I've moved!!

Join me over at www.movingforward76@wordpress.com -- I needed a change...I've imported all my old posts over there though..so it's like home....but not. Just what I was looking for :)

schedule backwards My ;)

Only a few days in between my last blog...I'd say I'm improving! I would like to get back to posting almost every day, I just need to get back into the habit and find a good time during the day that I can stick with. Even if no one checks up on it anymore, when I was writing in here more frequently it felt nice to have a place to go and download all the thoughts in my head..among other things.

I'd say the best time for blogging would be after my night shift, about 8:30AM...but that might not be the best thing. Sometimes I'm pretty tired and I might turn out a bunch of illiterate gibberish! It might be my only option though, so I'll have to make it work. Usually I get home around 8:15am and eat breakfast and wind down till about 9am. Then I go to bed till around 3pm when Taylor gets home from school. I wouldn't mind sleeping till 4 or 5 but it's hard going back to sleep after all the commotion with the dogs and crap. So I usually get up and get dressed and head to the daycare to pick up Audrey. She has a blast there and loves it to death, but sometimes I feel guilty for having her there most of the day while mommy sleeps. I shouldn't feel bad, because half the time when I pick her up she's having so much fun she doesn't want to leave..yet my conscience still knocks at me from time to time. I think I just miss her sometimes, imagine that!

Anyway, after I pick her up I come back home and start dinner/ help with homework...catch up on housework. By the time Andrew gets home and we have dinner and clean up the girls have about 45 min left before bedtime at 8 pm. They both have to get up so early in the morning (5:30am) that we make sure they fit in at least 9 hours of sleep. it all makes for a pretty fast night, and time flies, cause at 8pm after we tuck the girls in, I lay down for a nap too. I only get about 5-6 hours during the day, so taking a nap before I go into work helps me not be too tired during my shift. It seriously cuts down on my chill time though...but at least I'm not a complete mess during my shift.

Anyway I better get off here, it's 9:30 and I'm late for bed! I got home a little later today because I was busy at work writing about 10 different reports on a new resident that is a pistol! He made for one interesting morning, I'll say that! I hope tomorrow morning is more smooth....I'm used to the drama, but I'd do without gladly :)

A New Day

Testing. Testing. Anyone still out there?

Wow. Yes I know it's been a while. Damn it. The days spin by entirely too fast sometimes and in the shadows, left behind, are all the things I cherish, love and enjoy. As I write this though, I'm vowing to get a grip and get back to some of the things that I've let go over the past few months...even year. It's been a inconsistent one, that is for sure.


So heading things off in the right direction...months ago I promised pics from Paris, and FINALLY I'm making good on that promise. It took me long enough, I know.

Anyway, I scanned a handful and I love how they turned out. The look very vintage. Which is good and BAD. Owning pictures that look this old must mean I'm old. OUCH sista!

On to the pics... (click to see them larger)



Me being...Me :) Hiding from a picture! In Paris! The nerve!!


Someone getting revenge and taking my pic while taking theirs..obviously. I swear, it's so much better taking the pics, rather than being in them!


The strip. Definitly intimidating to drive in..not that I tried.


My biggest "man crush" ever. I was completly gaga. And yes I was married at the time..what can I say? I was only 22! hehe - Anyway, as you can see, he wasn't the most studly guy out there, but his personality won me over..and his lips...and smooth scalp. Did I say that? Nevermind. lol. Anyway, I was always trying to sneak pics of him. haha



This is the gang we were with, minus me. Just a random group of soldiers that decided to rent some BMW's and drive up to Paris for the New Year. It was damn cold out there...but the scotch helped warm me up :) I love Andrew in this pic.

McDonalds is stingy

I'm at work, it's 3am and I'm posting a blog....awesome eh?

It would be even better if I didn't have to pay 2.99 for 2 hours of internet time. McDonalds is right across the street and they have wifi, but it's not free....how lame. I won't be doing this very often, but it's cool every once in a while.

SO yeah, I got the full time position, and I'm officially paid to be a night owl. It's pretty easy money if you ask me. I still need to get in a routine during the day though. It will be easier once Taylor is back in school and Audrey goes to daycare. Right now they're both home with me all day, so I don't get near as much sleep as I'd like too. In due time though.

This past weekend was my first weekend not working in AGES....it was awesome.

Anyway...I need to go do a "bed check"....I have to go look in their rooms every 15 min....fun stuff!

Laney`s Original Inkblot Test Outcome C - The Scientist. Based on the descriptions you chose, you have quite a unique mind. You are creative, introverted, and find it hard to meet new people. You are constantly looking for new methods and ideas, and find excitement in learning. Click Here to Take This Quiz

Quizzes and Personality Tests

My fingers are crossed!

