I'm Committed

Or perhaps I should be committed. Not sure which.

At any rate, we bought a new car yesterday. Well, a minivan actually. With 4 kids I am locked into the minivan at least until they are all in college...probably beyond. It is a white Kia Sedona...and very very nice. My car that we traded was a 1994 Villager with over 220,000 miles. So this is a big step up indeed!!

And now we have 2 car payments. If I wasn't committed to the full time job before, I sure am now. From here on out, we will have to have 2 full time incomes to make ends meet.

But, that is OK. With every paycheck I can feel some of the money stress from the past 3 years letting up just a bit. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

HOT & HUMID here today. Guess I can't complain...it is nearly July in the South. Shouldn't expect anything else.

My stepkids have are in Georgia all week visiting their grandparents, so my boys have been staying with my mom ( nearby ) during the day while I sleep. Thank heavens for grandparents, huh? It has been a very quiet week so far. Quiet enough for me to sneak off to buy a new car.

Success

Well, I made it thru my first week on the night shift. It actually wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. It helps that I am a night person by nature, so I can adapt to a night schedule better than a lot of folks.


Also....on a break last night I created a new budget for us. Holy Cow ! With me working full time we will change from being almost $500 in the hole every month to having nearly $1500 surplus. That was VERY exciting for me to discover. God has been so good to us.


It is also rather comforting considering that we are going to have to buy a new minivan in the next couple of weeks. Mine is a 1995 with nearly 225,000 miles. It needs a new transmission, both front CV joints, an overhaul on the A/C system, and several other more minor things replaced. It is time to bite the bullet and get something new or "nearly" new.


The heat and humidity have been UNBEARABLE this week. The temps have been nearly 100 every day with very high humidity. On my break everynight I step outside for 5-10 minutes just for the calmness and fresh air. Both an invigorating cold shock or a soothing summer breeze are good ways to wake up. Last night, however, at 2AM it was still 80 degrees and so muggy it felt like you were swimming to walk outdoors for even a moment. Just miserable.


Thankfully, the weather man is calling for a cold front to come thru tonight. It will only be lowering temps 10 degrees, but it will be a very welcome reprieve from the extreme heat.


We are making a quick trip to Georgia tomorrow...delivering my stepkids to their grandparents for a week. It is 4 hours each way, so we will be spending the better portion of the day in the car. We've just got so many things we need & want to do around home that we don't want to spend even one night. And I am really looking forward to sleeping in my bed, at night, with my husband.


I hope all you mom's have an excellent weekend.

The Night Shift

So far, so good as far as the night shift goes. I do not like this particularly area of Q.A. as much as I did the previous, but it is good for me to be trained in as many areas as possible.

What did come as a surprise is how hard it is for me to pull out of the driveway at 6:15 in the evening. I knew I would miss my family. I knew it would be hard to be away from my husband. But, both nights so far, I have been teary eyed as I drove out of our neighborhood.

I know me working is a necessity. I'm going from bringing home $450 a MONTH to almost $600 a week. My contribution is finally going to get us out of the hole and hopefully stop the creditors from calling.

And I know nightshift is the best choice for our family right now. If I worked a typical Mon-Fri, 8-5, kinda job we would be paying full time day care for 3 kids all summer. And before/after school care during the school year. With this job, I sleep for 5 hours when I get home, then have the afternoon with the kids. And once I am totally done with training, I will have a lot of days of during the week to spend with them. I will be able to volunteer at their schools, go on field trips, and be here every day when they get off the bus.

But it is still hard to leave them.

Nervous

I am going to night shifts tonight & I am surprised to find that I am really nervous about it. For numerous different reasons.

1. It is going to be an adjustment for me and my family for me to be gone 13 hours every nights.

2. I'm moving on to a new & more difficult phase of my training. Even though I whizzed thru the 1st phase, I worry that I won't cut it in this next step.

3. I know no one on nights. I know that is silly, but I'd gotten to know a lot of people on the day shift. I'm going to be a stranger again.

4. My 1st trainer really liked me a lot. He had nothing but good things to say about me. What if this new gal is different & doesn't care for me or my work?

Ok, enough of my paranoid worrying. Things will work themselves out, just as they always do.

I must say, having 2 incomes has really been nice. The bills are FINALLY almost all caught up. There is definatly something to be said for having a dual income...something we haven't had in over 3 years. I guess no matter what a family decides for Mom to do...stay at home, working part time, or working full time there are always pros and cons to each situation.

Good start to the summer

Friday was the last day of school for our kids. On Saturday we went to a park not too far away that has everything you can imagine. A lake, paddleboats, fishing, gem mining, trains, a zoo, aquairum, hiking, minigolf, enormous playground etc etc

We ended up fishing for a while, toured the zoo, mined for gems, road the train, and let the kids play at the playground for a while. It was such a nice & relaxing day.

Today, we had some friends over and cooked out on the grill. They have 3 kids, so with our 4 we had kids EVERYWHERE. At some points it was hard to even think. But, it was fun.....a very nice summer afternoon.

Oh, and my husband has decided to let me get a Ragamuffin kitten which I have wanted my ENTIRE life. They have the most beautiful blue eyes that you have ever seen. I'll post a picture of a couple at the bottom for those of you who don't know what they are. My best friend & I went to look at some this afternoon & i just fell in love with them. I am SOOO excited. Hubby is too good to me.

Friday is my kid's last day of school. They used to get out at the end of May, but the state of North Carolina voted in a wonderful (NOT!) new law that doesn't allow schools to start until August 25th. Therefore, they have less vacations during the year and get out later.

ANYHOW, my parents are going to keep my boys all next week since I am working 7AM-5PM. The following week (6/19) I will finally be going to the night shift. Now, this means technically, I will be home during the day. BUT, my ex-husband's mother has volunteered for the boys to go spend a week with her in Tennessee. That way, I will have at least one full week on nights without the kids to allow me to acclimate to the new schedule. I just think that it is so wonderful. Not only will I be able to take care of MYSELF for a little while, but the boys will be having a blast as well! COOL DEAL!

On another note, my stepdaugther "graduated" from middle school today. WOW. We have a high schooler in our family. Very scary, but exciting too. A whole new world awaits her in 2 1/2 short months.

My son's PeeWee baseball team is playing for the championship tonight. Win or loose they have had a great season & I am so proud of my son. To have ADHD, he's done a great job of being a part of a team, holding his own on the field, and following his coaches instructions. ( and we will just ignore the times he's been picking at the grass or staring at the sky while in the outfield) :-)



Go South Little League Braves!!!