Re-entering the Workforce?

This is a question I've been pondering for the last couple of months.  I've been out of the workforce for about 10 years.  Our family has subsisted on one salary, even through my husband's employer going out of business, my husband's subsequent unemployment, then a new job with a substantial cut in salary.  Through careful planning on our part, slashing expenses and my husband eventually finding better work, we have hung in there.  But now it's getting much harder to continue living on one salary and having everything hinge on my husband's job.  He's in advertising, which is notoriously unstable, although many professions have become that way now.

So here I am now contemplating trying to re-enter the workforce after 10 years away and figuring out how to best do this.  I did try to stay in the workforce after my second son was born, but I wanted to work part-time and my employer would not agree to it.  At the time my sons were a 20-month old and a newborn.  So having them go to daycard would be very expensive and it would be very difficult to work full-time, especially in the advertising position I was in.  Both my husband and I were working in advertising and these are not 9-5 jobs - the hours can be very unpredictable.

Anyway, I'm contemplating re-entering the workforce during one of the most difficult periods for anyone to find work.  Will anyone want to hire me?  Employers are putting "unemployed need not apply" in their job listings, which by the way, I think is deplorable!  I have very good skills, am very organized, efficient, dependable, a skilled negotiator, creative thinker, problem-solver, etc.  I've volunteered at my sons' school for over 7 years and have headed a committee and managed the budgets and activities for my sons' classrooms.  My sons are now old enough that they don't need after-school care, although we have considered possibly hiring a babysitter to watch them during the "latch-key" hours.  That would depend on how responsible they show themselves to be.  Also, I would have to pretty much buy a new wardrobe since all of my current clothes are jeans, capri pants and wash-and-wear T-shirts.

So the questions are:
Can I find a job?
What type of work would an employer consider hiring me for?
How much money could I realistically make?
Would it be worth it in terms of increased costs of working and quality of life issues?
Can I find part-time work?  Is that even feasible?
If I don't get a job now, will it make it that much harder to find one later if I find myself in a situation where I need one?
If I go much more beyond the "10 years" of not being in the workplace, will I become permanently "unemployable"?

Are any of you grappling with these issues or have you in the past?  What have been your experiences and do you have any advice?  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Last Day of School

It's the last day of school.  While I'm always excited for the kids to begin summer break, I'm also a bit melancholy on the last day of school.  It's just that things will be changing - they'll have another teacher next year and different kids in their class - and another year is over.  My children are growing up.  It really does seem to be moving faster now that they're older.  When they were younger, I was much more excited about watching them growing up.  They could do more and were becomming more independent.  Now my sons will be going into 7th and 5th grade and I'm becomming acutely aware of outside influences gaining importance and my role seeming to decrease in importance.  I need to step out of the way many times and back off and let them navigate circumstances on their own.  And I've got to say, both my husband and I have been very proud of how they have done this so far.

This year I'm especially emotional because my younger son had an awesome teacher who really helped this year to be the best he has had since he started school.  Each year has been challenging, with some much more than others.  Last year he had an excellent teacher who started to turn things around.  This year, his teacher was particularly awesome and worked with our son and us to make it his best year ever.  I'm really going to miss that and I hope the momentum continues next year.

How do you all feel about the last day of school and has it changed as your children have gotten older?

Spring "Break"

Ok - spring break was over a couple of weeks ago, but there was so much that happened during spring break and up until now.  First, my hubbie broke his ankle the Friday before our sons' 3-week break - great timing!  Our sons have a 3-week break because they go to year-round school (which I absolutely love).  So my husband was hobbling around on crutches throughout the whole 3-week break.  He could barely do anything so I had to take care of him, like a child.  So the boys were home, which means I'm constantly feeding them and cleaning up, and I was taking care of my husband when he wasn't at work.  Thankfully he was able to drive short distances because he broke his left ankle.  Add to all of that, taking care of the cat and the dog.  The boys did step up to the plate and help with cleaning the cat's litter box and walking our dog in the mornings since they were out of school.  So I just walked the dog in the evenings, because we don't feel comfortable with the boys walking him when it's dark.

So then, the Wednesday of the 1st week, we got a leak in our upstairs bathroom.  It took 2 days to get a plumber out.  So on top of everything, I'm cleaning up the bathroom and moving everything to a small bathroom upstairs.  We had to get a specialist out to pull up our carpet and dry everything because we were starting to smell mildew.  So we were now all sharing our small bathroom upstairs.  Imagine sharing a small - I mean small - bathroom with 3 males and a litter box.  In addition, there had to be a stool in the bathroom to help my husband get in and out of the shower.  You could barely move in there and counter space was teeny!  We had to replace our flooring in the main bathroom.  Between going to home-improvement stores to research our options and having a couple of companies come over for estimates, it took a couple weeks to decide.  Then it took a couple of weeks for the company to do it.  So we all kept having to use the teeny bathroom during that time.  Since we were replacing the flooring in one bathroom upstairs, we decided to do the other bathroom also.  So two days ago we got the main bathroom done, yesterday they completed the smaller bathroom and right now I'm waiting for the plumber to come and re-install the two toilets.  We're currently down to one toilet downstairs, which is a bit difficult for my hobbling husband.  He's finally ditched the crutches, but he's still hobbling around uneasily.

