My company requires all employees to complete a personal development plan. I won't repeat my issues with the whole process right now (see my previous post if you want a whine/rant on the subject). While I believe that the self evaluation and develoment plan can't serve it's intended purpose if your "development goals" aren't things that you want your managers to be aware of, I think the process has some merit outside of the scope of your job and employee-manager relationship. In other words, It made me think about my real personal development goals for the next year. For this post, I'd like to evaluate how the previous year has gone. Yes, I know that many people do this at new years', but I kind of like the idea of going from birthday to birthday. Besides, for me there's a lot less to worry about in March than in December, so I might actually keep this up in the future :)
I started a new job. While I had a rough time adjusting to being a working mom (and to the separation from my daughter), things are going fairly well now. I had trouble at first getting comfortable around my new coworkers because of my natural introvert tendencies to hide away until I feel comfortable with people (getting to know people takes longer when you aren't comfortable enough to actually converse with them...a lovely vicious cycle), but things are definitely looking up. I wouldn't call myself an outstanding performer as of yet, but I've actually managed to benefit my team (who knew that old, rusty Visual Basic skills would actually be valuable these days...) and can certainly hold my own.
I made my goal of providing breastmilk to my daughter until at least her first birthday. Actually, she still nurses at bedtime, but I pumped for her right up till she turned one and was happy to drink cow's milk. That even included a 3-day business trip where me, my husband, and my daughter all survived the separation (and a hard-earned freezer stash of milk came in really hand). That was a lot of work, and the pumping took a lot of my "free time" (I basically didn't go out for lunch at all because my break time was spent pumping), but I made it, and feel confident that I could do it for another baby as well.
We got a better handle on housework after I went back to work. The first couple of months things were pretty bad (especially compared to my stay-at-home days). We hired help--a nice lady who comes once a month and scrubs the whole house top to bottom--she even dusts the lamp shades and tops of shelves!. As Charlotte's gotten bigger, the housework challenges have changed (from carrying her in the sling while I cleaned to cleaning while she played on the floor, to letting her "help" with some tasks...)
We got our finances re-arranged somewhat. The transition to 2 full time careers to 1 career and a stay-at-home-mom (drawing on savings to make ends meet) to 2 full time careers + 1 full time daycare hasn't been easy. My husband and I had to have a lot of discussions and a lot of work re-arranging our bills, paychecks, and spending habits, but we're on track and things are looking up. This will hopefully feed into one of my goals for next year.
Finally, I learned to knit. So far all I've actually completed is to knit the cuffs and bottom band of a crocheted sweater for Charlotte (that's 99% assembled..one seam and some buttons to go). I first started on a shawl, but ended up ripping it out because it was really hard to see (funky yarn is not good for a first project). But, after quite a few test swatches, I think I've mastered the basics of the skill. I also bought a set of Knifty Knitters which are round knitting looms. Those have been fun, and I've made several hats, a couple of scarves, and some baby booties so far on them. I forgot to take a photo of my last project--hat and booties set for a friend's baby shower last weekend, complete with pom-poms on top and for the ties of the booties. Hopefully the sweater will get done soon, and I'll post a photo of it, modeled by Charlotte of course.
Stay tuned for the second part of this containing my goals for the next year :)
Friday, March 31, 2006
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Kitchen Envy
I was accused over the weekend of having kitchen envy. Saturday I attended a baby shower at the newly-purchased home of A&A. The house is maybe 30-40 years old, but has a very nice updated kitchen. The kitchen boasts granite tile countertops and a double-oven, as well as newer light fixtures, including can lights over the breakfast area, and pendants over the peninsula/breakfast bar. It is really nicely done. I also noticed that the dimensions are similar to our own kitchen/breakfast area. I told my husband M. about it, and how I liked the arrangement of cabinets--basically cabinets on 3 sides, and a peninsula on the 4th that can be used as a breakfast bar. I'd previously wondered how that sort of arrangement would work in a kitchen our size, and whether it would feel crowded or not, etc. My mind was working on kitchen layouts and appliance placements on Sunday when we had friends over for dinner. They guessed, rightly, why I was suddenly thinking about it.
