Archive for August, 2009

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August 30th, 2009  Posted at   Blogging
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Sunday Stealing: The Ellie Bellie Meme

What are your most common nicknames? I could tell you but then you’d know. Right now Mr. V’s calling me “The Pusher” because he says the food I make him is crack. :-)

What is today’s weather? Sunny and hot, like every other day. Love where I live!

Where did go on vacation this year? Vacation? What vacation?!?

What did you do there? You mean at work?

Where did you stay? No vacation. Waaah!

What job do you do? I work in the legal department of a large corporation administering a corporate-wide program

Describe where you live Beautiful neighborhood in a warm southern state

What do you usually do on weekends? Cleaning, errands, cuddling on the couch with my boys

What food hits your ‘bliss spot’? Molten chocolate cake with raspberries. Mmmm.

What drink really does it for you? I love beer but my stomach has had a hard time with it lately so it’s been ice water or red wine.

Describe the first friend that comes to your head Ashante – smart, funny, friendly, loyal, awesome!

What was the last restaurant you went to? Chinese buffet with Mr. V. Super yummy/clean one, even though they didn’t have the plantains I love last time we went. Boo.

Where would you like to live if you had unlimited moneys and nothing stopping your dreams? I’m happy where I am. Home is where you make it. I’d love to travel more but I don’t have a place I’d rather live.

What is the likeliness of you achieving this dream home? Snort…

What do you like to do in your spare time? Love to read.

What’s your favorite genre for TV programs? Legal or medical drama

What’s your favorite genre for music? Country

What’s your favorite song that’s sad? Raining You by Brad Paisley or If I Had Only Known by Reba

What’s your favorite sappy film? How can I pick. Steel Magnolias and Beaches are both great ones.

How about your favorite chick flick? Loved The Proposal

What are you looking forward to at the moment? My ex-husband starting to pay child support again. Not living paycheck-to-paycheck. Feeling less stressed!

What are you dreading at the moment? Bills.

How would you describe your personality? Intense.

if you had a personality eraser, what part of yours might you erase? I tend to come across as arrogant or too serious. I’m not sure why that is. I think I’m nice and fun but apparently I make people feel stupid. I think it’s a tone of voice thing (my Dad has the same vocal quality). Sucks, especially because I don’t know when I am doing it.

You are given $5000 to spend in 1 day, what do you do with it? remember, no limitations! Massage, Godiva, haircut, new clothes, vacation

What is your biggest fear? Losing my child, my job or the roof over our heads

Thank you for playing this week on Sunday Stealing! Please leave a comment or link when you have posted. Feel free to stop back and visit other player’s posts. Have a great week. See you next Sunday!

August 30th, 2009  Posted at   Law School, MILS, Mommy stuff, Women in Law
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The Weekly MILP (Moms In the Legal Profession) Roundup** is the brainchild of Saramel (retired). It is hosted on a rotating basis at the PT-LawMom and A Little Fish in Law School blogs and is usually posted no later than Monday morning.

Certifiable is making an impression. Literally and figuratively.

PD Surrogate gave birth for the second time to a set of twins for someone who couldn’t have them without her help. Amazing!

TrannyHead is back, fabulous and bringing us hilarious pictures of her cute and cuddly two year-old. I’m still laughing!

Cee ponders the following: “Why is it that drunk men (who, in their drunken state, would even be hopeless with a GPS tailored to the woman’s body– “approaching intersection, turn right… a little more to the right”) have no problem with foreplay while it wouldn’t cross a sober man’s mind even if a mime acted it out in front of him?”

Butterflyfish is apparently not all-knowing

JD Wannabe is checking out herself and all her cohorts

Dakota continues to sweat out her bar results

Proto Attorney is in a funk. Go cheer her up!

Lag Liv is also in a funk (but not blogging it). Cheer her up. And go read about Landon’s first week at a new daycare.