During all of this, our dog needed eye surgery, there was a baby shower and a birthday party to attend and we had some friends visit from the Netherlands.  So I was trying to keep the house presentable for our friends and make delicious appetizers and dinners for them.

So now the kids are back in school and we can finally use the main bathroom again (yay!!)  I took my 1st shower in there this morning and it was great!  The husband's ankle is getting better (slowly) and the dog's eye is better.  So life is looking up.

It is still busy, though.  The boys only have 4-1/2 weeks of school left and during that time there is a project where I have to make 100+ cookies and assist with a poster, 3 birthday parties, a performance where I need to find pirate gear, items to buy for a school sleep-away camp, a school carnival and 2 school open houses.  So, there will be no rest for the weary ;)

Happy Fat Tuesday!!

I hope everyone is having a good Fat Tuesday.  I love celebrating smaller holidays as much as the bigger ones.  I like to make food traditional to that holiday so tonight I'm going to make jambalaya.  I just googled "jambalaya" and looked at various versions of the recipe.  I picked a recipe that Emeril Lagasse had.  I'm just making a few changes to it.  I'm not going to use sausage, just chicken and shrimp, because I'm not  a big fan of sausage and I'm trying to be healthier (look below at my "And I Left the Restaurant In An Ambulance" entry).  Also, I'm going to tone down the spiciness for my sons - they don't like food too spicy.  However, my husband and I will be spicing up our portions.  So, here's to everyone on Fat Tuesday - have fun today, dance, wear some beads and have a good time!!

What's Your Favorite Day of the Week?

Mine's Friday.  In our family Friday holds a special significance because my husband and I were married on a Friday and both our sons were born on Fridays.  We didn't plan it that way, it just happened (except for getting married on Friday).  One of the reasons we got married on a Friday was that I wanted a Winter evening wedding and it was easier to find and book a site on a Friday evening rather than a Saturday evening.  A plus was that it was also cheaper.  Our guests ended up loving it because a lot of them got hotel rooms near our reception and had an excuse to leave work early or not go in at all.  Then our wedding became a really fun way to start the weekend (we found out later that a number of them stayed up into the wee hours of the morning, as they got adjoining rooms).

I also liked Fridays back when I was working in corporate America because it became "casual Fridays".  I liked going into work in jeans and everyone just had a more laid-back attitude.  You would never start something new on a Friday because why not just wait until the beginning of next week.  Many times my coworkers, boss and I would go to lunch on Fridays and take a long one.  In fact I had a really cool boss at one of the advertising agencies I worked at in L.A. who would sometimes take us to a local Mexican joint.  She would encourage us to order margaritas, then would encourage us all to get a 2nd one.  She picked up the tab and then we would all stagger back to work.  Suffice to say there was no more work happening on those afternoons and our department would be full of giggles.  We all sobered up in time to drive home and let me tell you, we all worked our hardest for her all other times because she was such a cool boss (this was not her only virtue).

I even liked Fridays as a kid.  On Friday evening I would be so excited that there were two full days ahead without school.  I remember liking the shows on Friday evening - The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family (right?  Am I remembering correctly?)  Now I'm really dating myself by admitting that I used to watch them before they were in syndication.

Nowadays, I make Friday evenings special for our family by having "popcorn night".  We started this when the boys were old enough to eat popcorn without it being a choking hazard.  I spread a sheet out on the living room floor and the boys pick a movie to watch.  Then I make batches of popcorn throughout the evening with an air-popper (remember those?)  I think they're coming back in popularity.  Anyway, the popcorn tastes so much better than the microwave kind and I put real melted butter on it and can control how much salt goes on it.  I used an air-popper that I had since college until late last year.  That popper lasted about 25 years and cost about $10!!  Talk about getting your money's worth!  Anyway, it eventually started taking longer and longer to pop so my family bought me a new one for my last birthday.  I still have the old one - I can't throw it away - it just has too many fond memories now.

So, let us know what your favorite day of the week is, and why ...

And I Left the Restaurant In An Ambulance (Update)

Well it took a long time to get the results of the physical and blood tests.  Bottom line - everything looks good.  The only potential problem is that my blood pressure should be lower.  Also, I had preeclampsia with my first pregnancy and that raises your risk for hypertension later.  So this is something I really need to watch.  Also, I didn't realize before this how serious high blood pressure can be over time.  Left untreated, it can damage organs, like your kidneys and heart, and lead to hardening of the arteries, which increases risk of heart disease and stroke.

So I will make the lifestyle changes I mentioned previously to get healthier and now also to decrease my blood pressure.  Specifically, I will keep up with the exercising I already do but try to fit in little spurts here and there.  I usually walk 3x/week for 45 minutes and get on my exercise bike 2x/week for 50 minutes.  I also do some arm weight exercises 2x/week and a bit of yoga.  Now I'm starting to do lunges and squats while I cook dinner, some crunches and leg lifts in the evenings and I'll stop every so often and do 25 jumping jacks just to get my metabolism going.  I aim to do that 4x each day and then that adds up to 100 jumping jacks.

