Falling into place

Yesterday was a pretty awesome day.  Alex turned four officially, even though he had a birthday party before we left Utah three weeks ago.  I made him pancakes in the shape of the letters in his name, then he opened some presents, Alex and I baked his birthday cake, he talked to his grandparents on the phone and we all piled in the car and drove out to a place in Hillsboro called Out of This World.  Basically a pizza joint that has a huge playarea with inflatables and slides and scooters.  The boys had a ball there!  We came home had cake and ice cream and watched SpongeBob (at the birthday boy's request) until the kids went to bed.

Oh yea, and JOHN GOT A JOB!!!

John had an interview on Thursday at Netflix then another interview with another company yesterday morning.  He REALLY wanted the Netflix job.  I picked him up from the interview on Thursday and he'd basically decided that was it, he'd found the job he wanted.  I insisted he still go to the interview on Friday morning, you know, just in case, and when he came home from that he said it went well, but he was really discouraged.  He did not want that job.  He wasn't excited about the job, the company, the pay or the benefits.  20 minutes later he got a call from Netflix offering him the job he wanted!  A couple of hours later John's phone rang again and it was the recruiter from the interview that morning offering him a job, which he of course turned down.  He starts at Netflix on October 5th.

Getting a job was Priority One for us in our plan to move.  Getting a job meant we would be able to support our life in Oregon, have health insurance with providers in Oregon and our savings will now go to paying our mortgage back in Utah and since we're not living on that money anymore, it will go further, giving us more time to sell the house.

John's job offer also means we have the weekend and all next week to RELAX.  There will be no job hunting this weekend.  John can lay around and watch football and I won't badger him about any listings on Monster.com.  I won't spend all afternoon ignoring the kids so I can write customized cover letters.  We can just enjoy some family time before Daddy goes back to work.  It's like we're on vacation.  We might even go back to the beach!

Progress report

No news on the job front.  We're still holding out a little scrap of hope about one of the jobs John's been interviewing for. They said they'd make a decision in two weeks, and that was a week ago.  So, we wait.  In the meantime, he's applying for other jobs as he finds them.

I did not get the Netflix job, which was actually shocking to me because the first interview went so incredibly well.  I went through the second interview which was called an "Interactive Interview" where eight of us prospective employees sat in a training room, took a test on a computer (which I passed with flying colors) and discussed the Netflix Values and talked about our own personal customer service experiences. After this "interview" we were given a piece of paper asking us to write a short essay about why we would be a good fit for the job and how much we love Netflix and we'd be contacted within three days to confirm they recieved the essay and tell us if we were hired.  No one called me.  So, after waiting a week, I called them, left a message...and they still haven't called me.  So, I think that's pretty clear.

I let this get to me for a while.  Most of it was a pride thing.  Why in the world wouldn't they hire me? I'm awesome!  But they didn't.  I suspect I might not have done as well as I normally would have in the "Interactive Interview" because the night before I was up until 4AM with Max who'd had to go to the hospital due to getting croup and not breathing well. So, I was tired. REALLY tired.  I tried not to let it show, but, I'm sure it did.  Also, I didn't connect at all with the recruiter.  You know when you meet someone and you just don't like them.  No real reason, you just don't.  That's how it was with this lady.  I tried to be smiley and happy and friendly with her anyway, but maybe it showed that I was faking it.  And then, maybe the real reason I wasn't hired was the fact that I don't have any experience as a customer service person in a call center.  I worked in a call center in my last job, but not on the phones.  So, there ya go.

The kids keep getting sick, as usual.  They both got croup and both ended up on the ER in the middle of the night.  But they're both on the mend now.  Unless you count today because Max has been throwing up all his food today.  He's not acting sick otherwise, no fever...who knows.  The good news is Alex is nearly eczema free!  This weather is really great for his skin!

The house hasn't sold yet, we've had about 2 showings a week, which our realtor says is average for today's market, but no offers.  So, we decided to lower the price considerably (I thought it was too high when we listed it anyway).  We'll see if we get any more action at this new price.  For some reason, this house thing isn't bothering me at all.  Out of sight out of mind I suppose.  I don't miss the house one bit.  I really like our apartment and I absolutely LOVE our neighborhood here.

Despite the kids being sick and the lack of employment and the little matter of still carrying a large mortgage in Utah, we are REALLY happy here.  I mean REALLY happy.  Both of us.  We live in the suburbs but it's just 15 minutes to Portland which is a really cool city.  An hour and a half drive (a very pretty drive at that) and we're at the beach.  There are hiking trails everywhere. I've never been much into hiking, but you can't really avoid it here.  Taking the dog for a walk ends up a hike because this whole place is a forest! I feel like if we ever ended up in our worst case scenario (no jobs, forclosure, homelessness, etc..) we could happily live in a tent somewhere in the trees off the freeway and learn how to creatively BBQ banana slugs (which, believe me are plentiful and would make a hearty meal, if a little slimy).

So, overall, a little stressed, but very happy and still hopeful :)

Moved

I feel like I need to write SOMETHING about how on Monday morning we were all packed up and we drove north to Oregon. And now, we LIVE HERE!  Holy crap, I can't even believe it.

