I got it!

Well I got the call Friday afternoon, from Esther, the office manager to offer me the position. I obviously told her yes, and then she told me she wanted to come in to start on Monday morning so she could show me around some and take me to the office where I would work and get me keys. (WOW, I get keys too!) She said I would have Tuesday off since my official training did not start until Wednesday. I was more than happy with starting on Wednesday and having Tuesday off... becuase there is much to do on that day this week.

For one, we need another vehicle. If I am going to work in Monterey and Carmel (I will go between the 2 offices) which is about 90 miles aday, I don't want my husband to have to take me to work or be stuck at home with a 2 yr old with no vehicle either. Plus when he gets a job he is going to need his own vehicle to drive. So that is what we will do hopefully on Tuesday... find a vehicle. We have been searching since we moved here over a month ago about what kinds of vehicle's might be right for us, and have narrowed it down to a couple cars with specific years we would like. Now, the mission is to find "the" car.

I want shout how happy I am that I was able to get a job. I know that I am very capable of this type of work and I am thrilled that they liked me and thought so highly of me, but inside I am fighting this unbearable voice in the back of my head saying "how do you think you can go back to work after all this time and be good at anything." I suppose that is my personal demons attacking me and I have to learn better self talk. Just another obstacle in going back to work. But honestly, I am excited but reserved at the same time. I have been a mom for the last 2 and a half years, how does one switch gears from being a stay at home mommy to being a working mommy? I feel so guilty with the thought of leaving my precious child behind while I go off into the world. I know that he will be perfectly fine, and even now when I leave him for the afternoon to go somewhere, he is happy to see me when I get home but it's not a run up to me and hug my leg for dear life and never want to let me go kind of thing. Do you ever go back to that? I will miss spending all day with him but I will also learn to like being at work as well. Like I said, I am really excited to go back to work, I just wish I wasn't feeling so guilty about it.
Well, If I am ever to get any quilting done I better get busy this afternoon.
Blessings to you all!

A second interview

Well I got a call today from the real estate agent's office asking me to come in for another interview. I am so excited about it! I was thrilled to get the call. So I will be going in tomorrow morning at 10:30. Did I mention how excited I am about this interview? I am super-duper excited and I sure hope that I do get this job. But if I don't then I am ok with that, it just means that God has something better in mind for me.

I also got an email today from University of Eastern Medicine. I had sent my resume to them for a receptionist position and they want me to come on Sat at 2pm for an interview. I wrote back and said yes, I would love to come in and asked for directions. I figured I shouldn't shut anything out until I actually get a job. I am jsut so happy that things are finally happening for me. YAY!

Oh... and did I mention that my sister and I went out shopping this evening for the perfect second interview outfit! Yes, well we walked into Kohl's at 8:15 and out at 9:20 with 3 full outfits plus a shirt, cardigan and shoes. Don't ask the cost... but I must say that we found the most perfect clothes for me! I love to shop with my sister... she's the best! You know how some people jsut have that eye, the one that knows what would be perfect on you, yet you would never pick it for yourself, but once you try it on you realize it's perfect... yeah, well, she's that. She's the best!!! Thanks sis! You're one in a million! And I'm glad you're mine! :-)
(please pray for her.... thanks... hard times ahead) Love you dear sister.

I will check back when I hear about these jobs. Let's just all hope and pray... and be excited too!!!!

If all else flops... take a beach day!

Yesterday was one of those blah days. I just woke up feeling blah and the day never got any better. We all ate lunch at my sister's house and hubby and I planned to send out more resume's. Woo-hoo... can you feel the excitement? :-) No... I can't imagine why.

So, as Josiah lays in his portable crib for nearly 45 min's crying on and off becuase he does not want to take a nap, the children are playing outside and my sis and I are on our laptop's, sitting on the couch saying what a blah day. Then she says, yeah and it's too bad becuase it's such a lovely day. I was like let's look at what the weather is like in Carmel (the beach). I bring it right up on my laptop and it say 71 degrees at the beach, and getting warmer still... it's only 12:55pm. So my lovely sister says... "that's it, stop everything, get that baby out of bed, and let's go to the beach." She says this jsut as hubby walks into the room. And he and I both said at the same time... "OK.. let's do it!" So we packed us all up and into the truck in about 10-15 min's and we were on the road a little after 1pm. We were on the beach and playing by 2:30. We walked on the beach, splashed in the water, and played a rousing game of frisbee. (In which I must say I really suck at!) Well at least I participated... Now after looking at the pic's you might say to yourself... "who is that dork wearing jeans and long sleeve t-shirt?" Well, your answer would be me. Yep, well when I woke up I was cold and thought it would be long sleeve t-shirt weather... and on blah days, you wear jeans people. I mean that is the attire of a whatever kind of day, right? Anyway... even though I was very warm sitting and playing at the beach.. we all had such a lovely day! It was just what the dr ordered... or so I would suppose for my sister anyway.
Enjoy the pictures! And blessing to you all!

