Tag Archives: work

07/16/11
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52 Weeks of Me ~ Week 2

I have to laugh as I try to incorporate this 52 weeks of me into my life along with my journey to find me and well what I want to do with my life, or not do.

3 years ago almost now when I started staying home with Little Man and Little Princess, it took me 6 months to not tell people “I’m an attorney” when they asked what I did for a living. As I progressed to “I stay home with my kids.” (Which gets the same interesting looks I am an attorney used to get me), I started out explaining that I have a law degree just that I choose to stay home with my children. Yes, it was a very long answer to the question, but I answered it! Now, I laugh as many of my new friends get quite the shock when after weeks of knowing me or sometimes even months, I say “I used to be a lawyer.” (sometimes as big as the shock some of my friends had when I went from attorney to SAHM)

About 3 months ago I started a list of 40 things I want to do before I turn 40 (just over 3 years away now), I am finding things on that list like try owning my own photography business for at least 6 months, open a boutique where I can sell the things I make that will not fit my children and get one piece of my writing published (the real stuff not the word dumps I put on here); I wonder if I will ever say “I am a lawyer” again, the reality is that I am still a lawyer and will always be a lawyer but it may be years before I put it to good use again or maybe never. I went to law school to prove I could do it, I practiced law in areas I hated to pay the bills, and now I am doing what I should have done in high school and college, trying to find something I love that I can also make money at, or hope to make money at! Don’t get me wrong, there were parts of being a lawyer I loved, like that rush of arguing my case before a judge and or jury or both or even better yet winning my case. And I loved mediation when I tried my hand at that briefly, I need to see if that is an option once the kids start school (provided I am not homeschooling).

I have learned though that what I make money doing does not define me, I define me. That said I do want to love what I do and have fun at it, even if it only pays for the kids activities!

Do you love what you do? What defines you?

05/15/10

Work at Home ~ Is it possible?

I have had a few people e-mail or comment and ask about my new job. It was not that long ago I was tweeting and joked about how I needed a work at home job to support my fabric habit ~ really if you have not seen my fabric stash yet then you need to because I need a 12 step program according to Aaron). While it started as a joke, a twitter friend (@HulaHoopingMom) replied that she works at home and makes some decent money and if I wanted more info DM her.

After a few DM’s I realized she was serious and I thought about how nice it would be to (1) be able to earn some mad $$$ or extra money for Christmas or vacation or anything else that crossed my mind (2) be able to make my own hours ~ so that I only work while the kids are asleep (3) be able to work 20 hours a week or more if I wanted and so many more reasons. Aaron and I started talking about if this would be something that would work for me, I e-mailed more than one question to my friend which she happily answered. We finally decided that I would jump, this would be a good opportunity for me if in reality it was as my friend was telling me.

So what am I doing? I am a Certified Professional for Arise. “Founded in 1997, Arise Virtual Solutions Inc. is the world’s leading provider of virtual business services for brands seeking to improve business results through their sales and service channels. We customize and deliver high-quality voice, e-mail, and chat customer service, technical support, and sales through a network of entrepreneurial, self-incorporated home-based Arise Certified Professionals (ACPs) in the United States and the United Kingdom/Ireland.” There are so many companies/businesses that you deal with every day who use Arise so it is very highly likely that you have been in touch with an Arise Certified Professional in some of your business dealings. I know I had and didn’t even know it!

How does it work? Well you sign up to become an Arise certified Professional and the 1st step is to fill out the application and submit your information for a background check (this part was so funny to me as I have had so many background checks in the last 3 years). The background check cost me $10 maybe $15 it has been a few months. Once all of that was approved I was able to take the course that makes it so that I can ask to work with certain clients. That course is typically $100 but once you pass step one there are various monthly specials that cover part of that cost and give you a voucher for later (the voucher is worth it). When I signed up, I took the class for $45 and received a $75 voucher. The class is an online class so you take it at your pace and when it is over you take a test (which you only have two tries to pass after those two tries you have to wait 90 days to try again) and you are qualified to ask to work with certain clients, such as major department stores, the mouse, the HUGE fruit company, a neighborhood rx and so many more (I cannot list the names publicly but if you e-mail me I can tell you the exact companies).

When you get to this point, test passed and looking for a client to work for you will see the options that are available at that time (you will have to fill out what amounts to a resume on your skills). You view what they call opportunities and get to see what that specific clients are not only going to require of you (I have yet to see one that does not require at least a few weekend hours and I have only seen one client that is a 24/7 client…) but how much the course you will take to work (this is where the $75 voucher comes in handy ~ some classes are less than that some are more). You can also see the class schedule, which is important as I have yet to see a client that allows for a missed class (though I know there are some exceptions). You want to make sure you will be available for all the classes and none of the classes are on the weekend, at least none that I have seen yet. They give you all the details for everything and you make the choices.

