Thursday Thirteen April 30, 2009
Man what a difference a few months make. I recently became a first time Mom. But instead of a single infant, I became the mother of a nine year old boy, a seven year old boy, and a five year old girl. And life sure has changed. I wouldn’t change it for a minute, but writing has taken a backseat lately.
So this is thirteen things I have been doing other than writing.
1. Soccer games and soccer practice. The boys both play soccer. My crazy husband is even coaching the youngest boy’s team. Of course, practice is on different nights. The games usually take up all of my Saturday. LOL my Saturday, like it belongs to me anymore.
2. Drop offs and pick ups. Thank God we only live about seven miles from the school. But I have to have them there in the mornings by 8:30. (I am not a morning person.) Pick up is a 3:30, but I have to be there around 3pm or wait in line forever.
3. Cooking. I used to cook maybe two or three times a week. Now, I cook two or three times a day. Don’t get me wrong I love to cook, but that brings us to number four.
4. Dishes. When it was just the two of us, we could go a couple of days without needing to run the dishwasher, now I should run it twice a day.
5. Laundry. Again one of those things that B.C. (before children) I didn’t have to do that often. Honestly, we owned enough towels to get through an entire week without needing to wash them. Now a couple of loads a day. Except my clothes, I never seem to have time to wash all of my clothes.
6. Homework. Every afternoon, as soon as we walk though the door. Now I know what my parents meant when cursing the “new math” we were learning. Some of the terms on my son’s homework I had never heard of before. And I actually like math.
7. Reading. I have always done a lot of reading, but it is my choice of reading material right now. I really don’t know if I am more excited to read Scream-free Parenting, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, or Cinderella.
8. General housekeeping. With three extra people using the bathroom, some things have to be cleaned more often, especially when little boys live there.
9. Watching cartoons. I have a new appreciation for Tom and Jerry and a new hatred for Spongebob.
10. Hugging and kissing. Sometimes I get dozens of hugs and kisses a day.
11. Teaching. Some thing I have always loved. The topics just get really weird sometimes, but my nine year old knows the basic workings of an internal combustion engine, now.
12. Worrying. Some thing I rarely did before they came, but now, I worry more. I worry about the future, which I never did before.
13. Watching and listening to others sleep. Not quite the same as standing over your baby’s bed, but I like to watch them sleep nonetheless.
Maybe now that we have settled into a routine I can get some writing done, or maybe not, summer is coming, and I will be home with them all summer long.
Thursday Thirteen January 29, 2008
I have worked many different places since I graduated high school, and there were good thing about every one of my jobs. So here is a list of thirteen jobs I have held, and what I liked about them.
1. Cashier at Wal-mart. Okay this was a summer job, but I did get a 10% discount which I used to deck out my dorm room for college.
2. Circulation Clerk at the University of Tennessee Library. Me in a building with a million books. I got to read when I didn’t have a patron in front of me. It was all good.
3. Reservations Clerk at a Days Inn Reservation Center. Employees could get rooms for 10 dollars a night.
4. Teacher’s Assistant. I got to teach General Bio labs. I worked for the Department Chair so when I told him that the computer class I was required to take was stupid and that I used the computer more in his office than in class, he waived the requirement for me.
5. Tutor. I helped several people get their GED so they could get better jobs and go to college.
6. Purchasing Manager. I got to buy things for a living. People took me out to lunch and dinner. They sent me gifts. I got to order things I wanted and paid wholesale prices.
7. Cage Cashier. I got to handle money, lots and lots of money.
8. Pit Clerk. Okay, I have to say that the best thing about this job was not the job itself, but one of the perks of being a casino employee. Free food. Employees eat free in the employee dining room. That may not sound fantastic, but most nights I ate steak and shrimp. Plus, most of the time we had my favorite desert in the world. Chocolate Eruption, a dense chocolate cake hollowed out and filled with chocolate mousse and chunks of cheese cake, topped with caramel, pecans, and chocolate shavings.
9. Assistant Manager of a women’s clothing store. Again 10% discount. First shot at the clothes I wanted.
10. Student Nurse Extern. Many nights I got paid to study. If I had a few hours in between classes, I could just go to work and get paid.
11. Labor and Delivery Nurse. I helped bring life into the world, and got to share in one of the most special times in people’s lives.
12. ER Nurse. As an adrenaline junkie this was a wonderful job. Besides I got some of the best stories working in the ER. The things I have seen. Oh my, I didn’t think that would even fit there.
13. Nursing Supervisor. I walk around and talk, then I go back to my office and I can write for a little while, then I walk around some more. I get all the good parts of supervision, without the headaches, I don’t have to write anyone up or fire anybody. And at the end of the day, I’m not really responsible for anything.
The best thing about my current job is that I only have to work two nights a week. The rest of the week is my own. It is going to allow me to basically be a SAHM and still bring home a paycheck. A pretty decent paycheck, at that.
What do you love about your job?
Thursday Thirteen
Thursday Thirteen, January 22, 2009
There is so much I have to get done, it doesn’t even begin to approach being funny. The kids are coming over this weekend for the first time. And after that only three more weeks until they come home forever.
1. I need to make curtains for the boys’ bedroom.
2. I need to make curtains for the laundry room and back of the house. Since we moved our bedroom around it is too bright for me to sleep during the day.
3. Move the Playstation and games into the boys room.
4. Organize my bookshelves. I *sob* am going to have to downsize the library. All the more reason that I need a Kindle or other e-book reader. My library could take up almost no space at all, and I would be able to be certain that some books are never in the reach of children.
5. Shampoo the carpets, with an older dog and a puppy, this is an ongoing issue.
6. Buy bookcases for the boys’ room.
7. Clean out the freezer. I plan to spend almost nothing for groceries for the next 2-3 weeks, while I eat things like Artichoke and asiago stuffed chicken breasts. I am guessing those aren’t real high on the list of likes for a four year old.
8. Clean out my closet. I have just been putting more and more things in there to move them out of the kid’s rooms and closets. I am afraid to walk in there sometimes. I think I might get buried under a pile of odds and ends.
9. Along with the closet, I seriously need to go through the dresser and give some things to Goodwill. I haven’t worn some of that stuff in a year or longer. Why do I still have to hold on to it?
10. Stock up on arts and crafts supplies. I am basically going to become a SAHM, since I only work on Saturday and Sunday night. I will be spending all day with a four year old.
11. Take all the baby stuff to my SIL. I have collected things through the years for what might have been. But now I know I won’t be needing baby bottles and bibs for my new children. My brother’s wife is expecting their third baby and some of that stuff might come in handy for them.
12. Finish Gabe and Lucy. I really should move that up on the list. I don’t want to put writing on a back burner, really, I don’t. How do you guys manage? I seem to find enough other things to distract me from writing without three kids under foot wanting fruit snacks and koolaid.
13. Somewhere in the midst of everything else, my nephew is getting married. His bride to be asked me to help her plan the wedding and to be one of her attendants. Huh, several years ago I started cross stitching a wedding gift for him, thinking I would have years before he got married. Who told him he could grow up and get married? I really like the fiancee, and she has two little girls, so now my daughter has some girls near here age to play with. Oh, and it isn’t like I picked anything easy.
See, I never do anything halfway.
