So, I'm laid off from my job. Funny thing is, things are busier here than this time last year. Blew me out of the water. Company meeting yesterday. I wouldn't have been shocked to be cut back another day, or even two, but I'm laid off. We all are. It's meant to be temporary, but what that means is anyone's guess. The hours that were cut last spring were meant to be temporary, too, but they never came back.
I get to come in a couple hours a week (like one or two) because companies don't function without the person who keeps the books at least making an appearance.
Daycare is being spectacular. I wanted to keep my son in a computer class that he is taking there, and they said if I stay outside the room while he takes it, then it won't be used toward his billable hours, so we can cut his hours down to the minimum plan just to cover the small amount of time I go to the office each week.
The upside is I get extra time with my son. I can volunteer more at school. With the blessing of Hubby's new job, it's not going to be a massive financial strain on our family.
I have never been laid off in my life. I have been working since age 14, and have never been more than a week without a job, and that includes during several moves to different states.
I know it will be okay, but for some reason I feel a little shaky (literally - my hands have been shaking - the weirdest thing).
There might not be many more posts from me here while I'm not working, but I'll still be checking email.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Excitement renewed
My son has been excited about our eventual trip to Disneyworld that we have been saving for. He knew that we would be flying there, so it took me by surprise when I mentioned the monorail that runs between some of the hotels and he excitedly said "Hotels? We get to stay in a HOTEL while we're there?!? I thought we were going for a DAY!" Between flying back and forth, and going to Disney and Universal, he must have thought that was going to be quite a day! So now he's even MORE excited.
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I baked a loaf of bread last night, and was glad when the oven didn't send out any toxic fumes after the melting frosting dish incident.
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I guess that's all the excitement on my mind at the moment. What are you excited about?
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Oh, and I just heard it was delurking day again, so please, leave a comment! Let me know you were here. :-)
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I baked a loaf of bread last night, and was glad when the oven didn't send out any toxic fumes after the melting frosting dish incident.
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I guess that's all the excitement on my mind at the moment. What are you excited about?
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Oh, and I just heard it was delurking day again, so please, leave a comment! Let me know you were here. :-)
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Post 600!
600 posts. Wow. Where did the time go? Apparently I've been spending it blogging...
Hubby received EA Sports Active for the Wii as his early birthday gift. He has other gifts coming on the actual day, but my son and I wanted him to have one thing to open during the early birthday celebration.
Lest you think it sounds like a selfish gift, since I've been chanting "I want a Wii Fit" for some time now, when I bought it for him, I actually thought I would also be getting a Wii Fit soon, so this was something more geared to him. He is enjoying it more than he thought he would (do I know him, or what?). I am also enjoying it very much, and luckily hubby doesn't mind sharing. My 30 day challenge seems to be focusing greatly on my quadriceps, and I expect to be unable to squat in about 3 days. It's so much fun, though, and the exercises change quickly so you don't have time to get bored (or exhausted) with one particular exercise.
Have you had Hot and Spicy Cheez Its? Oh my goodness. They're my new food love. Just the right amount of spicy. When I got them, I thought I would be the only one who liked them, but my son loves them as much as I do. Hubby can't stand them, so there are only two of us competing for them, anyway.
Hubby received EA Sports Active for the Wii as his early birthday gift. He has other gifts coming on the actual day, but my son and I wanted him to have one thing to open during the early birthday celebration.
Lest you think it sounds like a selfish gift, since I've been chanting "I want a Wii Fit" for some time now, when I bought it for him, I actually thought I would also be getting a Wii Fit soon, so this was something more geared to him. He is enjoying it more than he thought he would (do I know him, or what?). I am also enjoying it very much, and luckily hubby doesn't mind sharing. My 30 day challenge seems to be focusing greatly on my quadriceps, and I expect to be unable to squat in about 3 days. It's so much fun, though, and the exercises change quickly so you don't have time to get bored (or exhausted) with one particular exercise.
Have you had Hot and Spicy Cheez Its? Oh my goodness. They're my new food love. Just the right amount of spicy. When I got them, I thought I would be the only one who liked them, but my son loves them as much as I do. Hubby can't stand them, so there are only two of us competing for them, anyway.
Monday, January 11, 2010
In which I wish hubby a happy birthday by creating various disasters in the kitchen
Hubby's birthday is later this week. Due to various issues in our schedule, we celebrated (in part) on Sunday.
