Category Archives: work

Final Answer

After praying, thinking, talking with Mark, thinking some more, praying some more, etc., etc., I have decided to quit the part-time job I started last week.  It is just not a good fit, apart from the political differences I described in my last post.  For now, I am going to try to help Mark with some writing projects and try to help keep him more organized.  Our hope is that my help to him will increase productivity and, in the end, increase our bottom line.  We also hope that my being available for the kids when they are sick or when there’s a volunteer need at school will also be a blessing for the long haul.  This is a hard decision to make as it is an investing type of decision–there is no immediate income benefit.   Thanks for your prayers, and please continue to pray that this plan will be a good one for our family.

Work Update & One of the Most Apalling Statements that Was Ever Made to Me

Well, I didn’t get the full-time job, so that is off the table.  And, that’s a good thing.  The more I think about it, the more I realize I need to make decent money while having more control of my schedule.  Which brings me to the part-time job.  It’s not a bad little gig–3 days a week during school hours.  However, there are some issues.  First, the person I am replacing was fired for embezzling.  I think that makes the scrutiny over me a little more intense than I prefer.  Second, there’s no one there to tell me exactly how they want things done.  It is sort of guess work on the part of one of the managers.  Third, the manager who has the most contact with me and tells me how he thinks they want things made the most appalling statement I have ever heard in workplace chit chat.

He to me, “What did you think of the McCain speech last night?”

Me to him, “Well, I’m not sure I want to say.  I think we’re on opposite sides of the aisle.”

Him again, “Oh, so you’re a Republican.  What do think of Palin?”

Me, “I like her.  I don’t think I could vote for Obama.  I’m pro-life, and he is just too far opposite of me.”

Him, “Well, I’ll never be pro-life.  My wife has worked for special school district for thirty years, and she says she could never be pro-life after all the things she has seen with these kids.”

Me, in my head, silently sitting there, in shock with no expression on my face, “Wow.  I can’t believe you said that.  Who are you? God?  Are you perfect?  Is your wife perfect?”

Choices

To work or not to work, that is the question.

We have been thinking that my getting a job could be a help to our situation.  So on Friday, I had an “interview” for a temp-perm bookkeeping job that is part-time.  I am slated to start on Tuesday.

Benefits:

More income

18 hours a week, home when the kids are home from school

Only 4 miles from our house.

Still able to fit in at-home part-time job

Negatives

More juggling when emergencies arise (ie, picking up a sick kid at school).

Child care issues when school is out for the day (you know, those staff in-services days)

Harder to keep up with things at home.

To complicate things further, after accepting this job, I received a call to interview for a full-time job that I think I would really enjoy.  Plus, though it is full-time, I might be able to negotiate some time flexibility because the company is not offering any benefits with the job.

Right now, I am planning to start the part-time job and interview for the other one on Wednesday.  But I am praying for wisdom.  There are lots of good reasons for me to be more available to my kids, so I might be leaning toward forgetting the full-time option.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could see the future so we could know which choices are the best ones?

Update on the Juggling Act

Some of you may remember this post. Later, I posted this.

Well, last Friday was officially my last day of work at my part-time office job. It took 3 months for us to find a replacement for me and to train her. I wish I could say this is because I am so wonderful, I am hard to replace. But it is really because the situation with the company is so tenuous that it is difficult to find just the right person who is willing to give it a go. But we did find such a person. She is a great fit for the office and for the work itself. However, after a little more than 2 weeks, she could sense a lot of the problems, which is not too surprising. So how long she will last is yet to be seen. The great thing is that this is not my problem! Yeah!!!!!

On my first day of “freedom,” I did some work for my part-time at-home job, ran some errands, took Charis to pre-school in the afternoon, ran some more errands, picked up the kids from school, and then went into the evening routine of homework, dinner, chores, etc. It doesn’t sound very exciting, but it was a good day. It was good not to feel pressured to get stuff done just so I could run somewhere else to get more stuff done.

My second day home has been much more low key. I have done some things around the house and hung out with Charis. With Christmas around the corner, I know I’ll be busy every day for a while, so I thought I would try to have at least one slower day.

I am still feeling a bit concerned lowering our income, but we are praying that my being home will allow Mark more opportunities to build up his business. The transition may be a bit rocky, but we’re hopeful God will bless our efforts. If you feel so inclined, pray along with us.

Manic Mondays and Tuesday Tunes

As the title suggests, this post will be of the combination variety–meshing my thoughts about yesterday with the words to a song, thus touching on the theme of the semi-regular Tuesday Tunes post. Pretty clever, eh?
Do you remember the Bangles? From the 80s? In 1984, they released the song, “Manic Monday.” I remember being a young college student and singing along with it on the radio and thinking, “Yeah, this is how I feel about Monday.” In retrospect, I now know that my days back then were never really “manic.” They were just a little crazy because I was young and stupid.

