A Work at Home Mom’s Blog

Lately, I haven’t been as active a blogger as I once was. Life has been happening way too fast, and I just haven’t been inclined to make the time for it that I did when I first started out. So I was trying to think of ways to get more content on my blog without sending my brain into overload. Then I thought, why not use my short attention span and quirkiness to my advantage?

As you’ve probably figured out if you’ve read my blog for any length of time, I’m a very noncommital person. (Hubby had to be a pretty special guy to get a commitment as big as marriage out of me!) So I’m not going to do a Photo of the Day or Issue of the Week or anything like that. But how about a Whatever of the Moment? That’s something that I can do as the urge strikes!

So here’s my first “Whatever of the Moment”: A little gem that I found on YouTube. It’s a video tribute to my favorite wrestler and sexy boy (who sadly just left wrestling), Shawn Michaels!

Random thoughts on this vid:

• Isn’t he a hottie?
• I think he looks better now than ever.
• Maybe that’s because that 80s hairdo from his younger years just didn’t do him justice.
• That’s his theme song that’s playing, and it’s also the ringtone on my cell when Hubby calls me.
• That’s Shawn himself singing it. He should really stick to wrestling, but I can’t help but smile when I hear it.
• That photo of him with the strategically placed championship belt was once my desktop wallpaper. It will be again if I can find a better quality version of it for my new monitor.

Okay, I’m done waxing poetic now. Look for more Whatevers of the Moment, complete with thoughts from my ADD-afflicted brain, whenever I get around to posting them.

Rearranging the living room! All I can say is it’s about time.

Well, actually, I’ve got a whole lot more to say about it. For one thing, the timing could have been better. Here’s how the whole thing came to fruition. Hubby went to the chiropractor last week, and they said that his back was improving and he could start doing a little bit. A couple of weeks ago, they told him not to even do so much as wash a dish. So that was good news… sort of. The problem is, when they told him that, he took it as permission to do anything he damn well pleased. And after sitting around for so long, he wanted to do all sorts of stuff.

The first thing he did was push mow the yard, since the riding mower is out of commission. Then he decided to clean off the front porch, which was a huge mess. Then he decided that since I wasn’t motivated enough to have already started on it, that he would start on the spring cleaning. And the first thing he wanted to tackle was the living room.

I had actual paying work I could have been doing, but I knew that he was overdoing it, and I wasn’t about to let him do it all himself. So on Monday, we got started. The living room was pretty messy, and it took a while just to get it straightened up. The carpet was ridiculously dirty, thanks to my barely functioning vacuum cleaner. It took him a while, but he finally got it to work reasonably well, and I did the vacuuming. And then he said it was time to rearrange the furniture.

As much as I wanted to rearrange, and as many times as he had planned to help me do it and then changed his mind, I tried to talk him out of it. I knew he didn’t need to be moving furniture with his back just finally starting to heal. But he wouldn’t budge, so once again, I figured the best thing I could do was help. So I did.

The living room looked great. But by the time it was all said and done, I felt like I had been to the gym and made the rounds on all the fitness equipment they had. And I knew if I was that tired, it couldn’t have been good for him. So when he mentioned doing some more cleaning on Tuesday, I begged and pleaded with him to take a day off. It wasn’t easy, but I finally talked him into it.

It’s a good thing I did. Yesterday, he was really feeling it. He kept wanting to do stuff anyway, but I put my foot down. And I know he had to be hurting, or he wouldn’t have listened.

He seems to be feeling even worse today. He’s hardly mentioned doing any more cleaning, and he sat around all morning playing video games. I wish he would learn to pace himself. I was actually relieved when his mom called and asked him to come over and sit with his grandpa while they went to town. Now I have the house to myself for a while. After I get a few things done on the computer, I’m going to get to work on the kitchen. Hopefully I’ll be done with it by the time he gets back, and he won’t decide to move on to another room.

