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I’ve Got an Idea

While thinking about my company’s “problem” and how they’re (hopefully!!) trying to save money by asking more people to work from home, I was reminded of something I read about how some companies are encouraging people to work from home and have no actual office buildings at all.

For a lot of people (like me), this is very attractive. I really enjoy working from home and not having to worry about traffic – or being interrupted over and over while trying to get some work done.

However, I recognize that not all people feel this way. A lot of people need to get out of their house and have somewhere to go to “start their day”. Others just don’t have the space for a home office. Some just like the atmosphere and socialization of an office setting.

I have the solution. I’m going to purchase a building in some suburb somewhere (more suburbs when my idea takes off). I will supply offices – with locking doors and office furniture. I’ll also have common areas – like a cafeteria/break room, printing areas, mail room, and conference rooms with video capabilities. That way, if a company has headquarters way off in one area, but needs employees in another area, they can rent an office or two from me. No overhead for them. That would mean someone from…say, Intel could be in an office right next to someone who works for…say, Yahoo.

There would be “floating” offices for times when a boss or co-worker needs to visit face-to-face with the one renting an office in my space.

I’m going to call my “business” Office Mate. (although, I’m open to suggestions.)

Anyone want to invest? πŸ˜‰

Spiritual Struggle

I hesitate to write about this because I have no idea if anyone from my church has found my blog. I doubt it, but you never know…I decided to go ahead anyway, because I’m really struggling and I seem to do better if I write things out.

Mike and I started attending church a little over a year ago. The congregation accepted us with open arms and everyone has been incredibly nice. The kids love going and Maggie has loved playing in the nursery room since day one. Burke has just started to let us leave him down there, but he’s loving it now as well. Logan hates it when we rush out, but he enjoys playing as well. And all of the ‘Tweens who help out down there seem to really get a kick out of all 3 kids. (They even give me hugs – which is cool.)

Many of the adults in the church are much older than we are, but like I said – they welcome us with open arms. There are others there our age, with kids about the same age as our kids (mostly a little older though).Β  Not a LOT of kids in the church, but I’m fairly certain that that’s actually the norm in our area.

So what’s the struggle? I don’t love the minister. Talking with him one-on-one is okay – he’s grown on me over the past year. But listening to him preach takes a lot out of me. His messages are…well, preachy. (For example, the message I took away last week was “The World is Wrong.” Not really the best message – in my opinion.) And the entire service is so … down. I mean, I swear this guy finds the darkest passages and the darkest hymns and builds his sermons around them. I can understand “dark” every once in a while…but you really don’t have to look that hard to find uplifting passages and hymns. To top it off, most of the messages are pretty accusatory. (“If you have money in your pocket, you’re not doing the word of God.” And lots of “You must”s and “Never do”s … I guess I’m just not an absolutest.)

To be fair, I had two amazing ministers while growing up and it’s hard to not compare things to them. Both have incredible senses of humor – a must in my book. And their messages were almost always (if not entirely) uplifting. They never made me feel like I was being accused of doing – or not doing – something, but I “got” the messages they were sending. I suppose it helped that they were both close family friends as well…

I guess my point is, if you can get your messages across without all the doom and gloom, why do people still use it?

Weekends

Weekends are a strange thing. Before kids, I looked forward to weekends because I could sleep in or read all day or just do nothing. Now that there are kids around, I sleep in as much as Mike lets me before he has to head to workΒ  (Thanks honey!!) and then it’s playing/watching/feeding/doing things with and for the kids. We usually do a Costco run at some point.

Historically, I think when adults tried to make plans for a meeting or gathering (that’s not a party), they tried to do it for a week night rather than a weekend. Perhaps because, historically, weekends were considered family times …Β  mommies and daddies didn’t work and the kids didn’t have school or activities. Now it seems like mommies and daddies work all days of the week and school activities sometimes spill into the weekends – so weekends are no longer the family time they used to be. (Don’t get me wrong…Mike doesn’t work all day on the weekends, so we get lots of time when he gets home πŸ™‚ )

I know that in our house, since Mike works on the weekends, and since the kids are still young enough to have a bed time routine – weekend evenings are pretty much like any other night.

So where do all these randomly related thoughts lead? I guess…I’m wondering if others feel the same way – that weekends aren’t quite the family time they used to be. And if, like me … sometimes those “taboo” weekend nights might actually be better for planning a meeting or gathering since it means not having to wake up to go to work the next day.