Also, three things you should know (1) to work with Arise you have to have your own corporation or work with one that is already set up. I did not set a corporation up yet and chose to work with the corporation my friend is working with and I LOVE working with them. If you want I would hook you up with her! (this corp provided me with a w-9 so I am not 100% self employed but we will see how that works on my first paycheck next month) and (2) you have to have a computer that meets their requirements ~ if you are a techie that could be a problem as I had to have a computer with Windows XP on it, that said my teacher for my current class indicated they are very shortly going to be supporting Windows 7 32 bit….and may be able to work with it now. They also work with Macs but I am not up on all that lingo so you would have to look up what is supported there. I will also say that for the most part I have been able to use the two computers we own my laptop with Vista and Aaron’s desktop with XP and (3) you will need a land line ~ it only has to be local which costs me $16 a month. There are a few small things as well if you want to hear about them e-mail me.

As with any job there are aspects that I am not fond of but for the most part I am VERY happy with this so far. Ask me again in a few months, but for now I will be doing customer service on the phone and e-mails for one client who has 24/7 hours. I love that I am the one dealing with my kids while they are awake, I can take them places, home school them and be there for them. We are able to do family things on the weekend and I can still get my hours in after we are home and the kids are in bed and because most companies are Sunday to Saturday weeks with a little planning I can have a weekend off and not miss a beat or put in that I am on vacation (you can take vacations). I am making extra money (more than I ever expected) to do whatever Aaron and I choose (we did decide that so much of each paycheck is my mad money and I can do with that as I please….)! Heck I may be able to make it so we can pay for a family vacation BEFORE we go on vacation, not to mention I can buy fabric and not feel like I am taking money from the electric bill (which I was not but since I didn’t make any money it was hard to not feel that way!)

Please feel free to ask me ANY questions and I will answer as many as I can! I made zero for writing this post I just wanted to respond to everything at once….

05/14/10

Trying and Failing…

Little Princess is OBSESSED with twirl dress, yes you heard me right twirl dresses…today after bath time this is the outfit she insisted on wearing (1) the ultimate twirl dress and (2) her new crocs with the princess jibits

For weeks now we have been discussing what to do with Little Man’s hair ~ yesterday I decided that it is just hair and it will grow back got out the razor he loves to look at when I cut Aaron’s hair and went to town…this is what resulted. I love it except he looks so much older now, my baby really is gone.

For the last two weeks my days have been CRAZY, absolutely crazy and I have not been sleeping well because I have too much going through my head. I think I am averaging about 5 hours of sleep a night. I have two more weeks like this and I am done, yep done and can go back to something resembling normal.

For one month (the last two weeks and the next two weeks) I am in online training for my new job from 8 am to 11 am. Let’s just say it is a VERY good thing that the training is not via video as I am trying to do 12 things at once ~ listen to class, answer questions in class, watch Little Man and Little Princess to be sure they are not into something they shouldn’t be or climbing the walls , eat breakfast, drink some massive caffeine; you get the idea. For the most part it works, I don’t have to actually talk a lot mostly just type. Except in breakout rooms, then I have to role play and pretend I am the customer or the agent taking the call. We usually only do this for an hour so I am safe though one day we did it for the WHOLE class (from 8 am to 11 am). Well it is during those break out sessions that the kids decide that they need to do the strangest, funniest, noisiest things ~ such as chase big huge bugs across the floor, drive their cars around the house or play bumper cars, or just plain want to cuddle with me and chat. I am giving my classmates a true customer experience!

By 11:30 am the twins are down for nap and I spend their entire nap time in study group with some funny amazing women who get it when I say oh no I hear strange noises coming through the monitor in the kids room have to pause for a minute to see what is going on. And when I come back laugh with me as I tell them of how my daughter has somehow moved her crib half way across the room towards her brother’s crib while she is still in her crib. I try to leave the study session at least half an hour before they wake up so that I can eat some lunch and clean up a bit before they will be down to destroy it again! Plus for the next two weeks still the exchange student likes to get on the computer when she gets home and well by the time I am off I usually only have a matter of minutes before she walks through the door after school!

After I shove some food in my mouth, Little Princess wakes up and usually wakes her brother with her screaming and so it is time for afternoon snack and a little bit of home school practice (just working on knowing and identifying letters and numbers ~ also keeping what word identification Little Princess has shown) before I make dinner, clean up the dining room so we can eat and do a few other chores (such as cut Little Man’s hair, give the them a bath, play Little People with them etc…).

By the time Aaron arrives home, I am sure I look like a tornado has hit me and that I need a few good days of sleep. But we usually then eat dinner as a family which takes some time as the kids eat a lot but eat it pretty slowly. By the time dinner is over and at least partially cleaned up we have about an hour to play with the kids. Then it time for the kids to go to bed…so tooth brushing (which they finally will let us do and are always excited to do it), book reading, cuddling, lots of kisses and making sure all the lovies are in the crib with the kids.