So in a nutshell, I’m delighted that we finally got the living room rearranged. It’s got a lot more space, and looks 200% better. But I wish Hubby would have done it when his back wasn’t in such bad shape. Now I’m going to have to push myself to try to get the whole house cleaned up as quickly as possible, because if I don’t, he’ll be right back at it as soon as he starts feeling a little better.

I did some house cleaning over the weekend, with the intention of getting rid of some stuff. Or more specifically, some of Pumpkin’s stuff. She has a lot of toys that she no longer plays with, as well as books and movies that she has outgrown. I’ve gotten rid of pretty much all of her baby clothes, but she’s got a lot of stuff that she has recently outgrown that needs to go.

We went through her movies yesterday when I was cleaning the living room, and she said she wanted to get rid of a whole box full of them. And today I sent her to her room with two trash bags: one for broken or worn out stuff to be trashed, and the other for stuff to get rid of. She wasn’t happy about that assignment, until Hubby told her that we would try to sell it and she could keep the money. Then she started bringing bag after bag of stuff out.

Somehow, her room still looks like a tornado hit it. But once she has gotten everything sorted out, we’re going to try to restore some resemblance of order in there. She has a toy chest with lots of small tubs on top, a nightstand, her closet and a huge shelf, so getting things organized shouldn’t be too hard.

When we get her room all squared away, the master bedroom comes next. And that’s going to be a huge chore. I’ve been trying to get all the clothes that are piled up in there washed, but it’s not easy when the washer floods the basement every time it’s run and we can’t use the dryer. Hanging clothes out hasn’t really been an option for the past few days either. I have to lay them across the porch railings for now since my clothesline has been demolished, and every day has either been windy or rainy. So getting the laundry squared away may take longer than I thought.

But we’re chipping away at it, little by little. Hopefully we can sell a few things and get a little extra cash. And what we can’t sell, we’ll donate so that it won’t be cluttering the place up.

They say opposites attract. And in my marriage, that has certainly rung true. Hubby and I are different in so many ways it’s not even funny. One of our biggest differences has to do with our natural sleep cycles. He is the type who likes to go to bed early, and I’ve always been one to sit up late.

In a way that can be a good thing, what with me being a writer. I need a quiet environment in order to get the maximum amount of work done, and it’s certainly quiet around here after he and Pumpkin go to bed. Trouble is, he always wants me to come to bed when he does.

That wasn’t a problem for a while. I had been staying tired all the time, so I didn’t have much trouble falling asleep at night. In fact, I got into the habit of going to bed early there for a while. But I’ve had a bit more energy lately, and it’s resulted in lots of tossing and turning when I turn in at a “normal” time. At first I thought I needed to find some good sleeping pills. But then I realized that that wasn’t the case at all. I just needed to follow my body’s rhythms and start staying up later.

So here I am, up after midnight, blogging and getting various other tasks squared away. I’ll probably hit the hay soon, not because I’m particularly tired, but because I have to get up and get Pumpkin ready for school in the morning. It might take me a little while to go to sleep, but I’ll be much better off than if I had tried to go to bed a couple of hours ago.

There was a time when Hubby protested fiercely when I tried to stay up late, but he’s gotten accustomed to it for the most part. He still talks me into going to bed earlier than I should sometimes, but most of the time he doesn’t give me much static. Besides, when I get a laptop and wireless Internet, I’ll be able to work in bed until I’m ready to sleep. Then, hopefully, we’ll both be satisfied.

Well, not really. But Hubby and I did spend a substantial portion of the school day with Pumpkin on Friday. Her reading group just finished a poetry unit, and they had a poetry reading. Immediately following that was the awards ceremony for her grade. And, conveniently, right after that was over with, she had lunch.

I went to eat lunch with her once this year, but she was dying for her daddy to come and eat with her, too. So I talked him into coming along for the whole shebang. He had to go to the doctor for blood work that morning, so I went with him for that and we killed time until it was time for the poetry reading. I even conned him into trying a new restaurant for breakfast.

