Surprise...you're taking a couple days off

Bailey had been complaining about some urinary symptoms, so I took her to the dr today thinking she had a uti. While we're sitting in the waiting room, she says, "You know, Mom, my sore throat still hurts." So, while I hadn't mentioned that as a symptom on the phone, I thought I better have them swab her while I had her in. I really didn't think it was strep though. Sure enough, she does have it. The dr said that the pain in her abdomen could have been caused by the virus too, and since her urine was clear, she doesn't have a uti. My boss was really cool today, when I told him I had to take her in, he told me to go ahead and take the rest of the day off with pay. Now I get to tell him I'm not coming in tomorrow either. I'm sure he'll love that. :) He's really nice, though, he'll be cool. I guess I'll be studying in my pajamas tomorrow instead of at my desk.

Been busy

Jason's had another tournament to string for this week, so he's been gone a lot again. Though he's been around more than the last tournament. To be honest, this tournament has been a little disappointing. I know he made more stringing for this tourney last year than this year, but oh well. Meanwhile, I was trying to get my work done and study for my midterm and remain sane with the kids. The bad part about the 8 week courses is how much work goes into them, but the good thing is I'm halfway done now. I have to say I really choked on the exam though. I did really well with the essay portion, which I knew I would, but multiple choice I did just horrible. At this point, I've got a solid B with the midterm grade, so my grade dropped but I'm passing and really that's all that matters. I need to go back and talk with the advisor again because I got all of my transcripts now, so it looks like I only need to take this class and anatomy and then I can apply to the program in the fall, so I'm getting closer. I was going to take the weekend off from studying, but my prof gives the next week's assignments on Saturdays and I found out that I have to do a quiz, two labs, and two essays, so I'm going to have to hit it again soon. I took last night off at least. We went and hung out at our friend's house a couple doors down from us and played a little poker. I was chip lead when we were done too. :) I love beating my friend's husband too. He's a lot like Josh, and we tease each other constantly. I took quite a bit from him this time so he'll be hearing about it for awhile. :)

Weeks like this

Make me appreciate I'm married because I know that it's only one week before it gets back to normal with someone to help me. This week our Surprise tennis center hosted the Fed Cup (big tournament for pro women), so Jason had to be down at the center every evening and all weekend. He didn't get back any night this week before 10, so I was pretty much a single mom. Somehow I managed to get all my schoolwork done and turned in on time, but the house is trashed. Oh, and I have to clarify a little, lest you think that I'm really good at keeping the house clean. I'm not. It's usually on my low list of priorities, but I also can't stand it when it's dirty. Messy, with kids stuff all over, ok, but dirty, no. The unfortunate thing with going to school online is that my lab is my kitchen, and when it's a mess I just don't have the room to work in there. Not to mention I can't put my laptop down on all the crumbs. So it just kinda stinks that when I'm ready to work, I have to stop what I'm doing and clean just to be able to work. Anyway, next week should be better since J will be home, hopefully he'll pick up a little of the slack that I just can't do. But, the following week (and the same week as my midterm), he's got another tournament that he's going to be stringing for, so that's going to be a blast. It's a shame that I don't have any family nearby--I'd totally use you and abuse you at this point. :)

I forgot how hard it was

I kind of figured if I just worked really hard, there's no reason why I shouldn't get straight A's in my return to school. Yeah, right. I'm really really horrible at science. It just goes right over my head--chemistry in particular. And of course, in my biology class this week, we had to study chemistry. At least for now I have an A in the class, but I have a feeling that I won't be able to pull it off for my final grade. And let me just say that I'm really relieved that I'm only doing one class at a time right now. This bio class is an 8 week accelerated course, and it's a lot of work! This was totally why I didn't want to be working while going to school, but I'm trying my best. I'm in the middle of doing my lab while writing this, waiting for beets to soak in water for 20 minutes. So fun. :)

Jason is really trying hard to be sweet about helping me out. I know it's adding a lot more to his plate for me to be in school too, but it's hard for me to be really sympathetic when I'm so overworked and stressed. He took the kids out today to the tennis center for their kid's day and then he says he's going to take them to the park til dinner time all so I can do my lab in peace and quiet. I stuck Charlie outside and have actually been able to do it uninterrupted, which has been really nice. I can't imagine doing this one with the normal chaos around. The only downside was that before I could even begin doing my work, I had to take a half hour to clean. It just drives me nuts that I can't focus on school cause there's so much else going on. This whole experience has really made me regret not just finishing the first time. It was so much easier then.

