A Work at Home Mom’s Blog

Happy (early) Halloween! When I was a kid, this was one of my favorite holidays. I still rather enjoy it. It’s kind of boring right now, though. Pumpkin is at a Halloween party, Hubby is at his parents’ house, and I’m sitting at home alone, waiting for trick-or-treaters to start knocking on the door. If we have any, that is. (In these parts we celebrate on Saturday when Halloween falls on a Sunday.)

Although uneventful, Halloween has been fairly enjoyable so far. I painted Pumpkin’s nails black, helped her get dressed up in her vampire costume and painted her face up. I hope the paint lasts for the party. Despite doing her makeup well ahead of time, it still showed no signs of drying when I dropped her off. She had to keep her headband on to keep her hair from sticking to her face. Must remember not to buy that kind of paint again.

I even got somewhat gussied up for the occasion, even though I’m not really going anywhere to speak of. I didn’t do a costume, and I’m not wearing a stylish pair of Rocawear high-heeled boots, but I think I look nicer than usual. I painted my nails black too (the first time they’ve been painted in literally years), borrowed Pumpkin’s bat necklace and vampire bracelet since she wasn’t wearing them, and put on a ruffly black shirt. Too bad Hubby is too busy (not to mention too broke) to take me to a haunted house or out to dinner.

Anyhoo, I hope all you moms and dads out there, and your little ghosts and goblins have a happy and safe Halloween. I’m off to see if there are any decent horror movies on to watch while I wait around!

I thought I was doing well to have Pumpkin’s birthday shopping nearly complete. Yes, I finally got a deal on a used PSP and some games to go with it, and a memory card. All together, I spent just over a hundred bucks on it all. Not too shabby if you ask me.

But the other day I overheard her talking to her friend on the phone about what she wanted to be for Halloween. Are you kidding me? Halloween is over two months away! Grar.

Since she’s a big girl, she has no interest in those adorable little infant Halloween costumes or anything like them in her size. She mentioned wanting to be a zombie doctor or a werewolf. I guess I should probably go ahead and start looking for such a costume. Because most years, I wait until the last minute and she ends up being whatever we can find in her size.

I should probably enjoy the whole Halloween thing while I can. It was always one of my favorite holidays when I was young, and I still enjoy taking her trick or treating. And she’ll probably be ready to give that up within a couple more years, so I’ll be relegated to handing out candy to the few trick or treaters who venture out to this neck of the woods. Unless I can talk Hubby into getting out and doing something on Halloween night, that is.

Yeah, I know, I’m like, three days late. But did you really expect me to do better than that?

Anyway, I hope everyone had a happy and safe Fourth of July weekend. Mine was nice. Hubby, Pumpkin and I went to my mom’s on Friday to spend the night. We didn’t really do anything but visit with her, but that was fine because we hadn’t seen her in so long. We sat around, talked, watched TV and played cards. And, as usual, had some of her scrumptious fried chicken for supper.

We came back Saturday evening, and didn’t do much for the rest of the night. We sat around the house for the most part on Sunday, especially me, because I wasn’t feeling well. But Hubby and Pumpkin went out and bought some fireworks, and we went to his parents’ house and set them off that night.

Not a particularly eventful holiday weekend, but it was nice. Now it’s time to get back to work, if I can just get my brain back in gear.

It’s nearly midnight, so Mother’s Day is almost over. But I hope all you moms out there had a nice one. Mine was good, couldn’t afford to really do anything, but I had a nice relaxing day with the family. Hubby did all the cooking, and Pumpkin made me a beautiful card. I might not have gotten expensive jewelry or designer shoes, but I had the best Mother’s Day I could have hoped for.

I’m not really one to toot my own horn, but we moms deserve at least one day each year to celebrate all we do. We cook, clean, help with homework, transport the kids to their various activities, and often hold down full-time jobs on top of all that. It’s not like a family can easily make it on one income any more, what with the price of everything these days. Just putting a kid through school is insanely expensive. I understand that government funding doesn’t cover everything, but it seems like they want money for everything from tissues to school furniture now.

