Today I started my last two weeks at my office job. Forty hours in two weeks, and I'm so impatient to be done. I have so many other things to tackle in my life once I wrap up there, both tasky things and life enjoyment things.
It's nice to have a chance to finish it up well, though, compared to last time I quit. Last time, my boss came back from a trip out of town to my announcement that I was leaving several weeks earlier than expected to go on bed rest and then be induced in a week if the baby hadn't shown up yet. I credit her for not breaking down in tears right there. She even asked "Why are you still here?" and urged me to get along home.
Not sure how much she had to drink later that evening, though.
Resolution #1: Deal with the coming apocalypse. The current environmental situation and the tendency of humans to oppress each other is quite possibly leading us into a bleak Children of Men style future. I need to do something about it. Make sure we can grow food in our yard, cut our energy use, contribute to systems change for greater justice, etc.
Resolution #2: Get serious about living to be 114. I have a lot to get done and I hate it when I miss stuff. C-Man says the only thing proven to extend life is drastically reduced calorie consumption, and I'm not really interested in that, so I'm banking on sheer stubbornness and general good health. That means I need get back on the whole "eat vegetables, floss, and get some physical activity" train.
Resolution #3: Kick it to the curb. Whatever needs to go, pitch it out. My own bad attitude, past resentments and regrets, Facebook, clutter, wasting time whining instead of doing something either fun or useful or both, whatever.
Resolution #4: Share the love. When I go to someone's house, bring a gift. Send cards. Call more often. Comment on other people's blogs. Look for ways to help others. Keep my promises.
Resolution #5: Dance with who brung me. My husband is a rockin' individual. That's why I married him. Why he married me, I can't say, except that his chances of finding another cute vegetarian redhead girl who reads comic books were pretty slim and that probably factored in. But quite often I let him stand at the end of the line for my energy and attention, and since he doesn't complain I forget he's back there. My life is awesome in so many ways because of him, and I need to make sure he feels the same way about me.
Resolution #6: Pretty it up a little. Finish our quilts. Write things I'm proud of. Make websites I like to tell other people about. Find ways to make this house peaceful and lovely. Get ready for the day as if I care what I look like, even though I work from home. Stop waiting for some magic day when I'll have scads of uninterrupted time to make all of this happen, because while I'm waiting, my life is already happening and I should be enjoying it.
I also found another lovely New Year's Resolution post recommending a different approach, and I may turn to her strategy halfway through the year if I don't like how things are going. (What, you've never made 4th of July Resolutions?)
You should totally go read this blog post. Now.
Tomorrow I'll unveil mine, developed specifically with her advice in mind.
When 2008 began, I'd been a stay at home mother for about three months.
Three months later, I delivered an ultimatum to my husband: either I go back to my full time office job, or I hire his mother to watch the baby at least part time and then find a way to pay for it.
The latter was selected, and honestly it's been amazing. Granted, I've spent about $500 more on child care and business expenses than I made all year, despite going back part time to the office job for half a year. But when you look beyond the books, it's more like we've set up a multigenerational household that happens to live in two houses. C-Man, Boy Detective, and I live in one. C-Man's mom and his sister live in another. C-Man, his sister, and I all work, and his mom takes care of Boy Detective (and everyone else), and between all of us we pay all the bills and get everyone fed and all the laundry done.
Without the office job it's going to be interesting to hold all of that together financially, but I have faith. After 35 years I've finally learned that if I can enjoy my life, I should. And working outside the home on a set schedule right now - in addition to my telecommuting job - just doesn't allow me to enjoy my life. I don't get to enjoy Boy Detective as much as I want to during the day because I'm rushing to get things done or get to work, I don't get to enjoy any leisure time because I'm trying to catch up on both jobs, and I don't get to enjoy being in my home because I don't have the energy to manage it properly so it's a mess.
When 2009 begins, I'm working one job, at home, a job that is my favorite job I've ever had. I got it because I put myself out there to a woman I met through blogging, and she referred me to another woman who read my blog years ago. I could not thank them enough if I tried.
These are the posts I'm enjoying looking back on as snapshots of my year: I wrote some longer ones, but they're not as much fun. I was glad to see I wrote a decent number of posts that were not about being a mom, but they're not as much fun either. ;)
January: New Math
February: The Baby's Complaints
March: Good to know
April: Lying In Bed, Trying to Entertain The Baby Without Getting Up
May: My Sister's Advice
June: My husband totally gets me
July: This is how it begins
August: THIS IS WHAT BEING SUPPORTIVE GETS ME!
September: Why is this so hard?
October: Scene from my trip to Colorado
November: Telecommuting has its advantages
December: Our bedtime ritual
Decorate. Send cards. Travel. Buy anyone gifts.
So there.
C-Man: I'm kind of wondering when this half broken giant tree branch is going to fall off of this tree.
The Princess: It's starting to worry me, with Boy Detective out in the yard so often.
C-Man: Why don't you get him out of the way and I'll pull on it-
The Princess: -and see if it will fall down? Okay.
C-Man: Because what I need, with my shoulder all f*&ked up, is to pull on something over my head.
The Princess: I'll do it. Get him out of the way, will you?
C-Man: You know, I'm starting to have second thoughts about this plan.
Alternate title for this post: "I'm glad this conversation went on as long as it did so we had some time to actually think, or someone might have done something really stupid."
Children all have quilts on their beds.
Most events end with people going to sleep.
Combine harvesters are EVERYWHERE.
C-Man: Okay, Boy Detective, I'm going to dump out your bath water now.
Boy Detective (14 months): I'm going to run around naked and yell!
I'm frantically trying to get work done before jetting off to do my civic duty. Just in case you're going to miss me posting very day now that NaBloPoMo is completed, here is a week's worth of posts from other fine blogs for you to enjoy, one per day, plus a bonus.
Or just read them all this morning while you're trying to avoid working. I won't tell anyone.
See Hear Speak No Evil: don't repeat that!
Joy Unexpected: Meaningful Conversations with a Four Year Old
Bloorb: How Husbands Do Things (and a bonus: How Five Years Together Changes Things)
SLynnRo: I'll Assume She Was Kidding
WhoaGirl.com: He's Probably Right
Slice of Pink: Or, Eight in the Morning
Finslippy: With friends like these, etc.
No Appropriate Behavior: Propped Me Up on the table Like a Mannequin
Sure, it's nice to pay $8 for an Ann Taylor suit jacket, but that's not the main goal for me.
I thrift shop INSTEAD of regular shopping because by doing so, I reduce the amount of garbage in landfills, reduce the need for raw materials to be used in manufacturing, support job training programs for people with disabilities and barriers to employment (among other causes), and I can feel certain that the people I'm giving my money to don't use slave or child labor or poison their workers to produce the goods in question.
Just so we're all clear on that.
Except that the people who need to be clear on that don't read this blog, so they will probably keep enthusing about discount stores to me as if I am a fellow bargain hunter, specifically citing my love for Goodwill as evidence of my kinship.
Ah well.
