The CHERISHED Life of Heather Leigh

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Puke, PowWow, Presentation, and Picture of me

Working from home this week definitely has had its ups and downs.

Down - We woke up yesterday to Owen puking. Not really stomach flu puking, more like sinus drainage that he isn't coughing up so it's gagging him type of puking. He proceeded to puke all day. Fortunately, Kevin was working from home, too, so Kev got to deal with most of the pukey-ness, take him to the doctor and get some medicine (O is feeling MUCH better today thank goodness)

Up - Flexible hours. When I work from home, I can pretty much do my work at any hour of the day. So, if one of my kids has something going on at school, I can attend the event, and get my work done while they're sleeping. Like yesterday's Thanksgiving PowWow at Liam's school. The first graders sang Thanksgiving songs and recited Thanksgiving poems, then we had a harvest feast. Here is Indian Liam...

Up - Yesterday was also career day in Jordyn's 6th grade language arts class. I went in and spoke for 40 minutes. I gave a presentation and explained to them that aside from embarrassing Jordyn, my job was that of a project manager and I told them what being a project manager was all about, what I originally wanted to be when I grew up, what I went to college for, how I came to be a project manager, etc. We even did an exercise where we were going to manage a project (the PB&J sandwich making project) and the class had to help me come up with questions to define scope, schedule, & budget...the triple constraint. We also came up with some risks and some potential change orders. It sounds boring, but the kids grasped the concepts more than what I thought they would and really got into it. They had some really good ideas that demonstrated they understood . On the way home, I asked Jordyn if she understood better now what I do. And she said emphatically, "Oh yes!" So I asked her what it was that I did, what was it called, this thing I do for my career. And she said, "Uuuuuhhh, I don't remember". OK, the presentation ended 15 minutes ago, I could see where she would forget. Obviously, I made an enormous impression on her.

Up - Today, as I was typing this blog entry, Owen came running up to me with something in his hand and said, "Mom, look, I found a picture of you!! A picture of mommy!!" He handed me this little card, that you find inside of magazines, and on the card was subscription information to Maxim, with a scantily clad, very hot, very sexy model wearing nothing more than a string bikini bottom, lying on her stomach, looking back over her shoulder, with blond hair cascading down her back. Nice, honey, go show that to Daddy and tell him who it is! Oh, to have the same perception of yourself that your 3 year old son has of you! Oh, to have this kind of hard body again, like I had before kids!! Maybe, this is more of a Down than an Up!! Anyway, Here I am...

OK, so working from home so far this week has had only one down and many, many, many ups. More than I've shared.
I LOVE working from home.