But I’m back now. Ready to dig in and do the things I meant for this page to do. Give other mothers tips, review products and talk about mommy type subjects. How do we be mothers, employees, wives and ourselves with the little time we have in a day? Hopefully I’m back with a vengence to help us all accomplish that and more.

Mommy!

My hubby spoiled me for mother’s day. I woke up to coffee made and waiting for me, a card and 2 packages of my favorite, expensive Seattle’s Best coffee. When my son stumbled into consciousness he gave me a nice card minus it’s envelope. My husband also did a LOT of the chores on my list for me, and the last few weeks has replaced blinds that I hated. Overall hubby’s rating is up there with the pope imo.

I did have to work for Mother’s Day. Not a biggie, though it’s the first year I’ve missed our annual Mother’s day fishing outing. They did manage to drag themselves without me though. (=p) I worked a long shift, 10 to 7. “THE STORE” put out roses for us working mothers which was nice. The first half of the day was explosively busy, one customer after another, fraught with problems and issues. Several people had forgotten wallets or had bank cards declined which means lots of time waiting on CSM’s approving suspened or canceled transactions. One lady complained about the long lines and how “THE STORE” needed more cashiers. I heartily agreed that we need more cashiers but people just don’t want the job and that while I would like to see every cashier they have there, I’m happy for the mommies that got it off to spend with their families on mother’s day. She looked a bit guilty as she stated “Oh I didn’t think about it being Mother’s day.”

On that note let me tell you what I couldn’t tell her. “THE STORE” has a hard time not only hiring new cashiers but keeping them. The pay they offer is barely over minimum wage. You have sometimes YEARS to wait until you can get approved for full time as they like to keep everyone part time to avoid paying out benifits and running into overtime pay. I talked to one lady and she’s been trying to get full time for 2 years now. On top of that we get a raise once a year IF our performance meets standards. (which I’ve heard are pretty high standards, I’ll let you know later after my first evaluation.)

Someone quoted a figure to me one day that 1 out of every 4 cashiers actually hired will stay. Next to the crappy pay we have tons of stress. The majority of people who have problems, issues or complaints don’t go to customer service or management, they voice them to the cashiers. Some of us try to fix those problems, complaints and issues, but bottom line is we are powerless. Complaining to the lowly paid, often ignored and kept in the dark cashier is like going to your kids school and complaining to the janitor about poor teacher performance. Yet every day, 90% of the people who come through my lane expect me to give them top quality service for bottom dollar prices.

Then to top all that off, we really don’t get any respect from the higher ups. We cashiers are expected to do it all. We do spill clean ups, zoning – which is the act of replacing the things people leave lying all over, cleaning in general if it can be done with paper towels and windex, attending the cash register, bringing carts in from the parking lot, covering greeters for breaks and sometimes being sent to another department to help when they are short. Most the time we’re not asked we’re told. There are a few CSM’s that will ask and say thanks and show appreciation by words, but like my dad use to say “actions speak louder than words.”

For example, this last week we had to almost battle the management to retain the privledge of having water at our registers. Some district muckity muck came through and got a bee in his bonnet not liking the sight of all the water bottles at the registers. So BAM, new rule – cashiers can’t have waters at the registers. Well I’m in Florida, it’s hot. Our store is always hot and especially so up at the registers which are near the constantly opening and closing doors. We don’t have fans at our registers and we’re working non stop. We also use our water for other things than drinking, on paper towels for cleaning up messes that shouldn’t be cleaned with windex. For soaking a paper towel so we can wipe our fingers to pull the “sticky” money apart. (That new money that is all stiff and sticks together.)

After a lot of cashier grumbling and complaining the management reached a compromise – we can have water, only water and ONLY water that the CSM’s hand out to us. Well I guess that’s ok with me, though the cashiers that drink more than 1 bottle a day are inconvienced. The CSM’s have enough to do if you ask me, without management asking them to hand out water to us too. God help you if you’re on break or they run out of water when they hand it out.

