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Quick Update and Random Christmas Stuff

Mom — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:49:03 +0000

All is well in the world of Mom. We are incredibly busy right now in the midst of preperations for the Christmas holiday. Personal tasks combined with my crazy work project, have left me little time to post and read my favorite blogs.

I think back to this post: 99 Days Until Christmas and wonder where the time went? Now we have 5 days left, and I’m trying to enjoy each day to it’s fullest.

We normally mail our Christmas cards during the first week of December, but we were a little late this year. At least they went out!

~~Mr. Martha Stewart~~ Dad, loves to embellish our cards with sealing wax imprinted with our last initial – “P”. This year, he used a green and gold wax and it turned out beautiful…here is a pic:

Last week I baked up a storm and mailed a goodie box to each of my co-workers. They love the Christmas snacks and I really enjoy doing this for them.

Well, I’m off to do a quick conference call and then have lunch.

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How To Cope When You Don’t Love Your Job – 6 Tips

Mom — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:32:12 +0000

Part II

Yesterday, in Part I of How To Cope When You Don’t Love Your Job, I wrote the story of the job I despised.

There is a quote by Confucius that I admire:

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

How simple and true.

What happens if you are stuck in a job you don’t love?

If you’ve decided that it simply will not work, you need to develop mental fortitude to survive until you land a new job.

Here are 6 ways to cope:

Breathe. When things get stressful, take a break and go outside. Do nothing but breathe. Breathing is something we can instantly control and can help us relax and reduce stress.

Laugh…often. Scientists believe that laughter reduces stress hormones. Humor can also change your perspective and help you see your problem in a different light. I would take my manager’s grade-school euphemisms (play nice, boys will be boys) and say these at home with Dad for a laugh. My Dilbert cartoon of the day also helped!

Talk it out. Find a friend and blow off some steam. Not only does it feel better, often times you’ll learn that your friend has had similar experiences and can offer advice.

Get a Life. Spend time outside of work doing something you love. If you don’t already have a hobby, get one! Give yourself something to look forward to at the end of the day.

Eat Well, Sleep, and Exercise. It may sound like a simple suggestion but it is vital to take care of yourself. Stressful job situations can affect your mental and physical health. By keeping your body healthy, you can better deal with external stressors and keep your mind healthy too.

Remember it’s only temporary. When you are in a job that makes you miserable, it’s easy to fall into negative thinking and believe things will never change. Change this mindset! Focus on your job hunt and remind yourself that this isn’t a permanent situation.

A lousy job can seem like a life sentence. The key to surviving is to realize that YOU are ultimately in control of how you feel.

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How To Cope When You Don’t Love Your Job

Mom — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:00:24 +0000

Part I

Once upon a time, I worked at a job I despised.

Unfortunately, I left a job I loved for the bad one.

I had a few years of experience behind me, won accolades at my previous job, and decided to broaden my horizons.

It was the mid-90′s in tech, and it was time to make more money.

For several days, it felt like I was born under a lucky star. My interviews went smashingly well and I was hired at an amazing billion-dollar company, for almost double the salary.

Although I was sad to leave my current employer, I was excited about this new opportunity.

Fast forward a few weeks…I soon realized that I had two things going against me.

1. I was female
2. I was hired from the outside

When you read #1, you probably thought “C’mon? Maybe in the 1950′s, surely not in the 1990′s!”

Sadly, it was true.

I work in a highly male-dominated field and encountered resistance from my male co-workers. My technical opinions were second-guessed (and repeatedly I was proven correct). Poor management compounded this problem as well…”Boys will be boys” is what my manager told me.

The company also had a long history of promoting from within. Concerning my position, there simply wasn’t anyone technically qualified for the job, so the company was forced to hire from the outside. This caused ambivalent feelings toward me as well.

It was near impossible to be productive when your team was busy arguing about whom was right and wrong.

I consulted with a friend (also my career mentor) who advised to approach my manager. Great advice, but that got me nowhere fast. Remember the “boys will be boys” comment? Yeah, well he took the team out to lunch and said we were like “his kids” and he wanted us “to play nice in the sandbox”. I was stunned by this display of effective leadership!

A few weeks later, I decided to talk to the HR Director, who was sympathetic but wasn’t able to offer any concrete help. I later learned he and my manager went “way back” and they were golfing buds.

Day after day, I grudgingly went into work, and fought my battles. I was young and felt I could tough it out. However, what was once exciting work turned into a never-ending task list, as I “battled” with co-workers on how to get things done.

Some days, I would pull into my parking space, turn off my car, hang my head down and pray:

“Please give me strength to deal with the mind-melting minutiae one more day.”

Dad and the kids noticed mom wasn’t so much fun to be around anymore. When you loathe the place you’re at for 8-10 hours a day, it is difficult to be a shiny happy person. Especially when you realize it starts all over again the next day.

I decided that no job was worth being unhappy over, and I needed to move on.

