My Own Party of 5

Leaving

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:15:00 +0000

Well, if you haven't been able to tell, I've not been around in quite some time. This summer has gotten the best of me. I've been putting in more hours at my 'real' job, just signed on with Berries and Cream Blog Design as a designer, and have been trying to spend more quality time with the family.

I've been struggling with this decision for a long time, and have finally resigned myself to the fact that this blog is not what I want it to be, and probably never will be. As a 'mommy' blogger, I walk a fine line with what to share, what not to share and what will happen in the future. I've tried to keep as much personal information off this blog as possible so that it won't come back to bite me (or my kids) in the butt in the future. But in doing so, I can't be completely honest about things here. Now, there's nothing earth shattering that has happened that I haven't shared, but it's hard for me to give a real portrayal of my life without sharing more than I intend to share on a public blog.

So with all that being said, I've decided to stop posting here completely. I'll still be reading other blogs, I'll still be on Twitter and will most likely in the future start a new blog. I do love to blog, but I've decided this blog is not the avenue or outlet that I dreamed it would be. I will be forever grateful for the friendships and connections I have made through this blog. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading and commenting.

Summer & Decisions

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:26:00 +0000

Ugh, who knew summer could be so crazy? We've not even left the house during the week and I'm going out of my mind...I can't imagine running around and actually doing stuff during the week. We've spent our days camped out inside to avoid the miserable August-like weather we've been having and finally venturing outside around 7 to play t-ball, dig in the dirt and burn off lots of excess energy.

Plus, the past 2 weekends I've hosted N's family for dinner on Sunday night and have another dinner to host this weekend. *Sigh* As much as I love having people over, I think I'm done playing hostess for a couple of weeks!

I've been noticeably absent from the blogoshere again. I've started thinking about my blog, what it means to me, the direction it's heading and what I want from it. And well, I'm stumped. I know my blog as it is, is not what I what, not what I had planned and just isn't 'fun' for me anymore. I'm not ready to throw in the towel and quit blogging completely. I do enjoy blogging, I'm just not sure what I want to blog about. It's become apparent over the past few months that "mommy" blogging just isn't what I want to do, for many different reasons, and I need to work on finding my true passion (of course this is true for my blog and my life!) So, hopefully after some more thought and more research I'll figure it out and lead my blog (either this one, or another) in that direction.

For the time being, I'll continue to post here...all my crazy, incoherent, random thoughts anyway.

Randomness & Catching Up

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:03:00 +0000

I'm alive. Just barely, but I am alive. We got everything moved and unpacked. We're settled, though the house is glaringly missing most decorations as when unpacking them and preparing to hang them/put them up, I decided I just don't like very many of them anymore. And who has time to find the perfect spot and hang up something they just don't love? Never mind all the time spent dusting/cleaning after it's up. So I'm on a mission to fill my house with things I love. Things I find that I just can't live without. I'm just not going to waste any more time on junk that I don't care about any more.

So far I'm thrilled with the new house. Everything works properly, the rooms are bigger (can I tell you how nice it is to have my furniture actually fit in my living room and not be shoved in the room whatever way it will fit?) The kids are loving the yard (which took 2 full tanks of gas in the riding mower to cut yesterday) as well as their new (bigger) rooms.

The past week has been spent suffering through the miserable, oppressive, humid weather. (With the heat index, it was 106 yesterday. 104 today and no end in sight anytime soon) Plus this darn sinus infection just will not go away. I wound up going back to the doctor after my viral infection was still hanging on 2 weeks later. So now I'm on antibiotics and feeling better - though still not 100%.

T passed the 4th grade. (Hooray!) We were worried because she didn't pass her reading EOG (missed it by one measly point), but she's now officially a 5th grader and will be starting her final year of elementary school in the fall. How is that even possible? To add insult to injury, P will be starting Kindergarten in the fall as well. Sigh. Can we just rewind the clock a few years?

Well, I guess that about sums it up. I'm alive and kicking. I'm back online and wasted way too much time this morning trying to catch up in my Google reader. I only had 615 unread posts - after 2 hours, I finally gave up and clicked Mark All As Read. Please don't hate me if I missed something huge on your blog. I'll be around more regularly now!

