My Life is Changing

Big Time.

At the very end of 2007 I put in a proposal with my current employer to work part-time from home after my first baby was born, due 3-16-2008. I was granted the position at over $22/hr for 25 hrs/wk and I was eligible for full benefits. What a deal! It went great! Life was going well. Summer of 2009 we decided to try for number 2. With quick success I didn't even know until the day after I was laid off. The recession had hit my employer hard. It still is. It was hard to be excited about my new pregnancy w/ the job loss. My husband enjoys his job and it pays pretty well but does not offer the affordable benefits my job did. Luckily Obama had helped out w/ my cobra payments for the first 14 months of my unemployment. Since then things have been going downhill (in our savings account for sure). Unemployment was enough to make ends meet, well almost. Now, unemployment no longer exists for me. My income, $0.

It's pretty scary. I am not comfortable with where my savings account currently is and now we have doctor's bills and need a new water heater (or at least that would dry out our basement and allow the kids to play down there again).

The solution, since 22 months of searching for a graphic design position has turned up nothing, go back to waiting tables. I did it during high school and during college and didn't Jesse Ventura say that's what all art majors do?

Luckily I was able to find a great restaurant that was hiring and have now been an employee of Cravings Wine Bar and Grille for the last week. Now I make minimum wage and will never know how much I'll bring home in a week. I now work double shifts all the time. Not that I didn't before but now my second shift is much more demanding than cooking, dishes, and bath time.

So far I love it! I love the people and I love having something to do that I'm good at because I currently suck at being a mom. I love having time away from my kids for the first time in years. It gives me more patience when I am with my kids to have time away from them. I have a new reason to do my hair and put on makeup. I love that my uniform is all black, nothing more than that, all black. I love that I can wear my nose stud. I love that there is potential to make a lot of money in a short amount of time.

It's a big change. I'm excited but boy am I exhausted. I am not 21 anymore. My body is use to eating dinner at 6:30 every night and carrying kids, not drinks. My feet are use to wearing crocs and pushing a stroller. My body is not use to running around a restaurant like it use to be when I was young. I hope that this change is mostly for the better that mostly it's listed in the plus column. The minus: flexibility. I loose the opportunity to run to Iowa or the lake for a long weekend or even for Christmas. I loose the flexibility to go the beach on a nice day, scrapbook with my friends on a Friday night,  or go to Breezy Point when my parents have their timeshare week. That's a big change. I use to take my work with me and go wherever whenever. Not anymore. And something has to give. So far it's been the blog - as you can see. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to keep up so bare with me through the transition.

Wish me luck. This is a big change.