A hot cocoa kind of morning

Well, I'm finally back on my blog and thank goodness because a lot has been going on and I need to get it all out on "paper".....

 Friends, it's one of those mornings where hot chocolate is just the cure for what ails you.  In my case there are several things ailing me but I am doing my best to stay strong, and more importantly, stay thankful for the recent blessings we have been given.  Unfortunately, one of our big recent blessings involved my sweet husband moving clear across the country to, of all places.......Idaho. 

Yes, yes....it finally happened.  My husband got a job working for Motive Power, an electric train company. He is working on a 6 month contract for a client in AUSTRALIA who is buying a TON of trains from Motive for Sydney.  His hiring and moving all happened in the course of one week, and that's why I'm sitting here drinking hot cocoa and marshmallows from my "Tortugas' Lie" mug, missing my husband very badly on our first weekend apart since almost 2 years ago.  Quite frankly, it sucks.  But I learned a long time ago as a little girl that hot cocoa makes you body and soul feel better when you are down.  The mug I'm using? It's from one of me and Vinnie's favorite restaurants in the Outer Banks of NC.....which is where we went for our honeymoon and our first anniversary.  So each sip I take I can reflect on all those wonderful memories we have together from that special piece of the world.  

The great thing about this all is that, in the next few weeks, thanks entirely to Vinnie's new job, my family will be financially stable again.  This is huge as my mother and father are still looking for jobs and not having as much luck as I would have thought......but we all know how the economy and job market are these days, so I shouldn't be surprised.  The not so great thing about his new job is that first of all, it starts off as a 6 month contract with no guarantee that it will continue and be permanent after that, which quite frankly is FINE because there is NO WAY I want to move to Idaho- no offense to anyone who is from there.  Of course it only being temporary meant there was no logical way that I could quit my job and go with him.  I had to make sure I kept things financially stable at home so that when his job ends, we still have steady money coming in.  The other not so good thing about his new job?  They aren't keeping him busy. Now see me, I'm fine sitting behind a desk not doing anything all day long....I could be happy like that.....but not Vinnie.  He is an engineer and for those of you who have engineer friends or family you will know EXACTLY what I mean when I say "he's an engineer."  Engineers by nature must keep busy and keep their minds active to be truly happy and fulfilled.  The last 2 jobs Vinnie has had were contract jobs like this one and BOTH of them promised lots of work and good training for anything he didn't know how to do.  Guess what.....neither one delivered on either count, and it's turning out that this new job is the same song and dance.  So not only is he across the country and away from everyone he knows and loves, but his job isn't even turning out to be what was promised.  

It's so hard for me to be apart from him and I won't get to see him until a few days before Christmas, but I am trying to be strong for the both of us.  I know the last thing he needs is me being mopey and tearful when we talk.  I'm nothing if not a good wife.  In fact, I'm going to go ahead and brag on myself and say I'm a GREAT wife (Vinnie would back me up on this) and a great wife lets her husband knows how much he is loved and missed BUT still supports him in everything he does and does so happily.  So that's what I'm doing.  Supporting him, loving him, missing him and keeping my tears to myself.  He is continuing to look for something back here in SC or in the nearby vicinity.  Even if he could find something within say a 4 hour radius of Columbia, that would make it much more manageable.  So he will keep working and doing the best job he can in Idaho, and I will keep working and doing my best back here in Columbia, and we will get our life and our families life in financial order and be grateful for this recent blessing that God has given us.  

And of course.....I will keep drinking my hot cocoa and count down the days til I see my beautiful, sweet, loving husband again.  

What's shakin' bacon?

Hello everyone!
I am kicking myself in the butt for not writing a post for almost a MONTH! Jeeeeze!  Oh well....I shall forgive myself for being lame and move on.

So things have been shaking pretty okay as of late. Vinnie just started working at Moe's Southwest Grill (WELCOME TO MOE'S!) this week and he is enjoying it so far and doing well.  We are so grateful to finally have extra income so we don't have to panic every month about which bills get paid and which don't.
Thank you God!  :D

You know that old adage?...."When it rain's it pours?"....well that usually is used in reference to hard times, BUT today I am using it in the good sense.  For those of you who don't know, my husband's profession is electrical test engineering.  He used to work for NASA.  Guess you could actually call him a "rocket man." Haha!  At any rate, a golf cart company in Augusta,  GA called him this week and he wound up getting a phone interview with the company on Thursday.  It went EXTREMELY well and they said they would call him back within a week to set up an in person interview in GA.  They got back to him in a week alright.....they called him the NEXT day!  :))))  He has an in person interview with the company on Monday afternoon and they are SUPER excited about (hopefully) hiring him!

My husband is a very smart man and while I am just as proud of him working at Moe's as I was when he worked for NASA.......I want him to have a job that makes use of his amazing skills and talents and challenges his mind.  He needs that to be happy.  Me, I'm perfectly happy sitting home reading a book all day.....please don't challenge my mind anymore than that!  I'm good! lol

Back to Vinnie......please say some prayers, send some good vibes or just clink your morning coffee in a toast of good luck to my sweet husband for his interview Monday.  It would be such a wonderful and amazing blessing if he gets this job in GA.  Plus....we wouldn't have to move from SC!  It's about an 1.5 hour drive one way to where he would work, but he said he used to drive that far for a job he had when he worked in TX, so if he is willing to drive each day, that's fine by me!