The poetry reading was fun. The teacher instructed the kids to break up into groups and read to pairs or small groups of parents. Of course Pumpkin made a beeline for us, and her best friend tagged along since her parents couldn’t make it. Another girl whose parents weren’t there also read to us.

After they read some of their poems, it was time for cookies and lemonade. As soon as they told our group to serve ourselves, Pumpkin’s best friend and the other girl each grabbed one of Hubby’s hands and led him to the snack table. I wasn’t surprised, because Hubby just has this magnetic quality about him when it comes to kids (and to females of all ages). Since he was out of hands, Pumpkin took my hand. Amazingly, little miss Daddy’s Girl didn’t seem the least bit disappointed.

Well, we finished our snacks and poetry, and moved on to the awards. Pumpkin was nearly in tears by the time it was over, because she only got one award. But we got her cheered up pretty quickly by telling her that as long as she does her best, we will always be proud of her. By the time lunch rolled around, she was a happy camper again.

Another one of her friends sat with us at lunch, and she took up with Hubby as well. She even suckered him into buying her and Pumpkin an extra order of chicken rings to share. I was kind of sad when it was time to leave, because we were all having such a nice time.

Pumpkin wanted us to take her home after lunch, but since she still had a couple of hours of school left, we declined. Fortunately, she got over it pretty quickly. I guess she was still floating on the cloud of having both of her parents at school with her. Isn’t it sweet how kids enjoy that so much? I guess I’d better enjoy it while I can. It won’t be long until she reaches that stage where she doesn’t want to be seen with us.

Last year, not long after we got our taxes back, I was already thinking ahead to this year’s tax refund. I bought my new computer out of last year’s, and Hubby didn’t get much of anything. So I told him that this year, getting him a hunting rifle would be top priority. And then I started thinking of ways to convince him that he also wanted a plasma or LCD HDTV. Yes, I believe he would enjoy it, but I’m the one who wants one so badly. Not so much because of the great picture or Blu-Ray capabilities (although those are certainly nice), but because it would look better and take up a lot less space than the behemoth we’ve got now.

I’ve already got one of those small TV stands that would be ideal for a flat-screen TV. I got it for free from our old landlords, and have been using it as a bookshelf and whatnot table ever since. I’d be more than happy to clear it off and use it for an actual television. But only in the event that, as Hubby believes, we wouldn’t be able to hang it on the wall without tearing it down.

Well, seeing how we’re going to be doing well to get all the bills paid due to current circumstances, I guess I’ll have to kiss my HDTV goodbye, just has Hubby has kissed his hunting rifle goodbye. Oh well, such is life. One of these days, hopefully before we’re both too old to enjoy them, we’ll have those things. And then, we’ll move on to wanting something else that’s just out of reach.

We got a small bit of good news this week. Hubby’s unemployment came through, much to our surprise. I figured the company he worked for would try to fight it, but they went along with his side of the story completely. I thought they would try to weasel out of it some way. Probably the only reason they didn’t is because the fact that he left due to health reasons that would prevent him from doing his job meant that they wouldn’t be responsible for paying for his benefits.

Whatever works, right? Bottom line, we are in desperate need of money, and if he can get unemployment, that’s great. I was happy when I finally deciphered that the cryptic letter they sent us last week meant he would receive benefits. And he was ecstatic when he got his debit card, complete with a few weeks worth of payments on it, in the mail yesterday. He was so excited that he insisted on going out to eat at Prime Sirloin. And in case you haven’t gathered this about Hubby yet, Prime Sirloin is about as sophisticated a restaurant as you’ll ever find him at.

