Thankful: Day 7

I am thankful to have a job that I enjoy, with flexible hours, a very accommodating boss, and not-so-bad pay, for part time.

Back to Work

Today was Peeper's first "full" (3 hour) day of school, with all of her classmates there, and it was also my first day back to work at the college where I'm a professional tutor for the Anatomy and Physiology classes. (For those just joining the program, I started that job last January, working 10 - 15 hours a week.)

Of course, as luck would have it, I was supposed to show up at the exact moment that Peeper was scheduled to be picked up. Today and tomorrow are meetings and trainings, though, and we started with lunch today, so I arranged to go in a bit late in order to spend at least a little time with her after school.

Shrike and dropped my car off at the college, then picked up Peeper and they took me to work.

After work, I ran by the farm to pick up a friend's CSA share because they're out of town. (That's not as big a deal as it sounds, the farm is about five minute from our house.)

After working sitting around a table talking for five whole hours, I was exhausted. Too tired to take photos, evidently.

Mosh Pit

This evening, Peeper and I went to the annual end-of-semester party at my boss' house. There were both professional and peer tutors there, as well as (I think) peer mentors, so it was basically a few grown-ups (of which, I was perhaps the most "grown up" - at least in the chronological sense) and a bunch of college kids.

The food was delicious.

Peeper's only met a few of them before, because when she's visited me at work, she's spent more time with my students than my coworkers. That didn't stop her from being quite comfortable around them, evidently.

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On the way home, she told me "I have better instruments than that guy who was singing," and when we got homs, she showed me.

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Cap'n Peeper

This is the last week of classes for the semester at the college where I'm tutoring, and long story short our department had a little party for staff and some students. The theme for the semester (determined by the student activities people I think) was pirates, which has been a lot of fun to work with.

Of course, the party what somewhat pirate themed, so rather than finding a babysitting for our overlap time, I just had Shrike bring Peeper up to me (again) and put her in her pirate costume for the party. As you can imagine, everyone got quite a kick out of it.

The best part was when she learned a new pirate phrase from one of my students: "Sugary timbers!"

Everything Else

Yes, yes, the staycation photos are coming, but first I thought I'd take a minute to sit down and write about all the stuff that I've not taken the time, or made the effort, or wanted to think about enough to write about over the past, oh, month or so.

Basically, we've been stressing here over a variety of issues, starting with the fact that we're about broke. Not can't-buy-food, gonna-lose-the-house broke, but shopping-at-Aldi-and-clipping-coupons, about-to-use-the-second-mortgage-to-pay-the-first broke. Which is way too broke for my taste.

I know we've been damn lucky to have made it this long without a real income from me, and we couldn't have done it without significant help from my parents, and from some lucky timing on a few different things that have come through just when we needed them.

In fact, every time we've been thisss far from having to start using that home equity line of credit to pay for basics like mortgage and medical and oh shit, how much did we spend on groceries this month? we've had something work out just right to save us for a bit, to buy us a little more time.

But this time, we're looking at about three weeks to an empty savings account, and not a lot promising on the horizon.

I am doing some web design work, and at a great hourly rate, for which I am very grateful, and without which we wouldn't have made it this long, but it's just not enough hours to cover what we need.

And, I have the online store, and it brings in some money, but again, not nearly enough.

So, wrapped up in the same stress about what I need to do to bring in more money, is the question about school for Peeper. When we first started really stressing about the money, I was also worrying about whether we were doing the right thing by not sending her to preschool this year, but now that she says she wants to go, I'm worried about how we're going to pay for it, and whether it's an extravagance, given our current situation.

And we're not at all certain exactly what she might be doing in a couple of years, for kindergarten or beyond. We have lots of options on the table, including the neighborhood public school, the local Montessori, and the local school district's co-enrollment virtual academy. Of course, every option has many pros and cons, and many things that we feel like we should be doing now! right now! to get her (and us) prepared.

