Sundry Stuff

So, remember my rant the other day about working more and ohmystars, whatshouldIdo?? Well, I applied for the 12-hour position and we'll see what happens. I talked to another friend/co-worker who agreed that I should apply even though the job posting said it was only open to current department employees. So I did. After I calmed down and let it all marinate for awhile, that position is the one that would work out the best. My biggest problem with working more is working more late nights. This position would be the same number of days, just more hours per day. I casually mentioned the job to my sister who said she would be willing to watch Zoë for me, and also my BFF Brookie said she could watch her if necessary. It'd only be one day one week, and two days the next, for about 4 hours per day, so not a huge commitment. And if they were to share the task, that'd make it easier on them both. So we'll see what happens if anything. I can tell you one thing though. When/if my current manager gets wind of this, she's going to have an apoplectic fit.

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Hubby is staring to perk up, which makes me think there was something going on since he suddenly started to feel better after two days of antibiotics. He made it through half a day of work yesterday before begging off and coming home. Thank goodness he has an understanding boss! :)

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Yesterday afternoon I headed out to the house and tackled some more painting. I got the second coat on Sam's walls, Zoë's room taped off and two coats on the bottom half and one coat on the top. They look SO cute. Neither of the kids have seen their rooms painted so I hope they like them. I think Zoë will be thrilled and squeal in delight when she sees her's, and Sam will probably be indifferent and all I'll get is a shrug of his little shoulders and an unenthusiastic "Yah, I like it." But he's a boy so I can't really expect him to turn cartwheels over having colorful walls.

Either today or this weekend, Josh and my dad will be getting all the light fixtures and ceiling fans installed so that'll be one more piece of the puzzle complete.

Oh! I almost forgot! I have more pictures to show you:

Here's the kids' bathroom room. You can see my dining room wall through the doorway.

This is the hall closet door, which is what all the interior doors will look like. I love them!

This is Sam's room. The stripe is still taped off but once I peel that off there will be a white stripe inbetween the orange and blue. Colorful, huh?

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Today is Sam's Harvest Party at school, so Sissy and I are going to that after lunch. Then we'll see what the weather is doing before deciding on our evening's plans. If it's not raining, we'll do a little trick-or-treating in Grandma & Grandpa's neighborhood. If it's raining, we'll have to look for something indoors or undercover, like the mall or downtown. Cuz there's no way my six-year old is going to miss out on FREE CANDY.

Happy Pumpkin Friday!

Interrupted

Life hasgone kind of haywire lately. The Hubby has been sick for two weeks now with some kind of funky bug that started out as a vicious sore throat, then morphed into a nasty chest & head cold that's turned him into a hacking, coughing, snotty phlegm monster who is an absolute joy to sleep next to, let me tell ya. For it's third (and hopefully final) act, this bug decided to attack his stomach & intestines and I'll spare you the details on THAT. You're welcome. (From other reports, it seems the stomach bug may have been a party favor from the wedding he attended last weekend since other guests have reported similar afflictions.)

The poor guy has been miserable, soldiering on when not absolutely on death's doorstep, but he's had enough. He went back to the doctor this morning, and thankfully she decided to put him on some antibiotics, even though she didn't really think it was anything other than a virus. Hopefully they'll kick in and he'll perk up in the next day or two. I know he's itching to get out to the house and keep working. I've got lots more painting to do, plus we have all our electrical fixtures and ceiling fans now that he wants to put up. He got most of the can lights put up and the electrical plugs and switches in so we have actual light now! So exciting to see the place lit up.

Hopefully we'll be past this interruption soon and can get back to work. He's been off work, which means I've had to take time off to take care of the kids, plus work on the house has stalled. I know he's tired of feeling like a big pile of poo and I'm ready to have my happy, healthy hubby back.

Color My World

Ok, ya wanna see some pictures of the house with painted walls?

Since I'm a pleaser, here ya go.

Great Room/Kitchen/Dining Room Before:

After:

It's funny because the color on these walls is called Tuscan Beige (Tammy, I had to have it after I saw the name...). (The walls on the side of the fireplace aren't painted because there will be built-in cabinets/shelves there, in case you were wondering.)

This is looking at the dining room before I painted the accent wall and also the best representation of the color. Are you ready to see the accent wall?

Ta-Da! Whaddya think?

It took three coats to get it dark enough, and even the camera doesn't show how dark it truly is. It's a really deep midnight blue and my plan is to hang a big black & white print in the center of the wall. On the very far left, you can see the tile on the floor. It looks darker in the house than I originally thought/wanted, so that's where I'm a bit nervous. The grout will be a bit lighter so hopefully that will lighten it up a bit. Yes/No??

I have more pictures to share but it's time for me to go to work.

