Monday 14 May 2007

Day 67 - Be Careful What You Ask For!!!!

Back to work today and a chance to put some more of my Action Plans & Experiments in place. To be honest they are quite Back To Basics, but necessary to tackle.

As well as the boxercise challenge, I have also set myself the task of getting out the house in the morning in good time to do nursery/school runs and get to work without being late. More recently it has got so bad the children have missed the allocated breakfast time. Luckily as we have been going since Olivia was about 7 months old we have a good relationship and happily nursery still fed them. Also on school days what with children having strops as about to go out of the door because I refused to take a skipping rope, and mainly me leaving things till last minute (trying to squeeze another task in before we leave which even a shoe horn would struggle with!)we have been late there too. Therefore on work days have set the aim of us all being being ready by 7.30am, with the intention of leaving about 7.45/50am. Have decided x3 snoozes on alarm clock not helping either so given myself an extra 5 minutes in bed, but get up straight away when it goes off. Either that or when Ella flings open our bedroom door, climbs into my side and plonks a wet pull up on my head.

Felt a bit rushed, I was not quite ready for 7.30am, but we did leave on time with plenty of time for breakfast at nursery. A success, and as a result I felt a little more in control. I hasten to add David is great in the morning and always has been.

My other goal or Action plan is to get more early nights. I want to be in bed to sleep by 10pm at least 4 nights per week. I have struggled to do this due to wanting to get value out of the evening, trying to avoid anymore comments from David about him not seeing me, sitting on the computer (we all know what that is like) etc. Anyway, I love reading in bed so have allowed myself time to do this before sleep time so that I don't as is usually the case go to bed, end up reading for an hour and before I know it it's 11pm +.

Finally in designing my experiments (p122) I will look at making time for me to support my self esteem as previously discussed and consider my response before I agree to something whether that's personal or within work. Classic example being the Salsa Party and invites from people that I know at the time I have no interest in going to, but end up saying yes. This is where it gets complicated, hence today's BLOG title!

I had supervision with my boss today, went well and she is easy to talk too. We were looking at last years personal work objectives for me and discussing them over the coming year. I happened to mention about a course I may be interested in attending in the future and tried to establish any flexibility in changing days if necessary to accommodate it. She agreed this was fine. I also mentioned I sometimes miss the buzz of my old job and would not want to loose the crisis/swift response management I have developed over the years now I am doing longer term work. To cut this long story short she wondered if I would be able to cover that team when they are short due to a/l, sick etc. I agreed that was fine and have pencilled something in for July when there will be problems. In that week if I can sort my childcare I said I would be happy to do the Thursday & Friday too for payment and not just swapping as I have been doing for an extra day off somewhere else.

She also asked me if I would ever be interested in being FT again? I said I may want this when girls are both at school, but Ella only 3yrs in December. She then talked about if I wanted it sooner she could offer me the x3 days in my team, and the other x2 in old team. Or if more interested in another years time she could still offer me FT and can ask somebody else she has in mind on a temp basis. We also talked about me having the same 9 day fortnight package that the FT staff have, but due to my childcare I could have a specific day one week and be off, the other I could work from home and I suppose technically could try and juggle my hours so could care for Ella until she at school. MMMMMM, a lot to think about.

I am now in a real dilemma!!!!! I meant what I said about keeping my hand in the old job, but if I'm honest I love the fact I finish on a Wednesday and have two extra days to take Olivia to school, swimming lessons, be with Ella, potter around and generally feel like you do not have to fit your life into Saturday and Sunday. As for the money side ....... when I originally decided to go PT I worried about cash as the main earner. Now David earns a bit more and like everybody told me you get used to it. Plus the more you earn, the more you loose as well as more childcare costs. Will mull it over this week.

Me and my big mouth!!!!!!

From more of a LL front -

I opened the exercise bands tonight and tried a few exercises out of Zest magazine. The girls loved trying them too and helped me decipher the pictures. I was surprised how much resistance they give, so may need to try and give them ago properly. However my hands now smell like rubber, and I have finally realised what it reminds me of! It's been a long time since needed to use such extra bedroom accoutrement's. LOL (just realised not referring to anything battery operated ...... Think I will leave this subject now before ramble on any further)!

Right, need to get my finger out if want reading time for my 10pm curfew.

Night folks xx

2 comments:

Lesley said...

How to get yourself in trouble in your penultimate paragraph!!

It's great that your work values you so much but I wouldn't give up time at home lightly. I've done the long hours/lots of dosh thing and frankly - don;t ever want to go back there.

I know everyone is different but time with the family must be great.

Anyway, glad to see you being so positive and and making decisions left right and centre. keep it up.

Lesley x

chrismars said...

Your employers really seem to want to fit in around you, Sam. It's a great compliment to you but, as you say, it does give you a lot to think about. I gave up work in 1994 when I had Elizabeth and haven't returned to work properly since. Admittedly, I do work during the week now when she's at school but that's all on an overtime basis to my own hours as I'm only contracted to work Saturdays. Like Lesley, I've done the work all hours thing and that's not something I'd like to go back to. And your children aren't young for long (I'll have a teenager in August!!! Ughh!)

Chris x