A Job - Times Two! Parents who work outside the home, join us!

[Shanna]

In a bid to get the public journal forum movin' - how 'bout all us working moms? :)

I'm one. I've got 3 kids, Jacob (4), Avery & Addyson (3). I work full-time outside the home. My kids are in daycare a few days a week until my husband finds another job. After that, they will be in daycare full time again.

Jacob goes to a separate preschool 2 days a week and our daycare is also a preschool, going by the public school calendar and ABEKA curriculum. He is also involved in AWANA at our church and LOVES it :nod:

A&A do preschool in their daycare class as well and are really doing well! They are late birthdays (November 1) so they will be spending an extra year in preschool. They really REALLY love their preschool teacher, though, so it isn't any problem for them at all :lol:


How about you?

What do your kids do while you work?

[Nadine]

Count me in....

I have 3 kids (Y 8.5, S 4.5 and M 6 months) and I am a full time working mom - at work and at home.
My DH has a very demanding job that causes him to work a lot of (unpaid) OT so basically all the housechores and childcare fall on my shoulders. He helps whenever he can but that is not a lot. He is looking for a new job but there are about 1-2 job offers every 2-3 months that are mostly filled with connections.
Y goes to 3rd grade and has an afternoon program until 4 pm. I take him to swimming lessons 2x a week and he also has other extracurricular activities. In short, the only day he/we come home at 4 pm-ish is Tuesdays.
S goes to KG and is there until 4:30. She has a dance lesson 1x a week (but it is at the same place and hour as one Yumi's lessons).
M goes to a wonderful DCP who alos looks after the 2 big ones if they are not well.
I am looking around for a new job- closer to home if possible. I have a job interview in 35 mins.

[LISA]

What do your kids do while you work?

My kids are asleep when I'm at work :lol: I work (pt) night shift to make some ends meet and lately they havn't been :rolleyes: I work at Zellers stocking shelves big whoop but eh it's something.
Paige (5) goes to school full time( all day, every day) during the day so I can sleep while she's in school.

[Hannabanana]

:hug99: Good luck on the job interview Nadine!!

I'm here!
Hanna is 5yo and is in SK. She goes to a daycare which is in the school where she goes to SK in the afternoon.
Dh is self-employed & works out of our home.

[Nadine]

Thanks Aimee!
I was there (it went ok i guess) and will have to take a writing test this Thursday and then we'll see.

[Lora]

I work part-time as a credit analyst at a bank 20 hours a week. The pay is pretty good and it allows me to be home with the boys a few days. The boys go to a wonderful sitter who has watched my kids since Christopher was 12 weeks old. I have the best of both worlds because I get to work a few days a week but still experience what it is like to be SAHM too.

Lora

[Missy&Maggie]

Here!

I am a physician and work full time. That means M-F 8-5 plus one night per week on call, and every sixth weekend I work the WHOLE weekend. Ugh. I have a daughter, Maggie who is 3 1/2. She goes to daycare fulltime during the week. Daycare is eh but it's what we can afford right now. We just looked into taking her out of daycare for the summer and putting her in summer daycamp but tuition is $6700 for 8 weeks! I feel like I should be sending her to college for that price! :lol:

[Nocona]

:wavey:

I am an insurance director for a large general contractor. I work M-F from 7am-5pm (and usually a little later and sometimes some stuff at home in the evening). My kids are almost 5 and almost 2. My husband is a SAHD. Matthew goes to preschool MWF from 9-1. He will be starting kindergarten in August :faint: We are also going to sign him up for a program the school district is running this year for kids starting K in the fall. It will be 1/2 days Monday-Thursday to prepare them. This is will be our school district's first year of full day so they are doing lots of cool things. Sara will start preschool this summer (just M and W - water play and crafts, etc. and then MWF 9-1 in September). I'm looking forward to my spotless house when Paul has no excuses because he'll be home alone for 12 hours a week!

[Dennis]

Can dads play too? Joe and Frances go to full-time daycare. We really like the center and the kids seem to be doing well. They do a lot of activities like Karate, gymnastics, music, soccer, etc. Joe is in the pre-k class and will be starting Kindergarten this fall.

[AmyLynn]

I work FT, and am actually switching jobs. My new job I start on Monday is the same hours as the old one [8:30-5] but is now only 5 minutes from home. The 3 of us are still living with my parents, and my retired Dad is my supernanny. He takes care of the girls while I am at work [poopy diapers and all] and also shuttles Ashton [turning 5 in June] to pre-school MWF 12:30 - 3. In the fall, Ashton will be starting K and I will have Alexis [turning 3 in October] in pre-school on Tues/Thurs.

[gulp!]

:wavey: I'm here. I work almost full time at an investment bank (we help companies either get sold or raise money to grow). I'm in the office M, T and TH, work from home on W, and stay at home on Fridays. Between the time I'm in the office and the stuff I work on in the evenings, I'm still putting in 40 hr weeks. Emma is 4.75 and Krishan turns 3 in 2 weeks.

We've had a nanny since Emma was 1. My DH had a chance to take a paid year off, so he stayed home with her until she was a year old. We've had our current nanny since February 2004, and she is like a part of our family (she doesn't live with us, but is walking distance.) Emma also attends preschool 3x a week from 9 - 1 (until 3 on Fridays), and will go to all day kindergarten in the fall. Krishan will start preschool 2x a week (also 9-1) in the fall. We need to work out a new schedule with our nanny once both kids are in school, but I'm hopeful we'll be able to work something out.

[Shanna]

Yes, Dennis - sorry! I should have named the thread a little better (if anyone modwise wants to change it, feel free :lol: )


So. . . .what are some of your biggest morning challenges?

[Trish]

Biggest morning challenge - getting my butt out of bed on time :lol: And then getting everyone dressed and out the door. I hate the mornings we have to go to daycare.

:wavey: I'm Trish and I'm a FT working mom of 3 boys. My DH also works FT and owns his own business w/his dad, so he usually works more than 40 hrs a week. I'm a secretary at a University and I work 8am-4:30pm. My stepMIL babysits for us, for free ;) , on M and F and then boys are in daycare T,W, Th, so it's not too bad $$ wise, but still pricey.

Aden is 4 1/2 and goes to preschool M, W & F from 9-11:30am and my retired dad takes him to and from for us and I do not know what we would do w/o him. It's great! Next year, when Aden is in preschool, I think my husband will take him to school and my dad will pick him up and just keep him a couple hrs until we get home from work, so I will only be paying for 2 in daycare! :woo:

Evan (3 on March 5) and Owen (almost 9 months) are both in daycare 3 days a week and will both stay there next year.

[Nadine]

:faint: Missy! So much???

Biggest morning challenge?
Getting all 3 kids and myself ready on time. Yumi's car pool leaves at 7:35. It is very tough at times and then there are those days when it is a breeze...
I am sure things will get easier once I won't have to pump anymore.

[Shanna]

My biggest morning challenge is getting up on time too :heee: I seem to only get "me" time at night after the kids are in bed and sometimes I just can't get my behind in bed when I should. . .like last night. . .:shuffle: I got to bed at about 2:30 (I do moonlight as a researcher/typist for a University professor that I used to work for and I was up late working on a law review article :dead: ) and woke up about 20 minutes late :shuffle:

[Nocona]

Getting up for me too. I don't even have the kids to deal with since they sleep until 7:30-8 :lol: My alarm goes off at 5:20. This morning I fell back to sleep and got up at 5:48 :eek: I still made it to work on time (barely).