I'm also watching what I eat more.  My diet was always fairly healthy, I just ate too much and would snack in the evening after dinner.  So now I'm trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables (at least 1/meal), replace "white" starches for whole grain ones and watch my portions!  Also, I'm trying not to eat after dinner.

So far since my last post, I've done pretty well.  However, my youngest son got sick for a few days and now I've been sick for about 3 days and my husband has just come down with it.  So I haven't had the energy to exercise for a few days and didn't do as much when my son was sick.  So I'll just try harder next week.  I am also trying to meditate whenever I can and de-stress as much as possible.  It's hard to find time to meditate, but I will keep working on that because that should help the blood pressure.  I just can't get up earlier in the morning to meditate - I just fall back asleep :)  Then during the day, there are too many things going on so I'm trying to work it in in the evening.

Let me know if any of you are on similar health/well-being quests.  We can give each other inspiration and tips.  In the meantime, take care.

And I Left the Restaurant In An Ambulance

Wow!  I just had the most strange and scary experience of my life.  We took another vacation to go skiing and we went to a restaurant for dinner.  When we walked in, I noticed that it was very warm in the restaurant, uncomfortably so.  The place was packed so we had to wait for a table.  I took off my jacket and sat down.  The hostess mentioned how warm the restaurant was and I agreed with her and said they needed to turn down the heat.  A couple of minutes later, another woman waiting for a table mentioned how warm it was.  I was thinking of going outside to get some fresh air, but I didn't want to make a fuss for my husband and boys, so I told myself to just sit there and relax and I did start to feel better.

We got sat and ordered our food.  Our food arrived and we all started eating.  Out of nowhere, I felt like I was hit by a truck.  I immediately felt extremely sick!  My vision faded and everything seemed like it was getting distant.  I became very lightheaded and weak and felt like I might get sick.  I stopped and told my husband that there was something wrong and I thought I needed to go to the bathroom.  I tried to get my strength to leave the table and the next thing I knew, I was sleeping and I heard my husband calling my name from far away.  In my mind, I was peacefully sleeping and his voice was part of a dream.  However, his voice became closer, louder and more urgent.  I finally opened my eyes to see why he was calling me so urgently and noticed I was sitting in the restaurant.  I was confused and he told me I had just passed out and they were calling 911!  It turns out that my head fell back, my eyes rolled back into my head and I made gurgling, choking sounds.

Everything now looked and sounded distant to me but I could talk and understand what was happening around me.  I was very lightheaded and weak and just wanted to get out of that restaurant because it was uncomfortable and I felt I was making a scene.  The paramedics came and put me on a gurney and into an ambulence.  I was very scared, my boys were scared and my husband was scared.  I was embarrassed and felt really bad about my children seeing me that way and scaring them like that.  They did all kind of things to me in the ambulence and I found out later that they took an EKG, took some blood, tested my blood sugar and checked my heart rate and blood pressure, among other things.  My blood pressure at the outset was 90/60, which they said was too low.

When I got to the emergency room, they did all kinds of tests on me:  they did the same ones done to me in the ambulence and also checked my blood and gave me a chest X-ray.  Of course the first fear is a heart attack.  I had been reading alot about warning signs of heart attacks in women because February is Heart Health month so I was very scared.

Bottom line - my heart was fine (thank God!).  It was an episode of syncope (fainting) due to a vasovagal response, which means that something or a couple of things cause my blood vessels to dilate so much that not enough blood, and therefore oxygen, was reaching my brain.  This caused me to faint.  Talking it over with my husband we came to the conclusion that I was probably a bit dehydrated (I hadn't drunk enough water that day), I got overheated in the restaurant and the altitude may have played a part.  All of this worked together to drop my blood pressure too much.

This was a wake-up call for me, though.  Our family learned how things can change in a moment and I learned what it really feels like to lose control of your body.  I tried to breathe deeper, calm down and take a sip of water.  None of those things worked.

I decided I need to pay more attention to my health because things could have turned out much differently.  I need to lose a fairly good amount of weight and am too thick around the middle, which is a risk factor for heart problems.  I now have a much better reason to lose weight and take care of myself other than vanity - I want to be around for my children and my husband.  It was no fun being wisked away in an ambulance and having a roomful of strangers staring at you.  It was no fun knowing that my boys were witnessing this and feeling frightened.  It was no fun knowing that I was scaring my husband and putting him in the hard situation of having to be strong for the boys.

It was just no fun.

Starting yesterday, I'm changing my lifestyle.  I am not going on a diet - I am changing my lifestyle.  I've been good with exercise, but I will be even better.  I will eat more healthfully.  I will practice portion control and I will try to do things that make me healthier and help to give me a long, happy life and I have an appointment to get a complete physical with my doctor tomorrow to see what the state of my health really is right now.  Party over - time to get serious.

