Does anyone else ever wish that there were more hours in a day, more days in a week (or weekend!), more weeks in a month, or more months in a year? I know I am always saying if there were more hours in a day or more days in a week I could get a lot more accomplished, but is that really true?
I feel like I am always on the go. The funny thing is I don't have near as much on my plate as I have in the past, but is sure doesn't feel that way! There have been times, like when I had Tehya (my youngest daughter) that I returned to working 2 or 3 jobs at one time-3 weeks after having her (against doctor's orders, which I heard all about), as well as going to school part time all at the same time. I think this helped age me a little because I used to be able to survive on a couple of hours of sleep...not anymore! Or how about the time when just a couple of years ago (2008, so I guess it's more than a couple) I was working at Sonic as an assistant manager. I worked crazy hours! At one time we had 3 managers (including me) working there, which at the time was a 24 hour store. Yep, I put in 60-70 hour weeks, and mostly 3rd shift, but there were many times that we worked all shifts. This definitely did a number to me, because at one time I had 3 ear infections at once-one ear had a double infection. I never had a single ear infection until then. I also ended up with a very strange ringworm-like internal infection that even the doctor couldn't explain. It took a good month or so to get that mess cleared up-still no explanation as to what it was or how I contracted it. My sleep patterns have been screwed up ever since I had to work those really crazy schedules to. Then about two years ago, I went back to school full time to finish my Associates Degree, while working full time, as well as running my own side business and doing quarter raffles every month...and being an assistant cheer coach-that ended up me being head coach because she wasn't there more often than she was. The bad thing was that was the second year of my program (Accounting Technology) and I honestly don't know how I made it through! It all seems like a big blur looking back on it now.
Life has slowed down considerably since then, but I still feel like I am being pulled in 50 different directions all at once. I still work full time (not in the restaurant industry, thank gods!) and have a side business-which is very part time. I don't have school or quarter raffles anymore, which has taken a lot off my plate for me, but I put other things in their place. I am still the head coach for Tehya's cheer squad-and I now have to come up with new cheer chants and do TWO dance routines instead of one. I am also the Cheer Advisor for the Wee Arrows Board, so I have a lot of meetings and fundraisers to attend. My oldest daughter, Autumn made the middle school football cheer squad, so I will have games to attend. I am also trying to get my garden going, but I need some materials to get that to happen.
There are many times I complain about having too much to do, with so little time to do it, but I try to be thankful for it. I would much rather be busy and stay busy than have nothing to do with my "free" time. I see so many people that seem to just waste their lives away. They might go to work, but that's about it. They don't do anything more than what is really required of them-if that much! It's also a good feeling to know that I what I do benefits many others, not just myself.
Even if we could add time, would we just fill it with more busy work? Most likely, at least I know I would end up doing that. Sometimes we need to MAKE ourselves MAKE time for the unscheduled enjoyment in life. Make time to take your kids to the park. Make time to take the dog for a walk. Make time to go on a date with your significant other. Make time to visit with family and friends. Make time for fun. We get so caught up with wishing we had more time to take care of business, but in reality we want more time to enjoy life. Make time to do that!
...If only there were an extra hour in a day...
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Happy MoTuesday!
This past weekend has been one of the best weekends I have had in a while!
First of all, I took my oldest daughter Autumn up to the high school for her middle school cheer try outs on Friday afternoon around 3:30. They drew numbers to see what order they would go in, well she drew #69. Needless to say, it would be a while before they would get to her. It was a little before 8 pm before she walked out of the school! The high school girls went first, which is the main reason it took so long, but she said there were around 30 middle school girls trying out, all but about 4 or 5 girls were in the same grade. There are only 12 spots on each squad (football and basketball) so she had a 50/50 chance of making the squad (her preference was for football). Sunday morning, I got a text from a cheer dad saying "Congratulations to Autumn!! Good job keeping Football a Wee Arrows thing!!". Well since I was in a bit of a haze (I'll get to that in a minute) I had to reread it again, then I jumped out of bed and fired up the laptop...I didn't even bother with the coffee pot, which is what I normally do first thing in the morning. There sat Autumn freaking out, and said she couldn't check the results because she didn't have her little paper with the website. My dear child has a tendency to lose things like this, so I had it put up. Upon seeing her name under the middle school football cheer roster, we both celebrated with a high five. Then of course she had to call all her little cheerleader friends. I couldn't be more happy for her, even if it means coughing up $300 for a uniform...Oh the things we do for our children.
Saturday was a blast! Had a cookout with great friends and since we are close and our kids are best friends, it is really nice. Well we ate some great food (even if the burgers were a little more charred than I like, the weiners and everything else were really good), shared a few laughs (well a lot) had a few drinks and hung out until 3:00 am (my bedtime is usually 11, midnight at the latest) so this was a pretty good feat for me. So the girls and I didn't get home and in bed until shortly after 3, and Autumn was wide awake at 8, which is very unusual for her. But I guess her excitement and nerves got the best of her. It was funny thought because once she found out and talked to her friends, she pretty much turned into a zombie for the rest of the weekend. It had been a really long time since I was able to hang out with friends and really enjoy myself. The only thing that would have made it perfect was if Corey could have stayed longer. He was able to come and eat with us, but because he had a long and crappy day at work that day (and still had to work the remainder of the holiday weekend) he couldn't stay long. I felt bad for him because I know how crappy that is. For years I always had to work weekends and holidays and could never enjoy the long weekends. Now it's like we reversed roles because we are in different jobs now. I think he has a long weekend coming up for the 4th of July so maybe we can get some fun time in there somewhere.
