Doing My Job

I'm trying to write a quick post here to keep this blog up-to-date, but I probably should've done this while the kids were in school.

Eagle Rock, CA

After I got back from dropping them off at school this morning, I came home thinking "I'm going to get a lot done today" and then I promptly fell asleep on the couch. Don't blame me! I had trouble sleeping last night! The husband was snoring, then I was cold, then I woke up to the horrible smell of a skunk! We had all of our windows open, in every room, and there was a breeze. You can imagine what that smelled like! So I got up and started spraying Febreeze around the house, and then I sprayed too much and then that smell started to bother me!

On the plus side, I got the kids to school earlier than usual so they could sit together in the cafeteria and have breakfast. As long as they're getting to school everyday, I'm doing my job, right?

Anneka before school

On top of that job, besides the obvious things I do around the house, including cooking and being their chauffeur, I also get paid to Tweet and I sell various items on eBay.  That's my job, for now. I'm making money, which is cool, and I actually have a savings account with money in it! This might be too much information, but it's all legit. Don't worry. I'm still working for Inside Edition. They call me when they have a story they want me to look into and report on. That's so much fun. I love being on national tv, especially when people text me or send me messages on Facebook saying "I saw you on tv!". I've probably been on Inside Edition more than 10 times now. I've honestly lost count. And then sometimes my feature is in the weekend edition of the show, and then there are times where my segments are for the website. You can always check the website for some of my videos at InsideEdition.com.

Well, the girls just went in their room to play school. I'll go watch Inside Edition and continue to look for opportunities on the web. I'm looking into taking classes for voiceover acting. I asked a friend, Kevin Michael Richardson about where I should go for training. He does the voice of Cleveland Jr. on The Cleveland Show and Family Guy. I do weird voices around the house for my kids, I might as well be doing it for the masses and getting paid!

Later.

Laila before school

Productive Days

So I'm back on track and I have a long list of things to do. In my last post, I talked about distractions and how I was used to working with them in the background. Perhaps I work better under pressure? I do remember back in school when I'd have a test the next day, I'd always forget up until the last minute, then I'd be up at 11 o'clock at night, cramming for it. I always aced it! I just always put off things, and sometimes important things.

Me, hugging Mia while listening to Laila

I've been utilizing my iphone more lately for things it can actually do, besides playing games and Tweeting. I've been using the alarm clock, calendar and notepad. Don't ask why I never really used them before. Maybe because I didn't have super important business before? Now that the kids are in school, I can concentrate on the things I need to do in the house and outside of it. I'm also working really hard on my career, keeping up with auditions, meeting with an acting coach, etc.

Anneka, Laila & Mia

I can't exactly say things are running smoothly. Last week I got the girls to school late for the first time. A whole 15 minutes late! It's strange because I'm always on time! Doctor's appointments, auditions, meeting up with friends, etc. I'm ALWAYS on time. Or early. Actually, I'm usually super early. I've gone to auditions and job interviews with time to kill. I just love being prepared and I hate rushing. I'll try my best not to take them to school late again. Of course, that was a special circumstance because usually Bry helps me get them up in the mornings and we all leave about the same time, with him heading to work. That one particular day, Bry was out of town, taking care of business in Chicago. I barely slept a wink that night before. It was a mixture of Laila's coughing in her sleep, not used to sleeping alone and worrying about my husband being on an airplane.

I was alright, of course. He wasn't gone for long and I got decent sleep the next night. Hooray for me!

Anneka, before school this morning.

I still have things to do tonight, getting the girls' snacks prepared for school tomorrow. I really need to start going to bed earlier so I can have a more productive day. Or maybe I'm being too hard on myself. As of late, I've had a lot of productive days.

Me

My Therapist Says...

I had this plan to try to blog everyday once the girls were in school, but things don't always go as planned. They are now in their third week of school and this is the first blog I've posted in forever. It's been at least a month since I even looked at this thing. But in my defense, a lot has been going on.

By a "a lot", I really mean "not much". I know. I just contradicted myself. It feels like nothing's been going on, I mean. No job, nothing exciting. I'm not doing any stand-up and tv show appearances. I haven't been on Inside Edition in over a month. Not that they don't want to use me or anything, it's just they haven't needed commentary on certain news stories, except one day last week. They called, but I had such a sore throat that my speaking voice wasn't normal. I was barely squeaking out words so I had to turn them down.

The first week of school, I was a little depressed. My twins started kindergarten and Ani started 2nd grade. It was just a reminder that they are growing up and there was nothing I can do about it. At least when Ani started kindergarten, I had the twins to focus on. Now, no one's at home for me to focus on. Except for me.

I started seeing a therapist. She wants me to focus on me. I'm so used to putting other people first, I've forgotten what I wanted. I've forgotten what I came out here to do before it's too late. Honestly, I never expected to be a mom, but I certainly never saw myself as this over-obsessive "helicopter" parent. I drop them off at school, then stand outside of the gate watching them in their respective lines. I dress all three of them alike everyday. I'm overly worried about if the twins are making friends and if their teacher is paying attention to them.

Focus on me? That's kind of a joke, right? Yes, I now have hours in the day where I can have a full thought uninterrupted, but what else am I supposed to be doing? I've been making money by Tweeting for major brands. I buy stuff cheap then sell them on eBay for profit. That's my business. That's what I've been doing to bring extra money into the house. But I haven't done stand-up in months, I haven't been on any auditions, and I haven't even been keeping up with this blog.