How Long Am I Going To Keep Skiing?

This question came to me on our family's last ski trip.  My oldest son snowboards and the other skiis.  As they keep getting better and better on the slopes, I seem to be slipping further and further behind.  They are quickly getting to the point where I won't be able to ski with them and their father anymore because I won't be able to do the runs that they all can.  At that point, I will have to make the decision to either just ski alone or stop skiing altogether.

I must say that skiing is getting more uncomfortable for me - I'm feeling my age.  It seems that my legs are getting weaker each year so I get more sore now after skiing.  And those ski boots kill me!  I almost want to snowboard just because their boots are so much more comfortable!  After the last day of skiing on our last trip, I took my ski boots off (almost tore them off) and I swear each one felt like it weighed about 20 lbs.  And lugging around skis and poles while walking in these boots is so cumbersome!  At those times, sitting in a lodge with comfortable Ugg-style boots and reading a book sounds so inviting.  Although, I know there will be kind of a sad sense of loss when I can't ride up a lift chair with my sons and watch them skiing or snowboarding from behind as I follow them down the mountain.  So I'll try to keep up with them as long as possible.

I better go now - I need to do some lunges and squats.

Teachers With Children Vs. Those Without

Now that the new school year is well underway, I want to pose a question:

Do you notice a difference between teachers who are parents and those who aren't?  I've talked to other moms about this and in general, I've observed that teachers with children, especially those who are grown, seem to be more understanding, patient and flexible than those that don't or whose children are too young to be in school yet.  For example, teachers with children tend to be more patient when children are acting up in class and they tend to resolve the issues more often themselves without getting the parents or principal involved.  They also seem to understand the struggles parents face regarding homework issues, sleep issues and discipline issues more keenly.

I'm not saying you have to be a parent to be a good teacher - there are many caring, motivated teachers out there without their own children.  But in general, it seems that a teacher who has years of parenting experience just has a more well-rounded view.

What's your opinion? Have you found this to be true?

We Have A Puppy ...

and this is what happens when one of us forgets to close the bathroom door. Our puppy LOVES going through the trash basket, and the laundry hamper for that matter. I have tried to teach the hubby and the boys to close all bathroom and closet doors. When someone forgets, this is what happens. But this is not all. He then proceeds to take whatever he has in his mouth and go under one of the beds or sofas. So I periodically have to look under all beds and sofas and clean up whatever gunk he's taken under there. Ah, the pleasures of owning a pet!

Kitchen Counter Organized (finally)

Before

After

OK - the kitchen counter is finally organized!! Woo Hoo!! The "before" shot doesn't actually look as bad as it was. There was a pile of paperwork and mail that had to be sorted under the present. Also, the spice rack was overflowing with items so I needed to go through and throw out some spices that were too old or I just was never going to use.

Organizing the counter took a lot longer than I expected. There were a few things that were going on that held me up. First, good friends of ours moved out of the country, back home to the Netherlands (boo hoo). They brought over 3 boxes full of pantry and fridge items in case I could use them. So in the middle of my organizing project, I get handed more stuff! I appreciated that they were thinking of us but it did take awhile to sort through everything and then figure out where to put items we were keeping. You should have seen the kitchen counter during that process :}

Once I sorted through all their food, I decided to give any we weren't keeping to a local food bank. I decided this would be a good time to go through my pantry and add some items. So I was able to do some organizing of our pantry, although not completely.

Then, I needed to finalize some upcoming vacation plans so we would have a place to stay. I get really into planning for vacations and love reading travel books about the area and looking on the web so this took a lot of time. I got it done, though, and I've got to say, we got some great deals! I learned that it pays to not only look on the web for deals but to call the actual properties, too.

Finally, we had conferences with both my sons' teachers last week. My sons go to year-round school so it was conference time. That always takes up a chunk of time. So there were a few things that slowed me down during this part of my organizing project.

But I love the way the kitchen counter looks now, and so does my husband. I learned a few things during this process. First, I need an "office" area in my kitchen because I need these items on a daily basis. So I set it up in the right-hand corner. The trick is to keep it organized so it doesn't overflow to the rest of the counter. Second, I need an area where I can stash mail and paperwork that I need to work on during the week. I want it out of sight or it looks too messy, but there was nowhere to put it. So I cleared out one of our drawers so I can stash these items there. The biggest challenge of that will be to make sure it's not "out of sight, out of mind" - I need to regularly look through that drawer. Finally, the mail and the boys' schoolwork really piles up quickly and I need to tackle that on a daily basis to not get overwhelmed, which is sometimes hard to do when things get crazy.

Now I'm going to work on our living room. A lot of items (books, toys, etc.) get piled up on side tables and a chest. I want these to look streamlined and get everything to its proper place. On to the next project...