[Nichole]

I'm here, too! :wavey: I work part time (3 days/week) as a technical writer/quality systems analyst/general go-to person for random projects that no one else has time for at a biotech company. :lol:

I've got 2 boys - Jackson, 4 and Gavin, 2.5. They go to a daycare center the days I work and are home with me on the other days. The center they go to is NAEYC accredited, so it's also preschool. It has been great for them! :aok: I just wish it didn't cost so much. :lol:

Our biggest morning challenge is getting everyone dressed and organized without me getting harpy and them ignoring my requests to get a move on. :lol:

[Kate]

I am here too. I started a new job beginning of the year. I am now in telecommunications, doing sales. So far, so good.

My DH is a SAHD. Cameron, who is 5, goes to preschool 4 days a week, Tuesday - Friday from 9-11:30, he starts kindergarden next year and Alex, who will be 3 in April will start preschool next year.

I really don't have a morning challenge because the kids are usually just waking up and eating breakfast when I leave for work.

[Dennis]

Our biggest morning challenge is getting the kids to eat, get dressed, and get in the car without having any meltdowns.

[Shanna]

Another question. . .

. . . do you feed your kids breakfast at home or when they get to their DCP/Daycare/Preschool?

My kids usually eat at school :dunno:

[Trish]

My kids eat at daycare, but it's either a poptart or donuts :shuffle: Not the best breakfast choice, but what works for me in a pinch.

[Shanna]

My kids eat at daycare, but it's either a poptart or donuts :shuffle: Not the best breakfast choice, but what works for me in a pinch.

:nod: My kids get a yogurt and a piece of cheese, usually. Except for Fridays - they get donuts on Fridays :lol:

[Nichole]

Mine eat at daycare, which is part of the reason I try not to complain too much about how much it costs there. :lol: I love not having to squeeze breakfast in before we go! :aok:

It's generally a decent breakfast, too. Waffles or pancakes, bagels, cereal and milk, plus some kind of fruit and milk. :aok:

[Kate]

Mine eat at home :lol:

DH usually gives them cereal or takes them out for donuts once a week.

[marcy]

I try to feed our daughter (1) in the morning. However some times like today she won't eat a thing. Usually cereal, or fruit. It's hard to get up in enough time to get her fed too. Daycare gives them a snack at 9 AM, it's a breakfast item but she eats her breakfast here at 7.

[Brooke]

Hi. I'm here, too.

I work 4 days a week as a receptionist/secretary for an occupational therapist. I'm supposed to work 8:30-5 but I usually don't get here until 9am because our mornings are a mess.

My 2 kids are Rebekah (5) and Daniel (16 months). They stay with my mom when I'm working. Rebekah goes to preschool 3 mornings a week. She will start all day Kindergarten in the fall.

I have no trouble getting myself up and ready. Rebekah is my problem. EVERY DAY! She drags her feet and refuses to wake up, go potty, and get dressed. We leave late every day and it makes my mornings so hard.

[Dennis]

We have the option to buy breakfast at daycare, but it's either $1.25 for a bowl of cereal (3 days a week) or $1.75 for a "hot breakfast" (2 days a week). I'm not paying $60 a month for that. We let the kids get breakfast there once a week.

[Alysia]

I am an insurance agent for a small WA based insurance company. I typically work 830-5 M-F but usually have to work every 3rd weekend or so.

Genavieve goes to my ILs full-time right now so she eats breakfast with them.

[gulp!]

getting out the door is definitely the biggest challenge, though just on the days that Emma has school. Otherwise, we don't care if they are still in their jammies when our nanny arrives.

We feed them at home. They go on streaks where they only eat one thing- we just finished toast w/butter, and now we're on cinnamon toast waffles. Krishan also eats a banana every morning. Emma has recently decided that she no longer likes bananas :rolleyes:, so we're going to require her to eat a different fruit, just to get something nutritious in her.

[Kate]

What hours does everyone work?

My work hours are 9-6pm. Kind of sucky, but I have to live with it. I found out that they used to be 9-6:30pm, that would be even worse....

[marcy]

Usually 8-5:30. Usually I work from the home office, but sometimes I have to go to a client site and then the hours vary.

I am very grateful for the home-office setup.

[Bonnie]

I'm here. I work full time (but very flexible) as a government attorney... I work from home on Fridays. My husband is a partner at a law firm. We have 3 girls, Caroline will be 5 in June, Courtney just turned 3, and Tatum is just about 17 months.

We have a nanny who comes to our house. She lives on the next block, which is very convenient. She's been with us for almost 2 years. She comes to the house at 8 and leaves at 5:30.

Caroline is in preschool 4 afternoons, Courtney is in preschool and is switching to a new program Thursday where she'll go to public (special ed) school 4 mornings and the same school as Caroline one morning.

In Sept., our entire schedule will dramatically change. Caroline will be in full day kindergarten, Courtney will likely be in 4 mornings at one school and 3 afternoons at the other, and Tatum will be in preschool 2 mornings... and there is a possiblity that our nanny, whom we love, may decide to go to school, and we'll have to find someone new.

My kids are home in the morning and eat at home.

My hours are very flexible, I don't go in before 9 ever, but I do a lot from home. Next year, w/ our new schedule, I'll likely get to work by 8 or 8:15, because Caroline and Courtney will most likely go to schools that start at 7:50.

[Hannabanana]

I can honestly say that I don't have a huge challenge in the morning unless I'm in a bad mood :lol: and then I start getting angry that I'm not out the door in time. I work 8:30 to 5 so I like to be out of the house no later than 8am so I can drop Hanna off at daycare and get to work.

Hanna eats breakfast at home but they also serve a light breakfast at the daycare so sometimes she'll have something else there if she feels like it.

[Shanna]

I work 8:30 - 5:30, M-F, but also work at home in the evenings and on weekends as needed :nod:

I'm planning to change my schedule to 8 - 3 when Jacob starts school :nod:

[Dennis]

I work about 7 to 4. I like getting done early.

[Trish]

8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. M-F

[LISA]

My morning challenge is getting the kids up ready and out the door so I can get to sleep, thankfully for me ( unfortunate for them though) their bus comes at 7:45am so I'm in bed at 8am.Some mornings are better than others..since I'm up all night I'm not in the best of moods to deal with lazy morning butts especially Cass who I have to go and try to get out of bed atleast 6 times everymorning :tearhair:

[Nichole]

What hours does everyone work?



I work from 7:30am - 4:30pm. (3 nine hour days :dead: )

[gulp!]

technically I work from 9 - 5:30, but that varies and I often do work in the evenings or on my 'at home' days.

[Shel]

Can I play even though I'm a part-timer?? :)

Dh and I tag team. He works nights, then comes home and nannies while I get ready for work and while I'm working, usually 9-2 (yep, bankers hours :lol: ) except Wednesdays 9-3 and sometimes Mondays when I'm there 9-4. I try and take Fridays off but since we moved into a new office, I've been working a lot of Fridays trying to unpack and catch up from year end. I get home in time for DH to go to bed, then I take over as nanny :)

[Missy&Maggie]

Biggest challenge? Getting my husband up and moving in the morning. Seriously. I am up at 5am, showered, dressed, and have had a cup of coffee or two by the time Maggie gets up. She used to get up at 6 every morning but lately it's closer to 6:30. Van waits to get up until Maggie gets up, then he has to do all his morning stuff so I get little help with Maggie. I leave at 7:30 and most days he is still in the bathroom. :rolleyes: so that's when Maggie gets to sit and watch Sesame Street or The Backyardigans.