Law Mummy is living one of my worst nightmares!!!
If you would like to have your blog added to the MILP blogroll for weekly review or would like us to consider a specific post, drop the hostess(es) an email or leave a comment at their respective sites.

**Hat tip to the “original” Roundup Evan Schaeffer’s Legal Underground and Thanks, But No Thanks

August 29th, 2009  Posted at   Women in Law
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The past week was one of my busiest ever at work. I worked 10 hours Monday, 13.25 Tuesday, 13.5 Wednesday, 11.75 Thursday and 4 on Friday (yeah, took the day off after a morning meeting). And Pumpkinhead was sick. Fortunately my boss FINALLY hired the second of two paralegals (and a former coworker of mine) to join our team. Woot!!! So as of September 8, I will have at least one person to share the burden and then, hopefully a week later, I will have my former coworker to assist as well.

Of course right when we get two more people the workload has exploded! LOL. We have some major deadlines to meet coming up fast. Fortunately Big Boss was in this week and I was able to get a few things approved, including some new technology that will help make things go much more smoothly.

Did I also mention that I was asked to be on a corporate board representing my department and the legal department and helping to make major decisions for the corporation? That’s been super-exciting, to say the least. I’m feeling very happy right now with the way work is going. Hopefully the dynamics won’t shift too much as the department grows… The good thing is that my boss kept me as the program administrator and brought in the two new employees with the title of paralegal, thereby defining my role as a separate, more managerial one. I think that’s good. He wants me to continue to coordinate and oversee things for our group. We will see how it goes, but I’m happy for now.

August 29th, 2009  Posted at   Dating, Single Parents
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Since I was already off work yesterday because Pumpkinhead was sick and had to go to the doctor’s office, Mr. V and I decided to hit the bank and take yet another step in our relationship. We opened up a joint account. I think this is a good thing. Mr. V is really good at tracking all of his expenses in Quicken. I’m really good at making sure the bills get paid. And, in the wise words of Michelle Singletary:

Landover, Md.: The old saints have said that when you marry you should have a joint account for household and family expenses; and each spouse should have their own for personal use; and have a 2nd personal account with a little secret stash of Mad $ or whatever for yourself. Does that still fit for today’s times?

Michelle Singletary: Old saints were wrong.

I encourage joint accounts and full disclosure. If you want to keep so much separate and spend the way you want then this new saint says stay single. You want a roommate not a lifetime mate.

That said, we are still each going to have our own “mad money”. Plus Mr. V has his business account because he is a small business owner. But money was a huge issue in my marriage. Chapin had a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and even though he was convinced he carried me throughout the marriage (even though I always made twice his salary), he would usually refuse to help or know what was happening and then freak out about once a year over how I was handling things (usually when he wanted to buy a big ticket item and it wasn’t in our budget).

Anyway, no, there’s no ring but we are sharing a house and planning a future and having a joint account at least for the main household bills makes good practical sense.

August 29th, 2009  Posted at   Mommy stuff, Single Parents
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Pumpkinhead started First Grade at his new school this week. He was concerned that it wouldn’t go well because it wasn’t his same school from Kindergarten but all those concerns were obviously assuaged when he came bouncing home Monday afternoon telling us it is was a “short and awesome” day. LOL.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Unfortunately he ended up right back home on Wednesday. The school nurse called and said he had a 102.2 degree fever. :( Mr. V picked him up and watched him until I got home… at 10 p.m. I stayed home Thursday and took him to the doctor where, an hour after giving him a dose of Tylenol, he still had a 103-degree temperature. Just when I was starting to really freak out, his fever broke and now he’s back to running around like his normal goofy self. Weird.

I worked 10,000 hours this week. Pumpkinhead stayed home Thursday and Friday as Mr. V and I traded off childcare duties and I worked an insane amount from home. Fortunately my sick kid only wanted to sleep and watch TV or read so I was very blessed and able to get a lot accomplished.

