Kitten Faces

The kids wanted to be kittens today.  The Girl almost always has a grey marker in her hands these days so we did some impromptue face "painting" and I was the first subject!  She colored my nose and then cheeks.  I then did the kids - The Girl thought the The Boy needed more and added to his nose.

I have such great memories of crayola markers tattoos from when I was a kid - I'm glad they get to enjoy this too.

I love these two so much!

Countdown Until The Year: 95

Appreciating the "Day-Job"

I want to start by saying how much I have truly appreciated my day-job.  It has been wonderful and allowed me an inordinate amount of freedom.  I work from home three days a week and in the office only two days a week. 

But the problem has been that really I'm always working.  Since I do work from home I have time separating my work time from my home time.  My work email is always up.  I stop playing with my kids whenever I hear that little "bleep" of a new message.  I've tried compartmentalizing, but it just hasn't worked.  'Day-Job' bleeds over to home-life way more than I want; and I'm sure my home-life has bled into work as well.  I'm here with the kids often but not giving them my full-attention because "that press release needs tweaking" or "that email needs to be sent". 

Soon they will get my 100%.  Or more likely - I'll get 100% of them!

But after all that I have to come back to how great my day-job has been.  I work with wonderful people and I will miss them all. 

This job came at a time when I really needed it.  I had been working for "Company P" but when The Boy was born 11 weeks early (with the accompanying 52 day NICU stay) I couldn't go back to work full time.  He needed me.   We were quarantined for months and told by his doctors that he couldn't go to day care for the first year.  Clearly I couldn't keep my full-time job any longer. 

We also couldn't survive on just one income.  In fact just the switch from my Company P job to Day-Job cut our income nearly in half.  We wouldn't have made it through the year without help from my wonderful Aunt (Hi!).  But in that year we learned how to better economize and the next year we were able to do it without help.

The day-job has been necessary to our family's financials as well as to my sanity.  A few years ago I don't think I was ready to be home full-time.  Even now I'm a little nervous about it.  My days in the office have been a healing balm.  I've needed the escape.  The adult conversations.  The satisfaction that comes from doing a job well. 

My day-job has been wonderful and in many ways I'm sorry to see it go.  But I'm also thrilled that I have this opportunity.  I just wish it hadn't come on the heels of my place of employment being closed.  Its closing leaves a whole in the community and for that I'll always be sad.

For the opportunities my day-job gave me I'll always be thankful.

Countdown to "The Year": 97

100: Countdown to "The Year"

The countdown has begun.
100 days before my day-job ends.

100 days before our new way of life beings.

(Check out more about what this means in the About section.)

Untitled (100) stone sculpture by Stonecoat Ind. Installed in 1986 at Granville Street Bridge, Fairview, Vancouver, Canada.