A new week

It almost feels like the start of a new life this week. I am finally getting some interviews for jobs and I feel like I might actually land myself a job. On one hand I am so excited to start a new job, but then on the other so sad to go back to work after being off for 3 and half years. I am so thankful for the time I have had at home with my husband and my son. For those 3 years I will always be so thankful, and grateful God blessed me with them.
So I have all of these emotions going on... excitement, nervousness, scared, and exhausted.

I had an interview this morning with a Real Estate office in Carmel. Intero Real Estate. This guy is jsut opening his fifth office in the Bay area. Yeah, this guy must make bucks or something. He is really nice and was so pleasant with me. The interview just went so well. We chatted about his business, and then he asked about me and past jobs I have done and how I would fit into his business. He complimented me twice on how well I looked, so I must have got down how to look business-like in California. :-) He told about the growth opportunity I would have by working with him. He is hiring for a receptionist for his new office, but I would also have the opportunity to help agents with close escrow (which if I did that then I would make an extra $250 per transaction, with the possibility of closing 3 or more a month!), plus he said that he would be willing to help me get my real estate license in the state of CA. To the extent that they would pay for the schooling and the cost to take the test and get the license. WOW! Also, while I am a receptionist there, if I had my license and brough in referrals to the agents in the office, I would be able to get a referral fee of I think 1% of each sale I brought in. This jsut sounds like a fantastic job opportunity and I am so thrilled about it. There is so much more to the position but not enough time to write. I need to go for now to get back to searching for more jobs to send resume's too. Also as I write my husband is in an interview... I sure hope it's going as well as mine did today.
Well I am off to surf the internet and chat with my lovely sister! Hopefully I will be back with good news another day.
Blessings to you!

Jobs, interviews, and resume's

Or maybe it should be the other way around... :-)
My hubby and I have sent out soooo many resume's in the past few weeks, we are so tired and getting confused on who we have sent one too and who we have not. :-)

I finally called about a customer service position at a bakery on Wednesday and they asked me to come in the next day for an interview. I know that working at a bakery sounds like a lot of fun. I mean who wouldn't want to smell cookies, cakes, and everything wonderful in the kitchen all day long. The interview went wonderfully! I think I pretty much have the job if I want it. They are supposed to call next Tuesday to see if I want it or not.

Yesterday I recieved a call from a children's museum in Monterey(on CA coast), for an Assistant to the Director position. It has a lot of the duties that I did at my last position working as the After School Director at the church. I am very excited about that position. They are interested in me, but the Director has been ill this week and I should expect to hear from her on Monday to call me in for an interview.

Then, this morning I got a call from a real estate office in Carmel, (also on CA coast), for a receptionist position. It sounds really cool. I mean who wouldn't want to work at the beach... and be able to just walk a couple blocks to the beach for lunch! WAY Cool! The job sounds pretty straight forward, greet people as they come in office, file papers, answer phones... etc. I am definitely able to do that job, and they want me to come in for an interview at 9:30am Monday morning. YAY! We shall see how that goes. :-)

Anyway, things are finally picking up for me and I am very, very happy about that. I was getting a little worried there for a while, thinking I looked like some stupid, frumpy, old housewife that wants to go back to work after 3 years out of work. :-( But maybe that is not the perception of me after all... Mmmm... we shall see if I can land one of these great jobs.
Thanks for all the prayers and support.

Please continue to pray for my husband as he still searches for a job as well. He has 2 interviews in the works but not a lot of interest so far. He's feeling down. Pray that he gets a surge of interest next week as I have gotten this week. Thanks again!

Blessing to you and your families!

Quilting

I'm starting a new quilting class online on Monday the 23rd. I am very excited about it. Here is a picture of some of the material I will be using. It will be a pinwheel quilt. And I will be doing with another online blogger friend I have made, she is actually doing the class.
See here... http://cheekymama2005.blogspot.com/

I plan to buy a dark purple or blue solid color to do for the border. And I also plan to get a tan or cream color for the background.

I was wondering if anybody could give me an idea on what color thread should I use? I'm really at a loss... I was thinking a cream to go with the background color. Or possibly like a mauve color becuase that seems to go with the theme??? But I'm really not good with matching... so any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks... and wish me luck. :-)

Moving Day!

I just realized that I never posted that we got the condo that we went and looked at last weekend. This was a place that I found on Craigslist before we moved to CA. I was diligent and kept calling to see when it would be available, we finally were able to take a look at it last weekend because the tenants moved out on Friday.

We are very happy with the condo. It is 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, with good size kitchen and dining room. And the living room is pretty good size, we just hope we can fit all our furniture in there.

