Who's The Boss?

we spent 5 days at my dad's house and all he got was this stinkin' thank you card

 

totally worth it, right?

toxic

What's better than having to pack up all your shit for a 4-night stay at your dad's house while your home is being filled with deadly gasses?

How about coming back to the house and having to unpack all that shit you packed less than a week ago?

If I ever have to tent this house again, I'll seriously consider just torching the thing and everything in it.  It will save me a boat load of time... And considering the number of WARNING: DEADLY CHEMICALS signs that were on our house, burning it would probably be better for the environment too.

Giveaway: Yummie Tummie

UPDATED: Congrats to Holly!  You are the winner.  Check your email soon for your gift certificate code.

Yummie Tummie is the new must-have garment for every mother.  Seriously, people.  And lucky for you, the fabulous people over at YT have given me a $100 gift certificate to give to one very lucky reader. 

much to your chagrin

It's December of 2000.  You are fresh out of college and have landed your first job as an Administrative Assistant making twenty dollars an hour.  You feel like you have a six-figure salary and shop with your housemate, Gemma, who has more credit card debt than you have student loans.  On the Sunday before Christmas the two of you head out to the Stanford Shopping Mall, a gorgeous outdoor mall in affluent Palo Alto, to buy stuff not for your family like every other last-minute Christmas shopper but to take advantage of the sale prices to buy stuff for yourself.  Hey, everyone should make sure that they have at least one gift they know'll they'll love under the tree, right?

After shopping for hours, Gemma wants to stop and grab some much needed caffeine.  She orders you both a nonfat mocha.  You regret not telling her that you're lactose intolerant but don't want to hurt her feelings or feel like she's wasted her money.  So you drink it figuring that a little stomach pain and some gas tonight is a small price to pay for a budding friendship.

(sort of) homeless

Imagine having to pack up all of your food, personal items, pillows, and blankets.  You are technically not moving but it sure feels like it.  Every shelf in the pantry is empty, every spice in your endless spice rack is gone.  The fridge is empty.  Your bed has been stripped of all linens.  Your clothes are boxed up.

And you are homeless. 

For five days.

Thanks to a teeny little bug called a termite.

Damn those termites.

Our house is being "tented" this weekend.

And it is one giant pain in the ass.

I know you're thinking "When is she gonna stop with the one sentence paragraphs?"

Carrie Prejean, Gay Marriage, and Equal Rights

I watched (and cringed) when Carrie Prejean, Miss California, answered in the Miss USA Pageant that she believes gay marriage is wrong.  Did I think that her beliefs should disqualify her for the title? Not really.  Beauty pageants are like a conservative version of soft porn.  Beautiful women prancing around a stage wearing a pound of make-up and little else.  Does it matter if her views are in sharp contrast to my own?  Absolutely not.  It's not like she's a world leader.  She'll be on the arm of Donald Trump for a year.  Hardly a face of America.  Does anyone really listen to Miss USA anyways?  I thought the main job requirements were to look good in a bikini and the ability to smile for hours on end.

What bothers me more is the firestorm about Carrie Prejean's response (just read some of those comments and you'll probably want to throw up).  I have always believed that gay marriage should be legalized.  I do not think that religious institutions should have to honor or perform same-sex marriages.  I do think that the federal government and state governments should have to recognize same-sex marriage and give same-sex couples the same rights under the law.  It's a civil rights issue.  Cut and dry.  Everyone in this country should have equal rights under the law.

No job is worth your life

I had an entirely different post planned today about Earth Day and what my family does to lower our carbon footprint. 

But as a working mom's blog, I felt compelled to write about the recent suicide of Freddie Mac's CFO, David Kellerman.  There's still a lot of speculation as to why Kellerman would take his own life.  Was it the pressure from the regulators?  Was it the disgrace of knowing that the company made terrible, costly, greedy choices that are now affecting the livelihoods of millions of Americans?  Did he see his situation as utterly hopeless and give up?  Or did he take the easy way out?

4 more meals under $10

Everyday, I see dozens of people finding this little blog by searching on google for cheap and easy recipes.  So I thought I'd do another round of meals that cost less than ten dollars to put together.  For a family of four, that's just $2.50 a serving (cheaper than any fast food). 

1. Any of Trader Joe's Simmer Sauces

If you live by a Trader Joe's and you haven't been inside, then you are a fool.  It's even worth a drive.  TJ's has awesome food at awesome prices.  But their best deal by far is their ethnic simmer sauces.  All you have to do is add a couple of chicken breasts or meat and serve over white rice.  Most of the sauces are in the $2 to $3.50 range (and on the scale of spicy-ness are pretty mild).  I thinly slice two chicken breasts and add to the sauce and almost always water mine down with a little chicken stock.  If you want to make it extra special, slice up a sweet red bell pepper too or throw in some baby red potatoes. Total meal cost: less than $8.00

2. Chicken Enchiladas

take a vacation already

I’m planning our summer vacation. It’s nothing fancy – a trip to the South to see my Grandmother. One week of hanging out in extreme humidity, eating her home-grown tomatoes, and drinking glass after glass of sweat tea. To say I’m looking forward to it is an understatement.

Only one problem: my spouse can’t get the time off. It’s not month-end close or end of year craziness. It’s not that he doesn’t have the time off. It’s because at his company people just don’t take vacation. Like ever. At his company, it’s acceptable to take a day here or a long weekend there. But an entire week off? Practically unheard of.

Read more at Full Time, All the Time

my competition is a 73 year old woman named Arlene

One of the benefits of working from home is finally finding the time to exercise.  It's scary when your almost five year old can run faster than you.  Not to say that I am totally out of shape, but dude that kid can run.  For me it's just about being healthy no matter the size.  And now that I'm over 30 and have heard rumors that your metabolism all but stops, I certainly don't need those 30 pounds that have haunted me since Darius' birth to be turning into 40. 