I’m excited to see Pumpkinhead get back to school and get into a routine. Mr. V and I are joining PTA and I’m planning to be a lot more involved this year. Fortunately because we live right next door to the school and because I now live much closer to work, it should be easier to do so. We’re also going to work on a chore chart and a homework schedule for him to help him get set into a schedule. I’m paying for weekly care at the YMCA but only using it Tuesdays and Thursdays (cheaper to pay by the month than to pay for each day). On Mon/Weds/Fri, Mr. V picks him up. I love that because he gets to relax at home rather than being in care. I always felt guilty that he had to stay at the daycare so late last year because I couldn’t pick him up until after work and he was always one of the last to leave. This situation is soooo much better. :)

August 23rd, 2009  Posted at   Law School, MILS, Mommy stuff, Women in Law
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This week’s MILP Roundup is at Butterflyfish’s place. The Roundup is the brainchild of Saramel (retired). It is hosted on a rotating basis at the PT-LawMom and the Butterflyfish blogs and is usually posted no later than Monday morning. Next week’s Roundup will be right back here.

August 22nd, 2009  Posted at   Dating, Family Stuff, Mommy stuff, Single Parents
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My brother is in town. With his fiance. I haven’t met her and I haven’t seen him for a year and a half since he angered my mother so much she had to physically send him back home (he was visiting) and, a day later, she suffered a massive heart attack. He has since been arrested and gotten probation for “smacking his bitch up”, then “found Jesus”, got a full-time job and, by all appearances, has turned his life around. We’ll see… Anyway, my son completely adores his uncle and begged to go see him Thursday night. Bugged Mr. V all day long until I got home to drive him to Mimi and Granddads and then stayed up until 10:30 when their flight was delayed. Pumpkinhead spent the night with his uncle and then swam all morning with him until my parents took him to stay with his father’s girlfriend until I could pick him up.

I still haven’t seen my brother but he promised Pumpkinhead a trip to Chuck-e-Cheese tomorrow so I’m supposed to pick him and his fiance up after church and take them back to our house so they can do the Chuck-e-Cheese trip with Pumpkinhead and swim in our newly refinished pool. Then my mother is making lamb so I get to torture Mr. V with some quality family time. LOL. With any luck there will be very little judgment and it will be peaceful and pleasant and I won’t leave wanting to physically harm either my brother or my mother. And I do actually look forward to meeting future SIL who appears to be wonderful. With any luck he has really turned his life around and will treat her right. Can’t wait to see what her ring looks like. Maybe he saved some of the $14,000 he drained from my parents’ bank account during my mother’s post-heart attack hospitalization to pay for something super-nice… Like this
Or this
Or this
Or this
Or this
Or this

But he probably went with this

In the meantime, I spent the day cleaning up the house to make it semi-presentable for guests. Mr. V is super-anal (comes from a long line of OCD housecleaners, whereas I come from a long line of clutterbugs) and has been losing his shit since we moved in because there are boxes everywhere! Fortunately I got Pumpkinhead’s room and bathroom cleaned and the kitchen, living room and dining room cleared of all clutter. Even cleaned up the kitty puke stains on the carpet (Mr. V’s nasty cat gets stress-induced hairballs… blah!) Smells halfway decent and looks much better. Now I just need a haircut so that *I* will look a bit better. ;-)

Tomorrow morning I have to meet Mr. V’s sister so we can plot and plan his 40th birthday party. Old man hits the big one on September 30 so we don’t have much time. Looking at fun cakes, fun presents and a surprise element to the party. Glad I have a partner in crime! Mr. V’s sister is also getting married this year in November so we’ve got a lot going on in the next few months. Her bridal shower is September 26 at a nearby casino and I’m thrilled that she has offered to share a room with me. I think she likes me. Woot! :-)

August 21st, 2009  Posted at   Law School
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Ever since a friend – we will call her ND – had to shut her awesome blog down suddenly and under really, really horrible circumstances, I’ve been pondering the various ways blogging can go wrong.

