Blogmas 2017 - Vol. 8

Funsie Fridays!

On Fridays I work at home with the babes. I'm so incredibly grateful my job has allowed me this opportunity. I'm so incredibly lucky to have the time - and I don't have other childcare so yeah.

Fridays are some of my favorite and craziest days! 

It is the most intense and concentrated 9-10hrs. And yes I know stay at home moms do it all the time. But they aren't trying to jam in work and a weeks worth of chores along with childcare so I'd argue it's not quite the same... 

Don't get me wrong I'm super grateful. I'm usually just a bag of tired bones by the time SP walks through the door. Often I'm still in sweats with some kind of baby goo on me. On a good day nobody is crying. On a bad day everybody is crying...including me ;)

Today was a great day!

Home Office Helpers ;)

Keep Calm and Catch Up

Oh my gosh yall, I don't even know how to catch ya up!

First - yes we are all still alive
Second - yes things are really great and really busy
Third - yes baby girl is WALKING!  Eep

For the most part things have been same old same old, in that SP and I are working working working.  And Momming momming momming.  And honestly some days its insanely hard.  But all days it is amazing. I still adore being a mommy so so much.  So much in fact that the beginning months of insane exhaustion memories have started to fade and SP and I have tentatively broached the topic of throwing another kiddo into the crazy mix (some days that prospect sounds insane though! Like when baby girl is literally throwing herself on the ground and throwing a full on tantrum at only 14mos old...mmmm....)

So here's the quick catch up:

February
-baby girls first birthday
-Work is getting pretttyyy busy
-February disappears

March
-I was insanely busy at work.  Like work all day and then work at home at night too.
-We spend an overnight in the mountains!  Beautiful and baby girl's first time in snow...maybe not her favorite.  Much much needed getaway.

 Snow Bunny Baby!

Maybe I don't love this moms...

 -Zoo day with friends!  Cute kids, cute animals, cute cute cute.

-Easter!  And Baby Girl kind of gets the whole opening gifts things, so that's fun!  (no candy!  scrooge-mommies ;)

 
-March disappears

April
-Work is still realllllyyyy busy
-Baby girl starts WALKING!!!!
-We throw a baby shower for some friends!  Baby is born about a week and half later (sneaked that right in)  Baby girl has a brand new friend and my ovaries start talking to me REAL hard ;)

 It was an outdoorsy/elegant theme

And obvi a photo booth!

And maybe party planning is my fall back job? 

-April disappears

Are you seeing a theme here friends?  The time it is a passin!  Some days feel insanely long but overall time just seems to be whizzing by (and I'm just getting older and older...boo hooo) But I'm doing everything I can to savor every hard and fabulous moment!

I've missed ya'll!  

Be Brave!
Sarah

Why I Decided NOT to Apply for the Great Job

So yes, I recognize that I owe you many a post about my life and definitely a long long post about the new house but today is not that post.

Today is a post about making choices and living your best life.

Well as you may or may not know, I love student affairs.  I love my job.  I love nerdy students. And as time has progressed I've decided that I really love career development. I love the process of watching students have those aha moments about where they may want their life to lead.  I love seeing them put together a portfolio they are proud of or get a job they are super interested in.  I love resumes and cover letters and editing.  I love interview workshops - the works, you get it.

So slowly but surely I've been testing the waters.  Editing more resumes, reaching out to people in career counseling, making connections - you know the usual professional schmoozing.  And its been good and interesting.  And today I non-chalantly took a look at some job postings, and there it was: an open career counselor position.  With an application deadline of TOMORROW.  Blargh.

So naturally I started the agonization process right then.  Do I apply?  Am I ready?  Am I qualified?  But I love this job that I have now and I've been here less than a year, but is this the job I'm going to love in 5 years?  What if I could make more money?  What if I get it and it's insanely overwhelming?  What if I fail?  What if I have to give a super long interview and presentation in 3 days and I'm not ready?  It's a scary place in my brain my friends...a scary scary place.

The agonizing continued, I discussed with SP who of course was annoyingly supportive (I love you babe), and then agonized some more.  And right now, this very minute (ok maybe 10 mins ago) I decided not to go for it.  And that's ok.

And here's why.

Sometimes it's ok to settle in and enjoy it. 

I'm not giving up my dreams and I do think that career counseling is in my future.  But not right now.  Of course the experience would be great.  And yes we just bought a new house and more money would be great etc etc.  There are a thousand reasons that it would be a good thing.  

But right now, in this moment, being who I am right at this unique time, there are a thousand and one reasons why it's not the right time.  I'm loving my easy, comfortable schedule.  I love my coworkers who support me and encourage me and make me laugh.  I adore my students who make me laugh and make me proud.  I came from an insanely stressful job where I was alone and I had forgotten that it could feel so good at work and in life - that you could go home and not cry about your work day, that you could actually enjoy your work, and do things OUTSIDE of work (WHAT?!!!...crazy I know)  And I'm just not ready to give that up right now.  

