Time To W(h)ine

*le sigh*

Today's rant is brought to you by the lifesuck, work, and the glory of chocolate. In lieu of wine tonight (because I must be at the lifesuck at 8:30am...and my wrist is insanely in pain, due to the life suck, and hubby is at work) I have a chocolate cheesecake sampler. Yummy! Perfect timing for them to mark one down 40% too.

A thought occurred to me today...being a mom is not for the faint of heart. Being a working mom is not for the faint of spirit. Being a working mom who never has a set schedule is like keeping 12 cats in a single bathtub at once for 18 hours a day. I can only imagine what being a single working mom is like.....I assume they would pretty much be vampires. When do they ever get sleep? BTW, I am currently waiting for Wubbzy to end so Lil Bit will go to bed. She has to catch her stories, don't'cha know.

I'm not ungrateful to be working. I want to make that clear from the start. However, a full 8 hours of sleep should not be much to ask for. I am only a part time employee. The week before last I was scheduled for 25 hours...lower than normal, but at least I had a few days to get things done. Last week, however, I was scheduled 40 hours. Four. Zero. Forty. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. So I worked 8 hours a day (a rare occurrence in itself) for 5 days straight (a rarity as well). Well, almost. The fifth day i clocked in 2.5 hours late due to a communication issue between me and the hubby. He thought he had to be home to watch the baby in time for me to be at work at 11am. Nope...8am. Sooooooooo he got home at 9am. But these things happen. At least the day flew by once I got to work.

Anywho, 5 days straight. And today, this lovely Friday, is my off day. My only off day. Tomorrow I start another 5 days straight. Only 38 hours though. The bad news is that I have to be there at 8:30am the next 3 days and 8am the last 2 days. I. Will. Never. Get. Sleep. Again. The check right before Christmas will be spectacular. But seriously, I need sleep at some point. I forgot to mention I have to take hubby to work every night at 10pm and pick him up at either 6am, 6:30am, or 7am. And between pm and am I have to get the baby to bed and find some time to sleep myself. The house can suck it. If I have to choose between 5 hours of sleep and a clean kitchen, I'd rather get a little shuteye.

I just need sleep. I had to pick hubby up this morning and decided to stay up and spend a couple child-free hours with him while lying under the covers on the couch as we watched music videos on the XBox. Romantic, eh?

Before i forget, the beauty mission for today is to go take a nice, hot, long shower. Send the kiddos to bed, hubby, the neighbors, Timbuktu, wherever. Just make sure you have as long as you want to let the hot water hug you. I did that earlier and felt like a new person afterwards. Also, eat some chocolate. Don't question my methods, just do it. If you need to add something beauty-specific, do something you have been neglecting to do due to quick showers before you pass out...or if you are like me, the kiddo is usually in the shower with you, therefore razors stay outside of the shower on the bathroom counter.

And now, an ode to the wonderful ladies at rantsfrommommyland.com ...if not for these ladies, I would be a wreck. I would still be thinking I had to be Perfect Mommy. Bump that. There are Cheerio souls all over my floors and I really don't care right now. Bedtime is close, as is my cheesecake time. Anywho, I now present you with:

Domestic Enemies Of The Working Mom With An Ever-Changing Schedule

1. Disorganization
I was not born an organized person. Far from it. But this whole crazy schedule makes it 1,000,000 times worse. My bills are always late because I always forget where I put my mail, and that means I never know how much I owe or when it is due. Bleh. I can never really meal plan. I can never really even cook some nights. I get home and have just enough time to sit down and let my feet get a little relief until it's time to take the hubby to work, kid in tow. And to make me feel even suckier, I feel like no cleaning ever gets done. I try to establish a cleaning schedule, but then fate intervenes and on my big kitchen day, I instead have to work 10am-7pm. Great, there's my whole day.

2. Kiddo Non-Schedule
Every house has a basic schedule. Everyone has there set wake-up time, breakfast time, bath time, bed time, dinner time, nap time. etc. Most even have an evening TV schedule. Not me. Not my kiddo. Lil Bit wakes up sometimes as early as 8:30am or as late as 10:30am. Of course, that will change when brother-in-law moves out since she will have to get up and go with to pick daddy up. I can't wait! *dread* Nap time is typically 3 hours from when she gets up. She is usually ready around Noon and sleeps for 3 hours. But, due to scheduling conflicts, nap time has to be postponed. If hubby is watching her, but has to work that night, he will lay her down 2.5 hours from the time I get off work. After a 20 minute drive, I get home with enough time to sit down and turn on the TV or grab some food before she is up and at em for the afternoon/evening. Dinner time? Really? We grab food whenever we can. Today we had yumy sammiches with daddy before work...at about 8pm. Bed time is an oddball. Sometimes she will lay down easy peasy at 11pm as long as we get home in time for Nina on Sprout to say good night to Hush the fish and for her to sing the good night song. If we get home after 11pm, like tonight since we had to run in for a couple groceries, we stay up and watch Wubbzy and Kai Lan for a bit. Long story short, we fly by the seat of our pants all day.

3. Who Is That Guy In My Bed???
Since our schedules are so vastly different, hubby and I have the opportunity to sleep together in the same bed only a few times a month. We only actually sleep in the same bed once every month or two. That is probably the #1 suckiest thing about me working crazy hours during the day (anywhere from clocking in at 8am and clocking out at 9pm) and hubby working 10pm-7am. I miss cuddling. =(

4. Childcare
I am blessed in this department. I have my mom, 2 sisters-in-law, and my hubby to choose from. However, this can bite me in the butt too. Since they aren't paid, they can refuse (except hubby, of course). If I end up childcareless, I have to come up with a reason to go to the doctor so the absence is excused. Hooray for my HRA!

5. Too Much Month, Not Enough Money
Seriously, how can 2 people be working and still barely get by, financially???!!!??? This is getting ridiculous. I want to quit and just stay home. At least I would save on gas and have a cleaner house. Of course, luxuries like food and electricity are nice too, so I must keep the lame job that makes me all stabby on a daily basis.

Props to all the mamas out there busting hump every day. I don't know how we do it. Will someone come start my IV drip of caffeine? Also, I have a pimple on my shoulder and no hubby home to look at it. =( Work can suck it.

<3 Truvy