Life of a Mother

Since I am going back to work next week, I made an appointment with my children's pediatrician to catch up on much needed shots and to have a checkup. Our physician has gone to part time. I am pretty sure that soon he will be retiring.

Anyway, the new physician was really nice. After I drilled her like an army sergeant, I discovered she really knew her stuff. Amidst the angst I had about the baby getting three shots, it was discovered that my younger children had ear infections. I couldn't believe it. My oldest has never had ear infections. So I just didn't know.

My little girl tugged at her ear one day last week, but she didn't say it hurt. She just tried to clean her ears out, which is normal (she is a little woman). The baby had trouble going to sleep, but I just assumed he was irritated with me because I was trying to wean him.

I just couldn't help feeling less of a mother. Why hadn't I paid closer attention? What could I have done differently? I just kept feeling like I had failed my children.

I will admit I have been busy trying to get a routine going and taking care of things, but I never would have guessed they would have ear infections.

So, yesterday the baby received three vaccinations, plus a shot for the ear infection. My little princess is on antibiotics too.

I have vowed to pay closer attention to them, but now I am afraid. They will be in daycare starting next week. Now, I am questioning putting them in daycare. I don't want them to get sick. However, I do want to go back to teaching. I am very excited.

I know I have to let them grow up, and I probably will experience separation anxiety more than they will.

Back on the Grind

I am no longer apart of the SAHM Click. Gonna Miss it. I am going back to teach special education as a middle school teacher. I am excited and anxious all in one. My two younger children are going to be in daycare. My oldest is in first grade. Having not worked now for over a year I am concerned about returning to the workforce. Does anyone have any tips for me to adjust?

Current Events and Fashion

Fall Runways prove that current events influence the latest trends in fashion. Oily-finished fabrics reflect the global acknowledgement of expensive oil prices. Dark silks embody the oil epidemic. Designers like Balenciaga and Versace are hitting the runways with these oil-inspired looks. Would you wear a slick cocktail frock by Versace?

Women And Money

Taking care of finances is important, even if you are not the initial bread winner in your household. After looking through my computer files, I discovered a book I downloaded off of Oprah.com. It is Suze Orman's Women and Money book. At one point, Oprah was giving this book away for free by downloading it off of her website. I remember the day I downloaded it. It took three hours to get to it, but I did. I recently printed it out, 3-hole punched it, and put it in a binder for my mother. To help other women, I have uploaded the file of the book to share. I hope this helps if you are in a financial bind or just want to make sure you are on track with your finances. Good Luck.
Women%20and%20money%20book.pdf

Encouraging yourself

What if something happened to you that was pretty major? After close evaluation of the situation, you are feed up with it. Reaching out to others, you share you experience, exposing a vulnerability. Not sure of how to go about solving your problem, you seek assistance from other people. Yet, their assistance is just not feasible. It just doesn't fit. Being spiritual, you decide to wait your situation out, and pray for deliverance. But your faith is shaky. What are you to do? Normally, you are prepared for anything. This time, though, your resources are not there. So you are just stuck. Now that you have shared your situation with others, you are ashamed and fear what they think about you. However, there isn't anything you can do right now, but wait. How can you stay encouraged?

The King is clearly still in the building.

Oddly enough, Elvis has been much on my mind lately. I recently visited Graceland (where each mini-tour ends in a gift shop filled with Elvis golf tees, rhinestone Elvis purses, and Elvis breathmints, for God's sake! Wonder what he would have thought about THAT?!), and while I was there, I realized that I didn't have ANY Elvis CDs in my collection. I bought a set of greatest hits discs, and I've been listening to them in the car. While I favor his earlier stuff (which seems to be what we all think of when we think "Elvis" anyway - That's All Right, Mama; Jailhouse Rock; Houndog; Heartbreak Hotel; etc.), one only has to look at the Billboard charts to see that he kept churning out hit songs until his death.

With the anniversary of his death coming up (and this recent post on Marshall's blog), I've been thinking of him even more. And it strikes me, really, that so many years after his death, he continues to have such an impact on popular music and the listening public.

I had a boss once who happened to meet Elvis in person, early in his career. She has been a rabid fan ever since. And New Stage Theatre's Idols of the King (a musical based on Elvis and his songs), opened to sell-out crowds when it was performed in Jackson a few seasons ago. It seems that everyone still loves Elvis.

What do you think it was about him? He was extremely good looking, to be sure. (Boy, do you think of that listening to "Heartbreak Hotel," eh? I can imagine thousands of teenaged girls aching to remedy his loneliness.) And he had a great voice. He seemed, perhaps, to be the right musician at the right time . . . ? Singing the right songs? What do you think? Do you have an "Elvis" story?

Is looking your best the right thing to do? I say it is. You never know who you are going to come in contact with. If you are single, there is a 50-50 chance you may come in contact with your potential mate.

