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There Is nothing More Depressing…

Published March 8, 2014 by Angela

…then feeling like you are the only person awake in the world 😦 Now I know why I don’t mind working so many weekends.

Being a shift worker, I am no longer able to flip my sleep schedule when I don’t work and sleep at night and remain awake during the day. I have went as far as staying up for 30 hours straight; went to bed at 11 pm, only to wake up at 2am, wide awake and unable to sleep any longer.

Now, I generally don’t mind it too much because I get ahead on my homework, reading, and television shows I missed. I also manage to get the house chores done, and I even made creamsicle cupcakes last night (this morning).

But being bored, and knowing you cannot call anyone, text anyone, see anyone; it just sucks. That is all there is to it. It sucks. It is now 7:30am, one of my girls is up, and I am waiting for my sleeping pills to kick in so I can go sleep for the majority of the morning and afternoon. Only to get to do it all again tonight.

I don’t think I would be so grumpy about it today if I didn’t have an extra night of it because I took a vacation day. The up side; I am on for at least the next two weekends, and think I will take the two after that.

I absolutely cannot wait until I get my Benjamin (hairless sphynx) and have someone to keep me company 🙂

So here’s to wishing you and yours a wonderful weekend, and I promised myself I would get up with a better attitude than I am going to bed with, and make the most of the rest of my weekend. It is pretty much all planned out, so it should go a lot faster.

What are you planning for the weekend?

What happened to January and February?

Published March 2, 2014 by Angela

Image I will NOT complain about the heat, I swear! Just make this white junk melt already 🙂

March 1st. Still freezing cold in Michigan, and the country as a whole I would have to say. So, in anticipation of the coming warm weather, (I mean it can’t stay like this forever, can it? CAN IT?? 😦 ) I am going to think warm and fuzzy thoughts!

Complaining about the snow should qualify as an Olympic sport, and I am pretty sure I would medal out on this one! So, no more complaining for me, I promise!

Looking forward to Spring, and especially Easter, I am going to brighten up my kitchen and bathroom with some warm, sunny, pastel colors. I redo my bathroom every year (small bathroom; new shower curtain and rugs, soap dispenser and trash can, a couple pictures for the wall, and a few towels to hang up and I call it good!).

I feel like I am looking forward to Easter as much as I did Thanksgiving and Christmas. Easter is actually my favorite holiday of the year, yes even before St. Patrick’s Day! I am looking forward to warmer weather, flowers blooming, and birds chirping. I am making a promise to myself that I will not complain one single time this year about how hot the Summer is. And they are already predicting higher than normal temps this year. Why not, right?

How have you been dealing with your snow and having cabin fever? I have read so many books it is ridiculous, and my Statistics class is now officially stressing me out! I make no promises about not complaining about my college classes, but I am pretty sure if I can get through this class with a solid B (which is what I need in order for my employer to pay for this class) the rest will be smooth sailing. If I have to pay for a class that did nothing but stress and upset me: YES, I am going to be pissed!

Here’s to a Happy March and warmth and sunshine on the way!

Why Not? Let’s Have Another Snow Day!

Published January 28, 2014 by Angela

ImageIt’s pretty bad when they can only show 1 warning at a time!

School is closed by 6pm for tomorrow. Wind chill warnings and non-stop snow until at least Wednesday. Warned by police to stay off the roads unless necessary, I am sure my employer will find my attendance at work necessary 🙂 It is becoming difficult to find things for my girls to do that keep them quiet during the day while I need to sleep. They are burning up their laptop and the Wii, but have been getting along rather well. I fear the number of days they may have to go to school into their summer vacation due to this cold snap that seems like it will never end.

OK, let’s be honest, them going to school through the summer would honestly make me happy 🙂 There, I said it!

I know the feeling!

I know the feeling!

Even my online classes are having connection difficulties! We are hunkered down, taking it a day at a time. I stop to the store each morning buying what I think we may need to get through a couple days if we end up completely stuck in the house. The worst is yet to come, so I need to be prepared.

Yes, I think 3 gallons of milk in the fridge is enough (actually, I ran out of room). I guess I could buy more and keep it in my snow bank! My girls are tearing up the latest boxes of cereal I bought, therefore the fear of a personal milk shortage.

What are you doing to keep yourself and your children busy when it’s too cold to leave the house?

Week 2 Over and Done!

