What I Did On My Blogcation

If we are going to be friends, let's get one thing straight: I am not an overachiever.

I have been drowning in work and business travel lately, and coupling that with wanting to steal time with my kids on the weekends that I have actually been home, I have not been blogging. I have not had one iota of a moment to get on the computer to share something fun, witty or even boring about my life lately or catch up on any of my favorite blogging buddies lives'. I am not going to get on the computer at midnight to blog. I like sleep way too much. And I like to sip my wine at night after the kids are in bed and put my feet up and watch something terribly mindless and completely amusing rather than go down to my cold basement and blog (I do not have a laptop with a wireless router...yet). So forgive me online buddies, but frankly, you haven't missed much. Here are some of the highlights of the things I have been doing on my vacation from blogging:

Work, work, work: I’ve traveled to Cincinnati, Houston, Chicago and Rye Brook, NY in the past month and have done more work than I probably ever had in my whole career. During this time, it has been a challenging transition between work and home life, and the only job I’ve ever had where it was a necessity to blend work and life in order to succeed at both. Since becoming a mom, I have usually had a lifestyle that is very compartmentalized between my work, my kids, my marriage and my hobbies. As my career has transgressed into my current role, it’s more appropriate for me the blend all the components of my life, and that’s been a challenge for my brain which sees things differently.

Went to a play about a dog: I took the kids to a really cute play a couple weekends ago. To my pleasant surprise the baby sat through about 2/3 of the play mesmerized by the people on stage. And then for the rest, he started to get restless and goofy, but never cried. We had a great time. We then went to an ice cream factory and got sugared up. It was a great day with the kids.

Got snowed in: I’m sure I’m not the only one that was affected by the weather, but it really sucked when I got stranded in Rye Brook, NY last Wednesday night, delaying yet another day for me to get home with my family. It was the last place we needed to travel for work, and we all had flights out on Wednesday night, but they were promptly cancelled in the morning. We all went that night and had a great time since there wasn’t anything else we could do, but it still sucked because then I had to wake up before dawn with a hangover and deal with the bedlam at Newark Airport. As someone who was born and raised in New Jersey, I’m no stranger to Newark Airport, but I did not miss it.

Taught my son Money Management 101: Last weekend we went to a pizza party to celebrate my niece's last basketball game of the season. She's a senior and not playing in college so it was like her swan song. Unfortunately they got clobbered - something like 56 to 10, but either way, she's an excellent player, a wonderful girl, and has a lot to look forward to, sothat's a personal victory, I think as it is. Anyway, at the restaurant, they had an arcade. A pretty lame arcade, but anything with lights and music is a carnival for my son, CJ, who brought with him a bagful of quarters from his piggy bank. Yes from his own piggy bank. Much to the shock of other parents who attended the pizza party, in unison they cried, "Awwww!", when they found out he was blowing his own money at the arcade. I defended my principle by stating that I found nothing wrong with teaching him the concept of spending and saving money, even though he is only 5. As a parent, aren't we supposed to be raising our kids to be responsible adults? My parents, and my husband's parents, did not teach us anything about money management, and therefore, due to our lack of these important skills, had to file bankruptcy several years ago. That being said, if there is one thing I want to teach my kids, it's managing money. Hey, last time I looked, I didn't have hardly enough money for retirement, so I need someone to pay my grocery bill!

And finally, one thing I did not do is, shave my head. My Lord, will someone help that girl?