Seeking Something New:WAHM

As Mother's Day approaches I am faced with a dilemma. While I would not change my role of "mom" for the world, I feel an almost desperate need to seek a new challenge. The mom in me accepts the new challenges that everyday throws at me: discoveries by my children, new bodily fluids to clean up keeping life interesting and active while keeping little people in check. But the academic and intellectual in me is feeling a bit stifled.

My work at home experience is a bit limited in scope. I have operated a home daycare, offered tutoring both online and in my home, and edited academic papers and business and personal correspondence. All of these opportunities have provided me with some intellectual stimulation and a bit of pocket money but one common factor remains the same: advertising these services to obtain work is painfully slow and difficult.

How does an educated person who wishes to stay at home with their children start a career at home with little or no monetary output? I would like to start a flexible at home business that capitalizes on my talents: academics, teaching, and writing. Anything in the scope of education or science.

Any stay at home moms out there found a way to make this happen? What do former teachers do when they decide to take time out to raise their children?

Picking Up Where I Left Off

After a couple of months of negligent blogging I am back. We are into full swing with a busy spring. More blog posts to come.

867-5309 Facebook, Facebook Ain't Got My Number

I seem to be a dying breed. I am one of those who do not Tweet, have a MySpace page, and am not on Facebook. The social networking train, it would seem, has left the station without me.

In the past few months I have been approached by real life friends who want me to join Facebook so that they can add me as a "Friend". But I am already your friend. Why do I need to advertise who I am friends with on the Internet? Some claim that I will be easier to contact and keep up to date with. You got me by e-mail (or phone or *gasp* snail mail!) So far I have politely declined the invite to the social networking arena.

I can understand some people have so many friends, family and associates that they wish to keep in contact with that they need to have their own space to post pictures, what they are doing that day, what song is on their CD player (oops, MP3 player) at that exact second. I can already see it, my byline would read: Another day, another diaper.

It is amazing how open the amount of information on the Internet is. Obviously not everyone using these sites understands how to utilize the privacy settings. Unfortunately these people are letting much of their life hang open for the entire Web to see. Facebook can also be hazardous to your computer's health.

This lack of privacy makes me uneasy. I don't feel the need to be sought out by every person I have met in the past. This includes anyone that I went to high school or university with. If I wanted to stay in touch with you, I did. If I didn't, well, maybe there was a reason or maybe we just lost touch. Either way, trust me, my life isn't really that exciting anyway.

For now, Facebook doesn't have my number, name, e-mail, or blog URL etc.

We are experiencing technical difficulties

I've been a little bored with the appearance of my blog lately. There are some snap dandy looking blogs out there but mine is just, sort of, well, blah. Why not kick it up a notch and *gasp* try a different template. Whoa Nelly! What was I thinking?


At least I was smart enough to take Blogger's advice and "back-up my template." I tried installing a new template and reinstalling my widgets. HTML heh, heh, heh, how hard could it be?

I honestly don't know where I went wrong. There were widgets everywhere, my header appeared twice and my nav bar was MIA.

Thank goodness I backed up! After losing my entire blog and reinstalling it I am finally back at my old comfy look.

You know the saying: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Or should it be: if at first you don't succeed make sure you mess up so badly that you don't recognize the results!

Mommy Time

I have just come from a mommy lunch group. Every month or so a group of us, all with children under the age of five, get together at someones house. We all bring food and our children. We eat, talk, and let the kids play. In the spring and summer we get together at the park where the little ones can tear around the playground and the water park. It is heavenly!

It is so important to connect with other moms when you are at home. It provides me with a bit of desperately needed adult time (talking about the weather with the cashier in the grocery store just doesn't cut it some days!) Other moms understand if you show up in your yoga pants and a baseball cap.

The kids play very well together with minimal intervention. It allows us time to talk about anything and everything, share recipes, gossip, and news. By the time we get home, the kids are fed, played out and ready for a nap. Makes for a wonderfully relaxing day and usually a quiet evening!

Digging out again

It snowed last night, again. Only about 10 cm, but it is enough. Already. OK? I have nowhere left to pile it! Our small yard is hedged with huge snow piles. The edge of the driveway is like someone parted a great white sea. We seldom see a snow plow down our side street.

Sigh. I am Canadian. But I am not a fan of snow. Yes, I am complaining but what I wouldn't give to get out the jogging stroller, go for a nice long walk, and let the little people of the posse roar off some energy at the playground! Did I mention that we don't normally get this much snow? I'm sure I mentioned it. Maybe many times. Already. OK, I'm done.

Mega Bloks...Scourge of the Livingroom Floor

I am having an issue with one of my children's Christmas gifts. We have had Mega Bloks in the house for quite some time now. My children love to build towers with them. For those who are not familiar with Mega Bloks they are like Lego but, well, mega. Think Lego on performance enhancing steroids. They are large enough to kick out of the way as you traverse the sea of toys on the livingroom floor instead of finding their way painfully underfoot.

My children received a bin of Mega Bloks as a Christmas gift this year. But these are different. Apparently Mega Bloks come in different sizes: mega and not-so-mega. They received the latter. These Mega Bloks are about half way between Lego and the Mega Bloks we know and tolerate. These blocks are small enough to find their way underfoot but unfortunately not small enough to be eaten by the vacuum. For the past week I have been avoiding these little pieces of plastic shrapnel like mines in a mine field. I'm sure the novelty of them will wear off, or at least the posse will learn to clean them up by the time they leave for university.