Making a break for it
I looked too pale yesterday. I had eaten my lunch too early, so the afternoon was dragging. My lipstick shade looked off. My hair was being annoying. There were crumbs on my desk. There was an annoying guy outside my window, yelling at someone. Everything was icky.
I tried to think of ways to cheer up. I asked Best Friend to play tennis after work, but she had a hair appointment. I asked a work friend to accompany me on a treat-run, but she was too busy (so I didn’t go either). L is out of town, so there was no upcoming crafting date to be happy about.
Darling Husband — being the usual darling that he is — dropped by on an afternoon break to bring me a tea and a chocolate-chip cookie. He even let me sit in the passenger seat for 10 minutes to talk, before he had to jet off to work. That was nice, but as soon as he drove off, my mood dropped again.
By 4 p.m., nothing had worked. I clearly wasn’t getting any work done, so I started doing other things. I played a couple of MP3s. I put on some blush. I re-did my hair. I touched up my nail polish. I cleaned off my desk. I opened a Diet Coke — yeah, that whole Lent thing only lasted four days.
All of those little tasks only took about 10 minutes, but I felt a lot better afterwards. I was even able to spend the last hour of the day actually accomplishing stuff.
And then it dawned on me. I had taken a “break.”
Since I bring my lunch everyday and don’t drink coffee, I have virtually no reason to leave the office between 9 and 5. None. We don’t have a lunchroom, so I eat at my desk — usually answering e-mails at the same time.
When I do a take a break, it’s to check out my fave blogs, write posts, etc. — not exactly a break from my computer, is it?
I thought I was being a good employee but working the whole time, but the truth is that not taking a break was making me worse at my job. Because I had no real break, my concentration was shot after a while, and I was more tired and cranky than I should have been.
Starting today, I am vowing to take a few little breaks every day — true breaks, that do not involve the computer (even if it’s reading something fun). I’m going to …
- Paint my nails
- Re-do my hair/makeup
- Walk around outside (even just around the building)
- Sit on my window seat and pretend to read a file (but really sketch fun design ideas)
- Organize my office
- Draw on my whiteboards (I have pretty markers in 10 shades — a perk of ordering all the corporate office supplies)
I’m going to stick to this promise! Otherwise I may end up burning out by the age of 26.
A stitch in time
When I first stumbled upon the idea of embroidering your child’s artwork (discovered over at UCreate), I was impressed.
But, clearly, I don’t have any childrens’ artwork to stitch just yet. So I saved it in my “Inspiration” folder — if you don’t have one, you must make one — so I could give it a whirl in a few years.
And then, I was browsing around on TwinStitchers. Their motto is “A great stitcher once said ‘It’s just like coloring with a needle and thread.'”
So true! And yet — why haven’t I thought of it before?
TwinStitchers makes gorgeous stitched artwork, like this family on a swingset. I have done some embroidery, but only ever words — and the occassional heart or flower.
The idea of drawing an entire scene onto a piece of fabric and then “colouring” it is too perfect. I can’t wait!
P.S. I am so making an embroidered family portrait for my mom!
P.P.S. And one of Little Dog, to have above her food dishes!
P.P.P.S. And one of me and Darling Husband on our wedding day!
P.P.P.P.S. … I really must shut off this burst of inspiration and get back to work.
What do you people have against cloth?
I’m definitely not an eco-friendly girl. I may (gasp) occassionally always toss pop cans in the garbage.
But I am a budget-friendly girl. The idea of buying a truckload of Pampers terrifies me, so last week I casually told my mother that I was thinking of cloth-diapering.
She shot down the idea! I couldn’t believe it. I have no idea why she would think that way.
Oh wait, yes I do. She told me. She thinks cloth diapers are more work than using disposables. She said that when I am exhausted from being up with a crying newborn, the last thing I would want to do is wash and dry a load of diapers.
Since she is the voice of experience, I do believe her. But I also believe we are somewhat substantially poorer than my parents were when they had me, and therefore might be more willing to do the extra work.
Here’s the kicker: Darling Husband is also against cloth diapers! He thinks it’s weird and hippie, and said when it was his turn to diaper “Junior”* he would put a disposable diaper overtop of the cloth one.**
* Yes, he calls our un-born, un-conceived child “Junior”
** Yes, I pointed out that even then, I was technically getting my way, because the baby would be wearing the cloth — and qu’est-ce que c’est le point of doubling up?
So here is my research, for all of you non-believers …
The Weecare Diaper Company (based in B.C.) began because the owners wanted “a cleaner, healthier, less-leaky alternative to disposables.” They claim that cloth diapers are “soft, keep baby dry, and are easy to use.”
