Monday, November 19, 2012

Big Changes!

Due to some huge changes in my life, I have been entirely absent from my blog and from my YouTube for quite some time now, and I really and truly have intentions of making this up to those of you who follow me (which, might actually be limited to two people :S ). I feel so awful for falling so far behind on the Year and a Day videos I was doing, as well as on my book reviews...and surprise! I have about three book reviews for you when video-making time commences! Woot!  (Also, if you write me snail-mail letters, I'm getting to it!)

Anyway...here's a little update on some life changes I've made recently: 

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS
This past weekend (or the weekend before yesterday? lol) found us moving from our cozy little apartment in western Nebraska to a not-so-cozy apartment in northern Iowa.  As of right now, my son and I are living in a one-bedroom apartment that basically consists of a hallway and a few rooms built off of said hallway. It is an incredibly inconvenient living arrangement, but we are making do with what we have. My boyfriend and his brother helped us move my hoarder's apartment 9 hours away with a flat-bed.  Bless his heart, J's dad bought some lumber and the boys put up sides on the trailer, so my belongings didn't fly off.  My packing skills are apparently not as BA as I had hoped because I was still packing until late last Saturday night/Sunday morning...oops.  We got most everything, and I should have insisted on furniture coming over first, but it is mostly still sitting in NE, along with my kitchen and my bed.  This weekend Baby E and I are going to make the 9-hour drive back for Thanksgiving with my (hopefully) future-in-laws, which will be another three hours south of the old home with the (hopefully) future-grandparent-in-laws.  Oy vey!  The man child will stay with his now-surrogate grandparents on Friday whilst the big man and I head back to my still-not-vacated apartment and finish packing my belongings and moving my furniture into storage. 

(Here, I do have to say that I am not a hoarder in the traditional sense--my mother gave me everything she'd saved from my childhood, so I have been trying to weed through all of my history, which is definitely not easy for a sentimental soul like me...although,  I will admit to being a total bibliophile...packing all of my books was incredibly daunting.) 

I will be bringing back all that I can fit into my little car--my dishes, food, teaching curriculum that I somehow forgot....  I think that most of my larger furniture is going to sit in a storage unit until I can sell it on the Facebook garage sale pages.  (I've been trying to get rid of that beast of an entertainment center I bought for my witchy items, but nobody wants it...poor thing.)  Yours truly should really be grateful to have such great people for potentially future in-laws...J's mother has offered to let me use her basement for storage, and I am definitely taking her up on that offer.  My storage unit (which holds my piano and an antique dresser awaiting refinishing) gets unbelievably dusty, so I'll store my furniture in the storage unit and my boxes in the basement.

Oh...but living arrangements.  My love has yet to join us, but our goal is for him to be here by the end of December or beginning of January, and this seems to be a very reasonable and attainable goal.  He is not really wanting to stay working in foster care because of the emotional toll it takes on him, and I find that completely understandable.  However, there is a part of me that wants him to just grow a pair and let all of that slide off of him because he is good at his job and actually gives a damn about where the kids whose cases he handles get placed and he actually gives a damn about their well-being, which isn't the case with all social workers, unfortunately.  Regardless of what he decides to do, I will support him...as long as he hurries up and gets here! :P  This past week has kind of sucked due to not being able to see his face and love on him, but it hasn't been too awful because I know that I will see him in...OMG TWO DAYS OMG!!!! 

When he gets here we'll probably move out of our one-bedroom top-floor apartment with the paper thin walls. Yay!  (Also, this will be the first time I have ever lived with anybody, so I'm gonna need prayers!)


