Life’s too short...to never sleep in a treehouse! 8/27 TR is up! Link in siggie

[eandesmom]

I had progressives as my first pair of glasses ever. They were so awful. I rarely wore them. It was such a big mistake to get them having never worn glasses. I just got my current distance glasses specifically for driving and I like them so much better.

That is so ironic that K is now thinking about volleyball. I hope Kelli has her Xanaz prescription ready!

oh interesting. I've had basically the same rx since 5th grade...my astigmatism has changed over time but that's about it. So now I can read fine without anything, which has always been the case but if I have my glasses on it's a little tiring hence the progressive concept. I just don't know...

I'd hate to spend that kind of money and not like them! I would get just regular rx for sunglasses though, other than my phone or a book at the beach I don't need to read with my sunglasses on!

Forget about her and focus your energy on Kendall...energy better spent there. Help her get through this weekend. Forget about K...at least for now, you really can't do anything to change the situation....Kendall is the one paying....How can you be there for her. Be of support to her. Be a positive light to her....

thank you

 

[eandesmom]

It's arrived!

Wading through it now.....

 

[jordanyosh]

It's arrived!

Wading through it now.....

OOOOOOOO!!!!! take your time and deets later!

 

[All7OfUs]

I was wondering about that offer last night! I thought you'd get it Monday, but no dice. Glad it's in your hands. Take your time going over it- read the fine print.... esp. about vacay time.

You haven't merged onto the low road yet, right??

 

[Flossbolna]

Ok, I am just jumoing in here - subscribing without having read much, so bear with me if I ask stupid questions!

I already posted on Glenn's thread that I did not have the time to look for the strudel recipe yesterday, but I promise to post it soon! I already found a good video on youtube explaining the process since there is a certain technique to it. And it is so much easier to show than to explain. It is amazing what you can find on that site!

 

[eandesmom]

OOOOOOOO!!!!! take your time and deets later!

Deets coming...still processing but making progress.

I was wondering about that offer last night! I thought you'd get it Monday, but no dice. Glad it's in your hands. Take your time going over it- read the fine print.... esp. about vacay time.

You haven't merged onto the low road yet, right??

No, no low road. Jeff and I had a little bit of a flare up about it last night but the poor guy was just so mad himself about the whole thing, and mad at himself, that he blew up. We worked through it and all is well. Really well. We voiced our concerns, which are all about Kendall, got some answers that made us feel a little better about the mess and well, the rest we will just deal with. Or help Kendall deal with. Important thing right now is that I am there for Jeff and we are there for Kendall. The rest is noise.

We will roll.

Just like the Missing Piece and the Big O.

why that book just popped into my head I don't know!

Offer is here, noodling it through, will update separately.

Ok, I am just jumoing in here - subscribing without having read much, so bear with me if I ask stupid questions!

I already posted on Glenn's thread that I did not have the time to look for the strudel recipe yesterday, but I promise to post it soon! I already found a good video on youtube explaining the process since there is a certain technique to it. And it is so much easier to show than to explain. It is amazing what you can find on that site!

Magdalene!

No question is stupid and other than sports drama really, I'm not sure you've missed anything! And really, skip the sports drama, I just need to vent every once in a while. I try to keep it at a minimum but don't always succeed. Months of me blabbering and lots of chit chat. Which is of course the fun part (the chit chat, not the blabbering).

That makes sense to me that a video would be more helpful on the process. I know pictures were worth a thousand words when I made my first lattice top pie crust!

Ah strudel...I can't wait! Just the name and thinking about it makes me happy.

 

[winkers]

 

[eandesmom]

 

[jordanyosh]

Sorry about the flare up, but it sounds like you're in the best place u can be....

Now about the job.....

 

[All7OfUs]

Every couple has flare ups- some need Prep H, though. Glad you could work it out and are back on track. Really, it's all about exactly what you say- you (plural) and being there for Kendall.

 

[eandesmom]

Sorry about the flare up, but it sounds like you're in the best place u can be....

Now about the job.....