I started the day by making my family waffles. My dad and his wife gave me one of those super fancy hotel style waffle makers for Christmas, where you flip the cooking surface while the waffle cooks. I tried it the weekend after Christmas, but misread the temperature dial, so each time I opened the machine to remove a cooked waffle, it was not yet cooked and stuck. Hubby ended up finishing the waffles that day, but yesterday, confident in my new waffle making abilities, I mixed the batter, and poured some into the maker. The light clicked on that it was done, I opened it...and it stuck. I called hubby into the kitchen. He said I didn't use enough batter. He pried the waffle out for me, and I tried making another one. It still stuck. He finished making the waffles.
Later, I mixed some food coloring in frosting to make blue frosting that my son wanted to use to frost the cake. I stuck the tupperware bowl of blue frosting in the oven to keep hubby from seeing it. (Anyone see where this might be heading?)
Later I preheated the oven to bake some chicken for a salad for dinner. I always always look in the oven before preheating. Never once has there actually been anything in the oven, but I always do it, just the same. Except this time. Of course. I sat on the couch to read while I waited for the oven to preheat. I went back to the kitchen to check on the oven, and through the glass door of the oven, saw some little sparks. I still had no recollection of the frosting bowl, so I opened the oven to see if a piece of food had perhaps dropped the last time we used it and was sizzling down there.
What I found was a melty, scary mess. The bowl had melted to about half its original size, blue frosting was bubbling over the edge and the whole bottom of the oven was covered in a plastic, frosting covered mess. I panicked and called hubby out to help. He opened the kitchen window, turned on the exhaust fan, and started damage control. I'm lucky I didn't start a fire.
So, offering to make breakfast for hubby ended in him making breakfast, and making him dinner ended in him cleaning the oven and a bowl getting ruined.
The total irony of the situation? I was going to put that frosting bowl in the microwave to hide it, but there was a metal spoon in the bowl, and I didn't want the microwave to somehow turn on (as if it has a mind of its own) and start some sort of metal reaction. Um, yeah.
But really? You know I will never ever preheat the oven without checking inside again.
I started the day by making my family waffles. My dad and his wife gave me one of those super fancy hotel style waffle makers for Christmas, where you flip the cooking surface while the waffle cooks. I tried it the weekend after Christmas, but misread the temperature dial, so each time I opened the machine to remove a cooked waffle, it was not yet cooked and stuck. Hubby ended up finishing the waffles that day, but yesterday, confident in my new waffle making abilities, I mixed the batter, and poured some into the maker. The light clicked on that it was done, I opened it...and it stuck. I called hubby into the kitchen. He said I didn't use enough batter. He pried the waffle out for me, and I tried making another one. It still stuck. He finished making the waffles.
Later, I mixed some food coloring in frosting to make blue frosting that my son wanted to use to frost the cake. I stuck the tupperware bowl of blue frosting in the oven to keep hubby from seeing it. (Anyone see where this might be heading?)
Later I preheated the oven to bake some chicken for a salad for dinner. I always always look in the oven before preheating. Never once has there actually been anything in the oven, but I always do it, just the same. Except this time. Of course. I sat on the couch to read while I waited for the oven to preheat. I went back to the kitchen to check on the oven, and through the glass door of the oven, saw some little sparks. I still had no recollection of the frosting bowl, so I opened the oven to see if a piece of food had perhaps dropped the last time we used it and was sizzling down there.
What I found was a melty, scary mess. The bowl had melted to about half its original size, blue frosting was bubbling over the edge and the whole bottom of the oven was covered in a plastic, frosting covered mess. I panicked and called hubby out to help. He opened the kitchen window, turned on the exhaust fan, and started damage control. I'm lucky I didn't start a fire.
So, offering to make breakfast for hubby ended in him making breakfast, and making him dinner ended in him cleaning the oven and a bowl getting ruined.
The total irony of the situation? I was going to put that frosting bowl in the microwave to hide it, but there was a metal spoon in the bowl, and I didn't want the microwave to somehow turn on (as if it has a mind of its own) and start some sort of metal reaction. Um, yeah.
But really? You know I will never ever preheat the oven without checking inside again.
Friday, January 08, 2010
Who said it's not polite to stare?
When I picked my son up from daycare yesterday, he was excited to tell me that he had a staring contest with a big kid on the schoolbus: "He blinked a lot and I didn't!" I asked him if he knew the boy, and he said no. I asked if they talked before or just started staring. He said they just started staring. He said when the bus got to my son's stop, he and the boy said "Bye". Those were the only words exchanged.
I wonder at what age a wordless staring contest with a stranger becomes weird instead of fun? :-)
Or maybe it's still fun, and no one told me. Go ahead and try it and let me know. Heh.
