Housekeeping Tribulations

Confessions of the domestically impaired.....

OK, so I'm not working outside of the home. So, the least that I can do is keep my house clean. Right?

Ugh.

My mother-in-law is a fanatically perfect homemaker. No dust. Not clutter. Just lots and lots of treasures that clearly require a lot of maintenance to keep dust bunny free. It's no surprise, therefore, that my husband has a low tolerance for my somewhat fuzzy domestic skills.

Ugh again.

I tried Fly Lady for a while. But, like my friend Ginou said, Fly Lady is a house keeping Nazi that quickly takes over your life if you let her in your door. So, in order to eliminate the 200+ emails Fly Lady sends every day, I converted her cleaning schedule to my own needs, and built an Excel spreadsheet in order to stay on top of it.

I must say...things are looking good. But may I make one whiney observation? Minao's room is full of toys that he hasn't touched in months. As soon as his room was clean ("Mom! This is great! I am proud on you!"), all those toys neatly lined up on the shelves were too tempting to resist, and I am now spending more time cleaning up after him every day than it took me to clean the whole room to begin with. It's only been a few days, and I'm already fed up with following him around and begging him to put things away. Even as I sit here typing this, I can hear the crash of a play tote being emptied on his bedroom floor. And let's not forget that since I mopped the kitchen floor this morning, Minao has spilled his juice three times.

Ugh again.

The worst thing about housekeeping is that it is so freaking DAILY. Each tedious little chore must be done again and again and again, ad nauseum. I have to keep preaching to myself that it is worth it. It may not feel worth it, but it is worth it.

Upcoming Photo Jobs

And the Photography Gigs keep rolling in. YAHOO!

I had purposely put the brakes on my photography business, since my shortage of equipment was making the job unreasonably difficult. My wish list is long, but my mandatory list is:

• Upgraded computer that can handle Photoshop without locking up
• Backdrops (for indoor photography)
• Lighting Equipment (for indoor photography)

Thanks to my wonderful husband for taking care of the first one for me. I would have preferred a new laptop, but beggars can't be choosers.....and there are a handful of benefits to having a new computer in my studio. So I am a happy camper. Made even happier by the fact that my good friend, Cheri, and her husband, Jeff, have been helping me install Photoshop CS. Awesome!

Anyway, until the next two items on my list are taken care of, I'm limiting my gigs to outdoor events.

I have three gigs coming my way, two this July, and one probably around April 2007. They are:

• Mid July I am taking candid wedding photos for my cousin Justin Limpp. I declined the job as primary photographer since I didn't have lighting equipment for the formal portraits in the church...but volunteered to take candids throughout the event to give as a wedding gift. I don't believe I have ever met Justin, but his mother, Kathy, is a great gal....and it'll make my Mom happy that I'm doing it. It's always a good thing to do something that will make your mother happy.
• Mid July I am taking wedding portraits for Billy Richardson, son of long-time friends Bill and Kathy. This is an outdoor wedding, and Micah has volunteered to be my assistant with the defuser and reflector. Except for the heat index of a July event, I'm really looking forward to this.
• Abt April 2007, I am taking the senior portraits for my nephew, Talon. I cannot wait to do this one! Talon is such a good-looking boy, no matter what I do my pics should look great. LOL!

Interestingly, while my photography business hasn't really made me much money, I just realized that it has saved my FAMILY quite a bit of money. That's almost as good. Right?

Job Search - Infinitum

The search for a viable job continues.

My definition of "viable":

• A salary of $35,000/yr or more, so that I could support myself independently if I needed to.
• A solid retirement plan.
• An administrative type job that utilizes the skills I have acquired and lets me use my brain.

Doesn't sound like I'm being unreasonable, does it? And yet, I've been job searching since September '05. There are lots of jobs out there, but the majority pay $12.00/hr or less or else they never even call me for an interview.

These are my opinions on why I think I'm not being called for an interview:

• Age discrimination. I never had trouble getting interviews when I was younger.
• My work experience indicates that I will be more expensive that your starting-level administrator.
• My work qualifications hint that my return to administration is temporary, and I would only be taking an administration job temporarily while I hunt for a "better" job.
• Could Lori be giving me a bad reference? Even though she promised me a glowing review, she was clearly bitter about my choice to leave Iles, even going so far as to say I wasn't a team player --- an accusation that she knows as well as I was completely unfounded. Should I remove her from my referral listing?

My biggest struggle in the job search has been to keep a positive attitude. I can't allow my sluggish progress to effect my feeling of self-worth. So, lately I've been resorting to the not-so-funny joke of saying that I know the job market hasn't forgotten about me because I'm still getting rejections on a daily basis. Sometimes multiple rejections from the same employer. So, while they still acknowledge my existence, there is always hope. Right?

Marshall has stayed optimistic, bless his heart. He keeps reminding me that finding a job IS a job. And a hard one at that. But, even he admitted that my unemployment has made it tough; his savings account has been drained. This surprising to me....I always thought that he made such a great salary that my contribution was inconsequential. Before, my drive for employment was purely from my own sense of independence. But now it is also in response to the knowledge that I'm a significant financial liability for him.

To complicate things even further, Micah just informed me that his step-mother just lost her job. This is serious stuff, as she is the sole provider for that family. Not that my child support would be enough to support the family, but in their situation, any little bit helps. Micah said that if things don't change for them soon, he might have to return home. Which brings up a whole new jumble of quandries for me:

1. I would LOVE for my Micah to return home
2. But, I doubt very much that things would be any smoother between Micah and Marshall than before
3. I could NOT stand to go through all the tension and anger between the two of them again
4. When Marshall is angry at Micah, he takes it out on me, putting me in the intolerable situation of choosing between my husband and my son
5. Micah is 17, which means he would need a vehicle for dating and for getting to a job -- we don't have a spare vehicle. And what if something happened to one of them????