What are you gonna do with your life?!

I WANNA ROCK!

Er, well, not quite. But now that I'm having to drive almost 45 minutes every day to and from work, it gives me quite a lot of thinking time. Well, when the kids aren't being so noisy that I can't even focus on driving, let alone thinking. (Boy, is this drive going to be fun in the winter!) Anyrate, as noticed with my previous post, I'm thinking a lot about my job and how I don't really like it that much. The pay is great, the benefits are greater, but there is still something lacking in it. Perhaps it's just that I've worked for this company for eight years and in my current position for six. Perhaps it's the fact that I'm in a union, so--despite the great pay and benefits--I've somehow or another been screwed out of a promotion several times due to asinine rules--from both the union and the company. I get told time and time again what a great employee I am, but I feel no benefits arising from it. I am STUCK.

So, what do I do? Isn't it interesting that I have a degree and yet no idea how to use it anymore. My teaching license expired five years ago (and was only good in Indiana, anyway). If I wanted to go into teaching again, I'd have to get my master's degree. We don't exactly have the cash for me to pursue that. While going through the angst of trying to figure out how to stay at home with my kids, I thought about and pursued all kinds of different options: selling crap from home, running a day care, becoming a medical transcriptionist, etc., etc. But nothing really sounded like it would fit my life or fit "ME"--or was too expensive to get into.

What a position to find myself in. Too qualified for some jobs, not qualified enough (and no money to get it) for others. But what it all boils down to is: I don't know what I want to do. I don't know what kind of job to pursue to feel as if I'm doing something worthwhile and not robbing myself of time with my husband and kids. So I stay at the same old job, afraid of losing the great pay/benefits that so many other jobs lack now-a-days, and wait perhaps for fate to intervene. Maybe we'll move out of Rochester--nope, that's not going to happen NOW. Hmmm...maybe when my union's contract comes up in February, I'll get laid off--not likely, but ya never know. Maybe a giant bundle of cash will fall from the heavens and right into my lap. Maybe I'll get some sort of miraculous flash from God telling me what would suit me and my lifestyle perfectly. Yeah, right.

So all these thoughts swirl round and round my head while I drive 45 minutes to and from work (when I'm able to block out the kids, that is). What the heck AM I gonna do with my life? Now that our housing situation is no longer temporary, what can I do to improve my vocation?

*sigh* I need a shorter drive.

I need a new job

Internet BAD

So I decide to go online the other day to look for horse decals I can stick up in Mary's room. You know--the stickers that are non-permanent and won't ruin your paint and when your kid gets sick of their current room theme can just be ripped off like PRESTO!. Anyway, looking up stuff is BAD. I found a comforter set which is just adorable (and reasonably priced) and--if purchased--would screw up the color scheme that we picked--and already bought--for her room. It's a good thing I've got some pretty solid will power....but it sure is tough! I am considering buying her one of the horse pillows. Mary's a might bit jealous of the Saturn glow-in-the-dark pillow that middle child received and has been grumping about it for a few days. *sigh* BTW--I never did find any decals to stick up. Gotta keep googling, I guess.

Someone asked me the other day when we were going to have a house warming party. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

"He's CUTE!"

Have I mentioned that little Izzy just LOVES baby dolls? I'm still adjusting. Mary Anne was never into them--being more of a stuffed animal/horse lover. Watching Izzy's face light up when she sees a baby doll, or even a live baby, is just priceless.

Well, the other day, she toddled by the box of toys that contains the talking/moving Yoda that Keith got for Christmas. He didn't phase her one bit. She picked him up, called him "BABY!" and announced to all of us, "He's CUTE!"

Yoda is the last toy I would expect any toddler to find cuddly, but she carried him around and babied him like you wouldn't believe. And then we turned him on....

Nope, she didn't freak out. She just sat there mesmerized while her new "cute" doll stood there and told her the story of "A New Hope" while moving his mouth and eyes. That kid is something else.

House update: We didn't get too terribly much done this weekend--just more purchasing. We bought some stuff to decorate the bathroom and TRY to de-emphasize the blue, blue tiles that are EVERYWHERE. We found a comforter set for Keith with a solar system theme (and even bought the Saturn pillow). We also finally picked the colors and bought the paint for Mary/Izzy's room. We decided to match up with Mary's current Care Bear sheet set and bought two different blues and a bright yellow for trim. I did finish scrubbing adhesive off their walls yesterday, so we are now officially ready to paint. I also got some of the massive amounts of weeding done. I don't think the sellers did ANY work to the yard after the deal, 'cause all the flower beds are nothing but weed jungles.

Talk about being OLD

John and I spent most of our weekend working on our new house. John mowed and cleaned out the gutters (which he believes hasn't been done for several years and is probably the reason why the roof is in such bad shape in certain spots). I took the time while Izzy was napping to start washing down the walls in Mary/Izzy's room to get ready for priming/painting. It took me 5 hours (between the two days) to finish about 80% of the room. Hmmm...There was a lot more wallpaper adhesive there than I first thought! Mary helped out at first, but she quickly got bored. At one point she was hauling up a chair, a box, and a load of crayons/coloring books to settle in and watch while *I* did all the work. Then Izzy woke up, and there the room still sits--with glue still stuck to part of one of the walls. Wow. We're NEVER gonna get these rooms done. We'll be sleeping on the couches and on the floor for the next 10 years!

Anyway, after all that work, my body was an aching mess Sunday night and well into Monday. Old, old, old!!