Trying To Teach My Kids To Be Less Materialistic and More Grateful

This is a topic I've been struggling with for awhile and have talked to a lot of other moms about. My sons, like many other children, always want more stuff. They always want new lego sets, new DS games, new whatever they see on TV or hear about through their friends. It gets so bad that sometimes they want to go to the store to buy a new toy a week after they have received one. My husband and I have talked extensively about this and feel that they don't value enough what they do have. They are developing a sense of entitlement that is becomming troubling. We don't want them to grow up feeling entitled to get anything they want when they want it. We want them to be grateful for what they do have and not take it for granted. We also want to teach them that their comfortable lives are not what everyone experiences.

Like many parents, we always wanted to give our children many opportunities. We focused mainly on giving them experiences that would enrich them and also to introduce them to different activities so they could decide what their interests were. They have tried all kinds of sports and activities like soccer, tennis, swimming, softball, basketball, tae kwon do, guitar lessons, cello lessons, violin lessons, acting lessons, etc. We've also tried to broaden their horizons with different trips like taking them skiing, river rafting, going to Yosemite, Hawaii, the desert, etc. In addition to all of this, they have a number of aunts, uncles and grandparents who have always been very generous with them for holidays and birthdays.

My husband and I have talked to the boys about how fortunate they are and the fact that not everyone is so fortunate. I feel,though, that it goes in one ear and out the other - it just doesn't sink in. So I've been thinking about what I could do to try to SHOW the boys what we are trying to teach them. I remember visiting orphanages near Tiujana, Mexico when I was 13. That trip changed my view of the world and left a deep impression on me. However, I'm not willing to take my sons down to Mexico to show them extreme poverty because of the current dangers. Trying to show them images of poverty, like on TV or the internet, doesn't get through because they can't really relate to it. I realized that there are examples of people struggling to get by in our own community and if I could show this to my sons, hopefully they can relate to it better. So I decided that we would donate food to a local food bank in our city that serves about 500 families per month.

I collected a box of food, then brought the boys with me to the food bank. I explained to them that some families don't have enough money to eat three meals a day, even in our community, which is in an affluent area. I talked to the boys about how they would feel if they couldn't eat three meals a day, let alone having snacks. Then when we dropped the food off, I asked if we could look through the warehouse so they could really get a feel for how they were collecting and distributing food to needy families. One of the most impressionable sights we saw were shopping carts that the families come to get. They can come once per month and the cart has a box and a couple of bags of food and one bread item. As we went home, we talked about how that was not a lot of food for a family for a month.

I think actually seeing everything helped make these ideas sink in. Only time will tell. It was definitely very different than just bringing in canned goods to school during food drives. That's a very useful thing to do, mind you, but there isn't much of an emotional tie to it. To see what these families are actually getting and to see that some of the shelves of the food bank are getting low on food really brings home the point that there is a real need right in our backyard.

Have any of you done anything to try to teach your children to be grateful for what they have? What have you tried and was it successful? It would be nice to get some other ideas.

Week 3

I did OK with my goals for Week 3, but not wonderful. I tried to get an electrician to our house that was referred by a neighbor, but the phone number is no longer in use. So that didn't work. Then I looked in the yellow pages but I really hate that because it just seems like you're picking someone blindly. So I hemmed and hawed and ended up not getting anyone over. However, maybe it will work out OK because some new neighbors just moved in today and they seem nice and he's a contractor. So maybe we'll get to know them better and I can see if he knows of an electrician. At least we can go for awhile without a light in our bedroom closet. It's a nuisance, but manageable.

Another goal I had was to clear the clutter on my kitchen counter. I did some of it and went through most of the immediate clutter. However, I was surprised at how I resisted completing this. I kept having other tasks to do but if I'm honest with myself, I didn't want to keep going to the point of finishing this project because I'm not sure what to do with everything. I'm afraid it's going to become more of a mess before it gets better as I try to spread everything out to figure out where it should really go. I'm also afraid this will really take a large chunk of time. So I have more to do on this and I need to push myself through my mental block - I get tired just thinking of it.

The last goal I had was to exercise 5 days. Well I made it for 4, so that was pretty good. It was a hot week last week and I lose motivation to work out, even in the morning, when I'm starting to feel too hot. Last week it seems I was feeling hot most of the time.

I also ended up planning a vacation our family is going to take in a couple of months. I looked on the internet but wanted more information so I ended up at Barnes and Noble looking through travel books. I really enjoy doing this and get really into it when I'm planning a vacation. However, before I know it, I've been there for a couple of hours because I get so caught up. I did end up securing a reservation at a hotel that usually gets booked up to 13 months in advance, so I felt I really accomplished something there.

For this week, good friends of our family are moving back to Holland (boo hoo) so I feel a little sidetracked. We're trying to see them as much as possible before they leave and we keep having their son over so he can play with our sons a lot. I'll still try to get some organizing done, but my focus isn't as sharp this week.