Through “networking” (as in personal, not the IT variety) I landed my first consulting gig a few months later. Things were happy again. My only regret is that I did not quit sooner.

So what do you do if you are stuck in a job you don’t love?

Tomorrow, I will post 6 tips that can help you cope.

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Back from Canada: Contemplating My Smallness

Mom — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:54:31 +0000

We are home and glad to be here after a long 12-hour drive. We left with six kids and came back with six, so I consider this a success. Surprisingly, they all did well…even Baby A. It’s not easy to sit in a car that long, but we were armed with a variety of snacks, puzzles, and gameboy paraphernalia. We stopped to stretch often. The kids also slept a good portion of the time. I think all the walking in Niagara wore them out.

Niagara Falls was amazing. The last time I was there was at the age of five. I remember my father hoisting me up onto his shoulders and feeling like I was on top of the world, as I peered down onto Horseshoe Falls.

Over the last few days, I wondered if my little girl perspective was a bit off. Perhaps being so small made everything seem larger than it really was. I found myself almost giddy with anticipation to visit once more. I was delighted to find that the falls were just as astonishingly large and breathtaking to this thirty-something girl.

I felt small again as I soaked (literally and figuratively) in this God made wonder.

The kids enjoyed the Maid of the Mist and our 5yo son said he imagined he was in a hurricane. I hope they too will visit again one day, remember our trip, and maybe like their Mom, ponder how small we still really are.

Mom’s in Canada

Mom — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 20:41:37 +0000

Greetings from beautiful Ontario, Canada! We are here for a family gathering and we are having a great time! Today we stayed in the city of Peterborough and checked out the world’s highest hydraulic lift lock. I had not encountered a lift lock before and found the boat tour to be a highly educational, and fun experience.

Tomorrow, we are heading home and will stop in Niagara. A ride on the Maid of the Mist is a must-do and we will see how the kids make out.

Happy Fight Procrastination Day

Mom — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:42:21 +0000

Did you know that the first Wednesday of September is Fight Procrastination Day? C’mon…this busy work at home mom DOES NOT need a yearly reminder to stop putting off tasks, I simply look around the room for the visual.

Piles of paperwork haphazardly stacked on my desk. Yep. That’s a reminder that I need to sort, file, and/or shred.

136 unread e-mails in my Inbox. They are there every time I open Outlook.

Dust on the master bedroom ceiling fan. Slightly embarrassing reminder that I need to deep clean that room soon.

Am I procrastinating? Not really. Some of these tasks are less urgent. I will eventually get them done. I don’t think I have a deep-seeded problem with procrastination. Sure, I’ve put off starting a project for a few days because at first it seemed overwhelming. Then I figure out how to break the project down into smaller, more manageable chunks. I assign a deadline and get the tasks done.

If you have a problem with procrastination, then take advantage of “Fight Procrastination Day” and at the very least check out the following links for more help:

Procrastination – California Polytechnic State University

3 Simple Ways to Fight Procrastination

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Money Making Mission? Meet Mike

Mom — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 20:51:35 +0000

I came across an interesting blog today: Mike’s Money Making Mission. Mike Perry is a bloke from Cornwall, England. He had an interesting career in Network Marketing/MLM and after publishing his own magazines, Mike was able to retire early.

Mike’s blog is an experiment, if you will, in trying to earn money via blogging without spending a dime. He is doing fairly well. As of September 1, he is on Week 47 and his earnings are $3256.95. This was encouraging to read…I would be happy to cover my web hosting costs in a year!

Mom’s Mini Me

Mom — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 10:31:36 +0000

Look! It’s Mom in lego form! All she needs is six mini-kidlets following behind her.

Mini-mize yourself (and let the kids take a turn!)

Mom’s New Look – Playing with (and Breaking) Movable Type

Mom — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 13:26:21 +0000

Last night, I decided to get crazy and deleted my old 3x templates to make way for the new MT4 ones. In doing so, I broke the way my archives work. At first I thought the problem was between the chair and my keyboard, but after re-reading the documentation and testing, it appears there may be a bug. I am trying to fix the links manually for now. I apologize in advance if link is broken.

I really like the deafult styles included with MT4. Now I plan on learning more about CSS and see if I can get in touch with my creative side.

Maybe I don’t want to be a SAHM

Mom — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 19:47:51 +0000

While channel surfing tonight, we came across Fox Television reality show Nanny 911. The family featured has five boys including 2yo twins. I know that reality shows are edited to make things look more dramatic, but wow these little guys are wild. The mom Tracy is a SAHM and she is frazzled. I thought for a moment, “Do I really want to be a SAHM?”

I have five kids. They range in age from 2 to 15. As you can imagine, our home can get very busy and at times downright loud. When I think back to times when I’ve had a bad day and one or more of the kids are crying or arguing (or both), I would gladly trade my work outside the home job for being home amongst the chaos. So the answer is yes. I REALLY want to be a SAHM. As long as Fox’s nanny can come over and help me out.

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