21 April 2008

Attack of the new screen door

It was a blissfully beautiful Saturday morning. I was making great progress getting ready for the son's birthday party with eight of his friends, ages 5-7. Dinosaur cake was good to go. Ice cream purchased.

I stepped out onto the porch to tell the eldest something. She was cleaning up the yard in preparation for the burial of plastic dinos in our sandbox. I turned back inside.

And learned that the newly installed screen door moves a lot faster than the old screen door.

Four hours at urgent care, 12 stitches, and much gratitude to my husband, my daughter and her friend, who herded the little boys for the first hour of the party, I managed to limp back and enjoy the rest of the day.

The party was a success. Our son proclaimed it "The best birthday ever!!!"

I'm still limping. And I'm hoping that door doesn't go all Stephen King-Christine on us. Let's just say I'm a lot more cautious around it now than I was Saturday at 10 a.m.

16 April 2008

Too many hats

Right now, I think I'm going slightly nuts with the number of hats I'm wearing. Yesterday:

Mom hat in morning
Work hat after 8:30
Student hat at 1:30
Back to work hat at 2
Mom hat at 3:15
Freelancer hat at 4
Mom hat at 5
Student hat at 6
Mom hat at 7
Student hat at 8
Wife hat at 10
Sherrie hat at 11
Sleep.

08 April 2008

Career guilt

It's time for some professional development, some professional bonding, and maybe a bit of networking to get outta SWMO.

In 24 hours, I'll be hanging with a bunch of people who are even more grammarian geeky than I am.

The American Copy Editors Society conference starts Thursday. I'm just glad to be with people who understand the entire concept of apostrophes, capitalization, and can debate the use of the serial (or Harvard) comma.

I have mixed feelings about going. It's the mom conundrum: I want to do something for me, for my career, and by extension, will better my family. But I don't want to miss my kids for three days, miss a soccer game, miss the possibility of my eldest winning a regional science fair award (she finds out on Thursday). I hate to leave hubby in a lurch, trying to get all three kids hither and yon on his own. I did ask my bro to help out (thanks, bro!), but I feel guilty that I did that.

I swear, does the guilt end? Ever? I'm trying to not feel guilty about this, because I know I shouldn't, and because my boss is (quite frankly) making me go to this. But I still feel guilty leaving my family because I won't be there to help make things go smoothly.

Heck, I know they'll survive. They can cook. Two of the four people normally in the house know how to operate the stove and can do laundry. But I know how much harder it is with just one parent there, and I hate leaving hubby to juggle it all on his own, even for a few days.

I hate knowing I won't be there to fix the hurts, the slights, and help with homework. I won't be there to cheer on the eldest at either the game or the science thing.