Cautiously Optimistic

Finally, we're at the end of the quarter. While I'm not looking forward to all the traveling we'll be doing with an infant ( not jazzed about the actual en route stuff), I'll be glad to get the fuck out of town and see family and just be away from work and stuff for a while. I'm supposed to be grading right now, but I haven't blogged since my last little pity party on here. I'm glad to say that things are perhaps looking up a little bit. Although I'm a bit mad that I thought I'd be dried up by now since I haven't been nursing or pumping her, but I'm not, so it's just like lingering torture here for me. However...

• Spider bite is healing. No more pain--it's sore, but the hole is closing, and the J said it's healed enough and the waterproof bandage is good enough that I can actually start working out again today. So I will. Despite the massive sinus headache I have, I do plan on doing some CF later today if my headache goes away. I may actually perhaps put it off until tomorrow.
• Magpie had three nights in a row with a seven, yes SEVEN hour stretch of sleep, then another 2-3 after eating. And the last two night we've had an ALMOST NINE HOUR stretch of sleep! Yes! The pattern has been about 6 or 6:30 we start putting her down for bed. If she eats a full 8 oz in one stretch she'll stay asleep. But generally she'll eat 4-5 oz, sleep for about 45min to 90 minutes, then get up, finish off another 3-4 oz and then sleep. That means I've gotten to watch tv and hang out with the fam in the evenings for the last five days. So now she's getting about 12-13 some odd hours of sleep a night, which is great! I've consistently gotten about four nights or so of at least 7 hours stretches, and I'm feeling much better. Which means...
• I'm caught up on grading! Yes, I should be grading right now, but I'll start here in a few minutes, but I've been able to grade all the things the days that they've come in, and it was totally worth putting in an hour or two on both Saturday and Sunday in order to not be so overloaded with grading during finals week. Things have been manageable! Saturday was the first Saturday all quarter that I haven't felt stressed out and frantic and just burdened with what needed to be done for the week. I got to enjoy the baby. I got to hang out with the fam. It was nice to just not be so stressed, which is actually why I think I have this massive headache now. After being super stressed since like March, my body has finally been able to relax a little bit and just be. I never thought this day would come, or not at least for another 3 years or so. 

For the first time since I've been here, we get like an obnoxious three week break for Thanksgiving. I should have all grades done and recorded by tomorrow night. I plan on spending Thursday working on the syllabi for next quarter to get those bad boys done with. And then I want to spend Thanksgiving break reading for both enjoyment and to try to get some stuff knocked out for my article, which at this point, because of the stress of the last two quarters, working on the article and reading stuff I want to read and work on things I want to, that will seem so relaxing! 

I'm also very excited about being able to help with the cooking for a bit now, too. I miss cooking. I really really do. It relaxes me. So I'm looking forward to getting back to that. To some kind of new normal that incorporates a bit more of my pre-baby life. I pretty much actually view November as a wash already because of the spider bite and what not, but I have some high hopes for December. 

What a Crazy Wonderful Week!

So the J's job is official. We went and met his new unit on Tuesday, signed his initial paperwork, and now we're waiting for them to call to tell us when he need to report to the State Capitol for his PT test. As soon as he passes (which he will), they'll cut his orders and he'll start work. Giant relief there because while I was excited about his job, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and find out it wasn't real, or was going to fall through, or whatever, so until Tuesday, I was totally holding my breath. But now it's real. It'll be really real when we get that first paycheck.

I had also been waiting on pins and needles for my money to come in--the thing we were waiting to make us solvent for the remainder of the summer, and since it had been a week since I talked to the investment people and the check hadn't come, I was starting to think that was a joke/lie and starting to stress out. To be honest, I wanted to go shopping, but I was worried about August's bills and whatnot, too. And I need to have something put away for September, at least the first half, depending on when the J starts his job.

Now, the check finally came in, and we've been shopping. I can't say we've been irresponsible with it, and this is the thing about unemployment and underemployment and then finding out about employment and where it's hard to then be disciplined about paying off outstanding debt. All those things that we have been trying to save up for the past year which have been impossible to save for because you know, do you buy x or do you eat for two week is always the problem, has not been a problem this week. It hasn't been frivolous--we didn't go out and buy a whole new expensive entertainment center we don't need or a new kitchen dining room set or a $3k shopping spree (although, wouldn't that be nice!). Rather, we both finally got new running shoes after about 10 months*. I think we were both about a month away from having holes in the soles of those shoes. We replaced our blender with the Ninja! Really, my dream is to have a Vitamix, but I seriously can't justify that kind of money for that, not when I really also want the Dyson Slim Vac (hello, 1960s housewife anyone? I LURVE me some appliances!). Anyway, our current blender is about a decade old, gets used just about every day, but wasn't made to be used every day. We also bought a vacuum sealer for the food to help eliminate freezer burn, especially for the meats. My parents have had one for a really long time and they love it and say that it really helps keep things fresh and helps with the freezer burn. The other part of that equation was then buying a chest freezer, which we bought yesterday. One that might be a bit bigger than we need right now, but I think it's almost a necessity for us. Our freezer is so small (and we're not buying our own fridge until we have our own house), so it's impossible to buy bulk right now (like meats) and we buy a lot of frozen fruit, and sometimes those bags are too big for the freezer and the freezer door doesn't always close, which is a pain. Since we spend a lot of money on quality food, I don't want that to go to waste, so now we have a better system. The J would like to start canning. And by Christmas, I'd like to give a go at food dehydrating so I can make my own jerky and what not.

