Thursday, March 20, 2008

Time

Something that has been on my mind a lot lately is time - or, more precisely, my lack of this precious commodity.  My entire reason for leaving my corporate job was so I would have more time with my family.  

Here I am, almost four years later, wondering if I've accomplished that objective, or failed miserably.  As a work-at-home Mom, I absolutely have more time during which my family and I are physically under the same roof.  But if you are considering a change, and are thinking that working from home will solve all of your time related issues -- think again!  

On the positive side, I don't run into childcare issues when school is cancelled, or delayed, or released early.  That has been a big benefit this year with our record snows.  

Another positive is the ability to work when I want, and to take off when I want.  Midday teacher's meetings and doctor's appointments are no problem!  However, this can also be a negative, as if the to do list isn't shrinking fast enough, working hours may begin and end on different calendar days.  Things like sleep and showering get cut down to shorter and shorter duration.   And people just don't understand how someone who is home 'all the time' could have so much to do.   

I'm a big fan of lists as a way to manage my time, so I thought I'd put out a list of things I'd like to accomplish sometime this century:
~ Complete that 2003 scrapbook I've been working on since 2004.
~ Start a 2008 scrapbook.  I'll fill in 2004-07 some day.
~ Blog at least three times a week so my family & friends know I'm still alive.
~ Clean my office.  This may require a shovel and wheelbarrow, or maybe a match.
~ Clean my house.  Sell stuff that I've owned two years or more and never used yet on E-bay.
~ Take the coats off the treadmill, and use it for its intended purpose.
~ Develop my own website.
~ Write a book.  
~ Learn another language.
~ And of course, spend more time with my family.

Diva is growing up fast, and already shows signs of starting to think Mom isn't as cool as she used to be.  I try to remind myself to take advantage of any time she wants to spend with me now.   And isn't the clock she made (pictured above) lovely?  I just wish I had thought to write the year on it when she made it.  

So, what's on your long term to do list?


Saturday, March 8, 2008

Friends In the Strangest Places....

One of the great things about being a NH resident is February school vacation week.  It is always the last week of February, and is when almost the entire state travels somewhere else.  Some go North for skiing.   Not us... we have a family tradition of cruising in February.

It always amazes me when I run into people I know when I'm on vacation.  In 2006, we sailed on Disney Magic.  We're standing in a taxi line in Costa Maya, Mexico.  Kilowatt says - "don't you know that woman ahead of us?"  In our family, I'm in charge of recognizing people and remembering names.  I try to casually look at the woman in question (in case I don't know her) and indeed, she is a former co-worker.  I've never run into her in the state of NH, which is a small state, but go to Mexico and there she is!

This year, here we are at the sailaway party on Grand Princess.  Diva and I are doing the Electric Slide so we can win great prizes, like a pair of pink flip-flops and a jump rope, when I look up to where Kilowatt is diligently filming our antics for our future amusement.  Standing next to him is my former boss, another NH resident I never run into in NH.  

Another time we were at Disney World on a boat heading to the Contemporary Resort.  I kept staring (casually, of course) at this man because I was positive I knew him from somewhere.  You guessed it -- another former co-worker.  

So now I have a new travel game - who will I run into this trip?

Monday, March 3, 2008

Where Haven't I Been?

Wow, I can't believe how time flies!  March already.  Since the last time I found a chance to blog, I've accomplished the following:
  1. Piled all the junk from all the rooms of my house into my office to "hide" it.
  2. Hosted Diva's Murder Mystery birthday party (hence #1)
  3. Moved all the piles around in my office so I could get to my desk.
  4.  Shoveled snow in the pouring rain to try and prevent flooding.
  5. Escorted six ten-year old girls up a lift and down a ski slope (again and again).
  6. Flew to Fort Lauderdale minutes before another major snowstorm hit.
  7. Sailed on Grand Princess to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and the Bahamas.
  8. Missed three snowstorms while enjoying #7.
  9. Flew back home from Fort Lauderdale minutes after another major snowstorm ended.
  10. Cleared driveway, sidewalks and cars of 15 inches of new snow.
  11. Found out that the winter of 2007-08 is now #6 in the record books.  
I'll blog more later about some of the above, but just wanted y'all to know what in the heck happened to me!  Got to go shovel more snow now!