Sparks and Butterflies...

So Joseph kept all of us up all night long with a killer cough leading me to take him to my parents for the day instea of Alma’s. I was going to get him a doctor’s appointment… Until my mother called me and said he feels great, hasn’t coughed once, and ate like a starving man. Hmph. While Jay and I are having a really realy bad Monday due to no sleep. I mean the boy sounded like a barking seal. It’s the only way to describe it, and just sounded so painful. We had given him medicine before he went to bed, but Jay got him awake enough to take some more about 1am. He still coughed all through the rest of the night, but we were afraid to give him more. Maybe it’s just when he lays down. But I told my parents to keep him there just in case. I don’t want him running around like a banshee at Alma’s, I think that would just aggravate it. We’ll see how he does tonight. As for me, I think I’m coming down with a cold. Terrible sore throat this morning, and post nasal drip, making me swallow, making the sore throat worse, ad nauseum. So, I’m drinking tea took DayQuil and have throat drops. We’ll see if this thing takes hold. Jay and I went to the leadership conference for our business on Saturday. Man oh man was that a long day… These things are usually a weekend long, and they crammed it into one day this time. Plus they’re rolling out a new structure for doing things, so it was crammed with a lot of new information we need to know for the rollout, which means we had out thinking hats on. We went home just mentally and physically exhausted. However, that being said… We’re really jazzed about the changed they’re making. We were going to quit, because this would have been the second major function we missed due to finances. So we said, if we can pull it off, great, we throw ourselves at it for another 6 months. If not, then it’s obviously not in our realm of finances right now. Well, the last week’s pay before the conference, and we could make it. So, we’re taking that as a sign and going for it. My mom had our taxes done… They pay quarterly and have a tax attorney, so she just takes our info with her, and he charges a nominal fee for ours… However, this year was much more complicated. We had two small businesses (part time) plus regular work, plus unemployment, plus business expenses, plus Jay’s last job was as an independent contractor so he didn’t pay any taxes… My mom won’t tell us what our refund it, since she wants us to be surprised, but the point is we owe NO money to the IRS, which is just such a huge relief. HUGE relief. My oldest informed me that he wants a Chuck E. Cheese birthday. Lord help me.

I have no idea what I’m going to write about – I just know I need and feel like writing. I’m so busy these days that I either can’t take the time, or by the time I have time, I’m too exhausted to think of a thing to say. Joseph will be starting Kindergarten in the fall. This is a very interesting thought. In a lot of ways he still acts like a toddler, so we’re just not sure how he’s going to do. I know he can count to at least ten. After that he mixes them up, and for some odd reason his favorite number is \”68.\” He’s always hated doing any sorts of arts & crafts, but he’s starting to color a little bit more. His potty skills are there, he just hates to flush. One time the toilet started backing up when he flushed, and he panicked, and now he really really doesn’t want to. We definitely have to remind him to wash his hands. Discipline wise he can be a real pickle. His vocabulary is off the charts, and always wants to know new words. Although I can’t see how this will help him in school, he knows Mustangs, Fords, Jaguars (?), Chevys, Toyotas, and Volkswagons on sight. Can you tell at 4 1/2 he has a car fetish? But listening to a teacher? Doing what they’re scheduled to do? Taking turns on things with the other kids? I just don’t know about this. There’s another aspect to this kindergarten thing that’s really getting to me. We are not part of the county’s school district, we have our own for the little city. Therefore, there is a residency requirement in order to go to school here. My parents have lived here over 40 years. In fact, Joseph’s new school is where I went to elementary school. We live next door to where I grew up. Here’s the thing though. We don’t have a \”normal\” rental arrangement. My parents own our home, we pay them rent. The utilities are all in their name. My mom pays them and I pay her back. We don’t have a rental agreement, lease agreement, etc. Nothing’s in our name attached to the house. I had to show them everything from credit cards, to IDs, to paystubs, to bank account statements. Now they’re saying that’s not enough. Now my mom has to write a letter saying that she’s the owner, and we’ve lived there since what date (2001 for crying out loud), and have it notarized. I also had to sign a form saying I would allow them to investigate me to make sure I live in the district. I mean come on. My mom is a little pissed, considering she’s been a member of this small community for almost 1/2 a century. Then I have to get Joseph his physical and make sure his immunizations are up to date at the end of April. (miss work). In May, Jay and I have to go to a parent’s orientation (miss work). In May – again – Jay and I have to take the kids to open house (miss work). School then starts at the end of August. Before labor day. That just sucks. I mean, when I was a kid, labor day was the beacon – you knew you were going to school the next week, so it was the last summer harrah. Now school starts a 1/2 week before labor day, then you have labor day off, and go another 1/2 week. It makes no sense whatsoever. Ugg. So yeah – trying to lose weight. Quit Jenny Craig, we just can’t afford it right now. Trying to do it on my own. We’ll see how well that works. I’m having my first birthday party. My 30th birthday is at the end of the month (the 29th) so I finally decided it was time for a birthday party. My mother kept asking me when I was a kid, and I always said no. I was a very shy child and didn’t want all that attention on me. This year, though, I thought I really needed to get over it and celebrate it. My friend, Amy, is gracious enough to host. And I want a tiara. Is that too much to ask? Work is good, busy, challenging, hard, etc. I like it a lot. I’ve closed my secretarial business. I just don’t have the time to devote to marketing and such. We’re in the process of simplifying our life and that just made things more difficult (you should see our taxes this year). So I decided to close that, and concentrate on our Quixtar business instead. That way it’s something that Jay and I are working together towards instead of just me. It builds us up relationship wise together, plus time together, etc. I think that’s the roundup.

