Soapbox Derby

Disclaimer -- I am very blessed and I love everything about  my life. I am very thankful for my home, my kids, my husband and my work (although not in that order).  I realize that a soapbox is a slippery place to reside and want you to realize that I write this in a good humor with a laugh in my voice although I am also quite serious about some of it.

I work from home.

When I say I work from home I mean someone employs me gainfully to be an essential part of their organization.  I do not mean that raising kids and keeping house is work (although it is and quite possibly the hardest work I have ever done), I'm not that cheeky.  I mean I do the work of raising kids and keeping house while living in said house and looking after said kids (three four and under and one on the way), AND I have a J O B!!

When I say that I work for a small firm that does not mean that we are small in dollars or in reach or that my actual J O B in and of itself is small.  I mean that there are six of us, working hard.  During off wedding season about 20 people depend on me to disperse compensation to them.  This wedding season is so big that I know that number will grow tremendously.  I take that very seriously.  I also know that I am probably the most replaceable cog in the wheel, I feel that much more blessed for the opportunity.

I once had someone ask me what I did professionally before I worked from home -- 'You know, what did you do as a professional?'.  Well, I hope that most days I am still a professional.  I attempt to be even if occasionally during a Google Hangout I have a toddler on my knee or have to mute a conference call and simply listen in because someone at my house is in the terrible two's and needs to scream it out!

More than a decade ago when I was still in college, I longed for the days of suits and heels (real heels, "clacker" heels to walk into my high rise office in).  I was actually quite good at wearing them (except once when I went down face first on the trade floor just after the opening bell and a heated convo with another trader but that time I had on a pinstriped suit with a large cuff on the pant and it was a disaster!).  These days, I hope to make it into a pair of leggings and something that covers my ass or well, since I am currently gestating 4, just anything that fits will do, before noon.  I realize that my clothes usually have sticky somewhere and that I have to get up around the middle of the night to be able to shower AND shave - I'm okay with that, I'm up practically all night between night terrors, sleep walking, thirst, leg cramps, sciatica, insomnia etc -- whatever!

What I am not okay with is when you disrespect the delicate balance that I run my house by.  If I have an appointment with you, don't show up an hour early (landlord) or don't just show up randomly (landlord again).  If you have a delivery to make, give me more than 28 seconds to answer the front gate before you lay on the buzzer again or walk around my house to find another way in (grocery delivery man).  I have a church (okay, well, I don't have a church, but I have a religion and have built a church in my heart for the moment), do people go from business to business proselytizing?  These things (except one) happened TODAY!

I recently had a situation where the landlord told me that either they or the owner of the property would be over to fix something during a 45 minute window.  When they showed up a full hour early I simply didn't answer (it was pre 8 am!).  JJ chastised me for my annoyance but hello!  If someone showed up for brain surgery an hour early would he just dig right in?  Yeah, right!

Cheers!

Sheep World (At Last!)

It's unbelievable but when I want to blog I have to shut my Gmail down (work email), which I never really close out of because it means I have to shut down spreadsheets that I like to have access to, well, all the time...

You know, if you want to know how many checks the company has out at 2 am (granted that it is 9 am in the states at the moment) I want to be able to stagger out of bed, look at my desk and see that total.  Want to make sure that you responded to all emails at 4:30 am, a quick stagger down the hall to look in the sent folder and your done (okay, I actually do this one from bed and my phone but I'm trying to break that habit).  I could go on and on but really unless you are on the OLAS exec list, you don't care, I promise.

Aaaaanyway, I have been wanting to tell you all about sheep world for more than a month now and I just haven't.  We were pretty darn sick when we went to Sheep World.  I didn't realize it when we left that morning but my sheer tenacity to leave the house for a few hours and my emotional tie to Go. To. Sheep. World. should have been my first hint!  I get emotional when I'm sick (or when any other part of my delicate balanced life is off-kilter).

New Zealand's is famous for lamb.  It is hard to believe that in the last thirty years the population of people has risen while the population of lamb has steadily declined.  That being said, lamb is everywhere here (and wool, etc, etc).

We packed the boys up and headed  slightly out of town to see this theme park devoted to the New Zealand profession of farming sheep...

Here are some photos:

There was an animal petting area, a nature walk and a show that we watched and some people participated in.  It was a pretty cool place but I have to be honest, it wasn't the cleanest place I have ever visited.  I grew up with country all around me and I know that any farm can be a dirty place but I also know what a well kept farm looks like, this was marginally less than an Indiana standard well kept farm, but those standards are high.  It was a fun day out when you take into account that we were all probably running fevers by the time we got there!  JJ was not sick and tried to warn me several times -- maybe I'll listen next time.  In the end, the boys and I relapsed and all spent the next several days at home sick AGAIN!  

A Quickie...

Today was census day here in NZ.    You can read all the fine print here.  There are lots of links to years gone by as well.

Here's a photo of the forms...

I won't lie, I don't remember what the US census asks.  I'm not sure if I completed the last one or not -- oops!

This one felt invasive to me.  If you know me very well, you know I'll tell you just about anything but I get squirmy when I'm asked a lot of questions.  Oh and if the government's asking, I become belligerent.

My grandfather was a local union president.  I grew up in the shadow of his car being bombed, at home, before I was born (I think).  Papaw Jay didn't even like the fact that there was a seat belt light in your car (it might be tracked) and when day running lights came along, it was as if the government had implanted a chip in him (although I think that he was sicker than we knew by then).

So the government, any government, asking me things like my name, my children's names, our ethnicity and religion and where we"ll be sleeping on a specific night was, well, a bit creepy for me ;)

Nah, really it was short, sweet and to the point and I was able to do it online!!  Whooo-hooo!!

Happy census day (well, night now)!!

Cheers!

Stunning Summertime

What. A. Summer!  I have loved every minute of the Auckland summer this year.  The weather has been Ah-Mazing!!  We moved into a really fantastic house down the street from a fantastic park with a fenced in playground AAAAAANNNNNDDDD, we have a heat pump in one room -- saves prego's soul on days that are just a little beyond the windows open alone!! Our garden is walled for little boys to run naked in and our house is glass which is a good reminder of how to live our lives!

After yesterday's weep for me fest, I thought I would share some images with you so you could see just how great it has really been...

First there was Christmas...

And the summer holidays...

Then we got moved in and settled into daily life again.  Yes, that is a cutting board of the state of Indiana (made by Whetstone -- my fav!  Thanks to the in-laws for the awesome Christmas gift).  Not long after we moved in I roasted beets and had to laugh at the irony of this image -- Indiana, red state.

We have visited lots of parks

That is my husband at the top (my biggest, little boy)

We've had lots of friends to the new house.

And bid 'bon voyage' to others

Explored our new surroundings

Celebrated being American with events like the Superbowl

Lots of walks (and rides) to the beach

Playtime

And we have a good start on decorating the boy's lounge 

More to come as we begin to say goodbye to summer (say it ain't so!!)...

Cheers!