Tonight's Dinner Conversation

PS: "I got the menstrual."

Me: "What?"

PS: "I got the menstrual."

Me: "What the heck are you talking about?" (Knowing that she is certainly not going through puberty and wondering what she confusing with menstrual.)

PS: "The part in my play--I got minstrel #3"

Me: "Oh, duh! Woo Hoo, go PS!" She got one of the larger speaking roles in her school play. And this fits well with the acting class that she started last week. PS tends to be a little timid, so hopefully these experiences will give her more confidence.

It just takes some time, little girl, you're in the middle of the ride

So I survived yesterday--barely.

I think my interview went well--but have thought that before and well, I still don't have a permanent job. I should hear something next week.

Then, DH and I met at my office garage to go to the concert. The plan was to park there and take the train to the concert, with a stop along the way at a touristy district with lots of restaurants. We went to a steakhouse that was mediocre and had a waitress that was content to ignore us. When we went back to the train stop, the schedule said that we had missed the last train to the concert venue. Cursing the neglectful waitress, we started walking the 6 blocks to where we were parked so that we could just drive to the concert.

Halfway back to the car we saw a train marked for the concert headed our way. So we took off running at top speed back to the train stop. OK, I am not in shape. At all. I have a treadmill in my bedroom gathering dust because I hate running. So after running less than 3 blocks at top speed I thought I was going to die. (To make me sound a wee bit less wimpy, I was in 3 1/2 in ch heels.) My chest burned. My calves burned. I started feeling nauseous.

I seriously need to start working out if 3 blocks is going to kill me.

Anyway, we made the train and then the concert. There were 2 opening bands. The first band I had never heard of and they sucked. The second one I have heard of and knew a few of their songs--they were ok. The main gig was pretty good. It was not a band that I would have chosen, but the tix were DH's Christmas present. They put on a good show, but then tend to scream a lot.

But they didn't go on until 10:00--so we didn't get home til 1:00. I am getting old and my butt was dragging this morning. I was incredibly unproductive today.

Crazy Week

It started Sunday with my mad dash to complete the defensive driving course so that I could get all my paperwork in by Thursday. Fortunately, I received my completion certificate today. So I got home from work, had dinner with the kids, then headed back out to to the nearest Fed Ex Kinkos to send my paperwork. $17 later, it is guaranteed to be at the courthouse by my due date on Thursday. I also had to pick up pantyhose while I was out, dinner for the kids tomorrow, and get gas because I will be traversing a good part of my great state tomorrow.

I needed the pantyhose because I have an interview tomorrow. It's with a local DA's office, but a rural office, not Big City. This is good because 1) I still need a job, 2) I would like to work for a DA's office (but would prefer Big City, which is under a hiring freeze), and 3) if I can get an offer, I might be able to use it as leverage to get an offer out of contract firm.

Because contract firm told me that they would talk to me about permanency in January, but when I mentioned it last week I was sort of given the blow off. Not the kind of blow off where they aren't planning to keep me around, but the kind that indicates that I am not a priority and they will get to it when they get to it. I honestly don't think they will do anything until I tell them I have another offer. And while I really would like to work for the DA's office, I would be looking at about a 35% pay cut from what I receive as a contract employee.

Except that when I agreed to this late afternoon interview tomorrow, I completely forgot that DH and I have concert tickets tomorrow night. At a venue very near contract firm. So now I will have to leave work early, drive forever to my interview, then drive back for the concert. And now I have to wear interview attire, which is going to leave me changing in the car for the concert. Fun!

Thursday is my birthday, which I am happy to ignore because DH already got me an awesome gift and there is too much other crap going on this week.

Saturday we are taking a road trip to an indoor waterpark. I spent all last Saturday hunting down swimsuits, which is not easy to do in January.

Oh, and all the kids have some kind of ailment. Which I pray doesn't leave any of them missing school tomorrow so that I don't have to a) miss even more work; or b) have the nanny taking care of the kids for upwards of 16 hours tomorrow, which I think might kill her.

I am a freakin' genius

Or not. Over Labor Day weekend I got a speeding ticket. No big deal--I haven't had a ticket in years and I was due. So I could either pay the fine and deal with insurance going up, take deferred adjudication--which is essentially probation, do defensive driving and have it dismissed, or fight it. My first instinct was to fight it. But the city I got the ticket in is 60 miles away and I was already contracting at that time, and figured they wouldn't be happy if I had to take a day off to fight my ticket. I wasn't about to do deferred adjudication because I speed all the time and there's a darn good chance I would get pulled over again before my probationary period was up. So I went for the defensive driving option.

Back in late October the court informed me that I had until Jan. to take care of anything. The paperwork is due on my birthday--that's ok, at least it was a day I could remember. And in October I was absolutely unemployed and had nothing better to do than 6 hours of defensive driving. But, of course, I didn't do that.

So this weekend DH asked when my paperwork was due to the court. My birthday. Oh shit, that's this week. But I could do it online this weekend, put the paperwork in the mail on Monday and be ok. Until DH (who takes defensive driving every two years like clockwork) informed me that while I could take the course online, I had to wait for them to mail me a certificate to send to the court. Double shit. But I could pay out the wazoo and have the certificate shipped overnight--ok, I can deal with paying for my stupid (albeit very lawyerly) procrastination. Except that Monday is a federal holiday--which means no mail. Fuck.

So my certificate won't go out until Tuesday, I won't get it til Wednesday, and it has to be at the court 60 miles away on Thursday. And there is no way in hell I will be home on Wednesday in time to have it sent, even overnight, by Thursday.

Let's hope the mailbox rule applies to municipal courts. I don't think the bar or my current or potential employers will be thrilled if a warrant for my arrest issues.