The school question is very wrapped up in the financial question, because for every option, we have to consider some combination of factors like the possibility of tuition (with or without financial aid), the feasibility of me continuing to not work full time, the limitations on our family time because of Shrike's work schedule, and so on, and of course the answers to each of those questions are in directly conflict with each other!

To some extent, I feel a bit less pressure about that since she's expressed an interest in going back to Mother's Day Out in the fall (in three weeks, actually!), in that at least I'm not worrying that she should be going, and we will begin to get a feel for how she does in a sort of "traditional" (albeit play-based) classroom., and whether or not that looks like a good fit for her, and she will begin to get used to being away from us for longer periods (that's the part we're worried about, of course, given how it went last time around).

But, as I said, it just adds to the financial pressure, because there's another hundred-plus bucks a month (and more next year, if we go to three days, as we probably would) that we don't have.

Oh, and she says that she does want to take dance class again, so that's another thirty-something a month, plus how many pairs of shoes for her feet that seem to be a new size every week these days.

Yeah, I don't think I can clip that many coupons.

So, the best (least unacceptable) "solution" that we have been able to come up with is for me to start substitute teaching a few days a week.

Well, actually, our first choice was for me to do more web design work, so I hit up a couple of different companies, hoping to pick up at least some of their overflow or maybe even a part-time position, and found out that they had both just hired new developers. Day late and a dollar short, as usual.

So, back to the subbing thing. I started filling out the online application, and before I'd even gathered and submitted all of the materials, they called me to set an appointment for filling out paperwork, which I did today.

School starts on Monday, but I still have a few more hoops to jump through before I can actually start teaching, including the drug screen, which I can do just about any time, and a physical including a TB test, which I may not be able to get for a couple of weeks, unless I can grab one of those last-minute appointments that the doctor's office fills at 7 am.

This is far from an ideal solution - hell, it's far from a solution - because even working three days a week, I won't make enough to fully cover what we need (and I really don't want to work more - if I were going to work full time, I'd do something that paid more), we haven't quite figured out how I'm going to manage even that, logistically, because Shrike needs to leave for work around 2:15 pm, and the secondary schools dismiss at 2:50. Even if I were at the one closest to our house, it would be hard to get home before 3 pm.

Shrike's parents say that they can watch her for that hour or so of overlap, but they are pretty busy and it's hard to line things up with them ahead of time, let alone getting a call at 7 am, as is pretty typical when you're subbing.

I'm sure we have friends who would offer to help, and if it were a one-time thing, I'd take them up on it, but it's going to be multiple times a week (assuming I get as much work as we need me to) and I wouldn't feel right about that unless I were paying them and, oh hey, there's even less money that I'm bringing home.

I'm also just not thrilled about the prospect, in general, because I hate the idea of being away from Peeper three days a week, even if two of them are the days that she's in school. Of course, it makes sense to try to work those days, rather than when she's home, but I feel like I'm going to miss out on a lot if I'm not there for the drop-offs and pick-ups on most days.

And then, there's that whole thing about how I taught for nine years and quit because I kind of hated it. I love teaching people things (which I was reminded of when I was at the Learning Center), but I really did not enjoy pretty much everything else about being a public school teacher.

Some of that will be better as a sub (if one kid is a little shit, you don't have to see him day in and day out, and no preparation or grading to do) but some will be worse (all the kids are little shits for a sub, and walking into a classroom completely unprepared every day).

Right now, we don't really see any other solution, though, so I guess that's what we're going to do for the time being. I have to keep reminding myself that subbing is not like a full time position, and I'm not committed for the entire school year. If something else works out, or if we just can't make it work for our family, I could quit at any time.

So, I'll start subbing (although I still don't know how we're going to juggle that hour in the afternoon), and Peeper will go to Mother's Day Out (and hopefully handle it better than she did in the spring), and in December, we'll apply for financial aid with the Montessori school, just to see if that is an option, and I guess we'll just have to use some of the line of credit to cover our expenses, as needed, and hope that we don't get in too deep.

