Life in a nutshell

Summer is here (well not officially until next week) and with that, the craziness has started. My stepson is home & is playing baseball. Real baseball with balls being pitched at him. He’s been playing catcher, and loving it!

There have been lots of walks, trips for ice cream, bedtimes later than normal bedtimes, and lots of playing in the backyard. And very little time for me to do anything else. No real complaints about no time for laundry & other household chores, but the to do list is starting to get insane!

And now I’m being called for a game of Sorry Spin by my stepson. So I shall for now!

 

Knowledge is Power

I love knowledge. I enjoy learning new things, increasing my knowledge of information I’ve learned at some point. I read self-help books for fun, just to see what different theories are out there. I read books and articles on areas of interest just because I want to know more. I firmly believe that knowledge is power.

Before deciding to attack law school, I changed my mind about my college major 10 times before deciding to sign on to be a Psychology major (which I also changed later). And that’s no exaggeration. I went through 10 academic focuses before I made of my mind. And I have the transcript to prove it. Music Theory and Anatomy & Physiology (yes, I had a cadaver) meet Teaching 101 and Marketing for Business. I didn’t change my mind because I couldn’t handle it, but more because I found I was more interested in other areas. I’d get so involved in one aspect of each major that I’d want to learn more about that. Or a personal interest I had would become something I would want to focus on in my education. Why shouldn’t I have a career in something that I already love?

Eventually, I made up my mind and stuck out my education plan. But that decision didn’t change my inability to decide on one set focus area. At least not with the many choices in concentrations and courses that law school gave to me. I wanted to learn everything. The idea of choosing one concentration, while losing the option to learn other areas, drove me bananas.  I ended up choosing the concentration that allowed for the broadest course selection. But didn’t get to take every course that I wanted. My law school could have made a killing on me if I had! At one point in my course planning, I had at least 10 more credit hours than were required to graduate. In the end, I was able to learn more about many of the areas I had an interest in practicing as a lawyer.

When I entered law school, I made the decision that after I finished my JD, within 5 years, I would go on to get my LL.M. When I graduated 2 years ago, that was still the plan. Now, as I’m trying to decide which program and school I want to apply for, with the market the way it is for lawyers, I’m stuck wondering if I shouldn’t pursue my LL.M. I still find value in the degree and knowledge that I would gain. So, in that aspect, my answer is yes, I should continue my plan. But then I consider the value that it will add to my career path, and I’m not sure if it would really give me an edge in the market when most job possibilities require 5-10 years of experience. Education gives me the necessary knowledge to perform as a lawyer, but it cannot give me those years of experience.

At this point, I’m weighing my options of pursuing my LL.M. compared to pursuing a non-legal advanced degree. The problem, again, is that I have too many interests when it comes to choosing what would be my focus. I want to focus on something that I love, that would enhance my legal practice, and one that makes the most sense for my family. I don’t mind working long hours. I say bring it on to a difficult challenge. And I’m not looking to change careers, I still want to be a lawyer. Just a better educated one. But I don’t want to get stuck in a practice area that slowly kills me because I lack the true desire and commitment.

Knowledge is not only power. It’s my superpower, and I will grow that power!

 

Sick days

I had been to work for just over an hour on Monday when my sitter told me that my daughter was warm and not acting like herself. So I went home to find a smiling child who wanted to play and eat. As the morning progressed, her temperature got a bit higher and she stopped playing.

This is her third go round with not feeling well. I’m definitely not complaining, in 15 months she has only been ill three times. And by ill I mean a slight fever and a little bit of vomit, with the fever going away with a little Tylenol & some rest or all on its own. I consider us very lucky!

My only complaint is that she hasn’t been herself. She tries. With every energy burst, she’s quick to try and play. Unfortunately, there also comes a quick realization that she’s not feeling well yet, so she starts to whine. I’m pretty sure she hates being sick way more than I feel bad for her.

We have been enjoying the large amount of cuddle time that comes with her being sick. That is a bonus. Although, I would give up all this extra cuddling for her to be 100% back to her normal fun, lively self.

Today has been a day of cuddles and watching Disney channel. We don’t let the kids watch too much television, but I find no problem making an exception when they’re feeling under the weather. Plus, the weather just makes it a cuddle-up-with-a-blanket-and-watch-some-tv kind of day.

Hopefully today is the end of this battle with illness. Her temperature has been normal since early morning. And she’s been resting. So, here’s hoping!

 

House hunting

We’re currently on the hunt for a new house. We’ve been in our current home for about 5 years, and are now out of room. When we bought the house it seemed so spacious. Of course that was before moving in my stuff, my husband’s stuff & a large amount of kid stuff. Add to that a new baby, and planning for at least 1 more child. We’re gonna need a bigger house!

The actual hunt has it’s ups and downs. Most of the downs come from my need for perfection. The perfect house that has everything I could want for the rest of my life. The perfect location for work, kids education, access to the city, surrounding view, etc. The perfect size to fit our growing family. The perfect timing. The perfect house. Which doesn’t seem to exist. At least not unless I want to build my own. And, well, I just don’t have that kind of time. Or patience.

I’ve been passively looking for over a year. Since before my daughter was born. We’ve recently started actively looking. That has resulted in well over 70 houses on my “possibility” list. Holy cats that’s a lot of houses! And we’re still looking. But I’m pretty sure we need to reduce that list by well over half because I don’t think our realtor wants to show us that many houses. I’m pretty sure I drove him bananas with the purchase of our current home.