Published January 24, 2014 by Angela

When I go to college, I tend to live my life in 6-week increments; 6 weeks is how long I have to complete each class. I have to say the best feeling is the last assignment turned in for a class; knowing you can do absolutely nothing else!

This journey has showed me that I need to keep my focus. My focus on my girls, the homeschooling schedule, the church schedule, and squeeze in some me-time 🙂

I love my lists!

I love my lists!

With a week to go, I am feeling comfortable that I can do this, and get my MBA. I can teach Erin her homeschooling, and support my other 3 girls in everything they have going on. I can get to church every Sunday morning (I have made it every weekend this year! Do you remember my to-do list for 2014?) And I can work long hours and still get up and cook dinner and eat with my girls, play Mario on the Wii, and watch mindless TV (Sleepy Hollow anyone? anyone?)

It is a snow day, again… Such is life in Michigan. I get to work again this weekend, and am looking forward to some sound sleep, getting up and having dinner with my girls, and relaxing before work. Oh, and homework. I have to get some posts in or my grade will go down.

So here’s to wishing you a Happy, warm weekend, and may you get to do the things you want to do!

 

Wait! What Just Happened?

Published December 23, 2013 by Angela

Apparently my body gave up and decided to revolt against my shift-worker-sleeper schedule. After 4 hours of sleep over 3 days, I went to bed last night at 7 pm and am getting up at 11 am this morning. Although I did wake up a few times, it was only long enough to look at the clock, and I went back to sleep.

Either that was some extra-strength Nyquil I took last night, or my body had had enough!. I do not think I have ever slept that long. I have to say, I am feeling super-fantastic right now, and hope this actually allows me to sleep like a normal person for the next several days. It gets real old, real fast, being up the entire night, alone, and then sleeping during the day while my girls are up. The peace and quiet is nice (no girls arguing at 3am) but I am losing half a day, every day, that I do this.

Even though I am used to my shift-worker hours and do like working the odd shift, I hope I can have a “normal” rest of my Christmas vacation! Oddly enough, I feel like I have just lost 1/2 a day of getting things accomplished!

Now I get to bake cupcakes, and a carrot cake, and make sure everything is ready to go for Christmas Eve tomorrow!

Are you ready for the Christmas holiday that got here way to fast? Or do you still need to shop and wrap?

I Thought This Would Be More Fun

Published November 27, 2013 by Angela

Having 8 full days off from work after working 19 straight, what could be better? I have plenty of time to spend with my girls, do some extra cleaning, organize, get out the Christmas decorations, read what I want, and watch mindless television, which is something I no longer take for granted 🙂

What is really going on? OK, I am watching mindless television, but I am also not sleeping, my stomach is very angry with me, along with the rest of my body for messing with its schedule, and this in turn has made me less than pleasant. Everything I attempt to do seems to be bound for failure before I even get started, and my patience is being tested. I laugh at myself because I always ask God to give me more patience, which means God is going to give me situations to test my patience. If I would quit asking for more patience, maybe I wouldn’t be tested and things would go more smoothly for me 🙂

So although I am grateful for my time off to get caught up on things, I would really rather be working my 3rd shift schedule, sleeping when my body has been sleeping for the past year and a half, eating at 2am instead of noon (and feeling sick because of it), and being in a better mood. It is currently 3:15 am and I have been awake for a couple hours, doing laundry and cleaning 🙂

Today I get to make 2 pumpkin pies, and some mint-chocolate brownies. I am super-excited for Thanksgiving tomorrow, and just hope that I can feel top-notch and as awake as everyone else when normally I should be sleeping.

I guess the best thing is, everyone takes a nap after Thanksgiving dinner, right?

I really truly am grateful for all I have been blessed with, and am thankful to have a warm house to be awake in, with plenty of food for my girls and myself, our health, a wonderful job, and a strong faith. God has been good to me, and nothing can change the feeling that gives me in my heart! More on that tomorrow!

 

 

 

Even when all those feelings are Happy feelings!

Even when all those feelings are Happy feelings!

Day 14 Done, So Exhausted! Peanut Butter Fudge Will Pick Me Up!

Published November 17, 2013 by Angela

5 more days to go and I get a day off after working what will be 19 days. What possessed me to think I needed to do some baking yesterday is way beyond my comprehension. Luckily, at least one of the recipes turned out!

