Friday Follow & The Exploding Egg

Wow, it seems like FOREVER since I have participated in Friday Follow, Follow Me Friday, Social Parade or ANY of the Friday link-ups! Well, actually, it has been!  I have been so busy with my two jobs, the Holidays, life and planning a trip that I am going on in two weeks; things have been so hectic! Well, today I am back in the swing of things and I am so happy to be participating in Friday Follow again! (And all the other 'blog hops'.

Just a quick bit about me -- I am a 25 (and 3\4) year old single mom from New Jersey (Near New York) and I have been blogging since 1999, more or less.  Blogging is definitely an outlet for me and something I just love to do! I used to want to write and wanted people to hear me, so this is a great way for that to happen.  I love to talk and always have a lot to say!  My girls are 3 and 5 (Alayna and Olivia respectively) and they're my life.  I am a personal shopper for a high end fashion website as well as a Client Service Professional at H&R Block.  (Woo hoo, tax season!)  I work way too much and try to work full time at both jobs.  On the side, I am also a freelance writer for a website as well. (Side income!)  Below this post is the "100 Random Things About Me" and you can definitely check that out to get more of a feel of who I am!  Clicking through the website and reading older posts can as well give you a little insight!

Right now I want to tell you all about a little lesson that I learned from attempting to re-heat a hard boiled egg in a microwave. (I know, that sounds like a bad idea just saying it out loud.) 

I am not a cook by ANY stretch of the imagination, but I do attempt to cook for myself and my family at times.  I used to be the textbook hard working mom when I would just pop TV dinners into the microwave and give those to my kids...Oh the horror!  That's something that most moms would probably want to smack me for!  Well, I am currently watching what I eat, since I am upset over the fact that I gained back the 40lbs I lost, and cooking my own food is definitely something that I feel better doing.  It's so much easier to know what goes into my food and that I can control it myself.  I usually hard boil eggs in the morning for salad and to grab quickly when I am running to work in the morning, but because of a storm and having to leave earlier I had hardboiled a bunch one morning and refrigerated them.

Since I absolutely hate eating cold hard boiled eggs, I took them out of the refrigerator and went to heat it up.  (Bad idea!)  I shelled the eggs and put them on a plate.  Stuck them in the microwave for 20 seconds and went to make the girls' breakfasts.  15 seconds later I heard a huge BOOM!  I nearly thought the house was falling apart, thought a plane smashed into my house or thought someone hit my car.  No, no other disasters... I had no idea what it was until I went to take my eggs out of the microwave...  Only one survived...  RIP hard boiled egg...  Not only did it explode, but there was egg EVERYWHERE!  (Thank God it was already boiled!) 

At least the one that did survive was good, but it was sad that one egg didn't make it.  At least I learned a good lesson:  Don't heat hard boiled eggs in the microwave. The outcome is never pretty.

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Chasing Bugs and Teacher Meetings

I admire any mother who can actually be energetic and make use of all of the hours in a day.  God knows, I do try my best to but I can't.  It's impossible for me to do anything that I have to do when I work 9-12 hours and then have to clean after the messes the kids made while I was working, make dinner and hope that my kids decide to go to bed on time.  It's absolutely impossible.  There are times when I feel like I need a week vacation, I dream of going somewhere remote and warm and peaceful -- then I snap back into reality and realize that I am a single mom of my two little terrors.  I don't have time for vacations!  The most time that I do have for myself is when I'm working.  Other than that, maybe once a week I go out with my friend for dinner or to just unwind.  

Honestly, I think I figured that when I started working from home I wouldn't be so exhausted.  That was the wrong thing to think.  Even though I am sitting on my butt all day and working on my computer, I'm absolutely exhausted.  Even more tired than I was when I worked outside the home.  I'm not sure if it is because I know I can be lazy and I'm aware that my bed is just a few steps away or if using my brain is making me so exhausted. (Ha!  Everyone that knows me knows that my brain is hardly ever used otherwise...)  There are days, hours or moments where I can barely keep my eyes open.  There are times when I feel so sick and it's all due to the extreme exhaustion.  I could only pray for a good night of sleep, that's impossible as well.  Once I finally am able to go to sleep -- my insomnia kicks in and I just can't shut off to go to sleep.  Irony...

Today was another one of those busy days.  Had to get Alayna to school, get back in time for work, go to pick her up from school on my lunch break, had to pick up lunch on the way home and then get back to work.  Not only that, but I also had to take some time this afternoon to go to Alayna's parent-teacher conference.   Since she is in Pre-K they don't give report cards, but they do give verbal progress reports.  I wasn't surprised to hear that Alayna is beyond Pre-K knowledge.  I knew this last year when I felt she should have been in school.  Her teacher is in disbelief that she can copy a sentence that her teacher writes, she's in awe that Alayna's art talent is as good as it is and she cannot believe that Alayna has so much knowledge in her little head.  She had told me that Alayna answers almost all of the questions that her teacher asks.  Needless to say, I was a very proud mommy.  I'm not exactly sure where my daughter gets her brains from...sure as hell not me!

Afterwards, while eating dinner, we had a riot in our kitchen -- there as a bug on the ceiling.  It wasn't just a fly, it was the ugliest S.O.B that you had EVER seen.  This thing was huge and gave us all the creeps.  Of course, my girls couldn't calmly leave the room, they had to run screaming into the living room.  As if the bug was going to attack them.  They're a hundred times bigger than it.  I am much more bave! (Or so I thought.)  My mom and uncle are sitting there laughing as I go into the hallway to get our swiffer.  By the time I got back in the kitchen, the bug was no longer on the ceiling and I couldn't find it.  So, I had the stupid thought to stand on the chair and maybe take a look on top of our ceiling fan.  Maybe he climbed up there...  I get on the chair and turn my head and...

I'm face to buggy eye face with that little ugly mofo bug...

So of course, being the brave super mom I am, I jump off the chair, throw the swiffer at my mom and run screaming to the other side of the room.  Oh yes I did.  When it comes to big ugly bugs, I'm not brave.  I hate them.  They make me itchy just looking at them. (Or just thinking about them.  I'm itching right now.)

To make a long story short, we got the bug...and his brother who came to look for him after we killed the first one...  Disgusting, ew, i.... hate.... bugs....

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