Usually I don't have much time on the computer for blogging or emailing after Thursday. When everyone else is gearing up for the weekend, I'm gearing up for a long weekend at work. Fri-Mon my hours are usually so crazy the only thing I want to do when I'm home is sleep!

Last Friday when I went to work I found out that there was a full time position open, Midnight till 8am M-F. I put in for it, and hopefully tomorrow I'll see if I got it. It would be perfect because I'd still put Audrey in part-time care during the day so I could get some sleep, and then I'd always be home for when Taylor got out of school, and to make dinner and all that stuff. Not too mention I'd get weekends off! That would be sweet! Anyway, I'll let you know when I know.

Tomorrow my job has a company picnic thing. All the residents families are invited, as well as staff and our families. They're going to give tours of one of the cottages and have all sorts of games and face painting for the kids. It should be fun, and the girls will get a kick out of getting to see where I work.

There's nothing else going on really. I just re-covered from work yesterday, and today I was out all day registering Audrey for pre-school, getting my hair done, and doing a little shopping...fun fun.

Orange

What color is your soul painted? Orange Your soul is painted the color orange, which embodies the characteristics of balance, heat, enthusiasm, flamboyance, playfulness, aggression, over-emotion, danger, desire, strengthens the ability to concentrate, attraction, adaptability, and stimulation. Orange falls under the element of Fire, and symbolizes glory and fruits of the earth.

Let go of your heart...let go of your head..

That's some of the chorus to a song by David Gray, called "Babylon II" from his album "White Ladder". I'm currently in love with ANYTHING this man sings. Obsessed actually. This song in particular never gets old to me. "This Year's Love" is another song I can listen too over and over and over...it drives Andrew insane, haha. He hates him.

Also, Colbie Caillat finally has her first album out. I've been a fan of hers for a long time, through Myspace. It's called "Coco" and I know EVERY word to almost every song. I've played it in HEAVY rotation, thank you very much :) I can't get enough of her.

Her official fan site is www.colbiecaillatmusic.com if you want to check her out.

Bzzz Bzzzz

OK, so I'm a day late. Better than a week huh?

Yesterday we finally cleared the old house, THANK GOD. Handing those keys over felt great! We had just worked our asses off trying to get every little thing perfect over there and eventually it became very annoying to even look at it. How anal does the army want you to be? Care for a few examples? Window tracks is one, our tracks are white and there's about 3 little crevices on them and to pass inspection they have to be spotless with no dust what so ever...corners and all. Sounds easy enough, but it's a pain. Also all our base board heater vents had to be taken apart and wiped down an vacuumed. I cut my finger a few times doing that...the metal fins are sharp! Basically there couldn't be a spec of dust in the place..they even take out the kitchen cabinet drawers and look at the drawer TRACKS for dust! How damn silly is that?!?! The eventual deal breaker was the floors, both bathrooms, the kitchen, the laundry room and the front mud room were all tile and they told us we needed to strip all the previous wax off the tile and then apply 3 coats of fresh wax. Andrew and I got the bathroom floors stripped and we threw in the towel. It's not that it's too hard, but it's very time consuming and we had our inspection coming up in a few days, and we didn't know where we were going to get the time to finish it all. So we found the name of a cleaning team, because if you hire one, when the army comes to inspect your quarters they only look for damages and then the cleaning team is held accountable for the cleaning standards of the place. We figured since we'd done just about everything but the floors we would get a decent rate, but as it turned out we still paid $250...I was not happy. For that rate, I might as well not have cleaned a damn thing, and basically all the cleaning we did was in vain. I had our oven looking new...racks and all....do you have any idea how much I hated doing that? Grrrr. The cleaning team didn't care, but oh well. At least the floors were out of our hands and it made yesterdays inspection go very quick. He checked for damages, there weren't any...we handed over our keys, end of story.

So that's the scoop on the old place. I'm so glad to be done with it. Words cannot express!!

On top of all the moving stuff, Andrew has been in the field this week. It's only till Friday though. I feel like I do nothing but running errands all day and dropping off kids and picking them up. I worked Monday, but supposedly had off Tuesday. We have Cottage meetings on Tuesdays though, so that lasted a few hours in the morning, and then I had to be back for 4 hours that afternoon to get re-certified in CPR and first-aid. I got off work around 4pm and had just enough time to get back to the house, get the girls dressed for soccer and get to their games that night. They were at 2 different times, so I was out there until after 8 that night. Then yesterday Taylor had guitar lessons from 1:00pm to 1:30 and then I had to pick her up and be at the clearing appointment by 2pm. It was a rush.

Today has been chill though, I'm finally catching up on some laundry, and getting the last few boxes unpacked. The only thing on the schedule is soccer tonight, so I can't complain too much.

