Doing my civic duty. Possibly for the wrong reasons.

Arizona has an early ballot system where you can vote by mail and not have to go to the polling place on election day. As the stay-at-home mom of a two-year old, this appeals to me greatly.

When we were out walking the dogs the other day I said to Eric "I like the convenience, but I wish I could still get my little sticker for voting." And yes, I was pretty serious.

So imagine my thrill when the balloting material came. They have my number.

Thinking

I'm thinking, more and more, about maybe, possibly, could-be-willing-for-the-right-thing, going back to work.

Here's how that's shaking out:

Angsty posts to Facebook about applying for a job: 1
Supportive comments from friends saying GO FOR IT: 28
Days since I applied to the first job: 2
Number of times Amazon has contacted me about a job in  Seattle: 2
Number of times the company I applied to has contacted me: 0
Day care facilities I've contacted as part of my process: 2
Number of times I cried watching a virtual tour of a day care: 1
Number of times I've changed what I think I want: 387478329783474938283744389
How many minutes since I applied to a second place: 5

Don't know what I'm hoping, but here's hoping!

Circle of Life, US Mint style

I finally completed my set of the 50 State Quarters. The program ended in 2008 but it took me a long time to get that final Hawaii quarter. I had one last summer and accidentally spent it. A year later my sister gave me one when we were shopping together.

It was an odd feeling looking through the book. I put the first quarter in it in 1999. The dot-com market hadn't crashed yet, let alone the housing market. The twin towers were still up. Skirts were short, unemployment was down. More personally, my mother was terminally ill but still alive. It was two years before I would meet Eric, and Rylee wasn't even a dream.

The antepenultimate quarter is Arizona, a state I never imagined I would move to and my state of residence when I put the Arizona quarter into my book.

I've been putting quarters into this book at four different homes, doing five different jobs, in two different states, single, married, childless, pregnant, a ma-ma, a mommy.

I can't think of anything else that I've done for 10 years. I've only been married for eight, never lived at a single address more than seven, never worked a single job longer than four. I felt a weird sense of accomplishment.

And then I popped out the first eight so Rylee and I could buy carrots to feed the giraffe at the zoo. Because come on, it's over ten bucks and I'm no sucker.

Off we go!

Rylee and I are taking wing to Michigan again. Some cousin-y goodness, some grubby camp fun and then some beach time with Daddy. Should be a hoot!

I'll try to post pictures and what-not.

Bob's Your Uncle

Today was the pampering day: Facial, pedicure and haircut. An effort to feel like a normal person who is something more than Mommy. Particularly timely since in the last four weeks Rylee has slept through the night precisely twice (until 6 and 5:30).

But I was feeling pretty sleek with my new, short hair. So I put on my Cool Girl skirt muslin (not shown) and dressed Rylee in her butterfly Kitschy Coo mini-mod dress (which makes such a cool sundress that I'm planning on making at least a dozen more).

Found some open-toed shoes to display my fancy toes, which are polished about once every five years.

And grabbed my two favorite dates.

We ate someplace with candles, dimmed lighting and a kids' menu. (I'm going to write a book someday and the title will be "Two, with a highchair"). The meal lasted over an hour and Rylee was good the whole time. Cause for celebration indeed.

Bliss

Tomorrow's agenda:

10:45 - Facial
12:00 - Pedicure
2:00 - Cut and lite

I'm finally spending the gift certificate Eric got me for Christmas 2008. That's the kind of mommy guilt that haunts my days.

Can't wait!

Why I'm here

I've decided to start by starting.

Why am I here? The post where I try to answer that question so that possibly someone reading this blog might answer same.

Two years ago I was living on the east coast and working in software development: writing code, managing teams, managing customers, writing status reports, writing proposals. Writing, writing, writing. And talking, talking, talking. A lot. All day.

Twenty-one months ago I started my biggest project ever by having a little baby girl named Rylee. Four months after that we moved from the east coast to Tucson, AZ. And I quit my job (obviously). Because there's nothing like piling on a whole bunch of life changes in one huge triple-decker life sandwich!

So, nice bit of background but still no answer. Why am I here?

The biggest reason - to get the words out. Leaving my job to be full-time at home with my daughter was the right decision, continues to be a huge blessing and I wouldn't change it. But boy, did it create a word surplus inside my poor, overtaxed mommy brain. So reason #1 why I'm here - just to get some of those words and thoughts out of my  head and send them off into space. To a black hole? To a bunch of blog followers? I don't know and right know don't really care. I just need them OUT. Out, out, out of my head.

Secondly, trolling around the internet trying to fill the adult interaction deficit also created by my career change I've found a community of nifty bloggers generously sharing information and forming friendships. Like my friend Amanda who I met when I was looking for a pattern for a vendor apron and stumbled on her cool blog and cool self. I want to be a cool girl, too. And pay it forward if I can by sharing what knowledge I have that might be useful. I've been told I'm a good cook and throw a mean party, so you might find cooking tips, recipes and hostessing info here.

Third, a vendor apron? What? Well, along with the word surplus and interaction deficit I also ended up with a lack of creative outlet and I started sewing. First for my daughter and then (ostensibly) for other people's daughters. And now, possibly for myself.  Since I can't stop building things, I've started a wee business selling girls' clothing. It means getting my Etsy house in order and figuring out how serious I am, but I hope this blog will promote that business as well.

And finally (only because I'm tired of writing. I could probably come up with fifteen more reasons) I'd like some accountability to myself. I walk around with not just homeless words spinning around, but ideas, plans, goals and the like. Having a place to write them down, track them a little and possibly share them with readers will help me keep them straight and make them more concrete.

So what can you expect if you're reading this blog? A little sewing, a little cooking, a little entertaining, a LOT of my daughter (hey, it's what I do all day). Tutorials if I think what I've got to say is worthwhile. Hopefully some humor if I can find my funny. And anything else I can think of.

There. I started. Let's see where it goes.