So as soon as Pumpkin got home from school yesterday, we headed out to eat. I hopped in the shower an hour or so before she was due to get here, and spent the rest of the time on the computer. It wasn’t until we were halfway there that I realized that I hadn’t put any makeup on. Oh well. Like I said, it’s not exactly the fanciest establishment around. I could probably walk in there straight from the pool in a terry romper and no one would have a problem with it. But they’ve got good food, including a buffet with lots of stuff to choose from. So everyone was happy.

Now that the celebrating is over, it’s time to figure out how much we’ll have left once we get all the bills squared away. Well, I’ll probably save that for when the weekend is over. I’d like to have a few days of ignorant bliss if that’s possible.

Howdy y’all! I’m still alive and kicking, and not quite as stressed out as has been the norm for the past few months. Still having some trouble getting everything I need and want to do done, though. Like blogging.

We got our tax refund on Friday, which I thought would make me feel better, but as it turned out, it ended up making me a nervous wreck for a while. I guess it was because I knew it wouldn’t be enough to cover everything we need to pay out, and I dreaded trying to decide what to pay and what to wait on. But now that I’ve gotten some things taken care of, I feel a little better.

I did have a close call, though. I saw a truck from the electric company sitting in the road in front of my house today, and didn’t think anything about it, just figured they were doing some work or something. It’s a good thing Hubby pulled in the driveway right after it showed up, because they were here to cut off our electricity. I had totally forgotten to pay the electric bill. Hubby came in and told me what was going on, and I told the electric company guy that I would go pay the bill online right then. And he said okay and left. Whew!

I paid the bill, so we won’t have to worry about that any more. I just can’t believe that I forgot all about it after going to the office last week and making arrangements. Sometimes I think I need to read some textbooks on how to keep the bills (and everything else in my life) straight. There was a time when I did a good job of that. But now it seems like I can’t get anything done without a To Do list and lots of reminders and encouragement.

I’ve already promised myself that I’m going to do some spring cleaning this year. I haven’t set a definite time frame for it, but I’ve got to do it. I don’t think this place has had a good cleaning since we moved in, and it’s certainly showing. It’s been particularly bad for the past few months, what with all the crap that’s been going on.

One thing that has got to be done is finding a way to get the water from the washer to drain down instead of pouring out into the basement floor. That drain is majorly stopped up, and I haven’t been able to wash clothes nearly as much as I would like to. That means that our bedroom floors are piled up with dirty clothes, and that makes it hard to do any kind of cleaning in the bedrooms. I need to get those clothes out of the way, vacuum the floors and the mattresses, and get rid of things we can’t wear or don’t need.

The living room and kitchen also need serious help. The bathroom isn’t too bad, mainly because it’s so tiny and it’s the room in the house that I’m most germophobic about. On the plus side, our house is rather small, so it’s not as bad as it would be if we had a mansion. Still, I’m not looking forward to it. Wish me luck.

I’m still looking forward to the day when our income tax refund hits our bank account. But so are most of the companies that we owe money. We’ve made lots of promises for when that money becomes available to us, and we should be able to keep them all. I’m just wondering if there will be anything at all left once we get everything caught up.

I had no illusions of taking a vacation, or even doing any heavy shopping. But I was hoping to get a few things we need. One of the priority items was a pair of shoes for Hubby. Thankfully, that has already been taken care of. I used some of my Amazon gift certificates to order him a pair, and they should be here next week. But there are plenty of other things on the “Needed” list. Like some spring/summer clothes for Pumpkin – it’s hard to believe that she’s outgrown almost everything she could wear this time last year. And some ink for my printer. That stuff sure is expensive. I wish my printer was as economical as one of those receipt printers (such as the Epson tm-t88iv). They used one of those when I worked in fast food, and I don’t recall it running out of ink the whole time I worked there.

I haven’t done the math to see if there will be any money left over after the bills are paid. I’ve sort of been afraid to. I’m so glad that we’ll be able to catch up on the bills, I really don’t want to burst my own bubble. But once everything is caught up, I’m going to carefully budget anything we have left. I can’t afford not to.