Socal Mom by Donna Schwartz Mills

The Week Before Christmas And All Through The House...

...Eh. I can't do anything until the contractor finishes working here.

It hasn't helped that my daughter had finals this week, so the high school scheduled minimum days ...Monday through Thursday. Inexplicably, Friday, when a lot of families try to get a head start on their holiday travel, is a full day, and the administrators sent out a robo-call last weekend, reminding us in no uncertain terms that trying to get a jump on holiday traffic would not be tolerated:

All school days this week are days of mandatory attendance, and absences on those days will count against the 7-absence limit established for our students by the school district. 

I don't know what happens if a student exceeds the 7-absence limit, but I know very well how suspicious some of my daughter's teachers were after she missed three days early in the semester. She happened to be running a fever of 104, and even if she could have focused on calculus in that condition, she was probably contagious. You'd think the school would prefer her to stay home, but it was made clear to her that she was being labeled a slacker for that.

And I also remember the trouble I had last semester when the woefully understaffed attendance office erroneously marked her absent from some of her classes -- and it was up to me to prove that she had, in fact, been at school and present for all five periods on those days. I wasted a lot of time on that one, until my daughter saw the printout and pointed out that she wasn't even enrolled in the classes of the teachers that had supposedly marked her absent!

So even though most of the people we know are not sending their kids to school on Friday, I'm not going to risk dealing with LAUSD on the absence front.

Not that anyone is planning to do any teaching on Friday. Once my daughter got her finals out of the way, she's done a lot of nothing this week. The highlight of today's coursework was a showing of the movie, "Elf." With few students in attendance and little instruction going on, tomorrow's school day will be a complete waste of time.

Of course, I understand why the District is getting all hard ass about attendance and it has more to do with money than teaching (although of course, with the constant budget cuts, they can't afford to lose a single dollar due to non-attendance. I get it. But it's irritating nonetheless).

("My mom gets really passionate about this," my daughter apologized to the other girl in our carpool this morning.)

Anyway, this week has been really non-productive, because it seems like the minute I get settled in to work, it's time to pick up the kid again. Or take the dog to the kennel. Or let the contractor in. I was in the car for two hours straight this morning and the farthest I traveled from home was five measly miles.

The only reason I was able to finally write this post (at 5:30 in the afternoon) is because the contractor just left -- and I was going to finish a post for pay I'd started on Monday... but needed to vent a little, first.

Another Blogiversary

Yesterday was a special anniversary for me: It marked eight years since I started writing this blog.

I think this is remarkable, because I've never worked on something for that long in my life (other than my marriage and family). 

When I started this blog in 2003, none of my friends or family had any idea of what it was or what I was doing with it. Neither did I; I simply liked the idea of having a place where I could easily share my thoughts on what I was doing (which, at the time, was getting ready for a trip to the UK and France).

A lot has happened in those eight years: My daughter, who was then in second grade, is now a high school sophomore and is taking Driver's Ed. Our house has undergone some renovations. And my little blog has afforded me some amazing opportunities and opened up my world in a way I never imagined back in 2003: 

• I had the opportunity to be one of the first Nintendo Wii Ambassadors, and was given a fabulous party at a Malibu house where The Bachelor has filmed
• I've toured the headquarters of some of the country's largest corporations, and dined with famous CEO's
• I got the star treatment by the editors of People magazine, when I was featured in their pages for losing weight while using that Wii (too bad I need to start over again now)
• I fulfilled my lifelong dream of going to the Academy Awards (OK, it was just the red carpet bleachers, but that was close enough!), courtesy of Kodak 
• I covered the 2008 Democratic National Convention with a press credential, thanks to the work I do with the group political blog, the MOMocrats.

...to name a few adventures I never would have had, if I had not started this blog.

When I left my full time job in 1999 to become a stay-at-home mom, I felt totally isolated up here in the Valley. That isolation started to end when my daughter started school and I made friends with the wonderful parents of her friends. But my world expanded exponentially through the network of smart, intelligent, writer-ly women I've met through blogging.

Forget Google Plus: I belong to a number of circles of writers through associations forged on group blogs like BlogHer, DotMoms, SV Moms, MOMocrats, MomsLA, and Yahoo! Motherboard. Without these associations, I never would have met fabulous Liz Thompson, Erin Kotecki Vest, Karoli, Cynthia Liu, Julie Pippert, Jessica Gottlieb, Marsha Takeda Morrison, Kim Tracy Prince...

... I need to stop now and simply put together a new blogroll of my favorite people I spend time with on the web. When I talk about these friends, my husband will often ask me if they are really friends or just people I know online (as if there is a difference)? He always seems surprised when I tell him I not only know them from their blogs, but I've met them in person, too.

But perhaps the most surprising thing that came out of this blog has been actual paying work. Over the years, I have consulted for Disney's Family.com and written for pay at WebMD. I currently contribute freelance material at the women's automotive site, AskPatty and to the Best of LA section at CBS Los Angeles.  As someone who is always seeking validation for my abilities as a writer, I think that kind of proves that I'm doing something right.