Wish us luck & sanity. House hunting & selling tips (from non bots) are welcome!

 

Happy Mother’s Day

It’s late in the evening but I wanted to wish a happy mother’s day to the wonderful women out there. I hope you all had a great day, and felt loved and appreciated.

I celebrated with my mom earlier in the week because my husband is oncall this weekend, so we don’t make any plans. Today has been a lot of just hanging out with my daughter & husband. We shopped, ate, played, and house hunted. Pretty normal day, with the addition of sweet cards from my parents, husband & kids, and absolutely beautiful roses.

Happy Mother’s Day y’all!

 

Run Away Spot

Our family dog & I have an interesting relationship. I love that the kids & my husband love him, I love that he accepts being mauled by either of the kids & tormented by the cats who clearly rule the animal kingdom in our house. However, that is all I love about him a majority of the time.

In the summer, when we’re all running around the backyard or playing at the lake, I enjoy playing with him. Watching him run around in the snow is also enjoyable. His hyperactive nature is not pleasant in the house though. Especially when trying to wrangle up two kids for bed or getting out the door, or making dinner while he chases the cats in play.

And then there are days like yesterday, which has happened for the third time now. I let him out to roam around the fenced in backyard freely, to potty, to play, to chase little black squirrels endlessly. After getting my daughter breakfast and picking up around the house, I opened the door expecting to see his tail wagging in excitement to come in for a refreshing drink of water. That’s not what I saw. So I called. And called. And. Called. He didn’t come. Ugh. He had escaped the backyard. Again. So I went to the front door and called for him. No dog. My daughter finished breakfast & off we went in search of the dog. No luck.

As we pull up to the house, almost 45 minutes after I noticed he was gone, I see him hanging out in the front yard waiting to come in.

Either he’s really smart, or really stupid, for finding his way back home. It’s a good thing the kids love that dog so much. I was not a happy camper!

 

Simple things in life

I had started writing about how I enjoy the simple things in life, such as cuddling my daughter on a lazy Saturday. But said cuddly daughter decided transform into a monster and somewhere in the midst of tending to her, my husband deleted what I had written. I left the draft title in hopes of remembering what I had started, but no dice. And now I’m too tired to figure out what I could have possibly been writing about.

Simple things. The smell right before and after rain. Kisses from my daughter. Attacks from my stepson. Those glances from my husband. Walks to the park. Sitting on the dock at sunset thinking about nothing but God’s beauty.

Those are just a few of the things that I love the most in life.

 

Vacation from vacation

My stepson is home for spring break this week so we planned a mini vacation to the water park. It’s amazing how tired one gets from just one overnight. I feel like I need another vacation. And I got the easy part of running around with the little kid instead of the big kid. I left that one for daddy to handle!! At least until the little one needed a nap, then nana took over & then I played some water basketball. It was a good time. With the exception of the other people anyway.

Other people. Ugh. I have the patience of a gnat. I know I’m bad. But because I refuse to live in a bubble cooped up at home, I deal with people. Sometimes quietly, other times not so quiet. In settings like this, where there a lots of kids, I expect to be annoyed & am prepared for that. Kids are mostly innocent and overwhelmed by the excitement of playing, especially at a waterpark. But their parents. I expect more from them. Not that they can’t be excited or that they shouldn’t channel their inner child. Or even be slightly lax in their normal rules for the day. It’s a special occasion afterall. But to let them completely run wild & have no respect for others around them drives me crazy. I was actually yelling at parents because they were acting like children and being oblivious to those around them. I shouldn’t have to yell at other parents on my vacation.

When’s my next vacation scheduled? Not any time soon. I need to relax.

 

Frequency

With my newfound desire (again) to actually write, I’ve given quite a bit of thought into how often I would post. Before, in another blog life, I wrote almost daily. Sometimes multiple times in a day. That was back during law school. When I was avoiding studying. And working full-time. And admittedly, avoiding some of my work. Although, I’m quite the multi-tasker, so I still managed to keep up my work. (Read: I’m not a slacker, I just had a lot of free time in my secretarial position)

I think writing daily might be a bit much for right now. Especially given my track record for posts in the past few years. I’m aiming for 2-3 times/week, and working up from there. I figure that’s a good jumping off, and doesn’t set me up for failure.

And I promise, there will be more than just “what I want to do with this blog” posts. Because oh my hell, how boring is that! No wonder I have no readers. Or at least very few. All that has just been easy, I don’t have to worry about who’s reading what I write type blabber to get me back in the habit of writing. I swear I’m more creative. Not much more. But I can at least provide better nonsense.

So. There you have it. I’ve posted twice in a week. Here’s hoping for #3 by Sunday! Don’t expect anything in the next couple days. Lots of family time happening through the weekend!

 

This is a test

A test to see how long it actually takes me to post some form of content. Yes, I’d like for it to be meaningful, but since it’s only a test I’m good with just rambling. It took me less than a minute to get that thought from brain to post.

The point of this post? For me to figure out if I can actually keep this up if I were to make a real effort. Given the two minutes that have passed, I’d lean towards yes.

So. No more stupid excuses. I’m giving myself one last chance to make this work. I love writing. I miss writing. I’m just so quick to say it takes too long or I don’t have time. Lame. I’ve still got two minutes to spare before I planned on getting the kids up!

Wish me luck. Hopefully you’ll be hearing more from me. I swear I’ve got good stories to share. Or at least the ability to write nonsense.