The garage is still a mess of boxes. I was going to make eggs and toast for dinner the other night and started giggling because I realized that I didn't know where the toaster was. My kids weren't so amused.

Mary is spending the week at Girl Scout day camp. I was a bit apprehensive about dropping her off to ride the bus to camp, and even Mary was a bit sheepish at first, but she darted onto that bus (her first "real" bus ride), and was a real trooper. I could tell by the look on her face when I picked her up last night that she had had a blast. It was a bit pricey, but I'm sure glad that we sent her now.

This was supposed to be the kids' last week at our old day care provider's place. But we are still not 100% happy with any of the places we've interviewed, so I guess they'll be there at least until school starts (three more weeks!). I'm seriously considering keeping Keith and Izzy at the current place for the next year and driving the extra 15 minutes out of my way (each way!) to a person I know and trust. Mary is out of luck, though. She has to be somewhere local to get to/from school. But if John drops her off, that leaves only having to find after school care. I'm going to see if the school provides anything like that (the old school did). If I do this, I may still send Keith to a preschool at the new location for a couple days a week. I think it would be good for him to be exposed to more kids his age. Decisions, decisions.

Endnote: farewell to the cats

Just wanted to let everyone know that we did decide to drop off not just Tarquin, but also Winston to the SPCA. There were some tears, and some aggravated "meows", but now that they're gone, John and I are kind of relieved. No more peeing on the carpet, no more chasing after naughty cats running out the door, no more hair balls and cat vomit, and no more RESPONSIBILITY. It's bittersweet. We loved those cats fiercely, but we did feel bad because it seemed we just didn't have the time to care for them properly. We hope they find good homes soon. We think Winston will have the best chance since he's such an adorable-looking and extremely loving cat. Think happy thoughts....

:-(

Moving Day from HELL!!!!! Parts 1, 2, and 3!

Poor John.

Moving day SUCKED.

First off, I couldn't get a U-haul until Sunday the 30th. No biggie at first--we had found out the manager hadn't rented out the apartment until Sept. 1, so we knew we didn't absolutely HAVE to be out the "five days before your lease runs out" crap that they try to sell you (don't get me started). Let's just say that the week before moving, we couldn't seem to get much packing done. I took off work Thursday to try to get some done, but I ended up spending 2 1/2 hours at Sears that morning getting John's out-of-date inspection done on his car (another amusing story for later). So then I went home, got quite a bit done--including scrubbing the bathroom tub--before I then had to leave to go to our new town to 1) register Mary for school and 2) interview another day care. So all told, I got about 2 hours of packing/cleaning done that vacation day off from work.

So, Thursday morning the maintenance man shows up at our place to paint, thinking we've moved out 'cause it's 5 days before the end of the month, and "someone is moving in." "Well, yeah, but not until September 1st," I tell him. Hmmm.... Found out later that day that the apartment manager, finding out that our closing did go through, went ahead and told the new leasees that they COULD move in for August. Umm....sorry, we're not out until Sunday! Gotta admit, she was pretty cool about it. She said she'd sent painters over first thing Monday morning.

Well, we did the best we could. Sunday comes, we get the U-haul, and John starts loading. I'm trying to finish packing up the "loose ends" while he's doing the initial loading. Please, everyone, keep in mind that we couldn't find anyone to watch the kids while we're doing all this. I had two volunteers: one person who is currently 9 months pregnant with three other kids at home (I wouldn't even think of dumping my kids on her like that!), and another friend who is a twenty minute drive in the opposite direction. Sorry, not very convenient. And the kids were NOT very helpful--specifically the littlest one. I tried putting them all into a bedroom to play together, but it just was NOT happening. John had scheduled a friend to come and help around 2:00. Well, 2:00 comes, and we realize we have a problem. There are a LOT more "loose ends" than we figured. We have more crap now than we figured. We ran out of boxes. And the kids are keeping me from helping as much as I should.

John gets his friend (and more boxes), and the two of them load up all the heavy stuff. By the time they had loaded and unloaded the FIRST load, it was after 9:00pm. And they still had to go back to the sellers' new house to pick up the sectional that the couple kindly sold us for $100.00. John's friend did not get home until after 11:00.

At this point, I've had to put the kids to bed, so I'm kinda stuck in the house--and I've got to go to work in the morning for @#$% payroll. John goes back to make another load. He finishes the SECOND load around 3:30am--only to discover that the truck won't start! He's so exhausted, he just comes home and crashes. He probably got around 2 hours sleep before he got up, took me to work, took the kids to day care, and then started in again. We had called U-haul, only to discover that that truck "has a tendency to do that" and that we should keep trying, it'll eventually start! And thankfully, it did (after about 11 tries).

One of my co-workers called in for the day (don't get me started on that either), so I ended up stuck at work until after 2:00. John unloaded the truck then went back and loaded up the THIRD load all by himself (again). I got to help him unload it Monday afternoon (Yay! I actually DID get to help!). We finished up just in time to go pick up the kids from day care.

And here John was getting on to me for getting the 26-footer. "It's too big!" Well, I guess I did ONE thing right that day!

Now we've got a garage FULL of boxes, so we can't park in there. Many of the boxes were so hurriedly packed that they're unmarked. Clothes, food, etc. is all inter-mingled in our over-100 degree garage.

Oh, God. We'll never get unpacked.

Oh, God. Good thing we bought this place. I'm never moving again!

*sigh*

Poor John.