A Barney video was playing this morning before we headed out the door.
Princess: "Mommy, BJ is a funny character."
Me: "What? PJ?"
Princess: "Oh Mom..."
Me: "Is it PJ? Or is it BJ?"
Princess: "BJ."
Me: "What? I can't hear you. P-P-P, like in pig?"
Princess: "B-b-b, like in baseball."
Me: "Oh...BJ."
Princess: "Yeah, it's di-pi-cult."
WHAT? What? She made FUN of me! She was saying 'difficult'. But since I kept on hearing the "P" sound she said 'dipicult'. That kid!
You know people are nowadays. Trying to save their clothing from too much wear and tear. Washing in warm or even cold for most of their stuff. Then setting the drier on low. I saw an article in the back part of the latest BH&G magazine. It was about laundry.
Laundry, you say? Yeah. The "stuff" that's in our laundry rooms is gross!
Based on today's washing methods there's a high percentage of folks that walk out of their laundry room with fecal matter on their hands. Fecal matter?
Apparently, most people have fecal matter in their underpants. No matter HOW well you wipe yourselves. They say you don't necessarily have to SEE it to have some in your underpants. EEEKKK!
Back in the OLD days, folks were washing in hot water and drying their clothes in the warm sun. Back then? The hot water would get the fecal matter off clothing more easily. And the sun? Would kill any residual germs that lingered.
You know people are nowadays. Trying to save their clothing from too much wear and tear. Washing in warm or even cold for most of their stuff. Then setting the drier on low. So the yucky stuff isn't being washed off & killed off our clothing. So the stuff you might think is clean? Isn't necessarily clean!
What does BH&G recommend? That all linens be washed in HOT water & dried on the HIGH. That all underpants (adults & kids) be washed as a separate load in HOT on the longest setting & dried on HIGH. This way the residual matter will be contained & washed away together. Then the biggest is that the clothing of kids who aren't potty trained be washed on HOT & dried on HIGH. Sounds like more loads of laundry coming my way!
Yesterday, I picked up the Princess from school.
Princess: "Where is the Bear?"
Me: "He's still at 'school'. I wanted us both to pick him up!"
Princess: "Was he crying when you left him there this morning?"
Me: "Yes honey. He did cry."
Princess: "Poor litte boy. I hope he didn't cry too long..."
Me: "I hope he didn't cry long either."
Princess: "I'll bet he'll be smiling when he sees us!"
Me: "I'll be he will to."
We drive on over to the daycare (aka 'school'). We walk into the Bear's classroom. They're having their afternoon snack. He sees the two of us and bolts up. He trots over and wraps his arms around me. The Princess came around and hugged us both. He looked fine. They told me the kid actually took a nap too! Halleluia!
All was well this morning too as we got ready for the day. We dropped the Princess off at school like normal. The Bear carried his lunch bag as we walked the Princess to the playground. He didn't say a word on the ride over to the school. As I parked my car, I heard him in the background.
Bear: "Home."
Me: "Oh buddy! It's time for your school!"
I get him out and we walk into the building. He carried his lunch bag in himself. He also put the bag into the refrigerator on his own (I opened and closed the door for him). As we walked into the common area, he wanted up. We walked into his classroom. I stayed there for a bit. He knew what was coming. I stayed for about 5 minutes. The gal in the room walked over & stood next to me.
Me: "Okay buddy! Time for Mommy to go."
I gave him a big hug and kiss. Then I handed him over to the gal. The crying began immediately as I pulled him away from me.
Bear: "Moooommmy!"
I walked out. As I walked away I heard the gal.
Teacher: "Honey. Mommy has to go to work. She'll be back later. Okay?"
I hope the Bear gets used to this routine of drop-off. He has too, right? It just breaks my heart to have to walk away from him.
How long did it take your child or children to get used to being dropped off at either daycare or school or a babysitter?
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I forgot to mention earlier that they told me that for the first three hours the Bear was observing. Watching. Looking around. Not saying anything. This reminds me SO much of me as a kid. I'd just look and watch and see how everything worked before jumping into things. Kind of like the Princess too.
If anyone asked him a question? "NO!" That's all he would say. But once lunchtime hit, I guess he loosened up and got in the groove of the class.
