Finally, a decision.

Last week, Jon and I were in Salt Lake City.  Jon's work sent us (and some other employees as well) out there to check out the city, see if we thought we could live there, etc.

It was a heckuva long flight out thre, and on the long leg from Atlanta to SLC, we were not able to sit together and both stuck in middle seats -- the WORST.  Ugh.

We got in around 6:30pm local time, and found it was snowing.  Wha?  Neither of us really brought appropriate clothing, as the forecast hadn't mentioned snow.  But snow it did -- all weekend.

It's hard to get a real feel for a city when you're stuck on a bus for most of the time you're there.  Even harder when it's snowy and foggy the whole time.  We didn't have a ton of time to explore on our own, either -- the weekend was crammed pretty full.  We did go down to Temple Square one evening, and wandered around for about 10 minutes, before someone came up to us and told us they were ready to shut the gates for the night, and could we please leave?  Ha.

The Temple was smaller than I expected.

Overall, we liked the city, and when we could actually *see* it, it was really pretty.  There are mountains on two sides of the city, and those make for some stunning views.  All the people we met there were really nice as well.

We could finally see the mountains -- from the plane on the way home.

Ultimately, though, we decided that even though we liked it out there, and we definitely want to go back for a *real* vacation, it wasn't the place for us right now, and we're going to stay in NC.   There were lots of good reasons for us to move, but far more reasons for us to stay.  So that's what we're doing, and frankly, I'm thrilled :)

More on Jon's job

I think I mentioned a few posts back that Jon got a call from his boss when were in FL to tell him that the center he works at is closing.  That wasn't anything that we were ever expecting, and sort of put us into a tailspin.

Turns out, though, that things aren't as *quite* as bad as we initially expected.  Yay?

Really, though, the company is doing a *lot* for their employees, including super-generous severance packages, the opportunity to work virtually for some people, or the option to relocate to one of their other three centers in Phoenix, Ft Lauderdale, or Salt Lake City.

We did a good amount of research, went to relocation seminars at Jon's work, and after weighing everything out, it seems like Salt Lake City is going to be the best fit for us.  Who would have thought it?  We're actually pretty excited.  Or as excited as you can be when your hand is forced like ours is being, I guess.

Jon's busy interviewing for various positions right now, and we don't have any sort of timeframe at this point -- it's sort of been just "hurry up and wait".  It's a little frustrating for me, since I have zero control over the situation, and have very little information -- I tend to be kind of Type A about stuff like this.

But anyway, the company is sending us on a scouting trip of sorts next month -- flying us out, putting us up for a few nights, and letting us get a general feel for the city and the center Jon would be working in.  Pretty nice.  And we'll get to meet with our real estate person while we're out there and get an idea of some housing options, too.

So that's where we are with that.  Not a ton of information, really, but I'll update more as we know more.

So little has been going on lately that I couldn't even come up with a title for this particular blog entry.

It's been really cold. I guess compared to the majority of the country, it's not that cold, but my genteel Southern upbringing (ha) doesn't allow me to tolerate these kind of temperatures well. So Ella and I have pretty much just been staying inside and keeping warm. The only time I've been venturing outside these past few days has been to take the dogs out. We've been having to walk them on their leashes because a tree fell on our fence, and there was a gaping hole in it (which Cosmo escaped through back before we went to Charleston...Jon got him back before he went too far though, thank goodness). The hole was fixed this afternoon, though -- hooray!

What else? I've been in a class for work this past week which will allow me to do online chat support. I'm pretty excited about this...I'll be able to work some when Jon isn't here, and I think I'm actually going to like it more than the phone. That finishes up next week.

Ella and I are pretty much over our colds, but we've both still got a bit of a nagging cough that we can't quite kick. Other than that, we're back to normal. Or as normal as it gets around this house.

Rain, rain, go away

It feels like it's been raining here for about a month. The sun peeked out for a minute or two yesterday, and I didn't know what to do with myself. It didn't last, though... the rain came back in short order.

At least it hasn't been cold and raining... the past week or so has been relatively warm, and it's supposed to be 65 on Christmas Day.

Not much else is going on, really, which accounts for my lack of updates lately. I'm settling into my new job nicely, and have quickly become one of the top producers for my supervisor. It's amazing to me that I'm so good at doing sales-type stuff, because I'm *so* not a people person. But I do really well at it... I did when I was at Amex, too. I can't explain it. I just feel pretty lucky that I was able to find something I can do that allows me to stay at home with Ella. That's a good thing :)

New job.

I started my new work-at-home job last week. I'm working for Apple, which is pretty cool. The people I work with all seem really nice, as does my supervisor. After all the back and forth that Jon and I went through about me staying at home and trying to work out things at my old job, I think this is going to work out really well for us in the end. I try to work most of my hours after Ella goes to bed, or in the mornings before she wakes up (like now).

I need to take Ella's pictures to go out in Christmas cards. I've been putting it off. Maybe today, since Jon will be home to help. I think I might just wind up ordering photo cards instead of putting the pictures into cards myself. We'll see.

