now that THAT is over....

well that was quite the stretch of 2 weeks.

man, i'm tired. still. ugh.

first i started a new full time job. ok, that's a good thing, right?

it is. BUT. i had already committed to working at the local fair for 4 days. and those days? of course coincided with my first weeks of working. which meant that i worked 12 days straight before i got a day off. then? 1 day off, 1 shift at the fair and then boom. off on labor day and then right back into a work week.

plus? i have an event sat until 2ish. not that i'm complaining. i'm just really eyeing sunday when i can sleep in.

in the good news department, i got about 8 leads from one of the booths at the fair and when i started calling them yesterday, i booked a party. woot! so maybe, just maybe, that whole "paying for the time i spent in the booth & working the booth for free" thing might be starting to pay off. we'll see what the order totals look like.

back to work now. if i can stay awake long enough, that is.

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!

taking the plunge

no, not that plunge. we're already married, remember?





and no, not that other one either. we. are. NOT. PREGNANT.





ok. so can i tell you WHICH plunge i'm referring to?





SELF-EMPLOYMENT. yikes!!





it's becoming glaringly clear that for whatever reason, i'm just not destined to get a real job. anytime soon. at least that's how it feels.





case in point: last weeks' job interview. for an advertising company. sounded pretty good on the careerbuilder.com website. so i applied figuring i wouldn't even rate a phone call since i have zero sales experience. not only did i get a call, i got an interview. okay. so i went. and about 1/3 of the way through the "pre-interview" (yes, she basically called it that), i realized that this was one of those 100% commission gigs. um, no thanks. i fully understand that my unemployment will not last forever. and that we both need to find a job, any job so that we will be able to pay our bills. but a job where they DON'T PAY YOU? um, no. because as far as i'm concerned? a 100% commission job is a job that doesn't pay you. with a 14 month old? that's not really an option. so i deliberately gave a bad answer to ensure that i wouldn't get called in for a 2nd interview. mission accomplished!





that leads me back to the SELF-EMPLOYMENT thing. back in august we went to the fair. at the fair was a book booth with a "ask me how to earn income from home" banner. so i asked. and was intrigued. and looked into it some more. and by the end of the weekend, had decided to sign up as an independent consultant. i've done a home show (with a few in the works) and worked a fair & some other "booth" events. i'm set to work a book fair with my sponsor & finally earn my first bit of commission. yes. commission. see, this is also a commission only type job. but? these books sell themselves, so i have no fear about it. and? i don't have to leave this everyday.

because really. who would WANT to leave THAT FACE everyday for 10+ hours? sure as HELL not me!

so i've been doing the book thing since the end of august. and have made sales of roughly $1000. cool. but i'm not quite as busy as i'd hoped. and since i figured that i should probably take the bull by the horns, i'm also signing up tomorrow to be an independent consultant for pampered chef. i figure that between the two i should be able to bring a decent amount of money in. maybe not enough to replace a full time income for me, but then i'd only need to get a part time job to supplement my SELF-EMPLOYMENT! those words still scare the crap outta me!

anyhow, that's where i am at this point. trying to take control of my own destiny and make some good things happen for my family. i figure if i'm going to "sell" something, then it might as well be something i love & something that my family can use. because let's face it. who doesn't LOVE books & pampered chef??

and then there were 6

it's a very freeing feeling to know when your job is going to end. you can plan for things. you have the chance to make sure that all of your "loose ends" are cleared up. as much as being laid off sucks (cobra, unemployment, etc.) it's a good thing to KNOW it's coming. (unlike my friend who walked into her office one day in dec & was escorted out of the building a mere 90 minutes later.)

that being said, in a sick way i'm LOOKING FORWARD to not working. granted, i'll still have my school work to do and all that, and as long as i continue to pass all of my lessons on the first try, i'll be done mid june. that will hopefully translate into a gig working from home transcribing, which means that when this little boy makes his debut sometime in august, i'll have a paying gig. (not sure how the whole "i'm having a baby" thing will translate to the job, but the benefits to the employer are not that many "sick" days since i'm already home.) from what i've been told, around the middle of this part of the class (18 chapters & lessons) i'll be getting a call from the school to set up phone interviews, etc. if all goes the way it should, that should be happening around the end of the month. with the way the grading is timed out (once i turn in something, they have 4 business days to get the graded lesson back to me) i'll only have to worry about 1 chapter while we're on vacation, which is a good thing.