I wonder at what age a wordless staring contest with a stranger becomes weird instead of fun? :-)
Or maybe it's still fun, and no one told me. Go ahead and try it and let me know. Heh.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
The Sun will not eat the Earth
I picked up my son from daycare about 15 minutes later than usual one day this week. My reward for this was a groan from my son as he saw me enter just as he was waiting for snacktime (he got to bring his snack home with him) and an announcement from a boy in that class who I had never met before.
The boy, whose name I learned later, approached me and said "The Sun is getting bigger and bigger. It's going to eat up the Earth, but that's okay, 'cause there's going to be a new planet." The teacher was on the other side of the room, so the half dozen other kids nearby looked at me with furrowed brows. I told the boy "The Sun's not going to eat up the Earth." Then, to the other kids, who seemed to collectively sigh with relief "That's nothing to worry about." The boy said to me "The Sun IS going to eat up the Earth. But there's going to be a new planet." He then walked away.
Um...Perhaps a new hypothesis on the results of global warming? Information passed along by little green men? Regardless, don't worry, kids.
The boy, whose name I learned later, approached me and said "The Sun is getting bigger and bigger. It's going to eat up the Earth, but that's okay, 'cause there's going to be a new planet." The teacher was on the other side of the room, so the half dozen other kids nearby looked at me with furrowed brows. I told the boy "The Sun's not going to eat up the Earth." Then, to the other kids, who seemed to collectively sigh with relief "That's nothing to worry about." The boy said to me "The Sun IS going to eat up the Earth. But there's going to be a new planet." He then walked away.
Um...Perhaps a new hypothesis on the results of global warming? Information passed along by little green men? Regardless, don't worry, kids.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Is it evangelism or just unsolicited advice?
For those of you who somehow missed the years long saga of my family's religion (which I'm too lazy to link back to), let me break it down. Hubby was raised Catholic, I was raised not going to church. We started dating, I was attending a Methodist church, he wasn't attending any church. We began attending Catholic together, got engaged. Catholic church did not wish to marry us without me getting an annulment from my ex, which I took exception to due to the Catholic church's lack of involvement in my first marriage (civil ceremony). We joined Methodist Church, I was baptized, we got married there, son got baptized there. Hubby decided he wanted to go back to his roots. As a compromise, we started attending a Lutheran church. Compromise didn't please either of us, so hubby started attending a Catholic service alone, and we all attended Methodist as a family. Last year, we settled into a routine that seems to work for us, generally alternating weeks at the Catholic and Methodist church. Wow. Maybe it would have been easier to find the old posts.
Anywho, currently I work in my son's Sunday school class about every 3 weeks. Those weeks he attends with me. On the weeks I am not in there, my son is allowed to choose whether or not he would like to attend Sunday school. We feel that Sunday school should be an enjoyable experience, and if he is being forced to go, it will become a chore.
Each week there is a "theme" at Sunday school. I emailed the director of Christian ed. to find out what this week's theme was, explaining that our son chooses whether or not to attend when I am not in there.
She replied with some comments about the importance of attending every week, and the struggle between letting your child choose to go to church/Sunday school and forcing them, etc...
My first inclination was to feel defensive. I explained to her that our family splits our time between that church and the Catholic one, and more often than not, on weeks I am not helping in Sunday school, we don't even attend the Methodist church, therefore we let him choose whether he wants to go to Sunday school on those weeks. She replied with understanding comments about how that makes sense, and how nice that our son is experiencing both styles of worship and getting the best of both.
When I told hubby about it, he was annoyed that she presumed to advise us as to what choices to make regarding our son and Sunday school. On the one hand, I figure it is part of her job, encouraging parents to keep their kids involved. On the other...Well, it's a personal choice. No one calls if we miss a week of church. I don't expect comments when we miss Sunday school...Particularly at 5 years old.
I'm pretty much over it, but I'm not sure it was necessarily appropriate for her to give advice when none was requested. Maybe I feel that way because our family works really hard to make our religious situation work. Attending two different churches, making sure hubby and I both feel we're at our preferred place of worship often enough and making an effort to get our son to Sunday school when he chooses to go on weeks I'm not obligated to be there. It takes effort and patience on everyone's part to make our "system" work...So I guess we don't really welcome the advice of others to complicate it further.
Anywho, currently I work in my son's Sunday school class about every 3 weeks. Those weeks he attends with me. On the weeks I am not in there, my son is allowed to choose whether or not he would like to attend Sunday school. We feel that Sunday school should be an enjoyable experience, and if he is being forced to go, it will become a chore.
