Well There, Yes…

This thing IS on, good Lord, I was getting worried there for a second… it’s currently well, now it’s Christmas day only really Christmas Eve because well, you know, Christmas Day isn’t Christmas Day until you go to bed and get up in the morning to gifts from Santa

ANYways, I’m up north right now at my 3rd or 4th house, which is my in-laws… you know, because right now I don’t have a home.  Oh, yeah… that’s right, you haven’t heard the whole story yet, have you?  That explains my 52 half written posts in my draft folder.  Yeah, I’d click that “save draft” button every single time I’ve actually sat down to write something… or I started at work and work got busy or I couldn’t think anymore and well, you know… things like life and moving and working til the wee hours of the night and… all sorts of things get in the way.  You know, because I’ve missed this place so much… no really, I have missed this place more than you know.  This is my home away from home; my virtual home because this is where mah friendz are, you know?  And, well it helps that it’s Christmas Eve/Day and I’m off work from today until next Monday and I have had just 8oz of Sweet Tea Vodka and already feel like I’m flying… well, not really… but I like that stuff, it’s pretty tasty if I do say so myself.

So where were we?  Oh, that’s right… my living situation… yeah, I ‘spose I better update you all, huh?  Long story short goes like this, bullet style…

• The Mister (Husband, Chris) was laid off in May 2009.
• Worked Cash jobs throughout summer with a family friend to hold out to get called back.
• Didn’t get called back yet…
• His parents and my parents live approx 2.5 hours apart…we were living by my parents.
• He applied for a job that was by his parents, which in turn would require him to move…
• I would have to leave my job that I love…
• He got offered the job, at half the pay he was making when he got laid off…
• He accepted it because it was something, and we’re not trying to be greedy, so for now, it was okay.
• He was going to move up north to his parents cabin which is about 45 minutes north of his parents house, and 3.5 hours away from where we were currently living.
• We decided we were going to do it, he accepted the job, I was going to stay at my job until his benefits kicked in, then I was going to move up north to the cabin with him for a few years, go to school, get on my own feet (finish school, get a job in said field) and life would be grand.
• Except, we couldn’t afford it and quite frankly, I was in shambles about leaving my dream job.  No education and making  more money than some college graduates can start out with, I can’t give it up.  And besides, I was mainly upset about leaving my boss because she? is awesome… she’s like a mom to me, I can’t even tell you.
• A week later we decided after figuring out a budget that really, we can’t give up on my job, especially since in April/May 2010 I’m getting a $8k/year salary bump and well, that just seems stupid if you ask me… walking away from something like that, when the schooling I was going to do would give me an average salary of below what I’m making right now without a degree… I know, money isn’t everything, but it’s something… especially if you’re a convulsive shopper like The Mister and I are, you’d understand.
• He called the job he accepted, told him it just wasn’t going to work out… he’d be only making $40 more per week than his unemployment checks and he’d be spending another $120/wk on gas… it just didn’t make sense, so… we decided against it, because well, if he were to get laid off from the new job in 3 months, he’d get a quarter of the unemployment check he’s getting now, and that’s risky business in our debt driven world.
• Either way, we put in our 60 day notice at our current place, the place I called home for only a year and few months, but the place I loved and decorated and painted and put my hard earned money into, even though we were only renting, we still were lucky to have an opportunity to live there… and thankfully it was a family friend, and they let us do whatever they want to it.  The house hadn’t been updated/repainted/wallpapered in the last 16 years… it needed it.  See?  Before and After.
• December 15th, 2009 – our last “final” day at our old house… my husband moved up to his parents cabin 3.5 hours away from our old house, and I moved in with his aunt that’s about an hour and 15 minutes from my parents house/our old house… and about two hours and some odd minutes away from Chris and Duke.
• Yes, Duke… my beloved baby boy is living with his daddy up there, and seriously? How do divorced parents do it? I think I miss the dog more than I miss The Mister… sad, huh?
• This is a temporary fix to a plan… which is…
• Have this living arrangement for the next 6-8 months… save some money… I get to keep my job… and when I get my salary bump, then we’ll find a place that is half way in between our old house and The Mister’s parents and we can call it a happy medium… because I want to live up north so bad, or at least in that general direction, yet I cannot fathom giving up my job that I have now… I just can’t, and (he) we now understand that we’d be stupid to give it up and start all over.  We want kids in the near future* and well, by moving across country and going back to school (which I know, I should do now if I want to) but if I go back to school it’s another 3+ years before we’d have kids and truly? I can’t wait that long… and I know our families can’t wait that long.  In The Mister’s family, it’s been 20 years since they’ve had a baby… yeah, 20 years!  And I’m an only child and my parents are always making little hints about when they’re going to have a grandchild… and I (and The Mister) can’t wait that long, I can’t… I long for the day I can look at a child and know they’re mine, and they don’t have four legs.  Not that I love him any less, but you know!
• I’m excited for the next few months, it should be interesting and exciting and well, when I say I’m at my 3rd or 4th home, I’m not kidding… My Monday thru Friday home is one place, my weekend home could be one of three, but I do have a permanent address at the cabin, which is where our furniture all is, so… yeah…

That’s all of our changes and on top of being beyond busy at work (I worked 18 hours last Monday night and 14 hour days most other nights…which would explain the reason why I’ve come down with a cold last night/today).  I’m right now at the in-laws and we had the family Christmas today/tonight and took lots of pictures and had an incredible time.  It was nice to be able to be here and not have to think or worry about anything other than family and the presence of everyone.  Tomorrow we (Hubs, Myself and Duke) will head up north to our new to us temporary home/in-laws cabin and enjoy a peaceful 3 days before I head back into the work week for 3 days, and then Wednesday night I can drive up here again and spend Thursday thru Sunday with Chris and Duke and be thankful that even though we really don’t have a home of our own, we still have a place to call home right now and a roof over our heads and furniture to sit on and a bed to lay in and food to eat.

Speaking of which, I hope you all had an absolutely incredible Christmas Eve/Christmas Day tomorrow.  I’d love to continue writing more, but my eyes are shutting on me, and I know if I don’t want this cold to get any worse, I know I need some good sleep.  So, with that, I’ll leave you a few pictures of our evening…  

Merry Christmas to you all.

I hope this Holiday Season blesses you in ways you can’t imagine.

Love you all!