EMPLOYMENT

The reason for our sudden move:  I will be fulfilling the role as a K-12 music teacher for a small school not far from where I am currently living, as the contracted person has failed to show up for work since February.  (WHOA!)  I really have a fairly easy schedule for school, and it is very appreciated by my mental health.  I'm actually sitting here blogging at the end of the school day.  :)  Making the decision to take this job opportunity and move my little family was met with much tribulation and many tears. As you well know, I have been unemployed since resigning from my previous teaching post at the end of the 2011-2012 school year, and I have had quite the time affording to maintain a roof over our heads and putting food on our plates.  I don't think I blogged or vlogged about it, but I actually applied for a number of jobs in our town in Nebraska, but apparently holding a Bachelor's Degree takes you out of the running for jobs that require a high school diploma.  Who knew? 
Anyway, I went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth about taking this job.  J was very encouraging because of the financial opportunity that it would afford me, but he was also understanding of my reluctance to take Baby E out of his wonderful daycare and away from his home and the people he's known his whole life.  (Well, as far back as he can remember, anyway.)  While I started to get serious about coming out here, I did apply for a CNA job at a nursing home in Nebraska, and to be honest, I would have LOVED that job, but a few days before it was offered to me, I called the principal at the IA school and told him I would fill this district's need.  And hey, wouldn't you know it?!:  Within about five days of accepting this job I received three job offers in Nebraska (after months of rejection).  Hm.  When it rains it pours, eh?!

DIET & NUTRITION

My diet has suffered a bit over the last week or so. I am a person who bakes everything from scratch, cooks everything from scratch, and doesn't consume a great deal of processed food. Having left most of my kitchen in Nebraska, I have resorted to microwavable food *shudders* or sandwiches for both my son and I, and consuming alcohol to eliminate the hunger. I've also been using styrofoam plates and bowls (because my mother brought them to me) and feel like a total whore. (That might actually end up becoming a post of its own).
...anyway. This change in diet definitely affected me--the alcohol not so much, but I ate a tv dinner last week and was sick within thirty minutes. Needless to say, I am not buying any more tv dinners! After I retrieve all of my kitchen utensils, spices, etc. this weekend, I do plan on returning to a more healthful diet!

Also, I am making it a goal to exercise more while I have this time away from my love. Normally, I spend my evenings with my son, and then when he goes to bed I am with my boyfriend. Now, I plan on using that time to exercise or go to bed early so I can wake up early and exercise. Granted, this new exercise plan has not been put into effect yet, simply because of my jet-laggish exhaustion at the end of the school days...I get home and just want to collapse!

SCHEDULING/SLEEPING
My body has forgotten what it's like to be absolutely and completely exhausted at the end of the day, so I have been adjusting to a new sleeping/waking schedule...quite different from that awful habit I got into this summer of staying up until 3am! I started work last Wednesday, and every single night I was 100% drained and felt like dying when my son didn't want to go to bed at 7 pm!

Oh.  Sleeping.  That also brings up the fact that we have moved to an entirely different time zone.  We were living on Mountain Time in western Nebraska, and here we are on Central Time.  I suppose that moving right after the end of Daylight Savings Time has helped me, though.  In preparation for our move, I didn't set our clocks back, which put us on post-DST Central Time.  I really am loving this because it isn't dark at 4:30 here...living on the eastern edge of a time zone during the winter is a bit hellish as far as daylight hours go. 
(My boyfriend and my mother have both been calling me to wake me up in the morning, so I suppose I have some more adjusting to do!)

FINANCIAL SITUATIONOkay, so the financial opportunity that has been given to me by taking this position is an absolute gift from above.  I will be receiving long-term substitute teacher pay, which will be about twice as much as I made teaching as a contracted school employee at a private school last year.  So.  I am definitely winning on that front!  Part of the plan for the bf moving out here consists of me actually supporting him for a month or so, and truth be told, I would love to be able to support him because he has done so much for me and I don't really know how else to show him gratitude.  I don't mean for this to sound materialistic in any way.  He has provided for me when I've needed it the most, and he needs some respite from job stress, so I feel that he deserves to be taken care of.  Does anybody understand that?  Good! :P 
So, provided all goes well, I will be able to afford rent and living expenses, afford for Baby E to go to a good daycare/preschool program while I work, and hopefully pay off all of my medical bills and avoid being taken to collections.  (Guess we need to figure out something for health insurance, though.) 
YAY! 

Alright, well, now that I've been typing for several several minutes and you've been reading for several minutes, I thank you for caring and suppose it's time I pick up my desk (yay, I have a desk!) and head home...I'll try to come back tomorrow! :)