Not much else has been going on lately...just trying to keep warm in this little cold snap we've been having. It's 23 outside right now, sheesh.

And now for something completely different....

I mentioned some big news in my last post, and now I'm in a position where I can say it:

I'm officially a work-at-home Mom now! Or will be soon, anyway. I resigned from American Express, and am going to be doing some part-time consulting work (using that term sort of loosely), mostly when Jon is home and at night when Ella is asleep.

I'm very excited about this, and even though it wasn't what we planned originally, I think it's going to work out really well.

Fall is in the air!

And just in time for the start of hockey season, too! I actually had to turn the heat on yesterday morning and this morning to knock the chill out of the air when I got up. It's still a little warmer than it should be during the day, but it's been dipping down into the 40s at night.

I still have no confirmation on what the situation with my job is. We thought we had it worked out, but then it turned out that Jon wasn't going to be changing his schedule at all, so I would need to work mornings instead of evenings. Well, they don't need anyone in the mornings (never mind the fact that I worked mornings before I went out on leave). So my boss is checking with her boss to see if there's the possibility of me just going back to my old position (I'm on loan now to a different department), but it's been over a week since I spoke to her, and no word yet. I'm not holding out a lot of hope at this point, really. So things might get interesting here in a little while.

Ella's been doing great lately. She can hold onto a rattle now for a little while, and the other night, she would sit it down and then pick it back up with the other hand. That seems smart, but it might have just been sheer luck, who knows? :) The big news is that she's been sleeping through the night -- we're talking like 8-9 hours -- for the past couple of weeks! She has her last bottle of the night, and typically starts getting fussy around 12:00-12:30 am. We change her, put her down, and she's usually asleep within 15-20 minutes max. It's fantastic.

Some of the Canadians are coming down next week to meet her (well, and to see us too, but mainly to meet her, haha), and we're looking forward to that.

A potential disaster

So most of the people that read this blog know that Jon and I work at the same place. Before I went out on maternity leave, we both knew that there was going to be a schedule bid coming up. I was planning on coming back part-time, and at the time I went out, it wasn't going to be an issue for me to make that request before I came back and do an adjustment to have my schedule aligned with Jon's so that we didn't have any child care issues.

Well, fast forward 2 months. They have pushed the time frame for the bid back twice, and along with that, they have put a hold on doing any schedule adjustments, including switching anyone to part-time, until January. Additionally, Jon had been told, due to his performance, that he would be able to write his own schedule, which would make it easier for us to have our schedules align...now he's going to have to bid with everyone else, and just get what he gets, which could be any shift, any days.

So we're stuck with almost 3 months of me having to stay full-time, and no child care option for that time frame, and potentially no feasible options after that.

The only reason I know about any of this is b/c Jon has been keeping me informed. If he didn't work there as well, I would just be blindsided with all this when I went back.

I could look for something else, but nothing else around here will come close in pay, and I would likely not have benefits working part-time elsewhere... I would get to keep all my benefits/vacation time, etc.

I'm at a loss. I am going to call and talk to my boss tomorrow, but I doubt they'll make an exception for me.

Hic!

The baby has the hiccups... it's making me giggle :) She's only had them a couple of times altogether, so it takes me a minute to figure out what's going on.

I'm thinking I'm going to go out on leave on June 23, assuming my section will still be scheduled for later that week. That means I won't go back to work until October 13... woohoo!

I'll be leaving work with a lot of things up in the air, though, which I'm not really excited about, but unfortunately, it's all out of my hands. The position I'm working in right now is cross-training, meaning it has the potential to become permanent, but at the moment, it's not. Chances are, if there's an option for it to become permanent, that will open up while I'm out on leave, so I'm not sure how I will handle that.

Additionally, the plan right now is for me to go part-time upon returning to work. But that may not be an option in the department I'm currently in due to already high staffing, even if I am full-time at that point. So that leaves me going back to my old position, which would allow me to be part-time w/o a problem, but I would be taking a pay cut.

Lots to think about, and all of it out of my hands. Oh well. No need to dwell on it...what happens, happens. I'll have bigger things to deal with here in the near future, even though they'll be in a much smaller package :)

Some general updates

The child has been doing some internal gymnastics today... either that or she's just trying to pummel me to death from the inside :)

I discovered tonight that I have the grossest varicose vein on the back of my left calf. At least I think that's what it is... it's hard to see. Yay pregnancy! From what I've read, though, it should go away after I give birth.

In other news, I'm liking my new job at work quite a lot (aside from one woman I have been dealing with who is SUCH a thorn in my side). So that's a good thing. I don't know yet if it's just the allure of doing something new, or if I really like it. Hard to say this early on.

I've been cleaning (okay, nesting!) more over this past weekend. The desk is FINALLY organized, save a stack of papers I have to file. I got a new (bigger) organizer caddy thing at Target, and it's awesome... just what I needed. I've been keeping the kitchen much cleaner.. dishes in the dishwasher every night when I get home from work, counters tidy. And I cleaned out and organized the fake closet off the kitchen last night... you can actually FIND stuff in there now, which is a minor miracle. I had done a good deal of cleaning in what will be Eleanor's room a few weeks ago, but there's still a ton of work to do in there, so I think that's my next project.

