Monday so soon?

Well hello there.  I hope you had a nice weekend.

T and I went to the Lutheran church here in town (very similar to Episcopal, but there isn't one of those and T's Lutheran, so there ya go). We really liked the pastor, but he is moving to Wilmington in 2 weeks! :-O

After that, mom and Jan (my ex MIL) came over and we went out to lunch and swapped Valentine's. That was nice. Then T mudded the seams in the dining room - finally going to get it painted this week! So SCA projects take a bit of a back seat as we work on the house.

Speaking of house, got a decent offer on the Florida house, fingers crossed please! They scheduled the close later than I would have liked, but at least it's a decent offer!

We are considering doing Atkins.  This week we are eating up some of foods that would not be allowed (yogurt, 15 bean soup), so we will gradually slide into it.  We'll see how that goes. 

Today is shopping, laundry, and paying bills.  It's sunny but cooler here today.  We are planning to go to water aerobics tonight.

Take care.

Grateful

Good morning.

This has been a very up and down week, with some good days and some very rough days.  My weight is down a pound, which is pretty amazing. 

T and I sat down last night and had a conversation.  I have been living on my credit cards and in a couple of months I will no longer be able to pay my bills.  I am looking for a job, but in the interim I feel like I need to at least look for a part time job.  I was counting on the house sale to pay off all my debt (which it will), but in the meantime I need cash flow to at least slow down the hemorrhaging.

Since I have two interviews I am still waiting to hear back from, he suggested I give myself until the beginning of March, and then start looking.

Anyway, I am still hanging in there.  Take care.

An unpleasant update

About 4 weeks ago, I received a decent offer on the house, which I accepted.  When they went out to do the inspection, my tenant told my realtor that she's cleared the final hurdle to get the loan.  When the deal fell through, I agreed to give the tenant time to get the financing together, even though I felt a lot like Charlie Brown with Lucy pulling the football away (again).

My realtor did her best to be diligent - I have the email from the loan officer assuring us it would close by Jan 27th at the latest.  There were just a couple more items underwriting wanted.....

Tenant got those items in and we waited, and waited... Finally yesterday underwriting came back and declined the loan.  I had another offer but did nothing about for 3 weeks, so I've wasted another 3 weeks.  Tenant first had the house under contract last May.  Nine months I've been going through this, and completely missed peak selling season.

My realtor basically hung up on her realtor when she wanted to launch into a long detailed story about what happened.  Lucy (my realtor) called back the investor that made an okay offer.  They are supposed to walk through the house sometime today.  It's $25K less but at this point I just need to be done with this.

On the mend

Thanks for the good wishes - I am definitely on the mend.  Not 100%, but much better.

Waiting on some word on the house today - supposedly we are closing Wednesday but we are waiting for the final clear to close from the lender.  They've found something to nitpick every time we've gotten to this point.  It's beyond absurd.  Never buy real estate in south Florida!

Nothing from the job I interviewed with a week ago - ugh.  I was really hoping for that one.  But I do have a phone interview tomorrow.  I'd really enjoy staying home if I didn't need money, you know? ;-)

We went to Wilmington this weekend.  A couple of times a year we have an event that is just classes.  I taught a basic sewing and beginning wire weaving and took a couple of embroidery classes.  We had a nice day, saw friends, and got to spend time with the boy and the grandpups.  I just wish we had been feeling better, but it was a good weekend.

Today I am unpacking, doing laundry, picked up some groceries, etc. while I try to stay sane while I wait for some word on the house.......

Here is a picture of viking wire weaving (not my piece, but a beautiful example!):

Sick :-(

The house is still in limbo.  I have a cold and feel yucky.  I got a call and I have a phone interview next Tuesday - so hopefully something will break soon on the job front.

That is all.

Knee deep in chicken!

Hello there!  Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Friday my mom came and we got the bathroom primed.  Yesterday T did the first coat of paint and today I did the second, so I will hang pictures tomorrow.  Another room tackled!

Friday T attempted to reproduce a Basque chicken dish we had while out in Reno (did I mention he used to be a professional chef?).  It was really good but it was a whole chicken - so a lot for two!  Then we had leftovers Saturday for dinner.  Today he wasn't feeling well, so I made chicken soup with matzo balls for lunch.  We are going to have dinner with friends tonight - she is making chicken pot pie! LOL  And we still have leftover chicken!

