and that's when things went splat & i fell off the face of the earth

so.

it's been awhile. a great while. i'm aware.

i'm also aware that i am most likely writing this purely for myself. which is totally fine with me. it's an outlet.

things have been hectic since i last wrote. back in OCTOBER of 2010.

this is what's been going down over here:

• we went to texas for christmas and saw my brother & his wife & vrock's family.


• we came home and i had surgery on my foot, a little more than a year after i first injured it. (long story)


• after surgery, i couldn't walk for EIGHT WEEKS. ugh. i do not reccommend that with a 16 month old in the house.


• i had been getting a flow of business going, then couldn't do anything do to surgery.


• vrock, unable to find work here, opted to move to texas to look for work in april.


• vrock, unable to to find work in texas, moved home at the end of june.


• i got a job at the end of may and worked there until mid-july when i quit because i HATED IT.


• the same week i quit, got a call from an agency that found me online. i didn't get the first placement they put me up for, but i DID get the second contract they put me up for.


• which means, I GOT A JOB!


• and of course, both businesses are starting to BLOW UP!

bottom line. add in a now TWO year old, getting up at 5am to get to the new job, working the fair a few nights to promote the businesses, booking parties, and trying to find time to sleep and you've got ONE MEGA TIRED MOMMY!

but, i'm back. while i have time during the day to actually breathe.

hope you check in occassionally and say hi!

has it really been 3.5 months since i last wrote? it seems so much longer than that!

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back. at least for a bit.

what have i been doing you ask?

surprisingly, not much.

here's whats been happening since we went on vacation in may:

• after getting back from hawaii, we made plans to go to texas to see vrock's family. then we actually went. to texas. in july. yes, i am an idiot.
• vrock was forced to "retire" from his job due to lack of work.
• i continue to look for a job, any kind of job, and it continues to be an excercise in futility.
• my bff came to visit the weekend before my birthday and took me to see her husband in concert! (ok, ok. so he's only her husband in her head. DON'T tell her that! LOL)
• i sort of started my own business last week. not much has come of it yet, but i'm hopeful that it will at least bring a little money in the door.
• jdogg turned ONE! (how in the hell did that happen? i told that boy he wasn't allowed to grow up!)
• vrock & i have seriously considered moving to texas, provided that he can obtain a job with the company he had to "retire" from.
• we continue to prepare to go to san francisco at the end of the month for my brother's wedding. those preparations included buying a tux for jdogg. OMG! so! freaking! cute!

and while all of that has been exciting/caused anxiety/thrilling/sad, i find that time is zooming by and i never seem to have time to do ANYTHING without major planning sessions. and even then, if it's not something ESSENTIAL? it doesn't make the cut.

for someone who doesn't work outside the home, is living with family (and therefore not really responsible for "household chores"), and is still drawing unemployment, i have NO IDEA where all of my time goes!

dear blog, i really didn't forget about you.....

i'm wondering if i've hit a wall with the blogging.

yes, i have a 6.5 month old that keeps me very, very busy. but lately i've gone WEEKS without even thinking about blogging. i could chalk that up to being so wrapped up in the baby that i barely have time to think. Or to the fact that he doesn't sleep in his crib for more than 2 hours without me having to get up and get him. (by which time I'M EXHAUSTED so he just ends up in our bed for the remainder of the night.)

i could blame it on the energy i'm spending praying/hoping/willing vrock to get the most recent job he applied for. or that after a winter of no colds whatsoever (yay vaccinations!) i've got the sore throat from hell and since i'm still nursing at night i can't really take anything for it. (although, if this keeps up, i'm going to take something!)

but i think the answer that feels the most right is this: i don't know what to say anymore. i don't necessarily want this blog to become a commentary on the day to day life of the baby. yes, i love him and think he's adorable, but i know that not everyone wants to hear about his daily activities.

my life has become an endless string of taking care of the baby. i'm fine with that, most of the time. but i'm pretty sure it would bore the hell out of the few readers i have to report on his adventures. besides, who else would find it amusing EVERY TIME he grabs himself during a diaper change? LOL

benefit 4,928,761,350 of being unemployed & living with your folks

it's really handy when you do something tremendously stupid to not have to worry about mundane stuff. like work. or carrying your child around. or how to feed yourself when your room is on the first floor but the kitchen is on the the second.

