Tagged

Cousin Katie decided that it would be a good idea to tag me...which means that I have to share 7 interesting (or not-so-interesting, depending on how you look at it) facts about myself. Then, I'm supposed to tag other people. But...since only 8 people are currently following my blog, one being Cousin Katie, and the other being Cousin Teri (who was already tagged by Katie)...if you are reading this and you wanna share some fun stuff about yourself, please feel free to do so. If not, well you're just a party pooper ;) Now. Where was I? Oh, yes. 7 "interesting facts" about myself......

1. I can open a Starburst candy in my mouth without using my teeth and without ripping the wrapper.

2. I hate tomatoes. However, I will eat ketchup, tomato sauce, and sundried tomatoes.

3. I completed my BA in Psychology this past September. I am going to begin classes for my MA in Teaching on January 6.

4. I have no idea what I am going to do with either of the aforementioned degrees.

5. I check my facebook 60000000000 times a day, including when I am at work or anywhere else for that matter. Yay for the facebook application on Blackberry.

6. Speaking of Blackberrys, I can't wait to own a Blackberry Bold. Someday. Soon. I hope.

7. Friday is my last day of work. I am happy and sad all at the same time. It's ok, though. Cousin Katie and I have big BIG plans...that's if she ever comes home from Ohio :)

This is SO Important. PLEASE Help!

Ok. Let me take a break from my normal whining and crying about my job for a minute here. My friend Christine brought something to my attention via her blog. Did you know that there are still 21 states that allow paddling of children in schools?!?!? This is SO complely unacceptable. However, with just a few clicks of your mouse you can help save an abused child. Here's the deal. Click the box to the right of this blog and go to the change.org website. Sign up, it only takes a minute. And then click the box to vote. It's that easy, and seriously will take you 2 minutes TOPS. If enough votes are received, a proposal to ban paddling in schools will be presented to President Obama on Inauguration Day.

Please, please, please help ban this leagalized form of child abuse! And, since I don't have that many readers yet, PLEASE pass this on to everyone that you know.

Thanks guys :)

Updates and Such

Things on the work front are still slightly dismal. My boss offered to let me stay until the end of February since we have to pay rent here until then anyway. After some discussion with Tom, though, I have decided to pass on the offer and take a month or so off from work to get settled into my parents' house and spend some time with Tom and TJ. Tom also made the suggestion today that I work part-time until I finish my Masters and get a teaching job. I'm a little leary of that because of how long it will take us to pay off bills and save for a house, but I'm all for less work and more time with the family.
So, in light of this new part-time suggestion, I was thinking. I am going to talk to my boss about whether or not it would be a good idea for me to step down from assistant manager and go into District 240 as a part-time photo person or something...ANYTHING but Pharmacy lol...and then see if I can be "repromoted" into assistant when something opens up. Or even just stay part time until I finish my Masters and then quit completely. I mean, I have almost 4 years in with the company. I don't want to lose my vacation time, sick time, profit sharing, etc. Before I do that, though, I am going to look into the "bridge in service" rules. If I can just bridge my dates and not lose anything, I may go that route instead.
In other news...TJ is getting bigger every day. I will have to post some new pictures in a few days. He now says dada, mama, baba, nana, and hida. He shakes his head "no," and I've started saying "noooo" when he does it so he will understand what it means. He sits up by himself for good stretches of time. He can transfer toys from hand to hand and reach for things. He is slowly learning how to blow raspberries. His main way of transportation is rolling around the living room floor, he wants NO parts of trying to crawl...but he does balance himself on his belly with his arms stretched out and kicks his feet like he's swimming....cracks me up. Today I gave him a sippy cup with a little bit of water in it, just to see what he would do. He chewed on it at first, but then I showed him how to tip it back and he drank a little. Then he was just happy to bang it on the table and throw it around. I can't believe that he will be 7 months old on Monday!
I think that's it for now :) More updates as they come...

Well, That Solved That Now, Didn't It.

Once again I find myself in the "What the hell am I gonna do about a job" boat I was in a few weeks ago. Last week I was presented with an option to go to another store in my district. I finally told my boss that as long as I could still have Christmas Day off and as long as I could still work 4pm-12am I would go. Those are my deal breakers. Period. As I've said before, it is TJ's first Christmas and I'm NOT missing it for ANYTHING. And, since childcare is a bit of an issue (even though there are 9000 people who would gladly watch him for me, and I may take some of you up on that once we move and I find a job....) I need to work 4-12. Well. The stupid store manager in the Hamilton store decided that those hours don't work for him. WHAT??? WHY would you decline to have an assistant manager work until midnight? ESPECIALLY during the Holidays?????? Ugh. Whatever.