I will post before and after pics as soon as I have all the pictures hung and the bathroom is put back together.  This week I am going to focus on a couple of craft projects, but plan to start on the dining room next week.  I also got a lot of cleaning out and organizing done of my sewing stuff that lives in the guest room, so it feels good to be making terrific progress in that room.

No updates on the house.  Ugh.

Take care!

The roller coaster continues

Weight:  I gained 2.2 pounds last week, lost 2 this week.  Hormones?  Poor choices?  Yes to both, but I seem to have course corrected.  It's scary how 1 or 2 evenings of poor choices has such an impact.

As I said, the house deal fell through.  then my tenant came back and said she was ready to close.  Since I don't really trust her or her realtor (believe me, I have reason not to), my realtor asked for that in writing from the lender (which we got).  So we are giving her until the middle of next week, at which point I go back to the low ball but at least in the park offer and see where that goes.  I need this to be over.

I had a phone screening interview yesterday.  It was with HR, but it was an interview.  I think it went well and I expect to get an in person interview with the hiring leader.  They have just started the interviewing process, but I think I would be a good fit for the job.  Fingers crossed!

I am still considering the possibility of opening my own bookkeeping business, but right now I would like the security of a regular, full time job.  We would like to get our finances in better shape and make decisions from a solid financial foundation.  T took a significant pay cut when he took his current job.  It was the right choice - his old company is in a mess and he'd have been laid off by now almost certainly.  And of course his commute was a nightmare.  But we are not getting by on just his income.  

Getting back out there for a job has been just as hard as dipping my tow into the dating pool was.  I was pretty badly burned at my last job - it was a nightmare.

I was given a team of 5 people: 2 worked in other locations and basically did what they wanted.  One told me she couldn't stay past 3:30 on Fridays because her personal training appointment was at 4.  Of the 3 in my location, one was a drama queen, one was the former manager who had been demoted, and one was a younger girl with anger management issues who didn't want to work her schedule but her daddy had been with the company 30+ years.  I was working 50-60 hour weeks and held responsible for anything that went wrong, but not given any authority to fix it.

My intent was to stay until school started back just so there would be vacation coverage but they let me go 2 weeks before that (shooting themselves in the foot, but hey).  The job they described when I was hired and the job I was doing were 2 totally different things.  They expected me to fix stuff they all knew was broken, but given no tools to do so.  The environment was hostile and unpleasant and full of back stabbing.  It was such a relief when I packed up my stuff I never even cried even though it was the first time in my life I'd ever been fired.  Mostly I was just grateful it was over.  It reminded me eerily of how I felt when my husband left: relief. I felt like I'd just escaped an abusive relationship because in a way I had. 

Still and all, the self esteem takes a beating in that instance and it was frustrating because I knew I was a good project manager and the way that team was, I'm not sure anyone could succeed in that role until the higher ups made some hard choices. So I knew it wasn't me, it was a poor fit and a bad situation.  But still. And of course recruiters hear you were fired and don't really want to work with you, so that's been hard.

OTOH, this has given me time to work on the house, do things I wanted, think about what I truly want to be doing, just given me some breathing room.  So overall, the break has been a tremendous blessing.  And thankfully we have been able to manage even though things have been tight.  Always have an emergency fund!!  You never know when you might need it!

Take care and TGIF!

House update

Contract on the Florida house fell through. :-(

Oops!

Well I got busy and suddenly realized I hadn't blogged in days.  I guess it isn't quite a habit yet!

Saturday we went to a business meeting for our historical group and didn't get back home until 3.  A friend was coming over and we made supper, so no painting occurred. :-(  Oh well, we will be home all this weekend with no commitments, so we can get the bathroom knocked out easily enough.

Yesterday I was feeling really down in the dumps.  I interviewed for a job last week, which I did not get.  They wanted more experience in that specific field, which I do not have.  Not surprising, but disappointing.  This whole job search has been frustrating and disappointing.  Ugh.  I am going to look into two things: starting my own small business and some things I can do on the side to earn some income.  I may start writing about those things here.

