with Britt Reints
Forget the 9 to 5; Full Time, All the Time is a blog about the mobile working life - when you have the freedom to work from anywhere and the responsibility of always having your smartphone turned on. Britt Reints works as a freelance writer while traveling fulltime in an RV with her husband and two kids. She explores balancing real-life bills with an unconventional work life, and finding time to maintain relationships with family and friends.
You can also find Britt at InPursuitOfHappiness.net.
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My son’s birthday party is tomorrow. I tend to do “old skool” parties. You know, the type we had as kids. No jumpy houses, no pony rides, no entertainers, no frills. My son’s party will be at the park down the street. The highlight this year will be a piñata.
Frills or not, birthday parties are a lot to manage on top everything else I am managing right now. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to plan my son’s birthday party. It’s the shopping, the organizing, the set-up, and my least favorite, the clean-up that always seem to leave me in a big ball of stress by the end of the party.
To get everything ready, I am taking a sick day today. My company offers unlimited sick days and I rarely take one. I’m much more inclined to work from home during any illness and stay on top of my work. Earlier this year, I lost my voice for 3 days but continued worked out of the comfort of my bed while starting a high profile project. I rarely let illness slow me down.
So how can this birthday party bring me to a dead stop?
I want the day to be a special one for my son. And I don’t want to be up until midnight or up at 6am trying to get everything ready. Parties are supposed to be fun. I’d like to get to enjoy some of that fun and not be worried about if we have enough juice boxes.
That leads me back to the un-sick sick day. Today, I’m unofficially sick. With my blackberry on at all times, I’ll still be able to mange any crisis that pops up. But you won’t find me at the office or at home. I’ll be at the craft store, the party store, the discount supply store. I’ll be ordering the 25 pizzas (did I mention we have a large extended family). I’ll be digging through my recipe book for the punch recipe that we all love but I can never remember the easy ingredients.
I’ll be getting everything organized, prepped, and ready to go for my son’s big day. With everything out of the way today, I’ll be able to live in the moment during the party tomorrow. I’m not only baking the cake but I’ll be enjoying it too!
I may not be physically sick but taking this day sure is good for my stress level and my sanity.
ha! we are doing a party at the park at the end of our street next weekend for my son’s birthday! i think it’s a great idea
luckily ours has a grill so we will be grilling, but you did remind me to get a cooler for drinks. I swear, i can plan anything at work but for some reason planning things at home is so much harder! maybe i need a sick day on friday *cough*cough*
Kate | June 17th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Dude, I’m all about old skool parties, myself — as well as unsick sick days (though I tend to use mine to help chaperone school field trips). You know, you gotta do what you gotta do….
karenwalrond | June 17th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Love the old skool parties! That’s all we’ve really had for the kid, but this year we’re going bowling. It’s not pizza with a giant rat or the big inflatable place, but it’ll be fun. Plus, I didn’t have a summer baby to have all her bdays inside.
veronica | June 18th, 2008 at 3:16 am
My mom used to say why waste a sick day at home, stay home when you have the energy to do stuff
Assuming you’re not contagious of course.
Nicole/wksocmom | June 20th, 2008 at 5:54 pm