Coming soon

Every couple has flare ups- some need Prep H, though. Glad you could work it out and are back on track. Really, it's all about exactly what you say- you (plural) and being there for Kendall.

EWWW

Although really...Prep H...Prep Heart in this case.

 

[All7OfUs]

Coming soon



EWWW

Although really...Prep H...Prep Heart in this case.

Right! A caring, willing to go the extra mile heart!

 

[eandesmom]

Right! A caring, willing to go the extra mile heart!

 

[Angies1274]

Whew...5 pages behind! Now, lets see if I can remember everything I wanted to comment on.

First of all-Congrats to Eric on the Math Olympiad!!

Ooohhh...I love your new park bags--very cute!! and your binder pages are adorable as usual!

Wow! on the grocery list spreadsheet!

Sorry about the whole situation with Kelli! I hope everything gets worked out!

So...you got the offer letter?

 

[eandesmom]

Whew...5 pages behind! Now, lets see if I can remember everything I wanted to comment on.

First of all-Congrats to Eric on the Math Olympiad!!

Ooohhh...I love your new park bags--very cute!! and your binder pages are adorable as usual!

Wow! on the grocery list spreadsheet!

Sorry about the whole situation with Kelli! I hope everything gets worked out!

So...you got the offer letter?

Thanks! And yes on the offer letter, update coming soon!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Thanks! And yes on the offer letter, update coming soon!

 

[englishrose47]

I bow to you Oh Queen of cartoons !!!

 

[englishrose47]

I am waiting for the UPDATE on the OFFER!!!!!!!!!

 

[eandesmom]

up next!

I bow to you Oh Queen of cartoons !!!

she is...or you are....I think you are tied!

I am waiting for the UPDATE on the OFFER!!!!!!!!!

working on it right now!

the update that is.

 

[eandesmom]

Join me in a THIRTY DAY DANCE!

​

Yes, at this time, 30 days from now, I will be on a plane wending my way to sunny California, beaches, berries, some California Adventure, Food and Wine and Surfin with Mickey!

Sooooooooooo excited!

I have to figure out how I’m going to have the boys packed up and ready without them knowing. This will be a bit trickier since…

I will be working at an office, during the day, not in my home, the day before we leave! I’m going to have to make sure they have playdates elsewhere the weekend before.

I do have some trip updates but first….the job.

Without boring everyone to death with to much information, as I am wont to do, here’s the lowdown.

Got the offer Tuesday night. It is a very fair offer. Not an OMG one, but fair. Livable certainly. In the ballpark. I spent the next day really going through it, seeing what made sense to discuss, what didn’t, what I had questions on etc. As, or more, important I spent the day crunching numbers. Crunching what the new salary would mean in terms of our various goals and….the cost (and options) for summer childcare. Crunching what the DCA trip was going go cost (OOP costs once there, everything else is already paid for!) I crunched so much it sounded like I was making Pretzel Chicken. Which might be a good dinner option tonight now that I think about it. Need pretzels though! Ok…off tangent.

BLEH. Summer childcare is a pain in the you know what! I haven’t had to deal with it, either the logistics or the cost, for 2 years! I have found some amazing options that both the boys and I are excited about. Then I had to figure out how to pay for them.

And therein lies one of the biggest initial challenges I had with the job offer.
They pay MONTHLY! I have never, ever, been on a monthly cycle. The thought of it gives me hives. Dry heaves. Practically speaking it means that from giving notice where I am now and basically starting the next business day at the new place, I will then be without any income for an entire month.

Which makes the setting up and paying for summer care part a bit of a challenge. Not to mention the month with no income falls over our Cali trip, not exactly ideal timing. Summer camps, for the good stuff (aka not babysitting!), needs to be booked now and of course you have to pay up front.

Other challenge was….VACATION

Actually the offer was fine, 3 weeks to start, a day a week after 4 years up to a total of 4 weeks plus 6 days of sick. However it is all accrual based…..
So of course being the dork I am I found an accrual template to see what it really meant. I knew it meant I’d be in the negatives immediately but needed to know by how much. And then of course needed to find out if I COULD go negative. Well, because I’d have to. Not an option not to. Both trips are booked and if not fully paid for, huge chunks of non refundable monies are and I have my sisters wedding in there as well.

