Life -Over a Month Later

Much has happened since I last posted. And I do apologize, I was just so busy.

I graduated school. I now have a piece of paper that says that I know how to do what I did for a living. In order to get that piece of paper, I had to do a practicum. I was put at pretty much a prime spot with a great possibility of employment. After a week off and two interviews later, I was hired at my practicum placement! It's only a term position for the time being, and a rather short one at that. And it's very entry level. But I'm in. We are again a two income family. We can buy our house, I can get a new car. I can move up in the corporation.

We're good, we are finally good.

What Is With the Lack of Sleeping?

On numerous occasions in the past, I've lamented about the sleep habits of my darling little girl. About how she wakes up a hundred million times or she wakes up at unholy hours and all that nonsense. Well I had a reprieve. Her sleep got better. And I didn't even say anything about it for fear of angering the sleep gods.

Then it all went to crap. For no good reason! Well maybe it was a good reason as she was cutting molars. Of course this occurred during my mid-term frigging exams. Insert sigh here.

Then it got better again. Sure there was the occasional 4am wake-up but it was something that we just dealt with as it came up. She was getting up fine for daycare and napping well and going to bed easily. So we tried not to mess with a semi good thing.

Then we regressed...again. This time there is no good reason. There are no teeth coming in, she isn't sick, she isn't hungry because she can almost out eat me. She isn't cold because unlike our meat locker of a master bedroom, hers is warm. Plus she is in fleece jammies and has a mink like crib sheet that is so soft, warm and rather luxurious that I would get one for our bed if they made them in queen size. She.Is.Fine.

This translated into a week of utter disaster. Including the uber fun night where she screamed and carried on for nearly three hours despite both me and honey taking turns holding her and offering cuddles, water, milk and pretty much anything else that usually soothes the savage beast. She did finally end up falling asleep in my arms, likely from sheer exhaustion. I don't remember transferring her back into her crib although I'm sure we did. After some discussion and seeing how well she did with the late holiday nights, we moved back her bedtime an hour.

Then it got good again. Then this week started and trouble cropped up again.

So I write this now at 12:20am. Why am I still awake, much less sitting on the computer blogging this late on a Sunday? Because I expect that sometime in the next 40 minutes, she is going to squawk. She will stand up in her crib and whine until someone rescues her, I offer her a snack and then she is happy. Insert the sigh again.

So I wait. Really wish that I didn't have to.

It's Begun

My applying for jobs that is. I've been hitting the job websites every few days for some time now. I wanted to know what kinds of jobs were out there so that I could get a feel for the market in which I would soon be applying. And now, after being out of the workforce technically since the end of May 2010, but officially since mid September 2011, I am applying for these jobs.

I was working on my resume for one of my classes and ended up stumbling upon a position that would be great for me. I got some good feedback on my resume from both my instructor and a friend who works in HR and I ended up applying for it. Honestly, I didn't think much of it. I was shocked when I got a phone call asking me to come in for an interview!

I've applied for a few other jobs in the past week or so as well. I'm really optimistic about these jobs. I'm really excited about getting back into the workforce. Boxing Day sales were good to me and I was able to buy a bunch of new work clothes. And I'm excited to make my own money again. Not just to ease the current burden on honey. But being a dual income family again will allow us to purchase and move into our forever home. We can expand our family. We can do what we want.

Been So Long

And I'm very sorry about that. It's just with school and everything I don't have a ton of time to get online. The little time that I do get is generally done via iPhone. And iPhone blogging is less than fun.

Things have been crazy with school. I have had lots of assignments in the past couple of months and this is my second exam week. And it seems for the second time, I have a teething baby during exams. She just cut three molars and I get the feeling that the fourth is coming in as we speak. Her sleep is terrible. Like she is freaking out right now and has been for about an hour. Plus she has a cold...that she gave to me.

To top it off, we have my father with us. He's been here for nearly two weeks now and when he is in town he stays with us. It's been pretty difficult. It's been kind of annoying having someone always be here and I feel almost judged. Like his comments about how "the baby must have had a bad night" Do you really think I need someone else to tell me that? Cuz I really don't. I can only imagine what he is going to say tomorrow morning. Man can't hear his name being spoken from right next to him but he can hear the baby having a hissy fit. At least he is leaving in a few days. Because I'm not sure how much more I can take.

