The Diary of a Working Mother

The Valentine's Day Goal

2013-02-16

Over the past year, I found out that I’m either really good at planning and organizing my work OR really good at planning and organizing home, but the marriage of work and home has proven to be quite difficult. One of my New Year’s Resolutions focused on adopting something that I learned nearly 10 years ago in a Stephen Covey course focused on ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People”: plan yearly, plan monthly, plan weekly and plan daily. (Isn’t it something how you often have to learn something on your own to make it a reality?)

Last year, I found that I often waited until the last minute to RSVP for a birthday party, party gifts were purchased the day of, Halloween treats and anything needed for school was last minute. Being a self-declared organized planner, this last minute stuff had to go. I needed to do something about it – but what? We have so many fantastic tools and apps at our disposal to help organize our lives. I am an old soul and have yet to find something that I like more than my old fashioned planner.

So, ‘how’s it going’ you might ask. Well, so far so good! We have had 6 birthday party invites this year and each RSVP occurred within days of receiving the invite; a trip to Target or other appropriate store occurred within the week, cards were purchased, gift receipts were taped to the inside. As far as school goes, I knew that I wanted to make special Valentine’s Day treats for Quattro to take to his friends. I laid out an effective plan (decide what to make and when to make them) and stuck to the schedule and I must say, I was so pleased when the treats were complete a day in advance. It definitely felt good when I received a compliment on how cute the treats were from a fellow Working Mama!

The treats were simple heart shaped Rice Krispie treats on a stick with pink and red chocolate drizzled over the top. A heart shaped nametag was created with my Cricut machine and the treats were finished with a red or pink bow.

There definitely is something to planning – it’s a way of life, a way to improve your life and reduce the stress that comes with being a full time working mother and having a full time career. I’m happy to say that the first two months have been quite successful so far!

A Bit of a Funk

2012-04-28

I finally have a few minutes to sit down and write this blog post. I have to admit that for a while, things have been a bit hectic. Work has been busy, life has been busy, and I've been feeling a little overwhelmed with everything. One thing is is for certain, though, I miss blogging!

When I look back over the past year, I've realized that blogging has helped me manage life. There are so many things that I do not want to miss; blogging/writing helps me to capture it. When a thought comes to my mind, I blog, and can let it go...it helps me to de-clutter. It's simply fabulous.

Over the past few months, I've been in a bit of a funk..overwhelmed...frustrated...you name it, I think I've experienced it. And I believe I've found the root cause: a delusion of time. I have so many hobbies, so many things that I want to do...bottom line, I think I have so much more time than I actually have.

When it comes to hobbies, I love to blog, cook and sew and read. I found a passion for running, love to play my piano yet overall, I want to be the best mommy and wife that I can be. I've realized that somehow, my mind thought that I could achieve everything in a day, which is absolutely impossible. I am not joking, in my mind, here's what I thought would be possible:

Wake up, shower, and get ready for work. Wake up the kiddo, make him breakfast and pack the lunches for all of us. Go to work, put in a good 8-10 hour day and come home to make a healthy meal (I hate meal planning, tho). Eat, play with the kiddo and hubby, start the bedtime routine (bath, read books), put on the gym clothes and head to the gym. Come home, tidy up the house, do a load of laundry, sew a bit, or read a book and then lights out - time for bed.

I kid you not, that is seriously what I think I can accomplish in a day. Now that I'm actually writing it down, I realize how delusional this really is!

I was talking with a friend of mine at work and shared with him how I feel completely overwhelmed with life. He suggested that I sit down and map out my day in regards to time, then take out a 20% reserve (a.k.a Management Reserve for things that pop up), and with the balance remaining, realistically plan out how I want to spend it.

There's not a chance in hell that I could accomplish everything above - but now that I know that, I'm hoping I can be more realistic about planning my time that I can alleviate the guilt of not doing it all.

Its Been A While...

2012-04-17

Hello Blogger Friends!!

It's been a long time since I've written a post, well over two months. And although things have been busy, blogging has not been far from my mind. Like most hobbies, and with the work/life balance, I've had to step away for a while, but am glad to be back!!

Looking forward to catching up with everyone!

