8.25.2006

Thoughts on Women

The Today show featured a segment this morning on which I just cannot resist commenting. I don't have much time right now but you all must immediately checkout this article on forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/home/2006/08/23/Marriage-Careers-Divorce_cx_mn_land.html. The first paragraph gives you an idea of the subject of this article: "Guys: A word of advice. Marry pretty women or ugly ones. Short ones or tall ones. Blondes or brunettes. Just, whatever you do, don't marry a woman with a career." And women with careers are defined according to this standard: "a 'career girl' has a university-level (or higher) education, works more than 35 hours a week outside the home and makes more than $30,000 a year...We're not talking about a high-school dropout minding a cash register."

Yikes! I have many, MANY comments about the above and this entire article but for now I'll just say 3 things:
1 - I am a "career girl" based on the standard above and I have a wonderful marriage.

2 - My husband finds my job and my success outside the home fascinating, stimulating and he is proud of me. He is equally proud of my accomplishments at home and is eternally grateful for my caretaking of our home and our son.

3 - I have respect for the women who are not fortunate enough to have blue collar jobs yet still take pride in their work, their careers, if you will. And I find it offensive that this author so demeaned these women.

OK, I lied. I have 4 things to say... :)

4 - This author does not take one important factor into consideration: Christ. As Christian women, we have an anchor stronger than workplace temptations, ego factors or "falling out of love." We are committed to our marriages and our homes because our God has called us to our men, our children and our homes. And no matter what we do in our free time, we know with whom our allegiance ultimately lies and by whom our priorities and subsequent actions are dictated. I tried to copy some relevant versions from Proverbs 31 the Godly woman working diligently inside and outside the home…and being praised by her husband for both but blogger didn’t like it. But do read Proverbs 31 again, even if you’ve read it may times before. http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=proverbs+31

Praise the Lord that our successes in our marriages and our work in our homes (or outside our homes for that matter) is not dependent upon us NOT having the opportunity to meet other men, earn a salary or take pride in a skill learned or job well-done!

[Now for the stay-at-home moms reading this post - I am not in any way saying that career is more important than our tasks at home. I 100% believe that a woman's primary responsibility is to her family so let's not even "go there." :)]

8.24.2006

True Confessions

I have not gotten dressed for work since Charlie was born. There it is. My secret is out. I have attended phone conferences and delivered presentations in my PJs since I returned to work in May. I sincerely hope that none of my co-workers are reading this blog. In any case, I divulged this information because it is relevant to my newest endeavor: keeping my husband feeling loved and satisfied, my child fed and entertained, my house clean, my clothes freshly laundered, my personal interests/needs indulged, my work requirements met and my sanity intact. Now this is not really a new endeavor - I've been working on this feat (and posting about it) since May however, a new discovery (or rather an old discovery resurrected) has made this goal much more attainable: the flylady.

I was first introduced to the flylady by a friend in Charlottesville. This friend was a Domestic Goddess, if you will, and I really thought that, due to the personality of this friend, the flylady would never work for me. I never even gave her a chance because I thought, "I'll never be this anal; I'll never have a need for such a structured life." WRONG. Yesterday I was sitting at my desk, thinking about to get everything done, so overwhelmed that I couldn't even "do the next thing" as my hero Elizabeth Elliot recommends. Suddenly I remembered hearing about this website that helps women get organized and decided that I definitely had to try it out. But I couldn't remember the name of the site. All day long I tried my hardest to pull the name from the recesses of my brain but no dice - I could not for the life of me remember it! But then last night, as I surfing the net, I made my way to my friend the Marlo's blog and in one of the comments, someone mentioned the flylady! I could not believe it! I took that as a sign that I should immediately begin investigating the FLyLady's goods. So first thing this morning, I joined the group.

One of the more interesting tidbits I read on the website really confirmed my decision to try the FlyLady:
"Since starting this group, I have continually harped on putting your shoes on your feet each morning. I want you to do this and you are not the exception to the rule...I see this problem more in the SAHM (Stay At Home Moms) because often they don't have to leave the house and it is not necessary to get dressed every morning. Only their children are going to see them. I want you to listen very close. You have the most important job of all, raising productive adults. NOW, do you want your children to remember that Mom didn't get dressed until it was time for Dad to get home? Or do you want your children to have to answer the door because you are still in your gown tail and bathrobe? If you would look at your day just like the Payroll SHE and realize that the jobs around the house will take as long as you let it (all day in most cases because you allow it) and get off your "Franny" and get dressed all the way to shoes. Because it is time to go to work."

So it's confirmed: I need to get dressed in the morning and organize my life around the flylady.

8.21.2006

I bit the bullet

and bought a treadmill. I am so excited and yet I cannot believe that I spent so much money at one time! Thank goodness for free shipping and payment plans. :) I do consider this to be a good investment, considering we spent almost twice the cost of the treadmill on our Omni Health and Fitness Club membership last year.

I spent several days last week-when I should have been working, cleaning or doing laundry-researching online and I finally settled on the ProForm line of treadmills. I chose this line mainly because of the free shipping and the "hot summer sales event" which gave me several options under $1,000. After changing my mind several times, I decided on the ProForm Crosswalk Caliber Elite which "is more than just a treadmill" as it also has the Crosswalk Upperbody Arms feature, supposedly providing an optional upper-body workout. A built-in fan, well-lit console (??), iFIT® 8-Week Weight Loss Program (??) and a 300-lb weight limit make this THE perfect treadmill for me. :O) It will arrive within 2 weeks (no wonder shipping is free).

