I Have a Job!

After being here one whole week, and I've actually been searching for a job since before I left, I finally have a job! I even start working...well training....tomorrow. I am so looking forward to this job as it is in a portrait studio. This is actually the second portrait studio job I applied for. It turns out that I will possibly be working in a town much closer to where I am moving. Which explains why I haven't gotten any of the other jobs I applied for. It is also a manager position that I am looking at. Good pay, potential bonuses bi-weekly and quartery, benefits, discounts....it's a really great opportunity.

Thank you to everyone who prayed and sent good thoughts my way. I appreciate you all!

As for the rest of things, I am enjoying the cooler weather for sure. The kids have been having a great time with their aunt and uncle who they have a hard time seeing as aunt and uncle due to the closeness of their ages. They have been swimming more times than I can count and are having a great time just messing around and having a good time.

We of course miss all of our friends from Texas. One in particular has been on my mind a lot lately. I hear a song today that reminded me of them...twice actually. The song got picked up on shuffle when I was listening to music on my computer then it played on the radio as I was trevelling to my interview. I miss the joking, the laughing, the general conversations...all the good times we spent together. I knew leaving all of my friends would be difficult, but I also knew we would be able to stay in touch through internet and phone. This friend however is different...we were close. Being away from my friend is like a tree not feeling the wind anymore.

Today is a good day though, so no more whining. I have a job, I am in New York where it's green and pretty and there are lots of trees, and I have my family. I can't really complain as I have a good life right now. Here's to hoping everyone has a  wonderfulo rest of the day and week!

Welcome to New York!

This picture was taken Wednesday evening as we crossed the state line into New York. It still took us a good bit of time to get to our destination, but knowing we were in our destination state helped us to get moving and stay awake. We were all very grateful to arrive when we got here. I have spent the last two days resting and getting a good look at this town I am staying in for the time being. The plan is for me to find a job and then move to the town I lived at when I went to High School. I have a couple of applications in at places and I'm hoping for something to work out soon. I still have not recieved my 401K money that was supposed to be my moving money (thanks Dad for coming through on that one) nor my final paycheck and payday was yesterday. Money is tight right now, but things will work out, I have faith. In the meantime, enjoy a few pictures that I've taken since I've been here, see why my kids and I chose to make this drastic move.

These are just a few of the pics I have taken so far. I will have to try to upload more later as I am unable to use my photo editing program on this computer to make the image sizes smaller. I am not able to edit any pics at this moment which is mildly depressing.

Update on the Move

We have just a little over a week to go before we move. Packing is going...well...so so. I have yet to start packing up my room, but there is mostly only clothes in there. The closet won't take long to pack and neither will the kitchen. The bookshelf has already been packed as well as the movies. The kids have done a wonderful job of getting their stuff packed up, so I think we'll be on schedule for load day.

I will be picking up my truck and tow trailer at around 10am on the 5th of July. Then with the help of, hopefully, a lot of friends I plan to get the truck loaded with our stuff and head out that afternoon. I will have to stop overnight somewhere to rest up. That and I will need to give my cats a break from riding in the Xterra. I am concerned that they will get overheated on the journey, but I'll be sure to make frequent stops to ensure they have plenty of water and are not getting too warm. I figure if I roll the windows down some they should get some decent air flow to help keep them cool.

I don't remember if I posted on here about my laptop frying, but it did. FYI...do not leave your laptop on constantly or you will fry the motherboard! :) I actually learned that it is not good to leave any computer on as it increases the risk of them overheating and thus frying bits that you need for them to work properly. I had hoped to have the laptop working so that I could post updates as I travel, but since that is not the case, I splurged and purchased a netbook. It's rather small, but it actually has a very large hard drive. I hope to be able to connect to a few WiFi spots along the way and post some blogs about the journey as well as some pics. I still haven't worked out my exact route, but will be doing that very soon. I'll probably purchase a new road atlas to help navigate our journey. At this point my main concern is that every route I've looked at has me driving through Ft. Worth and Dallas. To those who know me, I DO NOT drive through large towns like these as the drivers there are all crazy and scare the crap out of me. Now it appears that I will be doing so while driving a 24' truck pulling my Xterra! Just keep your fingers crossed that I will make it through there ok if I cannot find an alternate route.

