Hail!

Wow. What a hail storm we had today.

I was nursing Pepperette for the umpteenth time (she is getting over a stomach virus). The sky got dark and it started to rain. Suddenly it got really, really loud. I ran downstairs and took some pictures and video. I wanted to capture the noise of the hail. I even grabbed a few hail stones and put them in the freezer for LC to examine when he got home from school. It wasn't golf ball sized hail as reported in some areas, but I'd say it was 2.5cm. The funny thing is that we were talking about weather, specifically hail, this past weekend. I said it had been a long time since I had seen hail. I didn't realize I was putting in a request. Amazingly, Pepperette slept through the whole thing.

Front yard covered in hail stones

One shredded Hosta

The Hosta that survived (sheltered by the garage)

Unfortunately the house and car were damaged. The siding in the front and side of the house look like someone took a ball-peen hammer to them. The roof of our car looks the same. The trim on the front of the house is damaged too. Ugh. I'll have to call the insurance company tomorrow.

More proof that motherhood has changed me

This morning was not. fun. It was the kind of morning that would have left me in an extremely bad mood in my former life, before I was a mom. But this morning? I shrugged my shoulders and kept moving. And after I dropped the kids off? I breathed a sigh of relief. I am actually pretty cheerful right now. Shocking.


So what happened? We all slept in. (Good - mmmm sleep. Bad - everyone is late.) LC was in a good mood for about five nanoseconds, then he was a total PITA*. It was a battle to get LC dressed, Pepperette was in a great mood but took forever to eat her breakfast. Oh, and how could I forget - LC had a (thankfully rare) accident this morning and peed through his pjs, the sheets, the waterproof pad, duvet and duvet cover. The only dry things? The pillows. Oh boy - more laundry! And it was garbage/recycling day, so there was the usual scramble to get the kids out of the house and getting the garbage out before the truck came. (Damn them and their variable schedule! One week they don't come until after lunch, the next week they come at 0800.)


Like I said, now it's mid-day. The house is quiet and I am working on my job search. Or writing blog entries. *ahem*


*PITA = Pain In The Ass. It's a great acronym. We love PITA bread around here. I wonder how long til the kids catch on...

This article? It describes my life.

I've written before about my desire to find a job that allows me for better work/life balance. How I don't want to work 50-60 hours a week every week. How I love being a PMP and P.Eng, but how hard it is to work in high-tech and be the kind of mom I want to be.

So I shouldn't have been surprised to read this article. It talks about how women between the ages of 35-40 (check) are leaving science/engineering/technology jobs in record numbers, despite the fact that they are getting outstanding performance reviews (double check) and love their jobs (triple check). Why? Because many of them are also moms and they are tired of working crazy hours. They are also tired of the "wearying atmosphere of sexism" (quadruple check). Oh yes, how I can relate. In my work years, I have put up with all sorts of sexist crap, none of which I did anything about. I'm not proud of the fact that I let it slide, but it felt like the only choice. Did I want to be blacklisted? No. So I shut up, laughed it off and got my work done.

I don't know whether to feel validated or sad that this is a common problem. I think the quote that summed it up for me is this, "The workplace culture is like a time warp," says Dr. Sherbin, director of research at the Center for Work-Life Policy. "It's 20 to 30 years behind other workplaces."

How true.

New look

Finally changed my blog template. I hated the light font on dark background. I realized how user-unfriendly it was. So here is a new and sadly, generic, look. I also still can't get my flipping blogroll to show up.

Ah well, at least one thing is improved.

Back to normal

Overall, things are pretty good right now. My thrush flare-up has subsided. The culprit? I eliminated a spelt bread made from sprouted grains (as opposed to yeast). I was able to tolerate it before, but I guess Pepperette and I ate too much of it. That and other mystery factors that I just cannot figure out. Hormones? I dunno. It took both of us stopping eating the bread, eating lots of unsweetened 6% milk fat unsweetened yogurt, and about a week for the pain to subside. I'm back to "only sore occasionally", which is a blessed relief after the intensity of the pain. I won't even get into how f'n frustrating the constant flare-ups are.


Pepperette is still *this close* to walking. A few days ago she started free standing. She stands there, wavering, looking like a surfer hanging on for dear life. And then boom!, she loses it and either falls on her bum or catches herself with her hands. It is way cute.


LC started his second season of soccer and he had a pretty good time the first week. The second week? Not so much. He only played for about 1 minute, then he tripped and that derailed the rest of the game. He sat on the sidelines with his team and refused all attempts to get him back on the field. *sigh* I hope next week is better. I'm not having crazy expectations - all I want is him to run around, chase the ball, listen and have fun.


The job search is progressing. I think. I had a phone interview this week, which went well and I'm hoping to get an in-person interview next. I also completed a pre-screening interview and am waiting to hear if I'm going to get an interview for that. Then there are a couple of other things in the works. Gah. I just hope that something happens soon.


I met an old friend today for tea. We were best friends through high school and university, but started to drift apart a few years after uni. Then we completely lost touch for a few years. I had tormented myself with guilt that I sucked at friendship and that it was my fault. But I was too chicken to pick up the damn phone, so I just kept shoving the guilt away when it resurfaced. Then by fluke, I ran into her about a month ago after a race. We talked and it was great. I phoned her a couple of days later and we talked some more. Today we met for tea and chatted some more. I know that we are unlikely to be bestest friends again - we live too far apart, have completely different lifestyles, etc. But we are friends again. And I will do my part to keep it going this time. It feels good in a way I can't articulate to be talking to her again.


Last week I finally phoned another old friend from high school. She has been calling me for a *embarrassed cough* year. And I never called her back. I can't fully explain why. Other than the generic "I suck". (And I am so good at putting myself down. I've made it into an art. An art that I am trying to STOP PRACTICING.) The longer I let something go, the worse I feel, and the harder it is for me to make myself fix it. All I had to do is call her. She is a wonderful, forgiving person. So I finally did. And we talked for over an hour. I don't know when I'll see her again, but dammit, we have reconnected again. And that too feels good.


So we're doing pretty well here. Other relatives? Not doing as well. I am struggling to figure out how to help and support our loved ones. Because:

• my sister is having a partial knee replacement this week. She will be in the hospital for a few days, then recuperating at home for a few weeks. And my mom won't be here. She has unbreakable plans. So I feel a double obligation to help my sister - run errands, take her food, etc. She has a wonderful husband and son, and they are capable, but I want to (need to) help. She lives an hour away from me.
• my stepmother started chemo this week. She is handling it well so far, but it is a tough treatment. She lives an hour away, same town as my sister.
• my MIL is having a major recurrence of inflammatory arthritis. She feels really poorly and is having other (unbloggable) problems. And she lives an hour and a half away, north of us.

Add to this the fact that Mr. Chili is going on another business trip, this time to the U.S. for a week. I feel relief that the trip is only a week, akin to how I imagine it feels to go from slamming my face into a door, versus closing said door on my foot. Boy, closing the door on my foot feels so much less painful.

Somehow I will manage to keep our house in order, find a job, take a care package to my sister and stepmom and gah, I don't know what else.