Coming to a Nursery Near You

Archive for August, 2009

So, here we are.  Still sitting in a Sleep Inn in Maryland.  Jimmy still getting up and going to work every day.  We have been enjoying the beautiful weather, and I’ve been taking tons of photos.  Our weekday routine is pretty much the same every day.  The kids sleep till around 9, usually.  Then they have breakfast, we get the room put back together.  We watch tv ALL FREAKIN DAY, or if it’s not too hot out, we’ll take a walk around the hotel.  We’re really not near anything, so there’s not much to walk to.  We don’t have the stroller, either, so Zachary can only walk so far without getting all tired out and wanting to be carried. 

Fun huh?

Meanwhile, the credit card bills are piling up, and because Jimmy wouldn’t listen to me 2 weeks ago, when we FIRST left home, when I told him to put my name on his PO box, our mail is still going to NH.  He finally did put my name on there this weekend, but still – DUH.

We’ve been looking at tons of houses, both to buy and for rent.  Considering if you add up all the money we’ve spent and will spend for a hotel to continue living in, we could have rented TWO places, we’re hoping this week will be the LAST week. 

Taken from a tower at Antietam Battlefield at sunrise.

On July 26th, we all packed up in the car for a 2 day trip to West Virginia.  We were to go to Maryland for a job interview for Jimmy – and then a 2nd one in West Virginia that same day, Monday, July 27th.

Monday came and off he went to those two interviews.  By the time he got back from the 2nd one, at around 4:30, his cell phone was ringing.  The 2nd interview,  the one he’d just left – wanted his references, and the person also told him that he felt confident that they’d be offering him the job.   We took this as a good sign and decided to stay there instead of going home on Tuesday, as we’d originally planned.

Well, Tuesday came and went, and although we enjoyed our time in the hotel pool and the various buffet restaurants around, we didn’t hear anything from the job.

Well, we thought, maybe we’d hear on Wednesday.

Nothing.

So on Thursday, we packed up the kids and the car and headed home.  7:04am, we were in the car and heading north on 81.

We had gotten nearly to Albany when Jimmy’s cell phone rang again.  They were offering him the job! But! They needed him to come back in for a drug test. on FRIDAY.  So we literally had to turn around, after almost 8 hours on the road, and head back south.  ARRRRRRRGH.

16 HOURS we spent in that car.  Got back to Maryland that night, hit another hotel and on Friday morning, went down to the town where the job was, so that he could go for his drug test.

That was the morning when, after the drug test, we took the kids to the playground nearby, to let them burn off some excess energy – and when I went to stop one of the cats from getting out of the car while Jimmy was closing the back hatch on the minivan – and I caught the corner of it square in the middle of my forehead.

Good times!

So Friday – he was told the soonest he’d start was Tuesday, so we spent Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday looking for a place to live.  For the most part, they were all townhouses, but we did find a few actual houses for rent.  This was pretty exciting because we’ve only rented apartments.  The prices for house rentals here are the same we’d be paying for apartments in NH, so it’s doable.  That’s really cool. 

Well, Tuesday came and Jimmy started the job.  The job was slightly different than what the job offer was – as usual – but so far, he’s doing ok. 

He worked Tuesday & Wednesday, and then Thursday morning, we packed up the hotel – yet again – and headed home. To pack our house.  Our 3 bedroom, 1-1/2 bath, living room and kitchen apartment that’s collected so much shit stuff, we tried to pack up into a 15’ rental truck.  We got a GOOD portion of it done, but mostly, because we were unprepared to pack in the first place, we didn’t get everything.  I did manage to Freecycle 2 bureaus, and tried to also do that with 2 desks and 2 cribs, but they didn’t show up to pick them up – so I’ll try again when we go back to finish packing the house and clean it out.

Good times.

NOT.

So here we are – back in Maryland, while we wait for approval on an application we put in for a 3 bed house in Martinsburg, West Virginia.  It’s been a VERY expensive few weeks, to say the least.  Trying to keep what’s left of our savings for a 1st/last deposit, feeding and clothing us all, paying hotels for weeks now – very expensive.  We’re just hoping it’ll all be worth it – eventually.

So that’s where we are.  That’s where I’ve been.  I’ve been getting some FABULOUS pictures (if you’re a Facebook friend, you know that), and trying to stay positive.  Keep your fingers crossed, please!

Oh, and sharing MY a laptop with 4 people? SUCKS.

Having to buy all new professional looking work clothes for Jimmy?  SUCKS.

Having to be so far from my mom when she’s had to have another surgery?  SUCKS.

A new place to take pictures? A W E S O M E!