My hours are 8-5 plus one on call night per week, which could mean I am up working all night long and every 6th weekend, when I work all day, both days. Yuck. We are hiring another doctor in July though so then it will go to every 7th weekend. :cheer:

[schwanda]

I'm here, too!
I'm another physician. Right now I'm doing my final year of training. The extra challenge is that I currently live in Baltimore with my 2 children and my husband lives in NY. Luckily that will changed after June 30th!
I have 2 children, ages 3 and 1. They go to daycare full time AND we have a live-in au pair. My au pair is only 21 years old and is from France.
I work super long hours. I get to work by 6:30am M-F. A good day is when I'm home for dinner (6 pm) and a bad day I get home at 10pm. A really bad day is when I get home after midnight. For the most part I work M: 6:30 until 6:30, T: 6:30 until 6:30, W: 6:30 until 9, Th: 6:30 until 7, and F: 6:30 until 7. The hours change without prior notice but that's an estimate of a typical week. I then take call every other weekend. Usually it entails spending 3 hours per day at the hospital but some weekends I work all day Saturday. I'm also "on call" every other night from home. That's usually nothing but it may mean middle of the night phone calls or even a trip back to work.
I wake up at 5 every morning. I try to shower, get dressed, and drink coffee before the children get up. I leave at 6:30 and my au pair takes over. She takes the kids to daycare around 8-8:30 and picks them up around 5:30. I usually have dinner planned for her but she makes whatever it is. She and I do bathtime and bedtime together whenever possible.

Amanda

[Alysia]

830-5 here

[Nadine]

Work hours ... flexible to a degree
Sunday 8:30-3:30
Monday 8:30-3:00
Tuesday 8:30-3:30
Wednesday 8:30-6:30 (ILs pick up the kids, I go grocery shopping right after work and come home at 8 pm)
Thursday 8:30-3:15

[Brooke]

I work 8:30-5, Monday through Thursday.

[Kate]

I have been sick for the last few days with a cold. Coughing, sneezing, blah, blah, blah....

One of the single guys in the office asked why I just didn't stay home from work. My response... I get more rest sitting at my desk than I would at home running after my children and I need to save my sick time for when my kids need it.

Any one else feel this way???

[Nadine]

Sure! Coming to work is relaxing sometimes.

[Trish]

Ugh, I know exactly how you feel! I have used so many sick days on my kids, too! It sucks! If I get lucky and get sick on a daycare day, then I send them off and stay home, but otherwise, it's just better to come into work. Sad :lol:

[Shanna]

I have been sick for the last few days with a cold. Coughing, sneezing, blah, blah, blah....

One of the single guys in the office asked why I just didn't stay home from work. My response... I get more rest sitting at my desk than I would at home running after my children and I need to save my sick time for when my kids need it.

Any one else feel this way???

100% :nod: (as I sit here with a 101 fever and raging sinus infection :dead: )

[Kate]

I hope you feel better Shanna!!

[Shanna]

Thanks, Kate :) I get SIs so often that I don't even bother trying to "be sick" anymore. :lol: I guess thats kinda sad, isn't it? :blush1:

[Brooke]

Right before I left my old job at an engineering firm, the company decided that sick time was for employees only and that if we needed to take off because a child was sick, then we had to use vacation time to care for them. I'm so glad I don't work there anymore.

Of course, where I work now doesn't give sick time - I just have to take the time off unpaid. But at least my boss is ok with me taking time off if the kids are sick.

[mama2jackson]

I'm here! I haven't posted in a long time...but I'm still here!

I work full-time in a law firm. We do medical malpractice defense. I'm a senior paralegal/office manager. It's M-F 8:30-5:00. I have one child, Jackson who is 4. He goes to preschool 5 days a week, full days. His school is about 5 minutes from the office.

[gulp!]

I have been sick for the last few days with a cold. Coughing, sneezing, blah, blah, blah....

One of the single guys in the office asked why I just didn't stay home from work. My response... I get more rest sitting at my desk than I would at home running after my children and I need to save my sick time for when my kids need it.

Any one else feel this way???

Yes!! (and I'm fighting off the same thing as you, Kate.) For me, I have to save my sick time for when my nanny is sick. Which happens a few times a year, b/c she contracts whatever the kids have. Sigh.

[Alysia]

Good to see you, Tracey!

And Kate, I hear you!

[Shel]

This is why I work part time. I get just enough of a break from the kids and get to be an adult (and a little extra money) Although, there are evenings when I consider asking if I can work full time instead :lol:

[Lora]

This is why I work part time. I get just enough of a break from the kids and get to be an adult (and a little extra money) Although, there are evenings when I consider asking if I can work full time instead :lol:

I agree with you Shel! There were a few times this week I wondered why I don't work full-time. It is exhausting being home sometimes!

Lora

[bunkie68]

I have been sick for the last few days with a cold. Coughing, sneezing, blah, blah, blah....

One of the single guys in the office asked why I just didn't stay home from work. My response... I get more rest sitting at my desk than I would at home running after my children and I need to save my sick time for when my kids need it.

Any one else feel this way???

Yep. :nod: Of course, if I can take Julian to school and come home and crash, I'll do that if I really feel like crap. Thankfully he's not sick as often as he was when he was younger.

Our work, if you call in and take that day off, it counts as an unscheduled absence. Never mind if you're using your sick time or vacation time, if you don't plan it ahead of time, it's considered unscheduled. If you have a certain number of those within a certain time period, you're in trouble. Um, can I plan when I'm going to get bronchitis and the flu? Can I plan when my kid will wake up running fever? I think not. :rolleyes:

[bunkie68]

As for me - I'm Lisa, single full-time working mom to Julian, who's 4. He's in pre-K at the same place where he's been going to daycare since he was seven months old. They use the ABEKA curriculum, and also have a kindergarten program, so he'll be there next year as well. I work 8:30 to 5:30 every day, and I usually drop Julian off around 7:30-7:45 and pick him up around 6:15-6:30.

[schwanda]

It's really hard for me to get a day off, period. I think the only "sick days" I've taken have been when I took maternity leave.

Amanda

[Kate]

It's really hard for me to get a day off, period. I think the only "sick days" I've taken have been when I took maternity leave.

Amanda

Well that is because doctors don't get sick.. :lol:

[schwanda]

Well that is because doctors don't get sick.. :lol:

Good point! I know all of the secrets to staying healthy.... :lol:
(Now if you only saw how bad my diet is, you'd be shocked that I'm still alive!!!0

Amanda

[Missy&Maggie]

:lol:

I have missed work 4 times in the past 7 years:
Two separate times during residency when I caught a stomach flu, one time was after Maggie was born. Thank goodness for daycare because I was in no condition to take care of an infant!
Twice since I started this position, both times were because Maggie was sick and Van was out of town. The first time she had a stomach bug, so that was pretty gross. The second time she had a bad cold and a fever so we just hung out at home. I actually enjoyed the day off from work. :blush:

Amanda, I think doctors take the worst care of themselves. Me included. I just went to the dentist today for the first time in 3 years. Hard to get the time off! :lol:

[schwanda]

I know. It's not like you can explain to 30+ patients who have waited 2 months for an appt that you're too sick to come in! Or cancel a full day in the OR that was scheduled a month in advance....

Amanda

[Hannabanana]

100% :nod: (as I sit here with a 101 fever and raging sinus infection :dead: )

I HATE that part of my life!!

This morning I was driving in to work and I thought "I feel like a 5 out of 10 right now ... I feel like crap" but there's no way that I can call in sick!! Oh sin of sins! :lol: (I have been fighting a cold for over a week and now I have pink eye thanks to my poor hygiene of looking after my daughter who has it :rolleyes: )

[Bonnie]

Our leave time accumulates year after year, so I have a lot of it, and luckily, if the kids have something like a cold, I can go to work b/c we have a nanny who is home w/ them. I've used all my leave during the past 5 years to get paid during 3 maternity leaves, so I don't have tons of time, but it accrues at 14 hours a month, so I have a good amount building now, and no big trips planned, so I should have a lot of hours accumulate this year.

