7.29.2008

freelance writing, anyone?

calling all freelance writers:

i am in need of a back-up blog article writer for this site. basically it's a blog offering tips and advice to restaurants and food service businesses. (with a little marketing for my brand sprinkled in.) i currently have one freelance writer and myself. i do most of the editing and very little writing.

i am willing to pay per hour for your writing and research time. if anyone is interested email me! or, if you know of someone who might be interested, send them my way.

thanks bunches!

7.25.2008

Road Trippin! Final Destination: KC

the kids and i survived the first half of our trip down to KC. the dvd players we borrowed from a friend were an absolute life saver! i'm not sure what we would have done without them. wait, i know...i would have been driven absolutely nuts.





we arrived in des moines last night and had some time to enjoy the pool before bed. of course this morning the kids were up bright and early, even though they went to bed two hours later than normal. enjoyed breakfast and then they were ready for the pool again! i think the theme of this trip will be SWIMMING. this morning i am staying out of the pool and doing "homework". ha. i'm suppose to be doing homework but i am blogging and photo uploading and facebooking instead. i'm really going to regret it tonight and tomorrow night when i am cramming to finish two papers!

7.24.2008

here she is!

meet my newest niece!





i now have three nephews and three nieces! (from two sisters) crazy!

MaKenna Joy

sis had her baby! i told her i was sorry i won't be able to make it to the hospital but made plans to go up and visit her on monday. she sounded like she was okay with that, but we'll see. i also ordered this to be delivered to her in the hospital:



hopefully that helps to redeem me.

family matters part 2

so, i got a phone call from my mom this morning. my sister's water broke and she is on her way to the hospital. so...the kids and i are leaving town after work tonight for a long weekend trip to kansas city. which means i won't be here when the baby is born. which means i won't be able to visit them in the hospital. ugh. i had a strong feeling this was going to happen.

7.20.2008

family matters

i haven't spoken to my father in over two years. it wasn't so much a concious decision at first, it was more a matter of self-preservation.

my parents divorced when i was very young. my father has always been an alcoholic. i have always been the peacemaker. i shielded my younger sisters and even my mom from as much as i could. in my teenage years, i moved in with my dad. i was always the "favorite". being the favorite meant that i was the one who got to pick my dad up from the law enforcement center when he got picked up for a dwi. being the favorite meant i got to sober cab for my dad when he was too drunk to drive. being the favorite meant i got to carry him into the house and make sure he didn't drown in his own vomit or burn down the house when falling asleep with a cigarette in his mouth. being the favorite meant visiting him in jail and bringing him money. being the favorite sucked.

during most of our lives, my two younger sisters kept their distance from dad. they ignored his calls and refused his requests. i was always the one who talked to him multiple times a day and did pretty much whatever he asked. i envied that my sisters could so effectively keep him out of their lives. i had a huge guilt factor that let me become a door mat to him. the burden of stress it put on my life and my relationships was enormous. there was rarely a day that passed where i wasn't sick over something i had to do for him.

around the time of my divorce there came a breaking point. i needed to keep my strength for myself and for my children. i couldn't be his "handler" anymore. and when he asked me to "loan" him a large sum of money i finally snapped. i stopped taking his calls and answering his requests. i slowly cut him out of my life. and while at times i felt guilty, most of the time i marveled at the burden of stress that was lifted from my shoulders.

fast forward to a few weeks ago. one of my sisters called me to say that my dad had been diagnosed with liver disease. the doctors said he will only have about a year to live if he doesn't quit drinking. one of my sisters decided to stage an intervention with my alcoholic father. for a lot of reasons, i decided not to attend and pushed it out of my mind.

about a week before the intervention was to occur, my brother-in-law sent me some text messages designed to make me feel guilty for not going. basically telling me that if i don't go, i don't love my family. i was furious and did not answer his messages, nor did i attend the intervention. i couldn't believe the audacity of him trying to make me feel shitty about this. where was he, where was my sister, when i was going though years of hell with my dad? did i try to make any of them feel guilty for their choice to stay removed from my father's life for all of those years while i shouldered the responsibility on my own? no. because i figured it was my choice. just as the choice to stay out of it was theirs.

my brother-in-laws messages begged me to go for my sister, if nothing else. but the thing is, i knew it wouldn't be the healthy thing for me to do for ME or my kids. and i figured it was about high time i do something for ME for once.

i am writing about this now because this same sister and brother-in-law are having a baby any day now. and they are basically not speaking to me. i thought we had a bit of a breakthrough a few weeks ago, but apparently not. my sister used to call me once in a while and now my phone is silent. i left her a phone message a while ago and she hasn't called back. i left messages on their facebook pages and have gotten no response. i am really hurt by all of this and am at a loss about what to do. there are so many times over the years i could have been angry with them for not helping me but i never was. the unfairness of it all truly astounds me.


and though i am not generally one to say i told you so, the intervention with my father was short-lived. they talked him into treatment where he stayed for two days before calling someone to pick him up. from what i hear, he is back to drinking heavily again. i have no doubt that he will pass away within a year. and while it hurts to think of it, i feel like he was dead to me a long time ago.

7.16.2008

argh!

so...the school thing is kinda sorta killing me this session. i hardly have time to breathe! the housework is behind, the laundry is piling up, the dishes need to be done, i haven't been to the gym in almost a week...and on and on and on!

my instructor this session is a lot harder on us. expects a lot more. i am putting in a lot more hours. consequently i will probably learn more from her. but right now it's hard finding a good balance between home-work-school.

work has been a bit stressful. there have been some rumblings about my place of employment closing by the end of the year. i'm hoping it's just rumors, but i honestly don't feel it's out of the realm of possibility. and neither do my co-workers. i'm not going to panic about it, there isn't much i can do. just continue to work my ass off and hope that sales come in, even though restaurants are struggling and they are my main customers.

finally had a chance to take a breather and get a bit caught up tonight, hope all is well with everyone!

7.10.2008

hello

i'm super sick of everything online-related (thanks online mba program!) but wanted to say hi. so, hi all!