A juggling technophile shares personal stories, challenges, humor and perhaps some political commentary.
Delimia!
Me body wears down. I need to (1) work on the work I accepted and haven’t started. I agreed to get it done by the end of the week and that will happen. (2) Work on the finances–I must have a concrete figure for all that is owed so I can strategize on what gets paid and what doesn’t. (3) my own website (4) submit a resume but all I want to do is (5) chill with my wife in bed and rest.
* Just returned from D&D session with the 13 yr old. I think he got a better idea of how the game functions. He is jazzed and went straight to “maybe I can be a GM.” If I stay in town, I’d like to work it out where perhaps I run sessions for a younger age group of kids. I know time is so abundant for us right now. I just don’t know what to do with myself.
* Dinner done. 3 youngest bathed. These past couple of hours are why parents don’t need the gym. Heart rate up. Many miles walked (in the interior of a 2000 sq ft house).
* 13 yr old high as a kite since we are about to go observe a D&D game.
* Score 1000 more on the “bad dad” ometer. 7 yr old throws up after I gave him tylenol and coolaid….grape and fruit punch respectively. Bad idea! A cold compress and a rest on the couch would have been in order. Of course, I blow up and ask why when standing in the bathroom he has to throw up all over the floor when there is a sink, toilet, tub and trash can he could aim for (What a schmuck I am!). My mind was more on the new cabinet that I installed and the fact that I have sealed the bottom front yet where the puke is now going under the cabinet. Need to work on my sympathy and temper! To make it worse, I proceed to yell at the 13 yr old while he is holding the 19mth old. Ok.. Everyone cry! 10 yr old returns home. Corrective measures begin with my apologies to the kids. Clean up the mess. Check the 7 yr old for fever. Get the 10 yr old and 13 yr old to place nice with the 19 mth old. Remove bottom draw. Mess cleans up easily. Yelled for no good reason (there is NEVER a good reason). Will torment myself with this for a while. Must return to save older siblings from youngest.
* 10 yr old wants to play with the 7 yr old boys with the high school boys alone in the house. I say no. So she changes it to can I play at her friend’s house which is right beside the boys–for all I know, she’s with the boys (paranoid yes).
* 7 yr old crashes bike and does his first body over handle bars flip. Is rather shaken up. I of course immediately change the subject by yelling at him for wearing his school shoes to play in the mud–score 10 on the “bad dad” meter. I catch myself and fix things up. We have tylenol, check out the bike and go for a short ride then have some coolaid and head to the bath. “Head hurts bad.”
* 13 yr old baby sitting again.
* I decide that its time to cook dinner and a meal for tomorrow as well as some beef jerky. 7 yr old calling.
* oh. It would appear we’ve lost our first utility today. Garbage pickup never came. I guess they are really mad at us.
* Criminal background check sent. Awaiting fedex of contract and information on where to go for drug testing.
* Wife off to some time for herself ( a surprise for me? )
* 13 yr old babysitting the 19 mth old. 7 yr old off with friends. 10 yr old playing with 5 yr old granddaughter of nice people from across the street (they won’t let her inside the house. Perhaps they now question me after witnessing my temper with the 13yr old a few times).
* Breaking to re-group and replan the rest of the day. Open day planner…
* totally unfocused right now. Got a major email off. Let’s see. What next. Criminal background information should be completed and faxed.
* proposal email drafted and sent. Will require much back and forth to nail down a spec. Must go quickly.
* bad stomach.
Tis 1:49. Have to get this proposal out. Work today ends at 5pm with no possibility of resuming until after 9pm. Hopefully I can stay motivated enough to work on bookkeeping between 9pm and midnight.
Left todo: get background information sheet filled out and faxed to employment agency, send out at least 1 resume, contact my contact at the local company that has said they want to interview me, begin work on project that I accepted, compose and send out marketing email
physically: stomach ill, head throbbing, focus difficult
* decided to commit 1-1:30 to getting a quote off. Since it is now 1:30 I’ll move that to the next 30 minutes. Donning headset and loud music.
Spammers Using Mars Rover as Relay
* The 13 yr old gets off by pushing people’s buttons and he’s good at it. He’s rude, crude and mean. It’s a challenge and a half to resist the urge to take a hickory switch to his bottom.
A New Day!
Let’s start the day off with a PayPal donation link:
This Morning
* Woke at 4:15am and was inspired to rise and begin my stretching exercises that use to make me feel so good and whole. Blackness–guess I never made it out of bed. Woke at 6. The covers were warm and soft and sang the songs of the sirens. Their melody was beyond beautiful! Got out of bed at 6:15 and got the kids moving. Answered the call of the sirens for 15 more minutes. Checked on the kids. Checked on the sirens. Checked on the kids. Checked on the sirens. Finally got up. Proceeded to answer the 10 yr old’s control freak moment with a moment of anger. Note to self, “handled it all wrong!” Half hearted attempt to fix it and made sure to tell her I loved her.
* After car pool (which is more like a taxi service since the other family never drives), I stopped by Weigel’s for our daily 2 gallons of milk (which is actually down to 2 gallons every other day right now–I’d like to think the kids were actually drinking water but I know better). Give the 13 yr old his medicine (7:45ish).
* The 19 mth old awakes and I change her, feed her and then we play together on the couch until the 13 yr old stirs. I selfishly ask him to play with the baby while I return to the sirens and fall into a deep sleep. I get up every 15 minutes to check on the kids until my wife rises then I allow myself to drift off deeper until 9:30am.
* Return phone calls. One is for a local 2 day job, the other is about the contract, drug screening, crimal background check and more on the 11 month job that I don’t want to take. The first paycheck won’t even come until after the mortgage company has threatened to begin foreclosure procedures (although I’m certain that if I fax them a copy of the employment contract that they will have mercy..its always in their best interest to not foreclose.)
* Now 11:45 and I’m a little scatter brained. I have to get a quote to someone and I know that what I should charge will be way out of line and I fear over pricing myself out of work but I know the damage that can be caused by working too cheaply. Ugh! FOCUS! The focus is the proposal. After that I’ll set up the development environment for the local work. Must get some resumes out today and some marketing emails and some marketing materials to local businesses (not enough time for all of that!) ok. Marketing materials tomorrow. Stay electronic today and stay in your chair.
Last Night
* strong dizziness. Went to bed early hoping to rise early. Started watching Chicago an absolutely amazing show! Couldn’t make it. Grabbed zz’s
* grilled cheese for dinner
* discussed potential job 8 hours from here with Dad who probably thinks I’m crazy if I turn it down and father-in-law who would probably be disappointed if I took it. I’m flipped. There is an inner piece of me that says to escape the bonds of this town and that it would be good for the kids to live in a couple of different cities but another piece of me likes the settled in feeling and the bonds that grow over time. That piece of me says that familarity is good for the kids.
* Disappointed in myself for not having more energy. I spend too much time thinking about things that need to be done rather than doing things. There should have been much more computer time today including several emails and resumes. I am wearing down and will sleep. Hopefully I can begin with a fresh start EARLY tomorrow.