So the good and bad for last week -

Good -
Went through most of the clutter on the kitchen sink
Exercised 4 days
Secured a difficult hotel reservation for an upcoming vacation

Bad -
Didn't get electrician out, but I'm going to table this for a bit
Didn't finish the clutter-busting kitchen counter project

Goals for Week 4 -
Spend as much time as possible with our Dutch friends
Finish kitchen counter project
Keep planning the rest of our vacation (will need to figure out where we're staying at another city)
Exercise 5 days
Pay bills

Week 2

My focus for Week 2 was to get the following repair people out to our house: plumber, air conditioning repair person and an electrician. I got two out of three: the plumber and the air conditioning person. The plumber came 1st and he took apart the faucet in our master bathroom to see what needed to be done to fix the leak. He told me the repairs would cost $225. That sounded really expensive to me for a faucet leak. When I asked him if there was a warranty, he replied that there was for 90 days. So I'm going to pay $225 for a repair with a 90-day warranty?! I think not!! If the faucet starts leaking in 91 days, I'm out of luck. So I'm going to look around and get other estimates. I asked my husband to ask people at work if anyone has a plumber they like. Funny thing is, ever since he came and took the faucet apart then put it back together, the leak has been much better. In fact, some days, it doesn't even leak at all. So I guess I'll hold off for now on the plumber.

The air conditioning repairman came later that day. He was referred to me by my neighbor. He was an odd guy. He said the unit needed freon and that our filters were fine. He said he couldn't guarantee that the motor wouldn't just die at some point and we would need to replace it and maybe the compressor. He said if that happens, we should replace the parts of the old unit because installing new units now are extremely cost-prohibitive because there are a bunch of new regulations that went into effect as of January 1st. Now you have to replace the whole heating/air conditioning system and pay for various inspections to make sure it's done right. Anyway, I've got the air conditioner on right now and it's working so-so. Air is coming out but it's not as cold as I would expect.

I didn't get the electrician out so I'm going to work on that this week. I'm also going to work on clearing out the clutter on our kitchen counter. One of the problems is that I don't have a place to put some of the paperwork that I have stored there. So I'm just going to find a temporary home for it until I get into this project enough to clean an area in the office to store paperwork like it.

I did unexpectedly clear out some of the clutter near my bed so that was good. I just started working on it one day and decided I better finish so I feel I accomplished one "clutter-busting" activity. So I'm proud about that. One thing that got sidelined last week was my exercise. I only exercised three days instead of five, so that wasn't good. Each day I at least walked our puppy. However, walking the puppy entails a lot of stopping, so it can hardly be considered cardio. At least I'm moving a bit.

So here's the good and bad for week 2:

Good -
Bathroom leak is at least temporarily doing better
Air conditioning is working somewhat
Cleared out clutter near my bed
Saved $65 (about 35% of the total) when I did my main grocery shopping trip

Bad -
Didn't get electrician out last week
Don't know if bathroom leak and air conditioning will stay OK or if these are just temporary fixes that I'll have to deal with later
Only exercised 3 out of 5 days

Week 3 Goals -
Get electrician out
Tackle clutter on kitchen counter
Exercise 5 days

Week 1

OK - so I really should have posted this on Saturday or Sunday, but I got crazed this weekend. Well my first actual week of trying to be more organized went OK, though I wish I had gotten more done and had been more efficient with my time. I realize I get sidelined when I get on my computer to check e-mails and such. It just seems to suck up time and before I know it, an hour has gone by.

For Week 1, I was really focusing on the boys going back to school and making sure they had all the supplies, clothes and shoes they needed. This has now been accomplished and I told them yesterday that I won't be buying any more items for them for awhile. This process took longer than I would have liked, mainly because I couldn't always find what we needed and there were multiple times when I had to return items to the store. That was mostly clothes that didn't fit. But sometimes it's just easier for me to pick up items when I'm out and about that to drag both boys out shopping with me. Actually, I don't like shopping with both of them because they inevitably whine for things like toys and candy and they usually end up fighting, loudly and with hitting. So I end up stressed out and embarrased and vowing that I'm not doing that again. So all that shopping is now done, except I bought a new shirt for my oldest son and he put it on for the 1st time this morning and we found a rip in one of the seams. So I have to take that shirt back, probably today or tomorrow.

Also the 1st week, I had 3 evening meetings for school, so that took a lot of time. I helped the boys set up a new homework routine and am monitoring that they are doing their homework. I also took them to the library to pick up some books since they kept forgetting to go to their school library.

For Week 2, I'm going to focus on making appointments for things that have needed repairing in our house. I need to get our air conditioner checked because it's getting old and hasn't been working wonderfully. I also need to get a plumber to fix a leak in our bathtub faucet that was supposedly fixed by another plumber just last year (I won't be calling that plumber back). Last, the light in our master bedroom closet went out over a month ago and changing the light bulb didn't fix it. So it looks like I need to get an electrician out to see what's going on. I can see this will turn out to be an expensive week.

So here's the good and the bad for Week 1:

Good -
Finished getting boys all the stuff they needed for the start of school
Paid all our end-of-month bills on time
Helped the boys organize their homework and made sure they have some books to read
Exercised 5 days (woo hoo!)

