everything. I promised to write with good news if I had any. And I do. You see two weeks ago Aaron was laid off from his job. First time we have ever been in this situation. We kind of thought this would happen last September, but once it didn’t in the fall, we were pretty certain he was safe. Most certain a few weeks ago when he was offered a job at another company. Being the kind of guy Aaron is, he went to his supervisor and told him about the job offer. Once he was assured and reassured about his job at this company, he felt confident enough to turn down the offer. And then 48 hours later, he was laid off. Talk about shady. Talk about sucky. No good.
You know how you read in books and magazines about how you should have a 6 month cushion in your savings account? There’s good reason for that. And we didn’t have that nice cushion to fall back on. In the line of work both Aaron and I are in, if we don’t work for a day, we don’t get paid. Simple as that. There’s no such thing as a paid vacation, severance, sick days. Nope. You work you get paid. You don’t you don’t. So this came as a huge shock to us, and then once the surprise wears off you start to stress about it. I wasn’t stressed that he would be unemployed for months, or even an entire month, but when there is no paycheck coming in, and you still have all the same bills going out, that’s kind of stressful all by itself. And it’s not like I can just add 10 new clients a week to pick up any slack. To top it off, his work vehicle and cell phone all came from his job. So he had no vehicle, and no cell. So I’ve been carless for almost 2 weeks now, still will be for another day or two.
The good news during all this was December happened to be an extremely expensive month for us, it seemed every bill came in at once. Property taxes, car insurance, water and power, all our really heavy ones came in and were paid for. So this month was a lighter month, otherwise I think I would’ve ended up at a few spas passing out my resume to pick up some shifts.
The even better news was that he interviewed last week at a new company, and this morning got the call to come in and start filling out the paperwork. He was in safety training most of today and hopefully will have a work truck delivered by Wednesday. Which means that this mama can finally sleep at night, and soon will stop walking the kids to school. Seriously, walking 3 tired and hungry kids home, with 3 backpacks after school is no bueno.
What else is new around here? My Yukon is gone. During the midst of all the job changes, or I should say WEEK RIGHT BEFORE(!), we decided to sell our car. I really thought I was going to have that car for another decade. But we sunk a lot of money into it last winter, and this winter we had to do a few more repairs, so we had to make the choice. Either we commit to this car and decide we will spend whatever it takes to keep it running, or sell it now when it’s still worth something. So we did the later, and for the first time in our lives, we leased a car. Leased! As in, it’s not really mine so I have to be careful with it! A bit nerve wracking, but whoa has technology gone a lot of places since 2004!
Did you know when your cell rings, you can answer it through your stereo?! Or when I am listening to music or a podcast on my phone, the car senses that somehow and broadcasts it through my speakers!? Or when I reverse my car there’s a whole video of it with lines that tell me exactly how many inches and feet I have before I run something over?! Truly amazing. Where have I been all these years. We decided to get a Honda Pilot. We knew we had to get a car that seats 8. With 3 kids, it’s not unusual for me to have 6 kids in the car, 1 friend for each kid. The third row is really just for smaller sized people, but the seats fold completely flat. No more lugging my humongous and heavy Yukon seats out of my 3rd row every time we pack up the car for a road trip. I love it and cannot recommend it enough. It’s just the right size, without being too big which sometimes I felt my Yukon was. I sometimes felt my SUV was in your face and anti eco-friendly.
So there’s been lots of changes around here for this change-hating mama. Seriously, I fight change. I hate it. It stresses me out when Aaron tries to get me to try a new ice cream when all I want is my old faithful mint and chip. Why change something that is good? Why do you have to strive to get something better when good is great. I am learning to embrace the new chapters we have. I am learning to be excited for my husband to get to work on new equipment and work with new people. He has a reputation in the industry that precedes him and I’m so proud of him for that. But I admit that I am not one for so much change at the same time.
There you have the new things going on. In fact, there’s even MORE new changes coming. But I cannot share it just yet since it’s not ready. But it’s something I’m so proud of and so excited to finish. It’s been something I have wanted to do for a few years now, but haven’t really had the guts or the know how to do it. Well, I figured it out finally and hopefully in the next few weeks I can share it with all of you.
Change is good, right? Right?!
The FAQ page is really informative and they have a link to sign ups for interested parents. It’s purely lottery to get into the school, but they have a very progressive goal of immense diversity both racially and socio-economically. I’m most impressed in their extremely low teacher student ratio. And for their language program the choices will be languages which include Mandarin, Korean, French, etc. They are planning on having a gardening program which thrills me. It’s one the neatest parts of my kids’ elementary school and I would be so sad to see that end once they graduate. Also, for the high school they are planning on having the option of Early College. Aaron took part in this where he went to school. Starting in 11th grade you have the option of being part of a group that goes to a local college for your classes. So once you graduate you have credits, or even a year or two under your belt. They also will offer AP classes, which was more my high school experience. I’m so proud to be a part of this. If you can’t tell. 