[Hannabanana]

It's Friday!!! Yeah!!

[bunkie68]

Finally! This has been the longest week. We were off Monday for Presidents' Day, but even though we've only worked for four days, it seemed like the week dragged on forever.

Any exciting weekend plans? :)

[gulp!]

The week seemed kind of fast for me, but I had to go to a meeting on Wednesday morning, so my routine was thrown off (I usually "work" at home that day).

We're hopefully making a quick run to Ikea tomorrow. We bought a desk for our living room and just got a call that it's being delivered next Friday, so we have to hurry up and finish moving all the kids' toys to the basement. Now we'd better hurry up and buy a new couch. :heee: I'm so excited, b/c hopefully this will take care of all the clutter that currently takes over my dining room table.

[Nichole]

No exciting plans here. Brendon was gone all week at a professional trade show/conference and says he didn't get much sleep (I think the :airquote: conference :airquote: is actually a thinly disguised weeklong party for them :lol: ), so he'll probably be wanting to catch up on sleep.

I saw some kites on sale at Costco, so I think we might go get one (or maybe one for each of the boys) and try to fly them this weekend at the beach. Other than that, I'd like to get some organizing and purging done and hopefully the taxes, too. yeehaw!

[Kate]

The week was a little crazy for me. There was a trade show for our industry so a bunch of my co-workers went to Vegas for it and left us to do all of their work, plus our own.

I just want the week to be over.

[Shel]

So my week at work sucked. The office manager, who I love dearly, came into my office and informed me she's going to resign by summer. She told the head pastor this week, but it's not public yet. She's super at her job, and makes my job SO much easier because she is the buffer between what people want me to do and what my job is actually supposed to involve. I'm afraid when she leaves, my life is going to get crazier and even more hectic.

On the good side, the shredder truck came today and shredded 30 boxes of old files that have been stacked in my new office since we moved in Jan 3. Next week I may get to finish unpacking :woo:

[Hannabanana]

On Wed I said "is it Friday yet?" and then on Thurs I said "is it Friday yet?" :lol: THE LONGEST week for me!!
Monday morning Hanna woke up with pink eye so she couldn't go to daycare/school -- dh cared for her the 1st half of the day & I finished some meetings & came home right after and by the evening, I had pink eye :rolleyes: Good start to the week! not!
No concrete plans which is nice :biggrin:

[schwanda]

I'm working all weekend. :blue:

Amanda

[bunkie68]

Julian was up before the sun this morning. Anytime there's even a HINT of light in the sky, "it's time to wake up!" :doh: I would love to sleep in on a Saturday occasionally. Is that so much to ask?

[Eleanor]

I'm working all weekend. :blue:

Amanda

Me too :( I was supposed to have this weekend off (I worked the weekend before last). But the guy who was supposed to be on call this weekend had to leave town for his Dad's 75th birthday and asked to trade weekends- so how could I say no? On the bright side, I won't be on call at all during March...

[LISA]

Aimee how is the pink eye? gone I hope :bighug:

Sorry you ( Eleanor and Amanda) are working this weekend :bighug:
I'm off this weekend with dh which is a frigging miracle! I'm ALWAY'S booked to work the weekends I'm free ( the weekends dh doesn't have to work) to be honest I think she screwed up but hey I'll take it :lol: of course

Paige bitches and whines about me waking her up every morning at 6:30am to get ready for school..guess what time she woke up today?? yep 6:30! and do you think she would just go back to bed? :rolleyes:

we're heading out in a bit for a drive... I need coffee!

[schwanda]

Julian was up before the sun this morning. Anytime there's even a HINT of light in the sky, "it's time to wake up!" :doh: I would love to sleep in on a Saturday occasionally. Is that so much to ask?

Apparently. It's true in my house, too!

Amanda

[schwanda]

This is my 2nd weekend in a row, too. I need next weekend off so I traded.

Lisa - I hope you enjoy your weekend off!!!

Amanda

[Missy&Maggie]

No big plans here. I have been dying to paint Maggie's room but it's too friggin' cold to open the windows for ventilation. I guess it will have to wait until my vacation time in March.

Today we drove a bit to Trader Joes and stocked our freezer verrrrry well! :lol: This afternoon I went to look for a gown for the Doctor's Ball. It's black tie and in April. This is the first year I go. I don't want to wear something low cut in front of my coworkers and be all self conscious!

[Hannabanana]

Where is everyone? Working hard :lol:

[Shanna]

Yeah, been a busy week here. My boss was out of town most of last week. I kinda wish he'd leave again :blush1:

[Trish]

They closed our campus at 1pm today due to freezing rain, so I'm home and I'm supposed to be cleaning :shuffle:

[bunkie68]

I'm insanely busy at work. I shouldn't, but I'm taking tomorrow off. Mental health day! :cheer:

[Kate]

I am here....Tomorrow morning I get to go to training, can't wait :rolleyes:

My boss is being a bit of a jerk lately, we aren't communicating well and it is stressing me out. It was actually comical today, one of the others guys in our group said that we were acting like an old married couple... :lol2:

[Kate]

I'm insanely busy at work. I shouldn't, but I'm taking tomorrow off. Mental health day! :cheer:

I am jealous... I wish that I could do that!!

[schwanda]

I've had a crazy week with 2 sick kids at home on top of everything else!

Amanda

[Kate]

I've had a crazy week with 2 sick kids at home on top of everything else!

Amanda

I hope that everyone feels better soon!!

The stomach bug has been hitting our house. First it was Alex yesterday and today it was me. I went to work thinking that I would last a half a day, but some how I completed a full day. All I had to eat or drink is gingerale and teddy grahams and I only ran to the bathroom twice...

I just feel really tired right now and wish that today was Friday.

[schwanda]

Oh no Kate! Nathaniel's bug lasted ALL week.

Amanda

[marcy]

This week has been busy so far, right now there are two projects that both need my attention and, since I can do only one thing at a time, there are these con calls to try to figure out what's going on. I have to go to a week's training next week, I'm quite unhappy about it as I've not been away for that long since Anastasia was born.

[Lyndee]

Oh cool, a group journal! :wavey: Didn't know we had these. Since I don't have a journal maybe I can hang out here?

I'm Lyndee. I'm an associate at an IT and Management Consulting firm. Got 2 kids, Lauryn who is turning 5 this month, and Brandon who is 2. DH, Brad, is a Network Engineer. Both kids go to our corporate daycare. Lauryn goes full-time and Brandon goes MWF and stays with my mom on T/Th. When Lauryn starts kindergarten in September, Brandon will go to daycare full-time.

[Shel]

Well, the office manager resigned this week, and they offered to allow me to go to full time to cover some of her duties along with my usual finance duties. Then they would hire a secretary. I turned them down, so we'll see what happens. I have a feeling they're going to try and force me to go full time because there isn't enough budget to hire a new office manager and a secretary, which is really what they need.

[Nichole]

That sucks, Shel. I hope they don't try to force you into it.

I've been pretty busy, too. Just enough time to lurk a bit here, but not much posting. I don't have much to say lately anyway. :lol:

[Bridget]

I have been sick for the last few days with a cold. Coughing, sneezing, blah, blah, blah....

One of the single guys in the office asked why I just didn't stay home from work. My response... I get more rest sitting at my desk than I would at home running after my children and I need to save my sick time for when my kids need it.

