A Work at Home Mom’s Blog

Last week, things were looking up for my family and me. For the past few weeks Hubby has been working fewer hours, but I started getting more work coming in, and actually being able to get it done. Next month was shaping up to be a good one. But heaven knows we can’t have that, right?

On Sunday night, Hubby started complaining with his stomach. Monday morning, he stayed home a few extra hours because he was feeling bad. He went to work late, only to be sent home after about an hour because no one wanted to work with him for fear of catching whatever he had. Tuesday, he went in and worked most of the day, but called at lunchtime and asked me to get him an appointment. As soon as Pumpkin got home from school, I picked him up and took him to the doctor.

She said he had a stomach bug, but I’m not sure she knows what she’s talking about. He’s still feeling really bad – so bad that he hasn’t worked any more this week. And now Pumpkin has it, too.

I hate seeing them sick. And Hubby being out of work is really going to put a damper on our finances. He doesn’t get sick time, so his pay for this week will be paltry. And it’s been extremely difficult for me to get my work done while trying to take care of both of them.

I suppose I should be glad I don’t have it and can do some work and look after those two. But knowing my pitiful immune system, I’ll probably end up with it before it’s over. That’s something to look forward to, after seeing Hubby in so much pain he can barely walk and running to the bathroom like he took one of those maximum strength colon cleansers or something.

I had big plans for next month. I was hoping to put a little extra toward the bills and get to go to Richmond to see Peter Tork and Shoe Suede Blues. It’s a free show, but buying the gas to go that far wouldn’t be cheap, so it’s not going to happen. I thought I deserved one good thing after all the crap I’ve been through lately, but I guess I was wrong.

Okay, I’m going to quit feeling sorry for myself and get back to work now. If I can concentrate enough to get anything done, that is.

Something highly unusual happened to me last night: I had trouble sleeping.

I have had some trouble getting to sleep on occasion for the past couple of months. But once I fell asleep, I was out until morning with very, very few exceptions. Last night, though, I fell asleep quickly. But around 2:00 am, I woke up and stayed awake for about 30 to 45 minutes. And after that, I woke up about every hour and had a hard time going back to sleep.

Now I feel… strange. I stayed up after putting Pumpkin on the bus, and I’m not really tired, more like wired. I’ve felt like this before, but that was back in my younger years when I could get away with only sleeping 3 or 4 hours a night with few repercussions. Still, I have a feeling that I’m going to crash here in a couple of hours.

I don’t know what’s going on. I didn’t take any herbal weight loss pills that might have given me an energy boost before bed last night or anything. I’d like to think that whatever it is that has caused me to have no energy for the past couple of years all of a sudden resolved itself, and now I’ll have boundless energy for the rest of my years. But I’m sure that’s just wishful thinking.

I bought a domain name for my freelance writing portfolio site back in April. I knew I wouldn’t get a site up right away, but I also knew that I needed to create one. Buying that domain was my way of giving myself a little kick in the pants to get it done.

In May, I ran across a great deal on an ebook called The Savvy Freelancer’s Website Secrets, and I bought it. That was me giving myself yet another kick in the pants. I peeped at the first few pages, and then left it on my desktop to read “later.”

Sometime between the time I bought that ebook and July, I was interviewed for the awesome Annette Elton’s Freelance Writing Business blog. (Here’s the link if you care to read it.) She told me to feel free to promote links to my websites, and I included one to this blog and one to my domain that I hadn’t done anything with. Another unheeded kick in the pants.

Well, I finally gave myself another kick in the pants. And this time it worked. I was chosen to be a contributor to another blog, and they needed a bio and a link to my website. I provided the link to my nonexistent portfolio site yet again. But this time I realized that I really need to get this thing going, because otherwise people are going to think I’m a complete and utter goofball. Oh, and it would be nice to get some more clients, too.

I thought setting up this new website would be an exercise in frustration, much like the other website I made from scratch. But I knew that some people use WordPress as a content management system, and I’m pretty good with WordPress. So I set out to find out how it worked. Come to find out, recent updates have included features that makes it ridiculously easy. Woo hoo!