Yeah, he's awesome

I think DH took last week's post as a challenge. I posted that he did a great job on my Christmas gifts and wanted to see if he could match it for my birthday. Which was especially challenging because I really don't need or want anything.

Well, except one thing. And he got it for me tonight (a week early)! And I'm typing on it.

Woohoo, DH got me a laptop!! I definitely needed it. My old laptop hasn't been the same since I blew up the motherboard in a moment of pure brilliance. Still, I wasn't really considering getting a new computer until I had a permanent job. But I've been putting in lots of hours, and laptops aren't as pricey as they used to be, so DH decided to go for it.

Now I feel bad for calling him a nincompoop the other day.

Men.

DH is a nincompoop.

PS's class is going on a field trip next month to a semi-historical touristy kind of place. Last weekend there were coupons for a free child's admission to said touristy place. So DH, in all of his manly glory handed PS the coupon and said, "Here, now we don't have to pay for your field trip." PS apparently did not realize that he was joking and took it to school.

Today PS came home from school with a note from her teacher."Dear Mrs. LC. I'm sorry, we can't accept the coupon you sent for PS to attend the field trip. The school has already purchased tickets and must be reimbursed. Thank you, Mrs. T. "

I am so mortified. Can you imagine the conversations going on in the teacher's lounge about PS's cheap-ass parents? I am ready to throttle DH.

Instead, I responded to the teacher that DH is a nincompoop and was joking with PS. I also offered to help out with any children who can't attend for financial reasons. This field trip is quite a bit more expensive than any they have scheduled in the past, and we were planning to make the offer anyway. Of course, now it just looks like we are trying not to look like cheap-ass bastards.

Girls' Day Out

PS and I started our morning with Starbucks and then were off to get our hair and nails done. PS's hair had gotten quite long and was looking pretty shaggy. She wanted to grow it out for Locks of Love, which makes wigs for children with cancer out of donated hair. It is a great cause, and I have donated a few times. The problem is that you kind of have to be willing to cut your hair short if you want to donate. And PS didn't want short hair. So I finally talked her into not donating and getting at least some cut. She probably took off four inches, and it was still below her shoulders. She looks so cute now, with long layers and the ends kind of flip out. My own cut is similar, but shorter. I told her she is my mini-me now!

Afterward we did a bit of shopping because I was taking the girls to the symphony and I didn't think they (or I) had anything dressy enough. Thanks to post-holiday bargains, I managed to snag some good deals. (Unfortunately I got the twins matching dresses. They rarely dress alike and I almost forgot how much attention they draw when they match. When they were infants I felt like a circus side-show, we got so much attention. I swear I had a lady chase me down in a Target parking lot in the rain because she wanted to see my twins--I told her no.)

Then we headed to Barbie at the Symphony. It was a real symphony playing the classical music from Barbie movies, with a screen showing scenes from the movies. We've been to a few outdoor symphony concerts, but I wasn't sure how girls' would do at a concert in a performance hall. They really aren't that into Barbie, but I thought it would be a good way to introduce them to live music.

I have to admit that I felt a pang of jealousy as the orchestra was warming up. I was a total band geek in high school, but I was actually very good. My dream job would be professional flutist. But my ability was due much more to hard work than raw talent. (I practiced at least two hours every day, and up to 8 hours a day during competition season) Even as a teenager I was practical enough to realize that I had no future in music performance. Still, if someone offered me a job in a symphony tomorrow, even for terrible pay, I would drop law like a hot potato. (Trivia tidbit: Tchaikovsky studied law before he became a great composer.)

After the concert the girlies and I went to dinner, and then spent a little time perusing the book store. It was a good day.

Make the voices stop---or not

I have to admit that DH isn't always the best present-picker (sorry DH). A lot of it is my fault. There just isn't much that I need or want and I am fickle and particular (can you be both at the same time?). But DH did awesome this year. (Let's see if he can match it for my birthday later this month.) I got two big gifts--one was a spa GC and the other was a GPS. I'll admit that the GPS seems a little frivolous, but it has actually come in handy a few times.

But I swear it is cursing me inside its little computer brain every time I refuse to follow its directions. "Ok, dumbass, I told you turn right. Now you have to find someplace to turn your big ass around. Why the fuck don't you listen to me?" I think it would be hilarious if I could download a voice that actually did swear at me. I have caught myself cursing it a few times (or responding snottily to its prim computer voice), might as well get it right back at me. DH thinks it would be appropriate around the kids, though.

Adios '07

I can't say that I was sad to see 2007 come to an end. Although I suppose I should chalk it up as a good year--having graduated law school and passed the bar--I mostly just remember spending the entire year unsuccessfully searching for a job. Plus the most-fun-summer ev-ah spent studying for the bar. And the root canal the day after the bar.

So, yeah, I have no problem saying goodbye to '07 and welcoming '08. Hopefully, my current contract position will turn permanent in the very near future. It is nice to be working and have income right now, but there is always that nagging reminder that I don't know how long it will last and I will be back to square 1. It is hard to plan very far ahead when I don't know how long I will be bringing in an income. (I really need a housekeeper with the crazy hours I have been working, but I don't want to hire somebody this week and then have to let her go in a month because I am out on my rear.)

So getting a permanent job is my one and only New Year's resolution. Because it is really the only part of my life that is screwed up at the moment. In the meantime I suppose I should be thankful that I am done with law school and that I am not studying for the February bar right now, and that all of my children and happy and healthy (we've had no problems with SS's asthma in months--woohoo!). Bring on the new year!

*ETA* Ok so the needing a housekeeper thing sounded kinda like a whiny pampered princess in hindsight. I guess it was just in the forefront of my mind. But there are certainly more significant financial decisions and planning that would be easier with some job security.