Any one else feel this way???

I was just coming to post something very similar!

Sorry I just saw this journal!

[bunkie68]

Shel, I hope they don't do that. :hug99:

Kate, feel better soon. :hug99:

Marcy, I know how you feel. I wouldn't want to be away for a week, either.

I'm contemplating a change of career. Law and the financial field hasn't done me much good, so I'm thinking of going another direction. I took a career assessment test, and the fields it rated me highly in were library science, health records services, and medical and health services. I'm thinking of trying to find some medical transcription work to do part-time. If, for now, it brings in a couple hundred extra a month, that will be a help. And who knows, it might turn into something full-time where I could work from home, either doing just that or maybe doing more with my Pampered Chef stuff or candlemaking or something. Or maybe I'll learn piano tuning like I'd thought of before. :) So many possibilities - now to make something happen.

[Shanna]

I've been doing moonlight transcription work and legal research for an attorney I used to work for. He's not a professor at a college 4 hours away and has been churning out law review articles. We just finished our 3rd this week :faint:

The extra money is nice, thats for sure!

I'd like to get out of the legal field as well. Since all my schooling was for political science and history, I think I'd rather get into something related to those fields. I'm sick of being around lawyers. (no offense to all my lawyer friends - I don't have to work with you :lol: )

[Hannabanana]

Just a quick question: How often in a day do you talk to your spouse if you and/or he are working?

[Dennis]

Mary and I talk once or twice a day, and we e-mail quite a bit.

[Shanna]

Only when absolutely necessary. He calls me to ask me something, but I don't call him much.

[Shel]

David tends to call me once or twice a day on my cell phone, even though he's just at home. Usually it's to ask me what I want put out to make for dinner :rolleyes:

[Trish]

Only when we have something to ask one another, otherwise we talk when we get home.

[gulp!]

we IM mostly. Some days it's a lot, some days it's not much. Depends on how busy each of us are.

[Lyndee]

We pretty much have an IM window open all day so we don't call each other while at the office.

[Bonnie]

We only talk if we have something we need to discuss that moment that cannot wait until we get home.

[Bonnie]

Shanna, I'm sick of being around lawyers too :lol:

[Shanna]

Shanna, I'm sick of being around lawyers too :lol:

:lol: Glad I'm not alone :blush1:

I'm officially on the job hunt, though, so I can't complain I guess :lol:

[marcy]

We email most of the day. Phone calls are rare.

[Kate]

He used to call me about 5 times a day... Way to much.

Now I only hear from him if he has something to ask me.

[Bonnie]

:lol: Glad I'm not alone :blush1:

I'm officially on the job hunt, though, so I can't complain I guess :lol:

Good for you! I figure I'm in it for the long run. When I retire from state service, maybe I'll find something else to do that doesn't involve being a lawyer. :lol: But then, I'll still be married to one. There's no escape! :lol:

[Shanna]

:lol: I am thinking of going back to school and working part time - thats what I'd really like to do :nod: Just waiting on John to get a job before I do much long-term planning. I'm definitely going to get a new job, though. I can't deal with this place any longer :gah:

[bunkie68]

Today sucks. Screamfest with Julian over yogurt, of all things. The appraiser (for my refinance) was late, which made me late to work. Forgot I had a conference call scheduled for 10:00 Central, had to ask my buddy to call the client for me, found out when I got here that she was miffed because she thought it was at 10:00 Eastern (her time) and she had another appointment at 11:00 Eastern (when the call was actually scheduled for) and was on her way out the door. And now I can't get my %$*&?%^! letters to print on letterhead like they're supposed to. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!

:gah:

We're also moving to a new work model that sounds like it's going to be worse instead of better. Calgon, take me away....

[Alysia]

Just a quick question: How often in a day do you talk to your spouse if you and/or he are working?

It depends. Sometimes we talk once a day- sometimes more if we have stuff we need to take care of. (Like when we had to get a new roof.) And we usually email daily.

[schwanda]

We talk several times a day but we also don't see each other at all during the week.

Quick vent: Daycare called because Jessica's hands were cold when she went to daycare this morning. The implication is that my au pair (and my association me!) isn't doing a good job of caring for her. Ugh. Give me a break!

Amanda

[Trish]

They called you because her hands were cold?!?!? Odd. Yes, it's good to think that they are paying attention, but that just seems a little much :rolleyes:

[marcy]

Amanda, I'm sorry. That's crazy that they are implying something by that.

[schwanda]

I think the point is that she should be wearing her mittens. Good luck with that! She hates them and takes them off. They even said that they tried putting socks on her hands to keep them warm and she promptly removed them. Her teachers are quite judgmental! :rolleyes:

Amanda

[Alysia]

That's ridiculous!

[Trish]

Oh please, my kids did not keep mittens on for a while and during the short amount of time that they are outside, it's not going to kill them :rolleyes:

[schwanda]

Thanks y'all. I can't believe I got a phone call from the daycare DIRECTOR about this!

Amanda

[Dennis]

That's totally ridiculous!

Usually Frances doesn't wear her coat to school, even when it's 20 degrees out. She doesn't want to wear it and it's not worth the fight.

[schwanda]

I got a phone call once because Nathaniel's coat wasn't warm enough. It was the only coat he was willing to wear....

Amanda

[schwanda]

Just wanted to add that I think part of the issue is that my au pair takes them to daycare and picks them up. I rarely go to daycare at all. My hours are too long for that. I suspect that they are just trying to make sure I know what's going on. I wonder if I were the one bringing the kids if I'd get fewer phone calls.

Amanda

[Kristen]

I work full-time as an elementary librarian. My husband is a computer programmer and contract IT guy with a business 1.5 hours away from our house. We have one daughter, Camille, who is 22 months old.

Camille stays with my parents while I'm at work. They live next door. My mom picks her up a few minutes before I have to leave in the mornings and feeds her breakfast as their house. I stop by after school and bring her home.

Rick is away atleast one night a week so its just the two of us on those nights.

I would love the opportunity to stay at home, but since I carry the insurance and currently have the larger income, it isn't feasible. I'm sure his income will eventually surpass mine, but the insurance issue will remain.

[Kristen]

Rick and I talk once in awhile during the work day. I mainly call him during my drive home and during the evenings when he's out of town.

[Dennis]

Just wanted to add that I think part of the issue is that my au pair takes them to daycare and picks them up. I rarely go to daycare at all. My hours are too long for that. I suspect that they are just trying to make sure I know what's going on. I wonder if I were the one bringing the kids if I'd get fewer phone calls.

Amanda

I'm sure that's a lot of it.

[Kate]

I am so frustrated right now... My boss left at 10:30 to go get coffee with one of the other guys. It is now 12 and he is not back yet and the other guy came back with the coffee. Obviously something came up and he had to go, but you would think he could give me a heads up. Instead I have his customers calling me asking when he is going to be back.....

[Shanna]

My boss hasn't spoken to me since he was such an ass on Monday. He's gonna love the fact that I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon at 2 and I'm not coming back afterwards. (Who wants to come back to work after having their yearly? :shuffle: )

[Alysia]

Sorry you guys are having so much trouble with your bosses!

[Shanna]

's okay. Thats why I'm job hunting :)

[Kate]

's okay. Thats why I'm job hunting :)

I am jealous......

[Shanna]

I am jealous......

Don't be jealous :lol: It isn't like I've found anything yet :lol:

[Alysia]

I am always job hunting because I get so frustrated here. But, job hunting makes me even more frustrated because I cannot find ANYTHING that pays this much and thus cannot afford to leave. It sucks!

