My new job starts tomorrow. It's a good thing, because the money will help. We will be able to afford to have a teenage driver on the car insurance and we will be able to put away some in savings and possibly even be able to look into getting a new car. Used, actually, but new to us. We just have the one car in addition to Russ' work supplied work van, and with Quin working and starting school again soon and me starting a new job we need more than just one car. This will give us the ability to look into what we can afford and not leave someone stuck at home or walking. For Quin, school is close enough to walk, but when the weather is horrible, I want her to have the option to drive to school - especially with how cold it gets here in the winter - and she needs it to get to and from work.
So, after being a stay at home mom for so long, I'm not looking forward to going back to work, but looking forward to the things it will let us do.
First day of the new job is done. It wasn't so bad, and I have helped out around my parents office before, but it is definitely going to be an adjustment going back to work after being a stay at home mom for over 17 years. I am also starting to learn some of the programs for billing and such and that was interesting. Hopefully it will continue to go well.
First week of being back to work done. Hopefully I will get more used to working again as time passes, because I don't feel like I'm getting used to it yet.
Glencairn,You'll get used to it in no time; a month from now it will seem like you've been there forever.
Looking at the positive side, going back to work is probably the best decision you could ever have made. Empty nest syndrome is a very real thing, and having the opportunity to extend your 'support group' with coworkers may prove to be enormously helpful.
It will be nice to have something to do with my time once Quin goes off to college. The money will help keep her on the insurance and give her some independence.
I had such a nice day today. One of the orphanages in Haiti that helped rescue and keep my sister-in-law alive after the big earthquake has a director who is in the states currently for supplies and fundraising. She was staying with my mother and father-in-law for a few days and we went over today to have dinner with them and visit. After dinner we played Mexican Train Dominoes and had such a good time. We were talking and Quin mentioned that I have to go in for an MRI for headaches that my Dr. thinks are developing into migraines and was telling her all about my headaches and we have almost identical symptoms, but she already has a diagnosis for hers (so I have something to ask my doctor about) and a handful of other things in common. Everyone was joking about us being separated twins. Until we were playing dominoes, then we kept switching back and forth by just a few points for first and we became each others nemesis. So we joked about being nemesis twins all evening and I enjoyed getting to know her and finding a new friend!
We had met before, but only to have a quick introduction, wave, say hi and then we had to race out again. We didn't have any opportunity to talk and visit with and get to know her and I am so glad we had that chance today. Because now I have a new nemesis twin.
Tomorrow starts the second week of the new job. I still miss staying at home, but I am really enjoying working with the girl who is the office manager (though she says she hates labels and refuses to call herself the office manager). She is incredibly likeable and I have also enjoyed getting to know her. She has been teaching me extra stuff that I expressed an interest in learning and has been really great with making it easy to understand. Things like the Quickbooks program that I thought looked really complicated - and kind of still is - she is helping me learn it in a way that isn't overwhelming and I appreciate her patience.
Sent Big Kid & Little Kid off to their first slumber party down the street at a friend's house tonight. I ordered pizza to enjoy this extra-quiet night
Queen of English Language Mangling, Master of the Edit button
Russ and his best friend have a day planned up at the ren faire tomorrow that it sounds like they will really enjoy. The friend has been wanting to do a pub crawl for a long time and Russ isn't as interested, but wouldn't mind trying a few drinks. It starts about noon and lasts for about an hour I think and then they plan to spend the rest of the day there catching some shows that they have been wanting to see. Russ doesn't drink too much anymore (he did when he was in the army and once out decided it was time to stop) so he is planning to get a few drinks and then just have water or gatorade for the rest of the day and then he'll be fine to drive by 7, when it closes. With his size, I think I agree that if he only has two or three and stops by 1 that he should be good by 7.
Quin and I are going to stay home and just hang out. I have been going non-stop for the past week and I really need a day of down time. It also gives the guys time to hang out and have guy time. The only downside is that the dog is still not feeling great. He isn't throwing up like yesterday, but still lethargic and acting like he is uncomfortable. I am hoping that he will be feeling better by tomorrow, but want to be here just in case. If he isn't, we might be taking a trip to the vet's office.
