Thinking Out Loud

Now that I've been back at work for a few months, I have gotten bitten by that helping others bug again. I love helping people communicate! So of course, I have started thinking about my career future again. I feel like I just finished college and was first figuring out what I wanted to do for a career. Only this time I like what I do. I think I just want to do that and more!

So the purpose of this entry is to get some of my thoughts out of my head. I also appreciate your feedback, as I rely on others to help me sort out my thoughts. I am not ready to jump ahead and take any irreversible action at this time. But I'd like to see what my options might be. Also, feel free to play devil's advocate with me, just indicate that you're doing so please. :)

Here are the parts of my job as a speech therapist that I really like:

• working with other people
• helping people with communication impairments make breakthroughs
• working with both patients/clients and families
• making a difference in their lives
• the spiritual high I get when I am in a relationship with a patient and/or family member
• how people seem to see my faith in me
• how I get to see others' faith in action
• teaching/training others

Here are things I don't necessarily do now but would like to do in a career:

• public speaking
• be able to communicate on a very basic level in Spanish when needed
• teaching
• counseling
• provide multiple services for others through my own skills or a network of professionals/charity organizations

Here are some reasons why I need to take this slowly:

• uncertainty of James' employment future
• I tend to get ahead of myself at times
• I already have a lot of commitments to others, especially to my family at this time
• My family must be my priority
• What if God is calling me to something new and different? How do I discern that?
  

Clean Playroom!

I'm very happy with the new and improved playroom. I (with significant help from MC) have tossed a kitchen trashbag-full of broken, outdated, no longer wanted and not suited to give away stuff. (Actually MC removed a few things from the trash. Her help was with the rest of the project.)

We removed some toys that are used for periodic play and stored them in the basement. We rearranged the furniture so that the rug in the middle of the room is absolutely bare. MC showed me how she can now dance in there. We dusted and vacuumed too, and it looks great. Only thing is now that she's got space to play in there, she's taken out all of her doll and stuffed animal friends and is playing with them in the (clean) living room. But that's okay, because the dolls and animals have homes in the playroom. It will be easy to clean them up tonight before going to bed. Oh, if only we can keep it this way.... (fingers crossed).

I have to add that after I wrote this, MC initiated cleaning up her dolls and animals from the living room before she started watching Dora on tv. She said from now on she would always put things away before starting to play with something else. I did not have to say anything to her - all her idea! I love it!

Birthday Sleepover

Happy Birthday, J! He is 9 years old today. We are currently finishing up his first sleepover. Two of his good friends spent the night here last night. We had lasagna and ceasar salad for supper (Jay's BD supper request), then went to see the movie "Shorts" which overall was a success, I think. One of his friends got up 5 or 6 times in the night, but doesn't remember any of it. And we thought Jay's sleepwalking was bad! This morning for breakfast we had bacon, apple slices and birthday cake. Then he got to open his presents.

The boys have been well-behaved, and MC has been a trooper. She came down with a cold last night, but she came with us to the movie and is now participating in Wii golf with the boys. We have 30 more minutes to go before pick-up.

Some of my favorite childhood memories were from birthday and slumber parties that my mom (I now realize) worked so hard behind the scenes to make happen for me. Thanks, Mom! I hope that my kids will have good memories of these parties too.

It's very interesting. Here in Raleigh, most of the birthday parties my kids have gone to have been held at some venue outside the home. All of the ones I went to were at my friends' houses. Perhaps that was because we were in the country and there weren't so many options. Many of my friends look at me in bewilderment when I say what we're doing for my kids' birthdays. "You're brave," they say. I'm just trying to foster friendships and create good memories.

And hopefully today there will be an opportunity for me to take a nap!

Cutting an Apron String

Today was a milestone in my life and in my son's. The family drove him to Charlotte, where he boarded a plane as an unaccompanied minor and flew to Huntsville AL. His grandparents were there to pick him up. It was wonderful to hear his excited voice calling from their cell phone at the Huntsville airport. It's a little strange around here without him, but I'm so happy he has this opportunity.

Time for a new post

Here are a couple of blog-worthy things to share:

1. yesterday MC gave me some early Mother's Day presents that she had made. (J also gave me some that he had made, and they were wonderful too.) My favorite gift she made for me was a piece of white paper with smaller, cut-out pieces of white paper glued down onto the big piece. It was then folded in half while the glue was still wet. When presented to me, she said I should open it up. The partially-dried globs of glue made it a little challenging to unfold completely. I commented that I liked the design made by the ripped paper. J asked her what it was. I am the proud owner of "something you can do when you don't want to do what you have to do" - I know you are jealous!