vrock's mom & sister are moving into a different house next month & they want him to come out and help them move. if he's still not working, that's not a huge deal, as they'll pay for his plane ticket. since i won't be working either, we've been debating the idea of me going with him, since after the baby is born i won't want to go ANYWHERE, much less to texas. so we'll see what happens. i can take all my school stuff with me, it'll just depend on how much i'm getting from unemployment & how much/if he's still getting unemployment. not to mention, our childbirth class starts on 5/5 (we'll be in hawaii) and runs every tues night. i don't want to miss any more than the one we have to miss since we'll be gone. so there's that to consider too.

a lot going on in the next couple of weeks but it's all good. and i feel calm. which is always a good thing.

all the news that's fit to print

i guess i have to make this a quickie since blogger says it's got a scheduled outage in 10 minutes!

1. we found out at our ultrasound on monday that it's a boy! vrock is thrilled and while at first i wanted a girl, i'm thinking that maybe having a boy first is a VERY good thing. so there's that big news.

2. i found out today that 4/17 will in fact be my last day at my current job. this is not a huge surprise to me, as i was supposed to be out of here on 1/16. my boss did try to see if he could keep me, but it was a no go. while i'm bummed about the fact i'll be losing that income, i'm not really bummed that i won't be working here anymore. the people are great, don't get me wrong. i just think i'm ready to be doing something else than financial stuff for a long while. i've been doing this since 8/01 and i think it's time for a change.

and if i can collect unemployment while i finish my transcription course AND only have to pay 35% of my cobra costs (thank you Mr. President!) all the better.

plus, this means i don't have to buy anymore maternity work clothes!

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. :)

settling in

i tried to post this yesterday & blogger ate my post. let's see if it "sticks" today.

life is slowly getting back to normal after the move. all of the big moving/storage issues are pretty much settled. there are still a few boxes & bags to go through and unpack/donate/trash but thankfully those number only about a dozen or so.

since we have limited room in our closet, i've been packing away items of clothing that i don't want to get rid of, but that i can't actually WEAR at the present moment. i'm not entirely sure if my belly has "popped" since i was a little chubbier than i'd like when i got pregnant. it definitely seems bigger to me though. LOL

since things are finally calming down, i'll be able to pick up the medical transcription course again and start studying. i'm halfway through the first class & have taken the midterm. i'm hoping to finish by the end of march if not sooner.

things at work are still kind of up in the air. since the initial push that preceeded me getting the 90 day extension, things have slowed a bit. which means, if it slows enough i'll be out before mid april when the extension was set to expire. we'll see what happens. we need the insurance, so i hope that doesn't happen (since i don't really want to pay for cobra a month or two early if i don't have to.) but part of me really would like to just be able to sleep in & study & look for jobs while getting unemployment. we'll have to see how that goes.

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.

news

so i got a bit of good news today.

my boss requested & received permission (is that the right word?) to keep me on for another 90 days.

so that means that not only do i not have to pack up my office next week, i also won't have to pay cobra for at least 3 more months.

happy days!! (at least the next 90) :)

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.

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!