Quick Update

So, the painting is coming along nicely. I've made huge progress, considering I've done 93% of it on my own. But I have lots of touch-ups, probable 2nd coats and still a couple rooms to do. Progress won't be as quick this week as I head back to work on Monday & Tuesday. But it's looking good. Although I have to confess, I'm starting to worry that all my choices (tile, cabinets, carpet, paint) are going to look like a houseful of vomit once they're all in place. I tried to make sure nothing clashed horribly and took my various samples with me whenever choosing, but somehow I fear that it's just going to look awful when it's all actually in place. I've already had to revise one carpet color because when I took the sample in the house, it looked YELLOW. I do not want yellow carpet in my house. Fortunately the carpet hasn't been ordered yet so I can change it but everything else is ordered. Yikes.

And speaking of vomit, today was a waste of a day. We were supposed to go south to a friend's wedding but instead I spent the day in bed with a migraine and occasionally stumbling to the bathroom to barf. Hubby loaded up the kids and went without me, which was a blessing AND a curse: a blessing because the house was quiet and I was left to suffer in peace, a curse because I had no one to fetch me crackers and cold cloths and pain pills and whenever I worked up the gumption to do it myself, I ended up scurrying back to the bathroom to further explore the contents of my stomach. It was a day of bummers. I was bummed to have missed the wedding and see "The Gang", obviously it sucked being in agony all day, plus I got the cutest black pants and sweater to wear to the wedding and I didn't get to wear them. I was looking forward to playing dress up and wearing grown-up clothes. Oh well. Another time.

Tomorrow will be spent playing catch-up before heading back to work. My cupboards and fridge are frightfully bare, the laundry is about to avalanche, the checkbook needs balancing, bills need to be paid and the house needs tidying up. All this fun before heading to work at 3pm.

I love my life but sometimes I wish is wouldn't come at me so relentlessly, ya know?

Crazy Gato

There's very little in the media that makes me laugh out loud, but these silly cartoons crack me up! Probably because I'm a cat lover & owner employee and can totally relate.






In our house, this is called "The Dinner Dance".

Cookie Monster

Me: "Zoë, how do they taste?"

Zoë: "Mmm. These are..

...QUITE good."

Rainbow Bright

The Big Red House is about to undergo another transformation. This time it'll be at the hands of yours truly. Tomorrow, I commence with the painting of the interior. Today I have yet another date with my latest boyfriend, Home Depot, to get all my paint. I spent several hours there last week picking out all the colors, and let me tell ya, my house is going to look like a crayon box. The colors have nothing in common except for, well, that they're all colors. I have no sense of style and barely know what I like, neither of which contribute to the inviting and peaceful haven I am failing trying to create.

After being blinded by the enthusiastic exterior color, you'll stumble inside only to be assaulted by a palette of colors that God never intended to be together. Ok, so the great room/kitchen/dining room isn't TOO shocking but, boy howdy, wait 'til you see the bedrooms!

It should have been an indication to me to maybe tone it down after the following comments were made:

Paint salesperson: "How about this pretty cream color for the bathroom?"
Me: "That just looks like 'no color' to me."
Paint salesperson: "Somehow I figured you'd say that based on your other choices."

Cabinet salesperson, upon seeing me holding my paint chip samples: "You like color, don't you?"

Now, I will tell you that after taking my paint chips into the house and seeing them in the natural light, I am changing the shade of a couple colors but not the actual color. Nope, those have been set for a long time. I just need to find a shade that isn't quite so mind-numbingly bright. I don't want my kids to have to wear sunglasses in their own bedrooms. I'm nice like that.

Anyway, that's my plan for the next couple days. I may or may not post some updates to give you a sneak peek at what I'm doing. Depends on how the paint fumes affect me.

Conflicted

I'm feeling a little conflicted right now. Can I tell you about it? I really need some input.

It's about my job. With the building of our house, I've known that I probably will need to work a little more. Right now I am a .5 FTE (1.0 being full-time) which translates to five days per 2-week pay period. I work evening shift, 3-11:30pm, which gets me home right around midnight. My five days "on" include working every other weekend, which kind of stinks, but that's how hospitals are. As a .5 employee, I get pro-rated insurance benefits for myself. The medical plan that I chose costs me nothing but I pay about $160 a month to have the kids on my policy. That will be going up January 1st due to the usual rate increase and also because I'll be adding everyone onto my dental insurance. It'll probably cost me about $225/month.

If I were to increase my hours and become a .7 FTE I would be considered full-time and, staying on the insurance plan I'm currently on, it would cost me nothing to have the kids AND Josh on my plan. I'd still pay for dental which would be about $65/month. And as we all know, insurance is a big deal.

I'd originally thought about just increasing to a .6, which would translate into only adding one day per pay period - no big deal. But by going to a .7, that is a $200/month raise right there (I'd not be paying insurance premiums), not to mention the extra hours I'd be working. If I'm going to work more, I might as well work more to really make it worth my while.