thursday night i was cold. i've been cold at bedtime for the last week or so, primarily because our bed is located directly below the only window in our room. that means that even though the window is completely closed, when it's say 20 degrees outside (which it has been at night for the last week or so) that even if you have the heat on in the room, there's still a cold spot right where you put your head down when it's time for bed. i don't know about you, but if ANY part of me is too hot or too cold when it's time for bed? i can't sleep.

so i decided i was going to get the nice, fluffy, warm uw huskies blanket that i got for christmas two years back down from out of the closet to put over the comforter on the bed. vrock is a furnace so i'm not allowed to have an electric blanket on the bed. that means that if i'm cold, i have to pile blankets onto my side of the bed. fine. i can do that. i pulled the office chair over to the closet, braced it against the dresser, and climbed up. there was a little wobble, but no big deal. i've done this a million times. up, grab the item in question, and down with no problems. not so much this time.

when my parents built the garage (where the 5 of us are currently living) they put an apartment over the garage and a bedroom with a bathroom downstairs. they also made 9 foot ceilings, so you HAVE to climb onto something to get anything out of the closet downstairs. ideally that something would be, i don't know, a STEP LADDER, but i digress. the basket that the blanket was in is VERY light. 2 blankets, a pair of slippers, a pair of gloves, and i think a scarf is all that is in the basket. so i knew that it would be no biggie to grab the blanket.

EXCEPT.

i didn't know that vrock had also put an armband for his ipod in the basket. this wouldn't be a big deal except that he just kind of tossed it into the basket, meaning that it landed on top of the blanket. again, not really a big deal. except. when i pulled the basket down towards me to grab the blanket out, the ipod thing fell out. and startled the shit out of me. which caused me to lose my balance and fall.

luckily i didn't bang my head on the crib or the bookshelf that is right next to it. unluckily, i heard a distinct SNAP as i landed on my foot. i was sure that once we went to the er and got x-rays that there would be a break somewhere. luckily i was wrong and it's just very badly sprained. but man. it HURTS! i spent all of friday, saturday, and most of sunday in bed with my foot propped up and icing it off and on. and today it's STILL all kinds of lovely shades of purple and yellow.

the er doc didn't give me enough pain meds to last me to my follow up tomorrow with my regular doc, so i'm raiding dad's pain meds from his surgery last month. (only after checking with the pharmacist that they're safe to take while breastfeeding.) they make me sleepy though, which is great for at night but not so much for during the day. today i finally ventured upstairs, but had to have my mom bring the baby up since i don't trust my balance enough to carry him yet.

what a great way to spend a weekend, huh? on the plus side......it's not broken. and? vrock has been pretty awesome through the whole ordeal. after 4 days of being an invalid though, i'm ready for it to heal and to be able to walk on it without pain. we'll see what the doc says tomorrow about the timeline for that.

i know this though........i'll never use a chair to get something out of the closet again!

seriously????

i know, i know. i haven't written about the trip yet. i will, promise.

i just need to vent about this first.

when we first got pregnant, i was worried about the normal things: my age (37) being an issue, genetic abnormalities, miscarriage, etc. things that just about every woman is concerned about until she knows that there's nothing to be concerned about.

so we opted to do some genetic testing (first trimester testing & completely non-invasive) to "guide" us in the right direction. fortunately for us, the tests came back with no worries of any abnormalities and we were able to end that particular journey there.

that was in early february. while we were on vacation, i received a call from the billing department of that particular hospital. (not the one i'm delivering at, as that one is too small to have a maternal-fetal medicine clinic that does the genetic testing.) the guy proceeded to say that i had an outstanding bill ($30) after insurance had paid and wanted to know when i would be paying it. i'm in hawaii, and have no recollection of seeing a bill for that amount, so i told him that i was on vacation, if the bill had come prior to leaving i'd have paid it and since i'll be gone for 10 days, i'll have to look into it when i get home. fine he says and i figure that will be the end of it.

so we get home. i get the mail and sort it out. bills in one pile, etc. at this point, (about 2 weeks ago) i'm still not receiving my unemployment yet. vrock is working (huzzah!) but it's only part time. so while we do have some money floating around, there's not a lot that's leftover for extra bills. i put the bills on the desk in their spot and turn to other things.

