Hello Friday!

[dglvrk2]

It's Friday. We made it through another week. How did it go?  What are the weekend plans?

[rere]

Not too bad of a week. We have our staff meeting Christmas potluck today for my small staff. I always invite the director which makes me not as relaxed.

I am thinking about having a hermit weekend. We were supposed to go to a casino this weekend, but after spending $700 last weekend with the kids and $1000 Wednesday on Dhs scope, I'm not in the mood to lose money in a casino. Plus this is the lull between Ds leaving and Dd coming home, so I think I'm going to take the opportunity to go in the basement with my blanket and watch old Christmas movies on my obnoxiously big Christmas present TV.

Sunday I'm going to treat myself to lunch. Then there is a historic house that has been fully restored about 45 minutes away and they are having a Christmas open house. I'm a history buff and love old houses. I'm at the point with Dh now off every night and weekend that if he want to go, get in the car, if not, I'll catch you later. So maybe he will go, maybe not.

[twinmomma]

This is going to be my prep weekend for Christmas. We don't have the kids, so my plan is to inventory and wrap all the gifts, buy the stocking stuffers, send out our Christmas cards, and make sure everything is 100% ready to go. We're going away next weekend with the kids and then it's the holiday! So this is kind of my one shot to get it done without cramming it in after work at night. I also have to prep a bunch of stuff for work next week. I have to wrap a bunch of gifts for the management team and put together gift bags for our annual planning retreat. I volunteered to do it this weekend instead of trying to get it done during the work day this week. I'm looking forward to camping out in the living room with Christmas movies, the fireplace, and all the wrapping. I actually enjoy doing all this stuff when I have time like this to do it uninterrupted!

Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to see the Waitress movie with my BFF so that will be a nice way to break up the day. We saw the Broadway show together and we've seen Sara Bareilles together a couple times, so we're really looking forward to it!

I also have to go pick up some stuff at a fancy bakery, so I'll probably grab some treats for myself to get through the long to-do list.

[dglvrk2]

rere , enjoy your solo lunch! I did a solo Sunday breakfast about six weeks ago. It was amazing!

My week could have been much more of a drain than it was. DD1 seems on a good recovery track from her pulled glut muscle and was able to do more gymnastics this week than she has in the past five weeks. She also had a good volleyball team tryout yesterday. She'll know Monday if she made the team. DD2 resumed her martial arts class Tuesday - she took the month of November off. Seems like the break did her well and she's motivated to continue with martial arts now!

For me, work went more smoothly than I anticipated. There we some big happenings this week and all went over well.

The biggest "glow" was my sister's latest oncology appointment. Four weeks ago, a local oncologist looked at the MRI she gets every four months and thought he saw a regrowth of cancer where she had a tumor removed - from her brain - in 2016. She was sitting with this for three weeks, planning on getting the new "tumor" removed last week. H and I had been urging her to get a second opinion from the oncologist she worked with in 2016, at one of the best (brain) cancer treatment centers in the country. She seemed hesitant at first, but eventually called this oncologist. The oncologist looked at her MRI and, over the phone, told her to hold off on surgery and to meet with her face to face as soon as possible instead. This meeting happened on Wednesday. This oncologist said this growth could very well be scar tissue. She wants to monitor it with monthly MRIs and proceed once she has more information. This was such a relief!! No, my sister is not out of "cancer woods," but knowing she's being treated by one of the best brain cancer specialists in the country gives all of us a surge of confidence. Even if it is a resurgence of this cancer and she will need treatment, she's getting the best of these.

This weekend will be....this weekend. My parents have been in town for my sister for the last three weeks. They leave tomorrow morning. H wants to make latkes to celebrate Hanukkah tonight. (His dad is Jewish. He likes to do something to honor this holiday each year and it's fun!) I'm having my parents over for latkes and the D's will each get a small gift.

H is ski patrolling both Saturday and Sunday. The weather is supposed to be "meh." I'm anticipating a few lows in the solo parenting world, but also giving my girls some needed downtime while he's on the slopes. (Neither of them want to ski this weekend.)

[librarychica]

Honestly this week sucked. All my direct and greater org’s hires were put on pause and a bunch of other frustrating things happened. DD2’s final rehearsal before her duet performance during her music recital was a cluster of miscommunication and last-minute changes and also traffic. Everyone got to bed late last night, my dog stole the elderly cats food and then peed everywhere (including our blanket) when scolded (whhhhhhy) leading to 2AM linen swap last night, just, ugh.

This weekend should be nice. H is doing something with the girls and I am meeting an old coworker for coffee and taking my mom to see Funny Girl tomorrow. Sunday we might do something, idk. At some point we need to clean and catch up with the laundry. It’s going to take over at this rate.

