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.

Tomorrow: The Zoo

Hi Internet,

Not a lot is new these days, but I thought that I would check in with you and just let you know that I'm alright. My Aunt Pam and Maw Maw (just one of the many ways to say "grandma" in the south) are in town still. Tomorrow we are going to go to the Portland Zoo. It's not really anything special, but Caleb loves it and the 2nd Tuesday of every month is a 2 dollar Tuesday. Admission is only 2 bucks and it's worth the trip to get in for that price.

Although, I should warn you, if you go during Summer break, chaos ensues. My brother, Brian, and I took Caleb to the last $2.00 Tuesday of the Summer last year and had a minor altercation with a crazy lady. We ended up calling the cops after she threatened us. Even the 911 operator was laughing at our description of her. "Crazy ass white lady; dressed like a crack head" The good news is that the cop got there in just a few minutes, and he introduced us to a secret short cut to the zoo.

Hopefully tomorrow won't be so crowded. School isn't out yet and so I think we will be good to go. I already packed the lunches and got everything together, so we will be ready to leave in the afternoon without having to work all morning.

Speaking of working all morning - I cleaned the house SO well today and it only took Caleb a few minutes to trash it. I swear our place is just too small for the 3 of us. I am running out of places to hide things.

Well I will talk to you later, internet. I will probably be tweeting a lot at the zoo, so if you want to see what is going on check me out on Twitter. You can follow the links or type www.twitter.com/CrystalBoyes in your browser.

Sky Net Human Resources?

Hey, Internet,

I'm trying to get an interview at Macy's today. I filled out an application online 2 days ago. Yesterday they emailed me saying they wanted me to schedule an interview online, but there were no times available. Today, they sent me another email saying that they still want to interview me. The website for scheduling the interviews is still saying there are no times available. I have been trying to call the HR Dept for over 20 minutes, but no one is answering. Perhaps they are out to lunch, or perhaps the HR Department is just run by robots altogether. I think that this may be the beginning of Sky Net taking over the world.

Maybe Sky Net is hiring?

Light Purse, Heavy Heart

Good evening, internet. I'm feeling pretty blue today. It doesn't look like we are going to be able to find a roommate and so my job search continues.

In the meantime I have been trying to do some spring cleaning. If we do end up moving, it will be a lot easier to pack if I go through all of our stuff and get organized.

I'm just trying to stay hopeful. Thanks to everyone who has sent us kind words. Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel?

I think there might be a tiny little pin prick light at the end of my foreclosure tunnel. I talked to my dear friend Amy Brown about my little problem and she invited us to come take a look at their rental home. I gave her the full laundry list of reasons why she wouldn't want me to be her tenant, but she seems unfazed. So now we have a place to go if we could only get rid of our current home. Well, there is another catch.

We wouldn't be able to afford the payments on our own. They are just a little bit higher that our condo, but we would still be struggling. So one of two things needs to happen.

1. I need a job
---- or ----
2. We need a roommate


After devoting a year and a half to being a stay-at-home-mom; it would greatly pain me to leave Caleb with someone else, even if it was just part time. I'll do it if I have to, but I'd really like it to be a last resort. (I guess that means I should have made it second on my list, eh?) That leaves us with the alternative... find a roommate.

Who could we possibly trust to live with us now that we have a son? Certainly not our hoodlum friends of yesteryear. Well, who better than family? We are trying to talk my sister into renting the house with us. I really hope that she goes for it, but there are so many variables. She is wanting to change her work to part time and then go to school full time. I am praying that it works out without changing her plans. I told her that I don't want her to feel any pressure or obligation and of course I really mean that. I just hope that it works out for her and for us. That would be ideal.

Only time will tell.

The Hard Truth

Internet, there is something I haven't been telling you and I think I need to get this off of my chest. Shawn and I are losing our house due to lack of payment. We are trying to work something out or find a way to avoid foreclosure, but so far it looks like we are going to become a statistic. It is as if one of those horrible news stories about the economy crawled out of our TV and into our lives like that creepy girl in The Ring. No one can help us, we are all alone; and I just don't know what to do.