Movin' on up....

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:39:00 +0000

We just went and signed a lease on another house. Now comes the fun part - moving all our stuff. Hopefully that will be all accomplished this weekend. I'm hoping since we just moved 6 months ago and I did a major purge then, there won't be too much junk to sort through. After all, how much junk can a family of 5 accumulated in 6 months? Wait a minute, don't answer that. I'm afraid of the answer.

So I will be on hiatus until we get the internet turned on at the new house (hopefully sometime next week). I'll be back, provided this sinus infection, which the wonderful doctor tells me is viral so there's nothing they can do for it, doesn't kill me in the meantime. Or I don't decide to pack myself into one of these moving boxes and ship myself to Antarctica or somewhere else that it's not 90 degrees with 90% humidity, for a week or two.

Adventures in househunting

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Thu, 27 May 2010 12:52:00 +0000

Trying to find a decent house, in a decent neighborhood, in my price range, I've learned is virtually impossible. Of course they're out there...but most have already been rented. Take for example, N's boss has a few houses that he rents. He has one that is 3 bedroom, 1 bath on a very quiet street in a good neighborhood for $200 a month less than what I'm currently paying. But the current tenants of this house have been there for 5 years and just signed another year long lease last week. Just my luck.

I'm easily frustrated, and this house hunting has not been easy. However, coming across ads like the one below do a lot to help me keep things in perspective and have a little laugh.

Your entire ad is written in Spanish, yet you still feel the need to add that you do in fact speak Spanish? How's that for redundant?

Wordless Wednesday

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:29:00 +0000

He's making future blackmail way too easy on me.

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom.

Long Time, No See - Random News

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:21:00 +0000

Yep, it's been a long time. Over 2 weeks if I'm not mistaken. I'm sure I've lost all (3) of my regular readers. As I posted over on Deep South Moms today, it's been a rough couple of months around here. Things got the better of me and I just kind of crawled into a virtual hole and am trying to figure out how to get back out.

To add insult to injury, I'm now looking for another place to live. Yep, again. I just moved in December. I thought I'd be here for at least a year - Hopefully longer. But 6 months and many repairs that haven't been made later, I'm house hunting again. I just have a slight problem with raw sewage spilling out under the house every time we flush the one operational toilet (there's 2 bathrooms, but one toilet has leaked since a week after we moved in) and my landlord has of yet made no attempt to fix the problems. I will be finding somewhere else to live and reporting them to the local health department. Sigh. If you didn't figure it out last time, I hate moving.

My 15 year old niece will be temporarily staying with me once school gets out. She will be moving to Oklahoma to live with my dad sometime over the summer, but will be staying here in the meantime. I'm looking forward to having her around for a little while, but I think it will take some adjustment time for all of us. I hate that she's moving so far away - and probably right after I get use to having her around.

I certainly can't promise a daily post (I'm not very good at that when I'm not stressing out) but I do promise it won't be another two weeks before my next post!

Young Love

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Fri, 07 May 2010 12:55:00 +0000

For the past couple of weeks T has been complaining about this 3rd grader that likes her. I know, the audacity of a lowly 3rd grader to have a crush on a 4th grader. What is this kid thinking?

Anyway, last night T told me that for the past week this 3rd grader has been watching her while she eats breakfast. She eats breakfast at school because she likes N to drive her to school in the mornings and since he got his new job, he has to drop her off at 7:30 to get to work by 8...well, that and it saves me from having to get up even earlier to fix her breakfast. What can I say, I like my sleep.

Now where was I? Oh yeah, for the past week, this 3rd grader has been watching her while she eats breakfast, waiting for her to finish so that he can hold the cafeteria door open for her when she leaves. Apparently, to a 10 year old, this is annoying. Apparently, she can open the door for herself and having a 3rd grader hold the door for you is embarrassing.

I'll bet in another 4 or 5 years, you won't be able to get this kid to hold open a door for a girl if you tied him to it. Maybe that's what happens to guys. They start out jumping at the chance to hold doors open for girls, but somewhere along the line there comes an older girl that thinks it's embarrassing, and poof - there goes chivalry right out the elementary school door. Those darn 4th grade girls.

Where oh where do I begin?