So, here I am, jobless after January 2. Of course bossman said I can stay in his store as long as I need to, but we are probably going to shut off all of the utilities that we can as of January 1 or 2. Oh, yeah that's the other thing. We can't get out of our lease until February 28, and then we still have to pay 1 more month after that for the early termination fee. Blah. At least the leasing manager is going to let us make payments on the "extra" month and my parents aren't going to charge us until we are done paying here. Thank goodness. That will give me time to find a job, and we will only be 2 weeks without me getting paid since I will have 2 weeks of vacation come January 1 that I will get paid for.

Hopefully the opportunity at Rite Aid will pan out or something better will come along. Don't worry, I'll keep you all updated :)

To Transfer or Not To Transfer

As you may remember from my last post, my job is kind of screwing me over. When we move in January, the district that I am moving "into" has no open assistant manager positions until the middle of '09. Obviously, I cannot be unemployed for 6+ months. I have the opportunity to possibly "jump ship" and go to Rite Aide, but the manager there cannot hire anyone until February. Granted, a month of unemployment is better than 6, but who is to say that his "hiring freeze" won't end up lasting longer?
Luckily, my boss and my district manager have been "working on something" for me. I found out on Friday what that "something" is, and it has left me with a tough decision to make. My DM wants to move me to another store in his district. It would work out after we move, because the distance is the same as what I am driving now. However, he needs me there within the next 2 weeks, which poses the following problems: (1) Distance. It is at least an hour away from where we are now, give or take a few minutes depending on traffic and old people. (2) I'm not sure I can (or want to) be an hour away from the baby. If something should happen, I wouldn't be able to get home fast enough. (3) My scheduling needs. My boss has been VERY accommodating when it comes to my schedule. Will the store manager in Hamilton be the same way? (4) Holidays. I am not working Christmas. If I have to work New Years it will be early NYE and late NYD. I worked on the overnight shift by myself while I was 19 weeks pregnant last NYE. I think I "earned" a better shift this year. Will the new store manager care about ANY of this? I won't hold my breath.
I have tossed around the idea of calling some of the school districts in the area that we will be moving to and inquiring about substitute teaching positions. I don't WANT to work days, but I figure with subbing I won't be there every day. And, since I already have my BA in Psychology and I plan on taking the Praxis soon, I will probably have my foot in the door when I want a full time teaching position. I am also going back to school in January to get my MA in Teaching.
The major problem I have with going to work during the day is the possibility of missing out on one of TJ's "firsts." I was lucky enough to be here when he rolled over, sat up, and said mama, dada, and baba for the first time. He's not crawling or walking yet, and if I miss out on the first time he does those I'll be pretty sad. But on the other hand, I know that I have to work in order to provide for him. I'm also afraid that if I don't take this transfer offer, I won't be able to get unemployment.
*Sigh* Decisions, decisions.

Stupid Freakin Job.

Since we are moving in just over a month, I had to tell my boss about our plans. A 2 hour drive to and from work just isn't in the cards. Bossman took it well, all things considered. He emailed the district manager for the Jersey South district on Thursday. On Friday he did not have good news. According to the DM, she does not have any openings until the middle of 2009. WHAT??? Are you SERIOUS??? I've been with this freakin company for FOUR YEARS. I worked in FOUR different stores when I was VERY pregnant because they didn't have "room" for another daytime manager in a single store. I worked the overnight shift BY MYSELF on NEW YEARS EVE when I was 19 weeks pregnant. I NEVER call out sick. I go to work when I'm sick. I can count on 1 hand the number of times I've called out in nearly four years. And yet, they don't have a place for me??? This is just beyond stupid. Let me find out that they promote ONE person to assistant manager or hire ONE assistant manager "off the streets." There will be hell to pay.
/rant.

Moving.

So. It has come to this. We are broke. And by broke I mean on Saturday we had -$400 in the bank. Drastic times call for drastic measures, right? After much deliberation and weighing the pros and cons, after January 1 we are moving in with my parents. Certainly the situation is not ideal, but it's really our only option to be able to save money and buy a house.

One of the upsides, though, is that we will be super close to my family. This includes cousin Katie, aunt Mary, cousin Teri (who is getting married in just under 2 years), etc. So I might actually get to *see* my family more than once in a blue moon.

We have a lot to do over the next month and a half. We need to pack things up...again...it feels like we JUST unpacked things. We have to find a cheap storage place for the stuff that we can't take with us, which is most of what we own. We have to decide on an exact date so that I can tell my boss and get transferred to another store. We have to let the leasing office here know that we are leaving. Luckily we only have to pay 1 months rent to get out of our lease. So even though we won't be living here in January, we still have to pay. Not a big deal, really, most places charge much more to break a lease.

