On Money

I've finally gotten my cash rolled over from the pension plan from my previous job into a nice happy little IRA. Yay the corrupt evil bastards are no longer in control of any part of my cash.  That said, I'm finding managing it myself a bit nerve wracking.  Just by nature of it being my "retirement fund" it feels more important and I'm more afraid of losing it. On the other hand, it feels very strange for it to be separate from my usual brokerage account. It sure would be nice to be able to combine the two (ah if only there were no tax implications--seriously, I cashed out my retirement once--don't do that--OMG I was so screwed on taxes that year and I got so little of my principal--ouch).

I need some of my friends to become investors so I have people to chat with about this crap. My closest friends all seem to be of the "no savings at all" variety--sounds terrifying to me.

I'm hemorrhaging cash a bit faster than I'd like. Sigh, time to come up with some additional income sources. I'm trying to put off getting a job as long as possible. Some sort of part time work from home thing would be cool. Piglet benefits from having me around a lot. I still need more resetting time and I'm still working out what I want to do next.   I'm not running out of cash but if I'm not exactly breaking even. I probably shouldn't obsess about this when I'm sick.

paint brush cleaner also works on toddler clothes

From time to time, I paint with acrylics on canvas. I also am the mother of a toddler. You can see how this might not be the best combination.  The paints are kept up high and by some miracle I was blessed with a toddler who is NOT a climber--I must have been a saint in a previous life, right? That said, sometimes my toddler and my paints come in contact with each other.  Last time it came in contact with a brand new pretty little toddler shirt. Today Piglet got orange paint on her Halloween PJ's (there's no convincing a toddler that a holiday has passed and it's time to move on--she's currently sporting a reindeer shirt).  At any rate, when Piglet "ruined" her new shirt last time, I tried to scrub it out and in a moment of desperation, used some brush cleaner (I used Master's--it's the only thing I use on my brushes).  It worked. I got every bit of it out. So here's hoping it works again. It was the only thing that worked last time. I've posted a link to it below in case any of you have the same issue. I have the weirdest first world problems.


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Goodbye Evil Preschool, Hello Mommy Time!

The day started with our last trip to the evil preschool. My daughter and I stayed in the car while DH went in to collect her things and disenroll her.  I asked my daughter if there was anyone she wanted to say goodbye to and she said no, quite emphatically. Pulling her out of that awful place was absolutely the right choice.

We dropped off DH, came home and started some laundry (exciting, huh?).

The craft project this morning was to make a birthday card for DH. She insisted on making a card for me and one for her too. His is the only one that says "Happy Birthday" on it. Her's has her name and mine is just a giant stack of foam hearts and a pom pom thing that keeps falling off. How the hell do you get those things to stay on? I guess we need to find some better glue.

We also walked up to the dollar store. I generally hate dollar stores with a passion. But when it's jsut up the street... I've also discovered that Awesome Kitchen is one of the best cleaners known to humankind and you can only get it at the damn dollar store.  At any rate, I went there to see if they had any of that paper with the two solid lines and the dotted line in the middle (you know this paper, it's the stuff you used as a kid to learn to write letters--that stuff).  Piglet wants to learn how to write letters. She keeps asking me to help her write various letters.  We lucked out, they had some. And they had construction paper (she goes through it fast and it's $4 at the damn Target), and they had flash cards and workbooks (Piglet's a little nerd. At evil preschool the only thing she liked was the worksheets. So I'm thinking she can do some if she wants to, if not, she can draw all over them, whatever. Oh and she's always loved flash cards. She got some for her first birthday and frequently requests them (so I got her some others to add some variety).


I have no idea what to make for dinner and though I really don't want to, I need to go to the store for milk.  Maybe a chicken ramen soup?  I can't be lazy and use the little packets of crap that come with the ramen noodles because I'm allergic to something in them. I'm sitting here wondering if chicken and turnips with ramen noodles in broth would be weird or if I should suck it up and go to the store (since we're nearly out of milk anyway). If I get milk, I can have milk in my coffee tomorrow. If not, it'll have to be black and I'll have to be more ambitious than handing out bowls of cereal. (OMG it's so cool that this is my biggest problem, well that and a headcold).