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Thu, 06 May 2010 19:23:00 +0000

Okay, I've not been around again. And this time I have a good excuse. Unfortunately it's not one that I can go into great detail about as it's not my story to tell and even now I'm a bit sketchy on the details. All I can say at this point is that my sister's boyfriend was found dead on Tuesday morning.

So, if you're of the praying sort and wouldn't mind, please say a prayer for my sister and her family. They could use all the prayers they can get right now.

I'll be back to my normally scheduled blogging soon I hope. I can't handle many more crises!

Three Things Thursday - Hiking Tips

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:10:00 +0000

For my Three Things Thursday today, I'm going to share a few tips with you. These tips were all learned, or rather I was reminded of them all yesterday. See I consider myself an outdoors-y person. I grew up camping and hiking. I know these things...but sometimes (like yesterday) a little refresher course is in order.

1. Plan your route

When you decide to take a short hike through the woods behind your house to take some pictures of the railroad tracks, it's best to ask someone who's done it before what the best route is. However, when you ask this person, in this case my dear husband, do not rely on their assurance that there is a trail through the woods that leads to the tracks. It's also best if they've traveled said trail within the past season. A trail that was there in December probably will not still be there in April unless it's professionally maintained.

2. Dress appropriately

Again, don't trust someone who tells you there's a trail and that your Capri pants and sandals will be just fine for a hike through the woods. In most cases, it's best to wear full length jeans and boots. Because if you wear Capris and sandals, you will not be fully prepared when you encounter the swamp or the brier patch in which there's no getting around. And you'll come home looking like this:

3. Backtracking

When you make it to your destination, shoot a few pictures, and start heading back home, if nothing looks right, don't wander around the wood for an hour trying to find a tree that looks familiar. Pretty soon they'll all look the same, even if you're a half-mile from the tree you were looking for. Sometimes it's just best to go back to the train tracks and follow them to the road, and walk the mile and a half back home. Even if the tracks are just 1,000 feet from your house through the woods. It's better to walk the tracks soon rather than later. Because a mile and a half after you've spent an hour tromping through the woods and mud seems like a heck of a lot further than it would any other time.

And lastly, make sure you at least get a few decent shots to make the trip worth-while.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:42:00 +0000

See that bag? It's hanging on my front porch. It was put there a few weeks ago when we had a cookout with some friends. We were putting trash in it and had planned on taking it off the porch and throwing it away the next day. Well, it sat there for about a week and when we went to throw it away, we found this:

That's a bird's nest. You can't see it from the angle the bag is hanging but there are 5 eggs in there. So, there the bag will stay until the birdies are hatched and fly away. Nothing like wildlife to make you look like a redneck with a Wal-Mart bag hanging on your front porch all summer.

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom.

Not Me! Monday

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:13:00 +0000

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Nope, I didn't take the entire week off from blogging and the internet in general last week. It wasn't one of those weeks that was so stressful I just wanted to climb into a hole and never come out.

I didn't go on T's class field trip to Carowinds on Friday and wear sandals. My feet are not still sore.

I also didn't convince T to ride the Hurler as her first ride. She didn't scream her head off the entire time and of course, she didn't ask to ride it again as soon as we got off.

We didn't spend Saturday doing even more walking around at a street fair. I didn't wear sandals again. I would have learned my lesson on Friday!

I'm not buried up to my eyeballs in work this week. And I know exactly how I'm going to get it all done!

Wordless Wednesday - I wanna go back already!

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:23:00 +0000

For more Wordless Wednesday, go check out 5 Minutes for Mom and MomDot.

What gives you the right to judge me?

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:23:00 +0000

Okay, so this post is probably one that I shouldn't write. I probably shouldn't put this out there for all the internet to see, but I'm fired up. I'm ticked and I have to get it out somewhere.

This past Saturday night I ran to the grocery store to pick up a few things I needed for dinner until I could do my big shopping trip on Sunday. I'm dressed in my usual 'mom-uniform,' jeans, t-shirt, sneakers, hair in a pony tail and have my littlest munchkin with me. I'm buying stuff to make a salad and a loaf of bread.

