Just a Mom?

A woman, renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk's Office, was asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation.

She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.

"What I mean is," explained the recorder, "do you have a job or are you just a ...?"

"Of course I have a job," snapped the woman. "I'm a Mom."

"We don't list 'Mom' as an occupation, 'housewife' covers it," said the recorder emphatically.

I forgot all about her story until one day, I found myself in the same situation, this time at our own Town Hall. The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of high sounding title like, "Official Interrogator" or "Town Registrar."

"What is your occupation?" she probed.

What made me say it? I do not know. The words simply popped out. "I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations."

The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair and looked up as though she had not heard right.

I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most significant words. Then, I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written, in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.

"Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest, "just what you do in your field?"

Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply, "I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn't), in the laboratory and in the field, (normally I would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Masters (first the Lord and then the whole family), and already have four credits (all boys). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities, (any mother care to disagree?) and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But, the job is more challenging than most run-on-the-mill careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money."

There was an increasing note of respect in the Clerk's voice as she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door.

As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 17, 7, and 3. Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (a 6 month old baby), in the child development program, testing out a new vocal pattern. I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy! And, I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than "just another Mom."

Motherhood!!

What a glorious career!! Especially when there's a title on the door.

Does this make Grandmothers "Senior Research Associates in the Field of Child Development and Human Relations"... and, Great Grandmothers "Executive Senior Research Associates?" I think so!!!!

I also think it makes Aunts "Associate Research Assistants."

Heat Wave

It's been a hot weekend over here. I don't like hot days like these. Pool and ocean were in my mind... aaaah, to get refreshed by some cool water is just an awesome feeling. Right now, my weather bug says it's 90°F, our local weather site says it's 87°F... and truly, I think we hit the low 100's or high 90's. Blah!! Did I mentioned I HATE hot days? It's just past 5 pm... so the day is starting to cool down a little... but still... it's hot outside. Didn't go to the beach because of that shark attack that happened yesterday. The beaches between Del Mar and Cardiff by the Sea were closed... yet, some surfers went surfing and didn't cared much about that shark attack incident. I feel so bad for that 66 year old doctor that was killed by the shark.

Didn't do the wash today. It was too hot to be doing the wash lol. So, I decided to go to the laundromat tomorrow morning. Ugh, and to think that I have ironing to do also... my hubby's shirts!! :-/ Why can he buy shirts that don't need to be ironed? My hubby and his shirts.

We truly had one crazy weather here. Besides the hot temperatures, we had very strong winds. I was a little worry when I heard about some wildfires going on... one was in Ramona that got contained, the other was in Sierra Madre near Pasadena, and the other one was here in San Diego (Sorrento Valley)... I think the one in San Diego is 90% contained the last time I heard.

Last night, my hubby and I decided to go to the casino. It was a JD's weekend... so JD stayed home with the kiddos while my hubby and I took off for some night fun. Both of us did terrible... but, it was fun. My feet hurt right at the end. Gosh, my hubby put a $10 ticket on this video poker machine and I was just praying for him to finish!!! Those $10 took a lot of time to get rid of lol... he was playing for like 40 freakin' minutes winning and losing. At that time, I just wanted to come home, take off my flip flops, put my PJ's on, and relax. JD and I ended up watching a movie (I forgot the name of the movie). On Saturday, we watched AVP Requiem and Resident Evil Extinction. Loved AVP Requiem!!

Indiana?

Indiana is in our future. After this big change that happened this past Friday (4/18/08), there is a big possibility that we could be moving to Indiana either this Summer or next Spring '09. Am I happy about it? Yes & No. I know that the housing over there are so cheap. My hubby and I were looking online for houses and some apartments and boy they are so cheap compared to here!! My SIL, Cathi, lives in Indiana... so she got a little excited there when my hubby told her we could be moving to Indiana. Then, my other SIL, Sue, that lives in Washington DC was also excited about the news. Sue is planning in moving to Indiana (Bloomington) sooner or later (she's also a Teacher).