Happy Blogiversary to me.

Regrets - I've Had a Few

This post has been modified, per the request of my family.

I've been feeling kind of crappy lately. I'm not ill (knock on wood!) -- but I'm just kind of stressed... sad... and feeling generally overwhelmed by all of the demands of life.

There are lots of reasons for this, and I wouldn't doubt that some of it is hormonal. But some of it has been prompted by events: (1) I was asked to submit a bio to the folks at CBS Los Angeles and I realized that my um, eclectic past made it somewhat difficult, and (2) I'm trying to find a job and don't know how to do it in the current economic climate, as all the tricks that worked for me when I was younger no longer apply.

I did work part time for two years at my daughter's school -- and the teeny bit of money it brought in did not begin to compensate me for the stress I had trying to meet the demands of LAUSD. I'm bringing in roughly the same amount now as a blogger and it's not close to being as stressful as working for the school district.)

I do have a lot of regrets, but none are related to the job I've done as a mother. My daughter is a teenager now, and she is one of the smartest, funniest, hardest working kids I've ever known. I am so proud of her, it makes me want to cry.

I finally wrote that bio. I have no idea if the powers that be at CBS Los Angeles will find it useful -- but it did remind me that I have not been on this planet for 55 years without accomplishing something. You can read it here.

The Thanksgiving Laundry Blues

We have been having an issue with our washing machine. Well, not the washer exactly, but the plumbing it is connected to. My husband was determined to fix it himself, but none of his efforts paid off, and he finally gave me the go-ahead to call a plumber...

...Just before I began my crazy fortnight of November bloggy events, including three days at the Los Angeles Auto Show (plus three days of writing posts about it for CBS Los Angeles

and AskPatty.com.

I'm ashamed to say that I have been dealing with the washing machine problem by pretending I did not have one; using the machine anyway, despite the puddle of water each load leaves on our garage floor. I've been compensating for the problem by waiting for the puddle to evaporate until I wash clothes again.

This means that I've been going a couple of days between washes - which is not too good, when you consider that my family generates about a load and a half per day.

Yesterday was my final visit to the Los Angeles Convention Center for the Auto Show, and that left me with just today to get ready for Thanksgiving. My daughter threw my carefully laid out laundry schedule awry by doing a load of her own last night, which by my logic, did not give us enough time to dry.

I contemplated going the holiday weekend without washing clothes... Until I peeked at the laundry hamper and it was not just overflowing, but piled about two feet high.

So my mission was clear: I needed to find a laundromat.

Before we bought this house, I took advantage of commercial laundrys all the time, especially when I was working long hours in production. When I finally got a day off, I didn't want to spend it tethered to the apartment building laundry room. That was when I discovered the joys of Fluff 'n Fold.

With the holiday looming, just handing off the mountain of clothes to someone else was not an option. So after getting my kid from school, I hightailed it over to the local laundromat.

Like everything else, the laundry business has changed. For one thing, the new machines don't use coins. I gave the attendant $20 and she loaded it onto a plastic card. It reminds me of when I went to Las Vegas for the first time in years, and discovered that the slot machines don't take coins any more, either (although when you hit a jackpot, the machine emits the sound of metal splashing into your little plastic bucket).

Best of all: this place has monster washers that will take three loads at a time. and I got the entire mountain of clothes into just one giant dryer.

The biggest surprise is that this place feels relatively peaceful. Being here is forcing me to sit down and actually write (which is harder to do at home when the family is offering distractions).

That said, I'm calling the plumber in Monday.

 

I Can't Talk About It

It's getting harder and harder to finish a post that isn't about my stupid weight management issues and/or menopause.

And it's not because I'm obsessed with that part of my life right now (although trying to get a handle on it is kind of an all-consuming thing). I do have other interests:

1. I so miss my old Moms Movie Club, where some of my IRL friends and I would get out to a matinee once a week during school hours. There are always movies I want to see, but everyone is so busy these days -- including me.

Right now, the one I want to see more than anything is Margin Call. And Puss in Boots.

2. Most of you know that I am a news junkie and follow politics closely. So I don't have to tell you what I think of Occupy Wall Street, the Republican debates or elections being held today. I save that for the MOMocrats Facebook page and podcast each week.

3. I'm still trying to find a job. Not a lot of good news to report on that front.

4. Am gearing up for the holidays. Since my family reads this blog, I can't go into a lot of specifics about that, either.

5. And that brings me to my other obsession: my family. There's a lot of potential material to mine between my husband, my daughter, my parents, my sister, my in-laws and my nieces and nephews. But since my family reads this blog, I can't go into a lot of specifics about those, either.

Sometimes, I think that what I want to do is start all over, anonymously. I confess to trying that a few years ago. But blogging anonymously isn't fun for me. If I ever write something good, I want the credit. 

So I guess there's going to be a lot more talk about fitness, diet and menopause. At least, for now.

(And you'll just have to chat me up in person if you want the good stuff. Maybe on our way to the movies.)