Today (well, it was today [Wednesday] when I started this post, now it was yesterday) is the two year anniversary of our house closing. Wow. To use a cliche, time really does fly.
On the left side of my blog here, you can see what we've done over the past two years. Everyone who told us "home ownership is never-ending," you were right! I've always got a to-do list going and we are always thinking of the next season, the next project, etc. In fact, I just added a few more items to the "things we've done" list AND the "things to do" list after typing my previous sentence. Our garden has been ripped out and plowed down, but C is thinking about what to plant next year. I have bulbs to plant, BUT I noticed we have some mysterious holes around the house...almost like a little critter is looking for something. Do I want to give them free food if I plant the bulbs?
Some things will need professional help, other things we can do on our own. This house is starting to feel more and more like OURS, which is great. While I'm itchy to work on them, I still have to be prudent with my time, money and energy; what's smart to do when, what will need more money then we have on hand, that sort of thing. Thankfully, C is better with that sort of strategizing than I am!
Onto my update...
As you may have seen a few posts back, C went back to work! He is now working an hour from home, versus his old half hour commute, for the same money and same position. Honestly, it was NOT ideal, and actually, in a word, sucks, but he had no other options. For all the applications and networking he was doing this time around, he wasn't getting any bites. I never shared the story of how he landed this job. He didn't apply for it; they came looking for him. Following the hurricane (I first typed earthquake, I have NO idea why!), a guy who he'd worked with briefly at his old job (he filled in for C's old boss for a time) called. He had an opening at HIS facility and was wondering if C was interested. There was a lot of back and forth, especially as he wasn't an internal candidate but not really an external one, and everyone wanted to make sure the hiring process was on the up and up, but he started three weeks ago, and already things are changing!
Not only does C drive an hour each way, he has a weird schedule. M 8-4, T 12-8, W 9-5, R 12-8, F 9-5. This also isn't fun, since C can't get on a good sleep schedule, we can't get on track with other things, it's just not good. But we've dealt with it because, you need to work. One night last week, I was cooking dinner (yes, I reluctantly resumed this task, even though C is sooooo much better at it!) on one of the late nights, and I thought "it would be lovely if he could just find a job closer to home." It wasn't a prayer, at least to me, but someone heard me. The next day, C emailed me with news that there was a possibility of him getting a transfer to a facility in the closest city. Only a 20 minute drive!!!!!
The catch: a new schedule. The time was fixed, 8-4 every day, but it would be Sunday-Thursday. This had been a possibility with another
job awhile ago, but C wasn't offered the job. We'd talked with our priest back then, who told us that we needed to do what was best for our
family. The great thing about being Catholic, you can go to church on Saturday nights, and while our church doesn't have a Saturday liturgy, our sister parish does, which is the same distance from our house as the other church! So we knew we had a way to deal with the religious aspect of our life, even though it wasn't perfect. We've grown to love this parish and to feel at home. I know we will be missed, and we feel crappy for not being able to make it work. We will pop in for holy days as well as if C's schedule should change.
If C were to stay at the far away job, we were looking at buying a third car that was better on gas, since his current car isn't great on gas, but is paid off. I wasn't happy about that idea, especially since the company wasn't budging on more money for him. Why should we have to work harder to make this work? Now we won't have to buy anything, and will be saving money with less gas being used. He'll also be home sooner and won't be as tired when he gets home. We will also be able to get more of a routine down, which will be much better for me, as I thrive with structure. Our "new" church, which is actually the parish C grew up in, is close by to his grandmother's house. She's in her early 80s and is just starting to slow down; seeing her at liturgy each Saturday, and being able to stop over afterwards to help her with something is an added bonus. It's not only good for the family in this house, but the extended family. C will work at his current locale until 11/16, then he's taking an unpaid vacation for hunting season, and will start at the new place the Monday after Thanksgiving.
I have more to update on, but this was/is the biggest news and I figured I owed my few followers the story about what happened!
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