Long time no see

Well, howdy.

For my re-entry blog, a vent. Woo hoo, bet you're super excited? And what is this wonderful vent about, you ask? My lovely job! Super exciting, no?

So, here we go...

Backstory: we get our schedules on Tuesdays, that schedule runs through the following week. They're subject to change, which is understandable, however, one would think that if a schedule changes they'd be wanting to let the person know, right? Apparently not.

For instance, my schedule this week read: Sunday - 3-8:30, Monday - 6-10, Saturday 3-9:30.
So, that left Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off. Sweet.

I took the kids in today so that they could each pick out a toy and so that I could check my schedule for next week. Something had been nagging at me all day and I was honestly thinking I'd been rescheduled to work Wednesday or something. Not quite, but pretty close.

They'd changed it so that I was to work tonight. I did not receive a phone call or any other sort of notification. They didn't bother to ask me if I even could work tonight. My guess is that they assumed that I would stop in on every one of my off days to make sure I was actually off.

I was absolutely livid when I saw it. There's one manager there who I don't really get along with. She and the store's main manager were there when I got this little tidbit of Jenna screwing over today. Rather than go to the store manager, I went to the one I don't like. She's made MANY comments over my time there about how f'ed up the scheduling is, and she has kids, so I figured she'd understand.

Shockingly, I was right. She was totally cool about it, because really, am I psychic? And really, can this really be considered calling off? If I didn't know I was to work, it can't be a call off, so ha ha ha.

Needless to say, I'm on the lookout for a better job.

It appears as though I've lied

But I really didn't. I had the best intentions of posting a blog yesterday, but I ended up with a busy day.

My mother-in-law had carpal tunnel surgery on Thursday, so Ollie and I swung over there to check on her and we took Penny, her dog, to the dog groomer's. Stayed for lunch and while we did that, my father-in-law took the Santa Fe I'm buying and got a new battery installed.

Once we got home, I had to get Helena and then to Taco Bell. Helena and I then cleaned the vast majority of the house last night. She earned her allowance by helping dust, clean windows and fold laundry. By the time all of that was done, I was one tired momma.

Around 3:30 this morning, Helena came into my room, crying. She'd gotten cold in her sleep and had an accident. Unfortunately, she'd been laying with her knees locked at the edge of her bed and her arms tightly curled under her. Her legs and arms hurt and she'd been calling for me, but since I was asleep, I didn't hear her. =( Talk about feeling like a bad mom. So, once she woke me up, I got her changed and resituated in my room.

So, clearly it was a frantic day!

Today's going to be a bit better and more lowkey.

A typical day or two

I saw a blog by a friend of mine, astonishingly located here. So, I thought I'd share my day(s).

On a typical weekday off, I will get up somewhere between 6 and 8. Yes, I'm having a lot of trouble with sleep right now. Anyway! I'll get Helena up between 7:30 and 8, if I've gotten up early, I enjoy masses of coffee. If not, I frantically set it to brew, but it's so slow that I end up not being able to enjoy any at all. (cue end of pouting now).

So, once Helena's up, the race is on. She must get dressed, brush her teeth and hair, however, she's not sleeping well, either. So, she's sort of ragdoll-ish in the mornings. We're adjusting. I help her out quite a bit, because I don't like to get all flustered before that first cup of coffee. So, once we get her assembled, we come down for breakfast. Usually it will be cereal, but some days it could be pancakes or even eggs.

We leave at 8:30 to go the 5 blocks to her school. I'd much prefer to walk, but it's been so cold that I drive every day. I can not handle the cold air lately, it chills me immediately. So, I get Helena to school in about 5 minutes and come home. Ollie's been up for a while now and has undoubetedly gotten into some sweet he shouldn't have. Ollie's the early bird, always up before the sun, then again, he falls asleep quite easily and sleeps well.

Back on topic, once I get home from dropping Helena off, I'll make Ollie something to eat, again with the same variations as above. Then, while he eats and plays for a bit, I'll go online and do stuff around my desk.

I then clean. Not only do I spend 2 hours cleaning every day, I do it so that I get exercise while I'm at it. Go me! I have these nifty spiral stairs, but they're steep. I probably take 40 trips up and down each day, I've fallen once on them and that will never be happening again.

