{"id":1231,"date":"2013-04-19T09:13:42","date_gmt":"2013-04-19T15:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/?p=1231"},"modified":"2013-04-19T09:13:42","modified_gmt":"2013-04-19T15:13:42","slug":"business-trippin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/?p=1231","title":{"rendered":"Business Trippin’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I was walking the dog the other morning…and down the street I saw [a shimmering light.\u00a0 My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim.\u00a0 I had to stop for the night!]<\/em><\/p>\n

(Two points for you if you can guess the name of that song AND the band.\u00a0 Hint: No, it’s not from the 80’s;\u00a0It’s from the late 70’s which is so close it’s practically the same thing.)<\/p>\n

I saw a woman putting her computer bag and suitcase in the car.\u00a0 She was wearing a kicky skirt and high-heeled boots and appeared to be heading off on a business trip.<\/p>\n

And I felt a pang.<\/p>\n

Remember when you first started taking business trips?\u00a0 It was so much FUN!\u00a0 Meeting up with sorority sisters\u00a0in distant cities.\u00a0 Having evening drinks with colleagues.\u00a0\u00a0Seeing the sights if there was time after your meeting\/tradeshow\/presentation.\u00a0\u00a0Ordering room service.\u00a0 Having the t.v. remote ALL TO YOURSELF??<\/p>\n

It ROCKED! [Rockin’ the Casbah, Rock the Casbah!!!]<\/em><\/p>\n

And then you became a mom.<\/p>\n

And after that, each time you headed off on a business trip in this Post 9\/11 World, you had to make a choice.\u00a0 At the time I called it the “Sophie’s Choice of Working Moms.”\u00a0 Your purse would naturally be considered your “personal item.”\u00a0 But what would you choose as your “carry-on”??\u00a0 Your laptop…or your breastpump?!?<\/p>\n

You HAD to have BOTH!\u00a0 They were each valuable in their own (very different) way.\u00a0\u00a0I eventually handled this dilemma by 1)checking a bag with my clothes\/toiletries to my final destination and 2)packing both the breast pump AND the laptop IN<\/em> a carry-on.\u00a0 Am I utterly brilliant, or what?!\u00a0 But I do know other working moms who packed their laptop in their checked bag and kept their breastpump with them at all times.\u00a0 Or vice versa.\u00a0 If you were forced to choose between these two halves of your split personality – which would you choose?!?<\/p>\n

See?\u00a0 It’s a tough one, isn’t it??<\/p>\n

But despite my brilliant “breastpump in the carry-on” approach, I still had to trot it out for manual inspection.\u00a0 And as you’re saying to the TSA agent, “Change your gloves!\u00a0 You are handling MY BREAST MILK!<\/strong>” in a Queen-of-Hearts\u00a0“OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!!” <\/em>sort of voice, you realize business trips actually SUCK.\u00a0 The most eggs EVER!!!<\/p>\n

Now, to take it a step further: when the hotel delivers 9 little Pump-N-Style* baggies of frozen breast milk into the middle of your business meeting (they were in a plastic dry cleaning bag, but still)…and your face\u00a0bears the tear-tracks from all the crying you did that morning because – when you checked out of the hotel – the front desk person originally claimed to have “lost” the literal life’s blood of your baby-who-is-allergic-to-all-the-infant-formula-in-the-world…you realize that business trips not only suck eggs.\u00a0 They also blow chunks.\u00a0 The most chunks of all Time.\u00a0 Space.\u00a0 Galaxies.\u00a0 And Black Holes.<\/p>\n

This trip down memory lane helped me figure out\u00a0that the “pang” I felt as I saw the business woman heading off into the Wild Blue Yonder really didn’t have ANYTHING\u00a0to do with wanting to be a business woman again.\u00a0 Even one headed off on an adventure.\u00a0 It\u00a0really just had to do with me\u00a0wanting\u00a0to wear A KICKY LITTLE SKIRT AND HOT BOOTS!<\/p>\n

So??\u00a0 Right now I’m wearing a sassy little black, above-the-knee number\u00a0and high-heeled\u00a0pleather boots.\u00a0 While blogging.\u00a0 And I’m feelin’ HOT HOT HOT!\u00a0 [Yes.\u00a0 This is a TRUE 80’s song.\u00a0 Bonus points if you can name the original artist and then the singer who made it famous.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

While I miss the money that goes along with the working\u00a0woman ‘thang…I’m “Feelin’ Fly” about where I am at this point in my stay-at-home-mom-ness.\u00a0\u00a0In fact…J Lo and the Fly Girls are in the house!\u00a0 Whoop!!\u00a0 Whoop!!!\u00a0 [Yes.\u00a0 The Fly Girls reference IS\u00a0early 90’s.\u00a0 But\u00a0as we all know – the early 90’s is so close to the 80’s is practically the same thing.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Can you tell I’m feeling full of “vim and vinegar” today (as my husband would say)?\u00a0 He knows it bugs the crap out of me when he says it because he’s combined TWO phrases: 1) VIM and vigor and 2) Piss and VINEGAR.\u00a0 But I think it aptly describes my mood right now so I’ll allow it this time around.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*That was the “name” of my breast pump.\u00a0\u00a0The Medela Pump-N-Style.\u00a0\u00a0I was never quite sure if the “N” was short for Pump IN Style.\u00a0\u00a0Or Pump AND Style.\u00a0\u00a0Could go either way.\u00a0\u00a0You choose.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was walking the dog the other morning…and down the street I saw [a shimmering light.\u00a0 My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim.\u00a0 I had to stop for the night!] (Two points for you if you can guess the name of that song AND the band.\u00a0 Hint: No, it’s not from the 80’s;\u00a0It’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1231"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1237,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231\/revisions\/1237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}