Working From Home

I'm not even going to go into my eating today. Bleh.

I know there is a huge debate out there among moms over who has an easier life: working moms vs. stay-at-home moms. Everyone has their opinions and I see the pros and cons of both sides. However, there is another side that not many people talk about: the part-time working/part-time stay-at-home mom.

To be frank, we part-time working moms seem to have the best of both worlds. Not only do we get to enjoy spending all the quality time with our children, but we get out for a couple days a week for some grown-up time. Miss Monkey also benefits since she gets to play with other kids two days a week at daycare.

Being part-time also creates some cons, though. Work never seems to stop for me. I have work at home (cleaning, paying bills, etc.) and then I bring work home with me.

Despite bringing home work with me, I never seem to get time to complete it.

Tonight, not only did I complete all my work, but I also did work I was planning to do tomorrow. It feels SO good to be ahead of the game for once.

Now if only I could get ahead of paying my bills...

Day 1: NaBloPoMo WIN; Diet FAIL

At least something happened right today - I am blogging my very first post for NaBloPoMo. Yay me!

Unfortunately, I am also blogging my first diet fail post. Boo me.

I knew today was going to be hectic: first day back at work after the holidays, an involved medical test appointment for my grandpa, and several errands - all to be completed before picking Miss Monkey up from daycare. Oh, and my goal was to stay OP (on points) all day. Maybe I set myself up to fail with too much to do?

The day started out great as I grabbed a couple diet shakes to bring with me since I knew it would be hectic. I have a hard time eating breakfast so I figure the diet shakes are better than not eating anything at all.

I breezed through work and picked up my grandpa on time for his appointment. It was supposed to be an easy test and I figured I'd have plenty of time to do my errands. When we got to his appointment, however, we realized it was way more involved than we anticipated. Foolishly, I should have expected it after all the prep we had to do before the appointment.

To make up for the unforseen uncomfortable appointment, I made another foolish mistake: offering to take my grandpa out to lunch. Bad move on my part.

My grandpa loves low-key family restaurants and diners. Always good food, but tons of fat and calories.

I tried to be good and ordered the cob salad without the bacon bits with a low-fat vinegarette on the side. Forgot about the yummy delicious blue cheese that came with it. Also didn't realize what a HUGE salad it was.

Diet? What diet?

Tomorrow is another day. But at least I blogged today. :)

(I am neglecting to discuss dinner - balsamic chicken with mashed potatoes and crispy onions from BJ's Brewhouse.. must get back on track tomorrow.. must get back on track tomorrow...)

NaBloPoMo

I know, I know. My blogging past has sucked. I've changed my blog name soooo many times. I really like this one so I think I am going to stick with it.

So anyways - NaBloPoMo. National Blog Posting Month. I am joining for the month of December in hopes that I can get into the blog posting state of mind. I read SO many blogs that inspire me, but I just can't seem to post that often.

This will change starting tomorrow.

Coinsidensly, I plan on starting my 30-day Weight Watcher posts in hopes that I will blog my weight/eating problems away. We'll see how it goes.

Hello, Blog - Don't Hate Me

I have been so horrible in keeping you updated, dear blog. It's not that I didn't think about you. I thought about you a lot, but never really got the chance to sit down and update you like I wanted to. Life got busy with visits from future in-laws, parties with friends, a 14 month-old toddler who has discovered her love for temper-tantrums, and a fun-filled trip to Disneyland with 6 of our closest friends and my mom.

As you can see, things have been hectic.

I will make amends, my neglected blog. I have bought the fiance a new video game to keep him occupied and my new (used) laptop is up and running. As long as the kid stays asleep at night, things should pick up in blog land for me. :)

Besides, I need your help in losing these pesky pounds before my wedding. More on that later.

Missing Walls

To celebrate her grand 1st birthday, my mom ordered Miss Monkey the Little Tikes Cambridge Cottage Playhouse for our backyard. Her daycare has a playhouse that she absolutely loves, so we knew it was going to be a hit.

My mom sent me several links and asked me to pick out a playhouse - which is a little like picking out a car. There are so many color choices and options that you can spend hours trying to find the playhouse that suits your personality.. er, I mean the kid's personality. I will admit that I am slightly jealous that my daughter's house already looks better than mine. I am even jealous of that bright blue roof - who wouldn't want a blue roof? I especially love how the Little Tikes web site describes it: "..as spacious as it is stylish, this playhouse has a stunning brick design, columns and dutch door.." Do they make these in a single-family home model?

I finally picked out this one and have been waiting anxiously for it to arrive. Side note: I love it when your item arrives before the estimated arrival date on Amazon's tracking page. I think they purposely do that so you are more impressed with their shipping capabilities. Tricky Amazon.

Anyways, so the Cambridge Cottage arrives in a huge box today. I was planning to wait for the fiance to get home but decided that I was crazy capable, and cracked open the humongous box.

The only thing worse than trying to put together a huge plastic toy with a screwgun, is having a toddler attempt to "help" you. I guess I should use a different word than "help" - maybe "try to climb on every plastic piece, especially when it's the plastic piece you need to reach for next". I have no idea how she knew, but she was always climbing on the next piece I needed! She must have studied the manuel while I was trying to find the screw gun. I have a genious.

I finally started making headway and was almost done when I realized there was something different about this playhouse than what was described. Little Tikes forgot to include a whole back panel.



Somehow I missed the part about it coming with built-in air-conditioning. The sad part is that this panel had one of the most exciting features: the trap door. Have I mentioned how jealous I am of this cottage?

Luckily the house still stands pretty sturdy with the roof attached to the top, so we've been allowing Miss Monkey (and our drunk friends) to play inside of it.



After having my receipt go to the verification department for 3-4 days, I am happy to announce that our replacement part "L" is on its way.

Web Design, Anyone?

If you would have asked me what I wanted to be a couple years ago, I probably would have given you an answer somewhere in the criminal justice field. Since having Miss Monkey, I have started playing the lottery dreams of having enough money to be a stay-at-home mom. I’m starting to think this only happens to TV characters in the 1050’s. Keep on dreaming, Jen.
I’ve been unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on how you look at it) this first year of her life to be unemployed and still looking for a job. However, I have enjoyed every minute of it and have considered myself very lucky.

My luck runs out in December, though, when my unemployment ends if I haven’t found a job by then. This leads me to my next more realistic (maybe) dream: having my own web design business.

I tried it a couple years ago when I had a lot more time, but then found out I was pregnant and any long term projects got shelved for my 9-month term project. So if I couldn’t do it then, what makes me think I can do it now?


My sweet little monkey dancing in my kitchen.

Hello World!

I am a huge blog addict. Besides wasting my couple minutes of spare time on Facebook, I also try to follow several of my friends’ blogs, as well as blogs I’ve discovered along the way. I’ve always been fascinated with the amount of time that people have to write these blogs – especially the mom bloggers. Where do they find the time in their day to write these blogs?

So I’ve decided that if they can find time, then I will lose sleep find time too.

I recently read an article about how mom bloggers do not have any credibility anymore because of all the free crap that companies give them so that they will promote them on their blog. Thank you, CNN.com. I am one of those who hates it when people promote stuff on their web page. I can just feel the money behind the post and I am actually less inclined to try the product.

Don’t get me wrong – I love free stuff. But if people are going to promote the products that they love, I feel they should also post reviews of products that they don’t love.

Getting off my soap box now. Enjoy my blog. :)