Bad -
Wanted to get on my blog before today
Got sidetracked too many times on the computer and therefore wasted too much time
House looks like a mess - haven't kept up with daily pick-up well enough

Time To Organize

When I began blogging, I focused on my experiences of being head room mom in both sons' classes for the year. It was very rewarding, but difficult and exhausting, too. Along the way, I didn't always have enough time for my home. So now everything is in disarray.

The boys are starting school tomorrow because they go to a year-round school. I thought I would be able to do some organizing while they were home on summer vacation. We didn't go on any trips because we got a new puppy and didn't want to take him with us because he's not completely potty-trained yet and didn't want to leave him at a kennel. I didn't sign my sons up for any camps or activities because there wasn't anything that really interested them and therefore it just seemed a waste of money. So I erroneously thought we would have time to go through their toys and clothes and get rid of some and maybe even sell some on e-bay.

But things always got in the way of this well-intentioned plan. The boys were always running off to a friend's house or having friends come over and the puppy is a constant distraction. I find that when I'm trying to focus on a project, it's time to take the puppy for a walk to see if he has to go to the bathroom. Also, he's had a lot of accidents. So invariably, I hear "mom, Lucky peed" or "mom, Lucky pooped" and I have to stop whatever I'm doing to go clean it up.

So now I'm giving myself a goal for this year to really try to get as organized as possible - as organized as one can be with two tween boys, a new puppy, a cat and a husband. And when I talk about organizing, I'm talking about many aspects of my life: the house, the toys, the boys' clothes, my clothes, household items, exercising, our finances, etc. Today I'm organizing all the supplies, forms, checks, etc. that the boys need for the first day of school tomorrow. Tomorrow, I have to go through that stack of mail that has piled up on one of our kitchen counters and pull out the bills since it's near the end of the month and they all need to be paid.

This is the start and I will keep chronicling this throughout the year and posting any tips I come up with. Focusing on this on my blog will hopefully keep me on task throughout the year and I'm hoping that by this time next year, my house (and even myself) will look measurably better.

The Party's Over

OK - my experiment with being room mom in both my sons' classes officially ended about two weeks ago. It's taken me this long to catch up with things and actually get back on my blog again. Things got really crazy after we came back from spring break, which was April 19.

Let me digress for a moment before I go into the details of the last two months of school. When I signed up to be room mom in both classes, I meant to be a room mom in both classes, like out of 3 or 4 moms. However, I somehow became HEAD room mom in both classes, which surprised and kind of worried me because I had never been room mom before. For some reason, the teacher from my son's 5th grade class signed me up as the head room mom and no other moms signed up for my other son's 3rd grade class. I think the 5th grade teacher picked me because I talked to him in person about my interest rather than just filling it out on paperwork that came home in the beginning of the year. I was scared when I found out I was the only room mom in the 3rd grade class. The teacher asked two other moms if they would help me and they agreed. They ended up helping a lot and I became friends with one who I hadn't previously know and better friends with the other one. So I ended up being in charge of all the money for the two classes, sending letters to parents, planning parties, figuring out teacher gifts, etc.

So this is a summary of the last two whirlwind months of school. We got back from spring break and the 5th graders were having an event in about a month (May 25) called American Heritage Day. It's a fun day where the moms get various speakers to come into their classrooms and talk about what it means to them to be Americans. We had an Auschewitz camp survivor, a Pearl Harbor survivor, a woman who lived in a Japanese internments camp, a woman who grew up on an Indian reservation and others. Then the children have a performance that they put on for their families in the evening. Well, we had different committees to help plan this day because it's fairly complicated to put together. I signed up for one of the committees, but didn't want to be the head of it. Well, suffice to say, I became the head of it. So I was very busy for a month getting information for a letter sent home where each student would select which speaker they wanted to hear for each of 3 sessions, then assigning each student to specific speakers each session and creating programs and nametags. There were many details and it was very time-consuming. Everything ended up going smoothly and the day turned out great!

Then the next week, the 5th grade teacher had a baby shower at school. The week after was the 3rd grade teacher's birthday. I was also putting together scrapbooks for each teacher as an end-of-year gift. Now that was quite a feat because I'm not a crafty person and have only done one scrapbook in my life and that was a collaborative effort. Thankfully, all the room moms in both the classes really helped me out with that.

The week after the 3rd grade teacher's birthday was a lunch I organized for the whole 5th grade, then the day after, we presented the end-of-year scrapbooks to both teachers. The final week, I helped plan and came to a pool party for the 3rd grade and the last day of school, I planned and organized a lunch for both classes.

During this time I had to send multiple letters to parents in both classes, get money (birthday gift) and scrapbook pages from the kids, get kids to sign cards without the teachers knowing (baby shower and birthday), buy gifts, cards, food items, etc. The amount of details was staggering! I woke up a number of nights with details swimming around in my head because I was so afraid of forgetting something. I had a long to-do list and then would break it down by day so I wouldn't forget important deadlines.

Somehow it all came together and it was all successful (whew!!) I had good help from a number of moms, which made it manageable and more pleasant.