I'm conflicted for several reasons:

1. Working evening shift makes me TIRED. I don't get to sleep until 12:30am yet I still have to get up, get Sam ready and off to school, and then be a mom to Zoë, along with all the normal day-to-day stuff. I already feel like I'm not able to keep up or be as engaged with the kids as I want. The thought of adding more shifts (aka late nights) makes me want to cry.

2. Now that Sam is in school, my time with him is already limited. On the days that I work, I only get to see him for about an hour in the morning as we're rushing around getting ready for school. I head to work before he gets home and he's long asleep by the time I get home. Right now I work Mon/Tues, which means that I see him a total of about 3 hours between Monday and Wednesday. Finally Wednesday afternoon when he gets out of school, I get to spend some time with him. I HATE this. The thought of working more days where the only time I get to see my son is during morning rush hour makes me want to cry.

3. I routinely peruse the job postings at work, just out of curiosity. BUT the other day I saw a position posted that was for my job in a different department. It was a .75 FTE and was 12-hours shifts. This works out to be five 12-hour shifts in a pay period (11am-11:30pm). Pros: full-time status, and no additional days (or late nights) than I currently work. Cons: I'd have to arrange a babysitter for Zoë for about 4 hours on the days that I'd work and right now, the job posting says it's open to department employees only. Twelve-hour shifts don't bother me - I used to work them and it's not a big deal. As far as babysitting, my sister *might* be able to watch Zoë for me as she is not working right now. I would pay her and would feel totally comfortable having her watch Zoë as she is family. I was telling a friend/co-worker about the position and she said I should apply for it anyway, even though it says it's only open to department employees, that maybe no current employee will apply or be as qualified as I am.

4. I got to work last night and discovered that a co-worker has given her 2-week notice and is moving. She does the same job as me but her position was a day shift (10:00am - 6:30pm), .7 FTE, and NO WEEKENDS. So now her job is open. Lots of pros there, but a big fat con is that then Zoë needs a babysitter from 9:30am to about 2:30pm, 4 days one week, 3 the next. So I'd be away from her ALOT. Plus, then my days are spent working instead of doing all the stuff I do now: shopping, cooking, cleaning, volunteering at Sam's school, outings with Zoë. Yet I'm home every night to put them to bed, get a decent night's sleep myself and have every weekend off. Except when do I do all that other stuff?

I know lots of moms work full-time and are away from their kids, whether by choice or necessity. But six years ago, I CHOSE to be a stay-at-home-mom and make my kids my priority. I opted to go without vacations, new cars, shopping sprees, and various indulgences. I may have given up a few material comforts, but I have been rewarded a million times over by being present and involved with my kids and the relationship we have. It's HUGELY important to me and I don't want it to change. All too soon, Zoë'll be in school full-time too and our lazy days of playing and learning together will be over. And that makes me want to cry.

The fact is, I am going to need to work more. My head and all logic tells me so. It makes sense for me to do so. We'll need the money for the house. I don't want to move into my beautiful new house and not be able to buy blinds, or rosebushes and flowers for my yard. Josh desperately needs a new(er) truck. His old Jimmy is literally falling apart (the doorhandle partially broke and is hanging at a sad angle & most of the dash gauges don't work, not to mention the 200k+ miles on it) and I feel sad that he doesn't have a vehicle he can be proud of. He deserves it. With the way the economy is, if things take a drastic turn Josh could potentially be facing a lack of work, which equals a lack of a paycheck. (He's an electrician.) Even in "normal" times, the construction industry has down times and being basically self-employed there is no guarantee of a paycheck. I have a steady job and paycheck and I don't think that will change. The hospital isn't going to suddenly go out of business or close - they're the only one in town.

Maybe I'm worrying about this way too much. Maybe Sam wouldn't even notice if I worked more and were gone more evenings. He'd still be home with Daddy afterall. Maybe none of the open positions would work out. Maybe money won't be as tight as I think. Maybe Josh's work won't slow down. Maybe some other option will present itself and be perfect. Maybe I should just have faith.

What would you do?

I Choose...

Because I'm partially brain dead from over-activity this week and can't come up with an original post, I'm stealing this idea from someone else. Besides, aren't you always curious about me and my preferences?? (Don't answer that.)

Tom Hanks over Tom Cruise
avoidance over confrontation
Mexican food over Chinese food
late nights over early mornings
beer over wine
NBC over CBS
salty over sweet
beach over mountain
vanilla over chocolate
cats over dogs
mistakes made over missed chances
lipgloss over lipstick
J.K Rowling over J.R.R. Tolkien
dark chocolate over milk chocolate
football over hockey
pie over cake
half full over half empty
sense of humor over sense of style
Jeopardy! over Wheel of Fortune
pro-choice over pro-life
iced tea over soda
The Breakfast Club over Dirty Dancing
french fries over french toast
Belle over Cinderella
small town over big city
The Olympics over The Oscars
too hot over too cold
ketchup over mustard
Caesar salad over house salad
books over movies
pedicures over manicures
red wine over white wine
John Cusack over John Malkovich
apples over oranges
big trucks over fast cars
elliptical over treadmill
summer over winter
time with girlfriends over time alone
vaccuming floors over mopping floors

What about you & your preferences?