i get a phone call a few days later from this guy again. telling me again that i still owe $30. now, i'm 27+ weeks at this point and my memory has become more faulty than i'd like to admit (HELLO list writing!), so i inform him that i have NOT received this bill and that i don't care that his system tells me they mailed it, i don't have it and therefore it will be hard for me to pay it. he says they'll send it again. fine. (of course, a day or so later as i'm preparing to pay bills i find it. but it's for $45.08 and NOT $30, so it's not completely my fault.)

meanwhile, vrock's job has become FULL TIME & BENEFITTED (woo hoo!!) and now i can pay the bills knowing that there will be more money coming in. great! so last week i write a check for this particular account and a few other non-monthly bills (we're STILL paying medical bills from his sinus surgery in oct) so that i can mail them in. i check our bank account online about every other day, so i'm glad to see that the check for this particular account has cleared. YAY! no more phone calls from this guy. right? WRONG!!!

this morning i'm sleeping in. (with vrock working full time now, the alarm goes off at about 6:45 and he gets up about 7:20. this wouldn't be an issue, except that 1) the alarm is on MY side of the bed, which means i'm the one hitting snooze and then rolling over to make sure he's awake, 2) i've done this every morning this week because i'm afraid if i don't sort of wake up with him that he'll fall back asleep and be late for work, and 3) last night/this morning i stayed up until 4:30am finishing a book because i'd had a 2 hour nap yesterday.) my phone is almost always on vibrate overnight, but because i'd grabbed it and put it by the bed this morning when vrock left for work, i hear it buzzing.

normally, i don't answer if there's no number listed. this one pops up as "private call". now, i know it's not my mom, because she left earlier and her cell number shows up on my phone. the only other "private call" that i know of for sure is my almost 38-weeks pregnant friend who lives about 8 minutes away. i'm her emergency ride to the hospital and since yesterday she was dilated to 1cm, it could be her. so i answer. it's the guy about the bill. he starts his spiel and i'm already PISSED because i KNOW that the check has cleared. i'm civil, barely, as he spits out the info about the visit date and the amount owed. and then i inform him that not only did i ONLY get the one statement (when they were supposed to send me a 2nd since i didn't recall getting a first) but that i've PAID it and IT'S CLEARED THE BANK! (there are few things that irritate me more than someone who doesn't have all the facts getting ready to "tell me off".) he then asks me to FAX him proof of payment.

um FUCKING HELLO??? just how am i supposed to do that? 1) i paid by check you asshole. i'll be DAMNED if i'm going to go to the bank and ask for a copy of the cancelled check because you can't be bothered to CHECK YOUR FUCKING SYSTEM to see if the payment has applied. (the check CLEARED on 5/22. i know monday was a holiday and all but seriously? it should be in your system by now!) 2) i don't have ready access to a fax machine and all i'd have to fax you is a copy of the statement. so i'm PISSED now. i explain to him that it's paid, cleared the bank, etc. he can tell i'm pissed because he then says "i'll just note your account paid then."

good idea asshole. of course, now i'm awake, so that annoys me even more. oh well.

i suppose i wouldn't be so mad about it if i wasn't already irritated from yesterday when the cop pulled me over.

more on that later.

25 weeks & vacation errands

so it was pointed out to me that i haven't posted in almost 3 weeks. (thanks stace! LOL) and with the trip looming up, i figured i'd best post BEFORE we left for hawaii on friday, otherwise it'd likely be ANOTHER week & a half before i was able to post. so, here i am.

i've been unemployed for not quite 2 weeks, and i don't think i've EVER been this busy! it's crazy. here's a sampling of what's been going on the last 2 weeks, broken down by day:

• mon (1st day unemployed) - trip to costco & target, which took almost all day
• tues - trip to the outlets with my mom, and to pick up some baby clothes & a bassinet from freecycle.org people
• wed - errands for the trip & a chiropractor appointment for vrock
• thurs - trip to the nearest joann's with mom to find some cute maternity patterns for later in the pregnancy, along with other trip related errands.
• fri - blissfully NOTHING was planned out and i did some spring cleaning stuff
• sat - one of the local communities has a yearly garage sale weekend, & i went with my folks. scored some good baby stuff (clothes, brand new pacifiers, size 1 diapers) and a few other things and only spent $16!
• sun - pre natal massage & out to dinner with vrock for our 1 year anniversary
• mon - doctor appointment (everything looks great! no issues other than the norm of heartburn & aching hips), lunch with mom, more shopping for the trip & a mani-pedi.
• tues - trip to storage to pick up & drop off stuff, over to a friends' house to drop off some baby girl clothes i'd picked up for her from one of the freecycle people
• today - took my folks to the airport this morning. the rest of the day? probably studying, laundry, clearing out the tivo. stuff that needs to be done, but that i can do from home.

so you see, it's not that i haven't WANTED to write. it's that by the end of each day i've been EXHAUSTED!

now i'm off to warm up vrock's lunch before he leaves for work (more on that later!) and then i can maybe take a nap later this afternoon!

news & other assorted tidbits

all kinds of things happened over the weekend & the early part of this week. and most of them were squarely in the "good" column. woot!

1. we found a crib. well, technically we were only really "browsing" for a crib, knowing full well that we can't afford to buy one unless we got a totally screaming deal. and then we found one. we didn't buy it though because we found out from my brother in law that we could use theirs. (and most likely we'll get to keep it since their youngest is almost 8 and they have no plans to have any more.) they apparently got a screaming deal on this crib (i've yet to see it, although vrock is going over there this weekend and he's going to take pictures for me.) and paid around $200 for a $600 crib in cherry wood. and it's a convertible, which is what i wanted. so, score!
2. my dad officially got the position that he applied for within his company, so he will NOT be laid of mid-april as we had originally anticipated. woot! granted, dad is 61 and had thoughts of taking early retirement if this job didn't pan out. for my mom's sake, i'm glad it did. with vrock still not working (more on that shortly) and me likely being out of a job next month (more on THAT shortly) i don't think mom could have handled it if ALL of us were home all of the time.
3. we got the ruling on vrock's unemployment mess. not sure if i detailed that fight here, but here's the short version: due to his surgery in oct, he had to "quit" his job. (he didn't really quit, they just told him to call back after he was released to duty and they'd put him back on the schedule. he'd only worked there like a week & a half.) he called after surgery & nobody ever called him back. then? they challenged his unemployment and he hasn't gotten paid since christmas week. he appealed and his hearing was last week. the old job didn't bother to call in. judge heard the complaint anyway and ruled in OUR FAVOR! woot! so we're looking at 10 weeks of pay that they owe us.
4. we DID get a deposit yesterday, but it wasn't for the full amount, so vrock is calling today to find out wtf is going on. since the judge ruled in our favor, they are supposed to pay the whole amount due. keep your fingers crossed on that.
5. vrock's been applying for EVERYTHING, but sadly there's no "new job" news there. there hasn't been a lot in the paper/online lately, but he's trying to stay positive.
6. i had gotten a call last week from one of the temp agencies that i'm hooked up with. there was a permanent full time position available & they wanted to send my resume. the place wants someone to start on 3/13. i haven't heard back from anyone about an interview, so i guess they passed on me. which frankly? i'm ok with. initially i was torn. yes, it's a job with more money & benefits and all that. but? i'm kinda looking forward to working from home as a transcriptionist and being able to be around for the baby. not to mention that the job was a little bit further away than where i'm working now and it would take FOREVER to get there on the bus. so there's that.
7. there's also the slim chance that i'll just be able to stay at my job. things with the industry have gotten interesting. my boss is still trying to see if he can keep me, but i'm not planning on that. it would be nice. but we'll just have to see what happens with that.

so there's the big news from around here. add to that finishing up the first half of the transcription course (i'll be taking my final either tomorrow or saturday) and trying to think of what i do and DO NOT want for my baby shower. things have been keeping me busy, to say the least. and all in all, that's a good thing. although, i have to admit that i'm kinda looking forward to the end of april when i don't have to get up at 7am to get ready to go to work and can instead work from home in my jammies. :)

free is good

i knew that having a baby is an expensive process. from all the doctors bills to all the new gear the kid will need once it's here.

but good lord. i didn't realize i'd be SO overwhelmed with STUFF. do i need to register for THAT or should i just try to buy THIS 2nd hand? i'm kinda at a loss as far as what are ABSOLUTE must haves and what are "it'd be nice but not 100% necessary" wants. my head spins every time i look at babies 'r us or target online to try to figure out WHAT i need to/should register for. honestly, it's making me a little bit crazy.

