The Rat Race

Boy howdy folks - time hasn't been flying for me - it's been moving at warp speed - or so it seems.

Again it's been forever since I have posted and I really miss you all. Honestly I am trying to post more, but finding the time has been hard since I don't have a job where I sit on my arse all day where my main responsibility was to just look busy.

I AM busy in this job....very busy and I love it. At first I have to admit it was very difficult being away from the boys. There were a few times I tried to write a post about what a crappy mother I felt like for going back to work, but I never had time to finish it. Now I'm more or less over that feeling. More or less. It also sucked having to be at the gym at 4:45 AM so I could get my workout done and be home in the shower by 6. And it really sucked having to pluck the little guys, all warm and toasty out of their beds at such an early hour and then listen to them whine, argue and complain all through breakfast because they were so tired and cranky. Yes, the first couple of weeks were very lovely.

But as we humans do, we have all adjusted to the new routine of mommy bringing home some bacon too. And things are going well. Little D and Captain Crazy are doing great in school and honestly I think they adjusted faster and easier than I did. (I actually carried one of Little D's socks around in my pocket one day I missed them so much)

I do have lots to write about. Some of the people I work with are crazy, and some are a few fries short of Happy Meal, but they are all good people and really nice and fun to be around. One of the managers is a nice, tall drink of water and since he's not my boss so I don't feel bad getting all slobbery when he walks by. But, more about all of that and other things will have to wait for now. I have to hit the shower early this morning.

Thanks for still stopping by and checking to see if I am alive. I do love to see to you here!

The New Normal..almost

So I got a little taste of my soon to be "new normal" (being unemployed) this week and all I have to say is that I may need to starting take some super vitamins.

So far I have survived a trip to the coast, two trips to the water park, and a trip to the zoo with the kids....by myself. Don't get me wrong -I had a great time, but right now I am so freakin tired my eyes feel like there's a slow acid drip eating away at them. Sweet.

My boys are loving this new routine - I can tell they're trying to figure out what they could have possibly done that was so awesome as to deserve all of these exciting adventures with Mommy.

However, they're not going to be to happy when they wake up tomorrow morning and find out they have to go to school/daycare - at least for another whopping four days as that is all I have left to work. Quite frankly they're going to be pissed off and I completely understand - I don't want to go to work tomorrow either. Like I said in my last post, I'm actually looking forward to spending more time with the boys while there's still a good chunk of summertime left. And isn't there such a thing as "short timers" syndrome - or does that only apply to high school seniors?

Anyway, I also have a gnawing feeling that I am going to jump through all the hoops to get signed up for unemployment and Cobra to just turn around and not need it. At least that's my hope..sort of. Does that even make sense?? I do want this layoff to be a temporary thing, but just not too temporary. How crazy is that? I must sound like a complete idiot!

Oh well, if I do sound like a raving lunatic I'm placing the blame squarely on my fatigued body, my water-logged brain, my sunburned back and the stomachache I have from eating a Big N Tasty at McD's this afternoon with the kids!

Downsized....and I'm not talking about my waistline.

The inevitable has finally happened - I have been "let go" as of today. Or I guess I should say "temporarily" let go as of today.

I'm really not surprised - the writing on the wall has been there for quite a few months. Our work has slowed down to barely a drizzle and it's been painfully slow and boring at work.

My boss is calling this a "temporary thing" and has already told me that he will need me back on board in as soon as a month or two if the company wins any of the project bids that we currently have out right now.

So for now my plan is to apply for unemployment and COBRA and to look at the positives in this situation - which to me appear to be numerous. To begin with, I'm going to get to spend more time with my boys and they will be super happy about that. Secondly, this could be the break I need to decide if this is the path I want to continue down. I stumbled into this work quite on accident and just kept chugging along quite frankly because the job fit my needs at the time. But now I'll have a chance to look at what else is out there and actually go for other opportunities without feeling like I'm going behind my boss' back. If I do decide this is what I want to do and here is where I want to be, then it will only be a matter of time until things return to work as usual around here, and I can definitely live with that.

My biggest concern in this whole situation is my poor husband. I think I better have a nice cold beer waiting for him when I break the news to him tonight!

When you have a son......

There's a saying that goes something like this - 'when you have a son, you work from son up to son down'. I can't for the life of me remember where or when I heard it but I couldn't agree more! My "mommy job" is an ass-kicker. My days are long, busy, and very tiring. They are never a stroll through the daisies, they are never a cake walk, they are never a 'sit on the couch and eat bon-bons while my nail polish drys' type of day. For the proof that's in the pudding - just read on. (I swear that all events and happenings depicted in the following account are true, accurate and not at all inflated to make myself look like super mom. I swear.)

