Working Full Time: Honeymoon Is Over

I'm on my fifth week of full time employment. The paycheck is nice. Very nice. Everything else is on a downward slope. Laundry is building up. Dinner isn't getting prepared. The chores are sliding. Home schooling? Don't make me laugh.

AND I'm tired.

I am not pushing to have everything done. My boys, including the two with autism, are rather typical. If they can get away with not doing their work, they are not going to do it.

It's late, even as I write, so this entry will be short and sweet. The (good) news is that I was offered another temporary full time contract, and I have accepted it. I have not told the boys yet. Can't wait to see the "surprise" looks on their faces when they find out they have a few more weeks to go.

HAHAHAHAHA

It's All Relative!

So my niece was talking about the longevity of her relationship with her boyfriend. "We've been together for 19 months."

I thought I'd tease her. "Well, 19 months is a drop in the bucket compared to 20 years of marriage," I beamed.

Little did I know that my mother was behind me and laughed. "Well, 20 years is nothing compared to 50 years of marriage."

Moral of the story: there's always a bigger and better fish than you lurking... Be humble!

The Side Effect of Working--Losing Weight

Well, I never expected to lose weight while working. I sit all day, reading a computer screen. I don't call that exercise. Yet, the scale definitely says that five pounds have mysteriously disappeared. And no, I do NOT have to turn around for someone to find them "behind" me, as my dear father joked.

I can attribute this weight loss to a few factors.

1. I don't snack.

2. I don't cook.

3. I am too busy to eat.

4. My schedule is crazy.

So yes, I eat about 1200 calories between breakfast and lunch. I don't eat dinner, not necessarily by choice. It's just the nature of my schedule for now. As soon as I get home from work, I teach piano. After sitting all day, I don't want to sit anymore. Consequently, I walk three miles. Once back home, I start checking the home schooling assignments. The boys have usually cleaned the kitchen, so that last thing I want to do is create a mess that I have to clean. Also, by the time I'm ready to sleep, I too tired to notice that I didn't have dinner.

We'll see if this keeps up.

End of Week Two: PAYDAY

I have officially finished two weeks of working full time, and we have survived. At home the laundry needs folding, but at least the boys have CLEAN, wrinkled clothes. They work together to get dinner done. Sometimes Dad or Grandma does help with directions of a recipe or supervising any needed cooking. My kids are learning skills that they will need in life. Overall, I am impressed with my dudes! What a great payoff!

Now for me... I looked at my checking account, and POOF, direct deposit yielded a nice sum of money. So cool!

Now for the "not so fun" side: I am juggling the home schooling, piano teaching, grocery shopping and working.

The home schooling is not smooth, but some of my kids are maintaining their schedule quite well. Other kids need prompting. I am not going to name anyone yet... I do remind them that whatever they don't get done now will have to be done over the summer. They don't like that idea. Grumble, grumble, but it gets done.

Piano lessons are going smoothly, just scheduled a little later in the day.

Grocery shopping is still my domain, "realm" if I think like royalty. I have to work out a way so that my 18 year old can start taking this on. He can drive a car. Can he manage a cart? Grocery shopping just cuts into time that I really need to use for home schooling. Feel a change coming? Yep.

Working. I enjoy my coworkers. I've found that business casual in AZ is different than CA 15 yrs ago. Shorts? T-shirts? When I last worked in Corporate America, business casual meant a collared shirt, dress pants, etc. Other changes: People talk about personal issues more freely. And the language? I remember when people got fired for using "those" words.

Anyways, the work itself requires a lot of reading, and I enjoy it. I love getting out of the house and being with adults. Having conversations about many subjects with many people is so new. The best part of all, of course, is getting that first paycheck. Yippee.

The payoff so far as been so much more than cash for my kids and myself!

Photo credityomanimus