So, I Quit my Corporate Job...

This is my first week as a homemaker, co-owner of Capstone 27 Realty and hopeful substitute teacher.  Most people are very supportive, but there's a few that think I've gone mad. After all, who in their right mind would walk away from a job they have dedicated ten years to, a job that pays well and has stellar benefits? Not many, but I chose to. Here's why:

1. Those books and magazines, they say you can have the best of both worlds. They lie. Who is "they" anyway? When you have a 30 minute commute (one way) and your work day is 9.5 hours long, including lunch, your career defines your entire life.  I just watched several people who had devoted 20+ years to this company retire. When I asked them what they would do, they didn't know because up until that point their entire life revolved around their career which is fine for some, but I want to leave a different legacy rather than: she was a great pricing analyst.

2.  To elaborate on #1, I'm not getting any younger and neither are the kids God so graciously blessed me with.  The babysitter, who we call Mimi still to this day raised them until they started school.  Thank God for her because she spared my sanity knowing she loved my kids as I do.

3. The hubs needs help. Not the kind that I would need a PhD and a couch for, but that of an office manager. Our business is growing and the one man show that he has been for the last few years just isn't cutting it anymore which is a great problem to have!!

 

 

Basically, I want to be the wife and mother that God intended for me to be; not this stressed out, worn out, impatient, crazy person I am when I have had a rough day.   And, I want our house to look like it's actually inhabited by humans, not animals!  So, here I go on my new journey...

The Miss List

My chapter as a Pricing Analyst is coming to an end on November 1. You will hear more about that later. There will be things I will miss about Corporate America, like the friends I have made and the bi-monthly paycheck, but that's not what this post is about. Here are the things I can't wait to be away from:

1. The noon time microwave wars...everyone standing in line patiently waiting to heat up their gourmet, frozen foodish creation in a plastic tray!

2. Meetings. Corporate meetings, what a time suck. Need I say more?

3. My 30 minute, one way, commute every morning of my life.

4. The bathroom. Sure, it gets cleaned like every hour, but no amount of disinfectant spray can cover up the aroma that hangs in the air in there. Not to mention, the women here are apparently scared to death of catching something from the toilets and their squatting accuracy is that of a male dog lifting his leg.

5. The clicking of an office full of keyboards. That noise day in and day out is enough to make a sane person crazy.

6. The lunch thief. You would think an office full of adults would know better than to steal someone else's food, but apparently there's a few bad apples on every tree.

7. Cubicle life. There is only so much beige and dust a person can handle in one lifetime.

8. And last but not least...drumroll please...I will not miss spending 10.5 hours a day away from my perfectly imperfect family!!

Morning Go Round

This is how my mornings go:

6AM – alarm goes off and Babes fumbles around until snooze button is found or alarm falls off nightstand…whichever comes first

6:04AM – dog begins whining and barking desperately on my side of the bed to let me know that if I don’t drag my lazy rear out of bed and open the front door for him, it is all over for the carpet!

6:05AM – crawl back in bed for two more minutes

6:09AM – alarm goes off again after being “snoozed” the first go round…I lay in bed and think, why do I torture myself like this??

6:10AM – get out of bed a second time and schlep to the kitchen to fill Crock pot with tonight’s supper…at least I won’t have to cook tonight!

6:30AM – put on outfit number 1…nope muffin tops hanging over the pants just aren’t attractive…bring on outfit number 2..we have a winner!  Leave outfit number 1 wadded up on the bed instead of hanging it back up.

6:45AM – drag kids out of bed and tell them over and over to get dressed, put on their shoes and brush their teeth

7AM – brush Sister Lu’s hair and put in pig tails as requested…she looks so ornery with pigtails and I love it!!

7:15AM – mad dash to the car because we have got to get Brother Bear to school in time to get breakfast…kids get distracted half a dozen times on the way down the sidewalk to the car and I can feel my blood pressure rising!

7:17AM – “JUST GET IN YOUR CAR SEAT AND HELP YOUR BROTHER STRAP YOU IN; WE ARE LATE!!”…and there it is…the mother I pray every day not to be shows up right on time…every time…never fails…the feeling of failure sets in and I think to myself, “I always said I would never yell at my kids when I had them because I remember what that feels like…easier said than done.”

In my opinion, this is one of my biggest failures as a parent.  I lack patience and that translates into me yelling.  It is my prayer that I can change this.  In the meantime, I won’t let my failures define me.  I will learn from them and try to correct them!  I may be a yeller but I don’t want to raise yellers.

7:35AM – drop Brother Bear off and tell him I love him and to have a good day…he’s way too cool to kiss mom in the drop off line so I don’t push it.

7:40AM – drop Sister Lu off at PreK and hug and kiss her and tell her I love her.  She not too cool to kiss me and I enjoy it now because I know the day will come when she is too cool for me too!

8:10AM – I bust through the doors at work and head straight for my desk only to see my manager standing there chatting with someone.  Busted!  10 minutes late.  Rather than acknowledge my lateness I just go about my business like I was on time and head straight for the coffee pot!  This is going to be a great day!! 

There is a lot that happens in the first two hours that my eyes are open and I try to take in every last second because I know that one day I will wish I had to rush around and get two sleepy eyed kiddos ready for school.  I know I am blessed beyond anything I could ever deserve!