It doesn't take much to go from moderately busy or even slow to crazy at work. One day I have multiple hours in my day to fill so I say, "sure, I can help with that one small thing." The next day, all "small things" explode at once and deals that died in February suddenly reappear. Usually, it goes back to being slow or manageable just as quickly. Last night was the first time I almost cried from work stress, and that's saying something because I don't cry (except for sad movies/books and sometimes sad commercials). It's not even the pure hours...I don't think 12 hour days are that horrible or unusual...if I get 5 hours of sleep, I can deal with it until the busy blows over. The problem is that this happens to be the week that our babysitter is out of town. Daycare is also closed Friday, Monday and Tuesday for the fourth of July. Thankfully my amazing mother is watching Timmy on his days off of school, but I have to take over the duty of picking him up from daycare this week.
Leaving at 5pm to make it to daycare by 6pm when you have six active matters, all going full speed is just not easy. It has been especially frustrating because I happen to be working for one of the really important partners in the department on a deal that closes Friday. Between her working from home a lot and me not being involved until fairly recently, I have never actually had to meet with her face to face for this deal. But when does she call to set up a meeting in her office? around 5:05pm on Monday, minutes after I had left to go pick up Timmy. And people are reasonable, I called in to the meeting and it was fine. But now the first real impression I've made on these supervisors, who do all the big deals, is that I'm an associate who will need them to make concessions. Even if I do good work and get things done, wouldn't they rather work with someone who can stay at the office late and answer the phone when they call at 10pm? Because there are plenty of associates that will do that.
Yesterday, I HAD to finish something before I could leave. It was suddenly 5:22pm and I knew that if there was even normal traffic, I would be late to pick up Timmy. I also knew that as soon as I got home, I would have to turn on my computer and start working again, except then it would take twice as long to get anything done because the network has been slow and I need two monitors for what I am doing. Somehow I made it to daycare just before 6pm and finished my work just before midnight.
I know that this stressful week will be over soon. In fact, I'll be on maternity leave in a about two months. But it's weeks like this one that make me just wish things were easier. Wish that I could know leaving to pick up my son by 6-freaking-pm would not be such an ordeal. That PJO and I didn't have to commute for so many hours a day. That I could come home from work and enjoy dinner and bedtime snuggles without ever thinking about the time it is adding to the hours until I get to go to sleep.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Things that make my day go by faster
1. Timmy waking up in a good mood. Which has been pretty much every day for the past few months. Mornings are fun now, as opposed to a constant struggle to make him conform with my demands so we can get out the door. Each morning, he picks out what he wants to wear, exclaiming "it's clean!" and then identifying all the shirts that are dirty and therefore off limits. I gave up trying to make him come with me to the elevator and we take the longer way down three flights of stairs and across a huge courtyard to the garage every day. But he happily points out the flower petals along the way and talks about his "girlfriends" (actually calling them his girlfriends...please help me) at school and how he's going to give them a hug and kiss when he sees them. We point out each bus and garbage truck on the way to school. When we pull in to the parking lot, he says hi to all his friends and literally races into the classroom, letting himself be scooped up by his teachers and giving them a real hug and letting them smooch his chubby cheeks. Then he picks out his seat, I lay out his breakfast and he cheerfully says "bye bye Mommy. Love you." What I'm saying is, there is a routine with many details that are followed in the exact same order each day. And everyone's happy. And it's awesome.
2. Audible.com. Has kind of changed my life. Or at least my life in my car. Right now I'm listening to The Help, and each chapter is conveniently about the length of my commute (each way). So I now look forward to my driving time and don't hate traffic quite as much as before because I get to listen to a good book.
3. Being busy at work. I'm not INSANELY busy, but I am currently on multiple small deals that are all closing in the next week or so. Some days are stressful, balancing the 4 supervisors or so that all want something right that minute. But mostly, the hours fly by.
4. My obsession of the week. Whatever it happens to be. Last week, it was organizing closets and looking up new eye makeup. This week it has been looking up and trying out bento box ideas for Timmy's lunches. I can spend several hours over the course of a week googling and discussing the current topic and this usually fills in the gaps between quitting work for the evening and crawling under the covers.
Days are speeding by. Somehow, the fourth of July weekend is almost upon me. It's officially Summer. My head is spinning.
2. Audible.com. Has kind of changed my life. Or at least my life in my car. Right now I'm listening to The Help, and each chapter is conveniently about the length of my commute (each way). So I now look forward to my driving time and don't hate traffic quite as much as before because I get to listen to a good book.
3. Being busy at work. I'm not INSANELY busy, but I am currently on multiple small deals that are all closing in the next week or so. Some days are stressful, balancing the 4 supervisors or so that all want something right that minute. But mostly, the hours fly by.