Well, the Mondays in our house have officially become “Manic.” Mark works a split shift at a local community college as a tutor on Mondays–from 10 – 2 and then from 5 – 9. He gets up with all of us and helps to get the kids out the door. Then he works on writing projects for a little more than an hour until he heads to the part-time job. During the break between 2 and 5, he goes somewhere with free wi-fi to work on more writing stuff, mostly for the new contract job. So, his day is full.

Well, if Mark’s day is full, it sort of has a chain reaction. If you read my recent posts, you saw that I am working while Charis is at pre-school on MWF afternoons. So yesterday was my first Monday of not working in the morning. Overall, it was productive, but it flew by so fast. Before I knew it, 12:30 hit, and I had to get Charis to school and myself to work for my 2+ hours.

Working short hours anywhere is a challenge. But working where I do is even more so because half their equipment doesn’t work right. So I got about an hour’s worth of work done in the 2+ because I had to keep re-booting the computer and the scanner didn’t work!

Then I got the kids, and the homework-dinner hour began. It went fine, but by the time 9:00 PM rolled around, I was ready to relax.

Mark got home after 9:30, and worked for another 3 hours.

So, now that you’ve heard about our “Manic Monday,” here are the lyrics to the Bangles classic. After I googled to find them and actually read them, I was a bit hesitant to post them. I had no recollection of the suggestive part of the chorus. I guess it was one of those songs that I just sang along to and sort of mumbled over parts I didn’t quite catch in my head.

Here are the lyrics:

The Bangles – Manic Monday

Six o’clock already
I was just in the middle of a dream
I was kissin’ Valentino
By a crystal blue Italian stream
But I can’t be late
‘Cause then I guess I just won’t get paid
These are the days
When you wish your bed was already made

It’s just another manic Monday
I wish it was Sunday
‘Cause that’s my funday
My I don’t have to runday
It’s just another manic Monday

Have to catch an early train
Got to be to work by nine
And if I had an air-o-plane
I still couldn’t make it on time
‘Cause it takes me so long
Just to figure out what I’m gonna wear
Blame it on the train
But the boss is already there

All of the nights
Why did my lover have to pick last night
To get down
Doesn’t it matter
That I have to feed the both of us
Employment’s down
He tells me in his bedroom voice
C’mon honey, let’s go make some noise
Time it goes so fast
When you’re having fun

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I Was Doing So Well for A While

At posting, that is. I was posting about twice a week for a little while there. Then September hit. The new school year is in full swing. Helping with homework. The kids’ activities have picked up. The list could go on and on.

Mark’s new contract job has also added to the “busyness” of my life. He has been working really hard learning and doing his new job. He also started a part-time tutoring job for a local community college just before the contract job started. So he has been squeezing 12 hours a week in there, too. Finally, he had just secured a writing gig for a political group creating their “candidate score card” for college students just before starting the new contract job. Oh, and he has some work for a regular writing client to fit in there too. So while he has not been gone all the time, I have had to hold up more of the work load on the homefront with all of this activity. I am not complaining–just reporting. Truly, I am thankful for the work he has secured. We are now praying it will continue for a long time!

My day job is almost over–sort of. I resigned from my day job 2 weeks ago, but because of the company’s tenuous financial state, they really aren’t in a position to replace me. So I have agreed to work 7 – 8 hours a week when Charis is at pre-school. One of the women who used to work there will also be helping with typing reports on a contract basis. But if this doesn’t work out to suit our family situation, I’ll be out of there.

Life is never stagnate, that’s for sure.

I hope that posts in the future bring reports of all the great projects I am completing around home. However, I have already agreed to 2 play dates for Charis on her free afternoons. Her social life may keep me busier than working! But it will be more fun.

Oh, and somehow in addition to being Charis’s activity director and completing massive home improvement projects and exercising, I am going to market Mark’s business. Hmmm . . . we’ll see.

Oh, yeah, I want to read more, too.

Juggling and Other News

Today we got some good news.  Last week Mark went through an interview/testing process for a new job.  A little more than a week later, the company called to say he didn’t get the job.  But with the bad news came an offer to do some very regular contract work for the company.  Yes.  It would have been great to get the full-time gig, but we think the part-time contract work will be enough with Mark’s other clients and part-time tutoring for me to quit my part-time job outside our house.

That’s where the juggling comes in–we (especially Mark) will have a lot of balls in the air to juggle.  I am really thankful that I will be able to resign tomorrow.  I am anxious to spend more time with my little blonde girl during her last year before Kindergarten.  I am anxious to come up with excuses other than my job for not getting the laundry done.  We are thankful for all the balls to juggle!

Now, on to other news  . . . Charis started 3 half-days a week of pre-school today.  She was so tired when I picked her up.  She fell asleep in the five minutes between her school and the big kids’ school.  She said she had a good time. She was really glad to be with kids her own age.  We were glad that she could have some real people to play with in addition to  her imaginary friends.