Color My World

Everybody keeps asking me "When do you think you'll move into your house?" and my standard answer has been "Hopefully by Thanksgiving." But yesterday, I realized that Thanksgiving is only 5.5 weeks away! The days have flown by and here it is, the middle of October, and there is still SO much to do. So much for US to do. We're getting to the point in things where the progress is now up to us and we're just not gonna be as fast as if we'd hired someone to do it. So my dream of spending Thanksgiving in my new house is starting to crumble a bit.

Josh is meeting with the painter again tomorrow to discuss him doing some interior painting. At the very least, we'll have him spray the ceilings all white, as well as the laundry room, bonus room and guest room/office. (I'll paint those at a later date.) All the other rooms will have some color on the walls and be custom painted by yours truly. Which means that I need to go spend some quality time at Home Depot, staring at the paint samples and coming to a decision. I have the kids' rooms figured out and a general idea for the master bedroom/bath. I still need to pick a color for the kids' bathroom and decide on the color for the great room/kitchen. Again, I have general ideas but no specific colors picked.

{sigh...} It'd be so much easier if I were a white-wall kinda gal. But do you really think someone who intentionally paints their house red is gonna live in a house with plain ol' white walls?

Me neither.

Flashback Friday

Today we're not flashing back very far; just back to June 24th of this year.

Remember this place?

Check it out now!!

Me: --->

Our House

Yesterday afternoon after running some errards, the suspense was killing me and I headed out to the house to get a peak at the paint job. All the way out there, I was nervous and second-guessing myself. Did I choose too bold of a color? Would it be too red? If it turned out to be an obnoxious shade, could I take the remaining paint back and have it retinted/darkened? I was so worried.

From the main road, I could only see the front of the house and it was still the same ol' boring beige. Hmmm. Maybe they hadn't gotten started painting afterall, I thought.

But then, I drove down the long driveway and as I came around the corner, I audibly gasped out loud. And I just sat and stared. (And took a picture obviously.)

Now, mind you, this was taken thru my dirty windshield. The trim isn't painted but the first coat of my beloved red is ON.THE.HOUSE.

I may or may not have spun the tires in my haste to get closer to my beautiful red house and I may or may not have bounded out of the car to get a closer look, leaving my daughter inside.

I will tell you that when I went around the corner and saw the back of the house a big bubble of excitement burbled up in my stomach. While this whole process has been exciting, I haven't felt that tickle in my tummy since the first walls were stood up on my birthday.

When the painter saw me, he came down off his ladder and said "What do you think?" If I hadn't of just met the man five seconds prior, I probably would have hugged him. "I LOVE IT!" I exclaimed. "IT'S BEAUTIFUL!!" I was so relieved that my choice of color was a good one and that it really is turning into the house of my dreams.

I can just imagine how it's going to look, with the trim all painted, the grass green and lush in summer, or the fields covered in snow in the winter. And my pretty red house standing there in the middle of it all, the embodiment of all my dreams, with everything and everybody I hold dear inside.

Somehow seeing my color go onto it really has made it suddenly very real.

This is my house. MY house. OUR house.

And it's so pretty. And perfect.

And now I'm crying.

Color Me Red

This week the exterior painting of the house begins. I was forced to choose a color - red, of course - and then I had to choose a shade of red. Man, the details...

I bought a couple quarts of colors that I liked and then slathered some on the house to see what looked best. This is the one I chose:

That's only one coat so I think it'll be slightly darker when all is said and done. And with crisp white trim and the gray roof, I think it'll look awesome. I've always wanted a red barn house so I'm really excited to see how it looks when it's finished.

Good-bye boring beige house! Soon you'll have a shiny new paint job and stand out like a sore thumb be really pretty.

I realize that a red house is not everyone's cup of tea.

But then again, neither am I.

Chalk It Up

There are moments with children where you want to pull your hair out, or run screaming from the house to escape the insanity. They can be absolutely relentless.

There are times when they will fight and bicker like sworn enemies and there won't be even a minute of peace. They can be absolutely exhausting.

Yesterday afternoon was not one of those times.
They were absolutely delightful and loving with each other.

I love days like that.

Things I'm Liking Today

This LOLcat made me chuckle this morning:

This shirt I ordered from The Gap on sale:

This book I've reserved at the library:

And this one being released in January:

My new phone:

The view from my soon-to-be front yard:

{sigh...} I'm a lucky girl.