4. My obsession of the week. Whatever it happens to be. Last week, it was organizing closets and looking up new eye makeup. This week it has been looking up and trying out bento box ideas for Timmy's lunches. I can spend several hours over the course of a week googling and discussing the current topic and this usually fills in the gaps between quitting work for the evening and crawling under the covers.
Days are speeding by. Somehow, the fourth of July weekend is almost upon me. It's officially Summer. My head is spinning.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Productive Weekend
Now that I'm a full-time working mom, the times I cook dinner during the week are few and far between. I would like to say that I cook on weekends, but that's not always the case either. We like to be out of our apartment on weekends, so we often pick up food wherever we end up going or make dinner plans with friends at nearby restaurants.
This weekend was a perfect storm of being work-free and minimally scheduled, so I used it to cook. A lot. Every few months, I make some chicken tamales. Besides being delicious, they freeze exceptionally well, so one batch makes enough for about 6 dinners. On Mother's day, I tried (for the first time) a mole chicken tamale and I've been dreaming about them ever since. I made mole sauce back in the fall and it was a huge hit with PJO and I, so I thought, why not combine these two loves of mine and make two batches of tamales, one regular and one with mole?
Two friends of mine recently had babies, so I figured I would just give them some of my extra instead of freezing it all.
Oh, and then I thought that it just wouldn't be right to give them an entree with no side dish or dessert, so I decided to make some sweet corn cake, guacamole and strawberry cupcakes.
And since I was already going to have to clean the food processor and the cupcake tins, I decided to make a batch of the veggie muffins we had run out of a month or so ago.
Between the cooking, the baking and the dishes, this is how I ended up spending approximately 12 hours in the kitchen this weekend. My back was literally killing me at the end of it.
While I was in the kitchen, PJO was re-arranging the living room. We got rid of our china cabinet and moved our computer to our bedroom to make room for the glider and ottoman. We had to carefully wrap and pack away all the china and crystal and clean the layers of dust that had been untouched behind furniture for nearly two years.
I also did my share of a babysitting swap for a friend so that PJO and I can have a date night this Saturday (with free babysitting!!) and met up with my best friend from law school for brunch on Sunday before she moves out of state. Tired doesn't adequately describe how I feel today.
But I would say it was all worth it. We've been eating the "scraps" of my efforts for dinner the past two nights (mole with shredded chicken and cheese in corn tortillas) and the fridge is still full of tamales, plus our apartment is ever so slightly more organized and ready to accomodate baby #2.
This weekend was a perfect storm of being work-free and minimally scheduled, so I used it to cook. A lot. Every few months, I make some chicken tamales. Besides being delicious, they freeze exceptionally well, so one batch makes enough for about 6 dinners. On Mother's day, I tried (for the first time) a mole chicken tamale and I've been dreaming about them ever since. I made mole sauce back in the fall and it was a huge hit with PJO and I, so I thought, why not combine these two loves of mine and make two batches of tamales, one regular and one with mole?
Two friends of mine recently had babies, so I figured I would just give them some of my extra instead of freezing it all.
Oh, and then I thought that it just wouldn't be right to give them an entree with no side dish or dessert, so I decided to make some sweet corn cake, guacamole and strawberry cupcakes.
And since I was already going to have to clean the food processor and the cupcake tins, I decided to make a batch of the veggie muffins we had run out of a month or so ago.
Between the cooking, the baking and the dishes, this is how I ended up spending approximately 12 hours in the kitchen this weekend. My back was literally killing me at the end of it.
While I was in the kitchen, PJO was re-arranging the living room. We got rid of our china cabinet and moved our computer to our bedroom to make room for the glider and ottoman. We had to carefully wrap and pack away all the china and crystal and clean the layers of dust that had been untouched behind furniture for nearly two years.
I also did my share of a babysitting swap for a friend so that PJO and I can have a date night this Saturday (with free babysitting!!) and met up with my best friend from law school for brunch on Sunday before she moves out of state. Tired doesn't adequately describe how I feel today.
But I would say it was all worth it. We've been eating the "scraps" of my efforts for dinner the past two nights (mole with shredded chicken and cheese in corn tortillas) and the fridge is still full of tamales, plus our apartment is ever so slightly more organized and ready to accomodate baby #2.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
The Dog Days of Pregnancy
The only people I've ever heard refer to the "dog days of summer" are baseball announcers. As Wikipedia helpfully confirms, the phrase is used to describe the hottest days of the year, generally the period from approximately July until early September but "Dog Days can also define a time period or event that is very hot or stagnant, or marked by dull lack of progress." It's a pretty good description of the month of August in a major league baseball season; whatever excitement was generated by the All-Star break is over and the playoffs (and cooler temperatures) are still nowhere in sight. Every day is sort of the same, hot, uncomfortable and, for the most part, remarkably unexciting.