I'm really sad to leave my friends at work. I've developed a really great relationship with most of the people I work with. I wonder if they would bend the rules just a little and let me work in the store that my aunt Mary works in? I doubt it. We'd run a kickass store together, though.

So, there you have it. Starting in early January 2009 our residence will be Casa de Mom & Dad. Hopefully we won't regret this decision, especially since we will be there for at least 12 months, possibly closer to 18.

2008 Holiday Card Exchange. You Know You Wanna.

Click the picture. Follow the instructions on cousin Katie's blog. C'mon it'll be fun!! You know you wanna.

TJs Professional Pictures

Since I have nothing better to blog about at this time...here are some of the professional pictures we had taken of TJ a few weeks ago :)

Maybe I need professional help

Ever since I got pregnant last year my...intuitions....have been SO much stronger than they ever where before. My mommy friends know what I'm talkin about, right? Case-in-point: Sometime last year/early this year we had gone to my parents' house and got home very late. After we went up to bed, I layed there thinking that *something* just didn't feel right. I couldn't tell what it was, but something was off. I said something to Tommy, which prompted him to get up, grab his handgun, and proceed to check the house. I layed there in bed waiting to her a gunshot. Luckily, I did not. He did, however, come back to bed and say to me "I will never doubt you when you say something is wrong. The back door was unlocked." Weird.
So, now you are probably wondering what "mommy intuition" has to do with needing professional help, right? Don't laugh at me here. We were at my parents' on Halloween this year. Once the tiny one was in bed, we (myself, Tommy, my mom, my brother, and my brother's girlfriend) decided to watch a movie. Our movie of choice was The Strangers. Now, I don't know if any of you have seen this movie so I won't go into too many details. But, it was based on a true story. And it scared the CRAP out of me. I hardly got ANY sleep that night, even though we watched Baby Mama afterwards. Seriously, the movie traumatized me.
Here's where I think I may need professional help. If I go to bed before Tommy does, I have to keep the hallway light on and keep my bedroom door open. If I go to feed TJ in his room in the middle of the night I have to check behind me 90000 times and uncover his nightlight (the thing is SO bright, he won't sleep if it isn't covered). If I'm downstairs by myself at night, I turn on as many lights as possible and make sure that all of the window blinds are shut and that the front door is locked.
Last night TJ woke at about 2:30am to eat. I went into his room and didn't shut the door all the way. A few minutes later, my cat decided she wanted to nudge the door open a bit. Which scared the CRAP out of me. And of course since the whole house is completely silent I can hear every little noise that houses make (you know the ones). Then, the stupid cat goes into Kaitlyn's room and jumps on her bed. Then off the bed. Then on the bed. Then off the bed. Which made a series of loud banging noises and shook the whole floor (stupid cat is VERY fat).
I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I sat there, with TJ still nursing, staring at his half-open bedroom door trying to figure out if the shadows in the hallway were a person standing there watching me or just my imagination getting the best of me, almost waiting for some weirdo to come into my baby's room and do God-knows-what.
Which also reminds me...every time I am in my kitchen late at night (and this happened before I watched that freakin movie) I feel like someone is watching me. Even if the blinds on the back door and the window in the kitchen are closed.
You all are probably sitting there laughing at me now. That's ok, I try to laugh at me too...sometimes it makes me feel better. I definately won't be watching any movies like that any time soon...if ever again...and if this paranoia keeps up I may consider seeking professional help.

RIP LeRoi Moore

Sorry to start my blog on such a sad note, but this is the first one from my Myspace to be worthy of moving here.

LeRoi Moore 1961 - 2008

We are deeply saddened that LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 2008, at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia. LeRoi had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program.

Date: Aug 20, 2008 12:58 AMAs Reported By People Magazine:
The show went on for the Dave Matthews Band on Tuesday night, with Matthews paying tribute from the stage to saxophonist LeRoi Moore, who died earlier in the day."We all had some bad news today," Matthews told the sell-out crowd at the Staples Center in Los Angeles after the first song. "Our good friend LeRoi Moore passed on and gave his ghost up today and we will miss him forever."Fans shouted Moore's name in tribute as the band resumed playing. Two songs later, Matthews once again made reference to Moore, saying: "It's easier to leave than be left."Moore, a founding member of the band, died Tuesday afternoon of complications from an all-terrain vehicle accident in June, the band's rep announced.Moore, who had recently returned to his house in L.A. to begin a physical rehabilitation program, died at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, according to the rep.