The Continuing Saga of the Insensitive Friend

Insensitive friend strikes again!
IF: Hey, whatchadoin?
Me: Oh, you know, puttering around the house.
IF: I am so bored! I don’t know how you do it!
Me: Well…
IF: I mean, how can you stay at home day in and day out, attending to your children’s and husband’s needs? Don’t you get bored? I am so glad my maternity leave ends in a few weeks. But you! You’re stuck there for the long haul.
Me: You see, (formulating a snappy comeback)
IF: Well, gotta go, the baby needs to be fed.
Me: (reluctantly)Bye.

I am Grateful Day

Today is I am Grateful Day in my book as I thank these awesome gals.

Bang gave me this award:

I am passing this award to :

Cookie - for being such a wacky Mom, she seems like the Mom you get to have fun with

TeacherJulie - for being such a great teacher and homeschooling and making learning fun for her kids

 Lizzz - for being such an awesome rocker chic Mom!

TeacherJulie gave me these awards:

 

I would like to pass this award to:

Bang - for sharing her yummy recipes and being chosen as one of the featured publishers at Foodbuzz. You make us proud, Bang!

Lizzz gave me this award. Thanks Lizzz!

I am passing this award to:

TeacherJulie - you are a beautiful and sexy Mom inside and out.

FeistyMomma - need I say more? She’s hot, she’s sexy and she’s beautiful.

SweetbitesbyBang  gave me these awards:

I am passing on this award to:

Maps - awesome pics and great posts. We share a lot in common.

Belle - such great Mom with a very talented daughter who most probably got it from her Mom.

Christianne - your blog sure is a treasure. Love your stories of Annika.

Let me just say how thankful I am for all of these awards. I feel like I don’t deserve them but hey, who am I to refuse right? So a big thank you to these wonderful ladies who shared and passed on these awards to moi. I am grateful.

First Class Friendship

I received this award from Bang and Teacherjulie.  Thanks Ladies! I am touched beyond words and am so thankful for the internet. The blogosphere is such a great place to put our thoughts in print. And to have someone critique, comment and offer insightful thoughts is something I look forward to every time. While it is true that I write without thinking whether or not someone might read it much less learn and relate to the same expriences I am going through, I am thankful for those people. I in turn learn a lot from other people’s blogs. And to make a connection, to be “friends” albeit virtually is always a joy. So thanks Bang ang Julie! More power to both of you and here’s to many many more years of blogging together. Hugs to the both of you.

 These are the people who I feel are first class friends:

Momoftwo , Kathy , Rachel, Cookie, Tina 

Many many thanks for being first class friends!

Nice and Buddies

Rachel of Heart of Rachel gave me this award. She is an awesome Mom, blogger, internet friend and awesome, thoughtful person all rolled into one. And to receive this award from her just blows me away. So thank you, Rach. From the bottom of my heart.

I would like pass this on to the following people who I consider my net buddies:

TeacherJulie - she’s always been there to offer advice and to offer kind words and encouragement.

Tina - we’re practically neighbors and she’s always there to give advice if needed.

Maps - a new found net buddy who share my GA obssession

Cookie - she always comments on my posts. like a friend who’s always there.

Lizzz - she’s such a cool and hip Momma!

Lizzz gave me this Nice matters award. Like I said, she’s a cool and hip Momma. Thanks for inspiring us to be cool, Lizzz. More power to you!

I give this award to the following people:

Rachel - she’s such a thoughtful and nice person.

Bang - have you guys seen the stuff she bakes? Yummy!

purplegirl - she’s currently overvolunteered right now but she’s a cool Mom too!

Belle - nothing is simple about this woman. she rocks!

Thanks for the awards, Ladies. And for the awardees, I congratulate you. I wish I can name more but I’ll save them for later and I want others to give other equally awesome ladies the awards. Pass it on!

Torn

What do you do when 2 people confide in you about the other? Such is my case. And I am torn between trying to mediate between the two and just letting them vent. I have chosen the latter, for world peace. Not that I’m afraid that my own relationship will suffer because of my meddling but because I think they really don’t need mediation at all. On one hand, I feel good that people confide in me. That means they trust me to keep their secrets, which I do. I never divulge any information about another person which will truly hurt that other person. I’m no saint but there are really some things I keep sacred, keeping one person’s secret is one of them. On the other hand, sometimes I want to tell the other about what the other might have been thinking that would have started the misunderstanding in the first place. But there are times when we need to keep our mouths shut and just lend a shoulder, an ear, and our time.

There are times though when the burden is so great, I can only pray for these people and hope that one day they’ll resolve all their differences as quickly as possible. And then I think about my own life. Sometimes I feel so down in the dumps that I am totally convinced that I am alone. But it turns out I’m not. And in the face of adversity, pain and tribulations, I am surrounded by people who I love and who loves and cares for me in return.