THEN, there's all the unasked for advice. the "you HAVE to buy a new crib! you can't borrow one or buy a used one!" the "are you going to do THIS or THAT?" i know these people mean well. honestly i do. however, they're just making me crazy!

the bottom line is threefold:

1. we don't have any money. i mean we barely have enough money at this point to pay our bills. i'm hoping that vrock gets a job soon, but with the economy the way it is and the fact that i'll be out of a job come mid april, well, you know how that story ends. that's a HUGE factor as to why we moved in with my folks at the end of last month. which has helped.

2. i REFUSE to pay massive amounts of money (that we don't have!) for certain items (crib included) that the baby will only use for a specific period of time and then not need anymore. i'm willing to buy (or register for) the car seat/stroller combo because i know that we need to have something that will pass all the safety inspections, etc. i have a few friends that i can possibly borrow a crib from, FREE, and when i don't need it anymore or when they need it back i can return it to them. i'm TOTALLY ok with that.

3. we don't have a lot of room, since we're not in our own place. this also makes it difficult as far as procuring baby items, etc. IF we had our own place & the funds? this would be a totally different post. we'd get a new crib that converted to a toddler bed & then to a headboard/footboard for a full size bed. at least THAT way? we wouldn't be buying a piece of furniture for 2-3 years, as would be the case if we bought JUST a crib.

so i was talking to a gal at work and she said the magic words: freecycle.org

i'd never heard of it. so i checked it out. and boy, did i score!

first i got a basically brand new baby bathtub. yeah, it would only have cost $20 to buy a new one and it's something i probably could have registered for. but? i didn't have to. it was free. all i had to do was go pick it up.

then? i really scored. i got these:

for free. yes. i got them both from the same gal plus 2 big bags of cloth diapers (some of the nicest i've ever seen) & a few other assorted things that she threw in. all for FREE! the pump alone is around $200 and the swing runs between $75 - $125. now, once we're done with them, i'll put them back up on freecycle for someone else to use. they're in excellent condition and i'm just so excited about being able to start collecting things for the baby & not damaging my wallet in the meantime.

i'll still look on there and at consignment shops & the big garage sale one of the communities around here has at the end of april. but it's looking like we can at the very least cut some of the baby gear costs in half if i continue to be lucky with freecycle!

it almost makes some of the crazy go away.

almost.

the braves can suck it

i am a die hard hometown fan kind of girl.

that said, i had hoped against hope that ken griffey jr would come home to seattle and resign with the mariners, even if it was only to end his career in the town that he helped save baseball in.

everything looked good for that for a while. and then the freaking atlanta braves swooped in at the 11th hour. and with that, seattle's dreams of welcoming home their beloved jr fell by the wayside.

i knew that it was a longshot that he'd actually come home. to a place where even after defecting 9 years ago, he received multiple standing ovations when he FINALLY returned to play ball (albeit as a visitor) in the last season or two. yes, i was longing for the nostalgic days. and yes, i realized that the chances weren't good once i heard that atlanta was in the mix.

but still. atlanta braves? you can suck it! you deprived this homer of a chance to reflect in the sweet nostalgic glow of one of baseball's good guys. and for that? i'll never forgive you.

one armed paper hanger

have you heard that expression? "i'm busier than a one armed paper hanger"? well that's been me the last week or so.

between helping more people at work, spending the weekends at my folks to help them make room for us to move back in and packing up our stuff? i'm fried. (then of course, there's also the finding stuff to post on craigslist that we don't want/need anymore!)

i'm not sure where i find the time to do anything that's not move related. oh wait. i DON'T.

luckily that will come to an end next week. (and i don't even have to do any heavy lifting! bonus!)

in other news, one of my "band kids" that i haven't seen since at least '94 (if not longer) is in seattle this week with his wife & son and we're going to attempt to meet up this afternoon for a quick catch up over coffee. (but only because he's willing to come to my office. LOL)

hopefully we'll be able to connect. with my 20 year reunion coming up this year (for both high schools i attended) AND one of my best friends' son being 18 already (seriously. who told him he could grow up??) i've been feeling a lot nostalgic these days and a little old. go figure. LOL having a 20 year reunion will do that to you, i suppose. then again, so will staring 38 in the face. at least i have 2+ years to face down 40. no such luck for vrock. that milestone hits this year.

