Yes this really happened!

The most bizarre thing that has ever happened to me as a parent happened this morning. I mean honestly I had to take a few hours before I could even absorb it, let alone speak of it. All three kids woke up this morning without argument, got washed, dressed, then ate breakfast, thanked me for breakfast. They brushed their teeth, did their chores, put on their shoes and there wasn’t a single argument. There was laughter and joking.

This never happens, let alone in my house. At some point over the weekend these kids were replaced by pod people. No way in hell were they mine!

Usually every morning is cage matches to the death between the girls, groaning from the boys, then all three start fighting while I am screaming like a mad woman. Mondays are that multiplied by the first three levels of hell. But not this morning.

I pinched myself a few times to make sure that I wasn’t having another one of my Wasabi Almond induced dreams, but I am really awake and this really did happen today. I didn’t tell hubs about it, there is no way he would believe me! I mean this just doesn’t happen. But then again neither does this beautiful weather that we have been having which may be responsible for the strange occurrence this morning.

I mean we did spend a great deal of time out enjoying the weather. The kids wore themselves out every day. The girls learned to right bikes without training wheels, all three kids drove the four wheeler, we hiked three miles on a fitness trail. They went to the park, they ran around with friends. It is possible that all this fresh air and sunshine has caused this phenomenon that is a peaceful Monday morning.

BUT, if you hear from me and I have lost my ability to toss out the sarcastic quip, or I don’t complain about co-workers and stupid people at least a dozen times a day, then this isn’t a phenomenon, it’s pod people!

20 day check in

There are 80 days until I turn 40. I would like to tell everyone I had some complete breakthrough in my first 20 days and wow everyone with reflections of an awesome nature. But the first 20 days led to a semi-unexpected breakdown. Here I am celebrating my life thus far when handed several unexpected bag of tricks at home and the work place, it kind of changes a girl’s game plan.

The home stuff isn’t anything major, just financial changes that one deals with when you have three children. The joys of dental bills, growth spurts and pre-pubescent angst, puberty, insurance increases for our soon to be driving teen and whatever the hell the youngest is going through! We will just call it the diva condition.

The work thing however is a bag I never expected to receive. Our president announced her departure two weeks ago and until last week I was in a complete state of shock. While in shock about the departure and what that would mean for all of us, we had a new employee and a new project to deal with. No time for self pity, just put on those big girl panties and push through.

But pushing through isn’t always easy when it comes to something so uncertain. Our leader has been there since the beginning, helped create a vision and maintained momentum with a strength that few could rival. We all followed suit even when things became uncertain during a weakened economy, a new mayor and loss of fiscal contracts. You wonder if anyone new can come into that role and truly understand the importance of what she did and how she did it. And of course there is finding someone to deal with the eclectic band of misfits she put together as her staff.

We really are a mixing pot of crazy people who on paper you would never think would ever work well together. When your focus is downtown Indy and you all share this unbridled passion to help create a city to be proud of, you find a common ground. In that common ground we became a family. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for anyone of the people and they wouldn’t do for me. Right now we are all in our big girl and boy panties holding hands taking deep breaths as we try to get through this thing together.

So as I look at 80 days until my big day, I think about the 100 plus days until I say good bye to a woman that had a hand in changing the last 11 years of my life. She was my greatest cheerleader even when I made mistakes. She gave me opportunities that I never thought I would have. When no one else could see the potential I had, she did. How do you say good bye to someone like that? You can’t really, they are always a part of you and the person that you are.

In 80 days I turn 40, but I’d think I’d like to be like her when I grow up.

A woman of age

There are exactly 100 days from tomorrow until I turn 40. Yes I stated my age on paper and I then posted it on the internet for all to see. I am going to be 40 and I am okay with that! I stated in my first blog of the year that this was my year without a safety net and I wasn’t lying people! So I will scream it from the roof tops! I Jen Nickels will be 40 in May!!!!!!!

My son stated I was a “woman of age” I am not sure whether to ground his sorry ass or commend him for making a gal like me sound so posh. It is better than when he referred to me as being on the “shy side of cougar town”. That did earn a grounding!  I would have him call me an old bag before I let him call me a cougar! I only look, I never claw at the poor younger men for the love of Pete!

Seriously one gets quite reflective before a big birthday. I was having a conversation with a young gal a few weeks ago when I had my hair trimmed. She asked when it was that I felt truly comfortable in my skin. I was floored that a twenty something woman asked me my opinion on this matter. When I asked her why she asked me, she said it was because when I sat in the chair I told her what I wanted I said “Anything you think will look good, it’s just hair.” She said a woman who does that is pretty comfortable with herself. I am thinking that, or she doesn’t give a rat’s ass but I played along!

