Working mama

That's right, in case you hadn't heard... I got a job. A real, grown-up, in an office, nearly full-time, wear heels to work, kind of job. Almost full-time because I went into the interview and said "I'm the best person for this job and I'd be happy to take it if you'll let me work from 9-3 every day instead of 9-5" and they said okay.
I'm working for Channel 31 in Melbourne, a community television station. I do their scheduling traffic, which means I insert and arrange advertising and promotions into the schedule before it goes to air. So I work with the sales team, making sure their clients ads get on TV in all the right time slots. I also work with the programming team, making sure the right programs air at the right times and there's no empty spots. And lucky for me the office is literally right behind my apartment, I mean I can see their roof from the hallway by our elevators!

The good:
I work only while the kids are at school, so I drop them off in the morning, go to work, then pick them up in the afternoon. This allows me to still see them in the afternoons and also keeps me from having to pay for after-school care. I am happy to be back among grown-ups. Since the kids started school I've had lots of time to do what I want, work-out, shop, be a tourist. I love all my free time, but was starting to feel a little lazy. Also, being in a new country it's been hard to make friends, especially since all the ladies looking to socialize during the day have babies and are meeting at the park (no thanks). So to kill two birds with one stone, I'm working. I associate with adults all day and I'm certainly not feeling lazy, I'm much more productive when I'm busy, so things still get done, even with less time to do it.

The bad:
Well, obviously I don't have loads of free time anymore. It's hard to find time to work out, cause sorry, I'm not going to the gym before work. I have gotten really spoiled shopping by myself and now the only time is after school (meaning WITH the kids, ugh). Lastly, I've been working on a new blog, Discovering Melbourne, about all the places I visit here. Well, I used to have lots of free time to go all these places, but now I'm pretty much limited to the weekend.

So of course, there are ups and downs. Time will tell if I'll figure out a way to balance things enough to make it work for me and the family, but for now I'm enjoying it.