go me!

Not sure what the heck is going on but I got home tonight and there was another letter in my mailbox asking me to come test and interview for a 3rd job!! It is excellent money but lots of driving and time away. We have decided I will pass on the interview because these 2 are more important to me than any amount of money.
But dang it it feels pretty good to be getting the responses that I have been in this economy! Makes me feel pretty good about ME! =)

I am meeting with my new boss tomorrow at 2 to go over the details. I cannot wait!!!!

my life ~ part 3

Lots of good stuff going on! I was dreading the start of this new job on Monday. The Lord answered my prayers and those of many around me, thanks everyone!) and I was offered another position today. I am going to go in on Thursday and talk to him a bit more about it and will possibly discuss it here later... not sure though. We'll just say it is the perfect blend of being a sahm and a working mom. It is 25 hrs a week. Flexible. I can bring the kids (!) yes you read that right, I can bring my kids! I can work some at home. WHAT A BLESSING! Greg and I are very happy. He of course is also thrilled that I won't be so weepy anymore about going back to work full time! :) I can't wipe the smile off my face today. Life is good.

On the house front... this job is going to do nothing for that. I believe we are to far into it now... there is no going back. But again, it is a stumble in life and we will not fall.

In other news... it has snowed like crazy this winter in MN. Ellie has wanted to be outside playing and it has just rarely been warm enough that I've wanted her to be out. But this past week it got up in the high 20's so we thought we'd give it a try.

Ellie had a blast... Cooper didn't think it was all that special. :)






He's on the move...



The kids and I, my sister and my bff and her daughter all went to the zoo last week... I am so lame these are the only pictures I took. Will do better next, promise.

Ellie was afraid of everything!

Dave Ramsey is one brilliant man and we are on the way to living REAL.

If you haven't already you must check out his book called "Total Money Makeover." I haven't been able to put the workbook down and I just bought it on Sunday. Greg is reading the book. My sister also bought it on Sunday and is already finished with it and will be re-reading it again right away.

help!

I am not able to post comments on other peoples blogs! What's up with that. I wanted to say something to you Holly, you Christy and you too Melissa! This sucks! Help!!

ellie has her seasons mixed up...

She wants to wear a swim suit every day. I tend to let her... pick your battles ya know. At least Cooper's got it right!

this is what happens when i tell her it's time to put some warmer clothes on...

Ellie funny's:

The other day she ran into the kitchen and asked me so sweetly, "mommy can we go to hollywood? when i'm 13?" (I have no idea where this came from? Shrek??)

At my parents house on Thursday night my sister asked if she knew where daddy had his surgery. (She meant where on his body) Ellie so quickly and matter a factly looks at her like she was a complete idiot and says, "at the hospital."

my baby's getting so big!

Cooper rolled over today! Oh Lord. I'm in trouble.

my life ~ part 2

If you haven't read part one... see below and read it first.

So yeah. That's where we're at. We feel like we have no other choice than to walk away. I know we have a lot of questions. How does this all work? Can we just do foreclosure and no bankruptcy?What is our timeline? Can they take $ from our bank account? Taxes? Etc, etc. So many unanswered questions. Greg called them again yesterday and they offered little advice or help. Mainly continued to ask us for large sums of money, that we don't have, and if we send it within 5 days they "may" be able to help us out. "May" isn't good enough for me. I'm not about to find a way to send them 7 grand and have them say we may be able to help you. Nope. Sorry. I think I'd be handing them the $ and we'd still be in the same situation. So instead we are learning all we can about our options. Short sale, deed in lieu of foreclosure, foreclosure, etc. It is all so confusing and overwhelming.

I tend to be fairly optimistic. My outlook is this: Greg and I are good. My kids are healthy. Happy. Loved. Fed. Hugged. Young. They are resilient. Things could be much worse. I pretty much have the same feeling about all this as Misguided Mommy did in my comment section on "part 1." We haven't used credit cards since the end of 2006. I don't want to use credit cards. I think they are evil. (Capitalism at it's best... Micheal Moore for President! sorry, back to the topic here...) I have one car that is paid off with less than 60,000 miles on it and one with a loan still. We don't need a new car right now. We are honestly looking forward to the freedom of being a renter. Not being responsible for spendy repairs, lawn care, snow removal, etc. We honestly could not replace our roof if it needed replacing right now. There is no way we could afford it. There is so many possible expenses with being a homeowner.

This is also going to allow us to move to the town where Greg works. Where my family and friends live. It will be more convenient for our life. We live in a town with nothing. Nothing but the smell of cow shit, lots of Buick's (at least here that means old people driving them VERY slowly), relatives (everyone in this town of 90 is related to one another) and no rules. People park backwards on the wrong sides of the streets. They park in their yards. We live near a car repair shop that also works on racing cars... which results in engines revving at all hours of the day and night during the summer... when our windows are open and children are trying to sleep. We don't have a single store, post office or even a gas station. The nearest of all those is 7 miles away. We can get a loaf of moldy bread and day old milk down at the feed store though. Ugh. I'm not even sure why we moved here in the first place.

In other related news, I have been applying for jobs since January. Not something I really want to do... but something I have to do. I got a phone call last week with a job offer. After lots of talking and planning and crying we have decided that I am going back to work full time. This weighs SO HEAVY on my heart. I so badly want to be home with my children. (just typing that sentence makes the tears start flowing) I had pictured Ellie starting preschool next fall and me being able to take her and pick her up each day. Taking Cooper to the mommy/baby classes and to the library for story time. We have had loads of fun. I just don't want it to end. I planned to go back to work by the time they were both in school. Or maybe after our 3rd is in school. (If a 3rd baby happens) But this is just to soon.