The J is also a big fan of cubicles for storage because you can get bins and stuff for them as well, so he's been wanting one for the kitchen for the tupperware because he hates our cabinet situation here. And then we got two more for the den for dvds so we can free up the bookcases for our books and get some more room in the office.

This morning I just ordered an item that I had been looking at in some form or another for almost four years (this isn't the one I saw four years ago--it's a fraction of the price, but has the same function). It's this. Actually, probably more than four years--I've been looking at something like this since my dissertation days, something I can slide up to me on the side so that I can take notes while sitting in my reading chair reading. And aside from ordering some food, we should be done with our shopping. And the Red Rocket is getting a haircut today too. I'm finally going to pay someone else to do it right and so I don't have to!

The other exciting/cool thing that's happened this week is on Monday (and we found out yesterday), a CrossFit box opened here in town!!!!!!! Oh happy day!! We went by and immediately joined!! I've been giddy with excitement since then! We went to our first class last night, and I was pumped! And then we're going to class this morning at 6 (I've been up since 4), and I couldn't sleep at all last night because I'm so excited!! I was going to use some money to buy some equipment, and while what we'll pay for a year's membership could get us our own set of stuff, now we get a trainer, we get unlimited access to the box and the equipment, and unlimited classes/training sessions. Plus, there's now way we'd be able to install rings or a climbing rope here or be able to purchase a rowing machine or GHD (glute & ham developer), so I think it's going to be awesome. And I really want to compete (I have a LOOOOOOOOOOONG way to go), so this will get me closer to that sooner. Plus, with a trainer, I'm going to see results much faster. So we are totally stoked about that!! Seriously!! We are now officially CrossFitters rather than people who do CrossFit because we now are part of an affiliate! Woot! We thought we'd have to open our own box someday or have a garage gym when we got our own house, but this is perfect. Plus, it's barely five minutes from the house! How awesome is that??!!

So that being said, I need to go get ready so I can get to class!! I haven't been this excited about an event since my wedding day!

*those of you who are runners might be cringing right now--in traditional running shoes, one should replace them every 3-4 months depending on mileage. We run in Vibram Five Fingers. Even with heavy mileage, we get away with buying a pair every 9-12 months, which saves us, combined, about $600/yr. We don't eff around with broken down running shoes.

DONE!

DONE@!@!!!!!!!! Yes!! Yay!!!!

I was only going to spend an hour grading this morning. But hell, I got through all the rest of it in about 2.5 hours, and that included taking the time to feed the mutts and taking them on walks (which I needed to get out of the chair anyway).

Grades are calculated and submitted, with the exception of the one kid, who due to medical issues, I gave until Monday to submit the rest of hir work. Grades aren't due until the 11th. It would be nice if ze turned hir stuff in by tomorrow so I could actually really really be done, but as it's just two papers that won't need comments, I'm not sweating it.

I also have an incomplete, but I'm not looking at the essay ze submitted until I get the rest of hir work. Because if ze fails to submit essay 5, then I really don't want to have expended the energy going over the work. And I already explained to hir that during the quarter, no other student got the benefit of having the essay graded before the final essay and that essay 5 was only contingent on hir writing essay 4, not on it being graded. As I was kind enough too to grant the incomplete rather than the F for the quarter, I am irked that Stu is being demanding about my grading--"I need this ASAP!"-- well, if that were the case, then you should have finished the quarter on time. I know that's rude, but whatever.

Today, I think I'm going to veg on the couch and read for pleasure/work all day. It's mostly pleasure because it is stuff that I want to read which turns out to be stuff that I need to read, so yay! I also need to finish that little article thingy, but I'll work on that tomorrow or try to finish that bad boy up on Monday while the husband is at school.

I'm so excited that summer can now officially begin! And I'm even more excited that with any luck, I won't have to worry about *having* to teach over the summer again!

Some Good News!

I think I wrote that we are now able to pay our bills for the summer, right? I was able to withdraw the money from my supplemental retirement account from my old job. I know some of you might think that was a bad idea (when I mentioned it last year, making the withdrawal to buy a car, my aunt and uncle flipped out, and I didn't get the money), but it was just sitting there, not earning interest, not doing anything. Sure, I could have rolled it over (which I'm going to do with the account that I can't withdraw because that's just sitting there, too. What do I need $4k sitting in a non-interest bearing account for for 20 years?), but anyway, it would go a long way in helping us a) pay the bills we currently have, b) continuing eating through September, and c) and we thought it might help us pay off a couple of smaller outstanding debts (like $200 here, $350 there--they start to add up, yo). I called the company and a nice check was cut for me and mailed on Tuesday, so that should be here any day now. Just knowing that that's taken care of is HUGE, right? I thought I was getting both, but while the debt repayment portion of it might be on hold (the extra $4k would have taken care of everything!), what I am getting is certainly enough to get us through the end of September comfortably and still allow me to put a couple bucks away toward next summer so that I don't have to teach again in the summer.