[Shanna]

Exactly the boat I'm in. John's insurance runs out at the end of next month, though, so if he doesn't find a job with insurance soon, I'm going to have to do it sooner rather than later. My job doesn't offer any benefits, just a paycheck (and I don't know that I'd often consider that a "perk" ) :lol:

[Alysia]

The insurance isn't an issue, thank goodness! We actually have insurance through both of our employers right now so if I lost mine it wouldn't be a big deal. But, everything I have found pays at least $5 an hour less than I make now and that's too much for me to swallow!

[Shanna]

Yeah, thats the problem with John right now. Everything is 7-8$ less per hour plus, the place he was working paid for health insurance. So, now the problem is finding him a job that pays close to the same after insurance (or me finding a job that has insurance). I did find one today that I'm going to put in for, though :nod:

[Alysia]

Cool! Good luck!

I would be okay with a few dollars less an hour, especially if it was closer to home! Or if they paid for the health insurance! But, $5 plus the same commute and still paying for health insurance would not be feasible!

[Shanna]

Well, with Jacob starting kindergarten, that lowers my daycare bill. :nod: Plus, the place I am applying to is like 2 miles from my house rather than 15 where I am now :nod:

[Alysia]

Oh-- That's nice! We are just the opposite though--- We are about to put Genavieve back in daycare at least part-time as opposed to my IL's house which is free. :lol:

My morning commute starts from my house to the ILs which is 12.10 miles. Then from the ILs to work is 22.30 miles. So, roughly a total of 34.4. Once Genavieve starts daycare again (the daycare we are hoping to use is .5 miles down the street from our house), my commute will drop to a total of 28.1 miles. (But, sadly will probably take longer because there is more traffic on the route skipping my ILs house! :lol: )

[Nadine]

Good luck, Shanna! I hope it works out!

Alysia - I am so sorry. I know what you mean.

I am also jobhunting. I applied for 2 jobs. They both want me BUT ... one of them can only afford to pay me much less than what I make now. The other one is dragging its feet (I started the process there on January 8!!!) and I was told yesterday they are having a hard time making up their minds. They have a few very good candidates (me among them) and they will decide within a week or so. :( I am actually not even sure I wanna go to the 2nd place since the commute will be just as long as to the present place. The first place is 5 mins from home. I'd love to work there but not at any cost. So I am going to call them and lower my salary expectations by 2K (monthly) in the hope that they will close with me. Wish me luck!

[Kate]

I just want you to know that I decided to come into work early today because I haven't been making enough calls (I need to make an average of 75 a day or my commission starts to go down) and I am on here instead. I have no drive right now!!!

Okay, I am going to try and go to work....

[Kate]

Good Luck Nadine, I hope that you hear some good news soon!

[Hannabanana]

Good Luck on all the job hunting everyone!

[Dennis]

Good luck everyone!

[Hannabanana]

TGIF!!! Any plans for the weekend?!

[Shanna]

John is on a job interview right now :yippee: Third in a week :yippee: I hope he gets this one (it's working at a liquor company - Hiram Walker :heee: )

[Trish]

Chad's out of town until Wed night so it's just me and the boys and we will probably just hang to home.

[Dennis]

We're going to take the kids to Benihana for lunch tomorrow. Sunday we are meeting Becky and Anne at the children's museum.

[Hannabanana]

I'm waiting for my sister to tell me if they are coming up for the weekend or not ... if so, we'll go shopping on Sat afternoon and order in Chinese for dinner.

[schwanda]

No real plans. I'm on call all weekend.

Amanda

[Alysia]

No real plans either. Brad is working OT tomorrow. Genavieve has been asking to go play at my aunt's house so I may see if my aunt is available for a couple hours tomorrow.

[Kate]

Tomorrow I have the boys while Sean goes to band practice and Sunday we are taking them to The Higgins Armory....

My work day is going kind of crappy. I just lost out on a $4K sale because they had the part # listed wrong in our system.... It just stinks...

[Alysia]

That stinks, Kate! I hope your Friday gets better!

[Nadine]

Good luck to everyone on the job hunting and thanks for the good wishes.

Kate - I am so sorry!

As far as the weekend is concerned... I spent 5 hrs at the ER with Moriah. :( The little cricket had a high fever and was vomitting. I tried avoiding getting there but... the dr who made a house call told us to go if she vomits again so... We got back home Sunday 3 am. So today (Sunday=regular working day) I am home with her. We both had to catch up on our sleep. But the WORST WORST WORST part was when they tired to get blood samples for tests from he. :( :( :( Moriah has no visible veins and the ones that are visible are too narrow. So after pricking her 3 times, they took blood from the artery. My poor little cricket was crying her heart out and it took her a long time to calm down. :( :( She wouldn't let me put her down after that. No wonder. It was just horrid. TG it is *only* a virus. And she nursed tons (4 times while we were there) so she wasn't dehydrated. I just don't ever want to go back there with her.

[Trish]

Aww, poor Moriah :hug99:

[Kate]

:hug99: I hope that Moriah is feeling better!!!

[Nadine]

thanks! she is not vomitting anymore but the fever is still high.

[schwanda]

Nathaniel had something similar and it was horrible. Hope she's better soon!!!

Amanda

[Nadine]

it is after 11 pm and she is still wide awake. she swings from happy squealing to screaming uncomfortably

[Hannabanana]

Sorry to hear that Moriah is not well. Poor thing!!

[LISA]

Oh Nadine :( I hope she gets better soon :bighug:

So, it's march break here and juggling a job and trying to figure out what to do with kids while they are off school is a job in itself :tearhair: I'm off today so I'm taking Paige to see a movie this afternoon, I'm working tomorrow night but I have to keep her out of the house while dh sleeps off a night shift, not sure what to do with her though..Cass has an appointment in the afternoon to get 2 of her 4 wisdom teeth pulled.. fun fun :tearhair:

[Kate]

I have the Monday blahs.... anyone else???

I just don't feel like working. I am not selling anything today and I hate cold calling and I have a headache, and I wish it was still the weekend... :lol:

[Trish]

I'm w/ya, Kate :nod: I have a headache and I'm just tired and want to go home and go to bed!

[Shanna]

Yes. :nod:

I truly debated calling in this morning :heee: It's supposed to be rainy and stormy all week, so I might use a vacation day later this week :lol: I'm trying to use up all of my vacation days before I quit b/c I won't get paid for them if I don't :dunno:

[bunkie68]

Kate, I am so with you on the blahs. :nod: I had a lovely weekend with Brian (Julian was with his dad this weekend, so it was my free weekend :) ), and I was already bummed about having to leave him and come home (long distance sucks). Now I'm back at my thankless job, and it just seems to get more thankless by the day. 5:30 seems awfully far away right now. :mope:

[Kate]

So, it is hump day. How is everyone doing this week??

I had to sit down with my boss again and remind him again about communicating with me. We work for a communications company, you would think we would know how to do it :lol:

Other than that I have training that I just found out about tomorrow.

[Alysia]

Today is my Tuesday since I took Monday off. But, so far it's going okay. It's been a pretty relaxed morning.... which is nice for a change!

[Hannabanana]

Wednesday's are usually very interesting around here but not today for some reason :lol: We start with one meeting at 8:30am and then go into another one that usually lasts until 10:30 or 11am but this morning it was all over around 9:30 which kind of sucked :lol:

I should be prospecting but I just don't have the energy ...

