I don’t think that winter break does me any favors in the whole I-am-a-person-with-a-job department. It’s like by the end of the fall semester, the whole fam gets used to me dressing in people clothes and leaving the house and doing things with my mind and my hands that aren’t in the service of my home and my family and then bam! Winter break and I take the kids to school so I can spend 3 hours sitting in silence in an empty house or buying expensive things for myself because why not I am alone after all. And then I spend MONTHS slowly acclimating everyone to my person-with-responsibilities-outside-the-house identity in the spring and all the sudden SUMMER and every single day at the pool.
I am back on campus for a couple of days, and I forgot how hard it is to get everything prepped and ready to go and there are people who do this EVERY SINGLE DAY and you guys who work outside your house on the regular? Are awesome.
I have 3 new dresses and only 2 days of meetings, so I feel bad already for dress number 3 (still not sure which one is unlucky number 3 yet), but I promise I will wear it to a Monday meeting before the semester is over. I am teaching online (asynchronous), so my challenge is to dress like a person with a job even if no one sees me. And on the days I do see people, I am going to wear dresses!
We saw Migration on Monday. It was sort of cute. And I read the second Crescent City book on my Kindle most of the time.
Academia can be grueling, but I have to agree that the way the year divides up is so sane and humane... everyone should have summers off and a long winter break!
ReplyDeleteYou have a very cute sidekick and Dorothy is very much the quintessential tween in every picture these days ☺️
Wow. As always, I'm in awe you can...like...do anything extra at all with all the things you have juggling.
ReplyDeleteI have exactly one tube of lipstick and it never touches my lips (lipstick as blush is one of my fav makeup hacks).
The B vs V thing had me in STITCHES. And she is the cutest little post office helper, ever.
Dorothy 100% looks like a teen in that picture. We have two months to go until we officially hit teen territory and I can't decide whether I'm terrified and want time to stop now, or excited for the next stage?!
"I CAN'T SAY B" is so funny.
ReplyDeleteI have so many lipsticks in my bag, I cannot even with myself. And yet I constantly buy more. What is wrong with me?
Pics of the new dresses, pretty please!
OMG, this. I was practically asleep on my feet yesterday after meetings-all-day. They started up for me right after Christmas (sigh) but yesterday seemed like the day everyone was BACK and EMAILING and OMG, stop, people. Hope the peopling goes well today and that how to live that real-person life comes back to you soon. ;)
ReplyDeleteOof. My theory is, the longer you have off, the harder it is to go back. My husband had two weeks off and was VERY disgruntled at starting back again- but the college break is SO long. Good luck with your busy day.
ReplyDeleteI love the "V" (B) story. So, so cute.
My friend who we had frequent playdates with had a daughter named Neve, and Angus called her Weve. There was a whole "Neve" "Weve" "Neve" "Weve" exchange and then "...it's hard to say Weve".
ReplyDeleteI was not prepared for January re-entry at all, and I only work part time. I agree about people who work outside the house every day.
Go you on the dresses. I have reverted back to leggings and tunics every single work day.
p.s. I really want your blog re-named to Harry Times All Jacked Up Featuring Dorothy in a Minnie-Cooper
ReplyDeleteI am DYING. This is so good. #GoldMine
DeleteAMAZING!! I vote for this as a rebrand!
DeleteYes!!
DeleteI have no idea how you do it - putting on real clothes and switching gears constantly from dirving your people to being at meetings sounds rough. I work a similar schedule, but I do the oppostie - my dress code musts are: pockets and can be spit up on and layers, so when I get overheated while physically hauling kids up and down stairs, I can remove one layer.
ReplyDeleteI embrace the school breaks heavily, but then I get awfully grumpy when summer winds down. As we get back in the daycare swing, I'm the 'don't leave that there' police. No choking hazzards or books that can be ripped, etc.
The B vs V story is hysterical.
I'm also your opposite in that I wear one shade of lipstick and I only have one in rotation that is almost worn down. I have a backup that I haven't opened yet in the bottom of my wristlet. If they ever do away with my color, what will I do?
The B v V is hilarious! Oh Minnie! It would be hard to have such a shifting "persona" within your house. And people get comfortable having a parent around to solve a lot of their problems. So then when you are leaving the house again, it's a rough adjustment for all - but probably nice for you to be out of the house once you get back into your groove? Being a working mom is hard but I think being a SAHM would be WAY HARDER. But I really love my job and we get into a rhythm pretty quickly once I'm used to being in the office 3 days/week.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's awesome that you get the same breaks as your kids and then you can just be mommy for a while but transitioning back and forth between homelife and work is ... hard. I don't envy you.
ReplyDelete