Trish’s Blog

All of my writing endeavors for the new year have gone on hiatus. I haven’t kept up with my journal on Evernote… I think that lasted a week. I have not written anything personal, digital or otherwise, since my last blog post. I just got invited to use ldsjournal.com and I signed up because of the easy digital to print option… it’d be nice to buy a book of my ramblings complete with pictures I posted for my posterity’s sake (so that when they encounter the trials of life and drama of living they will know that they are not alone in their flaws and questionable levels of sanity. My voice on paper will be the comfort they turn to in order to keep their self-esteem). So I apologize for the neglect of my blog. I have written a few short reviews on the books I’ve read, so my goodreads account has not suffered, but I’m back and giving fair warning that the dam is ready to explode. This next post is likely to be a monster of prose. It’s just easier to fill in everyone of the details of my life that they may want to know in one fell swoop. I’m practically bursting with news. No, I’m not pregnant (although I just learned tonight of someone who is!). I’m just letting you know ahead of time that you might not get all this in one sitting. Then again, it is almost 5am and I haven’t slept yet. I might just sleep and forget what all I was bursting with. At any rate… as Simon Cowell would say, “off you go.”

As you may know, I’m a graphic artist for a small company in Northern California. When I was first hired part-time, I worked in the office for the first few years. My geek husband pushed for a way for me to work from home and through a series of events, I eventually did. Now that my home is in another state, it’s nice to still be working for them. (It has been the best job ever for a stay at home mom like me.) A friend of mine not only got me the job, but trained me to use the design program, CorelDraw (5th edition, I believe, and I have since worked my way up to the 13th edition). Last year (my tenth year with them) they decided to make the switch from PC to Mac with the intention of switching programs to InDesign. This is the first month that I’ve used the new program while still using PC (I hope to be a Mac person just as soon as budget freezes are a thing of the past and my one client is able to place an order). I started watching tutorials and learning the program at the end of February. The last couple of weeks have been grueling. Not just because I had to create everything from scratch (not having any older files to modify) and don’t know any keyboard shortcuts like I did in Corel, but because I couldn’t work consistently during the day with a newly walking toddler toddling. My hours of work began when she slept for the night. I’ve been working graveyard. I sleep at 3 or 4 am and get up at 8 or 9 am. (And now you know why it’s now 5 am and I’m still up. That and sleeping all day Sunday thanks to my wonderful husband giving me time to recoup.) I used to make a steady 35 hours for the month (which is really three weeks of work), but we dropped a book in November, so my hours went down to the 20′s. This month I’ve racked up 68 hours and I still have one more calendar to make for the Benicia book. Normally, that takes me a couple of hours. So I’ve set records this month.

We could definitely use the cash, but my body is freaked out. I think that’s why I got strep throat last week. I’m on my sixth day of antibiotics and no one else has shown any symptoms. I’m glad for that, but it confirms to me that I’m pushing myself. What else is to be done? Zoe has memorized the 20 episodes of the Wiggles we have recorded on our Tivo. Even with that, I can’t sit at my laptop long enough to keep up with my work. This first month was extreme, though, and I think I have learned enough to be more efficient with the program so that I don’t lose so much sleep next month. If you were, however, needing me in the last couple of weeks and I flaked… I’m sorry. Anything I had leftover was kept for my family. And even that was minimal. (Long live Taco Bell.)

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Zoe woke up, so I was unable to finish this and just hit the sack with her around 6am. I slept until 11am this morning and I forced myself out of bed, but then Seth wanted to read me a story from his new Captain Underpants book that he got on my birthday and that just put me under for another hour. I snoozed on the couch while the kids played Super Monkeyball until Sarah announced that Zoe’s diaper was leaking. Zack didn’t change her diaper when she woke up this morning so the expanded load was sagging below her knees and barely hanging on by cutting into the tops of her thighs. So I got up to give her a bath. Then I ate a bowl of cereal and washed the dishes. And here I am again and the time is now 1:45 pm.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

My birthday was pretty fun. I wasn’t expecting much because I already racked up the presents at the beginning of the year and the end of last. I have a new laptop, a new iPhone, a new seatbelt purse that I love, almost the entire set of Pampered Chef stainless steel cookware, a new hearing aid, and a pair of Aquamarine (my birthstone) earrings made by a fellow Friendfeeder. Josh also bought me some candy because I made this new rule that I can’t buy candy anymore. (Don’t laugh. I’ve kept to it pretty well. I can do this.) And then, as mentioned, he made me stay in bed all day Sunday to recover from strep and working long hours. It was a great gift. The kids made some wonderful creations, too. Their creativity tickles me and their delight in giving me their gifts tickles even more. I had spent the day dropping the “It’s my birthday card,” so when I read the front of one of the cards Josh’s parents sent, I laughed. It says, “Just because you were born on St. Patrick’s Day it doesn’t mean you’re special.” The inside says something like I’d be special no matter what day I was born. *awww!*

Friday, March 20, 2009

We went to the park yesterday even though I’m allergic to the pollen that is currently making the air tangible. I let the kids run around and ride bikes while I took pictures and had a runny nose. Then we came home and had hot dogs for dinner. Josh busted out the Twilight movie to watch — much to Sarah’s delight. We three sat down to watch it, but Josh didn’t last. He was very perceptive before he zonked out, though, and Sarah and I were making meaningful eye contact over his head every time he made a comment. I liked it a lot better this time since I could both see and hear it very well. I also caught Stephenie Meyer getting her veggie platter at the bar in the diner. I actually hit the sack early at 1:30am. After 8 hours of sleep, I’m dragging. I spent the morning ordering more Pampered Chef stuff on my mom’s dime. It’s her birthday present to me. (Woo hoo! Thanks Mom!) I found out that I get 10% off for a whole year since I hosted a party. I probably didn’t need to know that… PC is my crack. Actually, I’m probably ready to move on to something else now that I’ve got my cookware.