As far as the job goes, it's interesting. My financial advisor, Sam, feels the same way I do about the company. I think he pretty much knows that he's not going to succeed, and it's only a matter of time before I go back into transition. I think they put him in the office to just buy themselves more time before having to close the office. Sam is pretty cool with me though. He knows that I don't really have any real work to do, so he doesn't mind me doing my homework at work, which really helps. I get a lot of my textbook reading done at work so I can focus. And as much as I hate transition, I would be able to do schoolwork while I'm in transition as well. The only thing I can hope for at this point is that when they put me back in transition that they'll have to close the office and I can be let go. For now, I'm just trying to do as much schoolwork during the day as I can. Sam also let me reduce my hours so that I'm the one to pick up the kids every day and just go home with them. Which has been really beneficial because we're dealing with problems with Cole right now so every day when I pick them up, I have to speak to his teacher to see how the day went. I'll probably get into it in another post, this one has gotten too long as it is. It's just nice that I'm able to be there to deal with it, though with all that's on my plate right now, I'm not thrilled that my son is adding more to it. That's what kids are for, I guess. For now, I have to get back to my lab....

So I guess not

At the last second, they found a financial advisor to take my office, so I guess I'm not losing my job. I'm really upset with work because they told me if I found another job I would still get my severance, and I was planning on using that for school. So, when I told them I didn't know if I could continue working because I'm going to school, they said, "Sorry, maybe you can cut back your hours. But severance is off the table". And so, with no severance, I can't afford to quit my job. So I've now put up with work for the last four months, jumped through all the hoops, and I get nothing. I get to do whatever they want me to do because I can't afford to do otherwise. And they guy they put in my office--he's not going to last. I'm predicting it now (and another financial advisor in an office nearby agrees with me). He's really nice, and did agree to cut back my hours, but to keep my benefits, I have to work at least 35/week, so I only got to drop one hour a day. So now I get to work full time, be a mom, and add school in on top. I'm a little disheartened right now. Hopefully everything will work out--I start school today so I guess pretty quick here I'll figure out if I can make it work or not.

In 2 weeks

Two weeks from tomorrow will be my last day of work for Edward Jones. They can't find a financial advisor to fill my office, so they have to close it and there are no openings around me. I'm only a little bummed--it just stinks to lose my job for no reason relating to myself, but I definitely know that's going around. And I'm really blessed to have a husband who pays the bills we have to pay with his job. I'm going to take the opportunity to go back to school, though. I've talked about it for a few years now, so it's about time.

The kids were funny when we told them about me losing my job--Lindsay started bawling. I was trying really hard not to laugh as she's sitting there sobbing, "But I don't want you to lose your job!". We had waited to tell them until I was over the initial disappointment, so I was pretty upbeat when we were telling them. Then she was bummed when I told her I was going to school and she learned that I'm not going to her school. :) That and the kids really want me to work at their school. I just laughed. So in a couple weeks I'll be a college student again, which will be interesting. Last time I attempted that I didn't have four people to take care of, but this semester is going to be really light--I'm only taking what I need to get into the program that I want to apply for. And after meeting with the advisor, I was really pleased to learn that all the time I've spent out of school really didn't hinder me that much--all of my required units will still count (mind you, just for the program I want, not to go back and get my psych degree). I'm also studying for the entrance exam for the program which is really heavy on science and math--not my strong suits. At least I won't be bored any more!

Happy New Year

Jason and I had a nice relaxing new year's. The kids went to my mom's house for the week after Christmas, so we had the house to ourselves. We made an appearance at a friend's house and then came home and just relaxed. He talked me into staying up, so I made it, but I was out fifteen minutes later. It wasn't so long ago that midnight was nothing to me, now I must be getting old. :) The report from my mom was that while Lindsay and Cole stayed up late, they didn't even get close to making it all the way. Poor Bailey, fell asleep fourteen minutes before midnight. She was trying so hard, too.

Since the kids got back, it's just been nonstop cleaning around here. We're trying to get ready to go back to school and work, and the kids rooms were ridiculous. Not to mention, as much as we love the kids going away for a week or more, when the get back, it's pretty bad for a few days at least. We call this "detox". They're used to getting so spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa (and while my mom says she doesn't spoil them all that much, somehow, I'm sure it's way different than mom and dad. For one thing, she pays them to clean! I laugh when they ask me if they can earn money doing regular chores). The kids also needed some good nights of sleep really bad. I think there was maybe one day at my mom's that they didn't have a sleepover with their cousins, so there were a lot of late nights. Tonight is going to be a really early night for them, hopefully they'll be ready for school tomorrow.

I, however, am not going to be ready to go back to working five days a week with nothing to do. It's been really nice these last two weeks where I got to take some time off so it wasn't as bad. Too bad I can't bring the wii or xbox to work with me. That would help. :) At least Bailey got some new DS games, so I'll have a couple new things to do.

Hope everyone had a good new years.