Good News Finally

Hubbs has found out that he can hold a railroad job again. Hooray! He still can't work out of the local yard yet but can work out of a yard an hour and a half away.

Anywhere is better than nowhere. LoL. So that means we can start adding $$ to our sad little savings account and start paying off our debt again. Plus we will have our health insurance back. Yay for no more State Funded help!

He took off to the lake with a few friends this weekend so I am at home alone with the boys until Sunday. I needed something fun to do so I am going to practice my cake making skills.

Monk Man is turning 5 in May (OMG) and wants a Sponge Bob birthday. And he REALLY wants a Sponge Bob birthday cake. That is what I am going to attempt to make this weekend. I think I am going to try a sponge cake (boxed if I can find such an animal) and cover it with home made fondant.

This is the recipe I am going to try:
To make your own fondant, melt 16 oz. of marshmallows, with 2 tbsp. of water in the top of a double boiler. Stir until the marshmallows melt. Sift 4 cups of confectioners' sugar into a large bowl and pour the melted mixture in, stirring the mixture until it forms a ball. Turn the mixture onto a clean flat surface, covered with additional confectioner's sugar and knead until the fondant forms a soft, but firm, ball. Add additional sugar until it is no longer sticky, up to 3 more cups. Wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 24 hours before using.

Super tough thing to try. Never worked with anything other than tub frosting and even that comes out looking like shit. LoL I will post pictures (good or bad) if I can find the camera.

Oh, and one other thing...........The bathroom has 2 coats of paint on it finally. Now all that is left is painting the ceiling and the trim white and finishing the tile/grout work. Almost done!!!!

I Have A Secret

When I refill the hand soap at work, I secretly use cheap ass Suave shampoo instead of the overpriced Bath & Body Works crap they used to use.

Nobody has noticed.

A Nice Suprise For Once

My boss just told me that I am getting a raise.

Even better, it is retroactive back to the beginning of this pay-period.

It really isn't much but it is better than not getting anything at all.

Yay!

Another Monday In A String Of Mondays

I am about ready to rip my hair out and it isn't even noon yet.

Hubbs decided to get up with me this morning. That's always so much damn fun. I get up earlier than everybody else for a reason! Then he got a call from the guy he is helping with HVAC stuff and was told that he wasn't needed until around 1 this afternoon. He must have forgotten that I have to work at the normal time and started begging for me to put out. Yeah, right dumbass.

So he went back to bed and left me (just like always) to get the boys ready by myself. Apparently, while I was getting their clothes, Monk Man and Bobblehead somehow managed to empty the entire tub of soapy water onto the bathroom floor. I swear I was only gone 2 minutes. At least I wont have to mop this weekend, since I got to do it this morning.

I get the boys in the car when Monk Man kicks over a FULL 44oz cup of Sprite. I don't drink Sprite so whatever Hubbs, thanks for leaving a full soda in my car.

And now I am at work. Normally it is a great place and I enjoy being here. But not today. The boss brought his kids. Both of them. Two girls. They are playing secretary today and probably for the rest of the week. Oh goody.

It has been a madhouse all morning with all the running, and the skipping, and the jumping, and the eating, and the spilling, and the chattering, and the fighting, and the whining. I am soooo sick of hearing "Are you done working on your computer yet?" The boss is even letting them answer the phones. So that means the girls pick up the phones, the people on the other end ask for "That Other Girl", and I get to explain why it sounds more like a daycare center than normal.

Iamthisclosetolosingmyfuckingmind.

Swagbucks Again

I just cashed in my bucks for my 3rd $5 Amazon gift card. Seriously, if you aren't doing this already, sign up! Its easy and takes almost no time at all.
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So onto what has been going on lately.

Work still sucks. I am still only working part time. I am getting a lot of housework done before I go in though. My routine is all screwed up still but I am slowly building a new one.

I found out that my BIL (Jason) and his new girlfriend are going to have a baby.

I am kinda torn on how I feel about it.

I haven't gotten to meet her yet because they got together right after we visited at Christmas and we haven't been back up there. From what I have heard, she is nice and stuff. It is just really, really, really difficult to imagine Jason as a parent. (I am sure people think the same about me. I can just see it at my 10 year High School reunion next year. Wha? You have 2 kids? LIAR!)

It sounds selfish but I am a little jealous that my boys won't be the only grandchildren on that side of the family anymore. I know, I suck for thinking like that and I feel like such a bitch for it. I know that it SHOULDN'T change things but it will. I think that goes back to the situation with my side of the family. I will post something explaining it all hopefully soon. Maybe tonight or tomorrow.

Hours Slashed

So last Tuesday, work cut my hours by half. Instead of going in at 9, they don't want me until noon.