I guess that's all for now. Have a wonderful day!

A Big Move

As I posted not too long ago, my kids and I will be making a move to the state of New York the first part of July. The kids and I have been working on getting things ready for the move and so far I think we are doing fairly well. The kids have managed to pack quite a few of their belongings already as well as the books, movies, and some other non-necessities. I have packed nothing as of yet, as I have been concerned with other matters. I have hired and gotten approval from the owners on a new manager to take over the store. This guy is a good friend of mine and I know that he will be able to keep everyone in line as well as keep the comfortable working atmosphere that I and my employees have worked so hard to attain. He has a lot to learn and only a couple of weeks to do so, but I have faith, both in my ability to teach him and in his ability to learn it.

I have also been looking for someone to buy my house, or at the very least, take over the payments. I have succeeded in doing so only yesterday. Yet another good friend of mine who has been looking for a place of her own made the final decision to take my house. It will be rather large for her and her chihuahua, but honestly, for the price, she can afford some extra room. I also made arrangements to sell my washer and dryer yesterday. I will, of course, be using them up until I leave as I have no wish to start going to a laundry mat this close to such a big move.

The kids and I gathered some items to have a garage sale Saturday and Sunday. We did pretty well on Saturday, but had only a few people stop Sunday. I made roughly $40 and the kids made out pretty well with their stuff. My friend who will be taking over my house is planning to have another garage sale after she gets moved in and has offered to try to sell my leftover items then and send me the money. I think I'll take her up on that.

I am almost through with Ashe's dresser, it has been wood-burned, sanded, and stained so far. I still need to use the wood-filler on it then seal it and it'll be good to go. That will be a project for next week since both the kids will be gone or busy. Amy has church camp this coming week and Ashe is joining the youth group to help out with the Community Rehab project. Community Rehab is where select homes in the community, usually low income families or people with disabilities, get some work done to the outside of their homes for free. Energy efficient windows, doors, etc, new siding, fixing proches and overhangs and such. It's a great project to be involved in and I am proud of my son for taking part.

I apologize for the lengthiness of this post, but that is the update so far. I have the truck and trailer reserved for our move. Everyone needs to wish me luck driving those as I have to use the largest truck available (24") as it is the only one with 3 seats. Hope everyone has a wonderful day, week, & month. I'll be sure to update again before I leave.

Been Pretty Busy

I apologize for not 'being here' much lately. I am working on quite a few things at the moment so my blog is being put on the back burner it seems. As you may have read in my Post #100 I will be moving to New York in early July. Therefore I am working on preparations for that, trying to find a buyer for my house, packing (well the kids have been packing), finishing projects before the move (such as completing my son's new dresser, pics to come soon), working on my business (feel free to visit my Gallery and help me out with that one! lol), and numerous other tasks. I have been trying to get someone hired at my job to take over as manager. I am leery about just anyone taking over that store as I and my employees have worked very hard to get it to where it is right now. I also want to make sure that whoever takes over doesn't turn into a crazed person with a God complex and end up driving my employees to point of quitting. It's a lot of work to make a move, especially one this far.

Here in the household, we are all doing well. The snakes are growing beautifully, the frog is...well sitting there cause that's about all he does. The cats just got bathed, treated for earmites and sprayed for fleas...needless to say they are not too happy with me right now. Obad-Hai, the water dragon, will be getting a new home. Not that we don't love him, but Kevin has no room for him where he is staying right now and he also needs the funds to help pay for the enormous vet bills that Bruno has been racking up. Which reminds me...anyone interested in buying a Quaker Parrot? He wants to find a good home for her as well as he has little time to give her the attention she requires. The kids are out of school and have been spending the days working on packing and doing there chores in the midst of playing and goofing off. But I didn't really expect them to do differently. They grow weary with the long time I am at work while they have nothing much to do here at home. This next week they will be with their fathers so perhaps they will not be so bored.