I've never pretended to be overly fond of any part of pregnancy, but at least in the beginning there is the excitement of the newness of it all, telling people and finding out the gender (and also the bigger boobs without the bigger belly). The "playoffs" is a pretty freaking exciting time (and the only party I enjoy), namely, having the baby.
But that stretch from about 20 weeks until ...well, the end...I would say it's a time period "that is very hot or stagnant, or marked by dull lack of progress." And I'm stuck in it for the next several months. Luckily, this pregnancy is flying by and I have a very cute toddler and a demanding job to distract me from the dull moments. But I still find myself occasionally flabbergasted that I still have many months to go. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not ready for a new baby to be here right this instant. But I'm already sick of being pregnant. And this time, I have the misfortune of knowing that physically, it's all downhill from here.
The thing is, so much of pregnancy is just waiting. It just sort of happens while you go about your normal life, and there is very little you need to do to prepare (especially when you already have a child and have most of the stuff that goes with a baby). PJO and I have tentatively decided on a name and I bought the going home outfit on impulse one day.
Pretty much the only thing left to do is make a place for her in our tiny apartment. Because there is no nursery to decorate, this involves clearing out as much space as possible from the master bedroom and Timmy's room to squeeze in the miscellaneous items where we can (and hope we move before we need a crib). I am packing up all my china and crystal and getting rid of the china cabinet to make room for our glider that's been in storage. We've gotten rid of old toys and anything we don't REALLY need. I've started clearing out both closets to make room for bins/drawers to store baby clothes. Basically, it's an organizational dream come true until we have to actually clutter everything again with baby paraphernalia. This reorganization will probably last most of the rest of my dog days of pregnancy...if only I could enjoy a nice, cold beer while I do all the work!
I've never pretended to be overly fond of any part of pregnancy, but at least in the beginning there is the excitement of the newness of it all, telling people and finding out the gender (and also the bigger boobs without the bigger belly). The "playoffs" is a pretty freaking exciting time (and the only party I enjoy), namely, having the baby.
But that stretch from about 20 weeks until ...well, the end...I would say it's a time period "that is very hot or stagnant, or marked by dull lack of progress." And I'm stuck in it for the next several months. Luckily, this pregnancy is flying by and I have a very cute toddler and a demanding job to distract me from the dull moments. But I still find myself occasionally flabbergasted that I still have many months to go. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not ready for a new baby to be here right this instant. But I'm already sick of being pregnant. And this time, I have the misfortune of knowing that physically, it's all downhill from here.
The thing is, so much of pregnancy is just waiting. It just sort of happens while you go about your normal life, and there is very little you need to do to prepare (especially when you already have a child and have most of the stuff that goes with a baby). PJO and I have tentatively decided on a name and I bought the going home outfit on impulse one day.
Pretty much the only thing left to do is make a place for her in our tiny apartment. Because there is no nursery to decorate, this involves clearing out as much space as possible from the master bedroom and Timmy's room to squeeze in the miscellaneous items where we can (and hope we move before we need a crib). I am packing up all my china and crystal and getting rid of the china cabinet to make room for our glider that's been in storage. We've gotten rid of old toys and anything we don't REALLY need. I've started clearing out both closets to make room for bins/drawers to store baby clothes. Basically, it's an organizational dream come true until we have to actually clutter everything again with baby paraphernalia. This reorganization will probably last most of the rest of my dog days of pregnancy...if only I could enjoy a nice, cold beer while I do all the work!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Not in the Driver's Seat
When there is nothing urgent to do at the office, or when I don't have a full day of work ahead of me, I sometimes linger around my apartment in the morning with Timmy. He's been so much fun lately and he's always in his best moods right when he wakes up. So today we snuggled a little bit, ate waffles together and sang silly songs that he makes up while getting dressed. We left the apartment at 7:40am and I dropped him off at daycare on the way to work.
Every morning he takes off running the minute we enter the building, racing to give his teacher a hug and kiss. He talks about his teachers and the hugs and kisses he is going to give them all weekend and then takes it very seriously Monday-Friday. After completing his affection duty, he happily says goodbye to me, gives me a wet kiss and says "I love you, Mom."
How can the day not be good when it starts that way?
I left his daycare at 7:55am. Sat in traffic almost the entire way to work. Pulled into my parking spot at 8:50. Looked on the floor in front of the passenger seat and realized my work laptop wasn't there. Oh shit, realized that I had left it in a hidden corner of the living room, which is why PJO hadn't seen it and taken it to my car like he usually does in the mornings. Gave up on the day. Put my key right back in the ignition and drove home. Pulled into my garage at 9:30. Promptly changed into shorts and a t-shirt and mentally prepared to work from my bed all day. Lamented the fact that I could have easily skipped the 1 hour of getting ready and the near-2 hours of driving and been in the same spot as I was now in.
But what can you do?
