Bec's Happybox

Weather gripe

My nine-year-old still does not see any problem with filling up a toy truck (cement mixer) with water and leaving it on the living room floor under her brother's care while she goes to the pantry to get flour to make cement.  How she was planning on getting the flour out of the large rubbermaid container into the quarter-sized opening in the top of the plastic truck I never got to find out because I grabbed the thing and dumped the water down the sink.

"Why can't we make cement?" she asked.  The question amazes me. 

"Because it's 99% guaranteed to make a huge mess on the wood floor!  No cement in the house.  If you guys really want to make cement, it has to be outside."

"Fine.  Get your coat on, Deetman."

In fact, he needs trousers, socks, rubber boots, and a raincoat, because the backyard is soaked.  Since we got back from a trip to the sweltering and beautiful Okanagan valley, it's been drizzle and greyness here on our lovely (?) island.  I am not a warm weather person, and I love fog, but GIVE ME A BREAK.  It's freaking August!  It's the last two weeks before school!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Climate change is Satan.  I've had a total of six ripe tomatoes in my garden this year, and all of them have been cherry.  It's quite depressing.

Okay!  Now that's out of my system I'll tell you how I'm spending my days:  applying for jobs, interviewing for jobs, visiting daycares, and trying to find ways to keep doing the two jobs I already have.

And reading Penelope Trunk whenever I have a chance. 

The Working Mom

Last Thursday I started working on a little writing project for (a very small amount of) cold, hard, cash.  It's a cliche, but I really felt like I was splitting into two.  Before then, even if I was doing a few different things not related to child-rearing, I certainly didn't have anything that could be called a job.  So I was pretty much wholly in my MomMind.  On Thursday, while my mom watched M'hijo, I entered my JobMind for the first time in a very long while.  It was stressful. 

Friday, the stress lessened when I realized that the job I've taken on is within my skill set.  On Thursday I suspected that I had gotten in over my head.  By Friday afternoon, I was much more confident.  I spent most of Friday getting accustomed to a strange feeling in my head that I later determined was synapses firing.  It felt funny!

Sat, Sun, Mon: a little bit of work each day and "Oh I like this BALANCE!  It's the BALANCE!  The perfect BALANCE that all the kids are talking about!  I'm so CONTENT and SATISFIED with my LIFE!  O Wondrous BALANCE!"

Tuesday: I got pretty overwhelmed.  M'hijo slept just long enough for me to wash a few dishes, make tea and get settled in front of Open Office for (what I thought would be) a nice relaxing little session of writing.  No dice.

Today: my dad took M'hijo off my hands and things moved along well with the project.  I hope to have a draft in to my bosses by Friday, provided M'hijo doesn't pull any more stunts like taking a supershort nap. 

This project will be completely signed, sealed and delivered by next Friday, so it's not like I'm really wading into the deep waters of working motherhood in earnest, although I do have another little something that will keep me slightly busy between now and October, and which I will write about soon. 

This is familiar territory: I did web development contracts when Sahsez was a toddler, and had even less in terms of childcare then.  Still, I am older now, and demand more relaxation and downtime and pleasure from life.  So some things will be different this time around. 

Whatever happens, it feels good to be using my brain, learning new things, taking risks.  Housewifery isn't always good at providing those sorts of opportunities.

So what is the nature of the work I'm doing exactly?  Can't say really, but I will say that it's a very nice, low-pressure project that makes use of my skill set.

Well, okay, it's not so much can't say as don't want to say in this space because I don't want it to show up in web searches on the topic.  However, the curious should feel free to email me and ask and chances are very good that I will tell you everything!  In fact, I may talk your ear off and you will be terribly bored and regret ever contacting me!  You've been warned.