I love the possibilities of career counseling, and supporting my family is important, but enjoying my life and enjoying my family is more important right now.  I want to spend a few more years not being overwhelmed, not striving for something more.  The thing "they" (oh the all powerful they) forget to tell you most of the time is that you DON'T have to climb the ladder all the time.  You can stop on your rung and enjoy it, you can decorate that rung, you can paint it, for the love of God you can jump off the freakin ladder if you want.  

So I choose now.  I choose me.  I choose SP.  I choose free weekends and stress free nights. I choose learning in a supportive environment.  I choose less striving and more fulfilling.  I choose feeding my soul instead of my bank account and my resume.

Isn't life a gorgeous journey?  

I love sitting here in this spot...right here, right now...with you!

****************************************************************************************

And now because you read through all this, a pictorial sneak peak - next time...All this good stuff:

Borrowed Baby!  Baby Niece-y poo!

Surprise birthday and a home made saw pinata 

The NEW HOUSE (eeek!!!)

Easter!

So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it. Thank you.

There so much I haven’t written about in the last 2 weeks.  And I keep thinking, I need to blog about that but I can’t blog about it until I blog about this.  But I think that if I keep up this cycle the blog will die because I’ll NEVER catch up.  So here’s a quicksie poo recap of what’s been going on since June 28^th…

1)   We spontaneously decided to go to San Francisco Pride for the parade.  It was right after the DOMA and Prop 8 rulings and it was lovely and perfect and so touching.

2)   I had my last first day with my nerd kid job.  It has been bitter sweet.

3)   I’m technically working 2 jobs part time right now.  This really means that I’m working about 800 hours instead of 40hours.  I guess I shouldn’t be complaining when others don’t have jobs at all

4)   We celebrated 4^th of July…in hell.  It was SO hot it was pretty miserable.  But we hung out with sweet friends, ate delicious take out and watched some beautiful fireworks.  Go ‘Murica!

5)   We got married…again!  We had a cutesie little legal marriage in the park with some close friends and some delicious cake (pictures to come)  It was fun and sweet and we said our vows again and enjoyed each other’s company.

6)   We celebrated my baby brother’s 24^th birthday.  I’m old.

7)   I think about having babies and getting pregnant all the time.  Like every minute that I’m not thinking about work.

8)   When there’s a free second I think about affording a house.  With the market turning I feel terrified that SP and I will never be able to buy a house before we are priced out of the market.  (I have a lot of anxiety lately can you tell?)

9)   WE GOT A REAL LIFE MARRIAGE LICENSE!  I never thought I would feel all that different after getting legally married.  And I don’t feel THAT different because I already loved and was married to SP, but having that legal license really feels good.  Feels safe and wonderful.  It’s about damn time we get going in the other states.  Love is Love.

SF Pride!  And yes that is Mark Zuckerberg!

 4th of July with friendsies!

Marriage License and the day we got married...again! 

Birthday Dim Sum and my "baby" brother

So that’s pretty much what’s going on around these parts.  I have lots and lots of thoughts in my head these days and way too many feelings for my own good.  And can we say a quick congrats to the UK for passing Marriage Equality into law.  You go UK!  I always did like that old bitty Queen!

Hope all is well out there in blogland especially all those TTC-ers out there - baby dust to all!

Besos!

Sarah

June - over and out

Remember that one time I was going to blog more often?  Oh yeah that's all the time right?!

Well I have no excuses (except the whole SP and I both started new jobs simultaneously and between the 2 of us we are working 3 jobs thing...except that)

Nothing totally monumental has happened but there's been a lot of good happening around here.  So I'm definitely not complaining.   I can't remember all of the details because its been kind of a whirlwind but I do remember some pretty great moments.  Like this:

I mean really, who doesn't love a spa night at home.  Clearly we're goobs!

There was also this:

Which was A to the MAZING!  I'd forgotten how much I love some live musical-ness.  And the music in this show just blows everything out of the water.  More musicals please.  

And to bring June fully into gear there was this:

We played it small and close to home this year and went to our local, smaller Pride instead of the giant SF Pride  and I have to say I kind of loved it.  We spent the day with friends, soaking up some serious sun, watching the parade, and laughing and enjoying ourselves.  It wasn't clausterphobically packed or super duper dirty and it was nice to spend time with some close friends and 10,000 allies.

And now June is rapidly heading towards its close.  And I'm frantically prepping for my nerd kids to come.  It's pretty bittersweet - my last year working directly with these kids.  While they and their parents have made me crazy these past few years and while the working hours have been pretty heinous - I'm not going to lie, I'm a little sad to be letting go.  (But not that sad!)  Especially because I'm just moving on to new nerdy kids - older ones (grad students) and I'm loving getting to know them slowly and learn who they are and what they are doing.  It feels good to be part of the nerd family - even if I have no nerd skills of my own!