[mommyatty]

It was a rough week. My current employer is a hot mess, and I think I’m about done. I’m still waiting to hear about the in house counsel job. I had outreach from a former coworker who would like to hire me, and today I had outreach from another headhunter about a job on the East Coast. So at least I feel pretty good that I can find something new.

Sunday is my 50th birthday. I honestly never thought I would live this long (my dad died at 48), so I have a lot of feelings around that. DS has ninja class on Saturday, DD starts field hockey Sunday, and we have no plans for my birthday. Plus DS is home sick today, and we thought we might have to take him to the ER for migraine meds. Now we think it might be a cold with a sinus headache. So fun. Having an autistic kid who honestly isn’t in touch enough with his body to tell us what hurts where and how much just sucks ass.

[sdlaura]

The past couple days have been a whirlwind of non-family stuff. Wednesday I hosted a work event where we brought in a bunch of investment managers who focus on a certain topic for our research team to meet with. It was a lot of work to coordinate. That afternoon I had my monthly meeting of the credit union board I sit on and then we had a holiday dinner with spouses and staff members. We had a babysitter and DH joined.

Then early yesterday I flew to the Bay Area, had a client meeting, then flew to LA and helped host an annual holiday party for my industry for 200 people. My whole body hurts from standing around in heels for hours. Now I’m doing a virtual meeting at my hotel and then driving a couple hours back home (hopefully only a couple hours - LA to San Diego is not known for light traffic I rented a car at LAX yesterday so I could get home today and can return it near my house.

We had a really great schedule for the four games for DD’s last travel softball tournament this weekend, but now the coach told us the schedule is changing. Ugh. We also have basketball games Sunday for both older kids.

Tomorrow night is the annual huge adults only holiday party that our friends host. Live band, food stands, bartenders. It is always fun!

[sdlaura]

Happy happy early birthday mommyatty!!

[supertrooper1]

dglvrk2 , that is great news for your sister!
Happy birthday mommyatty!

The week flew by. I had planned to do more online shopping for some stuff to get here before our trip in a week, but I didn't get it all done.

I'm not sure what we're doing this weekend. We might take DS to get Santa pics. He's 10, so I'm not sure how much longer that will last. Beau also mentioned wanting to visit his grandsons. I'm thankful he didn't suggest his grandson to come over because I don't think I could handle the work that goes along with it. I need to make sure we have everything for our trip and get everything done for Christmas since we don't come home until the 24th.

Next week is going to be busy between a hair appointment, wax appointment, an in office day, and lots of school activities for DS.  And I still want to go to the gym.  

[waverly]

The week was fine ish. Lots going on, activities every night etc. The tutor worked with DS on his paper and he spent another hour on it, and then we did almost an hour of math last night. It's only going to get worse, and I am not excited about that, but I am relearning algebra ha ha.

We have an indoor soccer game tonight, and DD has a Girl Scout event and soccer game tomorrow. Nothing on Sunday, so I reached out to a friend and waiting to hear back.

We may go to the middle school musical Saturday night- it is Sister Act.

[mae0111]

mommyatty - happy birthday! I hope you are able to squeeze in a little celebration, even if you’re not totally in the mood for it.

It was a rough week here as well. DD1 had a huge meltdown on Monday morning before school that blew up my day. I ended up taking her to school an hour late. A lot went on but it didn’t improve, and I hit a low in a big way.

BUT!! Term 1 grades came out and DD1 made honors and DD2 made high honors! I’m really impressed with how they transitioned into their school.

This weekend should be quiet. DD1 is going to a party after school so I will take DD2 shopping for her angel tree gifts. Saturday both kids have basketball games back to back in the same gym, but I will leave with DD2 after her earlier game to get her ready for a birthday party. So I will probably take DD1 shopping for her angel tree gifts while DD2 is at her party. I don’t know what time it ends or if I have to pick up DD2 (they’re going to a little amusement park with awesome lights) so I don’t know if DH and I will go out at all. Sunday will be quiet. Hopefully some baking and Christmas prep.

[mae0111]

dglvrk2 - wonderful news about your sister!! Fingers crossed that she continues to get good news!!

[campermom]

I have the kids but not a lot of obligations so I’m going to do whatever I can to work around the house. Cleaning out the car and garage, putting outdoor furniture away, catching up on laundry and doing a good meal prep. We will have breakfast w Santa tomorrow. Getting haircuts/coloring on Sunday.

Boyfriend has his son at his place about an hour away and while I love to spend time w him, I also enjoy my time just w my kids.

[dglvrk2]

mae0111, congrats to you and your girls for those amazing grades!!!

