Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Got an offer, turned it down, crap! The hell that is Wyoming.

In my desire to relocate my family, I had a job offer in Douglas, WY. For those from Douglas, WY, sorry, you probably shouldn't read on.
Douglas, WY is 11 hours away from my home, one way. Because I couldn't tell my current employer that I had a final interview and job offer, I had to squeeze the 22 hours of driving into about 48 hours of actual time. Which for those of you that can't help your children with their math homework, that would leave 26 hours over two days, for sleep and non driving time. It sucked.
Not only did I have to squeeze the drive, sleep and a 2 hour interview into that 48 hours, I also had to do all of this on my way to and in Douglas, WY.
Lets explain, Wyoming is barren, ok dramatic, it has small hills and sage brush, so I guess that is something. It also regularly has up to 30-40 mile per hour winds, I know what you are thinking, heaven, right? Am I right? But, there are a few cute towns along the way.
Anyway the only reason we would consider Douglas, is that there is also a lot of great paying jobs for my husband as well, so frankly money talks.
Then I drove around town, new elementary school, new bridges, looking good, oh, wait, what? Houses leaning, paint peeling, piercings glaring totally interfering with my sight. Re-thinking... how much money is hell worth? Tough question.
Never the less, the realist in me tells me I would rather earn $7 an hour than live in hell. I would rather my children not have to raise themselves. I will get to the point, Douglas, WY sucked. Every exit on the highway had barriers that if it gets too windy or stormy they can shut it down quickly, ding, ding, ding, how many red flags do I need?
So, obviously I turned the job down, my employer does not know about my 2 day marathon and I am back to the beginning. 
Se la vie.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Falling into the abyss. Dreading the next day.

I have been looking at relocating my family. But, applying for jobs 100's of miles away is seeming to be quite the task. So at work, although I get all my work done efficiently and effectively, I am sidetracked by wanting desperately to go somewhere else. I have spent 25 of my 34 years in my small town. I moved away when I graduated and as I got married have since returned. So, I am at that point that enough is enough. Need a change, time to move on, etc.
I enjoy those that I work with. I enjoy staying busy. However lately, I haven't stayed busy making each day longer and longer. To make it worse the slow times leave me space in my mind to dream of some far off land that I want to whisk my family away to.
I hate dreading going to work. I usually don't, but as I have mentioned, I am ready to move on. So as it gets harder to get out of bed in the morning, drive up to the dealership, I take a deep breath and walk into work with a smile on my face.
Today was no different, but with that smile also came a bout of laughter. Because not only am I starting to dread work, I walk in with a pretend smile, and then hear it. You know that awesome background music that I have blogged about in the past. There it is, "All, by myself, I don't wanna be all by myself, anymore."
This made me laugh. The only image that popped into my mind was a picture of "Bridget Jones Diary", with Renee Zellweger laying on her couch, boozing it up and singing, poorly I might add, at the top of her lungs.
I have to be grateful for the little things that get me through that door and still smiling at the end of the day. Even if it is a ridiculously sapping song that in lesser times would make me want to slit my wrists.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The 5th grade anatomy/hormone talk, yippee......

I am sitting at work, swearing at my network blocker that won't allow you to read blogs, post on Facebook, basically anything interesting. Anyway, as the expletives launch out of my mouth, I get a call. It is from my 11 yr old's son 5th grade teacher.
So, last week there was a bright blue form that came home in the back pack from school. I love how they make the forms bright colors so you don't miss them. Attention school, I don't pay attention to the bright form or the white form, frankly I just ignore them all.
I digress. The form is titled "Growth & Development Class"...... (they tried really hard to think of that title, you know they did) 
Back to the phone call from the 5th grade teacher. She has asked if I had seen the infamous form. I said, yes, I meant to send it back to school, but just have forgotten. She proceeds to tell me that the kids in the class are freaking out, embarrassed to turn the form in and just aren't taking the form home to their parents. I go on to inform her that the form is on my fridge and I will return it the next day. This form asks for your permission to allow your child to sit through a DVD that discusses "changes" in their bodies. If you choose not sit your child through this, he can go to library or something.
After I returned home from work this evening, I decided to ask my son what he had heard about this class, if he would like me to explain things to help prepare him for the class, or whether he would like me to let him skip the class and I would do all the talking, or he doesn't have to talk to me and he can take the class.....................He wanted to talk to me. So, we talked about hormones and hair growth in strange places, and all the many more disgusting and gross things that happen to boys. (Frankly such an easier talk than explaining what happens to girls) After about 20 minutes and pure shock on my sons face, I decided he had had enough.  I then ask him if he wants to stay in class for the talk and DVD (how lucky). He said he had heard enough and that he didn't need to attend the class.
He did say he wanted to talk with me again and how glad he was that we didn't talk about anything "inappropriate". Got to love him.
I have successfully survived my first "talk"with my 11 yr old son. My husband giggled the entire time.
So, he will not be sitting through the DVD. I am glad he is fine with our discussion and that I didn't scar him for life......Yay hormones!!!!!