Sunday we played euchre with a couple of friends. We used to play every weekend but since Corey took this job in October we rarely play since he works all weekend. We had a great time with them as well, of course it doesn't hurt when you win 2 out of 3 games played! They also brought a big tall can of Bud Light Lime Strawberrita, which is Budweiser's version of a margarita. Jill and I split it, and it was actually pretty good-tastes nothing like beer, which is good because I am not a fan of beer! I could see myself drinking quite a few of those if I am not careful. I think it tastes like Hawaiian Punch and Sprite mixed with a slight alcohol taste (nothing bad). So if you like strawberry margaritas, these are worth a try.
Monday was a lazy day. It rained in the morning so whatever motivation I had to do any kind of yard work was killed by that. It's okay I needed a day to recuperate from the weekend. I did a little bit of laundry and that was about it.
So here we are on Tuesday (or I've been calling in MoTuesday since it really does feel like Monday). I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well. Until next time...Peace!
First of all, I took my oldest daughter Autumn up to the high school for her middle school cheer try outs on Friday afternoon around 3:30. They drew numbers to see what order they would go in, well she drew #69. Needless to say, it would be a while before they would get to her. It was a little before 8 pm before she walked out of the school! The high school girls went first, which is the main reason it took so long, but she said there were around 30 middle school girls trying out, all but about 4 or 5 girls were in the same grade. There are only 12 spots on each squad (football and basketball) so she had a 50/50 chance of making the squad (her preference was for football). Sunday morning, I got a text from a cheer dad saying "Congratulations to Autumn!! Good job keeping Football a Wee Arrows thing!!". Well since I was in a bit of a haze (I'll get to that in a minute) I had to reread it again, then I jumped out of bed and fired up the laptop...I didn't even bother with the coffee pot, which is what I normally do first thing in the morning. There sat Autumn freaking out, and said she couldn't check the results because she didn't have her little paper with the website. My dear child has a tendency to lose things like this, so I had it put up. Upon seeing her name under the middle school football cheer roster, we both celebrated with a high five. Then of course she had to call all her little cheerleader friends. I couldn't be more happy for her, even if it means coughing up $300 for a uniform...Oh the things we do for our children.
Saturday was a blast! Had a cookout with great friends and since we are close and our kids are best friends, it is really nice. Well we ate some great food (even if the burgers were a little more charred than I like, the weiners and everything else were really good), shared a few laughs (well a lot) had a few drinks and hung out until 3:00 am (my bedtime is usually 11, midnight at the latest) so this was a pretty good feat for me. So the girls and I didn't get home and in bed until shortly after 3, and Autumn was wide awake at 8, which is very unusual for her. But I guess her excitement and nerves got the best of her. It was funny thought because once she found out and talked to her friends, she pretty much turned into a zombie for the rest of the weekend. It had been a really long time since I was able to hang out with friends and really enjoy myself. The only thing that would have made it perfect was if Corey could have stayed longer. He was able to come and eat with us, but because he had a long and crappy day at work that day (and still had to work the remainder of the holiday weekend) he couldn't stay long. I felt bad for him because I know how crappy that is. For years I always had to work weekends and holidays and could never enjoy the long weekends. Now it's like we reversed roles because we are in different jobs now. I think he has a long weekend coming up for the 4th of July so maybe we can get some fun time in there somewhere.
Sunday we played euchre with a couple of friends. We used to play every weekend but since Corey took this job in October we rarely play since he works all weekend. We had a great time with them as well, of course it doesn't hurt when you win 2 out of 3 games played! They also brought a big tall can of Bud Light Lime Strawberrita, which is Budweiser's version of a margarita. Jill and I split it, and it was actually pretty good-tastes nothing like beer, which is good because I am not a fan of beer! I could see myself drinking quite a few of those if I am not careful. I think it tastes like Hawaiian Punch and Sprite mixed with a slight alcohol taste (nothing bad). So if you like strawberry margaritas, these are worth a try.
Monday was a lazy day. It rained in the morning so whatever motivation I had to do any kind of yard work was killed by that. It's okay I needed a day to recuperate from the weekend. I did a little bit of laundry and that was about it.
So here we are on Tuesday (or I've been calling in MoTuesday since it really does feel like Monday). I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well. Until next time...Peace!
Friday, May 24, 2013
Making Memorial Day Weekend Memorable
A holiday weekend is upon us! I've been looking forward to a 3-day weekend for quite some time now, and it is finally here!
Tomorrow night we are walking up the street to a friend's house for a cook out. Since we are all broke and complain about never having anything to do, we figured why not have a nice get-together with good food, drinks, and company. Our kids are all friends also, so this works out well for us all. I am very much looking forward to it, even if I end up paying for it on Sunday. I have noticed over the last year or two that I can't drink like I did 10 years ago. My body just doesn't recuperate as quickly as it did in my early-mid twenties. Please don't take me for an alcoholic, I rarely even drink anymore, but I have noticed that I get hangovers much easier now than I did back then, and I can't just bounce back the next morning. It usually takes the entire day for me to start feeling like myself, and that includes lots of coffee, a nice hot shower, and trying to stomach some food. But it will be okay, and well worth it. I haven't had much fun as of late because of all the things going on in life the past few months. It is time to let it go and enjoy the night.