Oh! Last night Taylor and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie! I waited for Andrew to come home, and then we went to the 10pm showing, so it's wasn't out until after midnight. It's was nice though, and the movie was one of the best yet. It was a definite treat! Well deserved I might add :)

Tomorrow it's back to the grind for me, I always work Fridays, Saturday's and Sundays...and then a few days in the middle of the week. I'm sticking with my job for now, I've gotten used to being called god awful names and having things thrown at me on occasion....sad but true. You can't be the "good guy" and being doing your job right, where I work. Usually if your doing your job well and holding the kids accountable your getting called names and making teenage boys very angry at you. Ah well. Like I said, I'm getting used to it. Sometimes it's even amusing. That's bad huh? ;)

This is getting long so I'd better go. I'll have to try and make a post in the next few days about our new place on post. It's really nice. We have new carpet, nice tiled floors, all new appliances and even new bathrooms. Our place was renovated, so it's the first time EVER we've moved in a place and never had anyone use our kitchen sink before...or our fridge, or stove, and only our germs on the carpet...it rocks!! Anyway, I'm glad I got that out, cause I guess now I don't need to write about it in the next post...it was hard to hold in.

Oh yeah!? Did I mention we even have a garage door opener? Awesome huh? That's a damn luxury for us non-home-owners!

G'night

Finally got the internet at our new place, so I'll update tomorrow on what's been goin down on my side of town..

I would tonight but I'm freaking tired. The girls had soccer till after 8 tonight and then I had to go to the old house and tie up some loose ends so it's ready to clear tomorrow. Clearing Army housing is no fucking joke..they make it a complete pain in the ass and just plain exhausting. Hopefully tomorrow will be the end of it though.

I haven't even had time to go see the new Harry Potter movie....AND....I have the new book and am only on the 5th chapter. Yes, I'm a dork and a big fan, I'll admit it. So it's pretty damn sad that even Mr. Potter has been pushed back on the priority list! What has my world come too?

Moving on!

Yes.

It is about time I update my poorly neglected blog!

The house thing fell through. The appraisal came back low and the sellers wouldn't budge the asking price...so at that point there wasn't much left to debate. Everything happens for a reason though, so we weren't to bothered by it. We could have very easily gotten in way over our head with the house, it needed a lot of work and it would have been stressful as all get out.

So that's the scoop on the house.

After it fell through we just happen to come up on the list for housing on post, and we went ahead and accepted it. The past few days Andrew and I have been moving our stuff to the new place. We have all our stuff moved but now we have to clear the other place with housing. Unfortunately we have 3 rooms to paint among other cleaning crap.....

Anyway, we've been swamped. Hopefully by the end of next week things slow down and we have a chance to get more settled in the new house.

I need to get going...but I will say that the new place ROCKS...but more on that later :)

Step By Step

Soooo....lemme see. What's happened in my world lately? Nothing too drastic, but that's how I like it! We are one step further in buying that house, yesterday the financing was approved by the underwriter...whoo hoo! For a while there, it was a big hassle, and the bank we started out with isn't the one we ended up with, but I like where we are now, so I have no complaints.

I'm excited about buying our first house, but nervous at the same time...plus dreading all the work that's ahead of us if everything does work out. It's worth it though, I just have to keep reminding myself that. Everything good comes at a price.

My job is still a love/hate relationship, but I'm finding out that it's a pretty common feeling in the "working world" so I try to keep my complaining at a minimum. My friend, and ex-upstairs neighbor doesn't have to work though, and I'm pretty jealous and remember those days fondly. It was boring at times, but it was nice having so much time to waste!

In other news my birth father is coming up to see us in a few weeks! He's going to get to see Taylor graduate the 5th grade...which is a pretty big thing in her school, so I think it's awesome he'll be there to witness it all, and plus, Taylor will love it. I have to work some of the days he'll be visiting, but Andrews off the whole time, so it will all work out ok. I can't wait to show him some of Northern NY. Have I mentioned how much I love it up here? I'm sure I have!

Last week I finally pulled out my camera and wiped the dust off of it...it had been a while! We went for a walk and I took come pictures of the town we live in. It's nothing fancy, but I love Carthage so I took all kinds of pictures of some of the local businesses and of other random stuff. I'll post them up on my photo site today or tomorrow, so be sure to check them out. I also have a few more family pics up there that I took last week. I put the site back to being password protected though, so if you don't have it, just send me an email and I'll be glad to pass it along!

Just a lil quiz

House hunting

Tomorrow is my 12 year anniversary! Cool eh? Andrew's actually got the day off too! I don't, but I only work until 1:30 so that leaves us plenty of time to do something special.

