Invention Convention Update

Well, as luck would have it - the kid WON her division of the Invention Convention (first grade)! Which means we get to go to STATE! (in a town full of shopping outlets and the best pancakes around - not so terrible). She is excited, although she is not quite sure why.

Honestly, her invention is pretty cool but I think what really swayed the judges was that she did the assembly of the model herself (she's the princess of the glue stick) and wrote the description and drew the model and explained it herself. As opposed to a lot of kids who had their parents help them, especially with the writing of the description - that's pretty lame.

So we're off. And next time you're at the baggage claim in the airport, you might see our invention come to life!

Drive Thru Obligation

As I was driving to work today, paused at a red light behind 5 other cars, some jerk tried to ease his car in front of me as he was pulling out of Dunkin' Donuts. No "May I" eyebrow, no "can I please" wave, no "do you mind if I" head bob. Nothing.

What is my obligation to let someone out into traffic? It really bugs me when people assume they have the right to cut into the line, just because I am stopped there. I feel that I have no moral, social or traffic-like responsibility to let them in with their takeout coffee and breakfast croissant. Especially if they are yapping on the phone at the time.

If another driver respectfully asks non-verbal permission, most often I will allow them in. However, those who do not ask nicely, do not receive.

Stumping at the Invention Convention

What possible invention can a 6 year old come up with for a school project?! Talk about a mind bender...And it's required. And it has to work. Or have the potential to work. And she is hopeless at coming up with an idea so we have to come up with it.



I looked online and most of the projects are completed by older kids and require sophisticated technology (e.g. hammer banging on toothpaste tube). Most of this stuff's been done already and I think the teacher will know if we cheat.



Putting on my thinking cap.....

Sleeping Alone (for a week)

Hooray! My husband is going on a business trip for almost a whole week! Yay - the bed to myself! No tightie whities on the floor! No meat and potatoes meals to cook! Although emptying the litter boxes will suck, there won't be any tracked in dirt, no jackets hanging on dining room chairs, nobody SWEATING on me in the night! I will be slightly lonely, but I have the kid, the cats and the dog so I think we'll be ok.

I can go to bed at 9! No flipping the channels! I can watch QVC or the Food Network or Lifetime! No repeating myself 3 times because he didn't heard me the first 2! No getting in my way while I'm trying to cook/clean/work! No hair on the soap!

Ok, I hope he has a good time and he gets home safe. It's not like he's going to Russia or anything. He'll be back Friday.

In the meantime I plan to don my nicest pajamas and enjoy having the bed all to myself!

Opportunity Knocking (timidly)

Is there anything a mid career professional dreads more than the forced job search? While I am still gainfully (and thankfully) employed, there are rumblings of layoffs, etc. because the CEO has brought in an FNG (f*&^% new guy) - a.k.a. the "hatchet man". So people are nervous and rumors are percolating and conjecture reigns supreme. The good news is that I have a lot of "transferable skills" and could temp if I needed to, but I really hate just dusting off the interview suit (control top, anyone), making sure I have those 5 really tough interview questions ready to go and making work excuses not to show up. It's exhausting. Hey, if the New Guy is going to improve my life and make my job better - I'm cool with that. However, if a better opportunity comes along, I'm not going to just turn it down without doing a good pro and con list.

Well, gotta go print out my references.....

Merry Christanzzaunakkah!

My 6 year old is having her "Holiday Play" on Thursday. I was making dinner one night a few weeks ago and out of the playroom comes a song I've never heard before "celebrate Kwanzaa, celebrate Kwanzaa!". Then a minute later comes "Spin the dreidel, spin the dreidel!".

I asked her what the music was - "it's for our holiday play". I'm cool with that - while I don't think there are any Jewish kids in her class, or anyone who celebrates Kwanzaa, it is heightening their awareness of other cultures - at least that's what I tell myself in my most politically correct moments.

I asked her if she even knew what a dreidel is and she didn't. So I borrowed one from a Jewish co-worker. She thinks it's cool but wants to know what the letters on the side mean, which I don't know - we will google it tonight, probably.

So my resolution is to be more open minded and use this as a little learning opportunity for the kid, even if I do miss the sounds of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."

Wives at Home

I absolutely have nothing against stay at home moms - I was one for about a year but I don't have the patience or the budget for it! My complaint is twofold - one, how can these stay at home moms (some of them) be so farging disorganized!? This one mom I know has three kids - 2 in elementary school and 1 in training pants, all girls. You've never seen anyone so frazzled in your life. Constantly forgetting these, house is an absolute disaster, but she volunteers for absolutely everything but doesn't do any of those things well. It seems to me that a well run organization is a happy one. Would I like to go to the gym and get my nails done and carry around a $700 purse...sure, but I'm not willing to do it on credit. A classic line was my sister in law, who said "I really want a tummy tuck". Ok, so my BIL should get yet another job to finance that - he's already working 2 and moonlighting on the weekends! Some more situps might solve that issue.....

The other half of my complaint is the men who I work with - all of whom have wives who don't work outside the home. A majority have children of middle school age or older, but none of the women work. So when it comes to staying late and having to meet a deadline, these men do not feel the urgency that we primary caregivers do. My officemate and I are both responsible for pickup - as our husbands also work - my daughter is in elementary and Kim's son is in junior high. Last night I left work at 6:15 - my kid goes to bed at 7. These guys don't seem to really give a rat's ass - but we don't have wives at home getting dinner ready, doing the homework and doing all the chores - we are the wives at home, and we are at work!