So I got started on my website after lunch today. Of course, it’s not finished. But it’s further along than I ever would have imagined. Heck, it’s downright functional! Wanna see? Here you go!

I had to do a bit of wrestling to correct some minor issues, but all in all it was not complicated. Now that I know I can do it, I might just start setting up a new website every week! Well, probably not, but I am formulating some plans.

Oh yeah, about the new blogging gig. I’ll share a link to that when my first post is published. My photo and bio are already on the about page, but I just don’t feel right about publicizing it until it’s really, truly official. Don’t want to stir up any bad karma or anything. But don’t worry, I promise to keep you up to date. Well, I might not get around to posting as soon as it hits the Web… but I will get around to it. Pinkie swear.

The good news: Hubby just got his first raise at his job. The bad news: He won’t be getting any overtime for a while.

When he started this job, they said he would be getting one Friday off per month. They work 10 hours a day, so that meant 50 hours most weeks. But that’s not exactly how it has worked out. For a few months, they didn’t have any Fridays off. And now, they’re getting every Friday off.

I’m glad he’s getting three-day weekends for his sake. His job is physically demanding, and he comes home worn out just about every day, so he can use the extra rest. But now instead of having more money in the budget, we’ll have less. Granted, it won’t be as much less as it would be if he hadn’t gotten the raise, but it will be less.

So now I must find ways to stretch our limited funds even further. I’ll have to scour the papers and the Web for Walmart savings and deals from other local stores. If I find myself in need of stuff for my computer, I’ll have to look for Buy.com coupons to go with their best deals. Not that I don’t do these things already, but I will have to step up my efforts.

We’ll manage, somehow. We always do. But I was hoping to go see Peter Tork and Shoe Suede Blues in eastern Virginia next month, and it looks like that will be out of the question. Even if I’m able to pick up extra work like I had hoped, the proceeds will have to go toward bills instead of that. Drat.

Guess what? I got a shiny new toy! Any ideas on what it might be?

Give up? It’s a digital video camera! That’s right, after years of wanting one, I finally accumulated enough Amazon gift certificates to get it. Needless to say, I’m a happy camper.

If you’re curious about the model, it’s a Vivitar DVR-530. (That’s a link to the Amazon product page, and unfortunately not an affiliate link thanks to a new and idiotic North Carolina law.) It’s not the newest thing on the market, but it suits my purposes just fine. And even better, it was on sale for $49.99! I had just enough GCs in my account to get it without paying anything out of pocket.

I was up until about 1:00 this morning, not working, not getting life insurance quotes, but tinkering with my camera and its accompanying software. I decided that I didn’t care much for the video editing program that came with it, so I started searching the web for something better. And then I found out that I was missing a codec needed to play the files it produced in Windows Media Player, so I searched for that to no avail. I finally found a free file conversion program that I could use to make them work.

And then I found out it didn’t matter much. My biggest concern was being able to make DVDs with the video I shoot, and they play just fine in Windows DVD Maker (which I just realized I had). Doy!

Oh well. At least now I know I can record some memories of Pumpkin before she’s all grown up. I wish I could have bought one about 5 years ago, but she’s still got plenty of kid left in her.

Today I had the pleasure of being among the first people to have access to an awesome webcast featuring Peter Walsh. The topic? Getting organized for back to school.

Peter’s a smart guy, but he wasn’t the only expert there. He was joined by a real teacher (Heather Wolpert-Gawron), a real mom (Ana Picazo), and two real students. And the setting was… wait for it… a real school!

I learned a few things from this informative webcast. One was that I’m actually doing a few things right. Imagine that! For most of Pumpkin’s school career, I’ve been adamant about putting the stuff she needs to return to school back in her book bag as soon as she’s done with them instead of waiting and gathering it up in the morning. It just makes things so much easier and less stressful. And I’ve also tried to encourage her to use all of the compartments in her various bags to her advantage. See? I can be organized sometimes.