We are looking at another house that's right around the corner from our neighbors that used to live upstairs from us. They moved out about a week ago, and it's different not having them right upstairs....sad actually. Who would have ever thought we'd miss upstairs neighbors? They are great people though, and although the house they bought isn't very far away, it's too far in my opinion. So then we found this house that's real close to their house, and we had to do a walk through. It looks decent from the outside and has a awesome back yard, and is on a nice quiet street. Inside...well...that's a whole different story! It needs some serious updating, and looks right out of the 70's in every room you go into, complete with rainbow shag carpet.

There is a lot of work to do in there, and it would have to be little by little. The only plus side to all the work that needs to be done is the price is a lot cheaper than if it was turn-key ready. Once we updated it, we could really turn a profit if we wanted to sell it....although I don't see us wanting to anytime soon.

Andrews regimental Chief Warrant Officer told him that if he wanted to stay in Fort Drum until he retired, that it wouldn't be a problem. So if and when we actually get a house....we could be there for a while. I love it up here, so I wouldn't be complaining either.

So tomorrow, we are going back to the house to measure a few things and make sure our furniture would fit, and if all goes well, we're going to write up an offer and see what happens!

Based on our last experience of trying to get a house we wanted, I'm not getting my hopes up too high, but it would be nice if it all went through ok. Time will tell.

Anyway, that's what little news I have. I've still been working a lot and depending on the day I either love my job or hate it. It's sooo situational. I guess a lot of jobs are like that though!

F

God. I suck at this blog thing lately.

Hmm. I suck at a lot of things lately.

Like keeping up with family & friends.

I've just been so fucking distracted.

We've been trying to get a house. If it's not one thing it's another though, and I'm losing my faith more each day on it. Which gets me down a little cause I really like the house. It's surrounded by trees, and is down a long wooded road, with almost 2 acres of land. Not to mention the inside, which is really nice. Anyway, I'm done with talking about it, it just gets me thinking about it again...


Besides that...I guess there's not a whole lot to report. I like my job less and less, but it's a job and it pays well, so I'll deal with it for now.


Andrews at a military ball tonight. I chose not to go...never was much for the formal affairs. Instead I went and bought a bottle of wine and am chilling at the house with the kiddies. Much more fun if you ask me!


Not much has changed huh??

Spring snow

Wow! A new post! Unbelievable huh?

It actually seems like it's been longer than it really has since my last post. So much seems to happen in one day, that by the end of it, it seems more like a week has passed than just a measly 24hrs.

On Easter I worked a double (8am-midnight) so me and the easter bunny didn't get to hang as usual. I ate a decent dinner in our non-secure facility though. hmmph.

Anyway, without getting into a lot of details, the point here is that I work A LOT. Random shifts too....as unpredictable as the weather.


Speaking of weather!! ( nice transition eh?) We've been getting snow for the past 2 weeks. And no, I'm not kidding. We are lucky to get in the mid thirties and for it to be cloudy w/0 sleet or snow. Apparently New York isn't ready for spring yet? I'll be the first to let you know when it is though, so stay tuned!!

Back to work...

Did I say I work a lot already? Random shifts? Weird hours? Yeah?

Like today for example: I worked 7am-3pm and then I have to go back and work midnight till 8am Sunday morning.

Gotta love shifts like that. (but most likely not)

And then today for the first time I was left in charge of a handful of boys that treated me like a substitute teacher...you remember those days, yeah? They were trying to pull so much shit it wasn't even remotely funny. I hung in there for a little while, and then eventually something clicked in my head and I said to myself "Is this how you wanna play? GAME ON " - and for the most part things got better....they still tried to get away with things occasionally, but nothing near what it was before I put my foot down.

It's kinda funny though, because a lot of the kids approach me and ask if "I'm this quiet all the time" and all I ever tell them is that I don't really have anything to say. And it's true. I listen. I learn. If I need to talk I do...and if I don't...I don't. When they tested me today though, and I reacted the way I did, and didn't put up with it, I think they were all a little surprised. A lot of people think that when your quiet, your shy. I beg to differ though, as that's not always the case. I learn a lot from just listening and observing people. More so than if I were to be running my mouth constantly.


Everyday at my job I learn something new about myself...or if it's not new, it's further confirmed. Like last weekend when I spent all my time in the girls cottage, I realized that I'm just not one of those peppy ass females that talks constantly and is excited about anything and everything. I'm just not that easily amused. There was other female staff on shift that blended right in, so it's not an age thing...it's just a certain type of girl/woman. I guess I'm the serious type, not in any stuck-up way, but just more reserved than the average chick. But that's ok. It's not the MOST common thing, but it's not uncommon either..theres plenty of other girls out there like me. We're just a little more rare. Which makes us special BTW ;)


Anyway so that's THAT. And nothing more.


I have this creeping feeling that I've turned this blog into one hell of a boring read...so sorry for that.