Well hmph. I had to have surgery yesterday, very unexpected and very expensive. For the last couple of days, I had a toothache in the back. The night before last I had to take vicodin to sleep because the toothache gave me such a bad earache. So, yesterday I called in sick and attempted to make a dentist appointment. Easier said than done, since I have new insurance. 6 dentists later (my old dentist doesn’t take my insurance) I found one close by in Glendale, and I liked him! He took xrays and found a wisdom tooth pressing on the nerve of the tooth next to it, although the wisdom tooth was still dowm in my jaw and wasn’t coming in. He wasn’t sure it needed to come out, so he sent me on an emervgency referral basis to an oral surgeon a block away. I hadn’t eaten earlier because I was too queasy, and my mom took me to the surgeon appointment since we didn’t know what would happen. Well, the surgeon took new xrays, said it needed to come out. In addition, he found some shadowing there near the jaw, and so he wanted to go even deeper into the jaw to investigate. He also said it was an emergency and couldn’t wait for 6 weeks for an insurance referral to come through, so he had his insurance person call them. He also decided I needed to go to sleep and have an operation and stitches and recovery etc. Thank God I hadn’t eaten, and my mom was there. So here I am at home. I owe my mom $600, and I’ll lose 2 days pay at work, since I don’t qualify for leave until I’ve been there 4 months. I’m on painkillers, soft diet, antibiotics. My stitches don’t come out for a week. All because of a toothache. The only good news, the shadow turned out to be nothing. But, the surgeon was right, better safe than sorry. What a pain in the butt. In addition, our superbowl plans are cancelled, and out date night tonight is cancelled. It’s always something around here.

I know I know I know… I haven’t updated in a while. Truth? Terribly busy during the day, and terribly tired at night. We’ve started getting paychecks and so our financial situation is getting to be more palatable. This job is crazy busy which is a far cry from my previous position, and I was in that job for two years. This is taking a little getting used to. Plus, even though it’s an executive secretary position, it still has some facets that are new to me. PO’s and invoices, and prepping them, approving them, coding them, matching them… This is all new to me and seems to take a lot of my brain power. I’m loving the job though. And the studio company as a whole seems like a great place to work. My boss is cool, if a little temperemental at times. The only thing I don’t particularly like is that fact that my little office is a thouroughfare (sp?) which I don’t like, and it’s far from my boss which makes some things a hassel. I think that’s going to change though. I think we’re going to be expanding into the office next door, which may mean my moving in next to my boss. I hope so. I’d like to be closer to her. Unfortunately, I’m a little on the star struck side still. I’ve seen people from ER, and the Gilmore Girls, and I can’t seem to get it in my head… I work on a studio lot, and so do they. Can we say duh? Now, I’m always professional, and leave them their space – this is their \”office\” after all. I’ve met a couple of interesting people in the course of my personal work. Bobby Columby, who is now a record producer and consultant. Snake of Skid Row fame (his handshake hurts). And several other consultants and composers that you would probably recognize on credits, although you wouldn’t know their names here. It’s cool, because I’ve had a bit of exposure to music on the playing side, and have a true love of music, to be surrounded by all kinds all day – very cool. Now, I need to figure out how to be professional and still get an autograph from Danny Elfman. At some point here, I will probably be speaking with him, as he will be working on details with my boss. My husband is his biggest fan. If I don’t ask for an autograph my husband will kill me. If I ask for a photograph, Danny might kill me – again that whole \”working here\” thing. I’ll probably not say a thing, and also won’t tell Jay a thing either. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Anyway – we’re all alive and kicking.

