All posts by ihatehardware.

High Hopes for 2012

I think 2012 is going to be my year.  I feel a bit ungrateful complaining about the other years, but there have been some challenges.  The biggest challenge for the last year or two has been the lack of time, resulting from my job.  It’s not my company’s fault…I take full responsibility, but I got myself into a situation that I had a tough time getting out of.  I had my “day job,” managing my team of 6, and with my other blog I had created my “night job,” teaching people about building code requirements (and other door-related stuff) and answering questions for people around the world.

The work I did in my night job was very beneficial to my industry and company, but it was not my official job.  The information that I provide is almost impossible to find elsewhere, and I couldn’t turn away people who needed help.  But between both sets of duties, my family, and my attempt at sleeping 6 hours per night (instead of 4), I couldn’t manage it all and this blog has suffered.  Since I see this blog as a family chronicle, it pains me that I haven’t been able to keep it up.  The memorable moments and funny situations are still happening, and I hate that I’m not capturing and sharing them.

Well, things are looking up.

About 2 weeks ago I asked human resources for a meeting to discuss making my “night job” my official job.  I explained what I do and why it was valuable to the company, and the additional work I’d be able to do if it was my “real” job.  I had no idea that they were in the middle of planning a reorganization, and that I would be receiving an offer for an expanded role the following day.  Bad timing.  As thankful as I was to receive the offer of a promotion, I knew that it would leave me with even less time to do everything else.  So I asked for a decision on the new job I proposed before making a decision about the job I had been offered.  It felt a little risky to be the fly in the ointment but I needed to know.

Just over a week later I was offered the job I had asked for, reporting to a great guy that I’ve know since 1984 and work very well with.  I don’t have any people to manage, and my boss only has me to manage, so we’re a team of 2.  It’s up to us to decide what I should work on next, so I will have a lot of control over what I’m doing.  I wouldn’t change one thing about the job, and I’m so excited to be able to have a job doing what I love to do.  It’s very validating to have the company support me and understand how the things I do add value for our customers.  I’ll still be working hard but I hope it will be a little less overwhelming and give me more time for the things that have fallen by the wayside.

On a related note, my other blog was chosen from among the other President’s Award winners to be considered for a Chairman’s Award.  I think it’s a long shot that I’ll win, but the exposure has been great and just being nominated is an honor.

I didn’t make any New Years’ resolutions this year, but I have high hopes that I can make some progress on reclaiming the house from the pack-rats and the marker-wielding graffiti artist, continue to improve my physical and mental health, and get back in the habit of sharing our family’s events – big and small – with you.  It looks like my other project, the long-awaited book related to my work, is going to be used as the text-book for an upcoming industry course, so that’s added motivation to get it done.  I’m just waiting on the course outline so I can put the information in the proper order. 

I think 2012 is my year.  I hope it’s your year too.


Another Milestone

Norah’s class has been waiting impatiently for her tooth to fall out, which adds to the excitement of snack-time and lunch.  I finally pulled it out tonight, but there’s another wiggly one ready to keep the class occupied for the next week or so.  The bad news is that the tooth fairy may have to raid Aliya’s piggy bank.  I can already hear the conversation…Aliya:  “Mo-om, did you take my money to buy coffee again?”  Me:  “Nope!  It was the tooth fairy!”  🙂

Breakfast with Santa

Saturday morning we had breakfast with Santa at one of my customers’ companies in South Boston.  This is an annual event and we have been attending for 8 years.  It’s one of the highlights of the holiday season for the kids.  Santa and his wife told me a cute story about something that happened at the breakfast with Santa when Adlani was around 2.  Santa hands out gifts to each child, which the parents assist with.  The budget for the gifts is $10 each, to try to keep it equitable.  So Adlani received a really cool top from Santa that year, and he just loved it.  Then the little boy next to him opened a scale-model Hess truck, with a helicopter on the top.  Adlani looked at the truck and looked back at his top a few times, then took his top back up to Santa, handed it over and said, “Ruck!  Ruck!”  I had no clue about what was going on and neither did Santa, but Mrs. Claus did and she tells the story every year. 

The paper in Santa’s hand is a page that Norah colored for him.

 

Here’s a photo from the year of the “ruck” (2008):

This video was taken the following year and not much has changed since then…Santa is the real deal:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gyXjU6xUro&w=420&h=315]

Better

As I mentioned in my last post, I took the week before last off, which actually meant that I worked about 4-6 hours per day instead of the usual.  The week of reduced pressure followed by Thanksgiving week which is typically not very busy at work, really helped me catch up on a few things and catch my breath.  There’s something about having the “out of office”  message on that makes me feel less harried.  When I get an email I can picture the person on the other end of the internet staring at their screen waiting for me.  Maybe I should keep my out-of-office on all the time.

I didn’t clean and purge as much as I had hoped, but I did organize the year’s photos and start working on the annual photo book.  The 50% off coupon ends on November 30th, so that’s a must-do.  I also sent a thousand old photos to ScanMyPhotos.com because I had a Groupon that was expiring.  I even took a 2-hour photography class last Sunday.  I’ve still got a lot to learn, but we spent the whole class in manual mode so that was empowering.

I got one giant pain out of the way, which was taking the kids to Portrait Simple for the annual photo shoot.  Oy, that is my own little version of hell.  The clothes, the hair, the accessories, the whining, the fake smiles, the grimaces…at least now I know why the school pictures always look so bad.  By the way, if you were planning to use the black fabric background for your family photos, you can blame my kids for pulling it down.  Sorry about that.

In the two-week period I went out to lunch 3 times with people who are important to me.  We also had a great Thanksgiving with the Pearce Crew, Ben’s sister, and 3 of Ben’s coworkers who are here from the Costa Rica office for a few months.  Good food, great company, and just enough wine to give me that warm, happy feeling and no hangover.  While I was in Happyland, Norah used Aliya’s glitter squirt bottle to decorate the entire second floor, so if you see any glitter on me, don’t bother mentioning it.  I will likely have glitter somewhere on my body for the rest of my life.

I am back in my 3x/week Zumba routine now that soccer is over.  I also went to the chiropractor twice, the acupuncturist twice, and had a cupping treatment.  If you aren’t familiar with cupping, it’s a bunch of little suction cups stuck onto whatever ails you (my upper back).  The suction releases the tension and is supposed to also release toxins.  It’s pretty intense but I always feel better afterward, even though my back is covered with big hickeys.  I also got my mammogram out of the way, made an appointment for Adlani to see if he really does have ADHD, and did some research on ways that we can help him be more focused in the classroom.

We had visits from 3/5 of the Libby family, as well as Poppi…all had their fill of soccer at the last games of the season, along with a trip with the Libby’s to the MFA where I got to see all of the hardware I specified in action, and a great dinner at Scampo.  Speaking of soccer, Ben’s team won the final game to become the Over the Hill League champs in their division.

I started working on Christmas, including finalizing the plans for our trip to a secret location, finishing some gifts, a little shopping, and getting organized for the Pathways Family Shelter holiday gift drive.  We have over 50 kids to shop for this year, and luckily I have scores of generous friends, family members, and coworkers who all pitch in to make it happen.

I even read most of a book – Discovery of Witches, and watched some trashy TV while crocheting.  I worked on the drama club website and helped at rehearsal without guilt.  I’m sure there were other things, but that’s all I can think of.  I’m starting to understand why I’m a nutcase all the time.  Now the question is, how to fix it.  How do I do all that I want to do, and also take care of the world’s hardware needs and keep food on the table?  I’ll have to continue working on that in 2012.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!