Why Oh Why Won't He Listen?

Honey is currently on his way to a town about two hours away from here. On a highway. After a substantial amount of snow. With the baby. And it's currently lunchtime. And she is eating Cheerios. And it's half an hour away from naptime. But she isn't going to get to nap. Because he is going to stand around at some stupid auction with his best friend who feels it necessary to buy either more trucks and/or engines. Does anyone else see a potential issue here? I sure do!

I told him not to go. I told him that it would totally mess with her routine. But did he listen? Of freaking course not. The intelligent thing to do would be to listen to his wife. The mother of said non lunch eating, soon to be non napping baby. The person who knows this kid and her very edgy personality better than anyone in the world.

He is in for a real treat. I can already tell you it's going to be a disaster. She has been in her car seat since 8am when they dropped me off at school. He then drove to his friends place to pick him up. She never got out of the car. They are now on a two hour trek, which is taking longer than it should because the roads are terrible. A quick check of the government highway information website shows that at least half of the highway there is at least partly covered in ice with slippery sections. So this is not an easy cruise at 110 km/h.

I called him at noon(so about half an hour ago) to ask him if she was eating lunch. No, he answers, she is eating Cheerios, they haven't gotten there yet. So that means that she has been in her car seat, not sleeping he added, for about four hours now. That spells trouble. Serious trouble. Who knows how long this auction thing will last. She'll be sitting in her stroller, not moving for even lets say an hour. Good frigging luck. Seriously. I can't stop in the mall for 15 minutes to talk to someone before she gets pissed off. And he thinks he can stand in one place with a now likely tired toddler? Hilarious.

And what did I just realize? If it's taken them this long to get there, and if this auction lasts an hour(it could be longer I really don't know and neither does he), there is a distinct possibility that they aren't making it back in time to pick me up from school. More just great. It's a damn good thing that I brought my bus pass. Too bad my iPod is dying. I didn't bother to charge it. Really wishing I had now. It's a long hour home. And I wanted to go pick up my contact lenses. Guess that's not likely to happen now.

I told him not to go. I told him it would likely be a disaster. But did he listen? Of course not! He's smart! Right. Stay tuned for what ends up happening. I guarantee it wasn't pretty.

But Then Again Maybe I Don't

I've done a lot of thinking in the past few weeks, mostly about what I was going to do with my life. I realized that there was something that I was good at but I hadn't given it much thought. I assumed I would finish this course and go live out my life as an administrative assistant for some government office. But I don't think so anymore.

I happen to be very adept with accounting. Surprisingly so actually. I think that once I'm done this course, yes I'll go to work, but I will also slowly work on a CGA. I've done some looking into it already and it looks like there are many transfer courses between the program that my college runs(not for the actual designation, just a certificate) and the designation program. And my current course will actually offer a couple of credits. I'm really excited about this prospect.

I am however, annoyed that it took me this long to figure this out. I could have been done by now. But then if I didn't get into the workforce and into my admin position with accounting responsibilities I doubt I would have learned this is actually something I like to do and can see myself working towards.

It probably won't be until around this time next year that I can start this as we want to pay for the courses outright and I'll need to build up the bank account with a few months of working full-time. And it's likely going to be interrupted by the pregnancy, birth and first year of our second child. But that's ok. I have a plan and honey is on board. In the next week or two I'm going to get in touch with the people who run the program at my college as well as the CGA program for my province to get more information. But I'm feeling good about this.

Finally, a goal is in sight.

I Want to Go Back to Work

I never really thought that I'd get to this point. But I really want to be back in the workforce. I want to have a purpose. I'm bored. I see the professionals coming out of the office buildings downtown on my way home. I should be one of those people.

I always felt very safe in school. And for the first few weeks I was quite happy with that safe feeling. I want more now. I have a family to support, so I can't be safe. It's just not enough anymore.

I have the ability to have a good job. I have the need to have a good job. I want some place to go every day and do something important. I want to be able to look at my bank account every two weeks and see the fruits of my labour and then spend it on clothes for me, toys for my baby, and a new car and a bigger house. I feel like I'm standing still and it's not a good feeling. I feel incomplete right now, like I'm not doing anything. I want to do something.