It's a little chilly out today. I thought we might go to one of the parks or something. And baby is taking an epic nap. She woke up after an hour just to tell me that she's sleepy and then crashed out again. that was an hour and a half ago. Yesterday's nap was 45 minutes.  The best part of epic long naps: I can eat like 3 little packs of gummy bears and not be a bad influence--mmmwahahaha.

Simple lunch of the day

As a working mom, it was always a chore to cook meals. It's a lot easier now that I don't have the stress of a day job, but I still like discovering simple, tasty meals.

Today's lunch, Olive and Monterrey Jack Quesadillas (it's so easy, my toddler helped put them together)
Ingredients:
Corn tortillas (or flour, doesn't matter, but I used corn) you need 2 for each quesadilla
sliced or grated cheese
black olive tapenade (I bought a jar of this at Target)
cooking spray or butter for pan

1. Spread olive spread on one side of the half of the tortillas.
2. place cheese on top
3. cook them in a pan like you would grilled cheese.

It's easy and delicious and not your usual quesadilla. I got the idea from a friend who regularly uses all sorts of spreads on grilled cheese. So easy and a really nice way to break away from boring grilled cheese sandwiches.

I plan to put recipes like this here so I can easily look up ideas when I'm drawing a blank and maybe this will help someone else too.

SAHM DAY 1

Hi Everyone.  I've moved to Pasadena, CA. I love it here.  I've decided to take a break from working. For a month, I had my 2 year old daughter enrolled in a preschool. I had a much needed break during this time. The preschool, did not work out. It was a horrible experience for all. At any rate, after several preschool tours (I found several I loved but that's beside the point), and a lot of soul searching, I've decided to be a stay at home mom for a while. My little one needs me and I need her. For the $190/week that I was paying for a crappy preschool, we can do an awful lot of awesome things together.  So, this blog is changing to focus on my adventures as a new stay at home mom. I suspect my outlook will be a bit more cheery. :)

I've already purchased a bunch of art supplies and have picked up information for local swimming lessons.
-Nancy

Let me out of here pt 2: Alone

I feel really alone.  I asked for someone to look over my resume (on the debil aka. facebook) and I get snarky comments (mostly along the lines of "why don't you take your husband's resume and just put your name on it!"). Yeah, that feels great. Thanks guys.

I just posted a note begging for help with anything at all (work has been insane, truly insane, and I'm packing and sorting alone)--I'm horribly overwhelmed and horribly stressed out. I did get one response (a SAHM is available to come help me but only during the hours when she knows I work). If I could get a few days off this wouldn't be an issue.

I keep wanting to run out the door. I hate that I need this income right now. I hate it.

There's no actual point to this other than a need to vent somewhere.  The one group of friends I was venting to has basically said they don't want to hear any of it until I no longer work here--guess I vented too much.

There are multiple events this week/weekend. I just canceled one for this evening.  I will probably cancel tomorrow's too.  There are 2 parties Saturday (and I think one Sunday).  At least one of those was already on the chopping block but I'm beginning to think it's major anti-social time.

I thought my mom could come help me but neither she nor my dad have had great health lately.

I'm in this alone and it's really hard.

I need a job in Los Angeles and I need one now.

Let me out of here!!!!

I need to get out of here, now.  SO, I've not updated in a long time (sorry).  DH got a job in CA. So I am leaving.  I don't have a job yet but we have an apt. there and I may have found a daycare yesterday (they have an opening in 2 wks).

All signs today say RUN RUN RUN AWAY! 

I need to find a job. I need to do this now.  I've been putting it off.

I need out of here. Panic. Total panic. My current day job is in an institution that is a horrible sinking ship.

i just canceled swimming tonight so I can apply for jobs.