[Nadine]

I feel really really bummed and upset. I know all is for the best but... I just got a negative answer from the TA place. I went thru a VERY long and tedious process there. And they knew from the start that I wanted to work 7-8 instead of 9 hrs a day. And THAT was what decreed their decision in the end. There was a close running between me and another guy and ... they picked him because he can do a 9+ hour day. So ... why let me go thru the whole process in the first place??? :( :( I have to keep telling myself all is for the best all is for the best all is for the best ... but that is very hard for me at the moment. I just CAN'T work more than 7-8 hrs a day at this stage. My kids need me.
She did say that she wants to keep my CV and consider me for future openings. Yeah right. Not sure I want to go there anymore. But I am not at liberty to say that, knowing I might be out of a job soon. :( All is for the best all is for the best all is for the best.
Sigh... I hope the place in PT will give me a positive answer. I am dying to get out of here. ASAP.

[bunkie68]

Ah, Nadine, I'm sorry. :hug99: I know how miserable it is to be in a job you don't like, and how much it sucks to get that kind of rejection for a position.

I had something similar happen. A law firm called me about a position I'd applied for, and the man I spoke to said my resume really stood out, blah blah blah. I was excited. A little time passed, I didn't hear, so I called. He said, well, we have concerns about the fact that you haven't been practicing, we really need someone who can hit the ground running. WTF?! It was clear from my resume that I haven't been in a private practice setting for at least the past seven years. If that's what they need, that's fine, but why did they even bother to call me if that's what they need?! :banghead: The really frustrating thing was, it had been two months since I'd applied, and I'd pretty much written the job off already. It sucked to get my hopes up like that only to have them dashed.

Work is work. It's crazy, and it's soul-sucking, and it's too much for any one person to do. I want out.

On the bright side, I'll be helping a girlfriend out and getting some extra money for myself - she does medical transcription, and she's gotten me on to handle her overflow work, the stuff she can't get to. :woo: The extra cash will be MUCH appreciated.

Is it Friday yet?!

[Shanna]

I spent last night in the ER with JAcob and all morning at the doctor's. I'm tired and ready to go home :yawn:

[Trish]

Oh no! What's wrong w/him, Shanna?

[Alysia]

Shanna~ You have been spending a lot of time at the ERs and doctor's lately!! Poor thing!

[Shanna]

Cut 'n Past from my journal:
Well, last night was my niece's birthday party at my parent's. I picked Jacob up from school and he was fine, albeit a bit whinier than usual. So, we head to my parent's house and he's still fine.

About 30 minutes ago, he starts just freaking OUT saying his tummy hurts and he won't walk, wants to be carried everywhere, doesn't want to play, just wants to be held. *SO* not like my 4-year old all-boy.

So, I had him go sit on the potty and try to poop - just in case - and he doesn't have any poop to come out. So, we just go and sit on the couch. He is balled up and doesn't want to straighten out his body or walk.

I'm starting to get a little concerned by this point b/c he's in a house full of his cousins and he's normally this 100% always-moving kinda boy.

We eat supper - hot dogs, his favorite - and he doesn't eat a bite of it. After that, we had birthday cookie (which he managed to get down - go figure :rolleyes: ) and then we watched her open presents. He tried so hard to get down in the floor with the other kids and have a good time, but every time he would move, he would hobble back over to me just in tears because his tummy hurt.

I kept asking him where it hurt and I would push around on his belly and didn't ever feel anything, but could see him wince when I would push around his belly button. He tells me he fell on the monkey bars and hurt his tummy at school today. Hrm.

My uncle opens his trap and says, "well, what if he has internal bleeding?" Which, yes, I guess could be a concern - but it hit him all of a sudden - hours after the accident - rather than at the time. So, I finally am convinced he needs to be seen and the urgent-care place is closed. So, it's off to the ER we go :gah:

5 1/2 hours later, we're finally taken back to a room. Jacob had napped off and on in the waiting room, so I laid him down - fully prone - on the gurney and he just laid there asleep. He woke up a few minutes later and says, "my tummy doesn't hurt anymore!" :tantrum: of course not. So, the doctor comes in, Jacob puts on his best "see what a crazy 4-yr old I am" routine and the doctor says he can see where he hit the bars and he'll probably have a nice bruise, but he's fine. Gives him a popsicle (at midnight) and says go on home.

Now, we already had an appt. scheduled with his ped for today b/c of his headaches, so I wasn't too concerned. Get home, get to bed, blah blah blah.

So, we go to his appointment this morning and he has to pee, they collect a urine sample and he says he needs to poop. Well, after seeing a 2-foot-long piece of poop in the toilet, needless to say, I can understand why his tummy hurt. :rolleyes:

We go back to the exam room and go over all the symptoms he has been having and she does a really good and thorough exam of him and says, "well, I'd like to hold off on the CT until after we get the results of all these blood tests I'm ordering (she ordered a CMP, CBC, Sed Rate, FT4 and TSH). She said that it could be several things, she checked his eyes and referred us out to an eye doctor which he sees Friday morning, just to rule that out. Plus, if she refers us, insurance will cover it - and a vision test just before kindergarten is never a bad idea, right? :)

She dismisses us and we head over to the lab. I just knew he was going to freak out. It wasn't like the finger-prick iron test he had a while back. He went with me when I had my TSH/FT4 test a few weeks ago and he watched them draw my blood and thought it was pretty neat. They put the rubber thing on his arm and he just sat there and watched as they put the needle in. He looks at it and says, "that doesn't hurt!" and they began to draw the blood. After a little while, he said that it was starting to hurt, and whimpered a bit, but luckily, they were almost done.

Our ped is out Thurs - Monday, so she said to call her around 4 if we haven't heard from her before then to get the results of the bloodwork that they have received so far.

So, it's hurry up and wait. I'm glad I scheduled the appointment, but I'm nervous about what the outcome might be. I think I'm overly paranoid, but I guess with your kids health, you can never be too careful, right?

Yes, we seem to be making alot of ER trips right now. It STINKS! Of course, with three kids, I guess a few are to be expected? We never had them when the kids were infants, so I guess we're just making up for lost time :dunno:

[Nadine]

Thanks, Lisa! And i know what you mean with work overload....

:hug99: Shanna! I hate those ER trips. Why do they freak us out and then when we get to the dr all is well??? :hug99: I am glad he is fone, though.

[bunkie68]

Ugh, ER visits. I've had more than a few of those. :hug99: I'm glad Jacob was OK, Shanna.

We had one ER visit where we got there about 1 AM (Julian woke up covered in poison oak, so swollen that his eyes were just little slits, so off we went) and got home about 5:45. He'd only gotten 4 hours of sleep, so I was hoping he'd be good for a 4- or 5-hour nap after we got home. Nope - he fell asleep when we got home and was wide awake and ready to go at 7:30. :yawn: I was so tired I could barely stand it. :lol:

[Kate]

The best ER visit for me is when I was there three days in a row when the boys had rotavirus and both ended up dehydrated. The third day they finally admitted Cameron for an overnight stay. When he got discharged the next day I had to go to a meeting at work an hour later. I think I literally got 4 hours of asleep doing those three days. I don't think I was coherent during that meeting that my boss said was mandatory that I go. He was so understanding :rolleyes:

[Alysia]

:gah: My computer at work today is just CRAWLING. Actually it's just our stupid software. It's driving me crazy! Everytime I click on something it errors out!! How am I supposed to do anything?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?!?!??!

[Nadine]

Some good news:

- I wrote the manager of the place I interviewed at yesterday an email, asking how the process is meant to continue. He wrote back that my interview with the HR yesterday went well and that I should expect a call from them by then end of the week. :)

- DHgot a bonus worth of 3 monthly salaries AND a 2K raise!!! The raise is not really relevant since he will be gone in a short time but the raise... :gimi: is awesome. Of course 50% will be gone thanks to taxes but that still leaves a nice chunk.