So anyway... the rental agent just loved us. We helped him clean out the rest of the garbage that the last tenants left in the place. Jonny also took down all the wiring they had strung all through the condo. He was so happy that we helped him do all the work, that he paid us $100. We also hauled the garbage to the dump for him. (The dump is whole other story, but whooo-weee... let me tell you, you do not want to go to the dump... it's worse than it sounds, even Josiah had the worst face I have ever seen him have. No Joke!) Anyway, to say the least we made good friends with the rental agent. (He rents out the owner's properties, not sure why, but he is a realtor himself, and I think he makes lots of money because he drives a fancy Lexus.)

Okay, so today we moved all our stuff out of our storage unit and into the condo and into the the 2 car garage it came with as well. :-) We did manage to get out of the storage unit and get the couch and loveseat moved, that my sister gave to us, as well. We are all very tired and have sore muscles tonight.

We plan to move our bed (that my sis is giving to us as well) and clothes and food in on Sunday. We are leaving that for another day because there is no way we could have got it done today with the late start that we had... plus it's suppose to rain cats and dogs tomorrow(Saturday) so that is not an option.

Well, it has been a good day and we are anxious to start moving in our stuff and getting all settled. We still do not have jobs, but Jonny does have one interview for a sales/merchandising job. It is not until Feb 1st, but he is excited about it. We are certainly diligent about sending out resume's... I think I have sent out about 50 by now and I think Jonny has done the same or more. We just really need jobs! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Blessings to you.

A trip to Carmel

My husband and I decided to go to Carmel on Thursday last week, to take a break from all the stress of finding a job and place to live. It was a wonderful day at the beach and walking around the small town and then taking the infamous 17 mile drive. It was beautiful weather! 65-70 degrees all day! Much different weather than what you find on Oregon's coast this time of year.
It was a truly wonderful day!
We ran and played in the water on the beach...

Then we ate lunch in a quaint little restaurant in town and did some window shopping. Then we took a drive to explore the CA coastline.

It was truly a time for the 3 of us to connect back together as a family and feel more like CA is our new home. It was the best day yet!

We are waiting to hear this weekend if we can go see a condo that we are really interested in. It is not too far from my sister's home. It would be a decent price per month, and we are anxious to make a home of our own. I think it won't really feel like we "live" in California until we have our own home and of course jobs and a new routine established.
I will keep you all updated.
Blessings to you all!

By request

Here's a picture of Josiah opening a present from his Great Aunt Sula on Christmas day.



This is truly the best picture I could find of him opening gifts... sorry, family. :-( I know you are all looking for great christmas pictures but I simply didn't get any great ones this year. He had a blast on christmas though... he ripped through his gifts left and right. I think he thought that was the point to that day... just rip open as many gifts as possible. He had a blast! And then when he stopped and actually looked at all of his gifts he was really surprised then. He has had so much fun playing with all of his new gifts. This christmas was the best yet with him. I can definitely see why people always say christmas is for kids... it is truly fun to watch your child enjoy the wonders of christmas.
Blessings to you all this new year.

Homemade Gingerbread Cookies 

A new start

Just how does one go about starting a new life, when they have just sold the home they brought their lifelong dream, new baby, home to, and given away at least half of their possessions to goodwill or friends, and left parents and other close relatives support, to do what??? To start a new life in California! A place in which my husband can get a new career, one that he will love rather than hate. (That's a novel idea)

This new life will require me, the momma, to go back to work after being out of the workplace for 3 and a half years! This is no easy task. I have been diligently sending out resume's and thoroughly edited cover letters making me sound as empoyable as possible. I just need one good job... that's all... it just seems elusive at this point.

Our new life includes getting a new place to live. Leaving the comforts of one's own home and setting off into the sunrise of a new area to find another place to be hopefully as comfortable as the last. Although, in the back of your mind nothing will ever compare to the home you brought your newborn baby home to. The home in which you taught him how to walk and talk. The one in which you played in the backyard in the sprinkler with and picked blueberries and planted and harvested a big garden in. No, nothing will compare with such memories... but think of all the memories we have yet to make in this "new frontier." We may not find the "perfect" place to live but we will find a suitable place to make home and it will be sufficient for now. We currently reside in my sister's home, and one can only call it temporary for so long, so we are on a quest for a sufficient place to call home.

My husband is also on his own search for a job. He has sent out many more resume's than me, but he seems to be finding a few more jobs that seem to suit what he is looking for.

For now, we are all well, and Josiah is thankfully on the mend. We have each other and God to carry us through these tough days ahead. They may be long and dreary some days but we are so thankful for my sister's family's generosity becuase we have a roof over our heads and pleasant home in which to live and wonderful food on our plates each night.

To God be the glory this coming year for all the things He will do in our lives!