I do have to say though that my new boss is absolutely wonderful. I already love her. When they offered me the job I told her I needed a few days to think it over and talk with Greg about it. When I called her back to say I'd take it I made it clear that my family was my priority. Our conversation lead to how many of the staff there have young children and how she understands they are my priority and that "this is just a job." That was music to my ears. I had to call her again Wednesday to ask if it was possible for me to adjust my hours by starting my day 30 minutes earlier and leaving 30 minutes earlier at the end of the day. Our daycare closes at 5:30 and I need to be there by then. At first I thought this might be to much to ask for someone just starting a new job. But she called me back and said they would like to accommodate me and will allow me to work 7:30-4:30. I was shocked. I told her she was making it very hard for me to say no. She replied, "that's what we're hoping!"

This is all so bittersweet for me. I have to be honest and say I am excited to get back to working. With adults. Having adult conversations. Keeping my mind busy. Learning. Using my knowledge. Working somewhere that appreciates their employees and is willing to be so accommodating. But I am also so sad. So, so sad to be leaving my little Cooper. Ellie will be great, she will do fine. She will be in school. She loves learning. She will have a blast. But Cooper just breaks my heart. I want to cuddle with him all day. I am going to miss them so much.

There are just so many changes going on in my life at one time and during a time when I don't think my hormones are quite back to normal. Loss of a home, starting a new job, moving, leaving my kids after FINALLY getting to stay home with them... it is just so much. I am so emotional. Yesterday I had the worst day I think I have ever had. I can't really say I've ever had much anxiety. But yesterday I think I came so close to actually having a full on anxiety attack. I just couldn't calm down. I was so out of my body watching the day go by. I couldn't concentrate. I was irritable. Impatient. Inconsolable. And so, so tired.

Why does life have to be so hard? I know this is our fault and there is no blaming anyone or anything else. But dang it it sucks.

my life ~ part 1

Ok. Vent time. Life has been very challenging this past year. Financially anyway. It seems like we just made a series of bad decisions. It started with me quitting my job to stay home with the kids. That alone was a GREAT decision. I had an awesome summer with Ellie and since Cooper has joined the family the 3 of us have had loads of fun doing the day to day stuff like grocery shopping, cooking dinner and cleaning. We go to weekly Thursday morning play days at a local preschool that opens one classroom and the gym up each week. We watch countless movies. We bake. We play go fish and memory (WAY to many times). We trace letters. We read books. We also love to go to Starbucks for a much needed mommy pick me up. We do lots and I love it. It is hard work staying home. Very hard. But in the end I love it no matter how much I complain about it or how hard it is. Anyway... back to the bad decisions.

So I quit my job in May 09. Life is good. Ellie and I started off our kick-A summer... and then Greg got some time off at work for a stupid email we sent between the 2 of us and about 100 other people. It was hilariously perverted and whatever... but someone was offended. So that was a kick in the pants. Time off work - unpaid - when I wasn't working either. Not a good start.

We made it thru the summer with Greg working and me selling lia sophia. As the end of my pregnancy neared Greg was involved in another incident at work involving a well being check that didn't get completed even though it was entered into the computer as being done. Apparently though there was some chaos at the time with a detainee attempting to hang himself and he had to be cut down, etc. I wasn't there so I don't know what happened. But this resulted in Greg having a meeting scheduled with the Sheriff and other higher ups. He was told to bring in all county property. So we just knew he was going to be fired. We prepared ourselves for it. It was literally days before I was to deliver. We were scared and stressed. I was so worried we wouldn't have health insurance when it came time to deliver.

The day came and literally an hour before it was time for him to go in my dad called and told him to stay calm and not have an attitude. What we didn't know at that time was that my dad had gone in and spoke to the Sheriff and the other higher ups and pretty much asked that they give Greg another chance. That I was prego and that his income was our only income. (My dad worked with most of these men for some 30 years so he knew them well.) My dad pretty much saved our arse. For that we are so grateful. But the result was that he still received 20 shifts off unpaid. 20 shifts is just under 2 months off in his job as they work 12 hour shift work. So we had little to no income from mid-September to mid-November. We had some help from Greg's dad and my grandpa. What we didn't have was enough money to pay our mortgage.

After talking to our mortgage company 3, 4, 5 times they finally agreed to give us a 6 month deferment. We thought, SWEET! We are going to be fine! We got our first paycheck in mid-November and then had to pay double the health insurance since we hadn't paid it for those 2 months. We also had to catch up on plenty of other bills I'd let slide during that time. Then it was Christmas time and you know that pressure to buy gifts for everyone is there. Then Greg has to have surgery and they want $1700 down and we EVEN HAVE INSURANCE!

So that brings us to now. The 6 months is up and what does our mortgage bill say? $950 for one months payment? Oh no, over $7000 is due. They want the ENTIRE 6 months of payments. NOW. Explain this one to me. If we didn't have it over those 6 months why would we have it now? So they tell us to fill out some paper work for some plan Obama has put into action... I do just that. Well this past Saturday they send us a letter saying they are unable to help us and we should put our house up for sale (it has been since December) and to contact them when we receive an offer and they'll consider a short sale. Shhaaaaaaa right. We live in the middle of no where. We are not going to get any offers on or house any time soon.

So we are considering just walking away. Is this what is happening across this country today? It is just so dang sad.

To be continued...