It is usually around 8 pm at least by the time I get back down stairs and depending on the night I may still have to do my momtv show, appear as a guest on another MomTV show, prep for class the next day (as I would have received the homework while I was doing afternoon chores), do a load or two of laundry, make sure dinner got cleaned up/dishes done (Aaron usually does this but sometimes he forgets a few things or I don’t put them where he can see them), try to sew a few stitches or make a set of hairbows, watch a little TV (the DVR is filling up fast), clean up the toys so they have a clean slate to make a mess with the next day and quite a few other small things that some times get done and sometimes don’t.

Just writing that made me tired, yet I continue to beat myself up because I have not finished the painting project I wanted to this week, or sorted the books and pieces of furniture for a garage sale I want to have, or sorted the toys in the toy room so that I can put the ones they have out grown or just don’t play with in storage, or called the agency we want to talk to about foster to adopt, or talked to my friends on the phone, or replied to the growing list of e-mails in my e-mail inbox, or got pictures sorted, edited and burned to CD/DVD….. It feels like in order for me to get to something it has to be immediate or have to do with spending time with my kids.

I think I will spend the next few hours that I have unexpectedly free organizing my to do list and trying to make it more manageable and less likely to make me feel guilty. I know as soon as class is over I will be able to only work while they are sleeping (part of the reason I like this job as I get to pick my hours and in some cases if they are sleeping or with daddy when I didn’t expect I would be able to pick up a few extra hours ~ I only have to work 20 hours a week but can work up to 70). I also want to figure out how to add in some work out time for mommy…

I am going to get away from it all this weekend and maybe come back refreshed! Hopefully to try it again next week!

Do you have something that makes you feel guilty haunting you on your to do list? Do you have a cool way to work your to do list that I should know about? Feel free to leave me any helpful ideas you have and I just might use them!

11/30/09

Where to Retire…

So in less than 30 days I will be “retired” as far as the state bar is concerned and I feel absolutely no different. But it does make think more about my “retirement” home. If it were possible I would so build one and move there but alas not possible! Where would I build this retirement home – some place warm, where it does not snow, where there is plenty for the retiree to do and where I would have access to all the things I love! Well the answer to all of those is a resounding NO…the place I have in mind is in the country, pretty isolated, in central Illinois and at least 1/2 an hour from any shopping or fun things to do. I want to retire to a place called Christmas Lane. HUH you say – well see I L-O-V-E Christmas and Christmas Lane has at least one other Christmas lover who lives on it. This family has so many outdoor decorations I am glad that I don’t have to pay their electric bill! But that said I would still love to have my address be ### Christmas Lane :) Some pictures from the Christmas lovers house:

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Daily Question: Where would you like to retire?

09/15/09

Redefining Perfect at Age 35…..

35

Many of you know that on Sunday I turned 35 years old…and all of you know that this is the first year I was able to celebrate with my babies! While it was generally a great day – I woke up at my sister’s house after a fun night of bachelorette activities, ate lunch with my husband’s family complete with a birthday cake and had an amazing Korean dinner that Sonny and I cooked together! The day was a great one!

Many of you know that I am a planner and that I have been for most of my life and for some reason 35 was the number on my list when I had planned to have it all. I was going to have the perfect career, the perfect family and life was just going to be perfect! Have I mentioned the perfectionist in me helped make this list? But over the last year I have watched that list fall to pieces and had to redefine “perfect.”

My old definition of perfect did not include a husband or children and included a great job that had me on the path to becoming a judge and not just any judge a federal judge with her eye on a spot on the United States Supreme Court. Had you asked what I was going to do when I was in my 20′s I would have told you “I am going to be the first woman Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court provided Sandra Day O’Conner does not beat me to it” without batting an eye. But somewhere in the middle of law school I saw my definition of perfect start to change one small step at a time, I fell head over heals in love for the first time in my life and realized that maybe marriage and children were not so bad but I still believed I could do it all.

Fast forward a few years and two major heartbreaks later and life is not working how I want it to, but I still have a plan when I meet Aaron and life changes again. I knew when I married Aaron that my old plan needed to be reworked a bit but did nothing to change my idea of what perfect was…I continued to try to be the best at everything and then infertility hit and the adoption process. I never reevaluated my idea of perfect, I just kept my eye on the end of the process.

In one month it will be a year since the twins came home and one month since I finally reevaluated what perfect means to me. Perfect means happy, healthy kids, a happy healthy husband and a happy healthy me – no more and no less. While I no longer aspire to sit on the US Supreme Court, I do still aspire to make a difference only now it is to the two little people in my life only. This is not the life I planned for me and not the picture I would have painted for myself at 35 but I like the picture now even though I am still working on the details!