New & Green Baby Co. claims cloth diapers are “just as convenient” as disposables, “when taking into consideration the late-night, last minute run to your local convenience store, standing in line at the till, the gas, wear and tear on your vehicle, and the extra trips to the garbage.”
Cost is an important factor for us — especially since we want to have two or three kids, and cloth diapers could be reused for Kiddos #2 and #3.
Here are some great stats I summarized from DiaperingDecision.com:
| Type of diaper | Unit cost | Cost per week | Total cost over two years |
| Disposable | $0.22 – $0.45 | $16.94 – $22.05 per package | $2,694.54 |
| Cloth | $20 purchased new, $3 when hand-made | $.44 – $1.50 for laundering | Purchased ones pay for themselves within six months, hand-made ones pay for themselves within one month |
According to a great article on the New & Green Baby Co. site, here are the three basic kinds of cloth diapers:
- All-in-One diaper: Has the absorbent materials and the outer wet proof layer all sewn together, so ultimately is a cloth version of the disposable.
- Pocket diaper: Has an inner layer of microfleece sewn to a wet proof outer layer. There is an opening at the back where you slip in an absorbent pad. Because it is two pieces, it dries really fast out of the wash.
- Two-part system: Has a soft fabric diaper that goes onto your baby, and a “wet barrier” between the diaper and the baby’s clothes (looks like little pull-on pants or a diaper). The most popular material for the wet barrier is called PUL (polyurethane laminate).
So far, I think I like the idea of the pocket diaper. There is a great tutorial over at Very Baby Blog, and it looks like something I could handle sewing.
There! Does anyone believe that it’s a good idea now???
P.S. Apologies for the desperate tone.
P.P.S. But you believe in cloth diapers, don’t you?
Making it work
Last week was hard. I’m not going to sugar-coat it.
We had just gotten to a point where Hubby was going to work a little extra in order to put some money away specifically for the baby. This … just completely knocked us down.
After much discussion about our financial news, this is what Hubby and I have come up with …
Cutting back …
- Cancel home phone service. We’ve each got a BlackBerry (and my work pays for mine), so we decided we don’t need a third line. Monthly savings of about $20.
- Cancel speciality channels. Yeah, we’ve got a big honkin’ TV. But that doesn’t mean we need the Food Network (tear), GameShow Network (sob) and MoviePix. Monthly savings of about $20.
- Look into our vehicle options. We’re currently leasing our SUV — yeah, yeah, a gas-guzzler, we know. But we liiiiiike it — and Darling Husband is going to ask the dealership about possibly getting out of the lease, to purchase something smaller on a monthly basis. Possible monthly savings of $150. This would also lower our gas bills by about $75 a month.
- Sticking to the budget. I made very strict budgets in February and March, and we always ended up sneaking over the total. I am vowing to keep a better rein on the cash in April.
Making more money …
- Working extra hours. Over in salary-land, I don’t get OT. Working extra hours is something I do regularly, but it doesn’t amount to anything except … corporate respect? But Hubby gets paid hourly, and he is able to pick up extra hours. He’s going to try to pick up $350 worth of shifts every month to pay off the tax debt.
- Freelance. I may not make overtime cash, but my head is full of words … and sometimes spilling them onto paper earns me a bit on the side. I’m going to try to pick up some freelance gigs again, as well as keep my fingers crossed that my first novel gets picked up.
If you have any money-savin’ or money-earnin’ tips, I’d love to hear them. This economy is kicking everyone’s ass right now, so it would be nice to give it a hard kick back!
I say a little prayer
When I was in school, I was big on praying for snow days when I had a math test. I prayed and prayed, and promised God I would spend the extra time studying.
I swore that if I had the extra time to study, I would do OK on the test.
Occassionally, my prayers were answered and I did get a snow day — good ol’ Canada.
Of course, I would study a little bit … and then I would play in the snow, sleep, read, watch TV, etc. I never fulfilled my promise to study without a break for the entire day.
Last week, I had the grown-up version of the pleading-for-a-snow-day. Pleading for your freaking period is a lot more desperate!
Before it arrived, I swore, right here on Laptops to Lullabies, that if I got my period — if I was not four months pregnant for Best Friend’s wedding — that we would not have sex until the big day (July 18).
Newlyb just asked if I planned to stay true to my little “promise.” Weeeeeell … Let’s just say that we will definitely be super-super-super-careful from now until then! Like mega-careful.
Because the next time I pray about my period, I want to be able to pray that I don’t get it! …
As featured on …
Heather's Handmade Life 