If I do go back to work full time in a couple of years, our first order of business will be to put any leftovers from my paycheck into paying that back down, and then worry about building back up some savings.

So that was the big stress from a few weeks ago, which has certainly not been eliminated, but is a little more
resolved-ish now that the subbing and MDO issues are sort of decided, but over the past, well, I don't know, forever? it seems that between those sorts of things, and my web design work and my MOMS Club responsibilities, and Peeper and trying to keep the house from getting too out of hand, and trying to put food on the table a few times a day with a variety of fruits and veggies, and shopping for said food, and hell, I don't know, breathing, it just seems like everything, every. damn. thing. is just so fucking much.

I have too much to do to even see where to start, and even when it's clear what needs to be done, it's just so overwhelming.

A couple of weeks ago, I talked to Dr. T about it and asked her, "Is something wrong, or is this just me? Can I just not handle all this, am I just that lazy, or am I depressed? I don't feel sad all the time, and I'm not unable to function, I'm just completely fucking unmotivated, and unproductive and overwhelmed. Should I consider an anti-depressant? How bad does it have to be for medication to help?"

Her answer was, "I think you're there."

So, as soon as we got home, I called my doctor's office and, would you believe, she was able to see me that afternoon. I had to take Peeper with me, so we didn't get into too much discussion, but she did agree that I would probably benefit from the medication, and by evening, I had a dose of Wellbutrin in me.

The next day, I set only one goal: To get the sink emptied. Several hours and four dishwasher loads later, it was finally done, and I have been able to pretty much stay on top of that, which is great.

It's only been a couple of weeks, so I don't know that I'm really feeling the effects of the medication yet, but it has helped somewhat do just know that I am officially "not just lazy" and that "help is on the way."

During our staycation, I felt better than I have in ages, I think because I was completely ignoring all those responsibilities and commitments, not even answering the phone or checking emails, so all I had to think about was Shrike and Peeper and what fun thing we were going to do next. It was wonderful, and as much as I loves mah Interwebs, it was actually kind of hard to turn that computer back on, knowing that all those things would be waiting for me.

Over the past couple of days, I've been so-so. The house is a big mess (but not the sink, so that's something, right?) and I just finally got a big MOMS Club thing taken care of that I probably should have done a few days ago, but I've also been trying to limit our (Peeper's and my) screen time (although I've cheated a bit with my phone today), and not had "computer time" until right before dinner.

Amazingly, she's taken it pretty well, and both nights she chose a half-hour Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and actually got up and walked away when the episode ended, rather than that "I told you one more!" (after already watching way too many) that I was getting last week.

So that's meant a bit of a reprieve from the pressure of feeling like a have to respond to and deal with everything immediately, and also it's meant that I'm actually spending more time interacting with Peeper (even if it's just hanging out reading or something while she plays independently), rather than both staring at our respective computers.

This morning, in fact, Shrike went to check her email to make sure that it was okay for her to go into work a bit late, because my paperwork appointment was at 2 o'clock, and when Peeper saw her, she said, "But Mommy, all the computers are off!"

I don't know how long that will last, or what rules we'll settle into, but for now, it's been a bit frustrating at times, but probably a good thing, overall.

But still mostly overwhelmed by pretty much all of the above.

I wish I thought the medication were going to put money in the bank, clean my house, or solve all our other dilemmas, but maybe it will at least give me a little better grip on handling all those things.

I sure hope so.

Mom and Baby Naturally: Grand Reopening - And a Contest!

Remember that business I bought a while back?

Well, I've been busy sprucing things up and adding new products, and although I still have a few more to go, I'm officially relaunching Mom and Baby Naturally site effective, well, now.

To celebrate our Grand Reopening, I'm giving away a beautiful nursing necklace in your choice of colors.

