Ch-ch-ch-changes
Wow, it has been a long time since I posted! We've had a lot of changes around here in the past 6 months...
House
First of all, after years and years of looking for a new house, we finally bought one and moved! We were super happy to find one that met a lot of our criteria and was in the same school zone! It is actually on the same street, but a different neighborhood oddly enough. I miss being in our old neighborhood (as silly as that seems since we are less than a half mile down the same street), but I was really involved there, a lot of my friends live there and I knew a lot of people. I see them all of the time, but it's a different pool, different neighborhood parties, etc. But, we love our new neighbors! My kids are outside constantly playing with other kids in the neighborhood. Even though one of my best friends was on my old next door neighbor and she has a daughter Andrew's age (who much prefers playing with boys than girls), my kids hardly ever played with her.
Mark's Job
In the last year and a half Mark was promoted. There was a lot of crazy stuff going on with the company though. He's in the restaurant biz and worked for a group that had 14 restaurants at one point. A lot of changes happened there (owner's ex-wife got the restaurants in a divorce and was trying to undo a lot of the poor decisions he had made), but the company went under. I when I say went under, I mean, there was no money to pay 1,000 plus employees. No one got there pay checks on a Friday, they were told they would get them on Monday, so they worked that weekend. Well, then on Monday, no paychecks. So none of the restaurants opened and that was pretty much the end. They got paid the 2 weeks they were owed on that Friday, but never got paid for that final week of work. So, now Mark has decided he wants out of the restaurant industry. Not the best timing since we just bought a new house with a higher mortgage, but that would be truly amazing. Having a family and working in the restaurant industry is hard. He worked every Friday and Saturday night and most nights. It was great when the kids were younger but once they went to school, he would rarely see them. It's just hard. Even before we were married, I'd go to parties or outings with friends and always without him. I was fine because he really loved it, but now he's just burnt out. It was a hard, stressful year. So, it's been about 2 months and he's been interviewing and talking with people. He got one job offer, but I don't think he's going to take it. The pay was low and the opportunity just didn't seem that great. I'm praying that he'll find something great soon because dipping into our savings is not fun and it won't last forever.
My Job Sitch
Even before Mark lost his job, I had been thinking about going back to work. I interviewed with a company over the summer, but ended up not getting that job. So, I'd been casually looking. Now, my job search is full on though. Currently, I'm interviewing with 2 companies - one a corporate gig and the other nonprofit. I was supposed to find out on Friday if the nonprofit wanted me to come in for the final round of interviewing, but I didn't hear anything. I'm not taking that as a bad sign though. They seemed a little overwhelmed and busy. The position is a Public Relations Manager role for a local nonprofit that serves the whole state. It's located downtown, so the commute would be awful but they are totally fine with working from home and flexible schedule, so yay! The other company, I had a phone interview and then face-to-face interview with the VP of communications, then a phone interview with the director of communications (who's located in PA) and then I have another interview with a team member this week. It's been a very long, drawn out interview process. With this company, the commute wouldn't be too bad and they are moving to office even closer to me in March, but there's some travel involved. The pay and benefits would be better than the other and the opportunity for advancement would be too. Anyway, I'm hoping one of these will work out. If not, I know there's something better out there for me.
It's actually been great having Mark not working. We get to have family dinners every night, he can help them with their homework, etc. The boys are great. Joshua is in 4th and Andrew is in 2nd. I'll have to update on them in another post. Not too much to say though. They are sweet boys.
House
First of all, after years and years of looking for a new house, we finally bought one and moved! We were super happy to find one that met a lot of our criteria and was in the same school zone! It is actually on the same street, but a different neighborhood oddly enough. I miss being in our old neighborhood (as silly as that seems since we are less than a half mile down the same street), but I was really involved there, a lot of my friends live there and I knew a lot of people. I see them all of the time, but it's a different pool, different neighborhood parties, etc. But, we love our new neighbors! My kids are outside constantly playing with other kids in the neighborhood. Even though one of my best friends was on my old next door neighbor and she has a daughter Andrew's age (who much prefers playing with boys than girls), my kids hardly ever played with her.
Mark's Job
In the last year and a half Mark was promoted. There was a lot of crazy stuff going on with the company though. He's in the restaurant biz and worked for a group that had 14 restaurants at one point. A lot of changes happened there (owner's ex-wife got the restaurants in a divorce and was trying to undo a lot of the poor decisions he had made), but the company went under. I when I say went under, I mean, there was no money to pay 1,000 plus employees. No one got there pay checks on a Friday, they were told they would get them on Monday, so they worked that weekend. Well, then on Monday, no paychecks. So none of the restaurants opened and that was pretty much the end. They got paid the 2 weeks they were owed on that Friday, but never got paid for that final week of work. So, now Mark has decided he wants out of the restaurant industry. Not the best timing since we just bought a new house with a higher mortgage, but that would be truly amazing. Having a family and working in the restaurant industry is hard. He worked every Friday and Saturday night and most nights. It was great when the kids were younger but once they went to school, he would rarely see them. It's just hard. Even before we were married, I'd go to parties or outings with friends and always without him. I was fine because he really loved it, but now he's just burnt out. It was a hard, stressful year. So, it's been about 2 months and he's been interviewing and talking with people. He got one job offer, but I don't think he's going to take it. The pay was low and the opportunity just didn't seem that great. I'm praying that he'll find something great soon because dipping into our savings is not fun and it won't last forever.
My Job Sitch
Even before Mark lost his job, I had been thinking about going back to work. I interviewed with a company over the summer, but ended up not getting that job. So, I'd been casually looking. Now, my job search is full on though. Currently, I'm interviewing with 2 companies - one a corporate gig and the other nonprofit. I was supposed to find out on Friday if the nonprofit wanted me to come in for the final round of interviewing, but I didn't hear anything. I'm not taking that as a bad sign though. They seemed a little overwhelmed and busy. The position is a Public Relations Manager role for a local nonprofit that serves the whole state. It's located downtown, so the commute would be awful but they are totally fine with working from home and flexible schedule, so yay! The other company, I had a phone interview and then face-to-face interview with the VP of communications, then a phone interview with the director of communications (who's located in PA) and then I have another interview with a team member this week. It's been a very long, drawn out interview process. With this company, the commute wouldn't be too bad and they are moving to office even closer to me in March, but there's some travel involved. The pay and benefits would be better than the other and the opportunity for advancement would be too. Anyway, I'm hoping one of these will work out. If not, I know there's something better out there for me.
It's actually been great having Mark not working. We get to have family dinners every night, he can help them with their homework, etc. The boys are great. Joshua is in 4th and Andrew is in 2nd. I'll have to update on them in another post. Not too much to say though. They are sweet boys.