Thoughts on jobs

Yes, we're talking about jobs today. You may have noticed I've been posting more sporadically for a while now. Kindergarten is kicking my butt! I crack myself up when I say that, but it's true. We are trying a homeschool approach to K this year since Austin would be a very young Kindergartner... anyway, we have some class days too and between all that and the I-will-sleep-and-eat-when-I-want-to-and-you-won't-make-me-do-it-your-way #3 child, well, Kindergarten along with life in general has been kicking my butt.

So, that has meant a lot more "prepared" foods and more eating out than I would like. I wouldn't mind it if it was healthy and cheap but it seems you can only do either healthy (and expensive) OR cheap (and inexpensive). sigh. It also wouldn't be so bad if my husband's love language wasn't food!! :(

Oh, yes, the husband. The Job has been on my mind lately. There are lots of personnel changes afoot at the dept and unfortunately Hubs has been seeing the true, not flattering side of many of the people he works with/for. It makes me so sad for him ~ it's like a whole other "job" on top of the regular "job" to muck through the politics and give people the opportunity to do the right thing. Of course lately it has seemed that most of the time they choose not to do the right thing and that really makes me sad for the work environment over there!!

Recently I had the opportunity to drive Hubs to work and drop him off. It was a surreal feeling having him get out of the car and say goodbye. I don't know why that is?!?! It felt wrong, almost like a premonition that something was going to go terribly wrong that shift. Of course, one of his superiors royally screwed him over that day so maybe that's what I was foreseeing. NOT! I'm not into all that gobbledy-gook. I think it was just a difference in driving him myself vs. him walking out our front door and driving himself. Weird. Do you ever get a weird "sense" that something wrong is up with your spouse??

Even weirder was the zillion-hour shift he pulled recently. Saying goodbye after lunch and "I'll see you tomorrow" is just bizarre.

Finally, a little poll on your department's "work rules."

• Does your department have rules that require a minimum number of hours off between shifts?
  
• Is there a maximum number of hours allowed to be worked in a 24 period or shift?
  
• Of course, my favorite question: Do the powers that be actually abide by these rules?!?!? :)

thanks :)

I want to quickly say thank you for the thoughtful comments regarding how to "keep it all together" in the family. :) Intellectually I know I am not the only one, but it really was nice readi1ng through those comments and seeing how some of you attack the whole "opposite schedule" thing.

We didn't necessarily "kiss and make up" over our spat from the other day, but we did get to discuss it a bit. That's progress, I suppose. I'm still frustrated, because I think "The Job" is taking a large emotional toll on my man and that really makes me mad. Some of it is politics, some of it is the stress of the actual job, and who knows what-all-else. I'm a "fixer" and this is one thing I can't really fix. So... what to do???

For one thing, this blog will be on vacation for a bit. I think I mentioned my mom and brother had surgery within a day of each other a few weeks back. I'm heading there tomorrow with the three kidlets (it will be Dallas' first flight!!) and will be helping out -- or at least distracting them -- for a while. Given that my mom's husband is headi1ng back to work and my brother's wife is heading out of town, it's good timing. Not only that, but they have both, within the last week, been in and out of the hospital with complications. I don't know what drug I am on to think that I will have the time while being away from hubs to get perspective on the family and maybe come up with some "solutions" to try when we get back. I put "solutions" in quotes because I'm sure that's NOT what they will be -- maybe I should use the word "options" instead. I think it's going to be insane but I'm really looking forward to a little change of scenery before school starts.

If something uber exciting comes up, I'll let you know. Otherwise I'll see you in a few weeks. Speaking of school starting up, I've heard that a good number of "first responder families" homeschool their kids because it works out much better family-schedule-wise with shift work. Any of you out there homeschool, or is it "traditional" school for your family?