I guess that's all for now. I hope everyone who reads this has a wonderful day, weekend, week, month, etc. I will hopefully have some nice pics of the progress on Ashe's new dresser soon!

Post #100!!!

This is it...my 100th post. I started my blog a little over 6 months ago. I have grown to having 40 followers, not bad in my opinion, and I like to think I have put up some interesting stuff in 99 previous posts. I'll make a list of some of my favorite posts, but first, an announcement.

My kids and I will be moving the first part of July. We are going from our small town here in Texas to an even smaller town in New York. Why so far away you ask? Well, I lived in New York for the last 3 years of High School and I really liked it there. The town was small, had lots of trees, and a great school. I think it's time to get my kids out of this crappy town we're in right now. It's full of drugs and crime, and it is very predjudice againt people who don't have the "right" last name. We are all very excited about the move, the chance to 'start over' and try something new. I will be continuing my blog of course, it is one way for my friends here to keep up with my goings on once I move and I have come to love blogging. It may be a few days or more once we start the move before I can get online and give an update, but I'll be sure to post something once I am able.

Now, here are some of my favorite posts from the past 6 months. Thanks to everyone who has stuck around and helped me grow.

My first post, and some information about me and my family can be found HERE.
Some personal feelings about the Attorney General.
A list of things you can do to Alleviate Boredom.
A true winner can be found HERE.
Another list, this once centering more on working in a Convinient Store.
The time I got bitten by a snake complete with pictures is HERE.
My daughter and her Twisted Sense of Humor.
An interesting look at some 'Old Pictures'.

Also, for anyone who hasn't seen my Gallery, feel free to head on over and take a look at the images I've got available. I am currently running a sale, so if you are looking for some new wall art, now is the time to buy!

And if you are looking to start a business or expand your current business, there are a lot of really awesome products available to assist you at Unconventional Guides. Look on the inside left bar of my blog for some of the available items.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. New Featured Image will be up tomorrow, so be sure to come back and check it out.

Where Are You From?

I work with the public and some people will hear me speak and say "You're not from around here, are you?" To which I answer, "No." The resonse to my answer varies at times but it usually amounts to "Where are you from?" I hate being asked this question, because it usually involves a long explanation. My answer to the question is "Which year?" Which makes people automatically say "You must be a military brat." Here comes the explanation. "Yes, my father was in the Air Force for 22 years before he retired, however, my mom and dad divorced when I was 8. I went to 16 different schools (that I can remember) from Kindergarten through my Senior year. The longest I was in one school was 3 years, which was the school I graduated from. And oddly enough, that was when I was living with my dad. I was born in Japan, then we moved back to the states in Maryland. A few years later, my dad was shipped to Italy, it was during this time that he and my mother divorced. He was in italy for 4 years, then went to Germany for 4 years. Then he returned to the states and was stationed in Florida for a couple of years, then in New York. Looking back, I would have moved LESS, if I'd have lived with my father."

I hunted down a map of Japan that actually had the town I was born shown, but for some reason it's not showing up on here right.

Anyway, here is my list of places I've lived:

Japan

Maryland

Massachusetts

Ohio

Texas (all over the place here)

Florida

New York

I think I got it all, maybe. That's just the states I've lived in and not the individual towns. So, I have moved a lot. I always swore that I would not move my children around all over the place like my mother did and I have done well so far. They have been in this one town at the same school for 6 years now. Much longer than I ever was in one place.

What brings on a post like this? Well, I have my very first review item on the way and I am very excited. It is in some way related to something I have said in this post. Are you curious? You'll just have to wait and see what is coming. Be sure to keep your eyes open, because there will be a giveaway involved as well!

So...where are YOU from?