If I do have kitchen envy, it didn't start with A&A's kitchen. It's been going on since, well, since before we actually owned a kitchen of our own. I blame HGTV. We built a new house almost 6 years ago, so you'd think that we would already have a great kitchen. Alas, we built in a planned development from a builder who charges extra for every little thing. And many of the "standard" features they offered are what I would consider fairly sub-standard. Like the corner base cabinet in our L-shaped kitchen...What corner base cabinet in our kitchen? There is none. There are 2 "filler" strips of wood, and a whole cabinet's worth of storage space completely wasted :( The cabinets are particle board, and the shelves sag (sure, blame it on the number of dishes that I own...), and the sides are the paper "wood-print" design like on Walmart put-together furniture. The *fronts* of the cabinets are solid wood and just fine (we had to "upgrade" those though), though we have no knobs or drawer pulls, because that would have required a second mortgage. The upper cabinets are 42" tall and go all the way to the ceiling (another upgrade, for the storage space), but the they don't sit flush in places (ceilings aren't always completely level, I understand), and there isn't enough room to add crown molding around the top to cover the gaps.
Also, the color is not what M or I wanted--we would have chosen a darker cherry/mahogany stain had they offered us a choice. We had a choice of white-washed, pale yellow-y pine, medium oak, or dark oak. We have the medium oak--though most of the other furnishings we've picked out for the house have been in the darker reddish wood stain colors. (Apparently, later the builder started offering the cherry color because friends of ours in the neighborhood have it, for an upgrade fee of course).
*sigh* The kitchen isn't all that bad, but I do spend a lot of time in it, so the shortcomings are glaring to me. And though I have a lot of storage space in my kitchen, I still have to edit things more than I'd like (and we own 2 china cabinets and have a separate pantry, also full). I have a lot of dishes, cookware, and serving pieces--more than average probably, but I like dishes and cooking and we actually use the majority of this stuff (not every day, but often enough not to hide it away in the basement).
We aren't about to re-do the kitchen right this moment--probably not for many years. And even then, we probably won't be able to afford the fancy custom cabinets, high-end appliances, and granite counters that I'd love to have. But that doesn't mean I can't keep watching those design shows and checking out other people's houses and dreaming of the kitchen I'd like to have some day. If that's kitchen envy, then I'm guilty as charged.
If I do have kitchen envy, it didn't start with A&A's kitchen. It's been going on since, well, since before we actually owned a kitchen of our own. I blame HGTV. We built a new house almost 6 years ago, so you'd think that we would already have a great kitchen. Alas, we built in a planned development from a builder who charges extra for every little thing. And many of the "standard" features they offered are what I would consider fairly sub-standard. Like the corner base cabinet in our L-shaped kitchen...What corner base cabinet in our kitchen? There is none. There are 2 "filler" strips of wood, and a whole cabinet's worth of storage space completely wasted :( The cabinets are particle board, and the shelves sag (sure, blame it on the number of dishes that I own...), and the sides are the paper "wood-print" design like on Walmart put-together furniture. The *fronts* of the cabinets are solid wood and just fine (we had to "upgrade" those though), though we have no knobs or drawer pulls, because that would have required a second mortgage. The upper cabinets are 42" tall and go all the way to the ceiling (another upgrade, for the storage space), but the they don't sit flush in places (ceilings aren't always completely level, I understand), and there isn't enough room to add crown molding around the top to cover the gaps.
Also, the color is not what M or I wanted--we would have chosen a darker cherry/mahogany stain had they offered us a choice. We had a choice of white-washed, pale yellow-y pine, medium oak, or dark oak. We have the medium oak--though most of the other furnishings we've picked out for the house have been in the darker reddish wood stain colors. (Apparently, later the builder started offering the cherry color because friends of ours in the neighborhood have it, for an upgrade fee of course).
*sigh* The kitchen isn't all that bad, but I do spend a lot of time in it, so the shortcomings are glaring to me. And though I have a lot of storage space in my kitchen, I still have to edit things more than I'd like (and we own 2 china cabinets and have a separate pantry, also full). I have a lot of dishes, cookware, and serving pieces--more than average probably, but I like dishes and cooking and we actually use the majority of this stuff (not every day, but often enough not to hide it away in the basement).
We aren't about to re-do the kitchen right this moment--probably not for many years. And even then, we probably won't be able to afford the fancy custom cabinets, high-end appliances, and granite counters that I'd love to have. But that doesn't mean I can't keep watching those design shows and checking out other people's houses and dreaming of the kitchen I'd like to have some day. If that's kitchen envy, then I'm guilty as charged.
Monday, March 27, 2006
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