Jenn's Zen

With the little girl having turned five, thus beginning Kindergarten soon, the inevitable has arrived. The question of whether or not to return to work outside the home. For some reason when people ask, “what do you do?” and you answer “I’m a stay-at-home-mom” they expect you to be home with someone younger than the age of five. I’m not sure why, but it is so. If they find out you are staying at home with a seven year old there is a look that comes over them and all of a sudden they act as though they feel embarrassed for you or some such thing.

This however is no easy decision. The questions begin immediately, full-time? Part-time? What type of job? Do you look for something similar to what you did before having a child or something new? Does the new venture require after-school care? What about school breaks? Do you need to brush up on your skills? Can you make enough to cover the new expenses? Can you actually get hired? All of these things have to be addressed. Ultimately the goal is to find something that is PERFECT. Perfect for your family. I’ve been brainstorming this for months.

Do I continue to nanny? I can bring the little girl whenever necessary and this current family respects me and is very generous. Do I try to admin again? I love doing it, but the schedule blows. A tele-commuting admin kind of defeats the purpose. I briefly considered passing out resumes to various Doc offices to see if anyone needed a part-time, track three mommy to fill in. That seemed complicated.

What I’ve finally decided to pursue will probably come as no surprise to those who know me well. I’ve decided to put in an application for a teacher’s assistant and get on the same track as E. This way I’ll have the days off when she does for the most part. The pay is alright and I truly think I’d like the job. Years ago I went to school for elementary ed, so those thoughts and desires of helping to shape young minds still lurk within my soul.

So, today that’s my plan. We’ll see how it goes. Stay tuned for more updates.

So, I’m getting ready to watch a new episode of Grey’s Anatomy. I’ve been watching other shows on ABC (Sunday night reality shows that make me cry every single time) and I’ve seen the marketing gurus’ attempts at a heartfelt commercial with the leaves and growth and good thoughts. I was thus led to believe that new episodes would be coming soon, as soon as this week. As I’m writing this JD and I are suffering through Miss Guided – a show shamelessly aimed at my demographic. And only during this show did I realize that Grey’s Anatomy would not be following at 9:00 pm. This led me to ABC’s site to inquire as to when new episodes would start. April(FREAKIN’) 24th?!? Are you kidding me?

So, unfortunately, thanks to the writer’s strike, I’ve been without my fav show for months. I know they’ve made the re-runs available, but seriously, I haven’t missed an episode since the show started. Catching up is not exactly what I needed. I needed to know what my kids were up to at Seattle Grace.  I needed to know how Meredith and McDreamy were doing. I needed to know if George and Izzy were still each other’s best friend. I needed to know how Christina was coping. I needed to know if Bailey’s marriage is going to survive. A re-run was going to solve nothing.

A few weeks ago I read an article that stated post strike only a few hit shows would be returning to finish out the season. After being concerned that some of the shows I’d already grown attached to (think Dirty Sexy Money, Private Practice and Big Shots) were possibly in danger of being canceled I realized something slightly unspoken yet completely implied in the article. I realized that with the few shows finishing out the season that’s all they plan on doing… finish out the season.

WHAT?! They owe me.  Shonda Rhimes and her staff owe me a FULL season of shows.  What is that usually?  23/26 shows? I think they maybe got 10-12 episodes in before the strike.  THEY OWE ME!!! I’ll be here all summer, I’m ready, bring it on. 12 new shows would easily pull me through the hot, humid, BORING TV, summer. I know they were plotting, scheming and writing during the strike. You know, not officially, but just enough so that they are completely and totally caught up. Taking the summer off is not an option. 90210 did it years ago, it was a beautiful thing appreciated by fans the world over. Are new shows throughout the summer such a bad thing? I think not. Besides, they owe me!

With a visit from out of town family scheduled for later this week I thought it a good idea to clean out the car today. We (E was a fabulous helper) sorted the trash from the treasures.  Then the trash was sorted recyclable and true trash.  We tossed stinky smoothie cups, languished over the beauty of a black straw and pulled the booster seat out.  I held the booster upside down and a fine mist of crumbs and glitter hit the driveway.  Then I delved into the little girl’s booster cup holder.  There I found the following objects:

• a perfect shell no bigger than my thumbnail
• a nickel
• a straw wrapper
• three strands of short yarn
• several misc. stickers
• two sequins of different shape and color

The car is now clear, and the seat put back in, however I think the vacuuming will have to wait for tomorrow.  Let’s hear it for sunny weather!

This entry inspired by LCB  and her posts about what she finds in her sons pockets.

“Gram isn’t wrong, she’s just silly.”

This is a recent, soon to be classic, E-quote. It came about because E kept asking me about “the elevators” as we were driving down the highway. (I know it isn’t just us, what is it about these car conversations?)

Me: “What elevators?!”

her: “The ones by Target.”

Me: “E, there aren’t any elevators by Target, there is an elevator at Kohl’s”

We drive by Target and she points to the bus stop booths.

her: “Those, Gram said those are the elevators.”

Me: “Well, Gram is wrong because those are bus stops, not elevators.”

her: “Gram isn’t wrong, she’s just silly.”

Defending her Gram to the end.  Gotta love that!