PS- Now that I think about it, I should have written about why you NEVER go to the E.R. on Friday the 13th ....cause not only does it take forever to get seen, strange things happen...or gross things...you choose. I pick gross. I know..I was there. Anyway, I should have written about it, cause it would have made for a much more interesting post! Maybe next time. ;)

I Rock!

This week was intense...that's all I have to say. We had "Therapeutic Crisis Training" all week, otherwise known as "TCI" training. It all built up to a 3 series test today, that had me on pins and needles all week....I was so afraid I'd mess something up and fail. I'd try to remind myself to be confident and stop worrying so much, but it just wasn't happening.

Part of the test was 3 different restraints we had to do without committing any "safety violations" -- we practiced them for 3 days and I was still messing up stupid things. Something as simple as grabbing to low on the wrist is an automatic fail...so I'm sure my nerves didn't help anything. Anyway, my body hurts from all the lunges I had to do while practicing. I'm talking 8 hours of lunges people!! That's some crazy shit.


To keep the story short though, I passed all the tests with no problems, and I even got 100 on the written test! When it was all done and over with I felt so DAMN GOOD..like a thousand bricks had been lifted off my shoulders, and that's no exaggeration!

Anyway, so that was my week. Stressful to say the least. When I got home at night all I wanted to do was sleep and maybe study a little bit. It sucked. B-I-G- T-I-M-E.

I also realized that when it comes to talking about what I went through as a child, as much as I think I'm ok with it...I'm really not. We had an exercise where I thought that it would be no biggie mentioning my past with adoption and foster care, but the minute I started getting into the details, my voice would quiver and I'd start getting all these nervous ticks. It's like, even though my mind was trying to say I was alright with sharing, something deeper within wasn't having it. At least not as cool and collected as I wanted it to come across. Not being able to control it, kinda (really) pissed me off. From now on though I'm staying away from the subject. I had this big idea that me coming from a similar background would some how help me relate to the kids in the home...but over the past week I've realized that mentioning something like that would put the focus on me, when it should truly be on the child, and if I'm going on about my experiences in the system, that's not really helping them as much as me just listening to their personal experiences. Did that make any sense?? Bare with me...it's Friday ;)

And I'm off tommorow! Oh yeah!! I'm going to be living it up, no doubt about it. I won't have another day off until next Sunday...and that's a maybe. So I'm going to cherish it!

Adjusting?

Right now my new job "training" is kicking my ass. Not that it's overly hard or stressful, I'm just not used to trying to balance work and family time. I've been working a TON of hours, which isn't helping either. The other day I had a shift in the cottage until 10 at night and then had to get right back at it the next morning at 6 am. I know it's not THAT horrible or anything, I'm just not used to it yet, so it's been challenging to touch base with my own children, let alone other people. There are days where I only see Taylor for 30 minutes at best.

Anyway, I'll get off my soap box. I had more to say, but I'm wiped out for the night. I just hope my family out there understands and bears with me for a little while -- as soon as I don't feel so overwhelmed I'm going to get back in the swing of things. (I promise!!) I will be glad when this 3 weeks of training is up and maybe I can have some say in the hours I work...that is FOR SURE.

Anyway..much love to you all, and I'm thinking of you. (Mary & Tim included!) :)

Alarm clocks are EVIL

Andrew ended up extending his leave until the end of this week, so we could have another week to sort out child care, and yesterday I started "training" - I had to get up around 6am so I could leave by 7:30...my brain just isn't used to getting up that early anymore! I mean, I had to set an alarm clock for gods sake! The travesty!

Today is actually what they call "cottage time" which is pretty much what I'll be doing every day once training is over, it will be my first visit where I'm not observing but actually integrating myself. I'm a tad nervous, but I should be alright.

The thing is, it's 4:20am right now..and I had to get up around 3:50am....EEEKKKK. My shift is from 5:30am- 1:30pm. Needless to say, coffee will be my savior today! I like my Red Machine, but I don't think it's going to do the trick this morning.

Anyway..off I go. Zombie mode back in effect.....

I'm Confused

The last week has been sort of crazy..in my head that is. I got the job and I start training Monday, but since finding out the news I'm not even sure I want it any more. Finding childcare has been a pain, and where I want to put Audrey has a waiting list. It's the child care center on post and one of the top child care centers in the nation. I used to work for them, so I know first hand how nice it is. They have a waiting list for full-time care though, and can't even give you an estimate on how long it will be until you get offered care. They offer part-time care but the hours they offer are less than ideal and wouldn't work around Andrews schedule at all. We have a few more small town places, but they really haven't impressed me so far...so I'm hesitant. I love my girls to death and I'm beyond picky, if ya can't tell!

All that mess has me thinking twice about taking the job, and then when I think of all the time I will be giving up it messes with my head too. I'll be working a lot of weekends, a good amount of nights...and who knows how hard it will be to take some vacation if I want too. I don't want to be working if family comes down to see us, and I wanted to be able to drive down to Kansas at least once this year so I could visit those who can't come see me.

