I'm a working mom survivor!

Well as crash commented on my last post, yes my working days outside of the home are officially over. I submitted a time sheet for 87 hours for the past two weeks. I think cartwheels, back flips, balloons, and confetti are in order. But I am too tired for that, so I will settle for falling onto my bed in a coma.

It is interesting, my job last week for the actual furniture show, was to stand at the doorway of the Global Views showroom and greet people. You know saying things like "Welcome to Global Views" and the always popular "Have a nice day". I did, however, manage to squeeze in a few ba bye's ala Helen Hunt on Saturday Night live stewardess sketch. But man being cheerful and smiling all day long is exhausting.

Can you imagine what would happen if when customers asked "How are you today?" I responded with saying "well my back is killing me, my feet hurt even worse, and I have a son with multiple medical issues, and a mother and mother in law both undergoing Chemo for breast cancer. Not to mention a husband whose job wants to cut back his hours, a pool that looks like a swamp and a house that looks like a candidate for clean sweep or some other television make over show, and I am not prepared for the pandemic flu that I keep reading is coming, let alone knowing what to do with my wheat, despite my ward's valiant efforts to teach me. "

So instead of scaring customers away, I lie through my teeth about 500 times a day and say "I am fine, How are you?" And they probably lie right back to me as well.

All this faking it did seem to rub off a tiny bit. It was a change for me, and sometimes a change is as good as a rest. But other times a coma or a straight jacket are as good as a rest.

I do bow down in ardent admiration to any working mothers. Honestly I have no idea how you can do it all the time. I have seriously neglected my full time motherhood job, for my full time paying job for three weeks. Hopefully no one is scarred for life. And hey now I can pay for their therapy, right? And now I can try to get every one back on track and doing what they are suppose to be doing, when they are suppose to be doing it.

So I am extremely grateful for the extra cash, which is already spent and will go to paying off debts. But it has nearly killed me both physically and emotionally and to say I am glad it is over would be an understatement like saying the Titanic was a little bit wet and cold.

Perhaps it will help me appreciate the blessing of having only one full time job. We will see. I already made two phone calls about medical issues today, so it is good to have time to work on those problems again. Just like when it is good to get a root canal. And now I am taking my daughter to the mall for a long promised trip. Although I don't remember the promising, but she assures me that the promise was made and insists I make good on said promise.

Some important things were learned during my foray into the work field:

A family can survive for three weeks on cold cereal, chips, frozen food both cooked and uncooked, and various canned goods. Although no one cracked open the number 10 cans of wheat, so it couldn't have been that big of an emergency, despite their cries otherwise.

The day of miracles has not ceased as attested to by the fact that my 17 year old found his work shoes one day and his apron and cap on another day all by his very own self. This is something that would have fallen under my expertise had I been home to rescue him. Good job of bending and lifting things and looking in more than one place, son.

It would appear that I am the one doing much of the stuff that needs doing around here, as most things did not happen. You know things like getting the mail, picking things up around the house, handling of school affairs, and life's little luxuries like food and water. To my husbands credit, he did do the laundry one Saturday, which can not be discounted in its helpfulness to me.

Although I had assumed otherwise, I was able to adapt to the custom of putting on a bra, clothes, and make up every day. I figured that it was a habit I had manage to completely break but wearing a bra, clothes, and make up must be like riding a bike. Easy to get back into. Although I have never ridden a bike without my clothes so perhaps I have nothing with which to compare it to. Anywho, I even wore clothes that made me look professional, instead of a bag lady having a bad hair day.

Truth be told, I would never want to have a career. Way to much pressure. Unless it was a career as a Broadway star, then I might be interested. So for now, I will be very content to return to my life as a full time mom with my little some times part time job.

And who knows someday, when my kids are grown, I may find myself returning to the workforce in my chosen profession of accountant, but til then you will find me bra less, laying on my couch, eating bon bons watching Oprah. Oh, yeah and resuming my position as the chief operating officer of our household as well.

I've missed you all.

Oh my goodness. I am totally having posting withdrawals. Perhaps I need a twelve step program to help with my addiction. But I don't even want to get over it, so that might need to be the first step.

My absence from blogging has been a combination of my part time job and my husband and son hogging the computers full time. Seriously, I love you both dearly, but GET OUT OF MY HOUSE AND GO TO SCHOOL. Next Tuesday. Next Tuesday, I could be sitting in my house all alone.

Actually I will probably be working. I work part time as an personal assistant for a friend who sells home furnishings and accessories to stores and hotels. It is a great job because it is so flexible. Her husband is usually her assistant, but he works during Tax season so she needs more help this time of year.

Looks like my turn is up again. Thanks for letting me vent for a minute.

Bubble Wrap Blues

Last week I worked helping the company I work for pack up a bunch of product in order to make room for the new stuff in July. Here is a picture of six of the large crates we filled up with plates, vases, and other things. All total we filled up 10 of these crates. It was a big job that took two days. And it was rather tedious, so thank heavens for my new MP2 player. Of course I can't complain about my paycheck, so yay for opportunities to earn extra moola.

Crazy work week!

Well this week was one of the weeks that I had to work. I put in some insane hours working 42 hours in just 4 days. This explains my lack of posting. And I have so much to post about. Coming soon - Mother's Day, Yard Sale Mania, Trent's Homecoming Dance, and soccer. I have to work again this afternoon. This morning I am tyring to get a few things done around the house, as my lack of doing any housework this week is glaringly obvious.