The Comfort Zone

They say the best way to reach out to someone is asking for his/her help. It feels good to be needed. In this case, I’m so touched that 2 people asked for my advice on the same day. One is a former co-worker. She asked for advice about a job offer - should she stay or should she go? The new job she’s being offered has better benefits, higher pay and a lighter caseload. I told her it’s a no-brainer, that she should take the job offer. But here’s the deal with her - she’s also been at her present job for a looooong time now. She knows the ins and outs and every nook and corner of the workplace. Now, others would think it’s such a boring job and it’s time to move on, look for another challenge. But for her it’s her comfort zone. Like a child refusing to leave her mother’s womb, she does not want to leave the old work place. I advised her time and again (when she did ask for advice, I never give unsolicited advices) to just leap and give it a try. She refuses.

Now she’s in a dilemma because she did accept the job offer on the spot. But when she told the current employers, she said they offered to equal the salary. But that’s all. No promise of better benefits nor lighter caseload or at least an appreciation of all the things she does. Let me tell you, this girl is overworked and underpaid and unappreciated. So this is what I told her - how about taking a 2 week leave from the current job, work at the other one and see how it goes? At least you gave it a try. Now if you did not like the other job, then you can always come back to your other one. But at least you tried.

I have yet to hear from her. It’s been 2 weeks and nothing. I did not want to bother her and think I’m pestering her or anything. But I do hope for her professional and personal growth that she’ll at least give the other job a chance. I’m not the only one who has advised her to leave. Everyone she knows advised her to jump ship a long time ago. Did she ever listen? Heck no! Which made us all think that this current workplace is her comfort zone.

What is the comfort zone really?

The comfort zone - it’s a warm and fuzzy place. A place we don’t want to ever leave. Be it the ancestral home, our home country, our old workplace. But there is a time when we need to leave. To spread our wings and fly. To see what’s out there. It is not being disloyal,  being a traitor or being greedy. It is about taking risks and trying to be the very best that we can be in circumstances different to what we were accustomed to. It is for our own personal growth, for us to live and learn from our mistakes. And to bask in success once we get there. It is part of being human.

Rocking Girl Blogger

FeistyMomma voted me for the rocking girl blogger. Moi! Who just started blogging 4 months ago. If I had the time and energy, I would have made this blog into so much more so I am in fact guilty of not tweaking my blogsite. But still. I try my best.  So thank you so much, FeistyMomma!

This Rockin’ Girl Blogger concept was started by Roberta Ferguson. Now it’s time for me to follow the rule and that is to pick my own 5 Rockin’ Girl Bloggers.

I would like to vote for the following:
Scroochnicles- never a boring post.
mommychi - for being so open and candid about her life
Mitchteryosa - i betcha you talk as fast as you post
Lizzz - the new mom who rocks!
SheilaMarie - great pics and great posts!

I would have voted for more but I betcha they’ve been nominated already. I salute you gals for being rocking girl bloggers! Happy blogging!!!  

Girlfriends

I had lunch yesterday with 2 of my friends. We go out as much as our schedule permits, which is about once every two months. Other than that we see each other at the gym. Since I don’t go as much as they do, I see them two times a week at the most. I know, I’m bad. Sometimes I feel like the money goes to waste but I have a lot of excuses really, believe me!

Anywho, yesterday we opted to eat somewhere close as D had an appointment later in the day. We went to the Thai restaurant nearby. Meeting time was at 12 noon. I was late because I had to circle the parking lot 3 times before finally getting a spot. When I came in, they were both having drinks and a salad. We proceeded to order and C was showing D a catalog of short hairstyles. She also brought along a scrapbook that her DIL gave her for Mother’s Day showing her evolving hairstyles throughout the years.

BTW, D is French and we used to work together. She’s basically my work-out buddy. She never fails to call me on my cel whenever I don’t show up at the gym. She’s petite and in great shape. She’s the wine connoiseur and being French, finds American food bland. C, on the other hand is a former senator’s ex-wife. She’s the typical All-American girl with ash blond hair. She’s very pretty and she does so much stuff and involved with almost everything there is, she makes me and D look bad. She’s a college professor, volunteers for the food bank, reads to the blind, belongs to book clubs, well you get the picture. Last Fall she went to Maine for 6 weeks just so she can take pictures and spend some time alone. The things these two women have in common is that they’re both divorcees. And me? The thing that we all have in common is that we work out in the same gym and we’re all mothers.  D and I used to work together so we know each other. When we saw C, we decided to invite her to lunch and that’s where it all started. Oh and it’s not just working out where we have stuff in common. We all love to read and we’re all opinionated. We talk about politics, the war, current events, motherhood and a lot more stuff. All of our lunches are packed with a lot of discussion and exchanging of ideas. Being the younger of the 2 women though sometimes I feel juvenile especially when they discuss opera and a lot more stuff you can only gain through years of experience. They don’t make me feel inferior at all and I appreciate that. We all just genuinely like each other. Sure we disagree on a lot of stuff but we somehow manage to debate, argue and shout at each other and still end of being friends.

Moms need this. A little alone time when we get together with other people. This is one of the things I look forward to - my lunchdates with my friends. DH is happy too and makes it a point to ask how my lunchdate went and what we ate. Gotta love him for that.

D is going to France for the summer and C is going to South Dakota. I complained that I will be left alone but they reminded me that I’ll be in Florida. Right. They get to jetset to exotic locales where they can sip wine in patios, get to hike or do whatever they do in South Dakota and I will babysit my nieces and the 2 boys in Florida. LOL