Visit the Mom and Baby Naturally Blog to enter!

Training

Tomorrow (ok, later today, actually) I will do the first three of eight hours of training for LearningCenterOnline.

The training is online, but it's live with a trainer and about four other trainees, and I'll be using the audio headset, so Peeper can't be squawking in the background.

Which means, of course, that Peeper can't be around.

Over the past week, we've been doing some practice runs, during which I've spent time down in the basement (hey, I'm there right now!) setting up my laptop with the tutoring software, installing other software on it, and (yes, I'm awful) writing thank you notes for the baby shower that we had two months ago.

And pumping (just finished).

That's two-fold; I need to leave milk for Peeper while I'm down here (so far, she's not been willing to take a bottle yet, though) and I need to "practice" pumping to prepare for next week, when Peeper's not eating at all for a couple of days and then not eating so much.

So far, the longest practice period we've done has been about an hour and a half.

This training session is three hours, plus I've got another three-hour session Tuesday morning, and a two-hour session Thursday evening.

(They were kind enough to mix-and-match training courses for me, so I could get all three sessions while Shrike is home. She'll be off work Thursday because of Peeper's pre-op testing in the morning.)

Before the training was set up, we already had an appointment scheduled with Dr. Tara for tomorrow (this) morning, so Shrike and Peeper will go to that, which will eat up about the first two hours of training, by the time they get out of the house, do an hour with her and get home.

We've been using some works-like-a-boob bottles / nipples, but Peeper's wanted nothing to do with them. Tomorrow, Shrike's going to try one of the old bottles with a slow-flow Nuk nipple and see how that goes.

I'm really not worried (any more) about her deciding that she likes it better than me, so if the boob-like bottle isn't convincing her, then we might as well try the other.

Or maybe she'll just sleep the whole time?

One can hope. . . .

More Work Plans

A couple of weeks ago, the powers that be at work officially decided to hire two of our current teachers (one of whom is an Associate Director of Education, the other is a regular teacher) to share the Center Director position when I leave. 

I like to say that "They are replacing me with two people," but really, it will be a job-sharing arrangement, and they'll each be working about 25 hours a week. 

Their training should start in a couple of weeks, and by the beginning of November, I'll probably cut back on my hours (to about 20/week), and they'll be up to their full schedule. 

Technically, I'm cutting back to about 32 hours/week, starting next week, because I'm taking off one day each week (except maybe one week?) for doctors appointments. 

Depending on when/whether one of my many doctors thinks that it would be medically prudent to cut back my schedule, and writes me a note to that effect, I think my short-term disability benefits would kick in, which would be a big help. 

In other work-related news, I had a phone interview with Learning Center Online yesterday, for a work-from-home teaching position, and pending them actually receiving the twenty-seven page new hire packet that I faxed today, and assuming that my background check (including FBI fingerprinting) doesn't turn up that man that I killed in Reno, just to watch him die, I'm hired. 

The only downside is that the "tell us when you are available" schedule that they sent has all the morning hours blacked out. That, of course, is when Shrike would be home to be in charge of Peeper, so she's not crying in the background. 

(No crying, barking, TV, etc in the background is a requirement.)

So, we're not quite sure how we're going to manage to get me 20 - 25 hours of quiet each week while Shrike is at work, but I guess we'll figure something out. 

I didn't actually fill out that page; I put a note saying that I really need to get an idea what Peeper's schedule is like, first. 

(That will also be a factor.)

Other than that, though, it looks like it will be a pretty good deal. It doesn't pay great ($10/hour) but there's no commuting and no wardrobe and, the best part (other than doing it at home in my jammies) is that - get this - there's insurance!

It's not great coverage, but it seems like it will be sufficient, if all I'm needing is routine maintenance. 

(Which is all I'm planning on needing, once I'm done with this crazy baby-making stuff.)