But, what to do what to do?! Things are just in the air. We're actually thinking we could open our own business up there in Bloomington. Still unsure!! Who knows, we could just end up staying here or move up to Indiana. Long drive I must add!! There's also a big chance that we could go to Bloomington this Summer for a week, or two, to check things out and for me to open my eyes and see if I would like living in Indiana. Big change for me 'tho. We're going to take the long way... drive!! That would be awesome!! See the cities, farms, or whatever is in between CA and IN. Hopefully, I can use a laptop to record all the adventures.

Popcorn

Have you ever heard of the Crazy Frog? I've never knew it existed until one of my dear friends kept sending me these videos through YouTube. Most of the time I ignored them until one day I decided to check them out... boy was I totally dragged into that Crazy Frog, the music/beat, and that special touch. Did I mention he's naked from the waist down?... you can see his "thing" LOL. I searched this "Annoying Thing" over the Internet to see who was it's creator and looks like it's been around for years. I thought there were these cartoons about him... nope. Only music and some short music videos of him.

Well, now my kids are all crazy about Crazy Frog's music. I bought several songs through iTunes so that I could burn a darn CD for them. Now, I'm driving while listening to that CD... and let me tell you, I like the songs lol... my favorite is Popcorn!! The other day, Joel told me he wanted his own iPod (go figure!)... my hubby and I told him iPods are not cheap and my hubby asked him "what are you gonna listen?"... Joel's response was "Crazy Frog's music". Hmm!!


Popcorn video
There's also a Crazy Frog Christmas CD... my favorite song: "Last Christmas". I am so guilty for listening to this kind of music... but I LOVE the beat!! :-P

And, we are still having problems with the Internet connection. Sooo annoying!!

Can it get any worse?

I can't believe how hot it is today!! We're like a couple of degrees away from reaching the three digits here!! The pool sounds so refreshing right now but I just can't go for a swim with the kids. My hubby went to the Swap Meet this morning and he came out with more CDs and more cool movies. I love bargains! Went to the laundromat after my hubby came back from the Swap Meet. I was done with the laundry at noon and then I stopped by the grocery store to get the stuff I need so that I can make my hubby some chicken enchiladas tomorrow for dinner (he LOVES my chicken enchiladas).

Last night, I watched "The Grudge 2"... loved the movie!! I can say that this movie is way better than the 1st one. Then at around midnight, the movie "Dahmer" started. I think I watched an hour of that movie until I gave in to sleep. Would like to watch that movie again. That Dahmer movie is about Jeffrey Dahmer and it just tells his story how he was... WOW!! Chilling stuff!! Later today, my hubby and I are going to watch "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"... it's with Johnny Depp (I like him a lot!!), Benicio Del Toro, Cameron Diaz, Christina Ricci, and some other cool actors. I haven't seen this movie and it's like a 1998 movie or something... so it's not a new movie.

In another not so good note... for the last several days, life is not getting any easier.

1st. It was our Internet connection. It wasn't working right at all. Got online and everything was peachy and surfing on the net... and then all of a sudden, no connection. Grrrr!! Give me a break!! Thank goodness, my hubby didn't got rid of a cable modem he bought some time ago when the connection got crapy like it is now. So, he put that new cable modem up and so far so good. Hopefully, the connection, line, or modem won't fail from now on.

2nd. Yesterday, one of our bathroom's toilet is not flushing right... it doesn't flush!! Looks like it is like it was months ago and when I thought Seth flushed something in the toilet and that's why it was backing up and nothing going down. Ugh!! I've been using the plunger since yesterday and it still not flushing.

3rd. Seth definitely has the cough Joel had couple of weeks ago. Seth is feeling horrible!! He's been crying, whining, and telling me his chest hurts from all that coughing :-(. My poor baby!! Seth usually gets sicker than Joel when he passes those bugs to Seth. It took Joel around a week to get rid of the cough... that means, Seth's gonna be suffering for quite a while. He doesn't want to eat, he doesn't want to play, he doesn't want to be bothered (or annoyed by Joel), and he's basically crying every time he coughs. I don't think there's a miracle syrup of medicine to ease with the coughing. I have that Delsym medicine but it just doesn't work. And to top it off, the kids and I still don't have medical insurance. My hubby was going to take care of that today but the servers at his new job are getting an update (or some work on) so he can't login to do what he has to do to add us.

What a lovely Sunday!!