Russ and Quin have both still been having a hard time with grandma passing and decided we needed a day away from it to focus on our family and other things to take their mind off of their grief for a bit. We ended up deciding to spend Sunday up at the renaissance faire and get all garbed up and play a bit. It worked and we had a wonderful time and they were distracted for a while.
We saw the cutest show, which was on a short limited run and ending that day, called Cirque Du Sewer. The girl doing the show has a whole bunch of rats and rescue cats that she trained to do tricks and perform and they were all adorable. They got to perform on the new rebooted Gong Show, though, sadly, the cat got scared by the studio audience and wouldn't perform. I felt so bad for the girl because when we saw them at the faire, in front of that live (and enthusiastically loud) audience all of the animals performed beautifully without any hesitation. We also got to pet and hold the rats, though Quin and I had to immediately go wash our hands because Russ is allergic and we didn't want him to have a reaction when he touched either of us.
Overall, the day was really nice and it was good to have a break from grieving before going to the funeral and focusing on grandma and her life.
Russ and Quin got home tonight and told me all about their trip. Lots of sharing memories of Grandma and reminiscing and a lot of good times visiting with the family. I am really happy that they got to have this time together and that Quin was able to hear so many new stories about Grandma's life and who she was as a person beyond just being Great Grandma.
Yay for a smooth visit to the school office today. Quin got her class schedule a week or two ago and noticed that she was scheduled to be taking Spanish 2. She took Spanish 1 as a freshman and this year she will be a senior. Needless to say, she wasn't pleased. She said she isn't opposed to learning Spanish, but not by taking basic Spanish 1 her freshman year and Spanish 2 four years later as a senior and has forgotten most of what she learned.
We went into the office to see what could be done about it and they said that the only other class that period is advanced biology. That wasn't helpful. Quin took advanced bio last year and isn't about to take it again. She passed it with an A and enjoyed it, but has no interest in repeating it and even if she did want to, the school already told her she couldn't. I explained that she wouldn't be taking Spanish 2 so many years after Spanish 1 and be in danger of failing it and messing up her grade point average and hurting her chances for college acceptance and scholarships, so we needed to figure something out. The counselor (who does the scheduling fixes) said that there aren't any study halls that period, but she could email some of the elementary teachers and see who was in need of a teachers aide and Quin could do that if she was interested and had a teacher who wanted an assistant. Quin loved that idea, so there is an email out to the elementary teachers and whoever replies first gets an aide for the year.
I was glad that I didn't get more pushback than I did and that it seems to have been so easily resolved. That is not always the case when dealing with the school, and I was not up for a brisk negotiating session today.
Had a doctor appointment today to follow up on my appointment with the hematologist and see how the headaches are doing, if they are getting better or if I'm still getting migraines. I am still having migraines, so he prescribed a new med that is specifically for treating migraines. I am willing to try it to see if it will help. Now that I am back to working I don't have the ability to just crawl into bed and try to sleep a migraine away anymore.
So this one is half whine and half good. Russ is going out of state tomorrow on a job and leaving about 5 a.m. and hoping to get back home around midnight or so. We were kind of hoping to have a weekend at home without having to go anywhere. On the other hand, Quin and I will have the day to ourselves to hang out and have planned out what we will have for dinner and are hoping the weather will be clear as it is forecast to be so that we can go out and watch the Perseid meteor shower. We were going to go out tonight, but it is cloudy and thundering. Not huge loud thunder, but still not what I really want to be out meteor watching in even if it was clear and not a thick cloud cover. Fingers crossed for tomorrow, though. It is our tradition to go out and watch the big meteor showers every year and we have been doing it since Quin was 4 or 5 years old.
Quin and I went out for a few hours tonight to watch the Perseid meteor shower and saw some really beautiful "shooting stars". The best one was a meteor that looked like it exploded. As it exploded, you could see green and blue in it and then a long, bright orange and red tail that lingered for a few seconds. It was amazing. We ended up seeing quite a lot, even with the light pollution near our house. We are out in the country, but in a little town and there are the street lights and such that washed out the stars some, though not as much as I was worried about.
We might go out again for a bit tomorrow night, but I don't know yet, since I have to be up early for work Monday.