Can you say MIGRAINE?

Okay week 2 day 2 of training... I was dragging all night long, even the time last night dragged but when we took our first test to see where we stand I got a 95%! YIPEE! It puts me at the top of the class which is great because if we end up going on furlow they call you back based on score, so I will be one of the first called back. We will be taking another test tonight and I hope to do better, my mistakes last night was forgetting that I was in a dollars and cents field and not a dollars only field and so I forgot to enter in the cents. I just have to remember to look for the prompts in each area and make the correct choice. They will take the best of these 2 tests for our final score.

So this morning when Zlee woke me up I had this huge migraine. I know that my body is telling me that I need to sleep but I also need to spend what little time I have with her before she goes off to school. It is worth the sacrifice and I have taken my prescribed naproxen to help with the headache. I also have my lovely mug of ice cold Coke, that I am chugging down this morning. Caffeine take me away....

I guess I will just have to take a nap before I go to work, oh darn! Yesterday I was teasing Miko when she was asking me what time it was, I told her it was time to take a nap and she said "I take too much naps it's not nap time." Only a child would believe in too many naps, I only dream of having a nap every day.

Well hopefully I can survive the night tonight. One good thing is that if I stop by WalMart on my way home from work there are no crowds, and I realized that I could do my Easter, Christmas, etc., shopping when the kiddies are sleeping and be able to sneak everything in without their curious eyes watching me. See there are advantages to working nights.

1st week of training -- check. 2nd week about to begin...

So I have survived my first week of training. The first night was horrible, all of the policies and procedures to go over. Spent the first 6 hours in lecture type setting then spent the last 2 hours in actual training with a little tour of the facility. It was a LONGGGGG night! Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday turned out to be tolerable but we had our time pushed back half an hour as the computer system shuts down daily from 3:30 to 4:30 between shift change. So I have to now stay until 1 a.m. and hopefully get home between 1:20 and 1:30 and in to bed by 2 a.m.

There are some interesting people in training. I have to wonder how they passed the security check. Hopefully they will not be on my team when we break into teams.

We were told that the workload is down because of the stimulus package not being signed (this was on Tuesday) and we could possibly be furlowed after our 2 week training course. The furlow they say should only be about a week long. They will be calling back based on test scores and I have been busting my butt to make sure that I am on the top of the list. So far it looks good. The kid I sit next to gets mad at me because I finish the practice exercise quickly and he is struggling every time. He is very young and does not have a family to support, the pressure is on. But as strange as it is, I have stress with new job, trying to remember all the new info, but my stress level has dropped considerably otherwise. It is so nice to be back to hourly pay, not have to worry about getting a daily quota, how much longer it will take me to make quota, will I have to work the weekend, etc.. So lovely to just go to work, do my job, and know that I get paid.

Also of note, every night as I get to work I have noticed that the "trucks" or what the rest of the world would call carts, are starting to fill up with paperwork, I assume that it is for us. I have never been so excited to hear about a bill being passed as I was on Wednesday to know that the stimulus package had been signed. We handle only business forms and I believe that companies have been holding back about filing until they knew what to expect and now they are filing and sending in their forms. I pray every night that there will be work come next Monday so that I do not have to go on furlow.

The sad part of all is the other day Caddis said that he wished that our house was a house and a restaurant. I asked him why, and he said then I could stay home and work. He thought that I was working at a restaurant. So cute. I had to explain to him that it was okay and that I would be home every morning for him and we could spend time together before he goes to school and I go to work and that I would have Saturdays and Sundays off. He seemed a little bit better after that. I guess it is hard for him to see me leave for work when I have been working from home his whole life. I sure love that little guy.

So tomorrow starts week 2 and I have been reviewing my study guide so hopefully I will be able to pass the test in the top of the class! I am off to bed now so that I can get my last good sleep for the week.

The anticipation is killing me!

Today is the day that I start my new job. I report in at 3:45 this afternoon. It is killing me sitting here at home waiting for time to go by. I have been working from home now for more than 10 years and it is a very weird feeling to not be working right now. I am excited for the new job but I also know that I have to go through a training process and I know that I will be overwhelmed but also bored. John worked there over 5 years ago, and only for a few months, but he said that the training was terrible. He worked in a different area that I will be but he said back then they flew in trainers from back east and he said that he knew how to do their job better than they did. He wondered how they got their jobs and how they could be paid, they were terrible. I hope my department will be different, I know the training will definitely be different but I hope that I will not be bored to death. The thought of staying there until after midnight, listening to lecture training, the thought just scares me. But I know that this it the direction I need to go to provide for my family. I was told at orientation that if the manager can guarantee that we will be working for 6 months that we will be eligible for health insurance. I am so hoping that we do, we really need the insurance so that John can get the operation he needs.

A New Change in Life

So it is official, I will be working soon for the IRS. I am nervous, scared, but mostly EXCITED! I have been at the same job for 7 years. I am ready for a change of pace. I have been saying for years that computer voice recognition programs are taking over my type of job and that I wanted to get out before there is a massive job displacement in my field. So here I am embarking on a new adventure.

I went to my orientation meeting yesterday (can you say boring!) and had a moment where I almost cried. I realized that this is an answer to prayers, a blessing from the Lord. I will be paid for sick leave, vacation time, have life insurance, and hopefully I will be able to qualify for health insurance. The insurance coverage looks wonderful but they said we have to find out from the manager if our job is considered certified for 6 months. It has taken months for this new job but I am now looking forward to it.

I will be working the swing shift which turns out to be the best for our family. John is sick most mornings and is not able to get up and around until around lunchtime. So I will be home with the 2 little ones in the morning and will have to leave around 3:30, so I will miss seeing Zlee in the evening but I will have the mornings before school and the weekends available to spend time with her. That will be the hardest part about this change, being away from the kids. I will miss nighttime rituals but I think that daddy can handle that just fine. It will be nice to be able to know that when I am at work, I am at work and there will be no little ones interrupting me asking me for this and that. Also when I am at work I am getting paid for being there and not just for what I have done in the day, no waiting for someone else to do their job so that I can then do mine. YEAH!

They told us that it is a seasonal job but it is also a permanent job so if we run out of work we will be put on furlow and called back when the work is ready again. Benefits and all will stay the same, such a wonderful thought.

The worst part of all of this was telling my current job that I was quitting. Last Friday I had to send my 2 weeks notice to my supervisor and it took me half the day to get the courage to write the e-mail (pathetic I know). I had tears in my eyes while writing it and feeling bad for leaving my job, but I know in my heart that this is the right thing for me to be doing at this time.

Also of note, John was sent to another specialist, who is reported to be the best in the country, but who is retiring in July. So we saw him on Saturday and he said essentially what took you so long? We explained what has been happening and what the primary car doctor's ideas were and he said that he needed to see all of John's previous records to make a decision. We explained that it was going to be a novel and he said that he enjoyed reading novels. John's PMD wanted this doc to do a procedure to severe the nerve permanently. This doc said that he would look over the records and decide which procedure would be best and then while he was inside of John he could do a gastric bypass since it would only take another 45 minutes. What a blessing that would be. We have spent the past 2 days going to different doctor's offices to request records and when we went to the hospital medical record department to fill out the release of information paper, the lady there said that we just have to have the doctor send in a fax requesting the info. John got upset with her and said that he was there to sign the papers and she said that there was no need to. He had to at every other office and could not understand why he did not need to for the hospital. They wanted to charge 28 cents to us if we got the reports ourselves and after 9 years, 22 hospital visits, and too many ER visits to count, we decided it would be too expensive for us to just get them for ourselves. Oh the fun of dealing with other people!