When There is Doubt

2012-02-06

Life has been extremely chaotic lately, between long hours at work, laundry, and daily household chores, little time is left for much else. I've been thinking a lot lately about how life would be different if I stayed at home with Roland. I can tell you...it would have been a long time before I taught him how to put his coat on all by himself.

A big thank you goes out to Miss Cheryl at daycare for teaching him some 'self help' skills and easing the load on Mom & Dad!

The trick - "Toes to Tags". Check out the video and let me know if you have any questions!!

Interview with The President

2012-01-27

A few months ago, I signed up to receive emails from WhiteHouse.gov.

I received an email earlier in the week that prompted the American people to submit questions to The President for a virtual interview to be held this Monday at 5:30 pm. Originally, I was going to post a question on my frustration with how we are destroying the earth to mine natural resources to help us sustain our current way of living...but as I started thinking, I realized that I'm more frustrated at not knowing HOW to get involved...I would love to make a difference, but how do I take that first step?

This video was submitted at The White House You Tube Channel. Here's a link to the video - I hope you enjoy! Your 'likes' are greatly appreciated :)

I'm also interested in your feedback and comments too!!

2012-01-25

One thing I am learning as I continue down the 'Working Mother' path is to never be surprised by being surprised!

Last Sunday night, we approached the start of a new work week consistent with what was to be expected. A bath on Sunday night, followed by books at 7:00 and bedtime at 7:30, and just enough time to spend Sunday evening relaxing with the hubby. Around 10, Roland started crying. Since this was not the norm for him, I quickly went to see what was wrong and was completely surprised to find that he had thrown up. Immediately, the term 'medical doctor' was added to my domain of expertise as I tried to assess the symptoms...no fever, throwing up, severe congestion...perhaps the congestion and mucus is too much for his little belly and which made him sick? Okay, let's stick with that.

We changed his clothes, quickly showered him (tub was out of commission since we were disinfecting it with clorox since he decided to poop in the tub earlier that night...), changed his sheets and put him back to bed.

Phew...

Two hours later, we woke up to another crying fit. Yep, he vomited again. Poor baby!! This time, I questioned my diagnosis and started to think that perhaps dinner didn't agree with him. The amount that he thew up just didn't make sense with congestion. I made salmon cakes for dinner and he's had them dozens of times before, but perhaps it just didn't sit well with him? Okay. We'll go with that.

Monday morning surfaced quickly and I found myself bound by the familiar 'Working Mother's' guilt. Work vs. family - what do I do? Roland didn't sleep well, threw up, was severely congested. Unfortunately, we have no family in the area so having someone babysit him was not an option. He didn't have a fever so technically he could go to daycare. I decided to keep him home and work from home during his nap.

We sent him to daycare on Tuesday and at 3:00 I received the dreaded daycare call. "Roland woke himself up from his nap and vomited." What could be going on? I made a quick exit and let my team know know that I may not be able to attend a business trip in D.C. scheduled for the following day.

Since I was still unsure as to his diagnosis, we made a call to the pediatrician and scheduled an appointment for Wednesday morning. Again, surface working mother's guilt...I was scheduled to be in D.C. for a meeting, but the little guy was under the weather. To be fair, this is where you learn of those events you really need to attend, and those events you can delegate. This was an event I could delegate.

Roland checked out fine at the Dr., so what could be causing the vomiting? Turns out it was greek yogurt. After combing through the events of each day throughout the past week, the only common thread was the yoyo. So, the yoyo was put back on the shelf for awhile. Thankfully, the little guy fully recovered albeit passing his congestion on to Mommy and Daddy :)

Anyone else experience the working mother's guilt? How about a sudden food aversion?

I'm Addicted to SEWING!

2012-01-15

The one thing I DID NOT need this year was another hobby to add to what seems to be my endless list of things I LOVE to do...the more things I try, the more I like, which means I have to divide my time up even more. Oh well...life's good!

My latest creation which I'm EXTREMELY proud of... my second creation of the Amy Butler Sunday Sling pattern. The fabric is Caravan by Malori Wells for Free Spirit and Rowan Fabric Aboriginal Dot. Love, love, love!

I started the bag last Saturday, and finished up the final blind stitch hem this evening. Not too bad!!