Mom: (on my voicemail, in Chinese) Hi Julie! How are you? Tomorrow is Moon Festival. What are you guys doing?

I delete the message and call my mom.

Mom: Hello?

Me: Hi Mom! I got your message.

Mom: Oh hi! How are you?

Me: Oh, you know. Kevin just took the kids to his mom’s house so I can get some work done. I have a research seminar on Wednesday that I haven’t started preparing for yet, my annual report is due on Thursday and I haven’t even started writing yet, plus I have three workshops to teach on Monday and two workshops to teach on Tuesday.

Mom: (chuckles) I better let you go then.

I don’t like being this busy.

Categories: work-life balance
Comments Off

Things that made me frown today:

• being disgustingly sick
• shivering because I’m disgustingly sick
• ouchy nose from blowing it so much
• an unjustified insult
• people not stepping up
• stupid (and I mean REALLY stupid) questions
• no time to breathe, and not just because I’m sick
• kids acting up, rare and therefore disconcerting

Things that made me smile today:

• lovely lunch
• listening to Kevin laugh at my jokes
• the Americano I brewed this morning, perfection!
• the 7 layer dip Kevin made for me (I’ll ask him to share his recipe, I promise!)
• good conversation with colleague
• my outfit

Things that made me smile yesterday:

• friends who visit! with news!
• writing! with friends!
• Doritos, nuff said
• Coffee by Kevin ™
• nice weather
• Pandora.com

Things that made me smile day before yesterday:

• a great parking space
• pictures of the kids
• The Pretenders
• a (slightly) cleaner office
• a cheap lunch
• pretty yet comfy shoes

Overall, I think I’m coming out positive.

Categories: food, kids and parenting, work-life balance
2 Comments »

It’s been a week now since the kids went back to school. Not enough time to catch up with the flurry of activity that accompanies this time of year, but enough time to get a few thoughts together.

The budget crackdown in CA is really hurting our schools. It was kind of a given that education would be a big target since it accounts for roughly half of the general fund expenditures, but the reality on the ground really sucks. Ana’s kindergarten teacher was doing reading recovery the last few years to help ensure that the lowest-achieving first graders could catch up before it was too late. This year funding was cut so she’s back in the classroom. Quite a few teachers are in different grades from last year, some of them covering for those who were laid off. Class sizes are up school-wide. Our school’s Community Club, which was already responsible for donating much of the school’s computer equipment, chairs for the multi-purpose room, and emergency supplies over just the last few years, is asking for even more donations this year to cover further cutbacks.

Angie gets ready to go back to school

Angie is back in daycare after two idyllic months home with mama. She’s very advanced for her age, having started her Terrible Twos(tm) weeks ago. Her preferred method of ending a sip of any liquid is to hurl the container as far as she can. It turns out that those covered sippy cups either leak horribly when upside-down and/or their lids come off entirely when dropped. We’ve tried a few different kinds but for the moment we’re stuck sitting next to her and playing shortstop to avoid having to clean up massive milk puddles.

Her latest tricks are saying “uh uh” and nodding for yes and “unh” and shaking her head for no. She’s a climber, though thankfully not quite as much as her big sister. She can get on and off the sofa safely, but tends to avoid scary things like standing on tables, arms of chairs, etc. We’ve caught her with little Lego parts in her mouth once or twice but to be fair, I think she was hungry at the time.

See Daddy? I can do it myself.

Julie goes back to work tomorrow. She probably has 1.5 months of work to catch up on that built up during her 2 months ‘off’ during the summer. We’ve spent the last few days before she heads back pondering things like: How can we streamline bathing the kids? Do we really care if the cars aren’t washed until next July? and When exactly are we going to fit in grocery trips?

This promises to be an extra busy year as we’re both headed back to school as well. I’m looking forward to my MPA classes, as well as the interdisciplinary coursework I’ll be taking in Education. We spent yesterday getting an old desk back down from the rafters in the garage and assembling it in the study for Alex. We now have full-time work space for everybody but Angie, and I’m building a second computer for the kids. It’s not going to be practical having them share one any more as Alex is being expected to do more online research and type up his papers.

OK, bye!

Categories: angie, kids and parenting, school, work-life balance
1 Comment »

In the Disney movie, Lilo and Stitch, when the social worker Cobra Bubbles asks Lilo, “Are you… happy?”, the little girl responds with an awkward open-mouthed smile. Lately, baby Angie and I have been enjoying a private joke in which one of us smiles like awkward Lilo, and the other responds in kind. Sometimes we stand in front of the mirror and make the face together. It’s our secret handshake.

For months, the fish tank in the kids’ room has been empty except for a Golden Mystery Snail, which has grown alarmingly large. The other day I bought 2 Red Clawed Crabs to keep the snail company. Little animal lover Ana has been faithfully feeding them each one shrimp pellet every night. I think the snail wishes they would just go away, but I’m sure it can take care of itself.

Alex and I have been watching episodes of Gilmore Girls together on DVD. He finds Lorelei Gilmore hilarious and runs out of the room during the makeout scenes. I wish I were a Lorelei, but unfortunately I’m more of a Paris Gellar.

Have you seen the order form for Star Trek t-shirts on select boxes of cereal and cracker products at the grocery store? I’ve got enough tokens to order Kevin and Alex each a shirt. They both want blue.

With only 1 week left until I return to the office, I’m finally making some headway on the work I brought home with me at the start of summer. I would allow myself to exhale, but with the amount of knocking on wood I’d have to do, I’d rub my knuckles bloody.

Categories: TV, angie, kids and parenting, pets, work-life balance
1 Comment »

So far this summer, I have done the following:

• Invited friends over for a High School Musical movie marathon!
• Invited friends over to gab and watch our kids play together
• Attended a retirement reception for an ex-coworker.
• Cleaned the house. This is the best it’s looked in MONTHS.
• Packed up most of the stuff in the living room in preparation for flooring installation. Can’t wait to be done with this!
• Conducted science experiments with the kids using a Harry Potter potions kit. Major Mom Win.
• Re-read about half of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince so far in anticipation of watching the movie next week.
• Gone to the beach for the first time in YEARS.
• Eaten a lot of oatmeal. I’m strangely proud of myself about this.
• Wrote a big progress report for a committee I’m chairing. Our work doesn’t halt over the summer, unfortunately.
• Wrote various other reports for work. Still have a few more to write. Blah.
• Made the decision to go back to school. Nervous but SO EXCITED.
• Turned one year older. And wiser.

Categories: food, harry potter, home improvement, kids and parenting, movies, work-life balance
2 Comments »