2. also yesterday I came downstairs to find MC holding a handful of chocolate cheesecake at the bottom of the stairs, saying, "mmmm. chocolate!" Then a piece of the cheesecake fell onto the floor. I escorted her into the kitchen where the refrigerator door was left open, and the aluminum foil that contained two large pieces of chocolate cheesecake was opened and sitting on her chair at the table. A rather large chunk was missing from one piece. I let her eat the rest of it, but told her she was finished with dessert for the rest of the day! I had been planning to offer her some of the cheesecake for dessert after supper. We had gotten it from the baker who didn't want to take it home from a party James and I went to the night before last. She has started trying to reach things and do things by herself lately. Unfortunately, it means I have to be more vigilant when we're alone in the house. I have gotten spoiled by her relative independence lately. But now she's pushing chairs up to the refrigerator and the pantry and trying to get to things that were put up high for a reason. Especially with snacks, she goes for the less nutritious things and fills up on those when I'm not looking. So I'm going to have to look more. Or install some more challenging locks or obstacles to keep her out.

3. I haven't been working out for the past three-plus weeks because I've been working at my research job when Curves is open. it's really not a good excuse. I could have gotten up early and walked in my neighborhood, or done floor exercises at home, or put in my pilates DVD and worked out that way. I could have run a little too, if I had really wanted to. But I did get to Curves today because I'm not working today. In fact this is my last week at that job until there is more data to rate in November. I burned 508 calories, according to the Curves software, and I did some floor exercises after I finished the circuit. I also did push-ups again for the first time in a month, I think. I didn't make it to 26, which I had previously been able to do in three spurts. I did make it to 20, though, in four spurts. It feels good to have worked out today. I know I have some work to do to make exercise a priority in my daily life when I have a busy schedule. While this job is ending for now, I have enjoyed working again, and I hope to find some other part-time work in the near future. James still is employed at his long-time job, at least for today. We're grateful for that.

Organizing

Yesterday I made a decision that we were going to order pizza for supper instead of me cooking. I used the time to pick up the living room. It is still dusty and needing the vacuum, but the floor and furniture are clear of debris and it actually looks peaceful. It also feels peaceful to go in there right now. MC said, "wow Mommy, you cleaned up!" She seemed very happy about it. She also made a point of showing me how she put some toys she had brought into the living room back in the play room when she had finished with them. I praised her big-time for that. Then she started saying how her room is really messy and she should clean it up. This morning she said she thought the playroom would never get cleaned up. I told her it definitely would. Now that we have the living room clean, we can keep it clean and then work our way into the playroom. In fact, my next living space to organize after my desk is going to be the playroom. I picked it because I know having that room as an enticing place to play will make a big impact on the neatness of the living room and the dining room. Those rooms have become alternate play areas since the playroom has probably less than 4 square feet of total empty floor space. Walking through it is definitely like going through an obstacle course!

I am encouraged that MC is noticing my efforts and independently expressing interest in helping me keep things neat, as well as that she might actually care about the clutter. I had thought that no one else cared about it in the family. It will certainly help me to stay on track with an ally like her.

Another Full Day

Here is some of what I've done today:

1. woke up around 7:15 and helped get kids ready for school
2. took MC to school at 9:15
3. worked out at Curves
4. visited a friend at her new office for 15 minutes
5. picked up MC from school with my mom and went to Costco
6. divided up the Costco goods with my mom - this is becoming a regular thing that we do
7. sent an email regarding ECW work from yesterday and also left a voicemail about this
8. prepared the lesson plan and made up trivia questions for the children's choir rehearsal I directed this evening
9. talked with my choir director about my decision to not sing with them at rehearsal tonight and on Good Friday
10. called James for help with kids tonight (usually he is on his own on Wed. nights and picks up the kids from church at 7:00 and then I go to adult choir rehearsal) - I figured MC was way too grumpy to cooperate with me (she fell into a deep sleep and had a very hard time waking up) and J should probably stay home tonight since he's behind on his sleep, has had some breathing trouble, and has been generally uncooperative recently. Especially last night after I finished this blog. he had a meltdown over some homework that was challenging. He asked for help but would not accept it as given (sorry, Momme, I remember treating you the same way over math homework). Yelling and screaming pursued - mostly his this time. Ultimately he finished his homework and went to sleep at around 9:45 pm.
11. went to children's choir rehearsal (again planning not to take J, but he followed me to the car and it would have taken James and me both to physically restrain him in order for him not to go, so he came along)
12. J and I "discussed" his behavior and my expectations of him during and after rehearsal while we were sitting in the parking lot before we went into church. Thank God for child safety locks!
13. Completed rehearsal, and brought J home
14. started this blog entry
15. I'm sure there are more things that would be worth mentioning, but they're not coming to mind right now. So I'll sign off. I've got to go to my job tomorrow, and I have a lot of preparing to do for our church retreat this weekend.
16. For the record, all is going well at this very moment. J is finishing his homework and MC just came out of the bathroom clean and dressed in pajamas after her shower - yes shower. She's really a big girl now, you know.
17. Oops! MC just brought her wet doll into the living room and it dripped on J's homework which was left on the floor. Let's hope it all works out alright.