I also learned something that was rather surprising: Did you know that the average teacher spends $1,200 a year out of pocket on classroom supplies? Holy cow! So the next time you want to thank your child’s teacher for doing a great job, forget the apples. Send him or her some supplies!

The panel took questions at the end, addressing such things as appropriate ages for the introduction of organizational tools. Peter also answered more questions on Twitter after the webcast was over.

If you want to learn more about getting organized for back to school, the webcast is now available to anyone here. You can also follow the Twitter conversation with the hashtag #OMX_Blogcast. And don’t forget to visit the ever-awesome sponsor of the whole thing, OfficeMax, for all your back to school needs. Their Schoolio von Hoolio line includes adorable items such as this:

For more photos, see this post.

A lady that Hubby helped move a couple of years ago asked him earlier in the summer if he would help her move again. I don’t know what kind of moving companies Los Angeles has, but around here you pretty much have to rent a U-Haul or hire someone with a pickup. And Hubby has gotten a few jobs like that.

So where is she planning to move to? The Outer Banks! She said she would be moving in July, and Hubby planned to take his vacation time from work to go and take Pumpkin and me with him so we could get some resemblance of a vacation. But July is over, Hubby already took his vacation time, and school is starting tomorrow, so I guess it’s not going to happen.

We haven’t heard from her, so I don’t know if she’s still planning to move or not. If she does, Hubby will probably have to take a Monday or Friday off work and do it on a weekend. I suppose we could let Pumpkin miss school for one day if it does happen, but he would be working most of the time that we were gone. So it wouldn’t really be much of a vacation. If she does end up moving, Pumpkin and I will probably just stay here.

I think I’ve mentioned that I’m not really a cat person. But these guys just kind of fell into our laps, and Pumpkin fell in love with them. I kind of like them too.

It happened a couple of weekends ago. I heard a horn blowing, and Hubby went outside to see who it was. It was someone who lives down the road, asking if we were missing some kittens, because there were two in the road close by. He said no, but that the neighbors up the road had cats and to ask them. And then he and Pumpkin took off to find them.

Of course, they came back carrying them. I told them we would keep them until we found out if they belonged to someone. The next day, Pumpkin took her allowance money and bought them some food and kitty litter. We let them in, and they used the litterbox like pros. I checked all the missing pet reports to no avail. So we still have them.

I guess we’ll be keeping them, as long as they don’t have any ill effects on Pumpkin’s health. The last cat we had we had to get rid of, because it kept giving her strep. And she woke up feeling bad this morning, so I hope she’s not allergic to them. If she keeps staying sick, we’ll have to find them new homes. I have enough to worry about trying to find a dentist that takes her insurance or at least offers dental discounts so she can have her teeth checked, and I just can’t stand the thought of her being sick all the time again.

Hopefully she’s just got a sinus infection or her outdoor allergies are acting up. Because the little boogers are starting to grow on me. She named the black one (a male) Blackie, and the gray one (a female) Tiger. And they are quite entertaining. Not to mention that they look like they’re going to be good mousers.

School will be starting here on Thursday. Can you believe it? Personally, I think they start it way too early (even considering the amount of snow we get), but that’s a story for another day. Right now I want to tell you about the box of goodies I got from Office Max today!

They sent me some samples from their really cool school supply line. That’s Pumpkin with some of it above. We received a cool drawstring backsack, some notebooks with fun designs, pencils and erasers, a slideout pencil case, binders and a folder. But Pumpkin’s favorite piece was this one:

It’s a 7-pocket folder. She practically begged me for the one from the other samples Office Max sent me before their [IN]PLACE System by Peter Walsh webcast, but I wouldn’t come off of it. When I pulled this one out of the box and handed it to her, her eyes lit up. I told her I was jealous because hers was so colorful, and she offered to trade. Such a sweetie.

Speaking of Peter Walsh, I’ll be watching another webcast featuring him and some other experts on Thursday. This one is about getting your kids organized for school. I’ll be sharing what I learned after it’s over, so stay tuned.