I do a load or two of laundry and play a video game with Ollie between cleaning projects. It's invariably Lego Star Wars The Comple Saga. (He'd insist I include "The Complete Saga," it's got some prestige, I guess).

Helena's out of school at 3:05 and I'm usually early. I try to leave by 2:45, the school is close, but parking is a hassle. They have it set up ridiculously. The school is on a huge lot. There's a massive baseball/soccer field, a playground and plenty of open space. Instead of using this open space to free up the road during drop off/pick up times, everyone parks on the street and walks to the school. Not that there's an issue there, the issue is the school busses. There are three and they all let kids off at Helena's school for the latchkey program. So, chances are that you're going to have to wait at the red bus lights. One day the second bus had it's stop lights on while the third bus was parking but the third bus was trying to park with a car in it's parking spot that was blocked by me, stopped by the stop lights. Oh, the irony. And the tangent is over. =)

Alright, we come home after picking up my peanut, Helena. Then there's a snack of some sort. Cookies, crackers, pizza, fruit. Then Helena does her homework and Ollie is back to doing what Ollie does. Freaking Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga. I've taken it away, doesn't matter, he'll switch to another game. Take away the Wii and he's on to a certain movie or show. It'll never end.

After homework is Helena's free time. She gets to play with Ollie or hang out in her room, whatever as long as she's not pissing her brother off. I make dinner then, sometimes Helena will help me. After dinner I might or might not do the dishes. Sort of depends. Then it's bathtime for both kids. After baths, bedtime! Woot! Yeah, except Helena stays awake for like 2 hours. I let her read one chapter a night of Charlotte's Web and then she's to go to sleep, but she just lays awake or will come whine about some malady.

Ollie will pretty much zonk right out. He's sort of a goofy kid, we go tomorrow for his speech evaulation and he's so excited. After the kids go to bed, I clean up again a bit and then play online for a bit before I go to bed.

On the nights I work, everything is the same up to where I make dinner. I sometimes do and sometimes don't on the nights I work. Then I go fold clothes, or sort them by color and style for a certain amount of time. I also talk to people who I think are ridiculous. I set up layaways for people. I sell jewelry and thank God nightly that I'm not into gaudy jewelry. Then I come home and put the kids to bed.

The next day, repeat.

Thirty

In a few days, I'll be thirty. I'm not going to lie and say I'm all cool with it. I'm really not. I figured it would be alright, just another number, but that is completely not how I really feel.

I'm scared. Don't misunderstand, I've accomplished a lot with my life, I'd like to think. I just keep thinking about the things I didn't accomplish. I didn't finish school, which has a direct effect on how much money I make. I know there's still time, but I had these lofty goals to reach by now.

College education, own a house, have 3 kids. None of which has turned out right. I'm blissfully happy with the two kids I have, but I always saw myself with 3. I'll be discussing that at a later date.

I sort of feel like a failure, in some ways. I'm not doing what I thought I'd be doing. I'm sure this feeling will pass, but not until after I hit the big 3-0.

Exciting first entry.

First entries are always so exciting. Time to get the preliminary stuff out of the way.

I'm Jenna, I'm a wife, mom, sister, aunt, daughter, etc.

I'm almost 30, as it gets closer, I'm becoming more okay with it. I have two kids, Helena is 7 and Ollie is 5. I suspect a lot of my writings will be about them. Matthew is my husband of 7.5 years and we just moved from the Chicago area to the Peoria area. Change, much?

I work at K-Mart part-full time. It's, well, let's say interesting. I have two sisters whom I consider my best friends. One used-to-be step-brother who's kids I consider my nieces and nephews. Counting them, I have 5 nieces and nephews. I also have one sister-in-law and a very cool mother-in-law.

I've no family where we live now. Well, that's not exactly true, my mother's family is around here, but we've never been close, so it's a stretch. My pops lives in Indiana and mom's in Texas.

I play video games and listen to more music than is probably healthy (see here). I love Dave Matthews Band, the Chicago Cubs, the West Wing and Adam Sandler movies.

I smoke cigarettes and don't eat enough. Consume entirely too much caffeine and sometimes slack off on my household duties.

From my lovely blog you can expect photos, my insane commentary on all things from music to tv to politics and religion. Plus tons of inane rambling that will make your eyes bleed. So, let's do this.