Well at least there is one month done, just three to go.

So Busy

So much for keeping up better with my blog even though I can get marks for it. I've just been so busy that I don't get a lot of time online these days. Here is a rundown on why I'm so busy.

My days start at 6am, but I usually don't get out of bed until 6:15. Bad idea as it puts me far enough behind that I don't usually get to eat breakfast. The baby also gets up around this time, but sometimes as late at 6:30. While she is having her breakfast I get dressed and put on my makeup and everything. Then I get her dressed and ready for the day. Honey's alarm goes off at 6:30am and I usually have to yell at him to really wake up. He only has about ten minutes before I need to leave to catch the bus.It takes two buses to get from my suburban home to campus near the edge of town and I need to be at school for 8am. I didn't wake up at 8am to get to work but I'm doing ok.

I'm then in school from 8am until 4pm with an hour for lunch in between. There are a ridiculous amount of stairs. I've only found one elevator. The university I went to had oodles of elevators and they even had an escalator. Thankfully I'm in good shape or I think those stairs would be the death of me.

My trip home as of late has been challenging. I need to time it right to get on the first bus to downtown. There are many options to get to the south end of the city. But there is a specific bus I want. There is an express and regular route that go down the street I need. But both these are via different ways. The one express via doesn't even remotely go where I want it. And the other way, I have to walk about ten minutes. It's not that long as I walked there all the time in the summer to get to the grocery store and Starbucks. But in the cold and rain and soon to be snow? Not my idea of fun. So essentially the express route is out. The regular route's stop is actually three houses away from mine. Perfect! One takes a very long and winding detour that adds about fifteen minutes to the trip. So what does that leave me with? Just one, and it's been giving me trouble. It seems to be getting later and later every day. When you are standing at a bus shack that for whatever reason has no walls despite being a major stop, even extra seconds to wait is far too long.  When I first started, if I got on the right buses, I made it home no later than 5pm. The past few days it's been closer to 5:45 and my husband has been preparing to send out search parties.

The second I get home, I have a minute or two to say hello to my baby bunny. Then it's time to start dinner. Everything is home cooked in this house. It took me a long time to figure it out, but it's cheaper! 6:30 is baby bath time, 7 is baby bed time. Then it's homework time. I always have questions and readings to do, like an hour or twos worth. So my TV and internet time has severely languished. Probably for the best anyway, but it's a good thing we have a PVR. I do make a point to watch the news and then I'm asleep only to have to start all over again about six hours later.

So that's my life. Was it as exhausting to read as it was to type? Now you know why I don't blog a day like I did. Again I promise to try to do better!

My First Week

Well it's now finished. My first week of school that is. It's been busy. It's been frustrating. It's been tiring. But I know that it's worth it.

One of my classes is that on business communication. What a perfect fit for the girl who doesn't use text speak whilst texting and uses(mostly) proper grammar even for her blog. One of my assignments is to keep a journal. It doesn't have to directly relate to the class, or even to school. We can write about what we want, how we want. This includes my already existing blog. So good news everyone! I will get marks for blogging! So it also means that I will have to be diligent in updating even though I was originally concerned that I would have time.

As for the rest of my classes, many touch on what I already did for a living. I've strangely missed accounting. But I can tell you something that I haven't missed. Math. I know what you're thinking. Isn't accounting math? Well yes...but no. My big math issue is that I was never allowed in high school to take consumer math. You know, useful math. Because I was pegged in grade nine as a "high achiever" or something to the like I was instructed to take per-calculus and then in grade twelve calculus. I can safely say that I've never used anything I learned in high school math in real life. Maybe if I was a physicist or something I would care about limits and sin and cosin and all that nonsense. But I'm really, really not, so I've sort of been soured for life on mathematical concepts.

Accounting, bookkeeping and payroll is useful math. Numbers make sense and you don't have ridiculous equations to try to solve for, it's all applications. Plus I like payroll, weird I know. It was probably one of my  favourite parts of my job. I got to co-ordinate with one of my closest friends and I was solely responsible for the tech times for ten guys. I was the go-to girl for my techs. I was young, but I was respected. A very good feeling to say the least. I can only hope that at my next job I can find the same thing.