Various Wonderings

Besides being consumed by “What are we doing to do for pre-school next year??” thoughts, I’ve had the following float through my head over the past few days:

Is my cat blind? Why is it that he must sniff my hand each and every time I go in to pet his head? Doesn’t he remember who I am?? (I’ve only had him for oh, 7 or 8 years now.)

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I really don’t think everyone who stops by my blog is de-lurking…but how cool is it that I found more blogs to read because of National De-lurking Week??

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Why does pee smell funny after eating asparagus?

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Am I going to Library Hell for using a book as a door stop in the kids’ room?

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Are my fingers skinnier than they would be if I didn’t do all this typing?

References – Part 2

Just to let you know…of course I check references πŸ™‚ Even though it’s sometimes tempting not to – you think you should go with your gut, or figure you won’t get anything out of it, etc…it’s still good to check just in case. It’s also good to get confirmation of that gut feeling.

As for background checks, one of the sites I put an ad up on offers free ones. The person you’re hiring must approve it first, but it is available. Feels kind of funny doing one, but you can never be too careful.

Those background checks don’t indicate “never shows up on time” or “sometimes doesn’t show at all” though. (I suppose that’s where the references come in πŸ˜‰ )

Wish I had more nanny news, but I don’t yet…

References

We’ve been looking for a new nanny, which means that we’ve been getting lots of answers to the ad I put out there, and to the queries I’ve put out to the various moms groups I belong to.

Along the way, we – of course – request references.

Have you ever really thought about references? I have. It’s always good to hear nice things about the person you’re looking to hire, but …

Who the heck in their right mind would provide a reference that would say bad things? (And if they do, they obviously shouldn’t be hired…) But seriously…if you’ve ever had to give names for someone who would provide a reference for you – did you give a name for someone you knew would provide a terrible one?? Don’t you know at least two people who would say all the right things? Therefore, how accurate can references actually be?

This is why I have mixed feelings about references.

The Secret to a Successful Relationship – Part 2

When I posted The Secret to a Successful Relationship, Mike told me that I forgot something:

Make sure you both always have an equal number of socks and underwear.

Happy New Year!

I can’t believe that it’s 2009. That’s just crazy.

A kindergarten teacher once told me that if you said “Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit” on the first day of the month, before talking with anyone, you’d have good luck all month. This always posed a problem for me on New Year’s Eve because at midnight, you’re supposed to yell “Happy New Year!” … which means that you’re talking to people before the whole rabbit thing. When I was much younger, I used to say the rabbit thing under my breath REALLY fast and then yell…so I was always a second or so behind everyone else – but I don’t think anyone really noticed. I haven’t done the rabbit thing in years, but I always think of it.

I suppose this is the time to talk about New Year’s resolutions. Mike and I made a family resolution last year to start going to church. And, for the most part, we stuck to it. There were, of course, some Sundays that we didn’t go…but we did it, and we’ll keep going this year as well.

This year, we’re going to make a conscious effort to keep in touch/get back in touch with friends. We’re going to try to get together more often and stop being the hermits that parenthood sometimes forces you into (this might be just perception on our part πŸ˜‰ )

The Secret to a Successful Relationship

If she eats garlic, he eats garlic.
If he eats onions, she eats onions.
(You get the idea.)

Makes for equal kissing ground later on.

Various Wonderings

I’ve had various thoughts float through my head over the past few days:

Is it bad that the kids like Hot Pockets? And worse that I know Logan can eat two of them?

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Why did the new sheets only work at keeping Burke in bed for one night?

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Why is it that Logan can play by himself for long periods of time if I’m out of sight, but as soon as he sees me, he starts crying?

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How the heck did one little girl (with only a few shots taken by others) take over 1500 pictures in the span of 3 days??

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What the heck song is Burke singing, anyway??

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Is Logan ready for potty training?

Not Quite.

Not Quite.

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Why is Burke guarding the potty from Logan?

Who Knows.

Who Knows.

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Why does Maggie sing everything?
(Oh ya. Mommy and Granny Frani have done that their whole lives too…)

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Why is it that boxes are so fascinating to kids? And why, then, do we purchase actual toys?

Because you can play peek-a-boo with Mommy

Even Toy Boxes

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Am I scarring Burke for life by putting some of Maggie’s undies on him because all of his are dirty?