I have those reasons, and sometimes I think it's also just cold feet...and maybe it's just all the sudden change that's making me nervous.

As of Wednesday I had said I wasn't going to take the job, but just over 24 hours later I'm not so sure. I can't make up my damn mind, and Andrew really doesn't help much. On one hand he sees how the money will really help us out, and on the other he sees the sacrifice of family time for it, so he's divided too.

Feel free to offer any advice or suggestions. Do you think it's just my cold feet talking?

We are also looking into selling Andrews car (it's paid off) and getting a Toyota Prius. I've mentioned it to him for ages because I love how good it is for the environment, and the 60MPG doesn't hurt either! Andrew's never been too excited about it cause he's always wanted a jeep, but we just recently watched "An Inconvenient Truth" (the documentary about global warming by Al Gore) and it's really got his head turning. Now he's all for the Prius, and I'm seriously impressed!

We test drove a Prius today and let me tell you...that's one bad ass little car. It has a "smart key" that senses when the car is near, so as your walking up to the car, even if the key is in your pocket it automatically unlocks the car. You don't even need the key to start it....theres a little button on the console that you push that starts it. It's crazy shit man. The console consists of a touch screen that controls everything in the car...no dials or anything, plus when you put your car in rear to back up, the console turns into a little TV and the camera that's in the back of the car shows you everything behind you as your backing up. And that's just some of the cool things about it..it nothing like I've ever seen before. One would think it would add up to a hefty price, but on average they are only a little over $23,000, and they come with a $1500 tax credit at the end of the year..not too mention all the money you can save in gas. Up here in NY, it's nice to save some money on gas, cause the prices are high as hell. This summer we will no doubt be tipping over $3.00 again, if not sooner.

They appraised Andrews car really well too, so that works in our favor too. We are trying not to rush into anything though and be wise about it. I can not work and we would be ok financially, but if we took on another car payment, even if it was just $300, I wouldn't have the luxury of not having a job.

In a way, if he gets it though it will help us make up our minds about my job cause we really won't have a choice..so maybe that's a good thing. Or maybe it's not. I'll be damned if I know. I need some serious perspective!!

New additions!

I know it's been a while since I've blogged, so sorry for that! We've been keeping busy and losing our minds at the same time. (more on that later!)

Anyway, there is so much exciting news around me..that, well...it's exciting!! All my family have reported something MAJOR going on in their life, and it's good things, so I feel grateful that so many good things are going on around me. I am beyond happy for all of them.

I am still waiting to hear back from The Children's Home. I went to the observation last week and really enjoyed it. I had some preconceptions about the type of kids that would be in there, and all of them were shot down. I should know better and I usually try my best not to jump to conclusions about things, and have an openmind..but this time, for whatever reason I had it all set out in my mind. I'm a little disappointed in myself for it, but I learned a little lesson out of it, so that's what counts, right? Basically the boys in there are too smart for their own good, and remind me of Andrew back in the day!

The next day after the observation I called and told them I was definitely still interested in the position, so now I'm waiting for a call back for a individual interview again, and then hopefully after that I can start traning. The human resources lady said she'd be out this week, so maybe that's why I haven't got a call back yet. I'm hoping so. I got evaluated on the....Yay...just picked up a call, and it was her!! She wants me to come in Monday to fill out some papers and talk about starting training! Whoo hoo! Anyway, as I was saying, I was evaluated on my observation, and I was hoping I did alright. The staff on duty had to comment on things like my demeanor and my interaction with kids, and a bunch of other stuff. I felt good about how things went down, it's just as time passed and the more I waited for the call-back I started to doubt myself. Shame on me! I'm glad I can stop wondering about it..and the ball is rolling again.

In other news, last week I posted up Taylor's old Gameboy SP and 6 of her games up for auction on Ebay. She's been wanting a hamster, so she got this idea of selling her Gameboy so that she could pay for it. Andrew and I told her that she could get one, but it was coming out of her pocket. She ended up getting a little over $80 for it all, so this weekend we went hamster shopping! I had never even touched, let alone held a hamster before so the whole idea made me nervous. Andrew owned a few when he was a kid, so that helped though.

We ended up buying a dwarf hamster, which are tiny little boogers. So tiny that the cage she bought for her was way too big, it was one of those with all the fancy tubes. So I looked up dwarf hamsters on the net to learn more about them, and it said they do best in a aquarium, and with at least one tank mate so they wouldn't get lonely! So then Andrew and I got this bright idea for us to keep the dwarf hamster and get her a roommate, and have that in our room, and then get Taylor a regular sized hamster that would go better with her fancy cage! The next day we went and got another female dwarf hamster, and one long haired hamster boy for Taylor.

