Getting to the bottom if it...

DIAPERS:
...of the pile of the crap on the floor, I mean.
So far, we have:
* put up shelves in Buttercups's room that have been taking up floor space
* cleaned the bathroom
* actually made the basement look decent
We still have to:
* Do everything else.

And our little Easter shindig? Yeah, well it went from 15 people (which is just a portion of my side of the family and the in-laws) to more like 30.
And people wonder why Buttercup's first birthday is going to have a guest list about 100 names long...

Why? Why? Why? (Banging head on wall...)

DEADLINES:
Work is currently completed.
If it wasn't Easter weekend and I wasn't cleaning and running last minute errands like a mad woman, I'd be celebrating by not depressing myself trying on pre-preg nice clothes to wear to church on Sunday and just buy something new in a bigger size and cut off the tag so I could pretend it was my pre-preg size.
That would make me feel better.
*Sigh*
But back to the deadlines.

*I currently have a pretty cool contest running on The Ruff Ruff Review. If you've got a dog and like free things, this one's for you.
*I'll have more Baby Gooroo posts as of Sunday night after the flock leaves and the baby passes out for the night.
*And I just received my Ergo Baby Carrier for review in the Metro Parent monthly Five Fabulous Finds column, which reminds me that I need to get crackin' on April's column.
A few teasers for upcoming feature items include the Baby K'tan Carrier (pictured), Bumblebags Diaper Bags, and a ton of children's CD's by artists I have never heard of yet because my baby is still thankfully young enough to spare me from children's music overload.


DIAPERS:
So why the oh-so dramatic post title?
We are having like 30 people over on Sunday (sucks being ethnic sometimes), and the house, as I have previously mentioned, looked like a flea market on a busy Sunday morning. There is crap no one ever uses EVERYWHERE.
Most of which was, is, or shall be the property of Lil' Miss Buttercup.
So I have errands to do today (like buy the ham and shop for other Sunday necessities), only to come home to Mr. L. giving his acceptance speech at the self-proclaimed World's Best Husband Award Event. (Attendance: 1)
Turns out he did most of the cleaning in the basement today (our second living room) and was more than happy to point it out. He's telling the truth. But why?
Maybe he wanted a cookie?
But seriously, who cares? I mean, I love him and am grateful he is taking the time to help me get the house ready for another too-big Mirish (not a typo) family fiesta, but I don't recall pointing out each time I do something that needs to be done (Mommy, Mommy! I used the potty again all by myself!) like cleaning the kitchen or doing the grocery shopping or simultaneously working on a story while keeping the baby occupied while dinner cooks on the stove after living on four to five hours of sleep (on a good night) for the past nine months.
I just do it.
Again-I love him to pieces, but isn't this like a defect in the male genetic code or something? I have witnessed it plenty of times. My father-in-law. My dad. The neighbor across the street.
The need for a "Yay for you, baby!" pat on the head for a domestic deed well done and the total state of oblivion that as moms who have to do it all every day, we just aren't that impressed anymore?
As for the head banging reference in the title...I almost got to that point while I tried to explain to him why I wasn't bowing down at his feet for the basement cleaning job (rookie mistake, I know that now.) Thankfully, I quickly came to my senses, thanked him, and joined in on the cleaning frenzy, wondering if same sex couples go through this Men-Mars/Women-Venus crap.
My theory is no, and that makes me insanely jealous.

The Great Flake

DIAPERS:

Plain and simple. I am an idiot.

Buttercup is spending the night at the in-laws's house (par-tay at Grandma's crib) and I have a baby-free night (St. Patrick's Day, to boot!) and what am I doing?

The smart answers would include:

a) getting into bed at a reasonable hour and reveling in the fact that I don't have to keep one eye open "just in case."

b) getting in some "quality time" with the husband.

c) grabbing a drink with a girlfriend and not worrying about what time I get home (hey, I work from home, after all...) since I don't have to worry about being woken up in the morning until I feel like getting out of bed.

d) finishing a good book/watching some non-baby TV/soaking in the tub with some bubbles and a glass of wine.

But am I doing any of these? Nope. Instead, I am scrubbing kitchen counters.

Brilliant.