There is a couple standing in line behind me, talking to E while I'm unloading the groceries from the cart. They seem nice...until I pull out my EBT card to pay for my groceries. The man then looks at the woman and says, "And she's probably driving a Cadillac."

Of course, on the spot I had no come back. I just looked at him and her, shook my head and walked off. But if I'd had a few more minutes this is what I would have said:

Yes, I'm on food stamps. I've been on food stamps for about 3 months now. And until you've been there you have no idea how degrading it is. I am not driving a Cadillac. I'm driving a 1988 Pontiac Grand Am and can't afford to fix my 1993 GMC Suburban. My husband and I both work. We've both worked since we were 16 years old. We both pay taxes.

I am not on welfare, my kids are not on Medicaid, I do not get housing assistance; I am not abusing the system. I live in a double-wide trailer that I'm renting. I do not have cable TV, I do not own a cell phone. My one extravagance is my internet connection, which I have to have for work. I'm on food stamps because the economy is crap and my husband's 3 year old business went belly up. Within the next couple of months, after we get out of the hole that virtually no income for 4 months will put you in, I will voluntarily take my family off food stamps, even if the state thinks our income still falls within the limits to receive them. But, even if all of the above wasn't true, what gives you the right to judge me?

You don't know me. You don't know anything about who I am, what my situation is, or what I'm dealing with. I'm doing what I have to do in order to (legally, I might add) provide for my kids. And regardless of what you think, that is all that is important.

If only I'd had a few more minutes to think.

Ultimate Blog Party

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 12:24:00 +0000

I'm so excited to be joining 5 Minutes for Mom's Ultimate Blog Party this year! There's a ton of blogs already linked up as I'm writing this and I'm sure there will be a ton more by the end of the party. (And did I mention the prizes? Oh my gosh, the prizes!)

If you've never been to My Own Party of 5 before, howdy! I'm Tina. As my blog title implies, I have a family of 5 - my wonderful husband and three great kiddos, known here by their just their initials. (What can I say, I'm not as creative as I'd like sometimes!)

T is my oldest (10) and the girl of the bunch. P (5) is the middle child, and does his best to uphold that title. E (3) is the baby of the bunch and as the picture might lead you to believe the clown of the family.

We call central North Carolina home currently - though both my husband and I originally hail from other places. (Him from Michigan and me from just about everywhere - military brat) We live just outside of a small town, where we hear, see and sometimes smell cows and chickens on a daily basis and tractors are considered a viable source of transportation.

I'm a work at home mom. (Although what mom doesn't work when she's home?) I do research for an internet company and some freelance graphic design work. I can also be found writing here on my blog, blogging over at Deep South Moms, and on Twitter.

I'm glad you stopped by and hope you'll come back again soon!

(Oh, and did I mention I've got a little door prize to give away too? Just leave me a comment and you'll be entered to win a $10 Starbucks gift card!)

Rules & Disclaimer - One entry per person. Giveaway ends at 8am (EST) on 4/17/10. Winner will be announced here and sent an e-mail. Winner has 48 hours to contact me or another winner will be drawn. I purchased this gift card. I have no affiliation with Starbucks, and am not receiving any payment or freebies for this post or giveaway.

Wordless Wednesday - The Josey Wales

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:14:00 +0000

Think they're Clint Eastwood fans?

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom.

Things I learned on vacation.

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:05:00 +0000

The trunk on a Ford Focus does not have enough room for all the stuff a family of five needs for a weekend out of town.

It's at mile 40 of a 153 mile trip that the kids start asking "Are we there yet?"

If you burn a CD of music that the kids like and that you can tolerate for the trip, by the end of mile 60, you will have an intense dislike for that music. (I'm looking at you Miley Cyrus.)

If you tell the kids they can get their feet wet in the freezing cold water...

Someone will fall, getting thoroughly wet.

Which will lead to them all getting wet from head to toe. And insisting the water isn't cold. While shivering with blue lips.

Staring at a boat on the horizon can keep a 5 year old's attention for a good 15 minutes.

My boys have a thing for sticking out their tongues.

The beach is a lot of fun. Even after you face plant in the sand.

Sometimes, sandy flip flops on the beach says a lot of the way you spent your vacation.

I still get butterflies when I look at this man with our children.

Getting back to real life sucks.