packing

so we've officially started packing for our move at the end of the month.

ugh.

it's not that i so much mind the packing itself. it's more the trying to figure out what can go into storage for an indeterminate amount of time that i'm having a hard time with. since we're moving in with my folks, there are quite a few things that we can store. (ie: basically the whole kitchen, minus whatever food we have. all of our collectibles, most of my books, etc.)

while i'm overjoyed that i get to stay at work for an additional 3 months, that means packing is strictly relegated to evenings after work for me. then add in that this weekend & next, we'll be over at mom & dad's to help them move stuff around, etc and that makes for a VERY tired tbooty.

luckily, it will go pretty fast. we've hired a moving company to actually move the stuff once it's packed, since i'll be at work the day of the move. they're reasonably priced and they'll make the 2 stops (one at storage, the other at mom's) that we need without charging us extra. which is helpful.

there's so much to do though. just thinking about it makes me tired.

busy, busy, busy

2009 has started.

boy has it started.

i've got 8 days left of work. we're moving on the 30th. there's so much to be done and not that much time.

even my planning ahead (picking up used moving boxes from a gal on craigslist) backfired.

i got the boxes no problem. but then i locked my keys in my car. vrock was at his brother's about 45 minutes away. my cell & purse were in the car.

luckily, mom & dad still have a spare for the car i was in. (thank God that i wasn't in the volvo, as we only have 2 keys for that car and they're WEIRD ones!) dad drove out and opened the car for me but still. grrrr! (and the people i was getting the boxes from were very nice and let me stay inside until dad got there.)

it's been one of those years. already.

is it february yet?

post holiday blahs

my brother & his girlfriend got in on friday and will be leaving on thursday. we spent friday night at my parents (the snow/ice/slush was so bad that we couldn't get up their driveway and had to park at the bottom. because of that and the fact that we didn't get done with our christmas stuff until around 11, we spent the night.) saturday we came home and just chilled out. sunday it was back over to the old homestead to watch football and just hang out. all in all, good times.

then today i woke up for work and started feeling sick while i was in the shower. dizzy, achy, the whole ball of wax. so i opted to stay home (what's one more day off when i'm only there for another 12 working days??)

i have gotten REALLY disorganized the last couple weeks, which is not like me. there's been so much going on though, that i've gotten a little lax. so today after i finally dragged myself out of bed (feeling marginally better) i paid the bills.

OUCH.

while i knew that the chances of vrock & i having to move back in with my parents after next month was almost a foregone conclusion (unless by some miracle we BOTH get jobs in the next 4 days) i didn't realize JUST how much our funds were depleted. it was depressing to say the least. part of it is that this year has been really difficult for us both as far as jobs go. there was a period of about 6 weeks this year when our jobless status overlapped. that was hard. then, he had his surgery and we've got those bills added on to our regular bills. it just sucks.

so, the reality is this: we have a LITTLE money (after i pay the rent on thursday) left in the bank and i'll get 2 more paychecks from my job before we're done there. we have to give 30 days notice of moving out (which, with our lease up on 2/1 means THURSDAY we have to give notice). then we have to pack all this stuff up again and most of it will have to go into storage as there's just not any room at mom & dad's for it.

on the plus side, i'll be getting unemployment (until i finish my online transcription course and can start working as that from home), we won't have to pay rent/utilities and with not having to pay those, hopefully we'll be able to pay our bills down enough that within 6 months or so (maybe sooner) we'll be able to move out again and be on better footing.

here's to 2009: may it be nicer to everyone job-wise than 2008 was.

snow hell

so we were told last weekend that we were going to get snowed on. it happens from time to time, but it's not usually too awful. every once in a while we get really dumped on, but thankfully it's not that often. so this is what it looked like on saturday night/sunday morning:

not too bad. i can deal with that. roads weren't too awful. there were parts that were worse than others, but for the most part it was all good. of course, ANY amount of snow meant that vrock was out in it as soon as possible.

then came thursday night. and 7 inches of snow. which of course, meant this:

this was the view out of our back door. snow. lots and lots of snow. (our apartment is on the greenbelt, which always makes for a nice view.)

we ventured out today because i had an interview. (it's a long story and when i find out what's going on, hopefully on monday, i'll fill you in.) i made vrock drive because i DON'T DO SNOW as far as driving. so that meant that i had my hands free to take some shots while we were driving through town. this one was my favorite.

i hope that you all are safe wherever you are and that the weather is being kinder to you than it's been to us the last few days. we're supposed to get one more system through here this weekend that is supposed to drop another 1-3" on us. and then?