T was very understanding.  I tell you what, this has been a heck of a way to start off our relationship (well, this time around).  He keeps joking that we are just front loading the "worse" of that "for better or for worse".  He's quite a guy. :-)

I went to the grocery store this morning.  More protein powder - yay!  Costco has their pre-made shakes on sale this month, so I plan to pick up a couple more boxes of those.  Oh, and Aldi had a knock off brand TRX trainer for $20, so heck yeah I bought one!  I really like those things - it's something we can install in a doorway and use 5 minutes at a time.  We are both excited about that.

Have a good day and take care!

Plan B

After 2 nights of very poor sleep, last night was much better!  That was good, because I had to get up extra early this morning for a dental appointment.  Even though I've moved 30 minutes away, I decided to keep my same dentist.  I had a protein shake (I like the Premier Protein - 160 calories - I get at Costco, if I don't make one from powder) and headed out.  After the appointment I was very hungry, loud tummy growling and all, and had a chicken biscuit at Chik-Fil-A.  450 calories for just the biscuit, not a meal.  So I am going into lunch with a big chunk out of my daily 1500 calorie budget already!  Not a disaster, but maybe I should have packed something from home. 

I have accepted an offer on the house in Florida.  It's not as much as I was hoping for, but at this point I am still unemployed and I need as much equity as I can squeeze out of the house, and I need it sooner rather than later.  So that is progress.

T is getting pretty frustrated with his new job, which I hate for him.  But it is still better than his last job.

Yesterday was beautiful and we opened the windows and the doors.  Made a lot of progress in the guest room and the house is really starting to feel homey.    All in all, with accomplishments, the house contract, and a boost of good weather, I am feeling more relaxed than I have in a while.

Take care!

Home safe!

I drove to Charlotte for my interview this morning!  The drive was no problem - the interview was at 11 so there was no traffic.  It seemed to go fine.  It is for a mortgage company.  I have loads of experience in the finance industry, but not mortgage specific.  So it's partly a matter of whether they are okay with someone who has loads for experience with this role but in a slightly different field.  We will see.

Slept for crap last night.  I got an email from my aunt yesterday.  Her partner had surgery to remove colon cancer back in the fall, which was complicated by pre existing hernias.  Long story short: a combination of the complicated surgery, inadequate after care (she was pushed into a rehab facility without the appropriate specialty experience by the insurance company), plus some poor monitoring has led to her needing more surgery months before the doctors wanted to do it.  She's been in the hospital for months, and things aren't looking great.  That plus anxiety made for poor after dinner choices and major insomnia.

Today has been much better.

Progress is happening in the guest room - it feels good to see things improving around the house.  This is a smaller house so it is forcing me to do some much needed down sizing.  I am glad.  My mom has been in her house since 1971 - the attic and storage barn are stuffed full.  She keeps saying she needs to pare down but never does.  My son hangs on to everything so I've jokingly told her I would either call in the guys from that show "American Pickers" or give it all to my son, who would never get rid of anything and it would be kept, untouched, as a shrine to her memory for 60+ years! I'm only half joking. ;-)

Eating was on point until last night, and there was damage, but not too much.  Today has been on point with food.  Mistake made, acknowledged, and now to keep moving forward.

Have a good day!

A bit of disappointment

Good morning!

I hope you had a nice weekend.  Mine was pretty good.  We did get our hallway paining done, as well as some more organizing in the den (T's office).  We didn't paint the bathroom - which is fine.  I'm more disappointed that we both let ourselves transform into tired, cranky toddler/martyrs and acted like sleep deprived 3 years old kids.  Not for long thankfully, but still!

We could have eaten more vegetables and less cheese.

Today is more work around the house - I'm finally ready to tackle the pit of despair guest room.My plan is to hit it in brief but intense strikes throughout the week and be finished by Friday afternoon.  Next weekend we will paint the bathroom.  That will leave us with only 2 rooms to paint!  The hardest ones, but still!

I need to double check everything for my interview outfit tomorrow, and run out to pick up a few random items.  I'm pretty impressed I've knocked out about half my to do list already and it's not even lunch!

Have a good day and a better week!

Weekend!

My bf has had a very rough week at work, so I am especially grateful that it is Friday afternoon.  We aren't going anywhere this weekend - our plan is to do some work on the house.

