Part Time Jennifer

No, I'm not going to be me only half the time. I'm actually taking some fancy holidays starting today and going through January because our near and dear friend Sabrina's maternity leave was over at the end of December and is no longer available to watch the boys. Because Sage is not yet 18 months old (that magical day will be February 17th) the waiting list for daycare for under 18 months is uber-long and he hasn't gotten and probably will not get a spot. The ratio of kids to adults under 18 months old is 3-1, whereas 18 and up to 3 years is 5-1. Over 3 years old is even more kids per adult, and as they get older the number goes hup an' hup an' hup. SO I have given up hoping that Sage will get in before 18 months. Which is kind of a relief, cuz now when I call around to all the daycares, I don't have to be rejected after I say Sage's age. I can be rejected for many OTHER reasons! Hooray! But back to why I'm part time. Jake and I were trying to figure out what we were going to do for the first 7 weeks of the new year. We had a few options open to us: put out an ad and hire a stranger (not our favorite option because it would have to be done over busy Christmas and I was too nervous to hire a stranger anyway), try and get a leave of absence for Jake for that long (which was improbable), Jake quit his job and quickly try and find another one so we'd qualify for daycare again come Feb 17th (unattractive because he loves his job), and then finally one morning it came to me! I have 15 days vacation left to take before the end of March, so I approached my boss and asked her if I would be laughed out of her office if I asked for every day Jake works, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays off in January. I explained the situation and she was very supportive and understanding and did NOT laugh me out of her office. She did laugh when I handed her the stack of requests, however. And that just left two weeks in February to cover, and before I even had to worry about it for too long, Sabrina said she was only going to be working weekends starting in Feb and would be able to watch the kids for those two weeks! Now the only part left to engineer is to actually get the kids placed for February 17th. But I'm hopeful because I have a specific date to tell them, and they'll both be over the magical 18 months, and from my phone calls with daycares all fall I have a feeling it will turn out okay. Plus, I have every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday in January to bug the crap out of 'em.

Christmas

Is coming. I'm almost ready.
Our three legged table is kind of unsteady.

What do I want? What do I need?
What do I tell you to get me, indeed?

Well our table is one thing that needs replacing
And my coat is losing it's interfacing.

Our furniture's all used, almost nothing is new
Something else I require is a work shoe or two.

My kitchen could use a new gadget or gizmo
Like the Super Electronic Cake Mixer Fantizmo.

Ok I made that thing up, it's not even real.
But something like that has a lot of appeal!

Aside from this stuff, above all these things
There's one gift I'd love above anything.

I wish things were different and my mom were alive.
Not in the hospital, health not taken a dive.

Healthy and strong and able to do
Things with her kids, her grandkids, sisters, husband and you.

I miss her so much, I miss her so bad
It's over six months and I'm still just as sad.

So for Christmas the angel that sits on top of my tree
Is not simply an ornament, it's my Mommy.

Please continue to hold...

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