Tuesday, September 09, 2014

My New Gig


As a full-time working mother, I could put in 40 hours, cook semi-regular meals, commute an average of two hours a day, talk to friends regularly, exercise every morning, and have a relatively OCD-like immaculate house (not including the Tween's room).  

As a corporate cast-off who is now home 24/7, I can boast of serving dinner more often but that's about it.  My living room looks like a Lego factory exploded.  The family room has a cardboard box-turned-hideout sitting in the center of it -- completed with debris generated by the Tween still littered around it.  My Pinterest boards are exploding with brilliant ideas for "someday."  I haven't talked to most of my friends since exchanging the drive on the parkway for the walk to the laptop.  The 5:30 AM exercise routine shifted to 8 AM... 11 AM... 1 PM... tomorrow, I promise.  

When I heard that unemployment was looming back in December 2012, I began to make plans with the Husband and prepare the Tween.  Since we'd already put our plan to "recession-proof" ourselves in motion two years ago when the Husband was hired after his second lay off, we were in good shape.  We paid off a few credit cards, I began couponing with sincerity, and every expense was analyzed.  My project manager, AB, came through with a long-term writing gig, and with the support of my guys, I was able to jump on it.  Between that and adjuncting, life is pretty good.

I would like to say that I shall spend free my time blogging something brilliant about being a Gen-X mom raising a member of the iGeneration.  I'd love to tell stories about the life of a 40+ mom who can say "been there, done that, bought the t-shirt" as she deals with a tween on the cusp of turning into a hormone with feet.
My life with the Tween generally consists of the following themes:
* Clean up your room before it's declared a bio-hazard.
* You do not need to throw those jeans in the laundry.  You only wore them for an hour.
* The dishwasher is not going to unload itself.  (Alternate theme: The cat does not have oposable thumbs to operate a can opener and feed herself. She's counting on you to keep her from starving.)
* What do you mean you're still hungry?  You've been eating for the last hour.

I promised myself that, as part of my daily writing regimen, I would begin to blog once more.  How this whole stay-at-home/work-from-home is going to pan out is beyond me.  But isn't that how most adventures begin?