[Dennis]

That's great all around Nadine!

[Kate]

That is great news Nadine!!

[bunkie68]

Nadine, that's great! :yippee:

Transcription is rocking along nicely. I'm just doing some work at night, trying to figure out if there's a possibility I could make it a full-time deal. I read on transcription boards, and they really push formal education in the area, which I don't have, so that makes me question whether I really *can* do this. After all, I've only been doing the part-time work for what, three or four days? But, so far I've done enough to recoup the cost of my transcription machine, and I'm researching all I can.

It would be wonderful if this worked out, and I could do my Pampered Chef stuff and candles on the side, because I HATE my current job. Hate it with a deep and abiding passion. It's all I can do to drag myself in each day, much less be anything approaching enthusiastic about the work.

[bunkie68]

Talk about out of the blue. My manager just called me in his office. I'm now going to be the risk management officer for my new pod, instead of an administrative trust officer. I'll be a lower level for taking phone calls (meaning I'll be less likely to get them), and I'll get to do the stuff I'm GOOD at! :yippee: No raise, but this position may give me a chance to do well in my job and to actually earn a raise/bonus at some point. I've still got to hang in until that starts, but surely God won't give me this opportunity and not help me stick around for it. So, yay, that's good news! At least it will be a little relief. I'm still kind of stunned, which is why I'm not bouncing up and down. :lol:

[Dennis]

That's great Lisa!

[Shanna]

Great news, Lisa!

[Nadine]

Thanks, everyone. :)

Great news, Lisa!

[Kate]

I just need to vent because this has really been bothering me...

At my job I am a sales assistant. I support a Senior Sales Rep, but am also working to establish my own customer base and when I reach certain quotas I will become my a sales rep. There is another person in the same exact position as me, D. I have been doing extremely well, I have been making a lot of good accounts, multiple new customers and reviving old customers that haven't bought anything from us in years. Some of the accounts were handed to me. Some accounts were also handed to D.

D isn't doing that well. He has only had two sales total. He said to me that the only reason that I am doing well is because the person that I support gave me good accounts and that he has to actually work to get his, that the accounts that were handed to him are nothing. I am really offended by this because the accounts that were given to me were nothing special.... One in particular that he brought up only did $3K last year. In the month of March they have done over $10K with me as the sales rep. I did basically get the account going where it is now a good account. I connected with the people at that company and made it happen. If I didn't than it would still just be a small account.

I didn't say anything to D because he is already feeling really down about not having that many sales, but at the same time it is still really bugging me where I am thinking about it while at home. I do earn my sales, I work hard and I have been establishing relationships with customers and there is a bit of luck with the calls that I have been making.

The other stress at my work is that on Wednesday I got a request for quote. Two other sales reps also got the same RFQ. We sent out identical quotes so it will be interesting to see which one of our customers lands the deal. Our company will most likely get the sale, it is now just which sales rep will get it, the commission on it will be great for who ever gets it... Please send good vibes my way because I could sure use the extra money to start getting furnishings for my own place....

[Shel]

Good luck, Kate.


This week is going to suck for me. EVERYONE is on vacation since it's Spring Break, and it's Holy Week (I'm the bookkeeper for a church) The office manager is gone for the week, as are most of the pastors, so it's going to be just me in the office covering it all. Luckily they changed the office hours so I can leave a little earlier to get home for David to go to bed, and we're closed on Friday, but I won't get any of my work done covering phones and having people wander in and out of my office all week. :(

[Hannabanana]

Kate -- I TOTALLY know where you're coming from.
There are only 3 of us in our office that actively sell and then there's our sales manager. One of the girls is her daughter and is doing so poorly it's embarrassing each week we have our meeting. The other girl is the Presidents' pet -- she can do no wrong.
My account base is all old solds so my job is to maintain and yet I have grown them considerably since I got them a year ago and yet there is a resentment in the office against me. I word dang hard keeping these account happy!!! I return phone calls (unlike some people)!

Don't let it stress you out. D's jealousy isn't warranted to make you upset. Some people can naturally just connect with others and that's what it sounds like you've been able to do with those accounts and perhaps he just doesn't have "it". It's a tough job selling. :bighug:

I hope that you get that sale & commission! :awink:


I hope that this week flies by. Friday is a holiday and so part of me is so happy about having a short week but short week in our company is actually stressful because we still have to sell based on a 5-day week. <sigh>

[Hannabanana]

i am SOOOOOO pissed off right now!!!

This morning our system was down and I had to leave to see two clients and while I was gone, a call came through from a client that is "mine". It used to be L's (P is my boss and L is her daughter) but she quit the company and went to Italy for awhile 2 years ago. While she was gone, the account got transferred to K. and the co. didn't have anything ready to print and when K left, it went to me and I followed up but still they didn't have anything. L is back now and has to start from scratch on all her account which I don't envy I will admit.

Well this morning the woman calls here and asks for L so as P tells me, she couldn't remember the history of the account and the system was down so she gave the call to L. She asked me if I would "mind" if L looked after her old account. OF COURSE I FREAKIN' MIND, IT'S WORTH A COUPLE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!

I didn't jump in right away and say "of course I don't mind!" and was a long time trying to find the words to reply ... my boss puts me in a difficult position because her daughter can't bloody tie her own shoelaces without some help!!! i'm so pissed!!

I phoned dh to ask him what I should do and he told me to let it go -- L works on low base + commission and is doing really really poorly at her job and I'm straight base. I only need the sale to keep my quota up basically, not because I'll financially benefit from it. L needs it to put food on the table (seriously).

What I resent is being put in this position. If I had been here, I KNOW that P would never have done what she did because I wouldn't have let it happen .. we're a small office and I hear everything.

AUGH!!!

[Nadine]

I am so sorry, Aimee!

[Kate]

Aimee, That really stinks, I understand the frustration that you feel. I have figured out that our sales department is very cut-throat.

[Hannabanana]

Well the "big cheese" just flew in and someone told him what has happened and we haven't been able to chat yet but he did ask me in a whisper if I was chick to stand up to P. (this is HIS employee) :lol: Yeah, right, I have to continue working with her .. I can deal with her rath!

[Nadine]

Why doesn't he stand up to her for you? He is the boss, isn't he??


I am still interviewing and hoping to find another job. It is sooo hard to find a place that will let me work less than 9 hrs a day (=fulltime). I can't do more than 8. Sigh. I took a day off this Tuesday and went to 2 different places for a first interview. It went well at both places (one also gave me a writing test and i know I did well there) but the question is... will they agree to the hours and salary I asked for? Both places are not close to PT which sucks. Sigh. The place I interviewed at in PT hasn't called back so I take that as a negative answer.

[Hannabanana]

:bighug: Nadine, I hope something pans out for you .. the interviewing can be so incredibly stressful!

I just re-read my post above .. I should have said "chicken" and "can't" :lol: Funny how my words got all mixed up! I was so angry!
I'm MUCH calmer today ... my big fear is that this was a top down thing and it could be a way to push me out of the company but MrG said absolutely not so I feel better hearing that from him. He agreed that what P did to me was under-handed but knows that she did what she did to "protect her baby cub". Yeah, well, whatever. It still pisses me off. :rolleyes:

[Alysia]

Hey there :)

Sorry I have been MIA from here.

I am still hating my job on a daily basis. But, on the brightside my venting today got me and 3 other people free lunch from our cafeteria! :lol:

[Kate]

Can I just say that it sucks going back to work after having some time off.... I have 7,895 emails to go through....