But I digress. What I’m trying to say is that being a good mom is harder than it looks, so when Mother’s Day rolls around, there’s nothing wrong with basking in the glory. And I’m not taking anything away from all you awesome dads out there. You totally deserve your special day that’s coming up next month, too!

This holiday season has been a doozy for my family. The thing that I still don’t feel inclined to write about is improving, not completely resolved, but considerably better. But it has left me in a very stressed and depressed state of mind. I’m trying to get through it as best I can, because money is insanely tight right now and I can’t bring myself to make things worse by going to the doctor. Maybe someday soon.

As for Christmas itself, it was… interesting. We weren’t able to get Pumpkin much, but we did manage to get her one of the big things on her list (a portable DVD player). She was happy with what she got, but commented that Santa didn’t bring her much. I’m really beginning to hate the whole Santa notion, and Hubby and I have decided that the next time she asks if he exists we’re going to tell her the truth. Then maybe she won’t have such high expectations, and won’t be disappointed.

The biggest Christmas present we got was a flooded basement. And when I say flooded, I mean flooded. It has flooded a few times, but never this badly. There was lots of snow still laying on the ground from the week before, and we got a buttload of rain on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The trenches we had dug were full of snow, so they were no help. We had to get out in the rain shortly after opening gifts and clear those trenches out, then Hubby picked up two of his brothers and had them come help finish the job and get some of that water out. Once again, I’m thankful that we had a pump to pump it out with, because there’s no way we could have rented one on Christmas.

With the water being pumped out, we tried to relax for the rest of the day. We had a scrumptious Honey Baked half ham for dinner. I cooked it all day in the crock pot, and it came out nice and tender. We gave some of it to Hubby’s family, Pumpkin ate one piece, and Hubby and I had the rest of it gone by the next day. Too bad we didn’t have some Solo Slim on hand – maybe it would have lasted a little longer.

After dinner we went to the inlaws’ house to play cards. Then we came back home, had a few drinks, and hit the hay. All in all, it wasn’t a bad Christmas. We got to spend time together as a family, and as far as I’m concerned that’s what it’s all about. I just hope next Christmas is less stressful.

Hope everyone out there had a fun and safe Independence Day. I did.

We started celebrating on the 3rd, with a cookout and fireworks at my in-laws’ house. On the holiday itself, we went to a festival in a nearby town. They had lots of craft vendors, a Civil War reenactment (which we didn’t get around to watching), music and lots of food. We resisted temptation for the most part, though. Pumpkin bought a string puppet with the money she earned doing chores, and we bought her some popcorn. Hubby and I bought nothing but a bottle of water to share (which was actually free but we gave a donation). The food smelled awesome, but the prices were a bit outrageous. If I had to pay that much for food all the time, I wouldn’t need Phenphedrine to lose weight!

After we left the festival, we went to the park to play softball. That part dragged on way too long for my tastes. I couldn’t participate much because I was having trouble with my knee, and I ended up having to witness the horror that is my brother-in-law’s kids. They have a way of driving anyone in the general vicinity nuts. And their parents don’t take care of them or make them behave at all. But I’m just going to shut up about it all for now.

They set off fireworks at the park, and the show was very nice. I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t been all cramped up from sitting on a very uncomfortable metal bench during the whole softball thing, but it was still nice. Some friends came home with us and spent the night, and we stayed up until the wee hours playing Monopoly and talking.

All in all, it was a good holiday weekend. But we’ve already decided that next year we’re staying as far away from my brother-in-law and his family as possible.

What are all you moms out there hoping for? Some pretty flowers? Jewelry? Sexy corsets?

I’m just hoping for a nice, stress-free day. I won’t be going up to see my mom from the looks of things, I’ll probably just chill out at home. I could care less if I get anything or not.

Well, actually, there is one thing I’d like to have. Amazon has the Flip Ultra Camcorder on sale for $59.99. I would have ordered it for myself with some gift certificates I had, but I had already ordered some other stuff before I found out about the sale. But maybe I can talk Hubby into kicking in the difference between my GC balance and the full price. It’s worth a shot.