OK - so now would I do it again?
If I had the same choice at the beginning of the year, I would do it again. I formed some new relationships and built some closer relationships. I got to know the teachers much more personally than I would have and I was fortunate that I really liked the teachers! My sons enjoyed that I was so involved and enjoyed seeing me in their classes so much, although I do know they have no idea how much behind-the-scenes work I was doing. The best part of this experience was that the boys did get a sense of pride having me be "head" room mom in each of their classes and I really enjoyed building the relationship I did and know that will continue. I also enjoyed the sense of accomplishment from actually achieving success in this endeavor. I haven't worked officially for almost a decade and this taught me that I still have marketable skills, namely managing, organizing, planning and negotiating. It felt good to use these skills again and know that they haven't atrophied from non-use.

Will I be room mom again in either of their classes? I won't say never, but I've done it, it was successful and why push fate. The down-side was that family issues came up during the year that I wasn't able to put my full attention to or effort into. And that sometimes made me sad. I also realized that I did this mostly for my sons and if I neglected other issues that affect them because I'm caught up in details and busy-work, then I'm not really doing what I set out to do - I'm not reaching my real goal - to stand beside them with support and guidance.

Cleaning Up For A New Friend Visit

Right now my boys are downstairs playing with a new friend. This is his first time here. My sons met him through another friend and he likes to play Yu-gi-oh as do my sons, especially my younger one. We happened to see him with his mom and sister a day after they met and his mom and me agreed that it would be nice for them to get together sometime. So after a week or so, we invited him over.

Since his mom has never seen our place, I wanted to straighten up and make the place look nice and neat, like it always looks like that (ha,ha). So beyond the usual picking up, I vacuumed, cleared tables and counters (as much as possible), wiped down sinks and counters and re-folded the bathroom towels. Then I brushed my hair and put on new lipstick. It was as if we were having company. Mind you, I do not go through all of this for all their friends. Once we get to know them well and feel comfortable with them, I relax.

Do you find that you do this too? It's just that I want to make a good impression on a mom that I'm getting to know and I want her to feel comfortable having her son at my house. I like when we get past this stage because it's a lot of work and truth be told - I really don't like cleaning, although of course it's a necessary evil.

Yu-Gi-Oh Tournament - Oh My!

My youngest son is currently obsessed with Yu-Gi-Oh. A friend of his got him into it and now he collects the cards and watches episodes on the computer. He's even gotten his older brother into it, although he's not quite as interested. So his friend told us about a card shop that has tournaments on weekends. He's been going about every other weekend for about a year now and my son really wanted to try it out so I agreed.

We met the friend, his mom and another boy there to try it out. It started at 2pm on Saturday and the mom told me it could last until 6 or 7! I already told my sons that we would only stay for a couple of hours, not the whole time. Well, all I can say is that it was strange. There were probably about 25-30 people there and everyone except for my sons and the two other boys was in their teens or their 20's. The guy my youngest son played (he's 9) seemed to be in his mid-20's. My 10-year old played a guy who seemed a little younger, like his early 20's. Of course, my sons couldn't compete with these guys and the one playing my older son seemed nice but the other guy was strange and not very nice and my son said later that he was mean and he didn't like him. After the first game, both sons had had enough and didn't want to continue with the tournament. That was fine with me! The whole scene kind of gave me the creeps. It seems odd to me that men in their 20's would be so into Yu-Gi-Oh. I didn't think the tournament would be like that - I thought it would be a bunch of kids playing together and that it would be kind of cute. Boy was I wrong!

Have any of you had any Yu-Gi-Oh experiences or similar ones with other games or collectible items? What were your thoughts?

The Last Quarter of the School Year

Well, I can't believe the last quarter of school is here. This year has gone by really fast (they all seem to when you look back on them). My experiment of being room mom in both my sons' classes is coming to an end soon. I'm kind of sad about it. I've had fun, although there have been some hectic times. I'm gearing up for things to get really busy at the end of the year.

Right now I'm heading a committee for a day-long celebration for the 5th grade called American Heritage Day. This is a day where we will have various speakers talk to the children and their parents about their specific experiences of being an American. I'm not sure who the speakers will be yet but in the past they have had people from various countries talking about what it meant to them to become American citizens, someone serving in the military and a politician. There will be three sessions throughout the day with three speakers per session. My committee is in charge of sending out sign-up sheets for the children to select which speakers they want to hear each session. Then we will assign the kids to the various speakers throughout the day and make a program highlighting the speakers and the schedule and registering the children the day of the event. The next few weeks will be busy getting everything organized for this. Everything seems to be fairly quiet in 3rd grade until June, so I'll be able to focus on this.

I also need to start working on the end-of-year gifts we'll be giving to the teachers. I'm planning on putting together a small scrapbook for my sons' teachers with each child making an individual page with a note to the teacher and any pictures they may want to include. I'll also put together some pages with pictures of events throughout the year like field trips and parties. Unfortunately, I can't find our camera - it's been missing since Easter. So if I don't find it, I'll need to rely on pictures from other parents.

I'll keep posting the goings-on for the next couple of months. More to come!