Friday, September 02, 2011

A Lazy Blogger's Update

I find myself not feeling like writing lately. Perhaps it is the five-day weekend I am still recovering from. Or maybe that all three of my babies are in school now. Or perhaps it's the fact that I am fully involved in a search for a new job now. Whatever the reason, every time in the last week or so that I have sat down to write, I have come up with nothing. Nada. Zilch. I have plenty going on in my life to write about. As a matter of fact, I am in the midst of huge changes that should evoke some funny, or at least moderately embarrassing, stories to share. But here I sit with nothing to write.

Rather than staring at this page, wracking my brain to come up with something—anything—even remotely creative or entertaining, I am going to take the easy way out. Rather than stringing together words to make sentences and sentences to make paragraphs and paragraphs to make titillating narratives, I am simply going to use that age-old blogger's tool of laziness and creative inertia. I am going to make a list. A list of the highlights of my recent days. I apologize in advance.

1. Sophie did fairly well the first day of kindergarten. There were a few tears, but she managed to be somewhat brave. Day two was a different story altogether. Reality sank in and crocodile tears flowed. She clutched Ruanita's neck with eagle-like talons and refused to let go. Ruanita ended up hanging out in class for quite a while before Sophie finally settled and she was able to sneak out the door.

2. Nicholas does not need his mothers. He is a kindergarten rock star. On the first day, he clapped his hands enthusiastically and actually yelled “Weee!” when his teacher asked him to find his hook and hang up his backpack. He went straight to his desk and began looking at books. When Ruanita and I left the room, he didn't even making eye contact as he waved us out the door.

3. I am not sure about Lucas' teacher this year. We loved—LOVED—his second grade teacher. She was warm and enthusiastic and sweet and warm. Did I mention warm? His third grade teacher is cut from a different cloth. Of course, I am going by first impressions here. Snap judgments are the work of the devil, but I can't seem to help myself. Whereas his previous teacher was tall and, umm, voluptuous like yours truly, his third grade teacher is this tiny, mousy little thing. Not much taller than Lucas. With a pointy nose and beady little eyes. She looks fragile. Like a third grader could easily break her in half. She was nice enough, but she didn't ooze warmth. I didn't connect with her the way I did Mrs. Alman. It's early in the year, however. Lucas seems to like her well enough. We'll see how it all plays out.

4. I am need of a job. A full-time job. My first full-time job in almost six years. Though I was completely convinced that my current employer could absolutely not manage without me and would jump excitedly at the chance to have me as a full-time employee, things did not pan out as I had imagined. There is no room in this small company's budget for another full-time employee at this time. So.....I am tweaking my resume and sending out applications. We would be perfectly fine financially with Ruanita at home for a year were it not for insurance costs. We received a notice in the mail the other day about COBRA coverage to continue our current insurance though Ruanita's employer. $1300-something a month. I almost choked on my Diet Pepsi. That's nearly as much as our mortgage payment. So against my will and against everything that is decent and holy, I am going to have to get a job. A real job. A grown-up job. Anyone want to hire me?

5. Ruanita and I are doing better than I expected living together again seven days a week. I expected a fairly lengthy adjustment period. I expected some major arguments as we both encroached on one another's territories. Let's be honest—I expected full-on screaming throw-downs as we acclimated ourselves to seeing each other more often than simply on weekends. None of that has panned out. We have managed to adjust fairly smoothly. I love having her at home. The kids love having her at home. And I think she is finally letting her guard down a bit and allowing herself to enjoy being at home, as well. We eat dinner at the kitchen table as a family. We turn off the television in the afternoon and make the kids play as kids should. Video game time is more limited. We read stories before bed—all five of us and the dog crammed together on our living room sofa. It's been the picture of familial bliss. If I am being honest, it is freaking weird. But I am not going to over think it. No, I am not going to analyze it. Rather, I am going to laugh haughtily in the face of my natural instincts and just enjoy it.

My life is busy these days. And weird. Weird in a good way. But definitely still weird.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loved this list this morning for my first blog of the day.

Jessica said...

Still a good post. Make sure you look into other insurance options, you don't have to do COBRA (it is SUPER expensive). I highly recommend a high deductible HSA plan. It includes coverage of some preventative maintenance, but then beyond that you pay until you hit a pretty high deductible--it is coverage for when the worst happens. But you are all young and healthy, it would probably work for you for the year.

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