With that being said, did you notice that I said I was WALKING up the street to my friend's house? Yes I do live right up the street from her, so that is a feasible thing for me to do. I realize that people's plans may involve driving. If this is the case, PLEASE if you are going to drink, get a designated driver! This is one of those weekends that you hear about drunk driving accidents happening, and sadly people lose their lives. Don't let yourself fall into this category.
Ok, that's enough with the lecture, I am sure we are all old and wise enough to know better. As for the rest of my weekend, I am planning on finishing up the spring cleaning I started about a month ago, and getting the "seedling" veggie plants (although they are too big to call them that) and flowers I got for Mother's Day planted into the ground. Maybe I will squeeze a hike in there on Sunday afternoon since Corey was promised by his supervisor that he would have an early day on Sunday. The weather is supposed to be nice, and that is something we all enjoy doing but don't get the opportunity to do much these days. Sadly, he has to work weekends, and this weekend is no exception, he is working today, tomorrow, Sunday and Monday. Yep, it's a drag, but at least he is working so I try not to complain too much.
In other news, Autumn has cheer try outs today, and I am hoping that goes well for her. She will find out Sunday if she made a squad or not. Naturally, she is nervous (and I am nervous for her) but I think it is good to be a little nervous. She has performed in front of people pretty much all of her life-starting with dance recitals and demos-then on to cheerleading at games. I think she will do just fine, but I am bracing myself in case she doesn't. There are quite a few girls trying out for the 12 spots that are available in her grade level, and many of them are just as good as her. We have talked about the "what if you don't make it" because I want her to stay physically active and involved with school sports for several reasons. I refuse to let my daughters become couch potatoes because that will just lead to them getting lazy and overweight. Not only is that unhealthy but it's unattractive. I realize that comment may have made me sound vain, but it's the truth. Childhood onset diabetes is nothing you want for kids, and with my family history, it's not something I want to chance. Not to mention, being involved with sports in middle and high school gives you so much. You make friends, learn teamwork and other life skills, plus if you find something that you are good at, it can help you get into college! What parent doesn't want that for their children?
I've told both my girls that they should take advantage of every opportunity there is for college, because realistically, Corey and I could never pay for college educations, even at the community college. I had to go on grants and loans for MY degree! (that I am still going to be paying for when they do go to college!) Sad thing is, college degrees don't give you that guarantee for good jobs anymore, so you have to be well rounded as well. I do plan on making my girls work when they are old enough to, just to learn what it is like and to learn more skills. It's competitive out there, and it just gets even moreso as time marches on.
Well, that is all I have to say for today. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend, and remember the true reason for this holiday. Yes the long weekends, get togethers, and the "official" start to summer (although the Summer Equinox isn't until June 21st) are great, but there is a reason we have that liberty to have those things and so much more. We need to take the time out to remember all of the fallen soldiers who died defending these freedoms. I am certainly grateful for their ultimate sacrifice, and I hope you are as well...
Blessed Be!
Tomorrow night we are walking up the street to a friend's house for a cook out. Since we are all broke and complain about never having anything to do, we figured why not have a nice get-together with good food, drinks, and company. Our kids are all friends also, so this works out well for us all. I am very much looking forward to it, even if I end up paying for it on Sunday. I have noticed over the last year or two that I can't drink like I did 10 years ago. My body just doesn't recuperate as quickly as it did in my early-mid twenties. Please don't take me for an alcoholic, I rarely even drink anymore, but I have noticed that I get hangovers much easier now than I did back then, and I can't just bounce back the next morning. It usually takes the entire day for me to start feeling like myself, and that includes lots of coffee, a nice hot shower, and trying to stomach some food. But it will be okay, and well worth it. I haven't had much fun as of late because of all the things going on in life the past few months. It is time to let it go and enjoy the night.
With that being said, did you notice that I said I was WALKING up the street to my friend's house? Yes I do live right up the street from her, so that is a feasible thing for me to do. I realize that people's plans may involve driving. If this is the case, PLEASE if you are going to drink, get a designated driver! This is one of those weekends that you hear about drunk driving accidents happening, and sadly people lose their lives. Don't let yourself fall into this category.
Ok, that's enough with the lecture, I am sure we are all old and wise enough to know better. As for the rest of my weekend, I am planning on finishing up the spring cleaning I started about a month ago, and getting the "seedling" veggie plants (although they are too big to call them that) and flowers I got for Mother's Day planted into the ground. Maybe I will squeeze a hike in there on Sunday afternoon since Corey was promised by his supervisor that he would have an early day on Sunday. The weather is supposed to be nice, and that is something we all enjoy doing but don't get the opportunity to do much these days. Sadly, he has to work weekends, and this weekend is no exception, he is working today, tomorrow, Sunday and Monday. Yep, it's a drag, but at least he is working so I try not to complain too much.
