Summer is over almost I have a job and a tan

Well I have made it - made it for 10 months in the month to month slow and low pay check to pay check in the "unemployed" time of my life... and as much as it has sucked at times - I really have enjoyed the time off - not sure if I am ready for the 40 hours a week in one place yet but I am looking forward to the paycheck that will come every 2 weeks with a set amount and not the guess and the waiting game that I had this past week - when my paycheck took a detour out to Dulles from alexandria and back- like I will ever skip getting a paycheck from the pool on a saturday again.

I have one week left before I start the new job... not sure how I feel about all of it- there are going to be a lot of challenges and changes coming soon... but I am reaching out and taking a few things with me to make my room feel and look like me... I found a great rocker at an estate sale a few weeks ago ( I still might paint it) and then on a trip to the home depot I found this great color block rug with a sample area cut out of the rug - it was like a $200 rug they gave me for $50 - so I have a nice little area for a reading or resting place for my kids- wait who I kidding for me...I have a few books on order that should be here this week - so I can start with some lesson plans and growing list of things that I need to find and get before school starts... I can make it through the first 4 days - then I get a 3 day weekend and 4 days and a short weekend and then I am off and running for the rest of the year... I have 2 set vacations but I get a 3rd one in the summer too ...

so I have to look at it as having more time off than I had at AOL... it is good to be out of that place, they are getting ready to lay off again- this time the rumor is something like 5000 people - so it is going to hit hard in this area - but life gets better after that place- it might not be easy at first but I have to believe that they did me a favor by sending me out the door -if they had not I would not have ended up coaching again , or teaching swim lessons or art... I have to thank them for giving me my life back - for making me decide that the sitting behind a computer day in and out gave me no satisfaction in life and that in fact I was bored, depressed and down right unhappy for most of the last year I was there when I was not in the gym or going to the gym...in the funny little world that I live in, one of the guys that was hired with me at AOL and laid off a year before me - well I ran into him at Nordstrom’s rack the other day- and I have to say it was nice getting to say that I just landed a job after 10 months and that I would be starting at the end of the month. To all of you who are still there I hope that you will get to leave on your own time and they will not force you out but if they do - know that there are longer days outside of the office, that you can go home before 9 pm and have a life, and that life does get brighter and better after a layoff...

I cant wait till I get that second pay check and know that I can go shopping at the grocery store and buy what I want and not just what is on sale... maybe I will eat school lunches and maybe I wont, maybe I will get up on time and make my own lunches or just end up with eatting a pack of nabs for lunch if it comes down to it.... I have to get by AOL and take back the fridge- I am moving into my classroom and it will be like my second home for the coming year- so I have to make it me...


oh and for those of you who know about the flood and the plaster - round 2 has started- FRED you are NOT a plumber and listen to the one you called and go buy a new potty cause the plaster in my room has taken another hit... yes the roommate upstairs reported an issue with the running toilet that I guess wanted to come for a visits down my entry way, bucked plaster in the walls, there goes my nice white walls....

the beach was nice this year - we walked away with out any major fight and we were all on good behavior with Ashley’s baby on the way - any day now I will get to post on a new little one when he/she gets here...till then we have to wait a little longer for baby D...