I’m glad I took the full day to figure this all out before getting back to them.

I requested a call.

We chatted.

I’ll admit I was nervous. I’m great at negotiating for others or my companies. On my own behalf? Not so much. I have only countered an offer once (besides on a house) and it wasn’t nearly as important as in that case I was already working there on contract, it was just hammering out the deal to become a FTE. Truthfully, countering is probably an overstatement, I tossed out my concerns (base a little low, bonus a year away, summer costs now, one month of no pay by making the switch blah blah blah). None of which are deal breakers, it is a good package even if nothing changed but…I owed it to myself to bring this stuff up.

He said he’d try to get creative and get back to me.

He got back.

I can go negative on the vacation, not a big deal at all, they know what I have planned and will work with me. Sadly though, sick days can only be used for being sick (or if a kid is sick).

I can also start 15 minutes later than their “official” hours which avoids paying childcare for 15 minutes for Eric which would be silly.

On the financial stuff…they came back to me with a small signing bonus and a small uptick on the base.

Not huge but enough. In truth it’s as much as they will save as I don’t need to be on their insurance plan but it does help me quite a bit. It's huge in the short term need category. It’s enough to cover the summer care (and pay for it now which is what I need) and the before school care.

In addition to summer childcare, I needed to decide what I was going to do for before and after school care. I am a little nervous about it but…we are going to try it and see how it goes. In the mornings I’ll drop Evan off at the before school care at his school and put Eric on his bus (which he catches at Evan’s school) and then zip the 5 minutes to work. I just don’t trust Evan to get himself on the bus on time in the morning from home if I’m not there. I rarely have to remind him to leave on time but it happens just enough that it makes me nervous. Too nervous. I know other 5th graders doing it in the morning but…I’m not there.

That said. The kids get home at 4pm everyday, together. I (we) have decided to try letting them be home alone for that hour until I get off work since I am so close. Nothing of value happens in that hour, it is supposed to be snack, homework and get ready for sports time (for Evan) but more often than not the homework doesn’t happen then. It’s funny. I don’t trust Evan alone but I do trust them together. Eric would rat him out in a heartbeat. There will be rules, lots of them, starting with a phone call to me the minute they walk in the door. I have 3 neighbors that are home during this time, one with kids the same age (a little younger) that ride the same bus and so will be asking them to just be aware and for the one to be available as an emergency resource if needed. The other two neighbors are on either side of me. I am 7 minutes away by car, my folks 15.

I just can’t justify the extra $700 a month it would cost to have them watched for an HOUR. Now, when I say I don’t trust Evan it’s more that I don’t trust him to watch the clock or do what he is supposed to be doing. An hour after school, filled with snack and getting ready for sports? I’m ok with that (I think). I am not going to let them play outside and honestly am going to have to let them watch TV I think. Which is not something they get on school days at all now. But it would be such a big deal to them to get it, it would easily keep them occupied for the hour. I can hope that they do homework first but I’m not going to hold my breath on it either. $700 a month will go a long way to making me debt free in a year and saving towards DVC and getting back to the things I haven’t been able to contribute to as much as in the past like college funds and 401K’s.

Am I crazy?

Last but not least, before I signed and sent over the offer letter I called my girlfriend to make sure she was ok with it and it wasn’t weird. We had not talked about it at ALL yet. She was so great. She said she meant to email me last night or call, for the same reasons, and had been waiting for confirmation that the offer had in fact gone out. She said she told her DH (one of the owners though not who I’d be reporting to) that of all her friends I was the one where she would have zero concerns about any cross over or anything. And her daughter (my babysitter) apparently is SO excited I’ll be working there, she works in the office during the summers

And not that this has anything to do with anything but, for the FIRST time in my life, I will have my OWN office. Not a cube, not an office I have to share but my OWN. It's a really ugly building but who cares!