See? Told you we lost our minds! The tank in our room is set up real cute though. It has a little tiki hut and wooden log in it..plus a few other things, it looks like a little island getaway..I love it. I'm slowly warming up to them too. At first I was scared to even pet them. Anyway their names are Chimi and Changa..hehe...get it?

Taylors little guy is called "Cesar" and we ended up taking back the fancy cage yesterday with all the tubes and shit. The wheel that was attached to it made ALOT of noise and Taylor wasn't getting any sleep at night, and the water bottle was a piece of shit too. So they gave us our money back and we hooked her up with a 20 gallon aquarium meant for a reptile, so it's long and now he has all sorts of cool things and a stand alone hamster wheel that it's ultra quiet.

Besides all the hamster MADNESS not a whole lot else to report. Oh! Monday we went snowshoeing with my neighbor...and it KICKED MY ASS. Taylor was out of school because of snow, so all of us went, including Andrew who pulled Audrey in a snow raft thingy. The snow shoes I wore were way too small, so instead of keeping me from falling through all the snow, they helped me fall through it all! It was a nightmare, cause every time I took a step my leg would fall through and be buried up to my hips, so then I had to lift my leg again only to start over again. It was like walking up steps, but skipping 3 or 4 at a time. It smoked my ass. As soon as we got home I collapsed for a 4 hour nap and when I woke up I could hardly move, my muscles were so freaking sore! They are just now starting to feel like normal again. All in all though, I'd do it again..but with proper snow shoes next time! It was beautiful out there. I didn't bring my camera but I wished I had, although it's a good thing I didn't cause it would have probably got snow all up in it which wouldn't be good.

Anyway, I better go! Pictures of our hamsters coming soon!

As promised!

So here are some of the pics I've been meaning to get posted up!

I'll start with our new addition, Brie!





Cute huh? I think so anyways.. ;)


And here's some pictures I took of Taylor and her friends art:

"Crazy House" ~ by Taylor





"Seasons" ~ By Heather




This is the picture I took of Taylors art before I cropped it. There's something about it I really like..maybe it's my feet in the picture..I dunno. I love it though..yeah I'm weird ;)

Brie!!

The job interview went well, although it was more like a orientation, because it was with 2 other women. Basically it was a speech letting you know what you were up against. The lady that ran the interview was very out-spoken and told it like it was. One of the first things she said was "If you're a introverted, quiet, shy type person, this probably isn't the job for you" - which made me smile, because...well...that's me! BUT, when I get around kids I am the exact opposite, and usually come out of my shell. You can't be shy around kids, no matter the age or they will walk all over you.

So even though she said that, I still feel pretty confident in the job. What's crazy is that there's 5 stages to go through before you even know if you've been hired! There's the interview I went to yesterday, and then tonight I have to go to a 3 hour "observation" in one of the cottage's where I have to introduce myself to the kids and meanwhile am evaluated on my interaction with them, among other things. The day after the observation I call the lady from human resources and let her know I'm still interested, and at that time they check my references, my driving record, and all that stuff. When all that clears, and they read my evaluation from my observation & they call me in for an individual interview and they decide if they want me to continue to training. The training program is 120 hours, and lasts 3 weeks. What's funny is that if at any time during the training I feel that the job isn't for me..and I stop going..I don't get paid. You don't get paid until you complete the training. Plus, even after you complete the training, you still may not be selected for the job!

So all of that has got me somewhat anxious, but I'm just holding on to the fact that I have a lot to offer to a job like this, and hopefully they will see that.

The hours weren't as bad as I thought either, because they have all sorts of different shifts, and the only one I don't like is midnight to 8 am. They also have 5:30am to 1:30pm - 8:00am to 4:00pm (the one I really want!) and a few others that go a little later into the night.

The best thing I liked about the job so far is that I'd have a lot of free reign when it comes to the activities with the teens. So if a few wanted to join me in the arts and recreation center for some crazy art stuff..off we go. And the same goes for the computer lab, and all sorts of other things. I'll even get to drive a company van and take them to the movies and a lot of other things like, skiing, camping, white water rafting..you name it. Which is awesome to me, because I'll be getting paid to do some pretty cool stuff. Sure, it won't always be a walk in the park, but as long as you keep an upper hand on the kids, and they respect you, it won't be too hard.

All in all, I'm excited! I hope I like the job as much as I think I will, and that I get it! I won't really know until around April though..which sucks.


Last night, in celebration of my new found job prospect, Andrew and I went out to dinner without the kiddies and then went and got a fishie!! I've been wanting one ever since we've been baby sitting my neighbors beta fish "cheddar" - mainly because his little fish bowl sits in my kitchen and I get used to him being there, and after hes gone I kinda miss having him to look at and stuff. Plus, usually I am what is known as a "fish killer" because aquariums and I don't get a long, and the few times I've tried to start one, the fish always died - but I've learned Beta fish are hardy and you can't kill them as easily as you can others..so this is a plus for me.