In other news, Autumn has cheer try outs today, and I am hoping that goes well for her. She will find out Sunday if she made a squad or not. Naturally, she is nervous (and I am nervous for her) but I think it is good to be a little nervous. She has performed in front of people pretty much all of her life-starting with dance recitals and demos-then on to cheerleading at games. I think she will do just fine, but I am bracing myself in case she doesn't. There are quite a few girls trying out for the 12 spots that are available in her grade level, and many of them are just as good as her. We have talked about the "what if you don't make it" because I want her to stay physically active and involved with school sports for several reasons. I refuse to let my daughters become couch potatoes because that will just lead to them getting lazy and overweight. Not only is that unhealthy but it's unattractive. I realize that comment may have made me sound vain, but it's the truth. Childhood onset diabetes is nothing you want for kids, and with my family history, it's not something I want to chance. Not to mention, being involved with sports in middle and high school gives you so much. You make friends, learn teamwork and other life skills, plus if you find something that you are good at, it can help you get into college! What parent doesn't want that for their children?
I've told both my girls that they should take advantage of every opportunity there is for college, because realistically, Corey and I could never pay for college educations, even at the community college. I had to go on grants and loans for MY degree! (that I am still going to be paying for when they do go to college!) Sad thing is, college degrees don't give you that guarantee for good jobs anymore, so you have to be well rounded as well. I do plan on making my girls work when they are old enough to, just to learn what it is like and to learn more skills. It's competitive out there, and it just gets even moreso as time marches on.
Well, that is all I have to say for today. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend, and remember the true reason for this holiday. Yes the long weekends, get togethers, and the "official" start to summer (although the Summer Equinox isn't until June 21st) are great, but there is a reason we have that liberty to have those things and so much more. We need to take the time out to remember all of the fallen soldiers who died defending these freedoms. I am certainly grateful for their ultimate sacrifice, and I hope you are as well...
Blessed Be!
Thursday, May 23, 2013
We Saved Our Dream!
So the last post in my blog talked of my family possibly moving due to losing our home. Well, things have done a 180 since that post, but for the better!
This morning Corey called our Relationship Manager about where we were at in the application process...After almost 9 long and antagonizing months, we have been approved for a loan modification. As of now, there is no real threat or worry about being foreclosed. I swear I could have done triple back flips out of my chair when he called to tell me of the news! Have you ever felt like a 1,000 pound weight has been lifted off your shoulders? Yeah, that's how I felt. I honestly can't remember the last time I felt this relieved about something, but then again, I can't remember the last time I was this worried about something either.
This wasn't a subject that I talked with a lot of people about because honestly, I felt like I had failed myself. Corey and I made a lot of stupid mistakes when we were younger (the days I like to refer to as "young and dumb days") and we paid a hefty price for them. We had to file bankruptcy in 2005 because everything had caught up to us from those "young and dumb days". It got so bad that creditors were withdrawing funds from my checking account (that was court approved) without our knowledge and was threatening to take me to court. They even garnished 25% of my wages from one of the 3 jobs I was working at. It got really bad and really ugly. This is also a subject many people didn't know about us because again, I felt like a failure for letting it happen in the first place. But we got past this bankruptcy and worked hard at rebuilding our credit. This was a long, hard and painful lesson to learn, but we certainly learned from it!
In 2008, we were finally in a position to become home owners. We were beyond excited and couldn't wait to find our perfect home. We looked at probably 20 houses in February and March, and found the house that was just right for us. I thought the whole house hunting process was fun (if not exhausting). We should've been on that show House Hunters, except instead of just a show, we would have taken up an entire season! Anyways, on our 7th wedding anniversary, we signed the papers to close on our house. Kind of a cool present to ourselves, huh? Life was all great and dandy...until June 2009 when Corey was laid off the first time, for 14 freakin' months! We were not doing bad until we got to the point that we had to use credit cards to pay for everything. Let me warn anyone that is reading NEVER depend on credit cards! I am sure many of you are thinking "I thought you learned your lesson" which I did. We did get new credit cards, but very rarely used them and when we did, we paid the full balance when we received the bill (with the exception of Home Depot because we had to use the entire credit line to buy materials for a privacy fence to keep Sasha-our husky in the yard!). Well, we ended up maxing out our credit cards to pay utility bills and buy groceries.
We didn't want to declare bankruptcy again (we couldn't anyways because it hadn't been long enough) so we ended up going to a credit counselor and putting all our credit cards into a Debt Management Plan-you close the accounts and pay them off on different terms. Well, in order to start that, we had to pay something to start it up and a set amount every month-which was kind of high. As a result, our other bills, mortgage included, fell behind. We were able to get mostly caught up with everything in February 2012, but then Corey was laid off again in August of that year. We sought help from the Ohio Save The Dream act, but we made too much with his unemployment, and those people dropped us like flies, they said there was nothing else they could do for us. Not even tell us where to go from there. We sought help from our bank. This process started in September. As I stated in the first paragraph, it was long and tedious! Lots and lots of paperwork, followed by even more paperwork. Then continuously sending in paystubs and bank statements, followed by tax return info...Be ready for lots of paperwork is all I can tell you, and be upfront and honest! Now we are approved and waiting on (you guessed it) more paperwork!! Oh well, at least it's more or less signing on agreements and stuff like that.
I certainly hope that no one ever has to face this kind of issue, but please understand that there IS help out there! Even if you are like me and get turned down for government assistance, talk to your bank/mortgage company. It is more expensive for them to foreclose a house than it is to help you save yours, especially if you are more than willing to work with them. Just be ready for a long haul and lots of paperwork.