1/2 the dilemma is over

my parents ROCK! (not that this is news to me, but they totally deserve a shout out!)

so here's the scoop:

i got my "notice" package at work. i knew it was coming and was actually kind of looking forward to it if only so i could ask all of the questions i had milling about in my brain. i called hr and got most of my questions asked.

the bottom line is this: i will get paid through 1/09. which means i'll also still have medical insurance through that time. which is an immense relief. (even though vrock already had his surgery, we're covered for a little bit longer.)

the notice period (60 days - thru 1/16) can either be working or non, but i'll still get paid.

so, i took the plunge and enrolled in the transcription course today. i should receive my books & course materials (sans the laptop which will be sent directly from Dell) either friday or monday. so this time next week, i'll be a student. :)

i'm excited to start on this new path. i don't know yet if my boss will want me to come in for any or all of the notice period but i should find out tomorrow. i know i'll be there through next wed, though.

wow. i'm doing it. (thanks again to mom & dad for the loan!) i'm actively taking hold of my future. it feels good.

dilemma city

this being in limbo about the specifics of my getting laid off is getting old.

i'm supposed to be "officially" notified on monday. finally! (not that i'm excited about losing my job, but at least i'll be able to ask questions of hr!)

• there are quite a few questions i need to ask them. about our healthcare coverage should i NOT choose the lump sum payment.
• about if i DO take the lump sum, do i have to pay that back if i get a job before the end of january?
• about if i choose to do a non-working notice, am i still counted as an employee?

there is literally about 20 questions i need to get answers to.

see, there's this online transcription course i've been looking into taking. it is ideal for me as i already have a background in medical terminology from when i worked as a medical assistant for 5-6 years. plus, i already have a healthy typing speed, so i'm already ahead of the game. the course is sort of expensive ($2800 or $2600 if you pay the tuition in full) but, you get not only a brand new laptop included in all of the class materials but LIFETIME assistance with job placement. and as a transcriptionist, i could work from home. (plus, due to the ability to work remotely i would not be "limited" to jobs only in my immediate area.)

it's a lot to think about but i'm more and more leaning towards the "this is the way to go" route. after i'm able to ask all my questions next week, i'll know more, but i'm really thinking that if i can find a way to take this course, i will.

who knew i'd actually be looking forward to studying again??

shoe droppage

and the other shoe has dropped. i was told "unofficially" that i will be receiving notice that my job is being eliminated.

so.

it's on with the temp agency sign ups and interviews.

joy.

another tomorrow

until i have news about my status with my company.

grrrr. i hate it when hr reschedules things that are vital to my status with the company!

after all, tomorrow is another day

in the good news department: vrock will FINALLY be starting his contract gig tomorrow.

(as you may or may not recall, he was due to start it last week when he was felled by a combo cold/post op infection. the rest of the week he struggled to get SOMEONE to call him back to let him know when to come in.)

it happened, as it always does that he was preparing to go apply somewhere else when he got the call saying they wanted him to start tomorrow. he still applied at the other place as it was for a full time, permanent position AND it pays $5 an hour more than the contract position. we'll keep our fingers crossed and keep saying copious prayers and hope it all works out in the end.

on my end of the job saga, i may know something tomorrow.

my boss has a call with HR scheduled for noon tomorrow. i'm staying positive and proactive. as much as i want this job and to stay with my company, i'm not naive and i know there's a very real chance that i could be one of the odd women out here. with that in mind i've spend the last few days polishing my resume and getting it out to anyone and everyone i can think of.

there will be more crossing of appendages and a plethora of prayers to that end.

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?!?!

catching up

has it been a week already? wow.

last weekend was VERY low key what with vrock having surgery on wednesday. we ran some errands, did some shopping & watched some football.

then i was sick on monday. (no fun AT ALL) and the rest of the week i've been busy with work.

so that brings us to today. i've done most of my work already and it's not even noon yet. (makes for a long day.)

this weekend is the big notre dame vs. univeristy of washington game that vrock & i have been waiting for since his birthday. i hope we have a good day for it. it's an evening game, so we'll need to be prepared to freeze our butts off.

vrock got a contract gig with a MAJOR corporation that we're hoping could become permanent down the road AND the other job he was working before his surgery & wrist ailment? they want him to come back too! it's only a part time job, but the hours he'll be working at the new place are such that he'd be able to do BOTH jobs, should he choose to do so. he's leaning towards doing that, which would be a MAJOR help to our finances. he's just going to wait a few more weeks before he tries to go back to the part time job to make sure that he's recovered enough.

i'm cautiously optimistic that things are looking up for us.

now, if only i could get knocked up.....