I’ve moved this blog to workingmommie.wordpress.com

As of today, I am no longer the owner of Movies for Mommies Vancouver. I’m both happy and sad about this. But since someone else owns MFM Vancouver now, I thought it best if I changed the name of my URL for the blog.

From now on, find me (and I’ve moved all my previous content too) at workingmommie.wordpress.com. Same great content, different address.

Come on over. I’ve just posted something new there.

I want a sick day

I’m ill. Not H1N1 ill, but I am congested, tired, my nose and head feel heavy and all I want to do is lie down.

But that is not to be for this mommy/consultant. Children need to be fed and sent off to school, soccer, swimming. bed and the like. Client deadline demand I keep working, and my part time job demands that I go into the office. I spend most of my day alone in my office anyhow, so it’s not like I’m infecting others. But I really want a sick day.

I want to stay home and do nothing but lie on the couch and watch soap operas (are they still on anymore?). I want someone else to bring me chicken noodle soup and books to read. I want someone to take care of me.

But no, today I’m at the office, after getting the boys ready for school early, dropping them off then busing here. Then after work I have a training session I must attend for a client. If I’m lucky I’ll be home before 9. And tomorrow doesn’t seem like a day I can take off either.

Sometimes being a self-employed mommy stinks.

This working mom is cramping her kids social lives

I walked my kids to school today, which is a rarity lately. Even rarer, I walked with them right to their classrooms today. And while I was there, two different moms approached me to arrange playdates for each of my kids.

I guess this kind of playdate arranging is normal for the mommies who gather for pickup and drop off. But the only way to talk to me usually is to call or email me, so I am not part of this outside-the-classroom arranging.

So when I appeared today, a couple moms saw a chance to pounce, which is great. My kids would love these playdates. We don’t need them perhaps like other families, since my kids play at the aftercare program every day instead of playdates. But still, playdates are an important social interaction for kids this age. And unless I go out of my way to set things up for the weekend, they just don’t happen for my guys.

So happy to set up a couple playdates this morning, I am now worrying that the fact that I’m a working mom is seriously hurting my kids social life. Are they left out because I can’t do many playdates, or because I’m not at school to see the other mommies to set up casual playdates?

Another working mommy dilemma…

I can’t stand the rain — anymore

I moved to Vancouver 15 years ago, and when decided to move here from Ottawa, all my friends said they’d hate to trade Ottawa’s sunny but cold winters for the gloom and rain of Vancouver’s winters. But I scoffed. I would be fine.

And mostly, I have been. I’ve pushed through the clouds of winter by rowing (before kids), then biking (this past year) through the winter. And whenever the sun came out, I revelled in it, and felt happy enough to not feel down when it wasn’t sunny.

But this year, I think I may have reached a breaking point. It feels like forever since I’ve even seen the sun. And it’s getting to me. Yes, we’ve had days without much rain, and yes, I’ve gotten outdoors, the kids have played outside, yadda yadda. But this year, my mood is starting to match the sky. I feel overburdened, a bit gloomy, I’m grumpy a lot and can’t remember the last time I had a good laugh. I’ve had enough.

I can’t stand the rain anymore (follow that link — it’s a great song!). Bring on the sun, and fast!

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/caon0512

Walking my kids to school, sort of

On the days when I work from home, I like to walk my boys to school in the morning. It’s the only chance I have to get to their school while it’s still in session (they go to an aftercare program after school and that’s where I pick them up) and see what’s going on, see the other mommies, and catch up. So I like to walk them to the classroom door, look quickly around the class, check notices, all that stuff.

But my kids make all that hard. We walk to school regularly, and I often take a couple other boys who live along our walking route to save their parents the walk when I can. And so all the boys run ahead of me, only stopping to wait for me to cross the street, then running on ahead. Our last two blocks have no streets to cross, and I can’t keep up with the boys. So by the time we get to the school, they’re already inside.

The other day, I walked four boys in, two of mine and two neighbours. When I reached the school, I checked to make sure the neighbours both got to their classrooms, but both my boys were long gone, having run up the three flights to their floor without waiting for me. And of course that’s fine. I know they’re at school and safely where thy should be. But now there’s no point in me climbing the stairs to their floor, so I miss out on all the social stuff with the other mommies.

It’s great they get the exercize of running/walking to school, but I miss the chatting outside class that we used to have in kindergarten. Ah well…