This morning Corey called our Relationship Manager about where we were at in the application process...After almost 9 long and antagonizing months, we have been approved for a loan modification. As of now, there is no real threat or worry about being foreclosed. I swear I could have done triple back flips out of my chair when he called to tell me of the news! Have you ever felt like a 1,000 pound weight has been lifted off your shoulders? Yeah, that's how I felt. I honestly can't remember the last time I felt this relieved about something, but then again, I can't remember the last time I was this worried about something either.
This wasn't a subject that I talked with a lot of people about because honestly, I felt like I had failed myself. Corey and I made a lot of stupid mistakes when we were younger (the days I like to refer to as "young and dumb days") and we paid a hefty price for them. We had to file bankruptcy in 2005 because everything had caught up to us from those "young and dumb days". It got so bad that creditors were withdrawing funds from my checking account (that was court approved) without our knowledge and was threatening to take me to court. They even garnished 25% of my wages from one of the 3 jobs I was working at. It got really bad and really ugly. This is also a subject many people didn't know about us because again, I felt like a failure for letting it happen in the first place. But we got past this bankruptcy and worked hard at rebuilding our credit. This was a long, hard and painful lesson to learn, but we certainly learned from it!
In 2008, we were finally in a position to become home owners. We were beyond excited and couldn't wait to find our perfect home. We looked at probably 20 houses in February and March, and found the house that was just right for us. I thought the whole house hunting process was fun (if not exhausting). We should've been on that show House Hunters, except instead of just a show, we would have taken up an entire season! Anyways, on our 7th wedding anniversary, we signed the papers to close on our house. Kind of a cool present to ourselves, huh? Life was all great and dandy...until June 2009 when Corey was laid off the first time, for 14 freakin' months! We were not doing bad until we got to the point that we had to use credit cards to pay for everything. Let me warn anyone that is reading NEVER depend on credit cards! I am sure many of you are thinking "I thought you learned your lesson" which I did. We did get new credit cards, but very rarely used them and when we did, we paid the full balance when we received the bill (with the exception of Home Depot because we had to use the entire credit line to buy materials for a privacy fence to keep Sasha-our husky in the yard!). Well, we ended up maxing out our credit cards to pay utility bills and buy groceries.
We didn't want to declare bankruptcy again (we couldn't anyways because it hadn't been long enough) so we ended up going to a credit counselor and putting all our credit cards into a Debt Management Plan-you close the accounts and pay them off on different terms. Well, in order to start that, we had to pay something to start it up and a set amount every month-which was kind of high. As a result, our other bills, mortgage included, fell behind. We were able to get mostly caught up with everything in February 2012, but then Corey was laid off again in August of that year. We sought help from the Ohio Save The Dream act, but we made too much with his unemployment, and those people dropped us like flies, they said there was nothing else they could do for us. Not even tell us where to go from there. We sought help from our bank. This process started in September. As I stated in the first paragraph, it was long and tedious! Lots and lots of paperwork, followed by even more paperwork. Then continuously sending in paystubs and bank statements, followed by tax return info...Be ready for lots of paperwork is all I can tell you, and be upfront and honest! Now we are approved and waiting on (you guessed it) more paperwork!! Oh well, at least it's more or less signing on agreements and stuff like that.
I certainly hope that no one ever has to face this kind of issue, but please understand that there IS help out there! Even if you are like me and get turned down for government assistance, talk to your bank/mortgage company. It is more expensive for them to foreclose a house than it is to help you save yours, especially if you are more than willing to work with them. Just be ready for a long haul and lots of paperwork.
Monday, May 20, 2013
See what happens when I have time to sit and think....It's scary!!
Monday Funday! NOT! Once upon a time, I looked forward to Mondays, because at that time, I was in restaurant management, and my days off were Tuesday and Wednesday...So Monday was "My Friday"..Well, not anymore! Mondays are Mondays! UGH! But the bright side is next week is Memorial Day, so I have a 3-day weekend coming up...Woo hoo!!
This past weekend was mostly uneventful. Almost TOO uneventful. I am not one that is used to not having something going on every single day, so Saturday I about drove myself crazy. Both the kids had things going on, Corey was working and all I had to keep me occupied was cleaning (which I absolutely HATE doing). I mean, I do clean, but I can't stand spending every weekend doing it, so I wanted to do something fun. Well, that can be tricky when you don't have a dime to your name and less than 1/2 tank of gas to last you a week. I don't care to watch a lot of TV, and I enjoy video games, but even they can get boring when you have no other option. So Saturday, I was in a bit of a pissy mood because I had nothing fun to do. It's really depressing to think about. Just a few short years ago (five to be exact), we had plenty of money. We weren't wealthy by any means, but we were able to pay all of our bills on time, and still have plenty left over to get groceries, gas and do something with the kids. Now it is a struggle just to try to pay bills when they are due! We are even in the process of trying to get a loan modification (to prevent our home from foreclosure). I will give you a head's up, if you ever get into financial trouble, this is a VERY long and tedious process! We have been going through it since September, when we were denied assistance from the state. That's another thing, if you try to get assistance from them and get denied like we do, they don't do anything else to help you. It is really a bunch of BS how they treat you afterwards, but oh well. What can you do? I am just hoping that all this paperwork and phone calls we have been put through will be worth it in the end. I really don't know how it will end up.