We have a small hallway that joins the two bedrooms and a bathroom.  When we first moved in this had 2 different wallpapers separated by a chair rail high border.  When we removed it, we realized there were multiple layers of paper and paint and the walls were gypsum board.  We got everything down and my son & a friend were able to mud and sand so the walls are ready to be primed and painted! 

While this house has a lot of great features, unattractive wall to wall carpet over hardwoods, and rooms that either had 1980s wallpaper or contractor white walls did not show it off to its best effect.  We pulled up the carpets and had the floors refinished and are removing wallpaper and painting.  It's hard to tell in photos, but the difference in person just by painting in the living room is amazing.  It looks so much homier!  We are using a very neutral color (except the bathrooms) that is sort of a pale beige meets pale grey and plays nicely with warm and cool tones.  We may change down the road, but it's a good jumping off point.

The scale was up 0.8 pounds this week after being down like 0.6 last week.  I did a big shop today and stocked up on lean proteins & vegetables.

I hope you have a terrific weekend!

Just Whoa.

Do you ever have one of those days where there is just so much that you are left with your head spinning?  So that was my day yesterday.

In no particular order:

1. Smelled burning plastic in the kitchen.  One outlet was VERY hot.  The circuit it is on has a fuse that is too big, so instead of shutting off it was overheating.  We moved most things off that circuit until we can get new fuses and replace that outlet.  Scary.  Oh, and we hadn't bought a fire extinguisher since we moved in - but we have one now.

2. The saga of 1 million excuses (aka "why my tenant has been trying to buy the house since May but hasn't closed the deal") continues. The latest is that we expected situation #9572 to be resolved this week, nope looking at 3 more weeks or so as a best case scenario.  I've dropped the price again.  I'm getting lots of showings, but I'm near the end of my financial and emotional ropes. I have too much equity to just walk away, but ARGH!!!

3. Did get a call about a potential job, and a callback for an interview next week.  The bad news is that it's 3-4 hours per day in commute time unless I find a place to stay during the week down in Charlotte. Still.. see my "near the end of my financial rope" comment above. So if the company seems good and it seems to be a good fit I will take it.  Maybe if I prove myself they will be open to some flexibility?

4. Got a message from my ex husband's now ex girlfriend. (Did I mention he dumped her on Christmas day, but is locked into a lease so is sharing a house with her and her 6 year old daughter until June? And has taken up with someone else he's known for a MONTH and they are trying to have a baby??). "I am truly sorry if I every caused you any pain. When S and I started seeing each other, he told me you guys were over. So I never thought that he was cheating on you. The shoe is on the other foot now and I see how I probably hurt you."  No shit, you've known me for like 20 years and you take up with my husband of 15 years and you think I might find that hurtful?  Don't worry - I took the high road, which happens to be the truth and told her she did me a huge favor and I am much happier now that I was with him.  Oh, and I swear the people I know that do live in a trailer park don't act half as white trashy as my ex.  Sheesh!  Thank you lord I'm out of that insanity!!!    

Ugh.  Just .... ugh.  Some good, some bad, but too much roller coaster and not enough kiddie ride! :-O

We're back

Our trip was really lovely.  We got home late Sunday and I spent yesterday doing laundry, unpacking, etc.  T had to work so I picked up the dogs.

Susie was glad to be home.

 Jordan wasn't as glad Susie was home.

Finally she just went to bed. Our bed.

Today I am making chicken stock from the Christmas turkey carcass.  I applied for a couple of jobs - one through an agency and one through a friend of a friend, so maybe I will get some response rather than throwing it down the black hold that most jobs boards seem to be. 

We got a fair bit of snow here while we were gone and the roads were icy yesterday.  Today I am staying home and just using a workout video.  I have plenty of protein powder for AM shakes, frozen leftovers for meals, and I made a loaf of bread yesterday so we could have a tuna melt with a cup of soup for lunch.  I need to do a big grocery shop later in the week.

It's good to go, but it's good to be home as well!

Packing up, heading out

Since we are flying out of Raleigh at 7:15 AM, we are staying overnight with friends.  So after dinner we'll be headed that way.  I got up this morning, fed us (protein shakes) and the dogs (kibble & homemade wet food), then threw a load of laundry in the wash and cleaned the kitchen.

