Monday, October 19, 2009

Surprise Baby Shower

This last Friday I was pleasantly surprised to get a surprise baby shower thrown by my co-workers. I had no idea I was going to have a shower. I found out later they had been planning it for weeks!

Earlier in the week, one of the other managers called me and said there was some unfinished payroll things for me to sign. He also said that Sandy, the store manager, had to sign them with me and only she could sign them. He then proceeded to tell me she would only be in on Friday around 11:00 am. All the time he is telling me this, I am thinking, "Oh great! The one week I have a million things to do (Thomas' birthday party was coming up on Saturday) and my work wants me to come in just to sign some silly papers!" But I figured, I need to go to Walmart that day to get some things for the party so it really is not that big of a deal. Walmart and my work are all in the same shopping center.


I walked into my work to the back office and my manager was there with just my paycheck for me to sign. There were no special papers that the payroll department needed me to sign, so now I was thinking, I really need to get going so I can get to the store!

So she took me into the break room and a bunch of the ladies I worked with were there and the room was all decorated with pink streamers and balloons. I was so surprised! And one of the ladies who is the cake instructor at our store made the cutest cake with a little pizza on it. The funny thing is we are still calling the baby "Pizza" since we don't have a name picked out for her yet.


We got many beautiful handmade gifts and some great special things for our little baby girl! I guess it is a great thing to work in a craft store when you are expecting a baby. There are so many talented women there. I felt so silly later for being so grumpy about having to go in, but it was such a special surprise!




Thursday, October 15, 2009

Mysterious Multiplying Projects

Now that I am no longer working and I am not yet completely huge, we are trying to tackle the projects we need to get done before the new baby gets here. Essentially our house looks like it was run through by a tornado. It is amazing how a "project" can multiply so out of control.

I am not trying to minimize the enormity of our project. It is a biggie! We had to get rid of our large fish tank that was in our main area of our house. We then had to move things from the office out to that space. All of the furniture in the office had to be reorganized and rearranged. We then had to start moving the things out of what is going to be the baby's room into the office. Basically we are trying to cram two rooms full of stuff into one room. And each step of the way is dependent on something else getting done. Add to that we are trying to go through things to have a yard sale and you start to get a picture of what this project is like.

Add into the equation an almost 3 year old and you have a recipe for disaster. As I am moving things around, sorting through things, trying to box things up, Thomas is pulling out his regular toys as fast as he can. I think his goal everyday is to see if he can get at least 10 toys in each room of our house. And not just in one spot of the room. These toys must span all four corners.

As I leave him alone for a few minutes to get something done, he has pulled apart his whole closet. Well, I hadn't planned on going through his closet yet, but since he has already pulled half of it out, what the heck, right? So put on hold what I am working on to go through his closet full of baby stuff. We start to move all of these things into the babies somewhat cleared out space. Thomas continues to go through the bags and boxes of toys and baby stuff saying, "I used this a long time ago." So I say to him, "Now they are going to be for Baby Pizza (no, we still don't have a real name picked out). Do you think we are going to be able to share these things with the baby?" You can tell he is thinking about this for a minute and then he tells me, "No, these things are ALL mine. I used them a long time ago. They are mine. Not for the baby."

Super. So now I have to worry about Thomas reclaiming all the baby things and putting them back in his room because he believes they belong to him. And he isn't completely wrong because they were his things. So I avoid this conversation any more for the time being.

Even better, but we have a houseful of people coming over in two days to celebrate Thomas' 3rd birthday. At least it gives us a deadline for getting this stuff done!

Friday, October 9, 2009

One Week Later . . .

I had my last day of "work" this previous Wednesday. So, this means it has been just a little over a week that I have not had to go to "work." Now, I put this in quotes because somehow I have been just as busy.

Now, instead of rushing to work after cooking/eating dinner with a sink full of dishes left behind, I stay in the kitchen for an half an hour to clean up. And then Thomas requires that I play with him. I have been with him all day mind you, yet he still wants to play with me and not always his Dad. You would think he would want to play with Daddy because they have been apart all day, but it doesn't always work that way. And when he decides to play with Daddy, then I am on the computer doing work for my Dad. I am lucky enough to be able to make some extra cash helping him out. Then, we pick up the toys from the days mess and do a bath, story and bedtime. By this time I am utterly exhausted and collapse on the couch.

I do have a cleaner house now and I am able to go to bed earlier, but I have not seemed to regain any of the free time I so desperately need. We shall see in the weeks to come if I can get back on track!