CNN shared the story of a blogger in Pittsburgh who decided to out herself recently and promptly lost her job. Nice…

In a different economy, with more job opportunities and less to lose, the choices would be more clear-cut. But this is scary stuff. My assistant was laid off today. Okay, her job skills were seriously lacking and all of the training I offered did not help. Still… I’ve been working full-time in a corporate or law firm environment for the past 12 years and I have seen enough from my work for executives to know how they think. Image. Bottom line. Self-interest first. Youth matters. Energy matters. Education matters. Especially in the legal field, they are so hung up on pedigree, rank and other things. Drives me nuts.

Not saying anything about my own bloggy course. Just pondering. Worrying. What else is new?

August 16th, 2009  Posted at   Family Stuff, Health, Mommy stuff, Single Parents, Women in Law
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Yesterday was Moving Day. Pumpkinhead and I are now officially living in sin with Mr. V. LOL. Of course the house is a disaster area and my back/arms/legs are in enormous pain so that won’t change anytime soon. I have to go back to the old house and finish painting the cabinet doors I removed and promised to paint before the new tenant gets back. Waah. I just want to go back to bed. I also have about four hours of work to do for my boss who, due to a sudden push for a ton of different projects, has removed the “no overtime” restriction and is now pushing me to work nights and weekends. Fortunately the new paralegal should start in a few weeks and, with any luck, my workload will go back to “normal”.

Good thing because Pumpkinhead has one more week of freedom before he starts school. He’s with his Dad this weekend so he’s not having to deal with the mess, thank goodness. I took a few hours off last Thursday to get him registered and go to the doctor. Registration plans were foiled because I need a notarized statement from Mr. V (even though he was with me) that we live with him and a copy of the divorce decree since my name doesn’t match Pumpkinhead’s anymore. Ugh. So I need to find time to go back up there this week during their limited hours. And of course they are having “meet the teacher” from 11-12 on Tuesday. WTF?!? Thank God for Mr. V, who has promised to take Pumpkinhead over for that.

The new pediatrician is now the fired pediatrician. She totally sucked. Pumpkinhead got a third chicken pox vaccination because she didn’t read his immunization record properly, even though I insisted he had already had two (she said he couldn’t go to school without it and insisted he HAD to have it – of course when they then gave me the printout after the shot, I immediately saw TWO varicella injections. One was combined with MMR in 2007 – grrrrr!). She also couldn’t answer questions that Mr. V and I had about Pumpkinhead’s body odor (weird child – despite baths has some strange BO issues for a 6 year-old!) and sleepwalking. Fortunately she did reassure me that, despite the fact that the Vyvanse Pumpkinhead takes makes him lose weight, he is still just fine. He’s at the 90th percentile for both height and weight at 6 years old – 48″ and 56.6lbs. I have the shot records to register him for school and will be finding a new pediatrician before the next visit.

As for me, I need to go back to the neurologist. While my pain has been doing well, thank God, my numbness has not. My middle and ring fingers have been very numb lately and I’ve been having a lot of tingling in my shoulders and feet. I need to at least report that even if the answer is, yet again, “so sad; not much we can do.”

Now I need to get myself braced for more hours of hard labor. Took a pain pill last night to help me sleep but woke up this morning in excruciating pain. I am going to try some Aleve and see if that helps.

P.S. Still no child support from Chapin but he did get a new job finally. They didn’t pay him week one (they apparently pay a week behind) but he has promised money as soon as he gets paid and has asked for the child support office’s phone number so he can call and figure out how to get straight with the arrears. As for Blue Eyes, he met me late last night in the parking lot of a nearby restaurant to give me a little cash and promises more soon.

August 16th, 2009  Posted at   Law School, MILS, Mommy stuff, Women in Law
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This week’s MILP Roundup is being guest hosted by Proto Attorney. The Roundup is the brainchild of Saramel (retired). It is hosted on a rotating basis at the PT-LawMom and the Butterflyfish/a> blogs and is usually posted no later than Monday morning. Next week’s Roundup will be at Butterflyfish’s place/a>.

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