Wordless Wednesday - Happy Father's Day

 

Sometimes all it takes is a hand drawn picture....

The life and work of a mom can be sometimes overwhelming, other times down right painful, and all it takes is (at least for me) is a small bit of kindness from one of my children to make it all worth while.  

Last night was painful. I had spent the day running around drop of here, lunch with co-worker, run home to make calls, and try to catch up on e-mails. Have I mentioned that I just started a new job? Most of my time has been spent trying to come up to speed on systems and learning about the company. Combine that with the start of summer break and it makes for a very challenging time for both my kids and me. 

By 8:30 pm both the kids were crazy...should have been in bed and I should have been reading stories, but I was on the computer trying to get one last thing done.... I was on the verge of exploding.... 

Bottom-line it was all on me, and I knew it. I had blown the evening bedtime ritual and was paying the price of it. Struggling to get a handle on my own temper and gain a bit of control, while I was wrapping up the project I was working on, my DD presented me with a gift. 

My sweet DD seeing that I was unhappy drew me this picture. 

DD pictures always have a story. The picture is set on Halloween night DD and I are dressed as a princess and queen respectively (note crowns and high heels).  We are walking holding hands and talking about the beautiful night sky. 

This simple gesture, small bit of kindness, made all of the rest of my feelings of frustration melt away! 

Downsizing

It has been nearly 2 years since we packed up and moved across the country from Chicago to California. Before we moved we purged as much as possible: Couches, TVs, toys, cloths, and whatever else we could part with.  It was one of the best feelings in the world to rid ourselves of clutter and baggage. 

We moved not knowing that we would find ourselves in the same position again. We found out today that our already insane rent is going to increase. That, along with other factors (ie. switching jobs, loosing the job I switched too, and getting a new job making substantially less than before), have made it necessary to downsize again.  

For us, downsizing will mean finding a smaller place and getting rid of as much accumulated stuff as we can. Tomorrow I will start to make bags of cloths that have been out-grown and drop them off for donation. I will ask the kids to go through the mountains of toys and weed out what they really don't want anymore (again in hopes of donating them).  I will reacquaint myself with craigslist and start the process of finding a smaller more affordable (ha, in the bay area that really means little) apartment. 

Normally the thought of moving would make me incredibly nervous and overwhelmed, but today I am more relaxed about the prospect. This might be because I couldn't physically, mentally or emotionally become more stressed or worried than I was before, or it could be that I am resolved to make this happen . . . without freaking out. 

In either case, purging simply feels good. 

Yup, my 18 year old niece is so much cooler than me, no big surprise.

A while back I wrote about my domestic shortcomings....mainly that making meals to me is worse than, say getting a shot at the doctor's. I had hoped that the addition of a few snazzy new cookbooks and a meal plan would help me find my inner cook.

Ah, lets just say, maybe not so much.

Although meal planning is not my cup of tea and I would rather be doing almost anything else, I have to say it does take some of the stress out of the whole "MOM, what are we eating for X meal!" question. How do I know this you ask?

Well, while my munchkins are stuck home with me for the summer (I work from home), my amazingly wonderful niece is nannying for me and guess what. Oh, you will never guess. My niece planned the meals out for the week. She is feeding said munchkins lunch and as such made a plan...

So yeah, my 18 year old niece is more apt at domesticity than I am. Instead of being jealous of her mad skills, I am just so proud to be related to such an awesome person!!!

Netflix how do I love thee, let me count the ways....

Netflix how do I love thee, let me count the ways....

1. We enjoy never having to go further than our mailbox to rent a video.
2. Streaming makes not having cable bearable for both my children and myself.
3. If I can't remember whether I have seen a movie, all I have to do is ... look it up.
4. In the middle of the night when some small person can't sleep, we can find something without commercials to watch.
5. Really, need I say more?

Wordless Wednesday

Inspiration Where Have You Gone?

I am sure we all have days like today, when it just isn't one thing but everything that seems to go wrong. Nothing terrible, nothing major, but just "Blah". That is exactly how I feel today.

I'm pretty sure that the root cause of it is stress, the start of summer blues, and again, the general Blah.
Yes, Blah is a technical term.
Blah: Lack of drive and generalized sluggishness followed by moments of why bother.

The past few weeks (or to be more accurate, years) have not been the easiest and being a mom can be a rather thankless job. Most days I can muster up at least a small amount of enthusiasm but today, it completely escaped me. So I ask, where did my inspiration go?

Maybe it is buried deep beneath the never ending laundry pile.
Trapped under the broom that never sweeps quite enough.
Hidden behind the last time I actually made a dinner that my children enjoyed and didn't come from the microwave.
Or it was lost with the realization that no matter what I do, my husband will always make more money, have more social interaction with adults, and be further in a career than me.

After a day like today, I need to take a bath, read a bit of my book, and sleep, all in the hopes that tomorrow will be a better day. If not maybe I will be inspired to view it as something more than just another Blah day.