I'm headed out in about 5 minutes to go pick up the Princess. Then we'll head out to get the Bear. I wonder how he'll be when we pick him up???
On the work front? I got a bunch of stuff done. I'm getting up to speed on the terminology. How this document goes and affects this process. How this report is the data for this other file. Etc and so forth. I'm getting my brain around it all. This is only my 3rd day! But you know what? I found some errors in some data files today. I went in and corrected them. Woohoo! I FIXED SOMETHING! Yeah! That feels good!
About 20 minutes ago, I dropped the Bear off at daycare.
This is the first time that anyone has taken care of him other than family. I feel amazingly guilty about it.
We prepped for it. Yesterday, we watched a video of Blues Clues where Periwinkle goes to school for the first time. This morning, I told him that he was "going to school just like Sissy!" He was agreeable about it. We'd been to the Daycare facility twice and both times he wanted to stay and play.
He seemed fine enough when we drove up to the place. He was fine when we finished up paperwork at the receptionist area. He was fine putting his lunch box into the refrigerator. He was fine dropping off his backpack in the classroom. He was fine joining all the other 1 & 2 year olds in the other class to watch Baby Einstein videos until their teacher arrived at 9am.
He was NOT fine when I decided to leave. One of the assistants (Carol) was next to me. I gave her a "look" to let her know I was going. I bent over and kissed the Bear on his head.
Me: "Bye-bye! I'll see you later!"
Bear: "Up! Mooommmmy!"
He was ready to follow me. Carol scooped the Bear up and held him. As I walked away I could still hear him crying but with less vigor.
I called the Hubs right as I was sitting at a stoplight.
Me: "I just finished dropping your son off."
Hubs: "How was he?"
Me: "He was fine...until I said bye-bye. Then he started to cry."
Hubs: "You know what? He probably will stop crying within 5 minutes or so. He'll be fine!"
Yeah. I guess so. The majority of parents in the United States go through this ritual every workday. I know. But this was my first time people! My heart is heavy. I'm sad. I left my child when he was crying! Wanting me! But the reality of it is that I have to work. And I'm sure he'll make friends quickly. It's just getting him used to the idea of going to 'school' every day will be interesting.
Need some help folks.
I'm going to need a new printer here at the house. But what kind?
Need:
Those of you with home businesses? What do YOU use? Help!
Today after she was finished with a page in one of her many coloring books, the Princess did something amazing.
She wrote a sentence!
"The cat has sum milk"
Yes. I realize she spelled "some" incorrectly. But she wrote a sentence. Just because! She wrote it in upper and lower case too. I could hear her sounding the words out and writing carefully in her coloring book.
People! She just turned five a couple weeks ago. She's writing. She's thinking up sentences on her own.
I'm so amazed. I'm proud of her. Wow!
I haven't landed a job. STILL! I'm stressed out.
My first car payment will be November 1st. I'd like to have a job by then to pay for the car. I don't want to have to dip into my savings to pay for it.
I have to find the 'right' job. One that will pay at least the minimum amount I'll need to pay for the bills (car, daycare, bills) every month.
The interview from last Wednesday? Nothing yet. I called yesterday and the gal told me that they had just finished up with the first interviews. This means she scheduled people for an entire week! Lots of candidatates. Dang-it-all! She let me know that she'd be calling on Monday to inform all the candidates either way. I do hope I get a 2nd interview. But I'm not setting my hopes up high to be in the final three.
I do have an interview this afternoon. It's for a full-time job. Sounds like it'll be a load of work, but the cool thing would be that I would work from home. The only reason I'm considering this full-time position is because I'd be able to work at home.
The job was listed yesterday morning. I sent my resume in around lunchtime. The gentleman called me by 2:30pm. I spoke with him around 4pm. We'll be meeting today at 3:30pm.
When the Hubs got home, I told him about the job. That it was full time. That I'd be able to work at the house. What the basics of the job entailed. He thought it was a good move. He felt that I had the skills to do the job. That a full-time job working from home would be something I could do. It would mean that I would not need to get dressed up for the day (no dry cleaning or extra outfits to wash). I'd be close to the Princess school and the Bear's daycare. No commute to an office. Meaning less wear on our new car and less fuel to buy. Working from home would mean I could put in more hours to the job too.