And, even the better of the two options, plus dental/vision, would only be about $110/month - as opposed to around $350/month for either COBRA or the Blue Cross /Blue Shield that I would qualify for when the COBRA ran out. 

So, that's a big whew!

And Here We Go Again

It's starting to sink in that I really will still have to bring home my share of the bacon after Peeper is born, and that it's not just going to happen magically. 

So, back to the whole job search / application process. 

Didn't we just do this, oh, eighteen months ago or so? 

I just finished updating my resume, and have submitted my application to TutoringCenter's online division. 

I'm also looking at applying for other, similar online tutoring positions (I suppose that would be with our competitors, huh?) and I need to start doing some marketing for my freelance web development as well. 

I'm also open to other legitimate work-from-home arrangements, and need to do some research on that. 

So, you know, if you're of a mind to pay me a bunch of money to do a little bit of work, around and between playing with my baby, or know someone who might be, please drop me a line. 

(Aaaannnddd - let the spam begin!)

Nothing to Say Here

I seem to have a bit of a brain-block here, because I can think of nothing very interesting to blog about.

I could tell you that I gave ED1 my letter of resignation today, but that's no surprise, since I've been talking about it for almost a week.

I could update you on continued good news from some of the newly-pregnant and newly-delivered bloggers who I read, but if you're interested, you'll have already read it their blogs for yourself.

I could talk about the dessert party that I went to this evening, which raised nearly $7000 for Obama for America, but I didn't really have anything to do with it, other than showing up (on a comped ticket, at that) and bringing grocery store doughnuts and talking to a few people.

I could tell you about how Peeper either really loves or really hates TV, because she always gets real active when I'm sitting on the couch watching it in the evenings.

She's still bopping around in there pretty good. I hope she'll keep it up for a while after we go to bed (which is happening any minute now), so she can have a little visit with Mommy.

I usually poke her a bit and try to get her to move around for Shrike at bedtime. After she's born, we may regret having gotten her in that habit, but on the other hand, I figure she'll probably end up waking when Shrike gets home from work, anyway.

If nothing else, I'm sure that PerfectPup will add her to the list of folks that she has to alert that "Mommy's home! Mommy's home! Mommy's home!"

When she hears Shrike pull in to the driveway, first she and Galoot bark around at each other for a bit, then she runs all over the house, telling everyone else.

If I'm on the computer, and don't immediately go running to the door to greet her, she'll come in and bark at me, then run back to the door, then back to me, and so on.

She'll also go find the cats, and bark at them. I try to explain that they really don't care that Mommy's home, but she doesn't seem to understand that.

I really am curious to see whether she adds Peeper to her list of people that need to be informed.

On the one hand, it would be very cute, on the other hand, if she's asleep at the time . . . .

Work Plans

So, tomorrow I'll give ED1 my letter of resignation, and it will be official that I won't be returning to my current job after Peeper is born.

Yesterday, I did a bit more checking on the online teaching position that I'm eyeing. I was told that they wouldn't be hiring until late August or early September, but it seems that the online application is available now.

I need to update my resume, and write a cover letter, and get that submitted as soon as I can.

The job listing had some additional information that I'd not seen before - some good, some not-so-great.

They ask for a commitment of at least 10 hours / week, which is fine, but during the "peak months" of October - February, they require that at least eight of those hours be evenings (5 - 9 pm).

That could be a little tricky, as Shrike will be at work during those hours, and I'll be all alone with Peeper. I'm thinking that I'll need to squish those eight hours into two evenings, and make arrangements to not be alone with her those evenings.

Maybe Shrike's mom can help out those nights? (She was offering to watch her a day or two a week, if I'd gone back to work.) And maybe I could go to all mornings after February? I'm sure we'll figure something out.

The better news is that it says that they "also offer a part-time employee benefits package including medical and dental coverage." No information on how many hours / week is required to qualify for that, or what the cost - or coverage - would be like, but it sounds promising!