Now all I have to do is decide where to put it. The garage is not really an option, since I won't be able to run until the afternoon after I've finished my work day. I think I might die if I ran in my garage in Augusta, GA in the afternoon heat. And I'm not exaggerating. The master bedroom is an option, albeit not a good one since it really has the best furniture we own (besides the coffee table from Walmart, of course) and a treadmill would most certainly spoil my decor. Any suggestions?

8.16.2006

Charlie at 5 months

This week marks Charlie's 5th month of life and I must say that he keeps getting more and more fun. Just when you think you couldn't love a little person that you haven't even known very long any more...

The doctor tells you to feed him prunes, because um, he hasn't "gone" in over a week. Now this is a kid who has never even had rice cereal. Prunes have been a disaster...and a really, REALLY big mess. The pictures prove it.


This one shows my cool lime-colored kitchen and Charlie's new toile highchair. :)



Here is my big 5 month old boy, smiling away on his blue shag rug.


And here's a final snapshot from today: Charlie with VERY red eyes hanging out in my office with me, likely wondering, "when is she going to get off that phone and put me to bed?"

Poor buddy, his head is getting better with therapy but we aren't quite there yet...

8.15.2006

What am I supposed to do when...

...
1 - the baby has been crying all afternoon and has only slept for one hour since 2pm AND we have small group tonight so he'll be a real treat for that
2 - i've been working ALL day and the work just keeps piling up instead of going away. i wish my email would break - go away, LexisNexis!
3 - the house keeps getting dirtier and dirtier, in my spite of my never-failing efforts to clean it.
4 - i don't get any closer to my old self (size-wise) in spite of my best efforts...and i'm still hungry!
5 - the gymn that i pay $55/month to attend has a 15 kid limit on the child care and the lazy worker says flippantly "sorry, we're full" after i've nearly moved heaven and earth to: feed the baby, dress the baby, dress myself (which is a feat unto itself these days), deal with the dogs, pack the diaper bag and drive the 20 minutes thru evans, ga traffic JUST TO GET TO THE GYMN THAT COSTS $55 PRECIOUS DOLLARS A MOnth to attend (sorry for yelling!)
6 - the brownies that i'm supposed to take to small group are about 1cm thick and burned around the edges
and, after a lunch of blue corn chips and cheese nachos, hebrew national hot dogs are on the menu for tonight.

what am i supposed to do?

obviously i'm supposed to stop and listen to my son's praise baby dvd:
"We are the broken, You are the healer Jesus Redeemer, mighty to save..."

Hhhmm, mighty to save the broken. i definitely qualify today. wow - simple answer to a really, really frustrating day...

thank goodness it didn't say "Emily, you are to heal yourself" because that definitely wouldn't happen.

maybe, because of just stopping to listen to the dvd, by the time ryan gets home, i'll be smiling as i serve the hebrew national hotdogs. and i may even break out some veggie chili to celebrate. :)

8.10.2006

Need I say more?

I probably don't need to say more but, being Emily, I can't resist. Thank you, dear friend Jill, for sending me this picture. It completely and perfectly explains a day in the life of Emily, except that: 1) I have 2 dogs, not one cat, 2) Charlie cannot yet crawl (thank goodness) and 3) My office is not in my kitchen!
And one more thing: my hair isn't straight.

8.08.2006

I hear wedding bells!

Not my own, of course. Those are distant, faint, and barely audible. The wedding bells I'm referring to now are those of my dear friends Katie McKittrick and Janelle Bulicz! Janelle got engaged about 2 weeks ago and Katie just got engaged this past Saturday. Janelle, obviously in a hurry to tie the knot, has set her date: November 18. I just bought the bridesmaids dress on Saturday - a beautiful apple-colored strapless top and long straight skirt. Good choice, Janelle. This was my 8th bridesmaid dress purchase; Katie's dress will make 9. I'm shooting for 10 so I've nearly reached my goal. After these 2 weddings, I'm thinking of becoming a professional bridesmaid. I could sell my services on ebay. Just a thought...
Anyway, congratulations Katie and Janelle! I love you both and I can't wait for your weddings and all the festivities that will accompany them!

I've seen some blogs recently in which the writers briefly describe what's going on in their lives at the end of every post. I'll try to do that from now on, just because my life is just not that interesting and I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas for posts. :)

What I'm doing now:
Working! Life at the LexisNexis Augusta, GA office has really become quite hectic lately. I'm right now working on daily updates to lexis.com and preparing for a possible trip to Albany, NY at the end of the month to participate in a presentation for the gov't of NY. We are re-bidding on the contract.
Mothering: Charlie is doing really well. Still sleeping 10-11 hours a night and eating 5 times a day. He's starting to really change every week - he's about to roll over and is grabbing everything in sight. It's a really precious time in his little life and I'm enjoying every minute of it. He's still going to physical therapy twice a week for his head problem but we think he's improving. Keep praying if you think about it - he's not out of the woods yet. A collar, a helmet and surgery are all still possibilities.

What I'm reading now:
Before the Darkness Falls by Eugenia Price - the last book in the Savannah Quartet . Georgia just seceded from the Union so I can barely put the book down to do my daily activities. I wonder how it will turn out? :)
BabyWise II: Parenting your Pre-Toddler - I'm reading about how and when to introduce foods and what Charlie's schedule should look in these next few months. A fascinating read, let me tell you. :)
The Fruit of Her Hands by Nancy Wilson - I'm not the biggest Douglas (or Nancy) Wilson fan (I think he's a bit of a separatist and a chauvinist) but my mom (who is a HUGE fan of the Wilsons) gave me this book for Christmas so I'm giving it a shot. I have found good things in this book along with some things with which I simply do not agree. I think I'll do a formal book review when I'm finished with it so that's all for now. I'm sure you will be on the edge of your seat until that post is up. :)