My Blog's Evolution

When I started this blog way back 2008 I was a stay at home mom period.  I didn't work at all outside the house.  I was cooped up all with two small children.  I needed an outlet and this blog was a place to vent, rant and generally just confess all my mothering sins.  But like all things in life, my life and my blog has evolved into something else.  I am still a mom.  I will always be a mom.  It's the most important job I'll ever have.  But my kids are now 10 and 5 and they just don't need me the way they did 4 years ago.  I've also gone back to work part time teaching adults with disabilities.  On top of that I started my own business Katiemade Crafts.  As I've moved away from being SAHM, my blog has moved away from my venting and ranting and the such.  I've thought about changing the name of the blog since The Mommy Days doesn't exactly describe what this blog is about anymore but I decided I love the name and it's staying.  So if you've stumbled upon my little blog and wonder why it's called The Mommy Days now you know.

Ten on Tuesday

OK, OK I know I have been MIA for a little over a week.  I was on vacation in Tennessee for my annual family reunion.  It was a fun time and I loved seeing all my extended family.  Hopefully I will get around to blogging about it soon.  But for now my Ten on Tuesday.

1. Do you have an innie or an outie?
Innie.  It's always been an innie even during both of my pregnancies.

2. What kind of milkshake do you order?
Chocolate or if we go somewhere like an ice cream shop I get a chocolate malted!

3. How often do you repeat outfits at work?
Well at my stay at home mom job I don't really repeat outfits.  It's all about what ever is clean and comfortable.  At my new part time weekend job (I just got a job at a company called Portrait Innovations), I have enough outfits to last the month.

4. What are your feelings about thank you notes?
I always try to send them.  I think it's important.  Now I have to admit that since having two children I haven't been as good about it.  Mostly because I intend to do it and then forget.  It's called mommy brain and it sucks!

5. Do you like spicy food?
I have come to LOVE it!! As I've gotten older my taste and tolerance for spicy foods has increased.

6. How many toilet paper squares do you use?
NO clue!  I don't count and really don't care.

7. Were you in Girl Scouts?
Nope.  I did a year as a Blue Bird (the Brownie equivalent in The Camp Fire Girls) when I lived in Colorado.  I still have my little vest with all the patches and beads I earned sewn on!
 
8. Notebooks/Journals: College ruled? Wide Ruled? No lines? Spiral Bound? Plain front? Decorative?
Again what ever I have in front of me is what I use.  I tend to lean toward decorative journals both spiral bound and traditional book bound.

9. Do you snack throughout the day? What do you pack for snacks?
Well since I am at home most of the time I snack with my kids but I eat almonds/nuts or yogurt or fruit.  I also try to keep almonds in purse for a snack on the go.

10. What is your favorite month? Why?
April.  It's my birthday month, Easter (I LOVE Easter Candy), and it's spring here.  And spring is the by far the best time of the year in North Carolina.  It's not too hot yet and all the flowers are blooming.

Help!

I have to start out by saying I love my husband a lot, I really do!  He is kind, funny, smart, loving, generous and lots of other wonderful things but he is driving me a bit batty lately.  I mentioned awhile back that I have taken on a part time job.  I am working about 20 hours a week outside the house above and beyond my normal stay at home mom stuff.  Last night I came home to a house that was a wreck, except for the half of the kitchen my husband cleaned.  To his credit he did this all with out me asking him to, which was awesome.  More often than not I feel like I have to ask/tell him what things I need/want him to help me get done around here.  Like this morning I asked him if he would help me finish getting the downstairs cleaned up before he left for work at noon.  As I was working on finishing the kitchen and laundry and floors he would kind of walk around and pick up little things/organize them then stand and watch me clean.  I would then ask him to do something else (take the table cloth of the table please it needs to be washed).  Again he would do what I asked and then come stand and watch me work/talk to me.  Point blank it pissed me off.  Could he not look around and find things to be done himself!?!?  Yes! He's a smart man and perfectly capable of doing that.  So being the kind to let my voice be heard I told him what I felt about it.  He got mad and pissy about it but I really didn't care that much.  I just wanted help.  I have always felt that when I was at home not working I would do most of the house work and that's pretty fair I think.  But I still thought (and he agreed) that he would help out some.  In fact when I am home with the kids I feel like playing with them and doing stuff with them is the priority not cleaning (although in times of need cleaning comes before them).  But now that I am working too I thought he might step up and try to help out more.  He has stepped up with the kids and doing more cooking but the cleaning part not so much.  Anyway I already have 2 kids I have to tell to clean up I really, really don't want to have to tell my husband what to clean up too .....  it's just too much.  And that's my rant for the day.  James I love you but dude help me out and take some initiative!  Let see if he reads my blog....

How do full time working moms do it??????

Here is the catch up.  I have been a stay at home mom for almost 7 years now.  Before staying home I was a special education teacher.  I liked teaching but not sure that is what I want to go back and do (for several reasons) that.  I have been trying to start up my Etsy shop which is going OK but not nearly enough to call it a full time job (pay wise).   So I have been on the lookout for something else.  Well I managed to find a part time gig a few weeks ago.  I am a companion or also known as a home companion.  I have a client and I help him get around to different places he needs to go, do volunteer work, and just be a well a companion.  It's been enjoyable and I like it.  But it's only 20 hours a week but for now that is OK.  Despite it only being 20 hours a week I am finding it hard to get my normal stuff done!!!!  My blog is suffering, my Etsy shop is suffering, laundry is suffering, and house work is suffering!!! I guess it doesn't help that in middle of all this we are winding down school (lots of parties and fun things I have to remember to send things in for), we have family visiting for holidays (being at the beach is fun also very busy), and saying good bye to a friend (with 2 going away functions and our last GNO together).  And as usual I had about 15 minutes to bang this out while eating lunch, during my daughter's nap.  But now I have to go get my son off the bus and start my very busy afternoon of playing, homework, laundry, dinner and what ever else needs attention in my house.....