Corey and I have thought about it and talked it through quite a bit. There is the chance we will lose our house. While it will be terrible if we did, it could actually be a good thing if we can play our cards right. Something him and I have often regretted was staying in our area. We did it so our kids could stay in the same school district and stay close to family. We don't think this was the best thing for us to do, but we didn't know better then. We had no idea that we would deal with Corey being laid off twice since we've lived here, the first time in 2009, and that lasted 14 months. (This is when our financial troubles originally started.) The other was just recently in August 2012, but he found work 2 months later in a different field. The advantage to the job he does now, which is satellite installation is that he can pretty much go anywhere and do his job. In fact, the contracting company he works for often places the techs in different states if they are willing to relocate. While I may not have as easy of a time finding work doing what I do now (administrative/clerical) I do have 15+ years experience working in a variety of restaurants, and most of those years in management. I swore I would never go back to it, but in a case like this, I would certainly reconsider...especially if I get made an offer I couldn't refuse!
As far as the school district is concerned, well, we know from a few posts ago how I feel about our schools now. We are getting ready to be state-ran which means my kids won't have half the programs available to them that we had. I want them to have opportunities and chances to get into a good college someday, but that won't happen in our district. Sadly, many Ohio schools are getting that bad. There just isn't opportunity left here! We wanted to stay close to family, but I don't know what that really did for any of us. I know every family has it's own drama, but ours is a little different because we have family married to family (as in Corey's brother being married to my sister). This makes bad situations 100 times worse for us because no matter what we get caught in it, even after we both express NOT to involve us. There is also other issues involving family but I don't care to get into great detail about them, but they involve my kids. What grinds me about them is that my oldest, Autumn is very intelligent and quite observant (even though she doesn't always let you know that) and sees what is going on around her. I get asked a lot of questions I don't have answers to, and don't feel it is right. But, what do I know? I think if we moved away it would relieve us from drama we don't want or need in our own lives.
So, if we did end up moving, we are thinking the Colorado area. To be perfectly honest, I am not a fan of cold weather, so it took a lot of thinking on my part to agree to that. But, realistically, Colorado would be the best option for our family. It has all 4 seasons (including the cold crap that I am not a big fan of), lots of gorgeous scenery-which I assume means lots of hiking trails...This I have to research a bit more. We'd be close enough to visit family (for short periods of time, of course) but far enough away so that we don't have to deal with their drama that we so want to avoid. Being a military brat, I've lived all over the world, but I have never lived (let alone been in) Colorado, and it's surrounded by lots of states I have yet to see. Like I said earlier, we could both find work out there, that would not be an issue. Not sure about the cost of living or how hard it would be for us to find a place that we could keep our 2 cats and Husky (we'd obviously have to rent for at least a year, if not more). So we still have some homework to do if it comes down to it. Then again, it may not even be an issue if we save the house. We'll just wait and see...
Now, for the record, nothing is set in stone! So if you are a reader and you either know me personally or know someone that knows me personally, PLEASE do not blow up my phone, blog, Google +, Facebook, Twitter, email, or any other form of communication asking me what all this is about. Like my title says, "See what happens when I have time to sit and think? It's scary!" it's just thoughts that cross my mind because I have ALWAYS got a Plan B stashed in my pocket in case Plan A doesn't pan out. In this same weekend I also thought about running for my local government (if I stay here) and moving up to the White House...I also thought about if I do save my home, the thousands of $$ I need to spend fixing this, updating that, etc. etc. I also thought about what color/theme I wanted for my bedroom and what kind of bed I wanted when funds allow me to. I also had other random thoughts, but you see where I am getting at here...
Okay I think that will be all for today. I am curious though, if you have lived or visited in Colorado, please comment with your opinions/suggestions...I may need to think about those on a boring weekend. :)
This past weekend was mostly uneventful. Almost TOO uneventful. I am not one that is used to not having something going on every single day, so Saturday I about drove myself crazy. Both the kids had things going on, Corey was working and all I had to keep me occupied was cleaning (which I absolutely HATE doing). I mean, I do clean, but I can't stand spending every weekend doing it, so I wanted to do something fun. Well, that can be tricky when you don't have a dime to your name and less than 1/2 tank of gas to last you a week. I don't care to watch a lot of TV, and I enjoy video games, but even they can get boring when you have no other option. So Saturday, I was in a bit of a pissy mood because I had nothing fun to do. It's really depressing to think about. Just a few short years ago (five to be exact), we had plenty of money. We weren't wealthy by any means, but we were able to pay all of our bills on time, and still have plenty left over to get groceries, gas and do something with the kids. Now it is a struggle just to try to pay bills when they are due! We are even in the process of trying to get a loan modification (to prevent our home from foreclosure). I will give you a head's up, if you ever get into financial trouble, this is a VERY long and tedious process! We have been going through it since September, when we were denied assistance from the state. That's another thing, if you try to get assistance from them and get denied like we do, they don't do anything else to help you. It is really a bunch of BS how they treat you afterwards, but oh well. What can you do? I am just hoping that all this paperwork and phone calls we have been put through will be worth it in the end. I really don't know how it will end up.
