Category Archives: Frazzled Working Mom’s Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Solitude!

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My last night in Denver. Still haven’t seen the city, and I honestly don’t really care. In a prior life, I would have forced myself to do a little sightseeing, if only to reassure myself that I wasn’t missing out on anything. Well, times have changed. And I’m older and wiser.

Forget the sightseeing. The solitude is priceless. I have a king size bed to myself, a bathroom to myself, a TV to myself. It’s fantastic.
Right now, I’m sitting in the bar in the hotel lobby and plan to enjoy a little dinner and a glass of wine before retreating to my king size bed, a warm bath and junk TV. I have no idea when this opportunity will present itself again…
I’m all alone. Not literally – the bar is quite crowded. But I’m alone at my own table. I should probably be networking. But I really don’t feel like networking. I did enough of that earlier today and I’ll do more of it before heading to the airport tomorrow.
As for the conference, it’s mostly what I expected it to be. Learned a couple of things – choice morsels that might actually be useful to me in my work. Some ideas are brewing in my head. Which I’ll eventually write down on paper. But not today. I’m too busy enjoying my solitude.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Denver, Day 1

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I have a cold. A bad, bad cold. After arriving in Denver, I had hoped to spend some time exploring the city. Didn’t happen. Spent the entire time in the hotel room, feeling sick. I looked out the window a few times. Nice view of the skyline and mountains.

So don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t an entirely unpleasant experience. I did some work, had some lunch and tried to get some rest. It was quiet. So very, very quiet. It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed such serenity. It would have been more enjoyable without the cold. I’m going to load up on some Nyquil tonight in the hope that I feel better tomorrow morning and can get something out of the conference.
Spoke to the girls earlier – Sophie doesn’t really understand why I’m not at home. It’s my first business trip since she was an infant. Chloe doesn’t particularly care that I’m gone – she’s extremely nonchalant in that pre-adolescent way to which I’m starting to grow accustomed. I miss them – sort of – but boy, I am really enjoying the solitude. Despite my stuffed head.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Denver, Here I Come

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I leave for my first business trip since 2006 tomorrow morning. Going to Denver for a legal marketing conference. Never been to Denver, but I know the song “Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver. Does that count? Isn’t Denver where “Mork & Mindy” took place?

I’m a little ambivalent about the trip. I chose to go, so it’s all on me. But as the date has approached, I’ve been less enthusiastic about it. Work is really busy (I still don’t have a boss), I’m going to miss my girls and the hubby, and I’m afraid that when I come back, I’ll have twice as much to do than if I had just stayed home.
On the other hand, I am going to be in my very own hotel room for three days. Three days of quiet evenings, with no responsibilities other than calling my little ones to tell them I love them and to wish them happy dreams, and review all the e-mails that come in during the course of the day. OK – reviewing the e-mails is not something I’m looking forward to. Actually, it gives me an anticipated case of agita.
The weather forecast is crappy. Cool and rainy. But I heard Denver is a nice city and the conference is at a nice hotel. And if I learn some things there, that’ll be nice too.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Shoe Shocker

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I wanted to buy Sophie a new pair of shoes today. But the shoe gods were against me because as I made the decision to go to the store without her, she rediscovered her sneakers (pink with lights that flicker on and off) for the second time since we bought them last summer.

All of sudden, she loved her sneakers. But I went to the store anyway, thinking that if she now loves her new-old sneakers that much, I should get her another pair for the spring.
And because pink is essentially the only color that exists for girls in sneakers, I was assured of finding a pair that Sophie would adore. So I made my purchase while Sophie was at the playground in her new-old pink sneakers. Feeling happy with my choice, and wanting to enjoy the beautiful day, I joined Papa and Sophie at the park (Chloe was visiting a friend). The playground was absolutely mobbed – people were trying to cure an epidemic case of cabin fever. I mentioned to Sophie that I bought her a new pair of shoes. She was excited because she loves new clothes and shoes.
When we got home, Sophie ran to the box. Opened it up. Smiled. Briefly. And then announced, “I don’t want them.” She tried them on anyway. “Thanks, mom. But they’re too puffy. I don’t want them.” Fine. She accompanied me back to the shoe store in her sleek red cowboy boots. Looked at all the pink sneakers. “Mom, I don’t want new shoes.” I now have a store credit. Amazing.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Sophie’s Turn

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Sophie was upset with me the other night because I deigned to write about Alubus, the dwarf hamster, and not her. I tried and tried to explain that I had just recently written about her and that her turn was coming up again next.

But she was having none of it. She was in tears because of my perfidy. It was only after I played the video of her as a baby standing up and falling down several times that she forgave me.
I’m glad to know that my blog is so popular with my girls. Even Chloe, who I was afraid would start showing signs of embarrassment if I continued to write about her, loves to read it and as all of my loyal readers know, sometimes even acts as a contributing editor.
I have to keep this blog going for as long as possible. Their enthusiasm about it won’t last forever and I need to milk it while I still can. So Sophie-bear, if you’re upset with me because I haven’t written about you three days in a row, just let me know. I’ll be happy to rectify the oversight.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

No More Snow

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We went sledding today. I am officially hoping that this will be the last we see of any significant snowfall this winter. Spring is three weeks away. I know I’m probably cursing the entire Northeast by so blatantly wishing for an end to this weather, but at the very least, I promise you two things:
(1) This is the last time I’m going to write about snow until next winter. I promise. Even if it snows another foot.
(2) That in my effort to end the talk of snow on a positive note, I have uploaded this very cute video of the girls sledding today. I went down the hill a few times, too. And there’s nothing like sledding down a slick hill to get a 41-year old mom laughing and letting go of all her recent stress.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Gymnastics

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Sophie had another gymnastics class at the Little Gym today. She is the strongest girl in her group, even though she’s not the oldest. She’s showing a real talent with the uneven bars – and is able to lift herself up and hold onto the high bar with her arms and legs and swing back and forth, back and forth. Like a monkey. Her teacher was very impressed.

The instructors also tried to teach the kids the basics of a cartwheel. That was funny. It’s going to take a lot of practice before one of the children can do it. Most of them ended up doing a bastardized version of a somersault. But at least they tried. And hell, who am I to talk. The last time I did a cartwheel I was probably about 12 years old. If I were to try again today, I’d probably break my wrists.
I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of progress she makes over the next few weeks. I have a feeling that she’ll be doing all sorts of neat things by the time the session ends.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

No School!

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Tomorrow is yet another snow day for the girls. Sophie is obviously very excited about a bonus day with no school. Chloe was excited too, until I told her she could not have a friend over for a sleepover. Some of us do have to work tomorrow, you know.

Our babysitter is sleeping over an extra night because we were concerned about her driving home. She’ll help us out tomorrow. Thank God! Because I imagine that once all is said and done, it’s going to be tough to get to the office in the morning. Working from home with the girls around is challenging. ‘Challenging’ is actually too diplomatic a word. If I’m being honest, as much as I love and adore my beautiful girls, I really hate working from home with the girls running around the house because my stress level increases exponentially when I’m trying to actually accomplish something job-related.
I truly suck at compartmentalizing. Calgon, take me away!