Happy June friends.  Enjoy it while it goes whizzing by!

Ch ch ch changes!

So its been pretty crazy around the Dranderson household these days.  Our lives took a pretty hard left turn last November when SP lost her job.  We didn't publicize it too much because it didn't really matter - it was just another drop in the bucket.  But after several months of being a stay at home wife and job hunting let's just say that SP's rope was fraying pretty damn fast.

Which is why I am very happy and proud to announce that SP landed a sweet new job at a very prestigious company up here.  She beat out several other contenders and starts TOMORROW!  It's a great job that has normal hours and weekends and holidays off so we may actually see each other regularly and be able to travel and make plans ahead of time!  And it seems like it will be a great place to work and in the field of SP's choosing!  Needless to say, we're pretty happy about this development!

And to really send things over the crazy cliff - the same week SP had her second interview for her dream job,  I interviewed for a new position.  And just recently found out that I got it!  I will be starting my new job part time in June (and staying part time at my current job until Nerd Camp is over in August) 

So it should be a pretty nutty few weeks (months?) around our house.  And poor crazy pup is going to have to learn to be home alone again :(  But it's really all for the best.  I should have known since I've been whining and whining about how things were NEVER going to change and we'd be stuck forever.  And then essentially everything changed at once.

But we did get to spend a really nice relaxing weekend with my (not so baby) baby brother.  Greek food festival, walk by the river, bratwursts at the local beer hall and the new star trek (SWOON)  I definitely carbed my way through the weekend.  But it was so worth it!

This is the part where the Greeks made me dance!  Italian is practically greek right?

There are no small portions at the Greek Food Festival!

Baby Brother and Bratwursts!

Let's talk about my love of pretzel rolls, vegan brats, and cheese sauce.  CHEES SAUCE. AMEN

Hope your long weekend was just as relaxing as ours!  

And of course - Many many thanks to the service men and women who have given so much!

XOXO!

A Few Tips From A Worn Out Program Administrator

Dear people of the world who may or may not be applying to various programs or universities etc.  As someone deep in the trenches of admissions let me tell you a few things that will make everybody's lives better...

1) Never staple your checks.  Why would you do that?  Why would you put a staple in something that is essentially legal tender?  Would you staple a $50.00 bill?  No.  Don't staple a check.  Do you know how many machines that thing has to go through?!  Those little staples F those machines up.  Don't do it.

2) Don't staple anything.  See #1.  Most likely in this digital age if you are sending something in paper it has to be fed through a machine.  And your tiny staple is going to F my machine up real bad.  And then I don't like you.  This is why they make paperclips.  Great invention.  Try it.

3) Your issue or concern is not the only one I'm dealing with in the current moment.  In fact it is likely one of 5million issues I'm dealing with.  Please don't assume that your problem is the most important.  I'm not going to drop everything and make sure your issue is resolved.  I am going to do a good job and make sure that your issue is taken care of in a timely manner.  Don't hound me.  If you do you're going on the bottom of the pile.  

4) Don't assume you know how the process works.  You don't.  Even if you have someone on the inside who is telling you all the secrets.  At the end of the day they really don't know all the secrets.  Only I know all the secrets.  And I'm not telling.  Mostly because there aren't any secrets.

5) Just do what the instructions say.  Nothing less nothing more.  

6) In order to do #5 you must in fact read the directions.  After you read them.  You should probably read them again.  Maybe a 3rd time if you're a person who needs repetition to process.

7) If it's on the website I'm not going to answer your call.  If you can't use the resources that you have you can't make it in my program.  End of story.  Getting through the application process is part of the weeding process.  I'm sorry but it's true.  If you aren't smart enough or resourceful enough to submit a complete application (which means doing #5 and #6) you don't deserve a spot in my program.

8) Be nice.  Your chances of getting actual help go up exponentially if you are kind to me.  If you call me and demand things you will get the absolute bare minimum.  If you call and you are nice to me I might help you with #6.

9) If you're applying to a competitive program or school or whatever you're probably the absolute cream of the crop where you are now.  Guess what?  So is everybody else who is applying.  Recognize that you may not get in.  That doesn't mean you weren't qualified.  It doesn't mean that you weren't a good candidate.  It doesn't mean you won't get accepted in the future.  It means that most schools/programs have more qualified applicants than they have spots.  Them's the breaks.

10) Never. Ever. Blame. Me. For anything.  For not gettting back to you at the last minute.  For not walking you through every step of the application.  For not coming to your house to fill out your application for you.  For you not gettin in.  Let me tell you what, you start blaming me, your phone calls are mysteriously going to stop being answered and your application is going to be so far down on the pile it may never be found again.  Just sayin ;)

Apply on my friends.  Apply on...