Other quick ways we lose out as cashiers – We’re always to busy to attend any of the daily, weekly and monthly meetings they hold. I have worked there 3 months now and have been to 1 meeting and that was on my day off. From what I understand they have 3 meetings a day, 10am, some evening time and 10pm. Then there’s a bigger meeting on saturday’s or fridays or something like that. But no one ever pulls cashiers off registers to attend meetings. We’re the damn mushrooms of “THE STORE”, kept in the dark and fed shit.

Despite the corporate policies, the shitty treatment of the little guys and the ineffectual management, I really like my job. In spite of all the crap, I really like the other little people I work with. They’re genuine, hard working and very interesting people to get to know.

Secondly, the professional mommy I was is no longer. For financial reasons I had to get off my big butt and go get a job. I hate not being just a mommy/wife any more, but I’m dealing with it. I’m just cashiering part time at our local grocery store. But even part time, it’s a major juggling act trying to stay my ideal of a mommy and work at the same time. I completely admire all you women out there who have been doing it for years and those doing it alone.

Since real life has changed, the scope and view of this site is probably going to change. I’ll probably deal more with quick things to do, easier things. And, the benifit of working at the local grocery store is I get to meet other mommies and learn some of their tips and tricks! Then I can pass these on to you all.

So hey, if you like what you read and have a spare buck click donate. Or don’t. Either way it can’t hurt to have it up there. =)

So thanks if you do donate!

But anyway while I was riding my bike today I had one of those moments. Thank god though it was alone in my head and not out loud. (As if anyone could hear me talking to myself while I”m wizzing around on my bike.)

I got to thinking about my sister in law and her seperation from her husband. I pondered wether or not she would go back to her maiden name or not. And I thought to myself “Hmm I wonder what her maiden name is, I need to ask my husband sometime.” It took me a minute but I did realize what the hell I had thought was completely stupid. Hello inside my head, I’m MARRIED to her brother for godsake. I gave myself a big “Here’s your sign!” in my head.

Don’t ya just love those mental moments?

My husband and I took 5 years to decide to get married; our son was 3 years old when we married. By taking that step we decided to stay together till the end – like it says, “Till death do us part.”. We’ve been together 13 years now, combined married and unmarried time.

Another conscious decision we made along the way was that I would be a full time, stay at home mommy. While it was a necessity at first it became almost a personal determination as my son grew up. At first we were to broke to afford day care. Then as he started going to school I watched and saw so many kids growing up without much parental involvement. It made me deeply sad but more determined to be at home with my son.

I did the soccer mom part, the pto part, and the cub scouts was a huge part of our lives for over 2 years. It’s been great being able to be home and available for my son over the last 11 years. If my son was sick we never had to worry about who could stay home with him. I got to be involved in every school project he’s done over the last 6 and a half years.

Now though with college looming ahead, the need for a new car and just flat out if we want to get ahead financially I’m going to need to go back to work. We’re not middle class, we’re not below poverty, we’re kinda in the inbetween grey area. We watch our money close and we don’t have much in the way of savings but we don’t go hungry. This is what motivated me partly to start mommytested.

Not to make money but as to share the information I’ve found out as a mommy. Though if I make money off the links, affiliate programs or donations I’ll love it. But as a family who really watches their dollar, a poor purchase really can smart. I hope my purchasing mistakes and wins help someone else make a good purchase, saves them a buck!

After watching the implosion of my friends and family’s marriages and relationships this last year I got to thinking about how as couples we need shared dreams. Even if those dreams never come to fruition, the baby steps and building blocks to making those dreams come true shape our daily, shorterm and longterm, goals.

But also just to survive life you need to have dreams. The things you want to do in life to define yourself, give you more meaning to living other than just plain procreation. The inexplicable things that urge us through the daily grind towards an end goal. The “things” that make life worth while and memorable.

My dreams are: Vacation to Australia with my husband. Take up Kayaking with my son. Become a foster parent or guardian ad lidem. Go back to college and finish my degree. Learn Spanish Take a martial arts and get a black belt. See the Blue Men in concert.

Through the years this list for me changes. For the last 11 years it’s more revolved around my son. I expect that the list will continue to change. Hopefully I’ll be able to say I’ve done them! If you make your own list, remember to be specific. Then it just makes your dreams that much more attainable.

