Taking Back 10 Hours of My Life, One Week at a Time

Today I have great news to share…. If you have been following my blog you know that I am often frustrated that my husband will not let me give up my career so that I can stay home with my kids. This is something I want so much. Part of it is because I just don’t spend enough time with my kids, I am exhausted all the time from cleaning, cooking, raising kids, being the taxi driver, getting no sleep because of the baby and being away from home 50 hours a week for work.

Wednesday, Thomas became ill again. Once again I have missed another day of work because once again my husband can’t stay home so it falls on me. He expects me to work, but to also pick up all parenting duties. This is BS…Frustrated and ready to snap I had a meltdown.

I looked at my calendar and in the past three months I have worked one full week and all the rest I have been out a day here or their for various reasons. Now this year has been exceptionally bad for funerals in my family. I had one cousin die in a motorcycle accident and the other died of bone cancer. Both of them were in their 30’s. Tragic!

I feel so bad every time I leave early, call in sick or what not and I have just had it. When I am deathly ill I drag my a@# in to work because of all the other days I end up missing. Now when I am sick I end up working and going home and taking care of my kids. I just don’t get to rest like I should when I am sick. It Sucks!

Anyway, back to the whole meltdown and work thing. The next day when I returned to work I sat down with my boss. Let me just say I work for the best employer on the planet. I was upset because once again I have missed a day of work. He points out to me that I don’t need to worry about it and it happens. They never say anything and it just drives me crazy. Not that I want to get in trouble but it just doesn’t seem right.

I am so frustrated over all this so I ask if it is possible to reduce my hours to 32 per week. I am stressed, managing way too much and I just need to cut back on something. To my amazement they said yes. I was so thrilled.

First I am thrilled because I will now have 10 (8 work hours and 2 lunch hours) additional hours a week with my kids. Time I can play with them or do something else that needs done. Heck I might even find a little time for me.

Second I am thrilled because I can change my schedule so that I can cut out the over priced daycare that my son goes to each day after he gets out of kindergarten. (I will blog on this later, come back for this one because it will be good)

Third my husband isn’t happy about the pay cut but I am keeping my career as he insists and still taking back some of my time. So I don’t care how he feels about this change. I am taking it!

What would you do if you had ten additional hours a week that are now yours to do with as you wish? (sleep, play, drink your self stupid, I want to know)

The One Word Conversation….

I love the after school conversations with my son when he gets home each day from Kindergarten. They go something like this.

Me: How was your day?
Luke: Fine

Me: What did you do today?
Luke: Nothing

Me: Did you read stories today?
Luke: No

Me: Did you cut with scissors?
Luke: No

Me: What did you do?
Luke: Nothing (a more frustrated version of this answer)

Me: Was today gym day?
Luke: Yes

Me: What did you do in Gym?
Luke: Nothing

Me: Who is your gym teacher? Is it a man or woman? (This is week five of school and I still don’t know the answer to this one)
Luke: Don’t know…

Me: So you are telling me your teacher sits in the class room all morning, says nothing and does nothing the entire class time.
Luke: MOMMY!

Ok it isn’t always a one word answer, sometimes I get two words. I have this conversation or a similar one with him every day. It just about drives me nuts. If these are the answers I am getting at five what is he going to be like when he is a teenager? I don’t even want to think about that. Do your kids do this also or is this just something boys do?

Must See TV Week...

Its premier week, it’s premier week…. It is finally that time of year where all the new TV shows will start and the annoying reruns can go away. YEAH!!!!

I don’t watch much TV but I do have a couple shows that I get really excited over. I mean really excited and I just can’t miss them. There are only two shows on TV that I will rearrange everything in my life to make sure I am parked in front of the TV when they come on. My must see TV shows are Heroes and Lost.

If you have been on my blog before you have probably noticed the countdown clock on the left for Heroes. I love this show and I have been counting down the days for tonight to come.

Tonight is kick off night for me and my must see TV. I enjoy Dancing with the Stars but it does conflict with Heroes. In the past I have tried recording a show and watching another but I never go back and watch what was recorded because I just don’t have the time. So I must choose…. Well tonight I will watch Dancing with the Stars for the first hour and then at 9 it is all about Heroes.

When my favorite TV shows are on I put the kids to bed as early as possible and if they wake up it is all on my husband because I am not missing a moment. I don’t get up for anything, no food, no drinks, no potty breaks, nothing…. I am not missing a second. My kids probably think I am crazy but I am calling this my me time. I get so little me time that I make sure this is truly all about me.

A couple other shows I enjoy watching but am not rearranging my life for include, The Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives, Grays Anatomy, Dancing with the Stars & Criminal Minds. These are usually shows that are on while I am giving baths, doing bed time routines, getting ready for the next day, or I am in bed myself and 9 times out of 10 I miss the last 10 minutes because I have fallen asleep. I hate when I do that….. Of course with Heroes and Lost none of the above things are happening because my butt is firmly planted into the couch.

It seems so silly to be so hooked on a couple of TV show but I don’t watch much so I make sure I get the most out of the few shows I do actually love to watch. Since it is premier week, what shows are on your must see TV list? Are you as crazy about any one show in particular, like I am?

Also, if you are a Lost or Heroes junky like I am let me know. You just made a new friend… LOL

Who Turned Out the Lights

This week has been crazy! It all started last Sunday when we had the high wind storm hit our area. This was from hurricane Ike. I live in Ohio and we are so far away and yet winds were clocked around here at 72 miles per hour. It was an all day crazy wind storm. I couldn’t imagine what it was like for everyone in Texas.

We had a huge old tree in our yard split down the middle. It landed right on top of my husband’s car. Now most people would be upset by this event but I wasn’t. Wooh-hoo…I was celebrating because the car now has to go.

This is an old car that my husband can’t seem to part with. It sits in our driveway collecting dirt and dust and rarely gets driven. I hate this car sitting in the drive way, paying insurance on it and putting new tags on it each year. I probably should have showed more sympathy over the crushed car but I didn’t. He knows I am happy about it.

Power is now out all over the place and we are part of this outage. Of course Monday morning I get up for work not sure if we are going to have power in the office or not. Just my darn luck we do and my son’s daycare also with power so I couldn’t use him as an excuse to stay home. OK, maybe staying home wouldn’t have been fun with out all the creature comforts we are use to but I could have slept in and had a nap that day. That always sounds good to me….

Tuesday night they teased us with about 3 hours of power between 11:30 and 2:30 that night. This didn’t do much good since we were all sleeping. I almost took a shower at 2:30 when I woke up but didn’t and was so mad the next morning when the power was gone again.

Fast forward to Thursday and we still have no power. For us this is even worse because our house is on a well so when the power is out so is the water because the pump stops working. I can deal with no lights, TV, etc.. but not having water is horrible.

Finally Thursday night the power kicks on at 6:30. Time to celebrate…. Yeah right!

What do you think the first thing I did when the power came on? I grab my vacuum cleaner and start sweeping the house like a mad woman. I think I have a little OCD when it comes to vacuuming. I continue cleaning the evening away. I also bathed two kids and took a shower myself because I was not missing that opportunity again.

That night I think I ran every noisy thing I could from radios to TV’s and worked the lights a lot. I also turned the water on and ran it just to here it run.

I have a new appreciation for these things. When they are not there everything becomes twice as difficult. We went 5 days with out power and water. Have you ever gone for any stretch of time with out power or water? How long? What crazy things did you have to do to function normally?

His Naked Little Feet

Last weekend we visited a local amusement park for the day. We take the kids every year around this time and it is always really fun.

While at the park I encountered a situation over a park rule that really got me all worked up. Just thinking about it now gets me all worked up.

We stood in line for 30+ minutes to get on a kiddy ride. It was one where parents can take the kids on. I decided to take Thomas because he is 10 months old and he shouldn’t have to sit in the stroller all day especially if I can take him on something.

Anyway we get to where we are next to get on the ride and the girl working the ride looks at me and says “do you have shoes or socks for his feet” pointing at Thomas’s feet. I say no, he is a baby and he doesn’t walk. She says to me “it is park policy they must have something on their feet.” “But he is a baby and he doesn’t walk so what is the problem”. She continues…”these are the park rules and this is what distinguishes this side of the park from the water park side of the park”.

OK, I know I am arguing with an 18 or 19 year old girl that obviously doesn’t have a clue about babies but I was mad so I had to argue with her.

Now seriously, am I crazy here because he isn’t walking, he is going to sit on my lap and his feet aren’t going to touch anything?

His hands are bare and more likely to touch things before his little feet will. Does this mean he needs gloves on? I mean come on, it is summer time, hot outside, and he does not walk so why does he need shoes or socks on his feet. Seriously! His feet are not going to touch anything.

She finally let us on the ride but we had to put his feet in my husband’s hat. How stupid is that! Oh, and the minute we pulled away from the ride platform I took his feet out of the hat and made a point to not put them back in when I got off the ride. Sham one me I know but seriously….

Luckily I found a pair of socks in my diaper bag and put them on him after we got off the ride. It saved me the hassle of arguing with more teenagers.

I guess I am a redneck mom because I am one of those moms that doesn’t introduce shoes to my kids until they start walking. I don’t see the point especially when it is hot outside.

All day long I observed baby after baby with bare little feet and kept wondering if they were lectured like I was.

I respect rules and I understand this rule but in this case I would think the rules should not apply until he is walking. Do you think I am in the wrong for getting mad? What would you have done?