The move itself went perfectly. John and his buddy Josh drove straight through to Beaverton on Monday, stayed the night in a hotel and Tuesday morning got keys to the apartment and moved our stuff in.  My mom, the boys, dog, cat and me drove to La Grande, Oregon for the night, stayed in a smelly motor inn (smoking room because of the pets), then got up early and drove right to our apartment to find the guys were almost done unloading the truck.

There was the part where the first thing I said to John was "The kids are hungry, we need to get lunch" then he and Josh proceeded to drive away with both our cell phones and was gone for several hours leaving my mother and me with two starving children in a house full of messes and no food, then returned with stories about how they'd gone to have a leisurely lunch of Honey Baked Ham sandwiches and I nearly killed him dead.

After my mom, me and the boys got some food in us, we basically spent the last few days unpacking and settling in to the new apartment, WHICH I LOVE!  Perhaps the most surprising thing about this move is how much I am enjoying our new place. I really thought I'd hate it and have to get used to it, but so far, it's pretty nice.  I love that it's smaller and the boys have limited space to get lost and cause trouble, yet the floorplan is still open and livable. 

Even dealing with Fancy not having a yard is working out fine.  We take her out in the morning for a long walk, then right outside our door on a grassy area to pee in the afternoon, to the dog park in the evening, then once more on the grassy area just outside to pee before bed.  The dog park is really helping to socialize her, and she's already showing improvement in the way she reacts when she sees another dog while she's walking around the complex. It used to be if anyone, man, woman, child, dog, cat, squirrel or blowing leaf dared come into visual range, she'd flip out and bark, growl and throw a mighty fit and attempt to get free from her collar and harness.  After a few days of going to the dog park, I took her for a walk and she barely even looked up at the humans walking by us.  Dogs still caused her to tug on the leash, but no barking!  Another week or so and I might have a well behaved dog on my hands! 

The job search seems to be going well.  John and I both had our second interviews at our respective potential employers and they both seemed to go well.  John's been invited back for a third interview for Monday morning and I should hear by Wednesday whether or not I've landed the job I've been trying to get.

The last week we were living in our house in Utah, we were packing and it was a holy mess, we had no calls about showings, however, the day we left, Monday, we had a showing and then two more this week since we've been gone.  No offers yet, but nice that there's still interest in our property, and still we have yet to lower the price from the original listing! 

So, all in all things seem to be going well so far.  I'm looking forward to having a relaxing weekend with my little family and maybe check out some sights in our new home town!

Nerves

Every morning since we came back from Oregon I'd wake up and think "Oh, only 13 more days 'til we move!" "Only 7 more days!" "YAY! We're MOVING! WOOT!"  This morning I woke up and went "Holy shit. We're moving."  I walked through our near empty house and thought. OH GOD! We're LEAVING!

I'm feeling it now.  A lot of it has to do with the fact that I just went to the last mom's night out activity with my mom's group.  My friends said good bye and hugged me.  Today I'm taking Alex to his last playgroup.  We've given away our sofa, our dining room table, packed away the boys toys and the entire kitchen. Tomorrow we're having dinner with John's family for the last time before we move.  The moving truck comes Saturday.

Oh God.

I still feel good about the move. I'm not second guessing our decision at all.  I guess I'm just being caught off guard with the feeling that I'm actually going to miss living here.  I KNOW! I HATE it here, yet today I woke up and realized that there are things, friends, family, our house, that I am really going to miss. A lot.

Will I make friends in Oregon?  Will I find a mom's group as cool as the one I'm in now?  Will I have a best friend again?  Will Alex and Max be able to make friends?  Will my dog get fleas?  Will our friends and family ever come to visit?  What will it be like to visit them in Utah?  Will the house sell?  Will we get jobs?  Will we hate living in an apartment?  Will we miss the sun?  Will we turn into hippies?

I am still very excited about this move. But all of a sudden, I'm also nervous about it.  Maybe that's normal when you're about to make such big changes.  Maybe I should have been nervous this whole time.  I don't know.  What I do know is I need some chocolate.

Exploding moon

I wrote about this picture on Facebook, but figured it deserved it's own place on the blog:

  

Alex:  "This is the moon and it's blue and purple and pink and it exploded by going into an exploding machine and went POW! And these things are little pieces of the moon that EXPLODED! See, this black stuff is fire! And this orange part is a litle tiny piece of the moon that is on fire."

When asked why the moon exploded he responded "Mom, it's just a picture, it didn't really explode. Don't worry"

Almost four

He can't be four yet can he?

 

According to the candle he is.  I still have a couple of weeks to get used to this idea.  His birthday isn't until the 25th.  FOUR!  Wow.

My boy.  My amazing, smart, funny, creative, independant, cuddly love bug of a boy.  Four seems both so old and so young!  It's only been four years since this child came into my life and turned my whole world upside down and inside out and yet I can't even remember what life was like before him. 

I am so proud to be his mommy.  I am so proud of the kind of boy he is growing into.

I love you Alex.  So so so so so so much.  I'm glad you had a great birthday party today!