Jordan Has A Job!
My attempt to catch up on journal-y things this weekend wasn't a complete failure. I was working my way up to this one-- Jordan has a JOB! This is exciting news because the money tree had just about run out of leaves for us...
I've been on reduced work hours since... April? May? Hell, I don't know how long... while I enjoy my 3-day weekends a lot the stress of balancing our many bills (and a few new ones that just kicked in) I've been really, really taking it rough. My shoulders are tense and I've been having that icky abdominal pain I get from those stress-induced varicose veins that snowballs 'till I'm a rock of clenched pain. (Sounds fun, doesn't it?)
If it weren't for the extra hours I put into that super storm drain drama, we'd have been done for! That extra time I put in there helped pay for half our car insurance (State Farm will let us pay the other half in May for a small service fee)... It was a blessing in disguise... one I hated... but I knew what it was when I saw it, which is why I still busted my butt to finish that project. I needed the fundage. Badly. We had been counting on our federal tax return fundage to help pay for car insurance, but with all the dishonesty last year... we had to mail it in and the government won't even be looking at those returns with housing in them 'till after April 15th...
Jordan's been having interviews here and there. He almost got a job a month ago, but the place lost funding and so they canceled the position. Jordan and I both took that pretty hard... so we decided not to get our hopes up about his next interview which went really well. It was a difficult waiting game. We heard about the position before it was posted, waited for it to be posted, waited 2-weeks for it to close, then we waited another week for a phone call to set up an interview... and then we waited another week to see if Jordan had the job or not. It was a long, long, long month. Jordan called frequently, but not enough to be annoying. And, with his experience and great interview... he got the job! EEEE! It turns out this position pays even better than the one that lost funding! Jordan will still have 6-months of probationary employment (where he could potentially get fired at the drop of a hat) but after that, he's golden. It's a job with the state... and it's difficult to fire a state employee.
While we'll still be poor for a while, this job will help us pay off some of our debt. We still owe approximately $1k on his motorbike. There's about that much left on the 'fridge-- which has a zero percent interest for a year loan... so we've not been paying as much on that lately to save money. *cringe* One of Jordan's student loans has kicked in... and the 6-months of free security system have been used up. The HoA sent a quarterly bill... and I'm hoping we can finally afford to pay Rural Metro Fire their "just-in-case" service fee. Oh, and paying off the credit cards every month again! ... and, my goodness, maybe we'll be able to finish the garage and start on the landscaping for the back yard... and tile! ... and fix my car and fix Jordan's computer so he's not on mine all the time! *swoon* I'm getting a little ahead of myself.... but I'm just ecstatic! Squee!
So the job is a lot like what he was doing, but more of what he went to school for! He's working for one of the departments at the observatory again. This time, with cameras instead of the giant telescope mirrors-- he'll be working in the machine shop using his degree. Jordan still has one more class to get his double associates degree-- it's a night, summer class and it's only offered once every couple of years. Jordan will be able to pay for this class! I'm SOOOOOooOOooo excited! Woo Hoo!
I think the thing I'm most excited about is that I won't be as stressed anymore! This is so awesome.
... and his first day of work? It was today! Yay!
I've been on reduced work hours since... April? May? Hell, I don't know how long... while I enjoy my 3-day weekends a lot the stress of balancing our many bills (and a few new ones that just kicked in) I've been really, really taking it rough. My shoulders are tense and I've been having that icky abdominal pain I get from those stress-induced varicose veins that snowballs 'till I'm a rock of clenched pain. (Sounds fun, doesn't it?)
If it weren't for the extra hours I put into that super storm drain drama, we'd have been done for! That extra time I put in there helped pay for half our car insurance (State Farm will let us pay the other half in May for a small service fee)... It was a blessing in disguise... one I hated... but I knew what it was when I saw it, which is why I still busted my butt to finish that project. I needed the fundage. Badly. We had been counting on our federal tax return fundage to help pay for car insurance, but with all the dishonesty last year... we had to mail it in and the government won't even be looking at those returns with housing in them 'till after April 15th...
Jordan's been having interviews here and there. He almost got a job a month ago, but the place lost funding and so they canceled the position. Jordan and I both took that pretty hard... so we decided not to get our hopes up about his next interview which went really well. It was a difficult waiting game. We heard about the position before it was posted, waited for it to be posted, waited 2-weeks for it to close, then we waited another week for a phone call to set up an interview... and then we waited another week to see if Jordan had the job or not. It was a long, long, long month. Jordan called frequently, but not enough to be annoying. And, with his experience and great interview... he got the job! EEEE! It turns out this position pays even better than the one that lost funding! Jordan will still have 6-months of probationary employment (where he could potentially get fired at the drop of a hat) but after that, he's golden. It's a job with the state... and it's difficult to fire a state employee.
While we'll still be poor for a while, this job will help us pay off some of our debt. We still owe approximately $1k on his motorbike. There's about that much left on the 'fridge-- which has a zero percent interest for a year loan... so we've not been paying as much on that lately to save money. *cringe* One of Jordan's student loans has kicked in... and the 6-months of free security system have been used up. The HoA sent a quarterly bill... and I'm hoping we can finally afford to pay Rural Metro Fire their "just-in-case" service fee. Oh, and paying off the credit cards every month again! ... and, my goodness, maybe we'll be able to finish the garage and start on the landscaping for the back yard... and tile! ... and fix my car and fix Jordan's computer so he's not on mine all the time! *swoon* I'm getting a little ahead of myself.... but I'm just ecstatic! Squee!
So the job is a lot like what he was doing, but more of what he went to school for! He's working for one of the departments at the observatory again. This time, with cameras instead of the giant telescope mirrors-- he'll be working in the machine shop using his degree. Jordan still has one more class to get his double associates degree-- it's a night, summer class and it's only offered once every couple of years. Jordan will be able to pay for this class! I'm SOOOOOooOOooo excited! Woo Hoo!
I think the thing I'm most excited about is that I won't be as stressed anymore! This is so awesome.
... and his first day of work? It was today! Yay!