For every woman there is a different levels of comfort as we age. I felt the first level of comfort with myself between the ages of 25 and 30. I wasn’t a complete basket case before that worrying what everyone else thought of me, I just didn’t really care for myself that much. I had made a lot of mistakes, ones that I couldn’t change which was hard for me to deal with. Not for the affects they had on me but for those they had on others. But I learned from them and they helped to guide me in the direction I needed. I made peace during this first level as many women do. We can’t change what was, we can only make a better what could be. Sounds like a greeting card in the making.

I admit my next level was the one where I became a little too comfortable. I just really let myself go and lived without limitation. This is a level that we should all avoid. Never get so comfortable you stop caring about yourself. Sometime we are all we have, so we need take care of all that. And at 38 I finally did that again. I found a new grove which included eating right, exercising, fabulous shoes and finding new ways to express myself. The me now kind of kicks ass and I like her minus some flaws I hope to change this year. Like using the word ass, in every paragraph, okay cursing in general, former sailor what can I say.

So 100 days left! I plan to do quite a bit in those 100 days I expect each of you to use them as well. Like plan me a big flipping bash so we can party like rock stars! Get busy time is a wasting! ;-)

What I did for the Super Bowl

Aside from answering a total of 347 calls on parking, events, and zip line questions, I was one of the 450 volunteers that had the privilege of working the Madonna Half Time Show for the Super Bowl.

Since I had worked the NFL kick off a few years back, I got an email that asked if I wanted to be part of the crew again. I mean who the hell refuses that opportunity? So the week we all got back from the holidays 500 people went to orientation, 400 were chosen for stage crew and 50 for audio and lighting.

We were all told that Ms. M herself had be rehearsing since the first week of December with her dancers. Right there told me this wasn’t going to be your run of the mill show, she had plans. And of course rumors were flying around about what Madonna’s plans were and they changed daily. All we knew for sure was that we were going to make sure her happy as was on and off the field in the time we were allotted!

Two weeks before the big day we were all gathered along with the stage in the bubble at University of Indianapolis and were divided up into groups. I was place on cart #10 which was one of the back bleachers sections that the dancers and choir used. There were 12 of us a motley crew of people from all walks of life but we all came together like we knew each other for years.

First few rehearsals were terrifying. I had no idea how the hell we were going to be ready to do this in two weeks. Getting 450 people to work together was like trying to put pants on a bag full of cats! But somehow we did it. In three nights we managed to impress our leaders with our abilities!

That weekend we moved to the big house and things started to get real! We were pushing the stage around and the lighting and sound crew was with us this time. There were the added elements of getting the lighting to mesh with the music, and then there was the visual effects that had to be added to the mix. We learned the art of “hurry and wait”.

By that Sunday we were all experts in “hurry and wait”. We got so good at it and putting the stage together, that our rehearsal the following Wednesday was canceled. We were all devastated because that was the day that Madonna herself was going to be there! So some of our posse got to rehearse with her while the rest of us were envious. But that was okay, because we were all getting the scoop from TMZ of what was going down on the show, because we all know they are always right!

Thursday night we all rushed into the stadium not sure if Ms. M would be there or not. Yep she was there on our stage with her dancers in her costume, working her little ass off! We sat and watched her for about an hour before we even got to touch out stage pieces. Whether or not you like Madonna, she is amazing to watch. She is a hard worker, focused and professional. Well not so professional she didn’t flash her ass at us a few times having a good time. And she made sure to let our bosses know that she appreciated all the hard work we were doing.

So I was pretty close to Nicki M, MIA and CeLo, got to meet LMFAO, got some autographs. Nearly plotzed when I saw that Tabitha D’umo was choreographer! I am such a fan of hers I cannot even tell you! If I hadn’t been working, I would have bum rushed her and made her sign my freaking shoe! And that was just rehearsal!

On the big day before we even got on the field we saw Madonna’s kids, Adam Levine, and some saw Ms. Katy Perry! I saw Adam as I was walking out of the Portolet, awkward! But I got over it once the reality of us having less than five minutes to get a stage and all this crap on the field in front of millions of people! But we did it!

And there I stood on the New York End zone watching everything come together and as the oiled up gladiators brought in Ms. M I cried. I helped do this with 449 plus people that were strangers two weeks earlier, and now we join the family of 6000 others who have done the same thing we did. We worked for a sweat shirt, some bagged lunches and soggy pizza but we put on one hell of a show! I did however get a piece of the stage! That is pretty freaking cool!

It was surreal standing there watching the audience’s reactions. No one was sitting they were all on their feet Vogueing and Luvin’. And yes watching MIA flip the bird that was no part of the show I can tell you. Despite MIA’s finger malfunction, the audience didn’t lie, they loved it and it made us feel like a million dollars!

I may not have gotten one of those snazzy Super Bowl scarves but what I have is the knowledge that for ten minutes on February 5, 2012 I was one of the most important people on TV. Five minutes on, five minutes off. Those ten minutes will last a lifetime!

Act your age, not your shoe size!