Three Things Thursday - Beach

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:57:00 +0000

No time for a well thought out post today. I've got laundry, packing, and cleaning to do before we head out in the morning. So, in lieu of a real post, I leave you with three pictures of where I'll be tomorrow!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alykat/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alykat/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

I'll be back on Monday with lots of pictures of my own to share. I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend!

I've got a post up at Deep South Moms today too. Go check it out!

Wordless Wednesday - One Ugly Duck

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:16:00 +0000

I kinda feel sorry him. At our local park, there are some swans, quite a few Canadian geese (during the winter), some 'normal' ducks, and then this guy. It's like middle school all over again.

Be sure to check out 5 Minutes for Mom for more Wordless Wednesday.

If it's not one thing, it's another.

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:29:00 +0000

Last week, N started his new job. And before he even got his first paycheck, the transmission on his truck went out. Yep, that's our kind of luck.

It's going to cost roughly $700 (give or take a couple hundred as the mechanic put it) to fix it. $700 of which we, of course, don't have. So, N is driving my car to work. My car that the floorboards flood when it rains. My car that desperately needs new tires. My car that really is a hunk of junk. Oh, and let's not forget that we had a beach trip planned for this weekend.

Luckily, N's parents are going to let us borrow one of their (much more reliable) cars to go to the beach. Yes, we're still going to the beach. Should we? Probably not. We don't really need to be spending the money it's going to cost (though it will be relatively inexpensive as we're not paying for a place to stay and are planning on cooking all our meals ourselves - our only real expense is the gas. Which isn't cheap) But you know what? We're going. We're going because we already told the kids we were going. We're going because we need a break. We need to get away and enjoy some time together. We're going because sometimes you just have to say screw it and be a little bit irresponsible.

And the truck and the lack of $700 to fix it, along with the rest of our real lives, will be waiting for us when we come back.

Not Me! Monday

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:26:00 +0000

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Nope, it wasn't me that polished off a whole box of Thin Mints in 2 days. By myself. I'd never do that!

Of course, I didn't open up the trunk of my car, which I've literally not driven since we moved in December, to find a bag of trash in there. Who leaves a bag of trash in their car for 4 months? (Thankfully it was just paper and cardboard recyclables so there was no stink!)

No, I didn't catch an attitude with the telemarketer that called during dinner, even though I'm on the do not call list. I know they're just doing their job, and I would have been patient and listen to her ramble even after telling her 4 times I wasn't interested. I did not finally just hang up on her.

I did not break down and cut my own hair this weekend. It did not actually turn out pretty good. I am not still debating dying my own hair. Who cuts their own hair, but isn't brave enough to dye it themselves?

Random Thoughts

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:53:00 +0000

I have no good blog material today. None. This medication induced fog is killing me.

I really wish I'd gotten around to getting my glasses fixed when the lens broke last summer. I should have known I'd rip my last contact before after my prescription ran out and I'd have to walk around half blind until I can get to the eye doctor. I hate having to be 10 inches from something to see it clearly. Near-sightedness sucks.

T is officially on Spring break as of today. She's out until Tuesday, April 6th. Should be an interesting week around here.

Only six more sleeps until we go to the beach. I hope it's warm. And it doesn't rain.

I've already started making a list of what I need to pack. For a two night trip. I'm a bit of an over planner.

I'll probably still forget at least 3 things we need.

I'm loving this swim suit. With the shorts, not the skirt.

I wonder if it's too late to start working out so I look decent in that swimsuit? By next weekend.

I'm betting yes.

I seriously need a haircut. And a dye job. If I keep plucking the gray hair, I'm going to go bald.

Why do I have to repeat myself a half a dozen times when telling the kids to do something? It really drives me batty.

And they wonder why I have all this gray hair!

Three Things Thursday - Pet Peeves

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:22:00 +0000

I've not had a good rant here on the blog for a while now. And I think it's about time. So, for this week's Three Things Thursday, I present 3 things that drive me crazy.

Gossip

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I do indeed love a bit of juicy gossip. However, I cannot understand people that make it their life's mission to start rumors (or repeat them) for the sole purpose to tearing people down.I thought the gossip, rumors, name calling, and backstabbing was bad in high school and that once I got out into the 'real' world all that stuff wouldn't exist anymore. Boy did I get that one wrong. I swear grown women are worse about gossip than a group of 15 year olds any day of the week.

