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.  

The "man" in the mirror

Trying to catch up on some blogging from the past few weeks.  Probably will put up more than one post today.  For those of you who read these wanderings in thought.....enjoy. 

Trust30 challenge prompt:
I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is for itself and not for a spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine and equal, than that it should be glittering and unsteady. I wish it to be sound and sweet, and not to need diet and bleeding. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Think about the type of person you’d NEVER want to be 5 years from now. Write out your own personal recipe to prevent this from happening and commit to following it. “Thought is the seed of action.”

5 years from now I would not still want to be working at a daycare center, biding my time, and getting so caught up in the routine of working there that I NEVER bothered to doggedly purse a position befitting my experience and credentials.  There are some wonderful women who have been working at this daycare for 5 or more years now and they have become bitter and mixed up in all kinds of crazy drama.  I don't want to end up being one of them.  Frankly, it scares the heck out of me to think that I've been there for OVER a year now.


So here's my recipe for not ending up bitter and caught up in the hamster wheel, if you will, of that place:


5 cups of determination
3 cups of belief (in myself, God, and those who love me and who will help me on my path)
2 cups stick-to-it-ive-ness (hehe)
a large pinch of will power
1 cup of minding my own business (and not being sucked into other's) 
3/4 cup "go with the flow"
1 tbs of laughter (at myself and other....not in a mean way of course)
a dash of humility
a few sprinklings of confidence (but not cockiness)


Mix together gently until well combined.  Place in a sunny window to proof and to PROVE to myself that I can get out of the situation I'm in.  Then bake in a warm oven of support from those around me.  Finish by topping of with a sprinkle of excitement, to get me up and running on my path to success and to being happy and fulfilled with where I am, 5 years from now.


On a small side note......
Oh my GOD! I will be 31 in five years! YIKES!  Let's not get thinking about that just yet....


one thing at a time....