Corey and I have thought about it and talked it through quite a bit. There is the chance we will lose our house. While it will be terrible if we did, it could actually be a good thing if we can play our cards right. Something him and I have often regretted was staying in our area. We did it so our kids could stay in the same school district and stay close to family. We don't think this was the best thing for us to do, but we didn't know better then. We had no idea that we would deal with Corey being laid off twice since we've lived here, the first time in 2009, and that lasted 14 months. (This is when our financial troubles originally started.) The other was just recently in August 2012, but he found work 2 months later in a different field. The advantage to the job he does now, which is satellite installation is that he can pretty much go anywhere and do his job. In fact, the contracting company he works for often places the techs in different states if they are willing to relocate. While I may not have as easy of a time finding work doing what I do now (administrative/clerical) I do have 15+ years experience working in a variety of restaurants, and most of those years in management. I swore I would never go back to it, but in a case like this, I would certainly reconsider...especially if I get made an offer I couldn't refuse!
As far as the school district is concerned, well, we know from a few posts ago how I feel about our schools now. We are getting ready to be state-ran which means my kids won't have half the programs available to them that we had. I want them to have opportunities and chances to get into a good college someday, but that won't happen in our district. Sadly, many Ohio schools are getting that bad. There just isn't opportunity left here! We wanted to stay close to family, but I don't know what that really did for any of us. I know every family has it's own drama, but ours is a little different because we have family married to family (as in Corey's brother being married to my sister). This makes bad situations 100 times worse for us because no matter what we get caught in it, even after we both express NOT to involve us. There is also other issues involving family but I don't care to get into great detail about them, but they involve my kids. What grinds me about them is that my oldest, Autumn is very intelligent and quite observant (even though she doesn't always let you know that) and sees what is going on around her. I get asked a lot of questions I don't have answers to, and don't feel it is right. But, what do I know? I think if we moved away it would relieve us from drama we don't want or need in our own lives.
So, if we did end up moving, we are thinking the Colorado area. To be perfectly honest, I am not a fan of cold weather, so it took a lot of thinking on my part to agree to that. But, realistically, Colorado would be the best option for our family. It has all 4 seasons (including the cold crap that I am not a big fan of), lots of gorgeous scenery-which I assume means lots of hiking trails...This I have to research a bit more. We'd be close enough to visit family (for short periods of time, of course) but far enough away so that we don't have to deal with their drama that we so want to avoid. Being a military brat, I've lived all over the world, but I have never lived (let alone been in) Colorado, and it's surrounded by lots of states I have yet to see. Like I said earlier, we could both find work out there, that would not be an issue. Not sure about the cost of living or how hard it would be for us to find a place that we could keep our 2 cats and Husky (we'd obviously have to rent for at least a year, if not more). So we still have some homework to do if it comes down to it. Then again, it may not even be an issue if we save the house. We'll just wait and see...
Now, for the record, nothing is set in stone! So if you are a reader and you either know me personally or know someone that knows me personally, PLEASE do not blow up my phone, blog, Google +, Facebook, Twitter, email, or any other form of communication asking me what all this is about. Like my title says, "See what happens when I have time to sit and think? It's scary!" it's just thoughts that cross my mind because I have ALWAYS got a Plan B stashed in my pocket in case Plan A doesn't pan out. In this same weekend I also thought about running for my local government (if I stay here) and moving up to the White House...I also thought about if I do save my home, the thousands of $$ I need to spend fixing this, updating that, etc. etc. I also thought about what color/theme I wanted for my bedroom and what kind of bed I wanted when funds allow me to. I also had other random thoughts, but you see where I am getting at here...
Okay I think that will be all for today. I am curious though, if you have lived or visited in Colorado, please comment with your opinions/suggestions...I may need to think about those on a boring weekend. :)
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Baby, It's Beautiful Outside!
If you didn't see, I am in process of learning this whole blogging thing. Just when I think I have something figured out, I get proven otherwise...Story of my life! So please bear with me...
Anyways, on to the topic of the day. It is absolutely gorgeous outside today! While I love the job I work today, it's days like this that make me miss working outside. But it's okay, I go on walks everyday on my lunch break, at least when the weather is cooperating with me. I enjoy those walks quite a bit. Not only is it great exercise and gets me off my butt for a little bit, but I do a lot of thinking to. I like to think that some of my best thinking is done while taking these walks. When I am having a bad day, my walks provide stress relief. Sometimes I cry on my walks, not a full on sob fest, but we all need to let go sometimes. Regardless of what is going on during the day, I always feel much better after my walks. I enjoy seeing the different wildlife, such as this turtle that was walking from the pond one day.
That particular day was a horrible day for me, but seeing him (or her) made it better. You can't really tell by the picture, but he/she was pretty darn big! The biggest one I've ever seen out in it's natural habitat, and I was able to get pretty close without scaring him/her off. It made my day that particular day. I hope one day I see the turtle again.