Making it Official

After I told ED1 that I don't plan to return to my full-time position after Peeper is born, I asked her when she needed me to make it official.

Today, she said that she'd like for me to give her something in writing on Thursday, when she's at my center for the day. She'll pass it on to BigBoss when he returns from vacation at the end of next week.

Here's a draft of my letter of resignation. What do you think?

Dear BigBoss:

It is after much difficult deliberation that I have decided not to return to work full-time after the birth of my daughter* in late November.

It is my intention to continue to work as far into my pregnancy as possible, so unless it becomes medically necessary to begin my maternity leave sooner, my last day to work will be Friday November 21, 2008.

However, pregnancy being unpredictable, I would strongly recommend moving forward to hire and train a new director who will be ready to step in by late October or early November.

Of course, I will do everything in my power to assist with training and preparing my successor, and to prepare the staff, students and parents of the WorkTown center for a smooth transition upon my departure.

I cannot adequately express how much I appreciate the support, both professional and personal, that I’ve received from the franchise management over the past several months, and I want to personally thank you, OfficeLady, ED1 and ED2 for all that you’ve done.

I hope to continue my relationship with the TutoringCenter family by teaching part-time with TutoringCenter Online, beginning in early 2009.

I have very much enjoyed my time at TutoringCenter, and will greatly miss working with everyone here.

Sincerely,
Whozat

*Yes, that "my daughter" line does freak me out, every time I reread it.

I've almost gotten used to talking about "my baby," and I'm very comfortable referring to her by name, but "my daughter?"

Somehow that's different. More real? More surreal?

Holy crow, we're going to have a daughter.

Making Plans

The other day, I mentioned that there were some "financial options opening up that we'd not thought about" but was rather coy about the specifics. I'm ready to talk, now.

What I was referring to was some number crunching that we'd been doing to figure out how much money we could save, in various ways, and how much money I might be able to make if I were only working part-time, preferably from home, and whether those two things might add up to enough to pay the mortgage and such.

Over the course of the discussion, some additional savings / income options came up, and we saw that the numbers were starting to match up.

I haven't actually secured said part-time work, but it looks quite promising, and today I bit the bullet and told ED1 that we're almost certain that I won't be going back to work fulltime after Peeper is born.

Yikes!

I'd not planned to tell them this early, but they need to line up someone to cover for me as center director while I'm "on leave" so, after much discussion with both Shrike and Anonymama, I decided that it was best to let them know now, so they can go ahead and find someone to take over for me permanently.

What really precipitated it is that ED1 and I had discussed yesterday that they would offer a "long-term sub" position to one of the associate directors of education, who will do a great job, but doesn't actually have a teaching certificate, which is required for at least one director. (And right now, we only have one - me.)

So, I talked to ED1 about it this morning, and she was very understanding, which I really expected, but I was still nervous about making it pretty official this early.

In formulating her plan to offer him that position, she was assuming there was a possibility that I wouldn't be back - and she was very appreciative that I was upfront about it, so they can move forward with plans, knowing what the situation is.

I apologized for not saying something yesterday, but that I just didn't feel like I could make it "official" without discussing it with Shrike. She was very understanding about that, as well.

So, the plan is that, unless my doctor or Peeper or my body tells me that I need to call it quits sooner, I will work through November 21 (the Friday before my due date), and will then likely be officially "on leave" for six to twelve weeks, for insurance / AFLAC purposes.

(Maybe also for their purposes, if they don't have a certified director on board at that point,)

As long as that's the case, I can just pay them for my insurance premiums, then COBRA after that, and when the COBRA runs out, I can switch to Blue Cross. I've already checked that all out. It won't be cheap, but it wasn't as bad as I'd feared it might be.

Of course, if Shrike could insure me, that would be all the better, but she can't. She will be able to insure Peeper though, so that helps alot.