The good news is I have an interview next Tuesday.

The bad news is that I'm going to be on a plane next Tuesday on the way to Florida.

I applied for a new position at work awhile ago, and took an assessment last week. I get into work today (after my weekend, which is Wed-Fri), and find an email telling me I've been scheduled for an interview next Tuesday...they originally tried to schedule me for Wednesday, but they could tell I had vacation that day. (I'm not sure why they didn't see that I also had vacation booked for Tuesday.)

Anyway, of course now that it's the REAL weekend, anyone I need to contact about switching this to Monday (the only day I could do it until we get back on the 24th), is out of the office UNTIL Monday. And I'm also off work on Monday.

So I feel like I'm kind of screwed here. Meh.

I am disgusted with work lately.

My sales incentives have dropped off the face of the earth. And they are taking our monthly bonus away starting in March next year.

Neither of these are good developments.

I gotta get off the phones.

I applied for a position in HR... so we'll see what happens with that.

I swear, I don't know how people work a normal M-F 9:00-5:00 schedule.

It's killing me. I'm absolutely exhausted. I get home from work, sit down, and I don't want to move.

How do people do this on a regular basis, and more importantly, why?? I've got two more weeks of this mess, too. Blech. Oh, well.

I want to go letterboxing. The weather is so nice out lately (we've actually been running the heat in the mornings!), but with our schedules being so out of kilter lately, it'll just have to wait.

Keep me safe

In case you haven't met me, I'm a huge klutz. I once walked slam into a plate glass window at work. Thank goodness I don't work in an environment that's actually hazardous... physically, I mean. If I ever did, I'd have to stock up on all manner of safety equipment. Eye and face protection, fall protection. slush boots...these are all things that could save me from a potential tragedy. If I ran into a situation where I needed any of this type stuff, I certainly wouldn't want to have to wait for it... I'd want it available from somewhere fully stocked, with same-day shipping. 'Cause dang it, my life's on the line!

Laryngitis

I have little to no voice at this point. This is the 2nd day of it. For those that don't know, I basically talk on the phone at work for 10 hrs a day. So I'm not exactly sure how that's going to play out when I go in to work here in about an hour. I mean, I guess I can take calls, but it's only going to exacerbate my problem, and *no one* will be able to understand me. Jon could hardly understand me last night when he was sitting on the other end of the sofa from me.

Should be an interesting day.

The irony was not lost on me.

So our work is always a big sponsor of the JDRF walk each fall here in town. (JDRF, in case you don't know, is the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.) Right now, they're trying to recruit walkers and raise money for the fund.

To remind people to sign up, they gave out candy bars.

Probably not your best option. I mean, really.

Business lunch... or maybe not

I can't remember how it came up, but Jon and I were having a discussion the other night about the merits of web conferencing versus business travel.

My opinion was that web conferencing and telecommuting in general is so much more cost-effective than traveling for business, and it has much less of an environment impact as well. Of course, i'm sure there are some business transactions that can only be conducted in person...but a lot of expense could be saved through telecommuting.

Jon agreed with me, but also brought up the point that the increase in web conferencing is part of the reason that airfares are as high as they are currently. Less people traveling means more cost per passenger.

Don't mess w/my money

I'm having a situation at my work that is driving me to distraction.

Depending on our performance, we can earn monthly bonuses. These bonuses are loaded onto a prepaid-type card, usually about 2 weeks or so into the following month.

I earned a bonus in June.

I still do not have my money.

I've let 3 different people know what's going on, and the powers that be are swearing up one side and down the other that I have my money.

I. Don't. Have. It.

If I did, I wouldn't still be bugging you about it! Seriously. I have other things I'd rather be doing.

This is starting to make me a big growly... don't mess w/my money.

Aching head.

I have been having ridiculous headaches lately. Bad ones, almost everyday. And of course, I can't even seem to remember to bring some kind of Aleve or something w/me to work. I don't know what's causing these all of a sudden. I'll be talking to my doctor when I go next week.

In other news, today was our Red Lobster meal at work today. We won some money in a contest, and so the general consensus was to get a nice(r) meal. I ordered a salad, which sounded good, but sadly, wasn't that great. I didn't want to get pasta or anything fried.

I really have to get to the gym tomorrow. I didn't go at all last week. Not good. I feel so much better when I go.

3-legged deer

The building I work in backs up to a small lake/wooded area, and I've occasionally seen deer out near or in the water.

Tonight I was talking on the phone to Jon, looking out the window (I'm on the 4th floor), and I saw a doe come out of the reeds, but she was limping badly. Once she got a little closer, I was able to see that she was missing her left front leg!

I can't believe she would have been able to survive the injury, but apparently, she's doing OK, as she had twin fawns who came tagging along behind her.