Another thing I enjoy doing outside on days like this, especially this time of year is gardening. I started gardening about 7 years ago, and I am still trying to get better at it (kind of like this blog, lol). Some years I get a good harvest, others well maybe not so much. In the past, I have worked very chaotic schedules, which was a big part of whether or not my garden did well. Last year I didn't do one, because I couldn't get my husband Corey to get the "new" garden plot tilled. I couldn't plant on my old spot because I had just buried my fur baby (cat) there. Normally I start planting on mother's day, but because my plot still wasn't tilled and the fact that it was only 50 degrees (with a frost advisory for the next two nights) I decided against it. However, this weekend I will be getting the first batch of plants into the ground. Autumn and Tehya both made me planter pots with beautiful flowers for Mother's Day, like they do every year and one of my coworkers gave me a few seedlings to plant in the vegetable garden. So I have something to start with anyways. I also need to get busy weeding the flower beds, butterfly garden, and Dixie-Kitty's grave. That part I am not looking forward to. I can't wait to have fresh tomatoes from the garden though, my mouth is watering just thinking about the delicious BLT sandwiches that I will be able to have in a couple of months!
We used to enjoy camping during the summer, but unfortunately because of Corey's job I don't think we will be doing much of that. He has to work weekends and there is no way he can get out of it. That's kind of a drag, but at least my parents-in-law will be taking the girls camping at Indian Lake in about a month. They all enjoy that quite a bit, and it's good for them to spend time with their grandparents, especially as busy as we get in the summer with cheerleading. I have to admit, part of me is jealous that they get to go while I have to work (no more vacation time until August...the end of summer of course!). It does give me a mini-vacation to have evenings alone or with just Corey and I. Not that we go out and do anything, but it's nice not having to cook and clean after everyone for a week. I think that may be even better than a vacation!
Even though we can't go camping this summer, we will still have opportunities to go hiking this summer, which is another thing we really enjoy doing together during the nice weather. Tehya tends to play tour guide, which is cute, but gets on Autumn's nerves. Sometimes it also makes it difficult to see the wildlife that is around because she doesn't always know how to keep quiet. If it's not too hot and dogs are permitted, we take our husky Sasha. She likes the hikes to, but she gets thirsty really easy so we don't take her if it's too hot out. One thing we all have to watch out for this year is ticks. I hear they are already bad, and the warm weather is just starting! Those things creep me out! Remember to always check each other before going home/getting in your car!
I can go on and on forever about how I love to be outside during beautiful weather like today, but then I would be on a computer all day instead of spending outside where we should all be...
Anyways, on to the topic of the day. It is absolutely gorgeous outside today! While I love the job I work today, it's days like this that make me miss working outside. But it's okay, I go on walks everyday on my lunch break, at least when the weather is cooperating with me. I enjoy those walks quite a bit. Not only is it great exercise and gets me off my butt for a little bit, but I do a lot of thinking to. I like to think that some of my best thinking is done while taking these walks. When I am having a bad day, my walks provide stress relief. Sometimes I cry on my walks, not a full on sob fest, but we all need to let go sometimes. Regardless of what is going on during the day, I always feel much better after my walks. I enjoy seeing the different wildlife, such as this turtle that was walking from the pond one day.
Another thing I enjoy doing outside on days like this, especially this time of year is gardening. I started gardening about 7 years ago, and I am still trying to get better at it (kind of like this blog, lol). Some years I get a good harvest, others well maybe not so much. In the past, I have worked very chaotic schedules, which was a big part of whether or not my garden did well. Last year I didn't do one, because I couldn't get my husband Corey to get the "new" garden plot tilled. I couldn't plant on my old spot because I had just buried my fur baby (cat) there. Normally I start planting on mother's day, but because my plot still wasn't tilled and the fact that it was only 50 degrees (with a frost advisory for the next two nights) I decided against it. However, this weekend I will be getting the first batch of plants into the ground. Autumn and Tehya both made me planter pots with beautiful flowers for Mother's Day, like they do every year and one of my coworkers gave me a few seedlings to plant in the vegetable garden. So I have something to start with anyways. I also need to get busy weeding the flower beds, butterfly garden, and Dixie-Kitty's grave. That part I am not looking forward to. I can't wait to have fresh tomatoes from the garden though, my mouth is watering just thinking about the delicious BLT sandwiches that I will be able to have in a couple of months!
We used to enjoy camping during the summer, but unfortunately because of Corey's job I don't think we will be doing much of that. He has to work weekends and there is no way he can get out of it. That's kind of a drag, but at least my parents-in-law will be taking the girls camping at Indian Lake in about a month. They all enjoy that quite a bit, and it's good for them to spend time with their grandparents, especially as busy as we get in the summer with cheerleading. I have to admit, part of me is jealous that they get to go while I have to work (no more vacation time until August...the end of summer of course!). It does give me a mini-vacation to have evenings alone or with just Corey and I. Not that we go out and do anything, but it's nice not having to cook and clean after everyone for a week. I think that may be even better than a vacation!
Even though we can't go camping this summer, we will still have opportunities to go hiking this summer, which is another thing we really enjoy doing together during the nice weather. Tehya tends to play tour guide, which is cute, but gets on Autumn's nerves. Sometimes it also makes it difficult to see the wildlife that is around because she doesn't always know how to keep quiet. If it's not too hot and dogs are permitted, we take our husky Sasha. She likes the hikes to, but she gets thirsty really easy so we don't take her if it's too hot out. One thing we all have to watch out for this year is ticks. I hear they are already bad, and the warm weather is just starting! Those things creep me out! Remember to always check each other before going home/getting in your car!
I can go on and on forever about how I love to be outside during beautiful weather like today, but then I would be on a computer all day instead of spending outside where we should all be...
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