I then sat down, balanced my checkbook, paid my bills, and sobbed.  I mean loud, wet, red faced sobs.  If I had to have a big problem (say, money or a family member with serious health issues) then of course I'd choose money issues any day.  It's only money!  OTOH, I am faced with some nerve racking choices in oh 30 days or so if something doesn't break.  So yeah, big sobs.  T has been a trooper and continues to be a source of strength and support.

Then I calmed down and did some ironing and folded the clean laundry so we can pack our suitcase.  (We are sharing since it's a short trip and they charge per bag). It's a busy day - gotta get Jordan to my mom's and Susie to the kennel for boarding (she isn't integrated enough into the pack to leave with my mom for 5 days) plus pack up her stuff, pack my stuff, fix supper and give the kitchen one more cleaning, make sure trash is out and nothing in the fridge will spoil etc.

I watched an interesting documentary yesterday called "The Barkley Marathons".  They describe it as the "toughest race you've never heard of".  And yeah, it sounds unreal tough.  And I have no interest in ever attempting it, but the founder of the race made a lot of good points about people trying something and being okay with failing - so many people don't/can't handle failure and this is a race that only 10 people finished in the first 25 years it was run.  It's on netflix streaming if you are so inclined.

Anyway, I am not taking a computer so don't expect to hear from me until Monday.  Until then take care!

Well rested

I slept last night - woo hoo!  Went to bed around 10:30 or 11 and woke up when T's alarm went off at 7.  I let the dog out, then dozed a bit when he took a shower.  Then up, fed dogs, got myself dressed & us fed, then took Susie (the new dog) for a walk down the street.  She did great on the leash!  Susie was at the shelter for nearly 3 months after being picked up as a stray.  We're not sure what her story is - she's 2.5 years old and not really house trained.  So she's a project dog, but she's smart and sweet and crazy about T.

Here's Susie:

And the dog I've had for 9 years or so, the amazing Jordan J:

We've been having protein shakes most morning.  After we used up our tub of Muscle Milk, I checked the nutrition on the protein at Aldi.  For 10 more calories a serving, it has nearly double the protein of Muscle Milk.  170 calories and 30 g protein, and the less than $1 per serving.  It's not as cheap as eggs, but it's quick and easy and the price isn't bad.  I just buy vanilla and if I want a different flavor I add things like PB2 powder, chocolate powder (the stuff you bake with), frozen fruit, etc.  Lunch has been generally leftovers from the previous dinner or a cup of soup, salad, sandwich, etc.  We are trying not to each out much - hard when you travel, but it's just easier when we are at home.  It helps we live in a small town with very few dining options - at least ones we're interested in!

Hope you have a good day!
Take care.

My #1 health priority right now

It's not what you think.

One huge down side of all the stress that I've been under is that my insomnia has gotten absolutely out of control.  More nights than not I'm awake 2-3 hours in the middle of the night, and that number is usually closer to 3 (sometimes more).

As a result my bedtime and get up time vary weirdly and frequently I wake up like I did this morning, feeling drugged.  I occasionally resort to a Tylenol PM, and melatonin (which isn't always effective).  There are many things I cannot control (will my house in Florida ever sell, because I really need the money pretty badly), but there are some things I can do that will help.  And being well rested makes it so much easier to stick to a diet.

So that is my top priority when I return from Reno.  Well, that and talking to my realtor about what I can do to dump the albatross.

Robo-vac

I got a Bissell robo vac for Christmas.  I love it!  Here is what the dogs think:

Thankfully no terror or chasing it, just a bit of mild curiosity.  It helps that it's surprisingly quiet!

Happy New Year

Weight was down 2.4 pounds this week - go me! We did stay up until midnight last night - T didn't want any champagne and I hated to toss most of a bottle, so I settled for a gin & tonic. :-)

Christmas is all packed up and ready to be put away.  I need to find my suitcase and start staging myself for the trip to Reno.  I am excited!

2015 was very much about getting over losses and 2016 was about trying new things (some worked, some didn't).  2017 will be about settling in to the things that worked - the new home, new relationship, as well as trying some more new things.  While I am looking for work, I am also pursuing the possibility of starting my own business!  So something very exciting, challenging, and completely out of my comfort zone!  More about that when I discuss the whole job thing that went down this year.  It really gave me clarity around what I wanted to do - and what I didn't. So I am grateful for that even though there was also a lot of fear and anger.

I hope 2017 is kind to you all.  Take care!