This is all fine and great and helpful. Not ideal, but still, way better than where we were on Monday.

Plus, we'll have the husband's GI Bill at the end of the month. He still has another paycheck coming in from the Guard, and then he'll have three drill weekends (not a lot of money, but enough for food) to help out with, too. So we were making plans to go to Home City for a couple of weeks in between his summer quarter and the start of fall quarter. The husband had applied for four jobs almost a month ago. He found out while he was gone that one was filled. We heard from one of his Guard buddies who was a reference for him from his old unit that no one had contacted him about the husband, so we were like, "well, oh well. Let's go to Home City for a couple of weeks instead."

We're headed out the door to go check out this sale, and the J gets a phone call. Rather than conducting interviews for these positions, one of the units just put together a hiring committee and chose him! He got one of the jobs!! Not in the unit in our city (which would have been just about ideal), but this one is about 25-30 minutes away, and it's in an engineering unit, so as soon as the next rank up is open, he doesn't have to be a medic anymore!

Here's what this means: this is a full-time career like job that he will have until he decides to retire or quit. If something happens and the unit has to "downsize" (or whatever), then the Guard has to find him a job somewhere around here for his contract (I believe this is how this works). It means that his retirement is taken care of. It means that since it's a full-time guard job, we don't have to pay for our insurance! That's part of his benefit package!!* He'll make about as much as I do (has much more room for promotion and pay raises) which means that for the next year at least, we should be able to live off his paycheck and use mine to get caught up, pay stuff off, get out of debt! Could it be true?? I can't imagine what this will be like! He was so excited that he gave himself a headache yesterday and then slept in the den last night because he couldn't sleep. I love that he's excited about this. He's back in a unit that's more like his old unit in Home City (he really doesn't like the one he got transferred to, but would have been fine there if he were being paid full time). It also means that since his job is year round, we get a 12 month salary from some means now! I get my summers back for my own work! We get to have Christmas this year!** I mean, he was just beaming! He was bummed when he didn't get the one in his current unit because he thought he had the best shot there, and that would have sucked actually. 75 minute commute, one way, 4 days a week, at 7 am. The extra money we would have gotten for the housing allowance would have been eaten up in gas. So this is a much better deal here!

This also means that he might have to drop out of school. It also means that he might be able to transfer to the uni 30 minutes away and try to take night classes or something, like if he can take a 4:30-6:30 type class. I know he wants his degree, but at least for this career move, he doesn't need it. It's not going to increase his pay or his rank or anything like that. He's too old to go to officer's school, but I know he wants to finish. We'll keep working on that.

This is the first time that we will both have had two good jobs while together and be in the same city! The last time we were both gainfully employed was because he was in Afghanistan. And then that brief time last year, but he was still in Home City. But now, we're both employed in the same city! And we get to live together and both work! And his job isn't a temporary fix to a larger problem!

We don't know when he starts yet, but he goes in Tuesday to fill out his paperwork, sign his contract and all that jazz, and we'll find out when he starts. It actually may not be until September, but since he gets paid twice a month, even if that first paycheck is Sept. 15th, you know that's fine.

I should be able to finish losing the weight now, right? That major financial burden is gone. I haven't slept as good as I have last night in a really really long time.

I think the thing that we are most excited about is that it feels like finally we get to live adult lives. Like we won't be living like students or financially irresponsible people (which is why we're in the mess we're in actually in part--part is unemployment which has nothing to do with irresponsibility, don't misunderstand my position here). I mean, we may be able to "settle down" in a year. This academic year then is about gaining financial stability, paying shit off, not being stupid. I'm cautious about being too excited about living an adult life, but it's been a looooooooooong time coming for the both of us, so we'll see. But I hope he doesn't start until August 15th, so he can finish this quarter and go to my cousin's wedding with us.

We spent yesterday celebrating by doing nothing but lounging around and enjoying each others' company.

*I hate to say how cheap our insurance is already. Truth be told we have no idea how good it is either because we're both pretty healthy and haven't had to use it since we've been here with the exception of going to the eye doctor. So it could be that it's terrible, but I think we chose the more "expensive" one anyway to get the greatest amount of benefits. But it's still a fraction (seriously) of what the university offers. But, and I feel like I'm rubbing it in, it's going to be nice to get that money back though. 

**I'm not even talking about presents or anything either here. We spent all last Christmas fighting because of money, because I was upset that the husband hadn't been more on the ball with school, and because I was exhausted. I'm excited that this means that we won't be fighting over break about money. I don't care about presents. I care more about quality time not fighting with the husband.