picture even had blonde hair. Dan said, when she was writing the note, she had asked him what color Jack's hair was and he said blonde. She said "that's yellow, right"? Little did we know why she wanted that information.

Here's the kicker, my neighbor said she wanted to make sure I knew about the note because Zoe had written her son a similar note a few weeks ago. WTF? Now, don't get me wrong, we have gotten our share of "I hate you" notes from her in the past. We've even kept some, because they are freaking hilarious. We've gotten pictures with faces marked out with “mom or dad” written over them". She always seems to "hat" us about something, but I was totally caught off guard this time. I'm still in shock.

Much needed couple time

Sometimes, you go so long without having any couple time that you start to think that's the norm.  I'm not sure the last time we got to spend a nice evening alone.  We usually get at least once a month, when Zoe does her "sleepover" at Grandma's.  (She calls it her sleepover.  LOL!)  We had a nice evening tonight, out of the blue, totally unplanned.  It made us realize that we really do need to take time for each other and that it really takes an effort from both of us.  We've kind of been just co-existing I think.  Hanging as a family, as parents, but we need to work on getting the "couple" back.  I think we can do it. 

Our neighbor has two daughters that Zoe plays with.  The older one was having a birthday sleepover.  The younger sister asked if Zoe could sleepover as well.  It was like a much needed gift.  Dan & I had dinner, talked, played some Wii games, we had fun.  It's really been a long time. 

Wonder if we'll be getting a phone call at midnight saying Zoe wants to come home?  Should be interesting.  I guess technically it's not her first sleepover, if you count Grandma's house or when her friend Lizzie stayed over.  My baby is growing up so fast!

Kindergarten boyfriend

I can't even say the words without cringing.  I'm told that it's probably a phase and to roll with it, but truth be told, I am appalled at the whole idea.  What the heck?  This is too much for my nerves to take. I'm not even really sure what bothers me so much about it.  I know it's all innocent, but it just seems like she is too young to even know the word "boyfriend".  She told me her boyfriend was Caleb and that he was in love with her.  Even just writing that makes my hands shake.  It doesn't help that I've seen Caleb "Mr. Fast Pants" at work at the bus stop, and I don't like it.  He's very touchy.  Apparently he was hugged up on her, on the school bus today too.  Some neighbor kids told me that one.  I guess I will just have to try not to think about it, not sure what else to do.  I did tell her that she needed to tell him to keep his hands to himself and that I didn't want to hear about any kissing either.  That would push me completely over the edge that I'm barely hanging on to right now.  Ugh!  Just enjoy being a 5 year old!  What happened to boys being gross?  Aren't boys supposed to be gross and disgusting at this age? 

Working Mom

Sometimes it's really hard to balance working and home life.  This is one of those times.  I try so hard to be organized, but sometimes things just are beyond my control.  Dan is out of town this weekend, it's been planned for a while.  Of course, my work migration/merger project is happening this weekend.  Talk about feeling alone and like a failure!  Thankfully, my MIL was able to have Zoe stay overnight.  I've been here at the office since 9:00 AM.  This morning, I had to make sure I had a bag packed for Zoe and all her school stuff.  I left work about 2:00 and went home, so Amos wouldn't be in the crate for 24 hours!  Hung out with him a little, then met the bus.  Then we rushed out to make it to Phyllis' office, so I could go back to work and here I am.  Now, I'm wondering how the hell I'm going to get back to let Amos out again and I also was hoping to do some grocery shopping.  I have no groceries.  Couldn't go earlier because I didn't have any time to make a grocery list.  So, I rushed and made grocery list while waiting for the bus.  LOL!   You do what you have to do!  Well, it's not looking like I'll be making it to Harris Teeter tonight.  Which means, who knows when I'll get to go.  When I do actually leave here tonight, I will most certainly have to log in from home.  Tomorrow I have to pick Zoe up and then take her to a birthday party.  I wish I had the foresight to find someone to help me out this weekend.  But, I wasn't thinking I guess.  Can't think of everything I guess.  If I have to come in the office, I will have to bring Zoe, but when the heck am I going to?  We have a birthday party to go to on Sunday too.  I'm so tired of working! 

So, how do these mom's do it?  Do they have nannies?  Family members that are close by?  I wish I knew.  But, this weekend, I'm kind of feeling like a failure.  Mostly a failure to my family because I want them to come first, yet, here I am at the office STILL!