Update on School

I finished my first day of actual school today. Monday was orientation and was when I discovered that I was likely in for hell. Great.

So today, as with apparently every other morning, was spent in the computer lab. First was my computer course. Oy. I really hope it gets better as we get more into things. I can't handle three hours starting at 8am of how to create a new folder and how to save Word documents. Seriously, I "learned" that today. Then I had to sit through an hour of keyboarding. Again with the seriously. To pass that course I need to type 40 wpm with 3 errors or less. Uh, on simple lines I can do twice that, but my general average is anywhere between 50-60. I've been told that I should be able to complete the test within the next couple classes. I honestly hope so. I might blow my brains out if I can't.

Afternoons are spent in classroom. I actually had homework. Easy reading, but assignments are coming. I'm looking forward to these classes as I feel they are truly relavent to the work that I've already done and they will really help in the future.

So that's the update. Buses suck, my locker is a million miles away, and I feel like an elementary school student eating my bagged lunch. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to update, but I'll try to keep it up as things go along. But don't be surprised if you don't hear from me unless it's a holiday ;)

Tomorrow a New Begining

Tomorrow I start school. Back into the rather frightening swing of things and hope to god I don't screw it up like I've done pretty much everything else in my life.

I have my lunch made and in my fridge, backpack containing some pens and notebooks ready by the door and my iPod charged and synced.

At 9am I get to try to find a room in a building that only has a letter for a name, that I'm not really sure where it is. Then I'll get my schedule and learn where else on the face of the earth my classes are and just what the hell I'm supposed to do with the nearly thousand dollars worth of books that measures nearly two feet tall.

This course is so short, only til February. And there is a three week practicum and almost three weeks off in December. This is an insane amount of stuff to learn. I must be crazy.

Seriously Bad Blogger

I've been so busy I've sorely neglected my blog again. Here is a rundown of why:

Girlie's birthday party. It's tomorrow. I've spent far more than I'm willing to admit on food, drinks and decor. My fridge is packed full of hot dogs, drinks and fruit and veggie trays. We spent the entire day cleaning the house(and I still need to tackle the kitchen) and started to decorate. I also made the cupcakes, which will be iced tomorrow. I gave up on the bunny cake. I just couldn't get it together so I bought a cake. I'm expecting around 30 people. I must be nuts, I know my mother thinks I am.

Appointments, appointments, appointments. Her 12m appointment was oodles of fun. Her doc is always behind and the stoopid medical assistant insists on getting weights and then leaving you in the weighing/changing room for another 5-15 minutes. That's maybe all fine and dandy when babe is itty bitty and doesn't know any better. But for a mobile 1 year old? You've got to be kidding me. So she was already annoyed with the fact I wouldn't put her down and then once we finally got into the room I took away a book she was trying to eat. That set off WW3. Oh.my.god. She SCREAMED. Screamed solid for a good 10 minutes, full on shrieking, tears, ugh it was brutal. Then she fa-reeked when her doc tried to measure her and freaked even more when she got her 3 shots. Oy.

Daycare. After my never ending saga and finally finding someone we are happy and comfortable with, we are now just in the final planning stages for her transition in. She starts Monday and I'm really not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, I'm thrilled at the prospect of someone else dealing with her all day. But ask me how I really feel Monday at oh say 11am.

School. The countdown is really on. I'm still waiting for one of my books to come in the mail and the other I'm going to have to pick up at school. I'll be headed down there sometime this week to get my student ID as well as purchase my October student bus pass.

So that's been my life for the past week. Crazy and I think it's only going to get worse.

Bad Blogger

I've been a bad blogger these past few days. Everything has just been so crazy. In a nutshell here is what has been happening.

Daycare- Still haven't heard from the 3rd place. I'll be calling her tomorrow actually. I almost wonder if I should give up hope that I haven't heard back from her yet. *sigh* If not, I still have the 2nd place to fall back on and I've added my name to more lists in the hopes of getting her somewhere else sooner rather than later. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't use her due date as her birthday and add my name onto lists when I was still pregnant.

Appointments- We have her first dentist appointment in about 1/2 hour. Hopefully it goes well. Then we have a one week reprieve before doctor's appointments for both of us.