HEATWAVE! it's supposed to get up to 35 on tuesday and it might just break 40 by christmas. i can only dream of RAIN! LOL

good news, bad news

so, the job thing? didn't work out. the other group either wouldn't or couldn't (i'm still not really sure which) transfer me over to their group for whatever time period they needed me for. which sucks. but isn't really a huge surprise these days. (what is anymore?)

that's the bad news.

the good?

my laptop came today! (yes, i'm at home. i used a weather/sick day today so that i could stay home.) i've been waiting for weeks for this laptop to get here, ever since i enrolled in school. there was a delay because they were missing a part, but it's here now. it doesn't have a bunch of bells & whistles, but it's mine. woo hoo!

we've been getting some REALLY fucked up weather here the last few days. it snowed over the weekend. not a lot, but enough to screw up the roads. ice, butt ass cold weather (HIGHS in the 20's!) and now more snow forecast for today made today a good day to stay home. lol. (i'm sure my boss didn't think so, but oh well.) as it is, i only have a few weeks left there (my last day is 1/16) so it's getting harder and harder to make myself go in. they're forcasting more snow this afternoon & evening (we didn't get any from this morning, THANK GOD!) and then again this weekend. vrock of course, is hoping for lots of snow. me, not so much.

i'm hoping that we stay in the snow free zone, but i'm not holding my breath.

school update & misc stuff

so i've finished the first 6 (of 22) chapters of the medical transcriptionist class that i'm taking online. so far so good. i'm averaging 91% through the first 6 chapters. so not bad, considering i've been doing all of my reading/classwork while at work. the last 2 weeks i've had a few days of not feeling well, and i stayed home those days, so i didn't do any school work. i need to get back on track so that i can finish about 1 chapter a day.

i've got 3 chapters to go until the second review test & then the midterm is right after that. that'll put me approximately halfway through the first part of the class. (the 2nd part is the actual transcription part. what i'm doing right now is all medical terminology stuff.) i'm hoping to finish the terminology part this month so that i can concentrate on the transcription part next month. keep your fingers crossed.

in other news, a strange development has come up on the work front. i had signed up with a few temp agencies last year when i was laid off. nothing came of them, but i still have the contacts at a few. so when i needed them this year, i got back in touch with them and put them to work looking for jobs for me. while i'd prefer temp to hire, i'm amenable to taking a contract gig if everything works out.

in that vein, i went on 2 interviews this week. (they were for the SAME company, which is IRONICALLY the company i work for NOW.) one wanted me. yay! i thought, well, at least i'll be getting a paycheck for a little while longer, even though this was a contract position. i told my boss about it and he asked me to contact hr to see what the process was for that. (since i'm being "displaced" i had to sign a form saying that i'd stay through my notice period, etc and since my boss hasn't dealt with having to displace anyone before, he wasn't sure what the protocol was.) so i did. and i explained the situation to them. and i was told that i CANNOT accept the position through the temp agency. apparently since i'm ALREADY an employee of the company, the manager that wants to hire me would have to transfer me to their unit and have me work as a regular employee for the duration needed. then, once the need was fulfilled, my notice period would start back up.

all in all? VERY confusing. although i think i understand it now. so, long story short, even though i can't take the job through the agency (and the job was NOT posted internally), if my bosses boss is able to talk to the manager of the other unit AND that manager agrees, i may get to stay with my company a while longer. which would rock. so we'll see what happens.

keep your fingers crossed, k? thanks!

here we go again

so it appears that i may be unemployed again. and soon.

my boss called me yesterday to let me know that they are going to be eliminating 2 positions and restructuring mine, in order to absorb the duties of the 2 being eliminated.