So I've been making it into the YMCA three to four times a week. I love the YMCA.  First, it's cheap.  Second, the pool is always heated.  Third, in the mornings they offer a class nearly every hour which makes finding the time to workout a breeze. 

Last week, my meeting schedule allowed for me to take the Dance Aerobics class with Sherry.  Before the class started, Sherry told me a dozen times that most people don't get all the steps until they've been there awhile.  I was thinking that this was gonna be more intense then I thought.

Until the rest of the class walked in. 

The one closest in age to me was older than my mother.  I'm not making this up.

All super friendly, one even asked if I was in my twenties.  Those old hags sure do know how to make a newcomer feel welcome.

All I can say is thank god I can run faster than those gals.  It's one thing to lose to your speedy five year old. It's another to lose to a lady as old as my Grandma.

Sick of egg salad? Try a spicy egg curry

I don't know if you are suffering through the seemingly endless amount of dyed Easter eggs like we are.  We've had eggs for breakfast, deviled eggs for afternoon snacks, and more egg-white salad (I finally had to limit the number of yolks we were eating).  We are down to our last dozen or so eggs and I've decided to go back to my spouse's roots to finish the last of the eggs. 

Egg curry is one of my mother-in-law's favorite dishes.  It's easy, especially if you make it with some store-bought ingredients like I do.  The toughest part of the recipe is browning the onion so even if you are a novice cook I promise it will turn out just fine.

Ingredients:

• 6-10 hard boiled eggs (I do two per adult and 1 per child)

you like me, you really like me

I just found out that I was named as one of the Top 50 Mommy Blogs. 

I'm still waiting for my Oscar-esque statue to arrive. 

Wait?  There's no statue?  No red-carpet?  No Rachel Zoe stylist? No Wolfgang Puck catered Governor's Ball?

I knew this blogging was a sham.

Kidding.  Only kidding. 

Sort of.

technically, there's 1 degree of separation between me and J-lo

A couple of weeks back, I had the most extraordinary Mom's Night Out with with the designer of Yummie Tummie(there were other people there too).   For someone whose designed clothes for P-Diddy (does he still go by that name?), Jennifer Lopez, and Beyonce, Heather was the most down to earth I-work-with-celebrities person I've ever met. 

Seriously, she's my new best friend.  Or maybe just maybe you'll see me in the news after I break into her apartment and stalk her (and those awesome Yummie Tummies). 

Before the night, I had never even heard of Yummie Tummie.  In fact, even after I received the invite I didn't bother to do any research.  The opportunity to hang out with Lia and Cat was really the only reason I was putting on my false eyelashes (hello, we were in the swanky W hotel in San Francisco).  But to meet Heatherand her fabulous staff was icing on the cake.  Heather was so genuinely awesome that I pulled her assistant aside and asked her to tell me honestly if this was all a front and if Heather was really like Devil Wears Prada of bosses.  Her assistant laughed and assured me that Heather is the real deal.

And so is her product.

hold your babies close

I sometimes just stare at Darius, my beautiful son.  I stare at him in wonder.  I must have been a pretty good person for God to give me such a glorious gift.

And then I knock on wood or spit or do something equally superstitious for fear that if I relish too long in the joy of my son that I am somehow increasing my odds of having him ripped from my arms.

Because in this world, not all children grow up.  And it breaks my heart.  And it makes me so afraid for my own child that I can barely let him out of my sight.  As if somehow I have the power to make sure that he's always okay.

my new office

My boss called me the other day to talk about "my office."  I've been put on a delinquent list at the office.  The company has acquired some new company and the employees from the new company are going to be moving into the building where I work. 

You know that building that I see less than once a week.

Facilities ran a report on all the existing worker-bees in the office and I'm behaving badly.  As in, you really shouldn't have a dedicated work-space when you don't make it in to see that work space.  Like ever.

I was given an ultimatum: start going to office on a regular basis or work from home full-time.  It was a no-brainer.  I will be moving out of my office in another month or so. 

To part-time or full-time, that is the question

Last Wednesday we registered Darius for Kindergarten.

My baby is gonna be a kindergartner in a matter of months.  Give me a minute to digest that.

The last few months leading up to the registration have been so stressful for me.  For one, we have the public versus private debate (still ongoing based on what public school we get into).  But the bigger question for me was

How can I possibly work full-time with a school age kid?

Over at Full Time, All the TimeI'm writing about my current working mothers conundrum: To stay full-time or reduce my hours at work. 

I don't have any answers but I'd love for you to stop on over and give some advice.  Am I overreacting?  Or should I be having a serious conversation with my boss?

blah blah blah

I literally blinked and last week was gone.  I don't know where it went and I have little to show for it.  Just gone.  Poof.

Or maybe my weeks just all start feeling exactly the same that it's hard to know when one week stops and another one starts.

Wake Up.  Work.  Cook dinner.  Sleep.  Every day. 

There's not much excitement in my life.  I'm not going out on Friday nights - no those are spent with a G-rated movie and my darling little boy.  In college Thursday night was THE night to be out and about.  Now, if I'm lucky I'll get to watch Grey's Anatomy. 

Seriously, when did watching a TV drama become the highlight of the week?

And so excuse me while I try to shake this funk.  My mother says to spend more time in the backyard soaking up some vitamin D.  She's says the sun will be good for my spirit. 

I have lots to write about.  Posts all jumbled in my head, sitting and stewing with little hope of making it onto a page. 

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah