A tired I haven't felt in a long time

I am definitley feeling the effects of working full time and being a single parent. It is certainly a tired I haven't felt in a long time. But, let me confess, it's a good tired. I'm now ready to sleep at a normal hour, like the rest of the world and once I can actually force myself out of bed (this has always been a challenge for me), I feel rested and ready for the day. All these things get a little slack when your a stay-at-home mom.

Oops, abrupt change of subject: The weather has been gorgeous the past three days. No shivering on the soccer fields yesterday morning, not even for the 9 a.m. game. I can only hope the trend continues. In case it doesn't, the girls and I are now on our way, with our rollerblades, to meet some friends and enjoy the 80 degree sunshine while it's here. I only ask that you pray for me, it's been over a year since I last rollerbladed and I'm not the coordinated type.

Oh how I laughed

Eleven year old - "I spy with my little eye, something yellow."

Nine year old - "Your teeth!"

All work, no play

That's pretty much what my life is feeling like since I've started working. Between working, homework, the start of soccer season, Easter, etc... there has been very little time for posting. Ok, I confess, there has probably been plenty of time to sit down and post but truth be told, I'm too brain fried to come up with anything to write about. Which brings me to the fact that this post will not be all that exciting. But there is a plea for information within!

The job is going good, lots of information to absorb. I keep telling myself that I'm very fortunate to have previous experience in the printing field because without it I would be clueless. I'm attempting to do marketing for the printer I'm working for. Once again, clueless. While I've worked in sales and advertising before and have some journalism education I've never actually worked in marketing. I've been trying to do as much research and reading on marketing as possible, which brings me to my plea. If you have any good marketing advice, know of any good articles or blogs, especially, about marketing I would love to hear about them.

I'm not feeling completely lost, I have some good ideas in action already and I know the more I get to know the ins and outs of this particular company the easier it will get. But, I'm an information hound and the more I have the better prepared I feel.

Desperate need

Often times when I'm on the computer Sophie (aka Pup) will step inside the door and make little growling noises at me. These growls are her way of letting me know she has a need. Many times when I'm absorbed in what I'm doing the growls will turn into barks. Her needs are usually a trip to her "potty spot" out doors or sometimes she will grab a toy and want me to play with her. Pretty smart little pup if you ask me.

Earlier (as in about 20 minutes ago) she stuck her head in the door and growled a couple times. I immediately went for the patio door as she hadn't been out in awhile and I figured she needed to pee. As I got to the patio doors I realized she wasn't following me but still standing in the dining room. I went back and gave her a little love and returned to the computer. Not five minutes later she was back at the growling bit. This time I let her lead and show me what she was after. She led me to the dining room stopped, dropped down and rolled on to her back. Which we all know is the universal sign for "RUB MY BELLY DAMN IT!"

Can you believe it? My dog is demanding belly rubs now! Who does she think she is? Yes, I fell for her demand and gave her a belly rub. Only to have return a few minutes later and demand another. I obliged a second time and now she seems content and happy. You can tell by her expression below that her momma is certainly no second rate belly rubber.

Learning to add fractions

When Michigan temps hit 75 degrees in March
math homework must be done outdoors.

So I got a job

Yes, it's true, it seems someone finds me still employable after 11 years of being home with my kids.

Tomorrow I start work for a digital printing company doing sales and marketing. It's pretty much what I was doing before I had kids. While I admit to being a little bit nervous I'm mostly really excited to have the opportunity to actually use my brain again. The people I'll be working for have been very kind in offering to be flexible so that I'm still able to take my girls to school and pick them up at the end of the day.

But of course, with every good opportunity there are draw backs. Be prepared a few of them are petty.

1. No more dropping my kids off at school while still in my pajamas.
2. No more going back to bed on the mornings I feel the need for more rest.
3. No more summer vacation. It's not so bad, by week three I want to pound my kids heads together anyway.
4. Pup is so not going to be happy with me when she has to start spending her days in her kennel.
5. It's a 30 minute drive one way and gas is not cheap.
   

So, back to the reality of the working world I go.

The Red Metal Tool Box

This past summer I was cleaning out the garage and came across an old, red, metal toolbox of my husband's (now deceased). I decided to bust it open in hopes he had been hoarding money during our marriage, which would be ok now that it would be all mine! Instead what I found inside was every note and card I had ever written or given him pre marriage. How romantic eh? That's what I thought until tonight when I remembered the tool box and decided to start reading them.

After laughing through them I decided that first I will need to sort through and separate those that I will allow my children to some day read and those that should probably be burned. I already fear that my children will need therapy in the future simply because they drew the short straw when it came to getting the really good mom. No need to make it worse by reading the sometimes rather inappropriate things I wrote to their dad in high school.

On a side note my 11 year old told me this evening (after a conversation about some parents she was observing in the restaurant earlier) that some people just shouldn't be allowed to parent. My question was, "Am I one of them?" Her answer was no, so I still have the wool over her eyes for now.

Back to the red tool box. Once I made the decision to censor what my children could read I thought it would be fun to entertain the internet with some of my notes, my personal embarrassment is a small price to pay for your enjoyment. Please keep in mind that he and I dated through most of my high school years and that is when the majority of these notes were written. I swear I've grown up since then, I really have.

Let's start with the profession of love:

Matthew,

I love you!

Love-ya,
Me

P.S. I love you!

Hmm, profound.

Ok, moving on to a typed note (gee, I'm guessing I was in typing class perhaps neglecting my typing assignment):

Matthew,
Howdy! How ya doin'? Me, fine! I guess! I have a terrible headache though.
And I miss you! And I LOVE YOU! About last night, I'm sorry for questioning
you about whether or not you really loved me! I believe ya!

LOVE-YA,
ME!

Ok, I must take several issues with this one. For starters I know I'm not as chipper, nor have I ever been, as the number of exclamation points in this note might indicate. Then notice how in high school I was already practicing the "honey, not tonight, I have a headache" move. I was always ahead of my age. Did I seriously start this note with "Howdy!"? ACK! One theme I noticed in a few of the letters that is also present in this one is obvious insecurity issues. I wish someone would have grabbed me by the shoulders and told my high school self to GET A GRIP! No fear, I got over that about the first week of marriage when every time I moved from his sight he asked me where I was going. We only lived in 780 square feet, I couldn't go far.

Ok, this is the last one I'll share for tonight, as I still have lots of them to read through.

Matthew,
Hi hon! I'm sorry I didn't have much time to write but we were learning
how to draw atomic models and I had to pay attention!
Kay-O? I promise I'll write in 5th hr. maybe!
I LOVE YOU!

Love-ya,

Me

Well, it's good to see that I was at least attempting to pay attention in one of my classes. Thank the stars I learned how to draw atomic models because I'll be damned if I don't use that knowledge on a daily basis. Apparently I didn't feel I would need to learn anything 5th hour though because it seems it was necessary to write my boyfriend yet another dreary, pointless note. Did I really write "Kay-O?" ACK!

Stay tuned there may be more episodes of "The Red Metal Tool Box" to come.