[rere]

A little potluck drama to make a Friday interesting. We are having our first work potluck since Covid Tuesday for Christmas. One of my staff put her name on the sign in sheet for brussel sprouts. She got to work and someone erased her name by the brussel sprouts and put someone elses name. So she goes to her office and gets a purple sharpie and marks that out and writes HER NAME-BRUSSLE SPROUTS in something close to a 24 font. While we were in staff meeting the receptionist txts us about everyone going in the mail room asking what's up with the brussel sprouts and now there is a debate on the merits of brussel sprouts.
I almost fell out on the floor, this is the most entertaining this place has been in a bit with ridiculousness.

[macmars45]

The week was busy and good. Work is go go go from the moment I enter until after I get the kids on the bus at 3:30pm. I love what I do as a public school para. Helping kids build reading skills and being a part of their growth is so fulfilling. There are harder moments. This week I got in between a fight at recess and my heart was racing for a good 10 minutes after it was diffused. Overall though, I love going to work every day. My bosses and coworkers are all great. We love our kids. <3

Today I need to run errands in the morning. This afternoon I'm taking DS(7.5) to a birthday party at a trampoline place. I'm supposed to go to a work Christmas party tonight but it's supposed to snow this afternoon & evening and the host lives out in the boondocks. So that might not happen. We'll see.

[traveltheworld]

Happy early birthday mommyatty

It's been a rough week. Work is crazy busy and DH and I are not communicating well. Our furnace also broke yesterday and we had to buy a new one. Did anyone know that the average life of a furnace is 10-15 years?? That seems incredibly short to me, given how expensive they are.

I'm just about done with work too. I have a very stressful job and when something goes wrong, it's millions or hundreds of millions of dollars at stake...it just feels like a lot. But I'm firmly in the Golden handcuffs territory. We don't have an expensive lifestyle, but our kids are in expensive activities and DH doesn't make a lot. So i do feel stuck.

[sandandsea]

Dec 9, 2023 13:46:59 GMT -5 traveltheworld said:

Happy early birthday mommyatty

Our furnace also broke yesterday and we had to buy a new one. Did anyone know that the average life of a furnace is 10-15 years?? That seems incredibly short to me, given how expensive they are.

I feel like repair and replacement companies say this stuff all the time to try to normalize crappy work. I’ve heard the same recently on everything - fridges, ovens, water heaters, furnaces, AC, windows, doors, garage doors, and even pipes lately. It seems bogus to me and like a huge scam they’re all in on together. I don’t need to rebuild an entire house every decade.

[rere]

I've replaced my appliances twice and air conditioner in 20 years. Im on my 3rd washer and dryer. My mom's house is 40 years old. 2nd air-conditioning just in the last 10 yrs and some of her appliances are 30 plus years old. The only reason she replaced her oven is because the door broke, but it worked fine. I think the furnace is still chugging along. I think stuff is just crap. Every time I get everything going around here, something goes down.

[mommyatty]

Dec 9, 2023 13:46:59 GMT -5 traveltheworld said:

I'm just about done with work too. I have a very stressful job and when something goes wrong, it's millions or hundreds of millions of dollars at stake...it just feels like a lot. But I'm firmly in the Golden handcuffs territory. We don't have an expensive lifestyle, but our kids are in expensive activities and DH doesn't make a lot. So i do feel stuck.

This is where I am. Plus I have no control over any outcomes that I’m responsible for. And DH makes no money. It sucks and I’m very tired of being stressed and tired.

[186momx]

Happy Birthday mommyatty, I hope your family spoiled you because you deserve it!

DD had 4 different health appointments on Friday. We left at 9am and didn't return until 1pm and I'm so glad I told her she could just skip school. She would have gone for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon and just attended her elective classes. But it made a very long Friday where I got nothing accomplished.

Saturday DD and I did some shopping and grocery shopping. She had her gym holiday party. DH and I went out and got her big gift and had enough time to sit at a restaurant and have dinner. Sunday has been cleaning house and laundry. I really need to get busy wrapping and I just don't want to.

[traveltheworld]

Dec 10, 2023 16:51:45 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

Dec 9, 2023 13:46:59 GMT -5 traveltheworld said:

I'm just about done with work too. I have a very stressful job and when something goes wrong, it's millions or hundreds of millions of dollars at stake...it just feels like a lot. But I'm firmly in the Golden handcuffs territory. We don't have an expensive lifestyle, but our kids are in expensive activities and DH doesn't make a lot. So i do feel stuck.

This is where I am. Plus I have no control over any outcomes that I’m responsible for. And DH makes no money. It sucks and I’m very tired of being stressed and tired.

I know how you feel. The thing that really sucks is that my company has such a long vesting period that I've only started hitting the "good" years recently. It feels wasteful not to hang on now that my LTIPs are vested, but.....