Our plan, overall, is that when Peeper is born, we'll both be off work completely for about three weeks, then Shrike will do some part-time work from home (not a long-term option with her job, unfortunately) until Christmas - while I'm still off work and recovering, of course.

December 26 - January 5, we're going to Texas to visit my family, and a couple of days after we get home, Shrike will go back to work full time.

My goal is to start working myself the following week. What we're hoping for is a work-from-home tutoring position with the online division of the learning center.

The thought is that I will work 15 - 20 hours a week, in the mornings while Shrike is home to be in charge of Peeper. I can't do that kind of work when I'm the only one home with her, because I can't have her crying in the background, but if Shrike's here, she can handle her unless she's hungry. In which case, I can mute my microphone til I've got a boob in her mouth and she shuts up, right?

That money won't be enough to cover everything, but I also make a bit from my freelance web development, and I'm looking into a couple of other options of things that can be done online/remotely on a less scheduled basis, even when I am the only here with Peeper.

It's all very scary - especially the part where it's kind of official and point-of-no-returny now - but we really do think that my being home is the best thing we can do for Peeper, and for our family.

Busy Day

It's been a long, busy day, with nothing really interesting enough to talk about.

And yet I will.

I spent most of the early part of the work day testing a kid, and the second half fighting with a computer "upgrade" that was only supposed to take a couple of minutes.

Then, I left early to get back to town and help set up for a Democratic Party event this evening.

That went very well - good turn out, good speakers, etc - but I didn't get home until after 10 pm.

I did see some folks who didn't know about Peeper yet, and got to tell them. Well, there were actually a whole lot more folks there who still don't know, but only a few who I wanted to tell right now.

This is kind of funny - I was talking to this one guy and his wife, and she asked him (all excited), "Oh, did you tell Whozat your news?"

I turned to him and said, "What's your news?"

He said, "I'm pregnant."

I said, "What a coincidence, so am I! No shit, I really am."

So, we talked about that for a bit, and then I said, "So, I'm sorry - what is your news."

"Well, it's not that big now."

Turns out he's going to be in an Obama commercial which, while not as cool as being pregnant, is pretty nifty.

And now, Shrike's home for work and it's time for an ass-shot and bed.

Checking In

Sorry I've been so quiet lately. In addition to waiting, I've been pretty damn busy this week.

After two days off, I've had lots of catching up to do at work, and I'm working 9 - 7 most nights, and there's lots of political stuff going on - mostly calls and emails and information to gather and things to clarify and things to do and people to mollify and people to piss off - and web work piling up on two different projects and, did I mention all the progesterone in my system and how sleepy I am, and that I have to wait up every night til Shrike gets home (or til the time that she usually gets home) so that she can put another shot of it in my ass?

But other than that, I'm doing great.

Just a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

But, tonight she's off work, and I was off work at 5, and we picked up our niece and nephew and took them to see a nearby high school performance of The Sound of Music.

It was really good (some amazing voices for teenagers!) but we left at intermission because it was already 9 pm, and she was getting tired and he was hating it because Godzilla wasn't in it.

Maybe if both Peeps do stick, we should hope for two of the same flavor, as opposed to the variety pack, so there will be more of a chance of them having similar interests?

Now we're home, and he's watching Godzilla clips on YouTube, and she's playing Polly Pocket with Shrike and I'm blogging. (Not sure how I'm getting away with that!)

But, I just got an email from one of my minions (as Shrike calls them) and I have to go redo a voter list and format it differently correctly and resend it.

Yesterday, someone asked me, "Do you live on what the Democratic Party pays you?"

When I stopped laughing and picked myself up off the floor, I explained that what I do is a volunteer position.

In 2006, I was making voter id calls and someone said, "Now, I know you get paid a lot of money to do this . . . ."

I said, "No, ma'am, we're all volunteers," and she said, "Oh, you might say that, but I know you're getting kick-backs."

I guess I missed the memo about where to sign up for my kick-back.

