Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Toy Donations and Guilt

This afternoon I bribed my children to clean their bedrooms.  Ya, I know, not the best parenting but so worth it.  Bedroom cleaning was complete with black bags filled with toys that my children no longer play with.  I am ecstatic that my children did not put up much of a fight to donate their older toys.  However, I am the one with toy guilt.  I admit that I have seen all the Toy Story movies and I cannot help but wonder if these toys are like Woody and Buzz (reserve my padded room now, I know).  For the most part my children take great care of their toys but there are also the ones that get broken and thrown away.  I try to donate as much as possible.  If my kids no longer want it maybe another child will. Tomorrow we will load up the mini van and take the toys to Goodwill. If anything my children are learning to donate what they will no longer use and to recycle what can still be used.  As for me I will hear in my sleep tonight, "Next week's yard sale fodder for sure."

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Domestic Engineer

Wow, I haven't been on here in forever. The past month has been really hectic.  So here are a few updates before I get into my actual post.
  • I am no longer vegan but keep thinking I should go back on it.  It's really hard in the area that I live in to find healthy produce.  
  • I walked at graduation for LPN degree.  Now I am taking the summer exit which is very intense.
  • I am panicked about find a job that I will enjoy once I finish class and take my boards.
  • The house is a disaster, the kids will get out of school soon, and I am frustrated with small town life.  Nothing new there really!
Now that you are a bit caught up here is today's post...



Resume writing.  Bleh, but I have to do it.  No, seriously, it was homework assignment.  Part of the LPN summer exit is Trends.  We discuss transitioning from student to professional.  So last night I had to type up a cover letter and resume.  To be honest it was incredibly sucky.  Our instructor told us to keep the resume on one sheet of paper.  Really?  How do you do that and get everything important on it?  Well, I did my best and its still on two sheets.

Here is the good part.  Like many of you I was a stay at home mom.  But I have to account for this time on my resume.  I put down Domestic Engineer.  My instructor did mention this in class and I ran with it.  Think about what you do as a mom whether you are stay at home or not.  We are busy!  So here are a few of the responsibilities I added to my resume:

Health and Safety
Event Planner
Environmental Specialist
Behavioral Consultant
Chef
Here is what I would have added if I had more space:
Financial Manager
Magician
Fluent in baby talk up to pre-teen
Buyer
Chauffeur
Counselor
Mob Control
Sex Godess

 Those are the few I could come up with.   I know there are many more.  If you have some other ones please share them.

The moral here is don't down play your time as a stay at home mom.  You used many special skills to keep your family running smoothly.  They don't need to know that laundry was piled high up my "laundry stairs" or that my spare bedroom is for "hidden chaos".  The house didn't fall in did it?  Nope.  I was able to work with four sometimes very uncooperative little people.  These skills are very important to any profession.

Now, if I could just find a good paying position.  I would hire a maid to take care of my "laundry stairs" and "hidden chaos"!