I was really thinking I was too tired to even attempt to make this as I was on day 13 straight out of 19 that I have to work before I get a day off. And even though I was probably correct, I made it anyways. And it turned out wonderful. (And we also are not going to discuss the other recipe I thought I could get made that did not turn out so well).

I don’t know why it is that whenever I am in a hurry, the whole entire world around me and everyone in it slows down. To. A. Crawl. Due to my tiredness (yep, that’s it) I failed to check and make sure I had enough powdered sugar to make a double batch before I began melting the peanut butter and butter together. Oh well, I will quick run up to the pharmacy on the corner and get a bag of powdered sugar.

Pouring rain, traffic crawling, and I get out of my car in the parking lot and am walking behind a person who is 105 years old, with a walker. That I can’t get around. Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore the elderly, and think they can teach us so much and love to listen to their stories. But I was tired, and that extra-large Monster I drank didn’t seem to be working. So 10 minutes later when I get into the store and a point where I can make a quick cut to the right, I spend a ridiculous amount of time staring at the food aisle which very obviously has NO powdered sugar.

And I stare some more. Looking behind other food items for that bag of powdered sugar that I just know they have. Contemplating where is the next nearest place I can go.

So back in the car, and off to the dollar store. A girl can hope, right? Nope. They have every type of sugar and fake sugar you can imagine, except powdered sugar. So I am left with no choice, knowing my peanut butter/butter melted mixture is waiting on me.

 

I go a few doors down to my least favorite grocery store. Walk in, grab the sugar, check myself out, and am literally back in my car in less than 5 minutes. Hmmm, why didn’t I do that in the 1st place? That’s right, because that store is always soooo slow.

 

So batch #1 is peanut butter with white chocolate chips, and batch #2 is peanut butter with chunks of Mr. Goodbars mixed in for good measure. Nothing beats chocolate and peanut butter together.

Peanut Butter & Mr. Goodbar Fudge. YUM!

Peanut Butter & Mr. Goodbar Fudge. YUM!

To get the recipe, continue reading here… Read the rest of this entry →

Those Three Beautiful Words

Published November 14, 2013 by Angela

After a good night’s sleep, or in my case less than stellar sleep, I always hear the same thing from any one of my girls, generally all 3 by the time they all see me. Yep, you could set a clock by it.

“What’s for dinner?”  (I should clarify I am a shift worker, sleeping during the day while my kids are in school, or homeschooling, getting up as everyone is getting home for the day). So as I am rubbing sleep out of my eyes, wishing my 20-second Keurig coffee pot could brew even faster, they want to know what’s for dinner. Not “How’d you sleep?” or “I love you”.

So as I am waking up, and getting ready for my day, knowing I couldn’t eat a bite of anything I am cooking them, they want to know what is for dinner, and how fast can I get it cooked? We have slowly adjusted to this type of schedule, but I do wish I could eat the dinner I make for my family with them. Instead, I am eating a yogurt and piece of fruit, or a bowl of Honey-Nut Cheerios (YUM!) while they are eating tacos, or spaghetti, or any other meal I would love to share with them.

The problem gets worse as even though I am eating my dinner at 2am in the morning, my body knows it is 2am, and that I really shouldn’t be eating a meal at that time of day. So I tend to eat a lot of soups, or anything else that doesn’t bother my “it’s-2am-you-should-be-sleeping” stomach.

I tried to have a normal schedule on the weekends I don’t work, my body doesn’t appreciate that either. I can only hope that this situation I volunteered myself into is not going to be a long-term situation, and I can eventually feel like a normal person who has a normal schedule and normal eating habits.

Are you a shift worker? If so, how do you adjust to it?

I Owe You An Apology!!!

Published November 7, 2013 by Angela

I owe some of you an apology for my previous post! I feel like I said some things without explaining my point enough which as I thought about it throughout the day I realized I likely offended others.

I believe that being a stay-at-home Mom is the toughest job in the world. I have done it for short periods of time, and it is the one job that a woman can never, ever leave and go “home” from. My 50-60 hours I work a week is nothing compared to how much I would be working if I never left my home.

I have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for women (and stay-at-home Dads!) who have this career. I have never had the opportunity to be a stay-at-home Mom due to circumstances beyond my control, so I am just accustomed to finding sitters and leaving my home for work.

So if I offended any of you, PLEASE accept my sincerest apologies.

Now I am just going to go sit over here in the corner and chew on my foot that I put in my mouth for awhile!