Hello Again, Working World

The blog has been on the back burner, along with many things I had been doing on a daily basis since June.  Last week I started working in Philadelphia.  My new roles as both business professional and wife, are two very different roles for me, that I need to acclimate myself to simultaneously.  Both very positive changes in my life, might I add.  I had a few months to begin figuring out "wife", and as part of that role, I worked out different ways to live on a budget (couponing being one of them).  I think I got pretty good at it.

Just as I started to adjust to how my day is carried out, I got a job (finally)!  I find it so rewarding to know that I am financially contributing to our family again, along with how nice I find it to be taking the train into the city, dressing like a business woman (I never thought I dressed like I would've like to as a teacher), and being a part of the "hustle and bustle".  As odd as it sounds, I forgot how much I liked being at a desk.  I find it much less stressful when I get to do my job without the impressionable eyes of twenty-something middle schoolers watching every move you make.  Don't get me wrong, I love teaching, and hope to teach again, but I don't hate working in an office.  (I know, I have only been there a week.)

Anyway, I think my point is that all of a sudden there aren't enough hours in a day.  I told the hubby the other day, teachers do have it made, I had no idea.  I used to hate that my long commute as a teacher meant I didn't get home until 4:30.  Now, I don't get home until about 6:30 and I think, "How in the world am I going to do anything other than eat dinner, shower, and get to bed".  Luckily, I married a great cook, and when he gets home first and decides to cook, I know I am in for a treat.

So, how does everyone do it?  Wife, Worker, and Independent Woman?  Is it possible to be all three?  Figuring my day out, the breakdown seems I have eleven hours as a worker, require eight hours of sleep, which leaves me five hours to do everything else (both as wife and woman).  I will give it another few weeks and hope I can tackle the day to day needs of the house.  Well, I hope I can get the laundry done at the very least.  If I can manage to extend the day to 26-28 hours, maybe I will be able to stay more on top of the couponing!

;-)

Pardon my absence...

I know I have been gone for a little longer than usual.  Things have been kinda crazy for this unemployed girl.  My number one priority is... ok, I guess I can't pick just one "top" priority.  I have been driving back and forth to Delaware quit a bit in the past two weeks to see my family and help out where I am needed.

When I am not driving, I have been couponing and working on the house.  I have done a few small projects since my last blog, emphasis on the small.  One project was that I finally hung the towel rack in the bathroom.  I know, wahoo, a towel rack.  But, our bathroom walls are tiled, so the thought of drilling into into the wall terrified me. However, I sucked it up and fortunately did not crack the tile.

Major successes I have had this week was with couponing.  I am not yet good enough to classify myself an extreme couponer, but I am excited by the possibilities.  I have been sharing my savings with the hubby and I told him that I was not going to be an "extreme" couponer to avoid stock piling.  Then he said the words "you can stock pile, as long as it can be kept in the basement".  Oh my, it was like getting a free ticket to an amusement park.  Wonder what he will do if I start finding out I can get things like diapers for pennies.  Do I stock pile them for sometime in the future?  Those freaking things are expensive!  Note to anyone who reading this:  if you ever find coupons that you are not using, please send them my way.  Many deals require multiple coupons and vendors put print limits on the computer versions.  I think this has been holding me back.

The hubby is working a double today and tomorrow, so I am going to try and get a lot of work done around the house, possibly attempt a free shopping trip (which would make me an extreme couponer!) and apply to as many jobs as I can find.  This whole job thing is so discouraging.  I have been applying to absolutely everything I can find that doesn't require a degree I don't have.  I am crossing my fingers something pans out before I lose my mind. 

Oh, new topic since my last post: running.  I hate it.  However, I am going to be running a 5k on Thanksgiving Day (I am a poet).  Now I have to run so I don't embarrase myself.  Only problem I can't seem to tackle is that, no matter what, I lose my breath halfway through the second mile.  I'm gonna have to figure that out pretty soon. 

Ok, well I have run out of topics for day.  I will try to post more later in the week.  Hopefully something more interesting, too.

One of them days... ok, weeks.

I was so excited at the start of this week.  It was mission productivity, and I was Tom Cruise.  Monday was great.  I finished painting the bedroom, refinished the fireplace doors I bought on Craigslist, got laundry done, went to the bank, got the car inspection done, I was on a roll.  Then, I met Tuesday. 

Tuesday was not my friend.  I got absolutely nothing done.  Ok, well not nothing.  I was able to get some of my wedding scrapbook done (it is my plan for the millions of cards we got) while watching tv and being a cranky, uncomfortable girl all day.  So, I watched a shameful array of movies and television (Yogi Bear, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, Fraggle Rock, Muppets Take Manhatten, and a Property Virgins marathon) and didn't even make it to the grocery store for dinner.  I did try to install the freshly refinished fireplace door, but of course couldn't figure out how to do the install.  Forget you Tuesday, I like Wednesday better anyway.