I didn’t finish telling you about my birthday. I had a great day! I thought it would take me a couple of hours to finish up a few calendars for work, but it ended up taking me the whole day. Josh was working from home and he planned to make dinner for me, but by the time I finished working, it was too late to cook. So we decided to go to Outback Steakhouse and use the gift cards that Justin and Brooke had given us for Christmas. (Thanks Justin and Brooke!) It was fun to go out to dinner as a family and watch Zoe eat and drink everything in sight. She had a few bites of the Bloomin’ Onion, lots of bread, and her own giant bowl of mac and cheese made with penne pasta and tons of butter (I tasted it). She drank milk from a straw for the first time. She enjoyed eating out way too much. That girl is a bottomless pit, I tell ya.

After eating, we went next door to Half-Priced Books to see what we could find while also walking off the huge dinner. I love looking at the journals they sell. Even though my track record with writing has gone down the tubes, I still got Josh to buy me a green one in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. I also got a softcover of the first book in a friend’s favorite series. The something of Recluse… I can’t think of the name and I’m too lazy to get up. I also tried looking for Elric of Melnibone, but they didn’t have it. Josh’s brother Sean confirmed the title when he visited here two weekends ago. It was his book that I took from his parent’s shelves and read back when I was living with them in Hawaii. I have been wanting to read it again and couldn’t remember the name of it. Anyway, now I have a book to read and a green journal. Seth has been eyeballing the journal. He asked me if he could write something small in it and he told me to read it before I went to sleep. I let him. I have a feeling that it’s not going to be my journal anymore, but I’ll scan what he wrote because I love the way he signs off.

By the time we got home I had forgotten that I had a volleyball game. I immediately threw on the knee pads and shoes and went back out the door. Our team was short one and they had a very skilled player, albeit old, on the other team. I think we won one and lost one and then lost the tie breaker. I stayed to play some more. We mixed up the teams and I got to be on the same team as the awesomely skilled guy. He must have been devastating in his prime. You can tell by his mannerisms. There’s no wasted movement and he has textbook blocking skills and kills just about everything you throw in the air. Not only that, he was an inspirational player and brought the best out of everyone. He didn’t mind doling out the sets and taking the backseat. I love humble people. Everyone has fun when people are both talented and humble or at least respect others no matter what level of skill they are at.

The same could be said for online interaction. When you are humble and tactful in the things you say online, it’s much more fun for everyone. I’m still pretty active on Friendfeed when I’m not busy working. It has changed a little… some people get tired of it and announce that they’re over it and leave. I’ve been on long enough to know that some people do that and then come back because they’re curious to see what’s been going on. They can’t stay away. Others just simply disappear and reappear days/weeks/months later, or maybe not at all. One of Josh’s podcasting buddies decided to quit the podcast and tonight was his last night of live broadcasting. I missed most of the podcast (I’m supposed to be keeping the kids quiet while the recording is going on), but I’m sure it was sad for everybody that listens to the show. He’s still on Friendfeed and Facebook, so we’ll still see him around online. He twitters, too, but I don’t really.

Josh signed me up for Twitter, but I haven’t done anything with it. I think I posted one update and then quit because I really don’t get it. It amazes me when I get followers… I think they’re mostly spammers, but why do I need to Twitter when I see it on Friendfeed? Facebook gets pulled in, too. It all becomes very redundant. And I’m just a little self-conscious. I refuse to believe that anyone really cares about the play-by-play of my daily life. I mean, what am I going to post? “Changed Zoe’s diaper.” “Zoe’s diaper stinks.” “Watching TV.” “Reading a book.” “Don’t want to cook dinner.” “What should I cook for dinner?” Mix and repeat. Seriously? Who has the time? I have this habit of clicking comment, writing a sentence, and then hitting delete instead of post. I’m so worried that someone will block me for my mundane drivel so I beat them to the punch. I do it 90% of the time unless I’m in some social butterfly mood and then I’m the comment queen. Sadly, I encounter lots of *crickets* (which means that I post a comment and people carry on conversations around it without acknowledging my comment), but Josh tells me not to take it personally. Some days are better than others and I have had some fun conversations and have developed a liking for certain friendfeeders. Mostly, they’re the ones that notice me. And they most likely notice me because I’m Josh’s wife not because I’m an uber geek.

Anyway, my cyberspace self-concept sometimes takes too much effort to maintain. Sometimes it’s easy to post something you think others will think is cool and when the timing is right there are fun conversations to be had. It’s effortless and fun and you love life that day. Those days are rare for me, but I like the interaction with different types of people so it keeps me hanging on. Every now and then, it’s good to step away… just like anything, there needs to be balance. Sometimes it’s good to just live life away from the computer.

Stepping away now…

Posted on March 21st, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Haley Kids, Life