I am really hating it. My routine is still all screwed up.

The actual shop closes at 3 now, instead of 5 and the office stays open.

The guys have been bitching that there was nothing to do, they are bored, blah blah blah. Now they are bitching because they have to go home. I swear, some men are worse than children.

Hubbs is still laid off and collecting unemployment but that won't last for much longer, only a few more months. On the bright side, we haven't burned through our savings as fast as I thought we would. In fact, we haven't taken much out of it at all, maybe $800 at the most.

We have started talking about moving again. I am actually okay with it this time.

Don't get me wrong, I HATE moving. We have been in this home since we got married. We have accumulated a lot of stuff in almost 6 years.

But my mom is driving me crazy. Work is looking bleak. It looks like it will be around 2 years or so before Hubbs gets back to work locally.

Moving seems like a pretty good option right now. As long as we can find a place that Hubbs can hold a year round job at. Wyoming is looking the most promising but I would rather live somewhere warm. Driving in the snow is not my forte.

We still have so much to figure out.

My boss has no idea that I might leave. Hubbs wants me to wait on telling them until we are sure we can find a place he can hold a job at. I hate having to act like everything is normal though.

The kids are squawking about something. I will post more later......

What A Way To Kick Off The New Year

Are you tired of reading me bitch about the stupid railroad?

Yes? Sorry. You might want to skip this post.

No? Awesome! I need to ramble and vent.
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We are so getting screwed.

No matter where Hubbs decides to chase work to, he wont be able to stay working for long. He has around 2000 people with less seniority under him (which would normally be good) but we have heard that the railroad is going to cut off 2500-3000 people.

We have discussed it and have decided that it would be better to stay home with the boys and collect unemployment instead of going somewhere, working for a while and then having to come home.

With what we have saved in the bank and what I make at my job, we can make it until May. I am not so worried about the money really. We have made it work before on less (but without kids). But we will be losing our insurance after 3 months.

THAT is what is scaring me.

I just got the medical bills all paid off last January from the last time we had to go without insurance in 2005.

There is a little good news though. As soon as our insurance runs out, I can get the kids enrolled with Kids Care (a state program like ACCHSS). We will be falling within the income limits/family size thing.

And we own our home, so no mortgage. Yay! It isn't much, but it is ours and paid for.

Plus, Hubbs makes a better housewife than I do (I call him the kitchen bitch.....LoL). The house will be SO CLEAN!!! And I can start leaving him "To Do" lists again. He can get everything ready for the yard sale I have been meaning to have for a year now.

I guess it could be worse.

I Hate

crossing the street.

I had to go to the Post Office for work today. Now normally, I don't have to cross any streets but due to some kind of road work, I couldn't get into the parking lot at the Post Office. So I parked across the street by the stoplight.

Ok. Let me set the scene a little more vividly so you can properly imagine my hatred.

It is Friday. It is lunch time. It is also hot and humid. I have been at home all morning with the boys because no one was going to be around to watch them until this afternoon. So I am worn out and cranky. And because of the road work, 3rd Street (normally a 2 laned, 1 way street) was turned into a 1 laned, 1 way street and traffic was backed up for at least 3 blocks.

So getting to the Post Office was fine. I just waited until there was enough of a lull in the traffic flow to get across the street. But trying to get back to my car from the Post Office was no good. There were no lulls in the traffic, the cross-walk signals suck so I just had to wait until someone stopped and let me walk across. Luckily someone did stop driving so I could cross the street.

But the whole time I was standing there waiting, I felt like everybody has their eyes on me. I don't like that at all. I mean, I was seriously uncomfortable. It is a really small town and I feel like I know almost everybody so it wasn't like I was in any danger or anything. I was just super weirded out for some reason.

Believe it or not, I don't like to be the center of attention. That is why I take at least 1 of my boys with me whenever I go somewhere. Lately, it has been both. And that draws the attention away from me.

I am a walking disaster today

Its barely 9:00 AM and I have already decided that I should have stayed in bed and called in spastic (its like calling in sick but being honest).

We received a piece of glass and I needed to write what vehicle it fits. So I took one of the "Big glASS" paint markers from the counter and went into my parts room. When I took the lid off, the whole freaking top part came off and the paint spilled all over 3 windshields, the ground and my hands. Luckily our detail guy came to my rescue and said he would take care of cleaning the shit up.

Now my hands are Sponge Bob yellow. How attractive. Thankfully I only have a half day of work because of the holiday tomorrow. I think that if I had to be here longer than absolutely necessary, I might accidentally burn the damn building to the ground.

Home

Monk Man and I just got home from putting Hubbs on the airplane.

I will post more about it later. I am exhausted and a little sad. So I am going to bed.