This week has been a blast! It has been so fun to get back into the swing of things a-working again. I had 4 days of work ~30hours, including 45-60 minutes each way for the drive. I am so thankful to have a position with Kaiser. The learning curve with a new team, new computer system, and using brain cells which have been dormant for a while has been a fun challenge.
Gotta say I didn't plan things too well. I was pre-scheduled all of these days, which I said I could work ahead of time, but Chris was working 2 of the 8 hour days. To most working parents this would sound like a normal day, but to us, this was a big deal. Owen has had many sitters in his day, mostly my sisters, my mom, my mom in love, Bryce & Savannah, and my aunt. But these times have been usually once a month, maybe for a date or for my weight loss support group meeting once per month. Owen hadn't been left for 8+ hours with anyone else except RN's when he was hospitalized.
I really don't have a problem leaving him, that parenting "issue" was worked out the first 6 weeks of his life when we left every night to go stay at Ronald McDonald's house. I miss him, for sure, and yes I wonder what he is doing, and yes I text and call and check in, but I am happy with a break, for sure! The weird thing is leaving for work. It feels so grown up to have a babysitter while I go out and work. I have been working this last year teaching classes, but the demand was so low that it just felt like a few hour break to chat about nutrition. This week was WORK!
Next week is a little less work~ 16hours. That is just about right. Owen gets another day with Grandma. Owen slept so well the nights when he had Aunt Kim and my Mom watch him--new playmates who go above and beyond tired him out--thank you thank you!!! He was all about his cars for a while, but now he is OBSESSED with books and reading. It is such a wonderful thing, I hope this obsession continues!
16 hours per week is just about right for our family. There is another on-call who is going on maternity leave in a few months. I know the demand will increase and the calls will be a-coming my way for more shifts. I will need to remind myself that I am not my 3 year ago self, who would say "Yes!" to every work opportunity. That drive is still inside me, and I love that. But that priority is much lower now. Wow, I think back 5 years when we lived down in Sac, I would be working all the time at this job. I even got called in last week on my day off. It was easy to say no, as the other on-call below me in senority was available, and I was already working much more than I wanted to. But I need to remember my own boundaries and expectations that my new boss is aware of. Haha, I have been saying for a while, the stay at home mom job is one where you work overtime! This is true, and it is hard work but it isn't work.
Chris's last weekend "off" he worked straight on through around the property. He pulled fence, welded some gates, and was working on the garden getting it ready for planting. I am proud to say that the front yard is now deer proof! Are you reading this?? Deer CANNOT get into the yard!!!! My existing raised bed is now free of the lasagna layers of chicken wire and fencing that were hap-hazardly arranged to protect the loot underneath. Ironically the arugula, kale, and mesclun lettuce mixes were so challenging to get to that they have become overgrown and recently bolted! I yanked most of them out the other day, and even found some fingerlings that had been under the dirt since last summer! MMM! Out with the old, in with the new. When Chris's dad comes up in a few weeks I think he is going to build some raised beds for that yard. We talked about 3 4X12 beds like the current one. This will keep some produce up by the house since the garden is about a 5 minute walk, which does include the steep driveway, which isn't too convenient for a little pinch of basil!
To end on a garden note, if you are interested in planting potatoes, now is the time. You can get them at a local nursery, or just buy some organic ones from the grocery store. Cut em up so each piece has an eye on it, each piece around an inch. Put in a dark place for it to sprout and the cut side to heal over. I use an egg carton and put it in a closet or garage, or your pantry even. Planting time around here is St. Patricks day, and they are ready come June/July. You really don't need too deep of a pot to plant them in, 10-12 inches is sufficient. When you plant, just plant one potato chunk with the sprouted eye pointing up, and the rest is history. A friend of mine blogged a great post on this topic, and re-used plastic tubs for pots! Nice work, Mama Ty!!!
Here is the link: http://www.rylantylyn.blogspot.com/2011/03/potatoes.html
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Craftiness
There are so many outlets for creativity these days. Pinterest alone is giving people the courage to get creative! I get crafty from time to time, and have thought of putting the photos together into their own blog, but the catch-all blog is more my style! Here are some old and new crafties, probably over the last 5 years.
In pulling these photos together, I realized that there were quite a few times when I didn't take a photo of some crafty things I have done. Guess I need to continue documenting so I can re-create things at some point. Just wanted to share a creative tangent today. And also I have to say that our hideous counters and poor lighting in the kitchen is a good lesson to move my kitchen items somewhere more becoming for photos.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Boys[Chris] and their [his] toys
I was so very excited to upload all the pictures from the camera to the computer and get a blog posted. Upon uploading the 250+ photos and videos, I realized that the vast majority of the photos were of Mat and Owen playing with toys, and all the more of Chris playing with their toys as well. Here is a photo synopsis of the week of toys for the boys.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Arizona
We are very close to home but I thought I would post an update. We went to lake havasu for a week to visit with Chris's family. What a wonderful time! We enjoyed a whole day Xmas celebration with cousin Mat, and of course Chris's sisters and their Josh's.. Janet made an amazing spread as usual- a 22# turkey mmmm... Ate on that for a few days. Owen enjoyed some carefree play with Mat since he hadn't been to preschool all week. It was nice for them to play together without us cleaning Owens hands every 2 seconds. To sum up the week, Chris went shooting 4 times, and I even went once and tried my hand at 8 or so different guns. Janet watched Owen so I could go on a few different runs, my last one was 7 miles, felt so great, and notably easier without pushing the jogger stroller. Watched a couple movies, read the middle place book, visited, enjoyed a day of 75 degree weather, and Owen played with insane amounts of hot wheels. Owen has been eating higher volumes of food and for the last week even accepting a spoon with yogurt or puréed fruit on it. Sometimes up to 3/4 cup of yogurt! It has been great, at times we didn't tube him anything if he drank water also. It was so nice to have extra hands for basic things like showering, exercising, etc for such a long period of time. We had a total blast and Owen did too. Here are a few pics from my phone we are pulling up right now! Home sweet home!
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