On the vacation front. Right now Evan’s potential TKD tournament in Chicago is likely out. It’s only one vacation day but financially, with the once a month salary thing, even with the signing bonus I'm still short about 2 weeks of pay and I just don’t see it happening unless something I'm not aware of changes. We will see but flights to Chicago are not cheap. And with the ex's family there I would want Jeff and Eric to come too to feel "safe" if that makes sense, which just ups the cost. Evan has his 2nd degree black belt test in June, no way I can afford both and save what we still need to save for the FL trip (and pay cash lol).

The Feb 2011 Birthday cruise is also likely out. Depending on what the company bonus is, and if there is room on the cruise when that pays out (Jan) then maybe. If it happens, great and if not, I will live. I’d rather be debt free lol. If I don’t get my birthday cruise though I may just “have” to add the DCL portion to peepfest!

Now. Back to those non-job updates.

DCA trip
The puzzles arrived! I love them. Here is what they look like assembled. I need to break them up and put them in the little gift boxes. I also still need to print up the activity books for the plane but at this point will likely be lazy and not bother with the spiral bind and just have pages stapled together that I print at home. We will see but I’m feeling cheap. Feeling cheap as I am getting each boy something new for the trip. For Eric, my “burn boy” a new swimsuit and swimshirt. Ordered and on it’s way. For Evan, Mr. Fancy Pants, a shirt he’s drooling over at abercrombie that he can wear to Sunday Brunch. These will be wrapped and inside their suitcases. I am hoping that we can get away with 2 suitcases instead of 4 carryons. I would rather pay the $30 to check 2 bags than deal with wheeling 4 around and jostling them into the overheads. I think it’s too many years of business travel but I can’t stand carrying on my bag!

Some of my shirts arrived, what was supposed to be a 3 pack of shirts only included one so it has to go back and they “may” be able to send me the 3 pack…if it’s in stock. I don’t want to send it back, I like the shirt but don’t want to pay the price of 3…for one. A cardigan I ordered arrived and I'm thrilled with it, in fact I have it on.

FL Trip
I decided to bite the bullet and just add the last night to BOTH rooms at HRH and add one more day of park tickets. It just seems easier that way. Breaking the reservation apart, 2 deposits, just made me nervous for some inexplicable reason and this means J&K can nap before their red eye if they want and then Taylor, the E’s and I don’t have to all squish into one room (and get a roll away). We are still not hopping though. Not sure what I’m going to do about ME/Towncar/Grocery store versus Garden Grocer etc yet.
Handy Dandy page updates! With new plan for my binder pages I will be able to get my snack and CS cheat sheets in there. I think. I’ve updated these so far.

Sports drama.
Conflict has been averted. I guess. The decision has been made, not by us of course, that Kendall is going to miss her soccer game this weekend. Coach has assured her (and her mother lol) that she won’t be penalized. He seems to think that winning is a slam dunk and K isn’t needed. Neither of which in our opinion is a good thing but whatever. On the positive side it opens up Saturday evening to hopefully go see Alice and Jeff doesn’t have to do the airport shuffle. And, on the positive side, Kelli was honest, and more importantly up front, with the soccer coach about things. It will be interesting to see how soccer State Cup plays out and then tryouts after that. Assuming she intends to tryout….
Enough sports!

Start date for the new job is April 5th. I’m running over signed paperwork tomorrow and have a heck of a lot to take care of between now and then!
Now that the job siutuay-hay has been resolved I can get in gear. I have been lax in well, most things these past couple weeks. I tend to draw “in” when stuff like this is going on and avoid social situations where I might have to talk to real people (besides Jeff or my siblings) about what is going on. AKA I need to get my rear end back to the gym, get my website up and live, get another website up and live (a freelance job), schedule a darn mammogram (though chances are I can’t get in), order new RX sunglasses (my new job present to myself but not going to get the other ones…yet), purge and reorganize my closet (so I can actually find “work” clothes again). And of course sign the kids up for before school care and summer care and then negotiate with my dad and sister what help I will need from them over the summer.

Not to mention my binder page overhaul!

I’d also like to do some interior house painting but have a feeling that will NOT be happening.

Up next, unusually tender feet? really?