********

On a positive note, we can all sleep in peace knowing that some schlub out in cyberspace is about to plop down over $200,000 for a freakin' Frosted Flake shaped like the state of Illinois.

Makes you wonder how the little flake was discovered. Did the seller stop, mid-pour in their breaksfast cereal bowl, and gasp in amazement at the flake-sized replica of The Great State of Illinois? (I wonder how many unrecognized states I have eaten in my life!?!?!)

And at what point did they think "Thank the stars I didn't just eat a $200,000 Corn Flake!"????

I am now inspired. I think I'm going to quit freelance writing and become a Frosted Flakes Hunter. Looks like it can be pretty profitable.

Buzz kill

DEADLINES:
Today was a major day in getting things accomplished. Granted, I didn't start working until about 2 p.m., but in three hours I completed five or six phone interviews for Metro Parent stories due on Friday.
Woo Hoo!
That actually means that I finished all necessecary interviews for both assignments and now just need to plop my ass down at the computer to write them up. (That's actually the easy part.)
I was going to do it tonight, but I have a house to clean.
Plus, I'm in a bad mood (totally husband-induced), and I'm in the mood to stew in my bad mood, so I can't ruin the stewing by getting my creative juices flowing, cuz then I would forget that I was mad.
It would be like killing a good buzz. Seriously.
I'll just wait until tomorrow after Buttercup is in bed.

The holiday rush

DEADLINES:
Yeah, so I have two assignments due on March 21 that I had been hoping to have done by TOMORROW that I haven't even finished interviews for yet.
Wonderful.
Looks like my relaxing week of hectic and frenzied cleaning and shopping (see below) just got a whole lot crazier.

DIAPERS:
The husband and I spent a good portion of today trying to clean the obstacle course that is our home in preparation for Easter Sunday. It does not help that we have been over run with baby toys and gizmos and gadgets galore.
I am not exaggerating when I say that our basement is probably a fire hazard right now with the amount of crap that has to be stepped over in order to move from one spot to another. And that is bad, really bad, when said basement is finished and used regularly as a second living room.
And yet somehow, someway, we must get out house in presentable shape so both sides of the family can spend the day playing a (hopefully) friendly game of "Pass the Baby."
We don't even bother trying to fool ourselves into thinking that everyone wants to come to our house to see US...nope.
It's all about Princess Buttercup. We just get to partake in the basking of baby adoration since we happen to live in the same house.

TraxTime Program helps manage time

So I remember thinking that life sucked at my old job: The 8-5 crap was so not my thing, I wasn't doing anything a trained moneky couldn't handle, and I never had any time to clean my house.
Fast forward to present-day: It is actually 12:05 a.m. and I am not concerned about making it to work 30 minutes late because I have slept in, my job now requires major creativity, (that trained money can finally kiss my ass!) and as for cleaning?
Well-let's just say I am very afraid.
I believe the dust bunnies are mobilizing forces.
The bottom line is that I am actually working more now then when I had to report to corporate hell on a daily basis. The majorly sad truth is that I could probably make more money at this point by hijacking a Girl Scout cookie sales wagon from the local Brownie troop and setting up camp at outside of a prenatal exercise class, but I digress...
The point is that I had no idea my regular schedule of cleaning every day would go out the window so quickly. Or that 'd be working so many hours in between bottles, diapers, naps, and playtime.
But at least I know where my time has gone.
I just downloaded a program that helps me actually keep track of the time put into my freelance projects by allowing me to punch in and out per project from TraxTime. According to my time reports, I have put in 44 hours since Monday and I still have 6 more hours to put in for one of my jobs. So come the end of tomorrow, I'll have 50 hours in and I will most likely work this weekend as well.
The TraxTime program is an incredibly easy way to manage billable and non-billable hours according to project. Just punch in each time you begin work on a particular project and then when your little ones decide that nap time is over, simply punch out.
So what if you only got 10 minutes of work done?? Your time is valuable and it adds up quickly!
It's a wonderful way to get out of the guessing game associated with billing for freelance projects, and at only $39, it's affordable for even the poorest of freelancers (like me.)
The dust bunnies may just have to wait until I can afford to hire a maid. Right now, I have to finish some work so I can afford to buy some more diapers.