Today made me wish for Tuesday again.  I woke up early, like a little girl on Christmas morning.  I was so excited to see the new carpet installed in the bedroom.  I told myself last night that tomorrow the room would look completely different.  Boy was I right.  My bedroom floor now consists of tack strips and carpet padding, how lovely.  The installers came, pulled out the old carpet, put in the new padding, and called me outside to where they had rolled out the new carpet to measure and cut.  Oh my Lord, they put the wrong measurement tag on my beautiful remnant.  Of course, they did; Wednesday hates me.  My carpet was about four feet smaller than what I paid for and I was told via Rob the salesman on the phone that I had to drive down to the carpet mart in Delaware and pick out a new carpet and reschedule an installation.  I was so mad my drive down was a blur.  I picked out a nicer carpet (by nicer I mean more expensive), but I'm not a fan of the color as much.  In the end, I have a carpet being installed tomorrow morning that would have cost me more than I was willing to spend, but because of the extreme inconvience, I don't have to pay any additional fees. 

Tomorrow can't be as mean to me as Tuesday and Wednesday have been (I say as I type this with one eye swollen shut from allergies).  Ok, it can be, I am just hoping that it isn't.  I actually work tomorrow for a few hours, and then I am going to attempt to put some of the finishing touches on the bedroom.  Hopefully when this room is done I will like it so much that I decide to enjoy it for a while before starting another big project.  I'm sure my husband is thinking the same thing. 

Hope Wednesday likes you more than it likes me!

Working so hard, yet not working at all

Today I woke up full speed, with a long list of to-do's, and didn't stop until dinner was done.  Now, I don't feel like moving.  I had a "group interview" at the local substituting company.  It was the worst hour I've had in a very long time, and I'm pretty sure there was another girl in the room who was thinking exactly what I was thinking (with the exception of the occassional "I hope Hamilton's doctor appointment is going well".)  I am a good teacher, and the frustration of not even receiving a phone call for an interview boiled over in the hour I sat there listening to the drill.  Even though I have a masters degree in education and many years experience in a classroom you are forcing me to pay you to spend a day in a room full of people with no educational training?  I think I'd rather practice reciting the daily specials for my next job as a waitress.  I'd make more anyway.  Why did I spend all that money on college?

So, anyway, after trying not to storm out of the room, I began checking things off of my list.  I did manage to make a few stops that weren't on the list.  Found a cute little thrift shop near my mother-in-laws house.  Didn't get the two things I had my eye on because it was cash only.  They would definitely be quick, easy, and awesome projects.  Maybe I will go back tomorrow.  Also stopped at the Goodwill and got a brand new, in the box, office chair (much needed, since I don't have anything now) for thirty dollars (whoo hoo).

After getting the hubbys car fixed, taking it to get registered, and stopping at Lowe's to grab lamp parts for a project (stay tuned), I went to pick up the pooch and fell in love with Charlotte, the three month old kitten up for adoption at the vet.  I may go back tomorrow ;-)  If we didn't have a 120 pound Rhodesian Ridgeback, we would be currently showing Charlotte her new home.  The vet tech even took her out to see how her and Hamilton got along.  It was adorable until Charlotte realized that Hamilton was a giant and clawed her way up the techs arms.  Ugh, she was so cute!

Since Hamilton and I got home, he's been sleeping off the anxiety of being at the vet all day, while I have been applying for every job under the sun that I can find, even the ones I am not qualified for.  Here is a question that I am sure many people in my situation ask:  how do I get the experience that this job is requiring without getting hired?  Maybe my blog will take off, I will become famous, people will start buying my pictures, and I can get by with odd jobs for the next few month.  Or, maybe even better, collecting all those Acme game pieces will result in me winning the grand prize.  I don't think I should hold my breath for that one.

Until tomorrow, my friends.

Welcome one and all... no one??

So, here it goes.  I've decided to create a blog.  There are millions out there, I am sure many of them are just like mine.  However, I am doing this more for me than for anyone who might happen to stumble upon it.  It probably wont be very interesting, but it will amuse me, so here it goes.

I plan to talk about life... my encounters with the people I know and love, as well as strangers.  I may talk about a recipe I tried, food I shouldn't have eaten, places I have been, or would love to go. 

That being said, let me tell you a little about me... just a little.  I am a 27 year old wife, daughter, and hopefully, some call me a friend.  I currently live in New Jersey, which is still something to get used to.  I moved here to be with my husband after saying I would never live in Jersey.  What can I say about him, other than, he is perfect for me, and has become the most important part of my life.

Went to school in D.C. where I majored in politics, then went to school in Baltimore where I majored in education.  It sure paid off, because now I have a great job as a... oh, wait, I am unemployed.  Not being able to find a teaching job in NJ has made me start the process of "what I want to be when I grow up" all over again.  I love to travel and take photos of those travels, my dream job would involve either one of those. 

Born and raised in Delaware, I spend a lot of time driving down to see my family.  I am the oldest of three girls, the youngest just became a teenager, and we are a close group of five.  My mom and dad are the strongest people I know, whether they believe it or not.  My mom was diagnosed with appendix cancer in August of 2009 and was given 3 months... maybe.  Screw the doctors who gave up on her, because we haven't, and she is still with us today.  My dad has grown to become the biggest support any of us could ask for, and he never stops, unless he falls asleep. 

Already writing more than I planned, so I am going to stop.  I promise not every post will be a chapter of my life.