Each week there is a "theme" at Sunday school. I emailed the director of Christian ed. to find out what this week's theme was, explaining that our son chooses whether or not to attend when I am not in there.
She replied with some comments about the importance of attending every week, and the struggle between letting your child choose to go to church/Sunday school and forcing them, etc...
My first inclination was to feel defensive. I explained to her that our family splits our time between that church and the Catholic one, and more often than not, on weeks I am not helping in Sunday school, we don't even attend the Methodist church, therefore we let him choose whether he wants to go to Sunday school on those weeks. She replied with understanding comments about how that makes sense, and how nice that our son is experiencing both styles of worship and getting the best of both.
When I told hubby about it, he was annoyed that she presumed to advise us as to what choices to make regarding our son and Sunday school. On the one hand, I figure it is part of her job, encouraging parents to keep their kids involved. On the other...Well, it's a personal choice. No one calls if we miss a week of church. I don't expect comments when we miss Sunday school...Particularly at 5 years old.
I'm pretty much over it, but I'm not sure it was necessarily appropriate for her to give advice when none was requested. Maybe I feel that way because our family works really hard to make our religious situation work. Attending two different churches, making sure hubby and I both feel we're at our preferred place of worship often enough and making an effort to get our son to Sunday school when he chooses to go on weeks I'm not obligated to be there. It takes effort and patience on everyone's part to make our "system" work...So I guess we don't really welcome the advice of others to complicate it further.
The Doors
One thing I forgot to mention about winter break that was pretty awesome was that we got new doors! A new entry door and storm door. We have had a drafty house for years. Hubby has tried all sorts of weatherstripping, and we use a draft stopper, but no matter what, you could pretty much run your hand around the edge of the door and feel a nice breeze coming in in the winter. Hubby wanted no part of putting in a new door, as he had replaced the area under the threshold a few years back because of some rotting wood, and it turned into a huge pain in the neck of a project.
A friend of a friend used to work in construction, and agreed to be hired to install the door. When hubby and I went to purchase the new door, we realized that the new door would make our storm door look bad, so we bought a new one of those as well.
They were installed over two oh-so-cold days last week, and I felt so bad for the guy. I kept offering to make coffee or hot chocolate, and he said he only drank Mountain Dew. Of course we had no Mountain Dew, so I bought some for the next day, and he never wanted any. Luckily most of it was drank on New Years Eve.
Anyway, the new doors are beautiful, and not drafty, and we are very happy to have them. We are also happy to know someone who can do such projects, and we will likely be hiring him to replace our side door as well...When it gets warmer.
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Our neighbor's Latvian language newsletter arrived in our mailbox yesterday. The good neighbor that I am, I carried it over to their house. I watched as my elderly, but active (she shovels her driveway better than we do ours) neighbor watched me out her window. I rang the bell. As I stood in the 20 degree weather at her door returning her mail, she didn't come. I stuck the newsletter in her door. I was unable to put it between her storm door and entry door because her storm door was locked. Therefore, I stuck the newsletter in the storm door so it stuck out like a flag. She watched through her window as I walked back home. Five minutes later when I left to pick up my son from school, the newsletter was gone. You're welcome.
A friend of a friend used to work in construction, and agreed to be hired to install the door. When hubby and I went to purchase the new door, we realized that the new door would make our storm door look bad, so we bought a new one of those as well.
They were installed over two oh-so-cold days last week, and I felt so bad for the guy. I kept offering to make coffee or hot chocolate, and he said he only drank Mountain Dew. Of course we had no Mountain Dew, so I bought some for the next day, and he never wanted any. Luckily most of it was drank on New Years Eve.
Anyway, the new doors are beautiful, and not drafty, and we are very happy to have them. We are also happy to know someone who can do such projects, and we will likely be hiring him to replace our side door as well...When it gets warmer.
~~~~~
Our neighbor's Latvian language newsletter arrived in our mailbox yesterday. The good neighbor that I am, I carried it over to their house. I watched as my elderly, but active (she shovels her driveway better than we do ours) neighbor watched me out her window. I rang the bell. As I stood in the 20 degree weather at her door returning her mail, she didn't come. I stuck the newsletter in her door. I was unable to put it between her storm door and entry door because her storm door was locked. Therefore, I stuck the newsletter in the storm door so it stuck out like a flag. She watched through her window as I walked back home. Five minutes later when I left to pick up my son from school, the newsletter was gone. You're welcome.
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