While the dogs and I sit inside my husband takes the kids outside to light a few low end fireworks. Bottle rockets, fire crackers and poppers. I always try to include the little pull string poppers in the Christmas stockings, or those single shot popper guns.

Here’s the simple nacho recipe we always use!

1 lb ground beef 1 package taco seasoning 3-5 green onions, chopped 1 small tomato 1 small container sour cream 1 jar salsa 1 bag corn chips 1 can sliced black olives 1 can refried beans 1 package mexican style cheese pre grated

Brown the ground beef, drain and add the taco seasoning and cook down. Chop the onion and tomato. Drain black olives. Heat the refried beans. Place sour cream, salsa, olives, tomato, onion in small serving bowls to the side. On a tin foil lined cookie sheet spread corn chips in a layer. Cover chips with refried beans and the taco meat, then cover with a healthy dose of cheese. Place in the oven on broil until cheese is melted. Let each person garnish with the items they choose from the serving bowls.

It’s a quick, relatively cheap meal to make that caters to individual tastes. It can be easily prepared with multiple people in the kitchen helping.

I told myself that I will play games all day if I just get off the puter and go. I’m not touching a lick of housework save finishing the laundry before my mom gets here tomorrow. (Cooking dinner doesn’t count btw, nor doing the dishes after dinner.) So off my ass I got and placed it firmly on my bike seat.

At first I was still stressed over money, Christmas to do’s and family crap. But by mile 5 I was feeling great. The sun was shining, kids all over the neighborhood were playing in their yards, birds flying all over and NOT pooping on me. I thought about how my hubby loves me, my son and every thing about him and how at least for all we’re not rich, we DO have $50 to our name. Our bills are paid, I have Christmas presents in the closet to wrap and health coverage for my son. I always try to remind myself that there are some people who have it worse off.

Merry Christmas folks!

At first I tried exercise videos. I read up on the internet a bit and decided to purchase Denise Austin’s workout dvd. I used it once. While it was a good workout, I honestly could not stand the lady. She was completely uninspiring and frankly annoying. While she looks like a perky blonde, she really is very monotone in voice and doesn’t project an attitude that incites one to work out. She also went so quickly through spots that I didn’t quite understand how to do certain positions and actions. Give me the old Jane Fonda of my college days please! Heck, I could even deal with Richard Simons over Denise Austin any day.

Having blown my whole budget to buy the dust collecting dvd I decided to utilize something I already owned. When we first moved to Florida we bought bikes for the whole family, mom and dad included. I used mine every once in a while, but nothing extensive since my son’s 3rd grade year when I rode with him to school daily. I did basic maintainance on my bike and off I went.

At first I had no “route” to go on. I just went biking around the neighborhood for at least 30 minutes. Soon I had a route all mapped out that took 30 minutes to complete. Before you knew it though, the 30 minutes turned into 15 minutes as I got into shape and completed it quicker. So I did 2 of the cycles of my route. I even checked with the car how much distance each cycle covered…. 3 miles.

Last Christmas I recieved gifts galore that revolved around my new biking obsession. I got an armband raidio, a gel seat and bought myself more bike comfortable shorts. I’ve worn one tire completely away and my husband is becoming an expert in bike repair and maintainance.

After a while the 5 days a week to bike turned into 7 days. Then somewhere along the way I added a third lap. So no I ride about 9 miles a day, 7 days a week, bar rain and hurricane.

I haven’t checked if I’ve really lost any weight, but I stopped gaining it. My legs are more tone and one day I actually looked at my butt in appreciation. I’m not skinny by far, but I’m sure as heck more healthy. And I really enjoy my bike ride. It gives me time to think, unwind, listen to music and just focus on nothing but myself. My husband looks at me crazy and laughs at me over my biking obsession, but it has kept me from having a complete mental breakdown through my mid life crisis.

Besides it being good for me physically and mentally, I get to see my neighborhood in a new light. I love our neighborhood! There are so many fascinating people that live in it that they make my bike ride so much more interesting and fun. I look forward to getting a daily glimps into their lives. And those are stories I’ll share along the way; the people along the bike ride route!