Well my shoe size is nine, like my daughter Kai whose friends believe nine is the new twenty five. Yes thanks to cell phones, ABC Family television programming, MTV reality TV, and the internet our children are now aging at a rate that will sadly put them in a nursing home before we are ready to retire! I am seriously considering plugging to get a documentary made “Death of Childhood in America”. And we only have ourselves to blame.

Yes a deep topic from the Geek in Four Inch Heelz, but I had a nice slap of reality when I overheard a conversation between two of my daughter’s friends. It was a conversation that I was pretty sure I didn’t have with my friends until I was at least a freshman in high school! Yes times have changed but the changes weren’t for the better when girls who haven’t started puberty yet are talking about sex!

When I was nine I was playing Barbie’s, thought boys had cooties, walked to see my friends when I wanted to talk to them, I didn’t worry about fitting into skinny jeans,  I chewed my nails I didn’t get acrylics and I was lucky if I could brush my hair let alone have it salon highlighted! A ten year old in our neighborhood has a standing appointment to have her fake nails filled and her highlights touched up so she can maintain her “look”. She is in fifth grade she should look ten, not like something straight from the Jersey Shore!

There was a time when tween meant arguing about bedtimes, not wanting to wear pigtails in your hair, and wanting to wear lip gloss to school. Now it is arguing about curfews, talking to boys on the phone(and meeting them in secreet) and catching your daughters with a full tramp wardrobe in her back pack that she is changing into when she gets to school. Luckily I haven’t had to deal with any of this yet but looking at her friends and their parents are dealing with, I know it is coming.

I have been driven to tears by the fact that I am sending my girls into a world where childhood is so short. I want to go back to the days where I had to tell them they couldn’t wear their princess dresses to the dinner table. I want to go back to pigtails and rosy cheeks. I want to hold on to seeing them giggle over things children giggle over. I want to watch them grow up not have it happen over night because today’s society says so. Keep your girls princesses with pigtails as long as they will let you. The time goes by so fast.

I know they will grow up one day but it can’t be tomorrow, this mama isn’t ready!

What is it you do?

I make it a personal task at the first of each year to update my resume. I was told while attending a transition class when I was leaving the Navy that this was a good practice and it was one that has stuck with me. It is always funny when I start looking at my resume, you think of all the things you would like to put down that you have done in your careers. Not only have I done a myriad of tasks I was never really trained for, I have done some things I am not sure you could ever be trained for.I have been with most of my co-workers for more then ten years now, and we see each other more then we see our families, hell we are family a big twisted crazy family. And with a work family there are duties that are required outside the box. I have been asked to fix bra straps, remove dog hair from a co-workers butt, checked teeth for seeds and spinach, and even done the booger check. I mean who wouldn't hire me for those qualities alone right?

Then you actually look at what you do everyday and try to package it up in a nice little bow so some scanner can look at key words and see if you fit into their criteria. Your strength and weaknesses programed into a machine to tell some HR person if you are even worth a few minutes of their time. If I were to insert any resume advice use good key words, like responsible, trust worthy and adaptable.

I was told once that my greatest strength was adaptability. When faced with a new task I did my best to master it. When put into a stressful situation I was able to think quickly on my feet and come up with a solution with out losing my cool, at the time anyway. At work I was able to absorb many of the tasks that co-workers who left the company had so that no new employees were hired and still do my own tasks.

This puts me in quite the quandary in the job market, if I were to leave mine. My title is Information Manager because Jack of All Trades Master of None doesn't look pretty on an office placard or business cards. I know I am not alone in this day and age of corporate downsizing and re-structureing. Our titles really do not tell the story of what we actually do and job descriptions listed in want ads actually seem dull to all of us Jacks out there. With that being said my preferred title would be "Goddess of all things Fundraising, Office, Network Related and Other Duties as Required". And even that doesn't quite sum it up.So just call me Goddess, and if someones asks what I do, tell them everything.

Jumping in feet first

Okay this is the year of no resolutions just results. Cheesy cliche you say? Not as cheesy as you think. I am taking that jumping in feet first, no holds barred, fly by the seat of my pants approach as I head in to the shy side of 40! I have lived too long in the safety net of should haves, could haves and what if's. 2012 is the year of just do it and do it Jen style!
There is no reason to put your toe in the pool to test the waters the year you turn 40. I want to look smoking hot in a bathing suit when I go to Vegas for my 40th in May. For that fantasy to come true, I need to back away from the mochas, put my big girl work out pants on hit the tread mill, save up the cash and find someone to watch the kids for a few days in late May. That is my "go for it" for 2012, never been to Vegas in my life and I think this year is as good as any!
So I parked far from the Starbucks in a much cheaper garage, got a new playlist for the gym, and am seraching for a way to butter up all friends and family for the next five months. LET'S DO THIS!!!!
Oh and what ever happens to me in Vegas will be FB posted, tweeted and blogged about, so no worries about any insanity staying put in Nevada!