Is There Something I Should Know?

As I mentioned yesterday, on Monday I had a meeting with BigBoss and ED1, about some budget issues.

BigBoss had called the meeting, but in preparing for it, I saw a few things that I had questions about and I brought those up in the meeting.

There were a couple of points on which we didn't totally agree, but all in all, I thought it went well, and was a productive meeting.

When I got to work on Tuesday, though, a couple of kind of strange things happened that made me wonder.

I'm sure that they were coincidences, but I did let my imagination get away with me for a little while there.

First, when I turned on the computer and went to log in to the program that we use to manage just about all aspects of the business, my name was not in the drop-down menu of users.

I logged in as someone else, and went to the employee setup page to check my permissions.

When I pulled up my profile, I saw that the "inactive employee" box was checked!

Then, I tried to email ED1 about something unrelated, and the message immediately bounced back, flagged as spam.

I was beginning to wonder if I'd been fired and nobody had bothered to mention it to me.

I did exchange multiple emails with ED1 today about some follow-up issues from the meeting and other things, and she didn't seem surprised to hear from me, so I suppose I still have a job, but it was a bit unnerving for a little while there.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

At work this evening, one of our younger students was doing a math lesson on calendars.

A couple of weeks ago, unrelated to the calendar skills, I had told him when my birthday is, and how old I am.

(It involved another kid's MLK Day homework, and the fact that I was born about a month after MLK was assassinated.)

So, tonight, after I'd asked him "What's the most important day in May?" (my birthday, of course!) we had the following exchange, at full volume, for the entire center to hear:

Mr. Teacher: What day is your birthday, Ms. Whozat?

Ms. Whozat: The 11th.

Mr. Teacher: Ok, Kid, let's see what day of the week Ms. Whozat's birthday is.

Kid: Saturday! (It wasn't a current calendar that he was looking at.)

Ms. Whozat: Right, but this year, it's actually on a Sunday. It's on Mother's Day.

Kid: You're not a mother.

Ms. Whozat: Well, no, I'm not.

Mr. Teacher: Not yet. (He is privy to our plans. Probably more than he'd like to be.)

Ms. Whozat: Yeah, not yet.

Kid: You can't be a mother.

Ms. Whozat: Why?

Kid: You can't be pregnant.

Ms. Whozat: Why?

(I'm really starting to wonder, at this point, what assumptions he's made about me!)

Kid: It's tooooo laaaaate noooow! You're thirty-nine!

Great, so now eight year olds are dissing my fertility!

Two Things

Here's an interesting little meme that I stumbled upon:

List the two things that people really need to know to do your job:

1. How to work with kids, keep them motivated and teach them stuff.
2. How to work with their parents, keep them happy, and sell them stuff.

What about you? List your two things in the comments!

The Good News Is . . .

This is what I won in the gift exchange at my work Christmas party.

Woo hoo - that's a real bottle of wine!

I was only the third person (out of twelve) to pick a gift, and I can't believe no one stole it from me.

Maybe they know me well enough to know that it's not safe to get between me and a bottle of wine?

Later, my team kicked ass at Christmas charades.

Ok, the game ended in a tie, but if elapsed time had counted, we would have been the clear winners, we were nailing them in like ten seconds.

But, no, I'm not at all competitive . . . .

Now, I'm off to do some cooking for our party tomorrow evening.

If you're planning to attend, don't worry, I will disinfect myself first.

Small World

We were having network and internet issues at work today, and our tech guy came to get us all fixed up this afternoon.

He was working on the computer in my office, when he called me in.

Our fertility clinic's website was up on the screen and he gestured to it and asked, "Is this you?"

I was thinking:
a> Oh shit
2>What the hell business is it of his?
c> Is he going to bitch at me for doing personal stuff on work computers? Because, really.

I said, "Uh, yeah."

He said, "My wife and I used them. They're great. Our twins are 2 1/2."

Oh.