Work, Wal Mart, and Wise Crackers

So when I went to figure out my hours, so I could turn them and be paid, I discovered that I had worked 37 hours in just 5 days. No wonder I am so tired and my house is such a wreck, and my kids have been eating cold cereal for dinner for a week. Sheesh! Well at least I am done for a while. There will be more stuff to do in January. And I my checking account will very much appreciate the infusion of cash. So that is all good. I needed an extra helper last Monday and Tuesday. Jared was out of school for Veteran's day and teacher prep day so he volunteered to go with me. He was a big help. Part of our job was to help with the sample sale. Jared was excited to earn $8 in tips when he helped people get their stuff to their cars. He was even more excited to earn $180 for two days work. He already spent some of his cash on Guitar Hero III. Yea for paying jobs.
Due to the fact that pretty much every one in our family is on the brink of exhaustion, we have decided not to go anywhere for Thanksgiving. Both of our families wish we would visit, mine in Utah, and Marion's in Arizona, but they will survive without us somehow. I am looking forward to a very relaxing weekend full of movies and scrap booking. Oh yea, and a day of crazed cooking. But even that shouldn't be too bad. My turkey is defrosting in the fridge as I write. We will see how much of the trimmings cut trimmed away or make it to the table. Then on Saturday there will be the highlight of the Holy War to watch on TV. For any of you not familiar with what that is, it is when BYU plays the University of Utah. It is always a big game, but it is an even bigger game this year for very many reasons that I will not bore all of you with. I have missed parts of the last two games due to church responsibilities and the fact that I came home from the ward camp out very sleep deprived and fell asleep while watching last Saturday's game. Inconceivable! So I am keeping next Saturday from 11:00 to 2:00 sacred. Just so you know, don't call me and my kids will be instructed not to talk to me either. Not that it ever works, but it will be worth a try. Usually the boys are too embarrassed/annoyed with my screaming and leave the room. I will have to think of a project for Diana to keep her busy.
For any of you who are unaware there is good news called the movie Hairspray was released on DVD today. I just got back from Wal Mart with my exciting purchase. I went to Wal Mart because they always have their movies marked down the first day it comes out. Of course then I was enticed by the evil powers of the movie industry and succumbed to buying a two disc version for $25. I could not resist the "sing along to the lyrics track" or the "step by step dance moves". I am such a sucker for giving in and paying $10 more for it than just the plain DVD. While I was shopping there was announcement made over the loud speaker that went something like this:
"Attention all managers, please report to the meeting room where Nancy will give keep us spell bound by her information that she will impart in a most interesting way. And will someone bring some napkins for Dave. He has brownies all over his face and he needs napkins."
I found this announcement to be quite amusing and unlike any other I had every heard there. Who knew that there is actually one Wal Mart employee with a sense of humor? Besides the DVD I got some new sheets for the beds in Diana's room. The ones she has now are quite old and worn out. You know colored on with pen and stained by a burn mark when a hot iron was accidentally placed on the bed. Just your usual wear and tear. We are having some company this weekend and so I though they might enjoy having some decent sheets on the beds. So with only 3 items, I figured that I would use the self check thingy. I scanned the first item and put it in the bag. I think I forgot to touch it to the blue star on the scanner, so the "Skip bagging" message appeared. I hit OK. Then the machine said "Unauthorized item in the bagging area." Criminy, it was the one that mistakenly thought I was skipping the bagging. The same thing was repeated with the next item. For crying out loud, how long can it take to check out with three items? Finally I was triumphant and left with my purchases. It was at this point that I remembered some pants that needed to be returned but of course were still at home. Curses. Maybe next time, which is what I tell myself every time I go.

Cannery Candids

So today I had an exciting adventure called going to the cannery. Not even being able to remember the last time I went, I figured it must be time. In the event that we had to live on our food storage, it might be good if we had more than a case of macaroni and cheese. The sad thing about my current food supply, is that I really have no idea what or how much I really have. It is all tucked into various and sundry places and I have not kept a good inventory. So I figured that I couldn't go wrong getting just a little bit of several things. And hey, any day you get to wear a hair net is a good day, don't ya think? My most exciting purchase was a case of apple slices. It was hard not to eat them all, while I was canning. Now if I can just convince Jared and his friends that these apple slices would be a great snack choice. They have entered the "hoard of locust" phase of teenage hood. It seems like all I ever hear from Jared is "I'm hungry" and "What can I eat?" Now I will have something else to suggest instead of "Go make yourself a dang Quesadilla." He and his friends seem to devour what ever there is around here. I also got some oatmeal because I love it in cookies. The other thing I got was a case of wheat. I don't think I have much wheat because Marion is not a big fan of wheat. He had enough of it when he was growing up to last him a lifetime. Which may not be that long since he doesn't eat whole wheat. Any way now I have a case that I can look at and feel good knowing that at least I have it. We had to can 11 bags of powder milk and that was kind of a pain. We do have a lovely, large, new canning facility that was just opened 6 months ago. So after about two and a half hours we had finished the task. We started for home, but the three of us in our car all agreed that we were famished. So of course we had to stop at In-N-Out for a little lunch. This is my friend Teresa showing off the lovely lap pad they give you so you don't spill on your lap. What a great day... hard work, yummy food and time with good friends.