Last night after dinner, we went to Petco and I got a female Beta..she is so cute. I will take pics later on so everyone can see! We named her "Brie" because we wanted to name her a cheese like Cheddar was, because if it wasn't for him...I wouldn't have wanted a fish. Silly I know. But so am I sometimes! She's got a cute little corner aquaruim in the kitchen and she loves it in there..she's so active. Much more active than Cheddar ever was. I read up on Beta's though and saw that they like warmer water, so I'm wondering if that was Cheddars problem, because he just has a little fish bowl that isn't easy to stay warm and he didn't move around a lot. I'll have to bring that to my neighbors attention! I can't have Brie's boyfriend getting sick on her..hehe.

New job?

Saturday I finally got called back on the job application I submitted in December for the Children's Home! Took long enough huh? If it's anything like my last job working with kids, they do a pretty good background check before they even interview you, which can take forever, so maybe that's why it took so long? I have an interview tomorrow and I can't wait to see exactly what hours are entailed and all that stuff. They could very well be looking for someone to work nights or every weekend, and I'm not sure I want to do that. Midnight to 8am shifts suck total ass, and having to work every weekend does too. I'd be willing to do every other weekend, and some nights...so I'm a little flexible, right?

I'm really hoping it works out well though because they pay well, and I really do enjoy working with kids..especially older ones. Most of these kids will have issues and are from broken homes, so that makes me a little nervous, but I'm pretty sure I could tackle whatever they threw at me. After all..I got stories too! And sometimes that can work to my advantage by making me a little more relatable to a stubborn teen.

I looked on their website, and they offer Art Therapy - I want to be in charge of that!! I could totally rock that position!

Just before Andrew came home, my neighbors daughter came downstairs to play with Taylor, and I gave a little "class" on letting loose while painting and just going with the flow. I gave both of them a 8x10 piece of canvas I had to spare, and let them use all the paints I had. It took a little coaxing trying to break them out of the mold, especially Taylor. She wanted to draw a simple tree and a sun scene with flowers, and I had to interject! I told her to break out of the box and just have fun with it. With a little coaching on some techniques and color choices, YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE how well they came out!! What was really funny was how each painting reflected their personalities. Taylor is kinda wild and outgoing, and so is her painting..that she titled "Crazy House" -- And her friend, Heather, is very mellow and quiet, and her painting is so serene..color choice, design..you name it. She called hers "The Seasons" and it's pretty damn awesome.

Sometime this week I will have to take some pictures of them and post them up here, cause I'm damn proud of what they both did. And of course...it says something about the "teacher" too!! hehe

So yeah..I would totally love the art therapy job! I'll have to see if they have a particular person who supervises that type of thing...and if so, they better watch out! Cause' I'm coming for their job!

Anyway, I'll have to update after my interview tomorrow and let everyone know how it went! Wish me luck!!

Bloody Onions

It's hard to believe tomorrow is Friday, this week has really flown by. Andrew's been working half days, so maybe that has something to do with it. The first time he left for work, you should have seen poor Ms. Audrey...she was so distraught. She came up to me just crying her heart out and just said "Daddy's gone again!" - it was so sad. She still has a little celebration every time he comes home from work, poor thing. Her little mind just can't quite grasp where her dad goes for such long periods of time.

Anyway..I had to take Andrew to the Emergency room last night. He is so clumsy! He was trying to lend a hand in some Guadalajara Spanish Rice I was making (which is the bomb, BTW!) and went to cut an onion with one of my uber sharp knives, and somehow the knive slipped..fell...and he went to try and catch it, cause he didn't want it dropping on his foot, and it ended up slicing up his ring finger really good. After it cut him, it hurt pretty bad, but he didn't realize how deep it was and how much it was bleeding, so he just shook his hand and kept saying "Owww..damn it!!" and got blood ALL OVER my kitchen. It was gory. But I took him to the ER and they gave him 4 stiches, so for the most part he's all better. Pretty soon he's going to change his bandgage and I wanna get a picture of it...cause I'm sure you guys can't wait to see it!! hehe

I actually watched them stitch him up, I was proud of myself, cause usally blood and cuts make me cringe. At one point Andrew did have to remind me to breath though..he told me the look on my face was priceless.

So yeah..that was our Wednesday night. Fun times. ;)

He's got a pass for helping out in the kitchen for a least 10 days, as well as, no dishes and no shoveling snow -- makes me wonder if he had it all planned out? I told him if he didn't want to help in the kitchen, he could have JUST TOLD ME..hehe.