My Day -May 7, 2008

7:00 a.m. - Rise and shine
7:15-7:30 - Nurse The Destroyer, change his diaper and get him dressed for the day
7:35 - Wake up Captain Crazy, cattle prod him into bathroom to get dressed
7:40 - Start breakfast (scrambled eggs, fruit, yogurt and cereal) Did I mention my boys eat like mini-truckers?
7:45 - Captain Crazy comes into the kitchen and announces that he's starving and needs his "brekwist" RIGHT NOW!
7:50 - "Brekwist" is served
8:15 - "Brekwist" is over, clean up boys/kitchen
8:30 - Get myself dressed and ready for day while trying to prevent The Destroyer from stuffing t-shirt into toilet
9:00- 10:30 - Playtime with boys in living room.
10:30 - Load boys into double jogger for a quick walk around neighborhood
11:00 - Back home to meet a friend and her son for a play date at our house.
11:30 - Neighbor drops her 2-yr-old son, Calvin, off for the day. I agreed to watch him until 5:00 p.m.(Yes, I was smoking crack at the time)
12:00 - Start making lunch for 1, 2, 3 and 4 yr-old boys.
12:15-12:45 - Enjoy relative silence while boys cram their little cake holes full of PB&J, fruit, and milk.
12:45-1:00 - Lunch clean-up. Potty for big boys
1:00 - Diaper changes for little ones - get them ready for their naps. Please God in heaven, let them take naps! Play date leaves.
1:30 - Put The Destroyer down for nap.
1:35 - Read nap-time story to Calvin, put him down for nap.
1:45 - Go back into The Destroyer's room and stop him from pounding on bedroom wall.
2:00 - Little ones are asleep. Hallelujah!
2:10 - Put DVD on for Captain Crazy's quiet time
2:15 - Go into kitchen to eat MY lunch - a big, fat, hairy bowl of ice cream. So good, but oh so bad!
2:30 -3:00 - Load dishwasher, unload washing machine, unload dryer, load washing machine, load dryer, fold load of laundry
3:00 - 3:45 -Pry Captain Crazy off of couch and go out side. Water plants, pick up dog shit from backyard, play in sandbox with Captain Crazy
3:45 - The Destroyer awake. Change his diaper. Wake up Calvin for snack time.
4:00 - Snack time over. Play until Calvin goes home at 5:00.
5:00 - Hubbie home from work. Thank God!
5:00- 5:20 - fall into bed for quick power nap
5:20 - get up and start dinner while Hubbie plays with boys
6:00 - 6:45 Dinner
6:45 - Family playtime
7:00 - Bath time for boys
7:30 - Bedtime
7:45 - Take a walk - by myself. Yay! Decide to walk to grocery store for milk.
8:30 - Return home with 2 gallons of milk and arms that are 3 inches longer.
8:30 - 9:00 - Make Captain Crazy's lunch for pre-school, fold and put away another load of laundry.
9:15 - Take a shower and get ready for bed - finally
10:00 - Collapse into bed
11:30 - The Destroyer wakes up. Get up to check on him
11:40 - Back in bed
12:38 - The Destroyer is awake, again. Go in and check on him.
1:00 - Back in bed
4:20 - The Destroyer awake, again!!!! Roll over and turn off monitor and go back to sleep
6:00 - Captain Crazy climbs into bed to snuggle.
6:40 - Up for the day.

You're Outta Here!

My daycare provider, (I'll call her TL for TOTAL LOSER) officially gave my kids "the boot" last Friday. Her exact words to me were "February 29th will be the last day I will be able to provide care for your boys. I hope we can part on good terms because I consider you to be a close friend and I know we both gave it our best" All I managed to do was stammer out a measley "okay", turn tail and leave. Since they are only 10 months and 3 years old, they have never been kicked out of anything before and I took it personally. Truthfully though, I saw it coming. TL has been grumbling about my boys for the good part of a month now, coming up with a variety of "complaints" about them. At first she said she was going to let my baby go because his "personality didn't fit in with the group" He's a baby for God's sake - how can his personality not "fit in"? Is he telling offensive jokes? Or maybe he's putting the moves on TL's 18 month-old daughter. She also claimed that my oldest son was"bored". When I asked her to explain more precisely why she had her panties in a knot, she gave me one lame explanation after another, none of which made any sense to me. She has A LOT of daycare experience. She knows how to get babies to nap on schedule and she knows how to keep a pre-schooler engaged and stimulated so her general unhappiness with my kids really had me stumped...until I finally put two and two together.


It turns out that our part-time existence in her daycare doesn't generate the KA-CHING she needs to continue her bad habit of buying crap she doesn't need. To remedy this cash-flow problem, she has three full-time kids, two of which are babies, (which means BIG BUCKS), waiting to fill the spots left by our departure. Now, I'm a reasonable person. I understand that we're talking about her income, but I'm still rather pissed about the whole thing- as if you couldn't tell by this post. Trying to pin the blame on my boys is so dis-respectful to them. By no fault of their own they have to leave a place they have always enjoyed. Unfortunately she has me by the short hairs and there's nothing I can do.


I know I'm either completely nutso or just really, really brave to put up a post about daycare drama. This topic can be as hot as immunizations. So, as I delve into the overwhelming and emotionally draining process of hunting for a new daycare, I would love to hear any HELPFUL feedback that one may have. I stress HELPFUL because I don't need to hear that I'm a crappy mom for having them in daycare in the first place. I would lay down my life for my boys without so much as blinking. It's just that some of us moms have to work, and God forbid, some moms even like to work - but we don't like being deemed a bad mother because of it. Looking forward to hearing from you.