which? could be a GREAT thing for me.

or it could be a totally sucky thing for me.

see, the other 2 people, both are interested in the position that will be remaining. MY position. they've both been here longer than me, although one is only by a few months.

because we all already work for the company, there is some sort of internal hr thing that we have to do instead of a traditional interview process. my boss doesn't know what that is yet, but we're hoping to know BOTH what it is and what the outcome is by next friday if not sooner.

because, if i DO end up having to leave? (and, let's face it, it's a 66% chance) then i have to give notice at the apartment because we won't be able to afford to stay there.

which would suck. big time.

and we have relapse

vrock has a post op infection.

FUCK!

the last 14 months have been a trying time for us. some very good things have happened and some very bad things have happened.

good:

• we had our first anniversary and went to vegas
• we returned to vegas and got married
• we got our first apartment together
• we celebrated 6 months of wedded bliss yesterday
• i got a job in my industry again after almost a year out of it

bad:

• i got laid off
• i couldn't find a job in my industry, so i applied for & got a job as a 911 operator
• between moving, getting married & starting a new job i was sufficiently stressed to the point of being sick for 4 weeks.
• i ended up quitting the 911 gig because of the stress/illness
• within 3 weeks of getting married & returning home, we both lost our jobs (his permanent, mine temp)
• he's had a hell of a time finding a job that pays decent money
• he had sinus surgery & a wrist injury

he was to have started his new contract gig this morning. "was to" being the operative words there. due to his infection, the fact that he can't see the doc until tomorrow & the fact that since he can barely breathe he didn't get more than 30 minutes of sleep last night, he didn't.

luckily for us, the company he'll be contracting for is AWESOME and when he called his liasion this morning, he was told to go to his appointment tomorrow and come in on wednesday to start instead. THANK GOD! i was REALLY freaking this morning (and maybe not overly the caring wife i normally am) because we really need that money that he'll be bringing in & i was afraid that they'd just replace him for not coming in today.

can you say WHEW?!?!

how do you spell relief?

i spell it:

i-n-s-u-r-a-n-c-e

we had yet ANOTHER snafu with insurance coverage on wednesday after vrock's surgery.

quick back story:

when vrock went in for his doctors visit on 9/30 he was given an Rx for antibiotics. when he got to the pharmacy they told him that we didn't have coverage. excuse the hell out of me?!?!? after MULTIPLE phone calls, i got it fixed and i picked up his prescription the next day. (the pharmacy didn't have what he needed but it was coming in the next day's shipment.)

fast forward to wednesday. after being at the hospital from 8:30am to 2pm, we were both ready to go home. we made 3 stops: one at the pharmacy across the street for a specific nasal wash not carried at our normal pharmacy, one at my parents to drop something off and the third at our local pharmacy to pick up all of our prescriptions. he's still kind of loopy from the anesthesia so he stayed in the car. 40 (count them!) minutes and $85 later i FINALLY came out with our prescriptions.

seems that SOMEHOW there was an error in reporting and we were shown as having our coverage EXPIRE on 10/11. EXCUSE me? needless to say i was PISSED off. after multiple phone calls (pharmacy called, i called) to multiple places (prescription coverage, hr, etc.) i decided to just pay the $85 (no insurance rate) and take my man home to rest. i was PISSED though and made a few MORE calls yesterday when i got back to work. nobody can give me a satisfactory answer as to WHAT the hell happened, but it appears to be fixed for the moment.

all i know is that i better NOT have to go through this every 2 weeks. see, my hr updates the insurance company who in turn updates the prescription people every 2 weeks. and if i have to do this every time we need a damn prescription, heads are going to roll. that is just BAD customer service right there.

since it was finally fixed and it had been less than 7 days since the pharmacy had run the prescriptions through the system, i called and had them rerun them so i could get credited the difference. which means that we get almost $40 back after all is said and done.

too bad i have to do some grocery shopping this weekend. i'd much rather use that $40 to soothe my stress with either thai or chinese for dinner.

and the hits just keep on coming

how do you know if you're passing the tests that God gives you?

is it if you DON'T break down and cry (& scream & throw things) that you know you're going to be ok?

because i REALLY think i'm being tested.

and i don't know if i studied hard enough.