Holy Crap - It's November!

It's been over a month since I've written anything.  A whole month!!  Craziness.  Needless to say, I've been busy.  I thought September was a busy month.  And it was.  But October was just as busy, if not busier.

The Aquarium keeps me busy for sure.  They book a LOT more events than I ever imagined they did, so I pretty much work there at LEAST once a week, often two days and even sometimes three days a week.  The Hunter has been MUCH slower (two shifts a month kind of slow) but the Hunter also has a lot more bartenders they divvy up the shifts between. 

But even if I hadn't had a single bartending shift all month last month, my environmental job would have made up for all of it.  I ended up with FOUR work projects last month, and they even attempted to recruit me for SIX (I had no choice but to turn down two of them on account of being just too darn busy).  Since I work on the majority of my environmental reports after everybody goes to bed, I was up until 2:00 or so in the morning for far more nights than I wanted to be last month.  The positive side?  MOOLAH.  These projects pay so well that it's just hard to justify turning them down.  I was bummed about the two I had to turn down, but there was just no way.  I stared at my calendar for a good hour after I got the email offer and simply could not make extra time appear

This past weekend Lucas, the kids and I joined up with our friends Amanda and Josh (and their daughter Lily) and spent Saturday through Monday at a cabin up in Fall Creek Falls.  Lucas's birthday is today (HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCAS) and he wanted to go fishing for his birthday.  So while Amanda and I lounged around the cabin with the kiddos, the boys went fishing.  Or at least they claimed they did......they didn't return with any fish!

This week is kind of like a mini-vacation.  I don't have a single work project on the roster (and am completely content if I don't receive any offer emails this week) and I don't have any bartending shifts until Saturday.  I've got other things to do.....the kiddos have a doctor's appointment for their flu shots tomorrow, I need to go to the grocery store, my book club meets Thursday night, the house needs to be cleaned, I need to take my bridesmaid dress to be altered, etc......but working for a paycheck is not one of them.  Saturday's bartending shift will be a long and busy one (it's the Hunter's annual fundraiser - their art auction known as Spectrum) but it's all I've got and it's still four days away.  Next week I've got three Aquarium shifts - two of which are on the river cruise boat - but I'll be done early on Friday and then I'm off ALL weekend.

Amanda tells me I work too much.  My mom tells me I work too much.  Both of them asked me the exact same question last week: "Aren't you supposed to be a stay-at-home mom?".  And they both told me I'm doing a pretty crappy job of staying at home.  :)  So why do I work so much when I'm "supposed" to be a SAHM?  Well, the main answer to that question is because of my school loan.  My school loan has always gotten put on the backburner because of the low interest rate.  But putting it on the backburner has done nothing to pay it off.  So I'm working to finally pay it off and not have to deal with it anymore.  I also have other expenses that I simply like/need to have my own money for.  And since before Lucas and I got married and had kids we knew that I was going to continue to bartend special events and take on environmental projects (all my choice), my school loan and frivolous spending stayed my responsibility.  I have a feeling that once my school loan is paid off (sometime next year), I'll probably be completely burnt out on bartending events and will cut back to just doing environmental projects when they come my way.  We'll just have to see. 

I need to win the lottery.  That will solve everything.  ;)

Lucy is 10 months old, and is merely days away from walking.  She's taken a few steps on her own here and there, but hasn't flat out walked just yet.  But she's close.  She's also now pointing to everything (which means she's also starting to use some sign language) and tries to imitate what you say in her own little baby grunts and squeaks.  Delano is a typical toddler, goes from zero to 60 on a constant loop ALL. DAY. LONG.  Behaves and acts like a sweet little gentleman one second, throws and stomping hissy fit and acts like a total asshole the next second.  It's enough to make one's head explode.  EXPLODE, I tell ya.  I feel like I need wine just thinking about it.  And right now he's even totally quiet, eating lunch while watching "Blaze".  But it's like watching a ticking time bomb......

His cuteness is your weakness.

She's too little to be the toddler time bomb that I know she will one day become.

I totally forgot to talk about the Ragnar Relay!!  That happened a little over a week ago, and it was a pretty big deal.  It was SUPER FUN.  But I'm running out of time (Lucy should be waking up from her nap any moment now) so I'll have to talk about that another day.  Same with my current fitness happenings (aka SLACKINGS) and my brother's upcoming wedding.  I'll have to talk about those later!