Friday, October 27, 2006

New Job...

He started at the new position this week. Good news and bad news situation. Bad news is that well, we already established that it doesn't pay for squat, and.. he is back in a uniform and EVERYONE keeps asking him why... Good news.. his bosses really want him to succeed and have told him they anticipate him doing so quickly. They are happy to have him and he is happy to be there. It also looks like he will be training on day shift and possibly ending up on a swing shift. That would be awesome! He would be able to do something else on the side as well as seeing us occasionally.. and most importantly, our life wouldn't revolve around his sleeping schedule!

In other news... hub's mom tried to commit suicide.

Oh yeah... you would think we could get 5 flipping minutes to take a breath and adjust to our existing situation (which still isn't stable) before another major event happens. Not in this family baby.. oh nooo.

She is Bi-Polar and says she now has nothing to hold onto after losing custody of hub's nephew. He is now in foster care undergoing the counseling he has SO long needed, and being made sure he sees his parole officer on a regular basis. She doesn't qualify for welfare without him. I am POSITIVE there are programs out there to help her, yet once again she has turned on the pity party to my brother-in-law saying that no-one loves her... she has given up.. if we all could just send her some money.. BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want her to DIE.. but this is a woman who has lived a cycle of independence/drugs/depression/needing to be rescued.. for 20+ years!! At some point you have to take the initiative to take care of yourself right?? And don't think I am blaming her for her illnesses.. but I do believe you can make a conscious decision to NOT use drugs.. which triggers your depression and sends you into a downward spiral.


We took her in when NO-ONE else could or would.. for a year and a half.. and not just her, but hub's abused/issue ridden nephew too! What was the result you might ask?? She came to us half dead, hooked on methadone.. and within 2 weeks was cleaned up and off of it, in a drug re-hab program and functioning as an adult. Which sounds great until we started finding her passed out in the front room, empty bottles of pills here and there... fighting all the time with us... crashing her car, etc etc. My family suffered. My child had to be in counseling and on anti-depressants for a year after they moved out... and nephew went on to molest one of his young cousins!

I have chosen to give up responsibility for this one. I decided last time to bring her here. Not gonna happen. We don't have any funds to send her.. which wouldn't help her anyway as she would blow it on pills. We can't do much about this other than offer suggestions as to her next course of action.. which I think should be a live-in drug or mental program.

So yeah.. that was my yesterday.. LOL... in good news... QK came in and I can't wait to see it! LMAO

See ya!

Saturday, October 21, 2006

It's been 3 weeks...

And while it hasn't been fun, this past week we came to terms with what was going on and were able to formulate plan B. Former employer was officially going to cut him loose this week, but he had one last department to interview for. We had decided to interview with a few other companies and in the meantime all 3 of us decided we would take a Notary Public class to be able to do that. The interview with former employer (new department) was yesterday. The result was good. He got the job.

Now while I am sure most of you are thinking.. oh thank GAWD cuz that was scary... well it still is. He will actually be making about $20 LESS an hour than his former job. That means as of right now, we will ONLY be able to afford our mortgage with his pay. Within his pay we will also have continued health insurance, which was a big concern of mine.. you know, having 2 small children and all. Nothing else will be covered. Which accounts for quite a bit actually. Car insurance, gas & electric, water & trash, cable utilities, cell phones & rv payment. Oh yeah.. did I forget to mention FOOD? Yeah.. well that too. Oh and the holidays... and that pesky property tax which is so lovely in California. Of course we have already cut back on a lot of things.. no going out, no pointless Target trips, but our kids are still growing and winter (however warm it may be compared to most) is right around the corner.. which means jackets and jeans and sweatshirts...

Now I know I may sound bitter, and honestly, I am. I am frusterated that his past 13 years of employment have come down to this. Him practically BEGGING for a job, one that is front line, just so he can get off of Unemployment (which pays diddly squat), keep health insurance for his family and contribute to keeping our household alive and well. 9 years in management and every single place he interviewed for said they wanted him to start at the bottom. It's crap I tell ya. CRAP.

So now... what to do from here? They do have supervisor positions available in this new department, they DO want him in there. They want to train him so that he is aware of their policies and procedures (understandable) and they have said after that, it is up to him to move up. Basically depending on how fast he catches on and proves he can do it, then they will move him upwards. They do want to fast track him and they haven't put a time frame on it. That part is good. Now I go back to worrying whether or not he will make sufficient effort to have it happen sooner rather than later. I don't want to be the naggy bitch wife who is constantly harping.. but I also don't want to be the horrible stressed out wife who is constantly worrying how we are going to pay these other bills. Here is the hard part for me. Because now I have lost trust in him. While I completely feel that he was fired for bull crapola reasons, that for whatever reason they just didn't want him there and they found completely lame reasons to justify firing him.. I still worry that there were things he could have done better... efforts he could have made to prevent this... etc. The controlling part of me does NOT have an easy time with this. AT ALL.

So anyway.. this is a step in the right direction. I still have an eye twitch, I am still having trouble sleeping, and now I am worried that they will give him a graveyard position once again, which will mean that he won't have the energy to do ANYTHING outside of this job. Which honestly, he needs to do. I don't want to live off of father-in-law for the rest of my damn life.

Ok.. bitter post today with a highlight of somewhat good news... hugz

Sunday, October 01, 2006

This blog has become horribly depressing...

but I am sure you are thinking.. HEY.. no news is good news right?

NO

WRONG

He didn't get the job. We don't know why, we are waiting on an email.

He DOES have a 2nd interview with the people he interviewed with in the first place. Not sure when or what that will yield, but at this point, anything is a bonus.

Unemployment kicks in this week, but sadly, it is MINISCULE compared to what he was making. You know how everyone talks about %'s when it comes to unemployment/disability? WELL, apparently there is a MAX salary amount they base it off of, and he was WAY over that. So we are getting about 45% of what he was making BEFORE they take the taxes out. EACH MONTH. Woopedy do. That will cover.. oh... the mortgage? And pretty much food. And that's it. So all of the utilites need to get covered somehow or the other. Hmmm. Looks like I may be picking up more days at the store and possibly looking for a job. I guess we will see.

Good news is that we sign our loan papers tomorrow, so that will relieve some stress.

Did I mention that amidst all of this mess I have a HUGE trade show in less than 2 weeks? AND, the city decided to partially close off access to the street my store is on, and the businesses are suffering BADLY for it? I am finally starting to pick up after a slow summer but have no idea how this will affect me... ugh

OK, enough whining, I am off to work. Have a day.