Ten on Tuesday

1.  Think back a decade, do you remember what your first cellphone was? Was it as cool as Zack Morris’s phone?

To be honest I really don't remember.  It was what ever phone was either free with my plan or the cheapest.  I know I didn't have one until I was out of college and on my own working. But I do remember when I got my Motorola StarTAC.  It was the smallest cellphone on the market and I loved that it flipped open to answer!!  I thought it was so cool!

2. What is the first children’s book you remember being read to you?


Well I remember One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey.  It's about a little girl who looses her first tooth.  I just remember loving the illustrations and I couldn't believe people lived in places where they had to take boats just to go to the store.

3. What was your first car? Did you love it or hate it?

My first car was a white 1986 Toyota Camry. It was my mom's old car and I got to drive (she made it clear is wasn't my car.  My brother and I had to share it.  Which meant that when I went off to college he got the car).  I LOVED that car!  I still LOVE that car.  It was so roomy and ran great.  We have a Camry now which is a great car but I swear the interior is smaller now.  I used to be able to sit in the back seat of my '86 Camry and have enough leg room (I am 5' 10" so leg room is important) and I swear there is not nearly the leg room in our new Camry.

4. Who was your hero growing up?


Sally Ride the first American woman astronaut.  For the longest time growing up I wanted to be an astronaut.  So I really looked up to her being that she was the first woman on a space shuttle.


5. Think back to your first kiss. Was it everything you dreamed of?

My first "real" kiss as I am defining as sloppy and not just a quick peck.  Anyway it was eye opening.  I'm not sure how much I had dreamed of it but it sure wasn't what I had expected.  It was enjoyable but nerve wracking and really wet.  LOL wow now that brings back memories....

6.  What was your first BAD hairstyle choice? (Extra points for embarrassing photos)


Honestly my hair really does not change much.  It's almost always long.  The most I do is bangs or no bangs.  The reason behind this you ask... (well maybe you didn't ask but I'm gonna tell you) is because my mother always had me have short hair growing up.  I know why she did this.  It was simply easier to deal with. But oh how I longed for the long hair with ribbons and bows I saw the other girls have.  So here are a just two unfortunate examples of my childhood haircuts.

I think I was 4 in this picture

3rd Grade.  Really bad period in my life...

7. What was your first realistic dream? (One where you had to think “Oh dang, was that a dream?”)


I'm not sure how old I was but it was the point in my childhood where I had a loft bed.  I dreamed I was on top of a skyscraper and I was being pushed off the roof by an imperial guard from Star Wars (the guys who wore all red and guarded the Emperor).  As I was falling I could see people and events from my life in the windows as I was going by.  Just as I was about to hit the ground I woke up suddenly and was about to fall off my loft bed and onto the very hard hardwood floor.  Strange right??

8. What was the first phobia you remember developing?

Snakes.  Again sometime in childhood we were at the zoo in the snake/reptile house and the tag on my shirt was bothering me.  It felt like a snake slithering inside my shirt and it freaked me out.  And I still to this day will not even touch a snake.  They just freak me out.  In fact I don't even like watching them on tv.

9. Which character on Sesame Street do you most identify with?

Elmo's mommy.  That's just where I am in my life.

10. What was the hardest goal you ever accomplished?


Hands down being a stay at home mom.  I love it but it is the hardest non-stop job ever.  Not to mention most people don't think you are very accomplished because you are a SAHM.  Sorry but raising good human beings is a lot harder than you would think.  But before that getting my masters degree was the hardest thing. There were times during the program I wasn't sure I was ever going to get through it.

Careers are for crybabies

Right now my career is non-existent to say the least. Unless of course you count driving screaming kids, changing diapers, playing board games until you are bored stiff (ha ha), making Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, and house work a career. I guess from some it is a 30 year career. I on the other hand will have to be forced back to the work force at some point. It may be sooner rather than later thanks to this lovely Bush economy. And the thought of having to return to the real world work force scares the crap out of me. I gotta say being a stay at home mom is great work if you can get it. I love my kids and being home with them has been so great (it has it's moments when I think why I am torturing myself). But I don't have to wear skirts or dress up if I don't want to. If I don't put make up on it's not a big deal. I am still up early but hell I don't have be out of my house having intelligent conversations with people I just have to talk about Star Wars and what's for lunch. So here's my ponderings as of late. Do I go back to teaching or do I find something else to do??? I taught special education for about 3 years before I had my son and quit all together. I also have a masters in special ed. but I let my teaching certificate run out last year. I have NO motivation to take classes to get my certificate back. Plus I just can't imagine going back to teaching right now. I just don't have the love I once had and well to be a special ed. teacher I think you NEED to have that love for it, for yourself and for the kids you teach. I have also screwed the pooch with teaching in my county because of the tattoo I got a few months ago. This lovely very conservative county is cracking down big time on teachers and appearance standards. So my wrist tattoo will have to be covered all the time which is bullshit if you ask me and frankly I don't think I should have to. So what to do now... that is the question. Can't someone just pay me to sit around playing on the Internet while taking care of my own children??? Come on anyone??? Anyone??