Anyway, I hope all you moms out there have a great Mother’s Day. And if you are concerned about anyone important forgetting about it, feel free to leave this post up on your computer screen for them to find.

Hope all of you out there had a safe and happy New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day! Mine was pretty good. I spent most of New Year’s Eve working, but I managed to wrap up in time to go to a friend’s house to ring in 2009.

Quite frankly, I’m rather relieved that 2008 is over. It was a very trying year for my family and I. We all had some health issues, we had to move, and our finances became extremely complicated. But we made it through it all, and I’m hopeful that 2009 will be better. The economy going haywire has taken its toll on pretty much everyone, but I’m determined that I’m going to take those lemons that life has handed me and make lemonade. My hope is that each and every one of you can do so as well.

I haven’t made any formal New Year’s Resolutions, because every time I do, I end up breaking them. But I do plan to get more organized. I’ve been working out a schedule in my head that would allow me to get everything I need to accomplish each day done. Maybe if I can get it on paper and post it prominently, I can make myself stick to it. No more surfing the web, reading about everything from ball lock pins to geological formations. I’ve got to take control of my time so I can get more work and housework done and still have time to spend with the family.

I’ve been kicking around some business goals for 2009 as well, but the organization thing is top priority right now. If I can’t do that, there’s no way I’ll get anywhere in the coming year. So quantifiable goals will have to wait.

What are your hopes and goals for the New Year? Share in the comments. Maybe we can provide inspiration for each other.

Hubby kept insisting that he was going to get me something for Christmas. I kept telling him not to, but I looked for something for him just in case he didn’t listen. But as it turned out, neither one of us bought anything for each other.

He said he was going to get me something later, but hopefully he’ll forget about it. The problem is, I really need to get him something. Not just want to, but need to. I’m not talking something optional like New York Yankees tickets here. He desperately needs a new pair of work boots, and he won’t buy them himself. So when I get the money I’m going to get him some, and then he will feel like he has to buy me something.

Why do things have to be so complicated? Why won’t he just realize how badly he needs new boots and buy them himself? I just don’t get him sometimes.

Have you ever had one of those days where it seems like everything goes wrong? You know it could be far worse, but that’s little consolation? That’s kind of what my Christmas was like.

Actually it started on Christmas Eve. I was expecting a gift that I had ordered for Pumpkin, but the mail ran and it didn’t arrive. So I called Amazon to see what was going on. They said it had been sent by UPS, so I waited around for UPS to run. The time came and went, and still nothing. I didn’t bother calling back, because I knew it would do no good and I had bigger fish to fry. But I was quite disappointed, seeing how I had ordered two days before the deadline for Christmas delivery with free shipping.

Oh well. Time came for Pumpkin to go to bed, and I stayed up because I had to fill her stocking, wrap one last gift, and get the stuff from Santa under the tree. I was feeling rotten, but it was Christmas Eve, and as a parent you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. I ended up vomiting three times before I went to bed, but everything was in place for Christmas morning.

Christmas morning came, and Pumpkin was all excited. I got my digital camera and started snapping pictures as she opened presents, but only managed to get a few before my camera’s memory was full. I have no idea where my memory card is and didn’t feel like looking for it, so I just didn’t bother taking any more. But she was a very happy camper.

She got two DVDs for Christmas, and she wanted to watch one of them. But when we turned on the DVD player, nothing happened. I thought I would let her watch it on my computer, but it decided that it didn’t want to play DVDs (or do much of anything else for that matter) either. So now we’re without a way to watch anything but VHS tapes.

I lay back down when all the excitement was over, but Hubby’s parents wanted us to come eat dinner with them. So I dragged myself out of bed, showered and went. I wasn’t able to eat much, but we sat over there and played cards for a while. I was glad when it was over.

That was my Christmas in a nutshell. I felt bad all week, and I’m still not feeling particularly froggy. I’ve had better Christmases, but I’ve also had much worse.