MOM'S NEW JOB

I like the sound of "four score and seven years ago," but for me it's been more like "four years and seven months ago."  That was the last time I walked into an office outside of my home and did something called work.

Work can have many descriptions.  Some work you get paid for, like researching photos of athletes and scantily-clad twenty-somethings and getting a smart-looking paycheck that has a corporate logo at the top.  Other work, the paycheck isn't so tangible.  You get paid in sloppy kisses (the husband) and awesome hugs (the kid).  The co-workers hang out at the playground with lattes.  The client wears diapers.  Rather, the boss wears diapers.  I'd wear a diaper, too, if I wasn't afraid of the backlash.

When I dropped out of midtown into Kidtown, I knew I would still be working, but the work would take place inside the home in the form of laundry, dishwashing and cleaning up stuff that seeps out of the cat and the kid.  In the beginning, the work outside the home revolved around Target-runs, trips to the grocery store, and lots of pediatric office-time.

My job in Kidtown was getting a wee bit monotonous.  I missed my coworkers.  Besides sharing a love of sports, we enjoyed discussing current events and laughing at our own incredibly stupid jokes.  And quite honestly, I missed the photo archives -- not everybody has the opportunity to view play-by-play history in black and white negatives.  I really dug that.

Thank god for cooking.  Cooking has allowed me to be creative and have fun.  Still, the collaboration, the discussions, the camaraderie that takes place in the office was missing.

And then the most awesome thing occurred about a month ago.  The co-chair of the parents' association at the kid's nursery school came up to me, outta the blue, and said, "We're thinking of doing a cookbook, and I've heard you're the resident foodie around here.  Would you be willing to help us?"

Are you freakin' kidding me??

Food related.  Publishing.  Collaboration.  Photography.

Are you freakin' kidding me??

So now I'm all like, "Jodi cookbook person" and I get to view all these recipes and talk to a publishing house and work with some seriously smart women and I'm all like "Yay me!"

As soon as the cookbook is ready, you will be hearing about it in great detail.  I'm so loving reading and editing everybody's recipes.  I'm ready to make a few of them like ten minutes ago.

Kidtown just got really cool.