I am not braindead today. Jay let me sleep in til 11am. This is highly unusual – usually once I get up to pee, that’s it, I’m up for good. But this morning when I did it – there were no small radar ears, so everyone stayed asleep and I went back to bed. Amazing. So, work. Work for the studio in general seems very cool. Generous holiday, vacation, and sick. Of course I can’t take part in those until I’ve been there for 4 months, but oh well. Good benefits too. Lots of perks and discounts. I also get a few more perks since I’m actually on the lot rather than in a business building somewhere. I have a Starbu*ks, Jamb*juice, and Ben & Jerr*’s a short walk right on the lot from my office. Very cool. Not to mention that I’ve seen a few TV personalities at lunch. My job in particular is very cool. The first week (last week) was good. The first day I had a day’s orientation which included a studio tour, in the rain, on a golf cart. Big time cold that. But I was glad for the tour because I have no sense of direction, and knew I was going to be working there – so I got the general layout. The rest of the week was on my actual job. The only drawback was that the temp was still there all week to train me, so I couldn’t claim my space. Or my computer since he spent the whole time checking his email, shopping, or on the phone on personal calls. Not to mention flaming gay with all that entails – yes I’m sterotyping because he fits all the sterotyping on TV – think Jack from Will and Grace, and you’ll see why I had a headache by the time I went home every night. And he decided not to clean out his personal effects until the last day, so I got to look at his boyfriend, Alfredo, every day. Anyway, the work itself is very challenging and I love my boss. It’ll take a little time for me not to be intimidated by her boss, the president. He’s has a very commanding presence and he’s physically big as well. I tend to be shy in those situations so we’ll see how it goes. I’m definitely looking forward to Monday, when it’s just me. And that’s it! However, I did do our money for the week (I do the bills and everything on a weekly basis since Jay and I both get paid every Friday). Get this. We’re still in debt, but as far as bills go we’re caught up. In addition, this week I paid some bills AHEAD of the due date! And last week, and this week, I was able to pay my mom for some things we owed her! Very cool. On our other debts I think I’m going to keep paying the minimum until I get my mom totally paid off, and then concentrate on paying other stuff totally off one by one. Once we get the debt paid off, and we are able to get on a savings plan for emergencies/vacations/Christmas, then we have some things we want to do around here. Like me going back on Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers, Jay going back to Tae Kwon Do, and getting cable/broadband and another computer. With the things that Jay and I are interested in, we just need to be online at the same time, and it’s not cool that we can’t. But that will all come in time when we can actually afford it realistically, without putting our future goals in jeopardy. So financially speaking things are really looking good. It’s been so long, that I’m really waiting for the other shoe to drop. It’s going to take a long time I think. I think what will make me feel better is when we’re able to have an emergency nest egg for small things like car repairs, and for big things like lay-offs. Having homelessness in my background, I really need to feel financially secure or I have panic attacks and such. And it’s been a long time since we’ve been financially secure. A couple of years. And I don’t mean for the fun stuff. I mean like gas in the car. So, this is going to take a while for me to get used to it. I actually don’t get my first paycheck until next week, but I did get my last unemployment check this week, so it was like I got paid. This is actually how it’s supposed to be every week. Thank God.