Things are looking up for us.....and I hope, whoever you are reading my wandering thoughts on this day, that things in your life are looking up for you too.

xo
Jessica

What's the word?

Well the word is I haven't been on in a while to write and here's why.....


Some jobs I had recently applied for fell through, and that was hard for me to come to terms with.  Every time I get turned down for or from a job interview, I always get discouraged and feel like things will never change for me.  But I know that is not true, and my friends and family helped me refocus on that fact and move forward.  


The next thing that happened was that my father lost his job about 3 weeks ago.  That was scary, but it appears he will be okay (thanks to savings and social security) but he wants to work for a few more years anyway.  He has so many skills and such a great work record, that I'm sure he find something soon.


As if that wasn't enough, it came to pass about 2 weeks ago that my mother thought she might be losing her job. I thought that couldn't possibly happen since she had been working for nearly 4 years at the child development center she worked at.  Her parents loved her. NAEYC and ECERS were ALWAYS taken to her room when they came for visits and her work record was implacable.  She came in early, stayed late and often didn't get lunch, nor did she complain.  Well wouldn't you know it. All that hard work, time, dedication and care didn't account for anything apparently.  She lost her job this past Friday.


My husband, as many of you know, is still unemployed.  NASA all but "shutting down" didn't exactly help all the already unemployed people in his field.


At this moment.....I am the only one in my family who has a job.  And yet the student loan people who call me at 6am.....all the way until 10pm tell me they are "so sorry for my situation, but they have no more deferment or forbearance options"....despite the fact that my income places my husband and myself BELOW the poverty level.  


So.....needless to say my blog, which I love writing on, has not been the first thing on my mind as of late.  Yet, I promise you I am not here to complain or get a "pity party."  I just need to get all these worries and troubles off my chest and out of my hands and into this post.  


I can't help but feel, despite this scary place we are at right now, that God has something wonderful in store for us.  He knows all. He is great!  God has blessed me with a job when I could have none.  He has blessed me with my health.  He has blessed me with my wonderful, loving husband.  He has blessed me with dear true life-long friends and "soul sisters" who make bearing these burdens possible.  He has blessed me with my faith.  I will keep that faith and trust in Him to take care of what I cannot and to trust that I can handle what He gives me.  


Someone I work with is celebrating 15 years of being in remission from breast cancer.  I need to stop and remember that when everything seems hopeless, it could be a LOT worse.


This economy has made things hard for many people.  I have been lucky that my family has been overall, unaffected, until this month.  Things will get better again.  Things will be BETTER than before...  :D

Too distracted to make sense...

So, it appears I  haven't posted since the 17th, but I thought it was longer than that so I don't feel too "guilty"....for lack of a better word.

At any rate, I was sitting down with some of my saved Trust30 challenge prompts, but I just couldn't really wrap my mind around ANY of them tonight!  This day was pretty unproductive and I'm mad at myself for not getting more accomplished.  I didn't really have any set projects or chores that HAD to be completed, but I got up late, ran an errand to the grocery store, came back home and feel asleep until 5pm.  Guess I needed the rest, but it just feels like a waste of a Sunday to me. Oh well.

On a positive note, I had a job interview last week and I have another one coming up tomorrow after work.  The job I interviewed for last week was a fantastic fit for me.  It's an early interventionist position (E/I for all your Special Ed. folks out there) with a children's home.  Part of what they do is provide services to low income families and their children in the Columbia area for children ages birth to 5.  The director was AMAZING and the work I would be doing would allow me to really utilize my education, skills and talents.  The interview went well and some follow up that occurred after it gave me a positive indication that I could very well get this position.  I'm hoping to know something tomorrow.  I was very blessed to have one of my best friends Caitlin Merck, my second mother, Karen Zimmerman, and my co-worker, Aleta McKinney to write references for me which they all emailed in the same day I had the interview.  I'm very blessed indeed! <3

The job interview tomorrow I think is going to be a little more intense, and the position itself does not pay much compared to the job I applied for last week.  However, either job would be a blessing as the pay would be increased and my stress level, decreased.  

I am ready to move on from my current job, primarily because I do not feel appreciated at all where I am.  I'm not saying I need a pat on the back every 5 minutes but it is nice to be at least validated on occasion and not just berated for some tiny thing that your boss simply didn't like because she was in a mood that day.  

I recently received a compliment from boss about how well I was monitoring my class of 3 year olds on the playground.  I really didn't know how to respond to her and it occurred to me that this was the first compliment/validation I had received from her the ENTIRE time I have worked there, which has been 1.5 years!  Ridiculous.  So while I have been extremely grateful to have this job during such a hard time in our economy, and while I have loved working with some wonderful children and fellow teachers.....all the other factors weigh more and I am truly hoping this new job that I am waiting to hear back from is it......my ticket out of this current job that beats me down and makes me question my self worth on a regular basis.  I'm ready to work somewhere that I feel a sense of accomplishment each day and where at least sometimes, I am told "well done." 

Wish me luck! I will certainly be letting you know if I get the job.  

Hopefully tomorrow I will have some more words to share.

Thanks for reading!