Our landlord emailed us last weekend informing us that he is raising the rent. I wanted to respond that we're great tenants, he should just be glad to have us because we take care of his place, we pay on time every single month, no one complains about us and we fix things that need repair without bothering him. I wanted to say, screw you, we're moving out and you can deal with finding a new tenant and eat those months of your mortgage while you have an empty apartment. But the truth is, we can't move. We won't know until the end of the year if we're even staying in LA or moving to the 'burbs (if my firm ever lets me transfer) and we're not going to move only to potentially have to move again in 6 months. And the truth is, even with the rent increase, we probably still pay below-market for LA and it would be pretty damn difficult to find a cheaper option. Plus, really, we need more space and just can't justify spending X% more on rent until we absolutely have to. So we sucked it up, agreed to pay the additional monthly rent and asked him to fix a few annoying things in the apartment since we knew he'd do it right now.
What can you do?
Every morning he takes off running the minute we enter the building, racing to give his teacher a hug and kiss. He talks about his teachers and the hugs and kisses he is going to give them all weekend and then takes it very seriously Monday-Friday. After completing his affection duty, he happily says goodbye to me, gives me a wet kiss and says "I love you, Mom."
How can the day not be good when it starts that way?
I left his daycare at 7:55am. Sat in traffic almost the entire way to work. Pulled into my parking spot at 8:50. Looked on the floor in front of the passenger seat and realized my work laptop wasn't there. Oh shit, realized that I had left it in a hidden corner of the living room, which is why PJO hadn't seen it and taken it to my car like he usually does in the mornings. Gave up on the day. Put my key right back in the ignition and drove home. Pulled into my garage at 9:30. Promptly changed into shorts and a t-shirt and mentally prepared to work from my bed all day. Lamented the fact that I could have easily skipped the 1 hour of getting ready and the near-2 hours of driving and been in the same spot as I was now in.
But what can you do?
Our landlord emailed us last weekend informing us that he is raising the rent. I wanted to respond that we're great tenants, he should just be glad to have us because we take care of his place, we pay on time every single month, no one complains about us and we fix things that need repair without bothering him. I wanted to say, screw you, we're moving out and you can deal with finding a new tenant and eat those months of your mortgage while you have an empty apartment. But the truth is, we can't move. We won't know until the end of the year if we're even staying in LA or moving to the 'burbs (if my firm ever lets me transfer) and we're not going to move only to potentially have to move again in 6 months. And the truth is, even with the rent increase, we probably still pay below-market for LA and it would be pretty damn difficult to find a cheaper option. Plus, really, we need more space and just can't justify spending X% more on rent until we absolutely have to. So we sucked it up, agreed to pay the additional monthly rent and asked him to fix a few annoying things in the apartment since we knew he'd do it right now.
What can you do?
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Weekday Dinners
It's always a struggle to figure out what's for dinner. During the week, Timmy usually eats before PJO and I get home around 7pm so we try to prepare things ahead of time. It can be difficult to keep up with though because PJO is often out of the house before 6am. Timmy and I don't leave until closer to 7:30, but the mornings are busy with getting both of us ready and packing his breakfast/lunch so I don't generally want to add the time it takes to prepare something. 12-14 hours is too long for almost anything cooked in a crock pot to taste good, even on low.
Lately we've had great luck with some recipes from my favorite magazine in the world, Real Simple. This soup was so yummy, especially once we substituted broccoli rabe for okra and added vinegar. A pork roast is so easy to make and this recipe was absolutely delicious. This pesto pasta recipe was super easy and a great summer dish. But even with these simple recipes, it would be a huge stretch on a weeknight to prepare them and sit down to eat before 8:30 (which is late for us).
How do people do it? I suppose that if both PJO and I were able to be home by 7pm, one of us could cook while the other does bath/bedtime with Timmy, and we could eat once he's asleep around 8 or 8:30. That won't work as well with two kids and really, even now, both of us want to spend that time with Timmy.
I have a bad feeling that the answer to my question is to get a different job or eat more frozen dinners. This is our glamorous life.
Lately we've had great luck with some recipes from my favorite magazine in the world, Real Simple. This soup was so yummy, especially once we substituted broccoli rabe for okra and added vinegar. A pork roast is so easy to make and this recipe was absolutely delicious. This pesto pasta recipe was super easy and a great summer dish. But even with these simple recipes, it would be a huge stretch on a weeknight to prepare them and sit down to eat before 8:30 (which is late for us).
How do people do it? I suppose that if both PJO and I were able to be home by 7pm, one of us could cook while the other does bath/bedtime with Timmy, and we could eat once he's asleep around 8 or 8:30. That won't work as well with two kids and really, even now, both of us want to spend that time with Timmy.
I have a bad feeling that the answer to my question is to get a different job or eat more frozen dinners. This is our glamorous life.
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