School- I've paid my tuition in full and purchased all my textbooks online. I bought them from the college store as well as amazon. I have shipping notices for two of three orders. Just waiting for a shipping notice for my new purchases from amazon, but the used from amazon and the books from the college store were both shipped yesterday.

Other than that, my mat leave officially ends tomorrow and in less than a week, my baby girl turns one. Where the year has gone I have no clue. It's a good thing we are so busy this month or I think I'd just obsess over the fact that my baby isn't a baby anymore.

It's September

And that means that my little itty bitty baby girl will be turning one before I know it. Although she's not a baby anymore. As I type this she is walking over to the couch to visit one of the cats. She is a little person.

September also means the end of my maternity leave and the start of daycare. It's also a busy month in the sense that I have four appointments set up for us. She has a dentist appointment and a doctor's appointment and I have two doctor's appointments. So lots going on. Then at the end of the month we have her birthday party and hubby and I have a date night planned. It also means that I should be hearing from my college for payment and my schedule and ID. Busy, busy.

So busy, that the month is going to fly by faster than the eleven previous to it and then I'll be back in school. Wow. I'm not ready for this.

The Arguement for Extremely Part-Time Work

So we all know that my husband wants me to basically be on the run 7 days a week, go to school Monday-Friday and work Saturday and Sunday. Well that sure as hell isn't going to happen, good old student loans will take care of me having to work every single weekend. But I got to thinking last night, wouldn't it be nice to work one or two days a month? Just to have maybe an extra $100-150 in my bank account for spending money?

Now I know you're thinking who in the world will hire someone to work a a few days a month? I don't even have the answer to that yet. But I am going to call up a very old friend who is an assistant manager at a sports team store and see what he can do for me. It's possible that he could use someone as a relief weekend worker. He and I have known each other for nearly 10 years and we worked together for a few of those. It's worth a shot to see what, if anything he can do for me.

The Arguement for Student Loans

So with back to school commercials and sales in full swing, I realize that my start date is coming ever closer. So much for burying my head in the sand.

I went down to the employment office as I had heard that if you were on EI(which I am for mat leave) that you can extend your claim and/or they might provide financial assistance for tuition. Well I'm on the wrong kind of EI so it was a bust. But I did learn that if you apply for Student Aid, even if you don't take the loan, you might qualify for up to $350 a month in government grants if you have a dependent.

Well I don't know if I have the grants yet because I have to go down to school to find out for some reason, but I learned that I can get a few thousand dollars in loans. Now I have the money in the bank to actually pay for tuition and books, but taking the money would make it possible for me to not have to work part-time while I'm in school. I would basically pay myself the way I had been paid before, covering only the bare essentials, then the second I get a real job, I put anything left(I calculate at least 1/3) will go right back on the loan and I start paying it back right away instead of waiting for the 6 month grace period. I also pay back as much as I can and not the bare minimum.

When we worked out our budget, hubby would be paying for pretty much everything. Daycare, food, all the bills. I would just need to cover my car; the loan, gas and insurance. Sale of our house covered the insurance, paying it til mid June 2012. So it's the loan and gas I have to worry about. To cover it I would have to work every Saturday and Sunday, probably in retail, and probably for minimum wage.

So in addition to being a mom, a wife, a cook, a maid and a full-time student...I'd also get to be part-time employee. Lovely. I know me, it just won't work. School will suffer and I really don't want that. There is no sense in me going back to school if I am not going to apply myself and do well.

I think taking the money is a great idea, my mom thinks taking the money is a great idea, some ladies on an online forum I frequent think it's a great idea....then there is my husband. He thinks it's a terrible idea. He thinks that there is no sense me getting another student loan when I just paid one off. He thinks that he was able to work weekends while going to school so I should be able to as well. I think he is nuts. For starters, we lived literally 25 feet from school. Travel time was non existent. And second, and I think this is the kicker, WE HAD NO BABY! And I know he isn't going to be able to take over caring for the baby 100% when I'm in school. So it's a whole different monster.

Begrudgingly he signed the papers on the spouse line. I'm going down to the office today to hand in my paperwork. If I am going to do this, I'm going to do it right.