Getting to Know You

Introducing:  Daily Adventures of a Working Mom!

It all started very innocently.    Being a professional consultant, I was “riding the bench” as I waited for my next assignment, and posting a few updates on a social networking site.  One of my friends posted back:  “You should really start your own blog!”  

And so the seed was planted. 

The more I thought about it, the more I thought, “why not?”  I have as much to say as anyone else.  My struggles are the same as many other working parents out there today.  At the very least, maybe someone else out there would get a good laugh out of the daily antics that seem to take place in my home.  So… a week later, here I am; bringing my daily adventures to your computer.  I hope you enjoy!

So… who am I?

Hello, ladies and gents, allow me to introduce myself:  I am Meg.   I am the daughter of a devilishly handsome & charming athlete turned coal miner and a lovely and extremely intelligent school teacher (my dad was the coal miner J).  My mother was widowed (thanks to the mines) when I was 3 & my brother 7.  The three of us banded together and made it through the tough times; building an incredibly strong and resilient family unit.   

We never forgot my father, but we did move on with life.   My mother earned her doctoral degree when I was 10, and kept moving up the ladder in her chosen field:  education.  My brother and I both went to college:  he to study fire, me to study music.  Big Brother is now a professional firefighter.    I…well… I work in corporate America as a consultant- and I don’t sing my way through my days!

I graduated from college with the lofty ideals that many young people have.  I had the world by the tail, and knew exactly what I was going to do!  Then, I met my husband the summer after I graduated college, and all my “best laid plans” flew out the window!   We were engaged 3 months after we met, and married 1 year to the day after he proposed.  Ten year and two kids later, the man is still putting up with me (and I with him).  There are days when we drive each other completely nuts, but there isn’t another person on the planet with whom I could imagine spending the rest of my days (not even Gerard Butler… but that’s a very close call!).    

It hasn’t all been roses.

In Feb of 2009, I was 3 months pregnant with our second child when my husband was laid off.  His entire department was being outsourced, and there was no possibility of being rehired (the department was gone).  We made sacrifices, and we made it through.  Hubby made a complete career change; from IT to HVAC- computers to air conditioning units!  What strength it had to have taken to make such a huge decision!!  He gave up a field where he had 10 yrs in, but little hope of getting a job (due to the number of IT people out of work) for a completely new field.  What courage!

In January 2011, my husband took his first job in almost 2 years.  He worked for 3 weeks, and was laid off until March (not an uncommon practice in his field, and one we were warned about before he was hired).  He will be going back soon, and I am so very proud of him. 

From Hell to Heaven in 60 days:

My husband and I live in a small town on the outskirts of the Cincinnati Metro Area (about 45 minutes to the city).  The town is lovely, quaint, and quiet; the perfect place to raise a family.    Certainly NOT the place one would expect to rent a complete lemon.  But rent one we did:  Termites, electrical issues, water main break, malfunctioning heat, no heat in half the house,  no insulation in the house,  leaking toilet… probably more.   We put up with it for a month, begged out of our lease & moved.

The new place is wonderful!  It’s warm.  It’s dry.  There are no bugs, and it is positively one of the coziest places I can ever remember living!!  The ceilings are tall and coved, the doorways are arched and the bathroom is classic black and pink tile!  Yes… a pink & black bathroom- and I plan to completely rock it out.  Hollywood glam, here I come!!   More on that as it progresses. 

So… that’s where I am in life.    Seems like it should be fairly calm, right?  HA!!  Did you read the part about the two kids??  And did I mention the dog?  CALM quickly changes to CALAMITY in this delightful zoo that is my world.   We cover lots of material:  How to remove chewing gum from hair, whether or not a Magic Eraser actually does remove red crayon, what your 4 yr old really means when she says, “Mommy Baby Brother is on the table,” and more. 

I genuinely hope you will join me!

Meg