…I thought I’d do a blog post.  This should go well.

It’s 10:45pm on Wednesday night and I’m still awake!  I survived until the end of hump day.  Huzzah!

These are some of the cupcakes (more on them later – I did chocolate swirly ones too that look better than the blue ones because they TOTALLY hide errors…).  I acknowledge they aren’t exactly Pintimidating, but I’m pretty happy with them.

Moving on, let’s recap the week so far…  ’cause it’s been AWESOME.

Sarcasm aside, parts really were.  And other parts weren’t.  Generally speaking, it was all just, well, pretty overwhelming.

I remember back in 2010, New York Magazine did this article about how kids, statistically, don’t actually make you happier, despite how people think they will.  It was all about how study after study showed that people with kids were less happy than people without.  The article rallied by the end (of course) arguing something to the effect of that while you don’t get that instantaneous “do what you want when you want/go off and fulfill yourself during your scads of personal downtime by writing that novel or eco-touring through Peru or just f’ing-off to the bar on the spur of the moment because you feel like it” happy, many instead find, despite the pressures of trying to balance it all, a sustained sense of fulfillment – and thus happiness – from raising children (because you, like, love them and stuff).

The title of the article – “All Joy No Fun – Why Parents Hate Parenting”, stuck with me.  Sometimes when I’ve finally got them to bed at night and just end up going to bed myself (at 9:00) with no energy to do anything for me – even just watch TV (that was Tuesday) – I pass out to the thought that this was an “All Joy No Fun” kinda day.

So back to the week at hand…

Generally speaking, work’s been hectic, so I’ve been “on” during business hours – and sometimes before and after that – professionally speaking.  I was also challenged to do something I’d never done really before (hiring) within a short time-frame.  So on top of being “on”, I also felt out of my element – but appreciative of the challenge – for the past few days.

While that ultimately worked out – thanks to help of others – to sum up that stress, I walked past the nice homeless fellow on the corner on the way to work that I’ve been saying hello to for what seems like about 10 years now – and had to fight the urge to ask him what his language profile, security clearance and availability/interest in temporary short-term office work might be.  Because, really, he’s personable, and chats to passersby in both official languages while keeping an eye on his dog (ie: ability to multi-task…)…

The home front has been busy too.  I think I’m still adapting to being back and work, so I’m trying to cram “quality” time in when I get home.  And the girls are always so happy to see me, which makes it hard for me to firmly set bed time and MAKE. IT. SO.

This weakness results in fiascos like Monday night.  Hubs went to football – so I was on my own – and we made cupcakes (not 36 – TOTALLY still getting there).  My 3-year-old had been asking to make cupcakes for 3 days and I’d promised we’d do them Monday (to stress the point, she heard me leaving for work, got up at 6:45, and tried to “catch me on my way out” in case I had time to stop and make them before I left for work – because she knew it was cupcake day. That would be another little piece of my heart).  Suffice to say, we made them Monday night.

That was All Joy.  And Fun.  Mostly. Except when my 3-year-old tried to put her fingers in the bowl while the electric mixer was going.  Or how she is fixated on trying to eat raw egg.  Or when she tried to help pour the cupcake mix into the containers and got some on baby.  Or the fact that baby screamed through a good part of the entire exercise because she was on the ground and I was focussed on cupcaking and the 3-year-old.

But my 3-year-old was developing fine motor skills and we were bonding.  Despite some yelling and a few tears, it was wonderful.  Dammit.

So we finished that up and it was time to snuggle a bit/have some one on one time with baby and then put her to bed.  I set my 3-year-old up on my 4-day-old iPad which she of course had already instantly became an expert on thus lulling me into a false and incredibly naïve sense of security (Spoiler Alert!: I’d like you to now randomly picture the 16-year-old virgin blond entering the dark house or scary wood in a horror movie asking if anyone is there.  Same ominous music.  You now know how this ends).

So I’m just putting baby down when I hear the crash of the iPad hitting ground.  I put baby down and meet my daughter at the door of baby’s room.  She was coming to snuggle with us, tripped, and dropped the iPad (which she’d been instructed not to carry; and insane me thought she’d listen).  The screen was shattered.  And it was all I could do not to lose my bus pass. She was so obviously upset and knew she’d made a mistake (even at 3) that I couldn’t yell (despite REALLY wanting to – even though I REALLY shouldn’t have left it with her in the first place and was about to discover how expensive a babysitter it was).  So I took a deep breath, explained I was upset she hadn’t listened to me about staying at the table, and said it was okay and that we’d fix it.

So once my 3-year-old was in bed, I spent the next half hour on the phone first to Apple, then Rogers – asking about screen replacement options.  Short story: they don’t do it.  They replace the iPad for $299+tax.  So ultimately on that front, after a few more calls, hubs took it in for repair today at Bill and Dave Computer Repair – the same company that awesomely fixed my drooled on iPhone two weeks ago – who fixed it for a fraction of that price.  If we keep going at this rate, I’m buying shares.

So that was going on from Monday thru this afternoon of this week too.  On top of that, churning in the background, is the fact that we are (currently failing to) get our passports renewed because we apparently (as of October 2012) now need a long-form birth certificate to get a passport for baby (so that is now on express order as of today for our summer holiday in August).

But what about the 36 cupcakes?  That’s what you are all asking, yes?  Where do they come in?

Well, short story, we have two staff leaving tomorrow, so we’re doing a farewell coffee.  And we should eat cake.  And there are two women on my team who are baking champs.  So we were asked to bake.  And they weren’t available to bake.  So I volunteered (given my Wilton Level-1 cake decorating prowess!) knowing I could make it an activity with my 3-year-old.  After Monday she was psyched to do more cupcakes! (I totally checked with her before committing.  ‘Cause I’m good like that.)

So we basically re-enacted Monday this evening x 2 (thankfully, minus the shattering of an iPad) + two additional flavours/colours of icing. We did two batches of cupcakes so I can bring 30 some into the office and leave some here for the family.  That, plus the wine, made it a pretty fun evening all ’round.

Working mom – trucking on thru.   All Joy.  Some Fun.