Fashion Magazines

Okay, that title is a little misleading. I do read a few fashion magazines and enjoy them. What I don't like about them though is their ideas of bargains. Call me crazy (or broke) but I just don't see $175 for a pair of jeans being a bargain. And then you get the ones with the cover exclaiming "Swimsuits everyone can afford!" Well I guess I'm not everyone, because I just can't afford $120 for a swimsuit that is going to get full of sand, salt water and/or chlorine and you know, actually be used as a swimsuit.

Stereotypes

Or rather, people that believe stereotypes. Especially stereotypes about stay at home moms. Nope, we don't all sit around eating chocolate and watching soaps all day. I've been a work out-of-the-home and a work-at-home mom (as well as a brief stint where I didn't work, and was simply a stay at home mom) and I work harder now that I'm home all day then I ever did when I was working in the corporate world. It's sad that there are people that still believe that stay at home moms don't work. All moms work. All moms work all of the time.

Okay, my rant is over (I could go on, but I'll spare you!). So now you tell me, what are your pet-peeves?

N's new job.

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:04:00 +0000

I've got way too many thoughts running through my head today to come up with a coherent post, plus the meds I'm on for my sinus infection leave me feeling like I'm in a bubble, so that's not helping. So instead of a decent post, this is what you get. Me spouting off about what's on my mind. Hopefully I won't lose my 4 regular readers!

N is starting a new job tomorrow. I can't tell you how thrilled I am about this. I haven't said a whole lot about what's been going on with him on my blog because we just weren't sure ourselves what was going on. The last job he did for 'his' company was back in November. Since then, they've had nothing. He started working for a friend of a friend at a auto service place in late December. But that's not his line of work. He knows enough about cars to change the oil or the brake pads but not enough to really be considered a mechanic. And the pay was horrible. We simply can't survive on $250 a week.

So a couple of weeks ago, the owner of a flooring company that N did some subcontractor work for called and asked him to come talk to him. N went the weekend before last, talked with the owner and was offered a job. We've been trying to work out the logistics, the pay, and decide if this would be a good fit for us. Ultimately, we decided that this is the best thing that's happened to us in a while.

Owning your own business is hard. It's tiring and it's expensive. Yes, there are benefits to being your own boss, but there are the downfalls too. i.e. No paid holidays or vacations, paying an arm and a leg for health insurance that covers little to nothing, and in N's line of work, no steady pay check. Do you know how hard it is to budget when you get a check for $1,000 one week and then nothing for 3 weeks? So, I'm thrilled that N has decided to take this job. It means a semi-steady paycheck, access to a retirement plan, access to decent (affordable) health insurance (and please don't get me started on the health reform bill...I'm just not going to go there), a semi-regular work schedule and crazy as it may be, the thing I'm most excited about, the prospect of taking a vacation and not have to worry about losing a week's pay!

So, now I'm off to plan that vacation for next summer (sadly he's not eligible for vacation for a year. Sigh) Oh, the possibilities!

I have a post up on Deep South Moms today. Go check it out and leave me a little comment love!

Not Me! Monday

tina@myownpartyof5.com (Tina - My Own Party of 5) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:44:00 +0000

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Nope, I didn't spend Saturday at N's aunt & uncle's house. We didn't spend most of the day soaking up the sunshine from their deck while the kids played outside. I wasn't shocked when my kids were perfectly well behaved all day.

E did not walk into a screen door. He didn't bounce off it and then stop to look at the door with a 'what-the-heck-was-that' expression. And of course, I didn't laugh at him.

I didn't come home Saturday night at 8 pm and immediately crawl into bed. And I didn't wake up at 10, shivering uncontrollably because I was cold. This wasn't because I was running a fever of 104. My stuffy nose from my allergies didn't turn into a sinus infection. I'm not completely miserable.

Despite not having a sinus infection, we did not attempt to go to the park on Sunday when the weatherman was calling for more beautiful weather. It did not turn cloudy and cold once we got to the park. Because you know, we can always count on weathermen to get the forecast right!