Even if it is working from home, I know that I'll still need to put the Bear into daycare. I'll need to concentrate on the work. He's used to me playing outside with him. Running around the playroom with him. Eating lunch with him. It wouldn't be fair to him for us to be home and me having to focus on something other than him.
If this recruiter guy seems to feel I have the skill set for this job, I am going to broach the topic of having 'core' working hours from 8:30am to 2:30pm. Then working the additional hours before the kidlings wake up or after the kidlings are in bed. This would provide me with the flexibility to drop the kidlings off and picking them up. Having family time once the Hubs gets home.
Anyway, I'll try to put my best foot forward. With a smile on my face. With a 'can do' attitude. Like I do with every interview.
I did send my resume out to about 4 other places this week. But I haven't heard from anyone else. Hopefully either today's interview or last week's interview will pan into a paying job.
Cross your fingers for me??? THANKS!
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Update as of 4pm
The gal that I interviewed with last Wednesday called.
"We have narrowed the candidates down to two. The two we decided on both have experience running an office like ours."
Okay. So none of the criteria stated that you wanted someone who had that type of experience. And just because someone ran an office like yours doesn't mean that's the way you want your office to be run. Does it?
"But I wanted to let you know we are going to keep your resume on file in the event that these two don't work out."
So first you tell me that I'm not good enough to make the final round. Now the next thing you're saying is that you'll keep my info in the event your FIRST choices don't pan out? THANKS but NO THANKS!
Now would you take a job knowing you're their second choice?
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Update as of 6:30pm
I now am part of the working world again. I GOT THE JOB!
After about 10 minutes of chatting with the gentleman (who I'll be referring to as BossMan from now on) this afternoon, he eluded to the fact that he was going to offer me the position. It felt SO good to get some positive feedback from the get go. I wasn't dangling on pins and needles the rest of time I spoke with him.
I'm going to meet up with BossMan on Sunday to get a few pieces of equipment that I'll need and to sign an employee agreement and some forms. I didn't want to have to meet up with BossMan on Monday (when I'm sure he'll be busy) with the Bear in tow. I wanted to do it Sunday so I could go alone. Let the Hubs watch the kidlings while Mommy takes care of business.
I think both he and I were comfortable once we starting talking to each other. He gave me an overview of the job. He handed me some paperwork to look at. He told me where I'd be gathering information. Then he paused. I took that opportunity to reiterate back to him what I would need to do on a more technical level. Once I finished my blurb back to him?
"She knows what I'm talking about!"
I could tell that's what he was thinking. He looked at me in the eyes with a visible sense of relief. I think from that moment on we knew this thing would work out.
"You realize that this isn't a glamorous job. It's really the 'grunt' work...for lack of a better description."
"Since I haven't worked for 5 years, I want to get back into the game. I've done this work in the past. And I know I can do it. I'm fine that it's not a high-visibility job. Plus, you all are growing this business. I'd rather get into it now and learn the business while it's growing."
"If you get to that point where you get tired of doing this job? I know we can find a place for you."
We ended up chatting for about 45 minutes.
"I'd like to offer you the job. You don't have to answer this minute. I'll be available all weekend."
He looked skeptical. I think he didn't know if I'd take a job at the pay level they have it at (compared to what I'd been paid in the past).
"Let me just tell that I'm 95% sure that I'll take the job. I'm sure my husband will agree this is a great opportunity for me. "
He first looked surprised, then relieved once more.
So that's it folks. THANKS for all the crossed fingers and toes.
And you know what happened while I was typing this update? Another recruiter called up to talk to me. And just before I got on here I checked email and someone sent me an email with a time to meet with them next week. DANG! When it rains? It pours!
And the Hubs? He is mighty happy that I'll be able to work from home and get paid.
I'll be able to pay for my monthly car payments and the Bear's daycare without a problem. I'll also be able to pay off larger chunks off my credit card bill than I'd originally slated. It also means that I'll be able to put money into my savings account. And when the Princess has days off school I won't have to make special arrangements for her. I'll still drive the Bear to daycare and have the Princess here playing at the house. She can play independently...no big.
The VERY BEST thing about all this? It'll give the Hubs a break from being the only one earning money. It'll give him some breathing room. Give him some play money for himself. He deserves it!