My therapist says I'm too hard on myself. She's right, I know. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do certain things and if I don't succeed, I kick myself when I'm down. This week I've felt much better about things. Last week I was sick and kept the girls home a few days because they were sick too. I spent those days laying around, taking medicine and eating very little. I lost a few pounds. This week, I'm reassessing and making myself "do". I have all of this time to do what I moved my family out here to do. And there's this voice in the back of my head that's sing-songing "Don't screw it  upppp". Well I'm telling that voice to FUCK OFF.

Was this entire post one big, long ramble? See...I'm still being too hard on myself. Don't tell my therapist.

Time

I found out I didn't win a screenplay writing contest for my short film "Dead Oliver". But it's okay, I'm not totally disappointed. It's a little bothersome. Okay, it sucks. I don't know why I entered it to begin with, because honestly I was thinking of putting it on as a play. It takes place in a hotel room, so it would work for the stage. I still may find a theater to put it on.

I've been pretty busy with writing for HelloGiggles, doing stand-up and being a mom. I could say it's hard to find a balance, but of course anyone with kids knows that. Anyone without kids assumes it. I really wish I had more time to write, uninterrupted, and possibly do stand-up every night without having to worry about getting up so early the next morning to be with the kids. But I think, at this time, I enjoy doing stand-up every now and then. It would kill me if I didn't get to spend all this time with the twins. During the day, I have them.

In the fall, they'll be starting Kindergarten and as much as I'll like to have uninterrupted writing time, I'll miss the hell outta my twinsies. They'll go to school and make friends and get lives outside of me and that makes me kind of sad. Right now, they don't like me leaving the house without them. I'm sure they'll be fine in school, but they'll only be 4 for a few months more. I'm going to enjoy 4 year old Mia and Laila, before they're all "I wanna go to my friends house" and "Mom, I'm on the phone!" and "Mom, I can't believe you! You're so embarrassing!".

Yeah, even when they're older I'll kiss them in front of their friends. They've been warned.

Sorta Exciting updates

While I'm waiting around for something, anything to happen, I think I'm going to keep my writing sharp by writing short stories.

I used to write short stories all the time, you know, before I became a mom and started watching too much tv. And I have time to write, it's not like I'm 24/7 busy. Yes, it is tiring taking care of 3 small children, but there are times when they don't want to be bothered by me. They have each other to play with in their room full of Lalaloopsy dolls, toy dishes and play food. Did I mention that we also have every children's movie that has come out in the past 5 years on blu ray? Yeah, they don't need me 24/7. I do, however, have to listen out for "Owwww!" or "I'm not playing with you anymore!".

At night I have plenty of time to write, though I'm usually quite sleepy around 7pm. Again, I have 3 small daughters, all 3 under the age of 7!

Life has been exciting, when I do get to go out of the house. I got to meet Conan O'Brien yesterday. I was in the audience of his show and got to sit on the front row and after the show, he comes into the audience singing the "End of the show" song, which is hilarious! As he came back down the stairs, past me, he came over and shook my hand! I said "I love you!" he said "I love you too"! Then he started doing that growl thing that he does at female guests, towards ME. Best day of my life. Next to, you know, that wedding thing and the having-kids thing.

If you know me, you know what Conan means to me. I saw him live in Chicago back when I was pregnant with Anneka, almost 7 years ago at the Chicago Theater. Then, I saw him with my mom back in December while she was visiting from Chicago, then I saw the show once again less than a month ago and ran into some of the writers of the show, which was awesome.

I have several people reading my pilot "Jersey Did It", about a young woman who has too much money, but gets bored easily, and is afraid of too many things, which hinders her life. Sound familiar? Well, not the money thing...regardless, I hope I get good feedback on it!

Later Gators.

A Stressful Week

Laila Raine

Laila, today at Pinkberry. She loves frozen yogurt!

A few days after she hurt her teeth. She seemed just fine. Thank God.

I've had a stressful week, with Laila getting hurt and 2 straight weeks of family being here, now I don't know how to be on my own again. Lol.
I mean, I haven't been alone with my own kids for 2 weeks! Bry even had a decent amount of days off with my family being in town. I'm used to having a house full of people!
And now I'm bored.
On the plus, Bry and I are working on a graphic novel. It doesn't have a title yet, but I already wrote out an entire storyline. Bry is supposed to be drawing the characters. He's an amazing artist.

And my teeth hurt. I was leaning over to kiss Laila on her forehead while she was laying in her bed and she moved, smacking me in the front teeth with her head. Ouch indeed! That shit hurt!!!

On another plus, I got the twins completely off the pacifiers! Yes, I know, they're 3, they should've been off of them a long time ago. It took Laila falling on her mouth, hurting her two front teeth to the point where they were pushed up into her gums and bleeding, then taking her to the dentist and the dentist telling us that she had an "Open bite" which was probably caused by the pacifier. I went home and threw all of those fuckers in the garbage. No turning back! I've tried to break them off of them before and I wussied out by giving it back to them. That's why this time I threw them in the garbage. When they cried for them at bedtime, I told them that they were all gone, and I hugged and kissed them. Thank God my aunt was still here because during the day she kept them occupied so they weren't asking for them as much.

Now, a week later, Laila's mouth is healing and she's no longer complaining of pain. It was terrible when it first happened. Blood, crying (both her and me), then a trip to the ER, then right to the dentist after we left the hospital. She was giggling and acting silly an hour or two after it happened, but the dentist said her teeth might 'right' themselves over time. I'll pray on that. Poor Lailee...

And a whole week without pacifiers. And they're not asking for them anymore. And they go right to sleep at bedtime.

Thank God!