Do you really think you are going to meet him if you have rollers in your hair while shopping for groceries? Do you really think you are going to meet her wearing the shirt covered in paint stains? More than likely the answer is no.

So why not take the extra time to pay close attention to what you look like and increase the chances of you meeting the kind of people you are drawn to. In addition, thinking about how you look and creating an image in your mind of how you would like to look is definitely important to the image you project.

Here are some tips to help your vision turn into a manifestation.

1. Inspect your shoes. What do you observe? Are there scratches, scuffs, mud, and etc. Scrutinizing the way your shoes look suggests that small details.

2. Inspect each item of clothing you own. Look for snags, stains, and broken zippers. Determine what can be repaired and what cannot be repaired.

3. Assign a specific time each month to complete the inspection.

4. Give away clothing to charity. Clothing, which is too big, too small, not your style, etc…, can benefit someone else. An added bonus is a tax deduction.

5. Take back clothing which still have tags attached and has not been worn in the past two weeks. You are not going to wear.

6. Dedicate time to creating an organization system in your closet. There are several ways you can organize your closet: 1. Capsules 2. Colors 3. Length 4. Lifestyle. The main thing to remember is to organize your closet for functionality.

Whatever system you use should assist you in minimizing the time it takes to get dressed.

To work or not to work?

Ok, so after the birth of my son last summer, I initially went back to work for a few months. I felt sure that I could keep all of the balls in the air and still hang on to my sanity. Well, I was wrong. So, after being back in the office for a while, I gave my notice.

That was in November. Booger is 1 year old now, and, well, people keep trying to drag me back to the work force. I've had a few really good offers for jobs from people that I know in my field. I am super-flattered about it, because it makes me feel as though people have admired the work I've done in the past.

But each time one of these offers comes in, I'm forced to re-evaluate my decision once again. Do I want to return to work? In some ways, I really miss my professional life. But in other ways, I am loathe to re-join the 9 to 5 world.

Here's where I am right now - I have had a potential employer show some fairly serious interest in me. I believe in the organization, and I am familiar with it. It's a job with good benefits, salary, and vacation time. But they'd want me to start as soon as possible. AND the job involves a not-fun commute for me, which is practically heresy in this time of insane gas prices.

I'd really like to stay home full time until at least January. Booger would be 18 months by then, and the craziness of the holidays would be over. (Plus, I'd really love to spend the holiday season decorating, and shopping for presents, and making cookies, and actually ENJOYING doing all those holiday things that I'm always rushing against the clock to do.) Also, I really need that time to find a daycare situation that I'm comfortable with. (No luck so far.) I figured that I'd scout for the next few months and maybe find something by the new year.

Lastly, if this kid is going to be my one and only (and I think he is), do I want to go back to work before I'm completely ready? And by the same token, will I EVER be completely ready?

So what's a girl to do? HELP! I need advice! Hubs and I have discussed this, and right now, we are leaning towards declining this latest potential offer. (I guess I should mention that we have been carefully budgeting and are in no financial crisis, etc. This decision hinges purely on what we want/think we should do.) What do you think?

Jack of All Trades

After breaking some Christmas Lights in my office, I sought help from our wonderful vacuum cleaner. To my surprise, it just wasn't doing the job. After some investigation, I found out that the soccer pro had sucked up a sock. When he discovered that he had sucked up a sock , he decided to put the vacuum neatly away...as if nothing had happened. Completely frustrated, I decided to remove the sock. Starting off the usual way... I used a wire hanger...NOPE, that won't work. Turns out he sucked up one of the princess's socks, which had been neatly folded together. (I am still wondering how this happened.) Then I tried a bar that came with our washer. It worked some of the way. Then I tried our broom, which pushed it further. Next, I tried the rake. I was praying not to get a splinter because it is sooo old. That really worked, but it only pushed it to the opening, where it appeared to be indefinitely stuck. Consequently, I had to disassemble the vacuum cleaner, praying once again that I remember where the screws went in. Even that didn't work. I had to dig a sock out with a screw driver. It was a lot of work. But, I finally removed the sock. Now, putting the vacuum back together is another story.

Children with Asthma

This morning as I was bathing my youngest. I heard him wheezing, and I almost panicked. He has asthma, but we haven't had any problems, since he was released from home health in April. After the bath, I set him up for his medicine. A funny thing is he is wayyyyy to big for his old car seat. His little feet were hanging over. Anyway, now that he is older, it was a wrestling match to get his mask on. I felt so bad. How can you feel bad for doing something that can potentially save his life? Anyway, once I turned it on. It was apparent that he needed it because he stopped fighting. I am so afraid that he will start having problems again. It's so sad to see him having difficulty sometimes breathing. Being the paranoid mother that I am, I will have to watch him closely.