A Dream Come True

Dear Internet,
right now i am sitting on my back porch in the sunshine reading a book. Seriously, this is like a dream come true for me. I always wanted to enjoy my own tiny back yard back at the condo. Who cares if it was only 100 square feet? It wasn't the size that prevented me from enjoying myself. It was the 4 ft high cyclone fence and neighbors everywhere you look. It was a complete lack of privacy. But not here.

Here I sit in privacy soaking up the sun. My birds are on the porch next to me splashing around in a bowl of water. My dogs are lying down at my feet; one sun bathing the other chewing a stick. A butterfly just fluttered by, no kidding.

This is great.

Make it Stop!

It is official. I can't stand packing or moving. We have been at this since Sunday but it feels like it has been months. Even though most of the house is packed up and moved over I still feel really defeated. The only things left to move are the things in our room, all the big furniture, and all those little random things that live on the bottom of the closet because they have no official home. I will be so happy when all of this is over!

Quick update

Hi, Internet. I can't talk long but I wanted to update you on a few things. I got a new job working in a mobile phone retail store. I haven't started yet, but they said they want me to come work for them and I am really excited. I will probably be working there in a week or two, after all of the new hire paperwork / background check goes through.

We signed the lease on the rental house last night. It's very thrilling. We have been moving stuff in for the last couple of days. It took me all day to move the kitchen over, but it is now over there almost 100%. Actually, the last carload of kitchen stuff is in my car as we speak. I am just about ready to bring it over there. It is taking a little longer than you might think because I am unpacking as I go. I don't know if we will make the entire move by Friday, but I think we will probably at least be living in the new house by then. Things will go a lot faster when we have a truck, I'm sure. It's slow going now because our car can only hold 3 or 4 small sized boxes at a time.

Today has been really hectic. Caleb flushed a spoon and a fork down the toilet, the dog stepped in poop and tracked it into the house. I discovered this upon stepping in the poop myself. Finally, things are cleaned up, Caleb is fed, and I am leaving him at Nana's house while I move some stuff. The fork and the spoon are still in the toilet. I'll have to take care of that later.

The Good, The Bad, and The Tearful

What a rollercoaster I have been on in the last 24 hours!

Good News: We got the rental house and we move in 2 weeks!

Bad News: We don't know what we are going to do with our condo and it will probably foreclose.

Tearful: I cried at work today in front of both my bosses and 2 of my coworkers.

Work was so hard today. It was hard to be away from my son all day. It was hard to leave him before he even woke up and then not see him again until dinner time. I knocked on 188 doors today, talked to 33 people, got ZERO leads. The thing that upset me the most was the 155 people that didn't answer the door. I really saw that as 155 opportunities to talk to people that I didn't get. I know it's not a controllable thing, but it was really, REALLY upsetting. I don't think I can stress to you enough how overwhelming and stressful this job is. I am determined to NOT be overcome by this job! I am way to strong willed and hard headed for that!

As I mentioned before, we were approved on the rental house. Yay! We are so excited! There is a lot of nervousness and uneasiness as well because we haven't sold the condo yet. We can't afford to make both the payments, so we are just going to not pay and try to sell it as fast as possible. I am just praying constantly that everything will work out. I don't know what else to say about that.

Shawn and I asked our friend Zac to move into the house with us. He really wanted to, but he is too kind-hearted to leave his current roommate / childhood friend high and dry without someone to help with the bills. I am going to continue to persuade him with my cooking abilities in case he finds himself in a position to move. If we had a roommate I could quit this abusive and ridiculous job. An abusive and ridiculous job that I am deeply and truly grateful to have, that is.

New Beginnings

I don't want to brag, Internet, but I am pretty awesome at my new job. Well, at least that is what they tell me. Apparently I am the best they have seen in a long time. The trainer kept telling me that I am going to be phenomenal at selling windows; more specifically, window appointments. My job is to schedule appointments for the salespeople to go to on the following day. The trainer said he thinks I will make a lot of money. He said he would even bet money on it. No one was willing to take him up on the bet, so I think that is a good sign as well.

I got a call back on the rental house today. Things are looking alright. Amy said that as far as the application looks, they can move ahead in the rental process. If the rest of the screenings go well, we could be moving in by the weekend. Good News: The potential landlords are not going to make us pay $50 bucks for a background check, (because they recognize no man according to the flesh) and they aren't going to make us pay $60 for the credit score. Bad News: They do however want to look at the credit report. I pulled up our credit report on www.annualcreditreport.com which is the government website where you can get your free annual credit report. Thinks are looking grim my Internet friend. This thing is littered with closed accounts and overdue balances. I can only pray that God and the landlords will have mercy on us.

"Times are hard, getting harder. I'm born to lose and destined to fail." -- Mike Ness

Blue

Hi, Internet.

Nothing is new. I just wanted to say that I am feeling rather blue about having to go to work tomorrow. It's so strange to think that tomorrow I will feed Caleb breakfast and then I won't see him again until dinner time. I'm not complaining because I know that is life. I know there are hundreds of thousands of moms who would rather stay home, but they have to work. I know I am just one among the ranks of many. Still, it saddens me. Knowing that I am in the same boat as countless others doesn't make me feel any better about leaving my son to work. I just pray this is temporary and that it all works out for the best.

Knock, Knock

Who's there? It's me - your friendly door-to-door window salesman?

Yup, that's right, Internet. I got a job. I am a door-to-door window salesman. They send me to 150 houses a day trying to get leads for the people who make the real money. It's not a bad deal though. I just hand out a flier, say a speech, call in the referral and that's it.

Some other good news; Shawn's work is hiring. I sent in my resume and cover letter today. He told them that I was interested and they said they would take a look at my stuff. I think that I would really rather work there. It's mostly office work; filing, customer follow up, invoices, and other stuff I would totally rock doing. I start the door-to-door job tomorrow, but I would leave it in a heart beat for this other place.

Here is some more news; I'm not sure if it's good or bad yet. Since I got the job we (technically on some small level)are qualified to rent the house we really want. The good news is that the landlords are friends of ours. Hopefully that means they are willing to overlook the massive blows our credit score has taken over the last few months. I told them not to feel obligated; no pressure. If they deny us, I would totally understand. Although it does appear that we have a good chance at getting the place because no one else has applied for it.

Keep your phalanges crossed, and send prayers this way.