How I was awarded the “NOT Mom of the Year” Award (& Week #2)
03 Feb 2011 6 Comments
in Weekly Update Tags: appreciate, children, cleaning, confession, earn money, family, goal, housekeeping, husband, mommy, mother, wife, worst mother
So I felt really good about week #1, and I was ready to go with week 2. I knew it was going to be a tough week because Tuesday was my birthday and Saturday we were gone for a youth retreat. But I was pumped and ready!
When Tuesday came around, I decided to take the day easy (remember it was my birthday). So I didn’t get too much done on my daily cleaning list. Then I decided that I didn’t want to cook dinner (and why should I, again, it’s my birthday). So I loaded up the girls before Matt got home, went to the post office to see if I had any birthday money in the mail to pay for this birthday meal, and this is where it gets bad…
When I got to the post office, I decided to leave the van running. It was cold out and I wanted to give the van a chance to warm up. I got out of the car, closed my door, went to open the side door to get the girls out, and found that I had somehow managed to lock the car! The keys AND THE GIRLS were locked inside.
I was very grateful that the car was still running (although, if it wasn’t I probably would have had my keys and thus not been locked out) and the girls weren’t freezing (the way I was in my flip-flops). But I was still freaking out!
I tried Matt first, hoping he could keep me thinking rationally and maybe help me find the right number to call. But no answer. Next I tried the Rockaway Beach police, but the only number I found for them sent me straight to an answering machine that said I wouldn’t get a call back till the next day. Tried Matt again. No answer. Started crying. Sent him a desperate 911 text. Called 911 (don’t know if this counts as an emergency, but I sure felt like it did). They informed me that if they did anything, it would include breaking a window. But they gave me the number for a locksmith. Tried it. Didn’t work. Looked it up myself. Frantically explained to the lady what was going on. Got a condescending “What? You locked your babies in your car?!?!” (aka YOU ARE A HORRIBLE MOTHER!!!). Gave directions to where I was. Hung up. Cried. Took a deep breath. Cried some more, and waited for the locksmith to arrive.
The girls were fine; Kaylynn was laughing the whole time and even though Kennedy was upset, she was physically okay. Once Matt got home he took us to Arby’s (he doesn’t like Arby’s so he didn’t get anything).
2 hours later, Matt and I were both crawling to the toilet sick. And that is how we spent Wednesday as well. In the time we have been married neither one of us has ever been that sick and definitely not at the same time. Needless to say, I didn’t even look at my list for Wednesday. So now I’m two days behind and I don’t have my normal Saturday catch-up day.
Those are my excuses. Here’s how the goals for week 2 looked:
Add daily bathroom cleaning tasks- I only did this 2 days of the week.
Add tidy up the living spaces daily- this got done once
Create list for ways to appreciate Matt- Thank you for your help!
Start re-learning calculus- I’m gonna update you to the present on this one, but first let me back up a little. I’m sure you are thinking to yourself, why in the world is she doing this! Well, I have always been a math geek. I know, strange, but its true. I took calculus in both high school and as a freshman in college and really enjoyed it. (Okay seriously, I know you are looking at me like I’m crazy. Please stop. I’m sure you have some weird quirks too.)
Anyway, I found a website where I can sign up to be an online tutor and start out getting paid around $9/hr. Everything I read about it sounds legit, but right now they are only hiring for calculus, statistics, and physics. I’ve never had statistics and I’m okay at science but I don’t think I could tutor someone in it. Since its been 8 or 9 years since I took calculus, I’m trying to refresh my memory before I sign up.
My plans to start relearning it was to 1) print off class notes that a university professor has posted online (he has them there so that anyone can learn calculus without having to sit in the classroom) and 2) study for 30 minutes every day.
Well we ran out of ink for our printer, so I couldn’t print it. Last week I got more ink, but when I got the notes ready to print I discovered it was 584 pages! I wasn’t about to use up that much paper and ink, and started looking for other options. I thought about having Fedex or Office Depot print it for me but that would still cost me $35-50. So this week I went to Books A Million and bought the Calculus for Dummies Book and Workbook for $30. And now I have two sources to refer to. If I get stuck in the For Dummies book, I can check out Paul’s Notes for more help.
I started looking at it last night and got through the first 3 chapters. I’m hoping to be ready to take the test at tutor.com in 2 weeks. This will put me a little behind schedule on this goal, but at least I’m still getting it done.
In conclusion…
I had a pretty bad week. But I’m not letting that discourage me. Some weeks are going to be great and some weeks aren’t. I just have to keep going and remember why I’m doing all this. In 6 months, when I look back at this part of my journey, I know that I will be grateful for the lessons learned. Even the moms and wives that I look up to the most have bad weeks and I have to keep this in perspective.
Alright, now I’m dying to know… If you were to be awarded the “NOT mom or wife of the year” award what would it be for?
Here’s the Weekend Update
10 May 2010 4 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: christianity, clean, confession, family, goal, God, home, housekeeping, mother, organize
Well, I haven’t been doing so great on goal #1 since my last post. I have not had a quiet time 3 out of the past 4 days. I had decided to spend at least 15 minutes every night before bed reading my Bible and praying, but lately I’ve been staying up so late that I’ve been too tired. I’m going to try and go to bed earlier this week, but if I don’t get better at having my quiet times, then I will have to find a new time slot to have them.
As for goal #2, I’ve done alright. Friday was a good day and I got a lot accomplished, but Saturday and Sunday ended up being family days so I didn’t work on the house at all.
Friday, I cleaned all of Kaylynn’s big toys like her Jumperoo and Laugh ‘n Learn Playhouse. I hadn’t let her play in the Jumperoo for probably a month because of the amount of dust that had collected on it. After I cleaned it, she was so happy to play in it again that she stayed in it for an hour. That gave me time to dust and clean our entertainment center.
Two things I learned about Murphy’s Concentrated Oil Soap…
1.) I really love how it smells, but maybe that’s just because I’m pregnant; and
2.) you should always keep the lid on it. It is a concentrated soap and the label says “pure vegetable oil.” These two factors, make it very difficult to clean a large spill off the carpet.
Confession of the week: our insurance company will not insure our home anymore because we do not have central heating and air. An agent from another insurance company was suppose to inspect our house this morning and then give us a quote to be insured by them.
Here is the confession: I had my husband call and say that “something came up” because I couldn’t stand the thought of someone walking through my messy home. Yikes! Please tell me I’m not the only one who has ever done this. This blog is a safe place; let’s hear your confessions.
