Moments for Myself - 23 April

I think what we're longing for is not "the good life" as it's been advertised to us in the American dream, but life in its fullness, its richness, its abundance. Living more reflectively helps us enter into the fullness.

- Ken Gire, Moment for Myself, Daily Inspiration Calendar

Moments for Myself - 22 April

For my friend, you know who you are, this thought and all my prayers are with you today...
*********************************************************
What shall I bestow upon a friend?
Fleeting moments of silent blessings; trust in tomorrow, which is life's hardest task, faith that each new dawn brings daylight's golden pathway to the ever-open door; and a belief that God will be with them through all others go their way.

- Lea Palmer, Moments for Myself, Daily Inspiration Calendar

Mom versus Dad

At 9pm tonight, Joe said he was going to bed. And he did.
At 10pm tonight, I decided I was going to bed. And I did:

• A final email check for details on tomorrow's field trip.
• Then, filled out the photo order form and wrote checks for spring school pictures
• On way past laundry room, I moved dry clothes to hangars and baskets, moved wet clothes to dryer and dirty clothes to washer.
• Since Joe did put together the new 3 basket sorter the day before, I also moved the remaining dirty clothes from the old, broken sorter to the new one.
• Then, I dismantled the broken sorter and bagged it in one of it's own bags.
• Since the cat's closet is by the laundry room, I fed him.
• Then I chased him into his closet to eat (and hopefully leave me alone, stalker that he is!)
• On way back through office, I found the RSVP card for a birthday party this weekend and put it in my work bag to call in the next day
• Picked up a few random toys and trash pieces and put away appropriately.
• Returned HEAVY piano bench back under the piano where it belongs (Joe had pulled it out for some reason but hadn't returned it from the middle of the room...)
• Turned out all the lights in the front rooms
• Checked and fed all the fish in three rooms
• Went to the restroom and fixed a broken nail (from the piano bench moving!)
• Covered up the boys and put some of their clothes in the hamper. Turned on their alarm clocks.
• Checked that Joe was still alive (yep - still snoring...)
• Wrote this goofy list for the blog

At 10:51 I will now play 9 minutes on electronic Sudoku game while catching the last of either a CSI or Without a Trace rerun.

Hopefully, I'll actually be going to SLEEP at 11pm.

Gotta love being the momma! :-)

Busy Season

I have officially entered one of my two "busy" seasons. Spring and fall are the two time of year when I work late, work at home, work like crazy, and have small mental breakdowns trying to keep up with the job and the family. Wow-zee!

Although many of the sites I do for work are for events in the FALL, the sites actually go live between March and July so attendees can register in a timely manner. Which means the "project lead" hat I wear is in full gear right now.

But, since I'm also implementation for most (90%) of the new sites that come through our company, I have to implement (content entry,train, etc.) my own sites (which requires a lot of research, graphics work and data entry) but also anyone else's sites that are going live (I think there are 3 others I'm for sure working on this week, but I've lost all count and caring for tonight).

That's not counting the two or three trainings I'm doing each week AND the (sometimes) associated User Guide. I've got a big guide I have to have finished this week (it's a week overdue in my mind) plus two that have been on hold for sometime pending a break in my schedule.

I need a support team! Just one full-time or 2 part-time/interns would help. But, alas, I'm not really all that billable, so neither would my team be. That makes us low-department on the totem pole for expansion purposes (ok bossman, my whining is out in the open now. sorry!)

The point of all this "whining" and details? Tonight I got home at 7:35pm. Just in time for Joe to leave and take Blondie home. In the 60 minutes I had with the boys this is what we did:

• Boys & I all put on jammies. So much more comfortable than my skirt and heels. for me, this was a 2-minute event - for them it was closer to 20.
• I read through the boys "Monday" folders to figure out was stayed at home and what has to go back. There were, I kid you not, 15 documents in EACH folder. that's 30 pieces of paper coming home. Kindergartners killing trees... (they were still changing clothes)
• Joe kept a Boston Market chicken pot pie & corn muffin warm for me, so I ate while helping...
• The boys finish up their homework - yep, kindergartners with HOMEwork. *sigh* They did most of it during after-care, we just had to clean up some backwards letters and do some coloring (when was the last time you had homework that was just to color pictures and you thought it was TOO MUCH? LOL)
• Did "sight word" reading (words they should know "on sight" like me, I, you, his, out, up, cat, etc.)
  • Thomas gets cocky and tries to speed read to prove he can - then messes half of them up. When he slows down to normal speed, he does just fine.
  • Travis looks for reassurance after each one and we have to really encourage him all the way through. If we play it right, he doesn't miss any!
• Watched the "Scary Monsters and Pop Star Divas" movie the kids made during Spring Break camp. It was really bad, but somehow funnier for that. I think if I had had a drink (or two) first it would have been right up there with any Tarantino movie ever filmed - very avante garde. All the boys were of course scary monsters. (I'll try to post it here soon. which could mean August. It'll be interesting whenever it appears!)
• Cuddled while watching the beginning of the Memphis game. Oh yeah. I guess KU is also playing, but let's not go there. Really. Let's NOT! (and yes, Ramsey, I do mean YOU! Hush!) [game close right now: 39-38 KU, 2nd half]
• Played with Tom using Em's giant snake while Travis jumped in and out of bed. He smacked me once on the booty and it took a lot of willpower not to smack him back. That HURTS right now!!
• Gave "Snoopy" kisses to both boys (they love to get me with those and HATE when I sneak one on them. I figure turn about it fair play).
• Got yelled at by Joe for "firing them up instead of calming them down." I'm much better at the firing up, especially when I only got 60 minutes with them! Sheesh! I think HE just wanted to get to sleep! ;-)

So, it wasn't a BAD hour and we got some good mother/sons time in there. I just hate missing evenings with them. It's when I'm usually at my best with them and to miss it just bites. But, the Jazzoo site is live and only a few minor tweaks are needed on my end. Here's the plan for the rest of my work week:

• Tomorrow I can finish the Hallmark guide if I really buckle down and then I can start helping put the content on Amanda's site - and leave right at 5pm for Karate!
• Wednesday will be a major focus on Amanda's site (assuming the guide got done!) with a little devotion to Treads & Threads as well.
• Thursday is a training that kills half my day and the other half is making sure I have all my requests and invoices in.
• My half-day Friday (which usually extends to around 2:30 this time time of year instead of noon) is internal meetings.
• Then it's the weekend - and I WILL leave EVERYTHING at the office! I SWEAR!

Gonna go spend about 30 minutes with Stephen King and "Duma Key" right now (ALMOST done with it and I can't wait to read the ending!) Have a good night!

Moments for Myself - 02 April

Why oh WHY didn't I get this one in March??

******************************************************
Escape. Get away. Time out. Need something like that? Then take it. What are you waiting for? Someone to give it to you? That would be nice, but it rarely happens. An escape is something that you usually have to plan for yourself. So plan it. Seize it. It is not a waste of time if it restores your peace of mind. It is necessary.

- Moments for Myself, Daily Inspiration Calendar