Tuesday, May 30, 2006

One funny thing I forgot to mention about the weekend was that the hotel was directly across the street from a Walmart. Now, Sam Walston had always been adamant about there NEVER being a Walmart in NYC. And I have only been in one once, all the way out in Riverhead, Long Island 13 years ago. So, for me, to see this American icon of a store directly across the parking lot was very exciting. I hurried over there on Sunday afternoon (while J was dancing) and spent 2 hours and almost $200 on "stuff". I was in a Walmart. And there was the happy face who slashed the prices and the workers in their blue jackets (and some with red jackets). It was cool.

J and W spent a while with Play-Doh this morning while I cleaned a bit. J perused some of her Algebra Workbook for Dummies and gave me the play-by-play as she did a few problems. Then went and played with HTML codes for her websites. In the afternoon, we went to the snack truck by the park and got shaved icees again. I have such a thing for crushed ice. When I was pregnant with W, I craved it so badly that B would make some for me every night by dumping 2 ice trays into a clean pillowcase and smashing all the cubes with a meat tenderizer mallet until they were all crushed. Then he'd put it all in a bowl and hand it to me with a spoon. Ahhh. That's love, baby. Eventually I bought a machine.

We all picked up B at the subway at 4:30 and got myself to work by 5. I have been making a point to start off on the main avenue - 15 blocks from work. I like stopping in the deli for a soda and a snack and taking the nice long walk. B then drove back toward the dance studio, got the kids some pizza, and brought W into his hip-hop class. B and W always come back to pick me up at 9pm. The girls stay home (B's aunt is right downstairs). At that time there is no traffic and he's there in 10 minutes. I love my new job. It's exactly what I like doing, in addition to base pay there are weekly bonuses based on merit, the perks (free stuff you get as an employee) are incredible, and the office is beautiful and well-stocked with all flavors of coffee. It's still weird, though how this happened so quickly. I've been a SAHM for 12 years so "going to work" still sounds odd to me.

3 comments:

Mammal_Mama said...

Are there many SAHM's in Queens? A friend with family on the east coast said the cost of living is so much higher there than here (the midwest), that it's impossible for a lot of families. How wonderful that you stayed home for 12 years! And it sounds like you're still making sure your kids get to be with you or your husband, by working opposite schedules. Your kids are so blessed.

NYCitymomx3 said...

The cost of living in NYC is pretty high, but I know plenty of SAHMs. Most of the homeschoolers I know are. We're fortunate, though, in that a high cost of living can also mean higher paying jobs. We went through some tough times a few years back and I learned a great deal about frugality and living with the bare essentials. I'm still pretty frugal - compared with most of my friends - and we do ok. I am very grateful that I was able to stay home all those years - and I still feel like a SAHM as I work part-time.

Mammal_Mama said...

I think that's neat that your husband's aunt lives downstairs.