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!

YAHOO! YIPEE!!

So last night as I was getting ready to go to bed, I was grabbing the remote to turn off the TV (it also works as a monitor for John's computer, just have to push button to change) and a thought cam to me to check my email, I thought why I checked it earlier and nothing was there I will just get more depressed. So again the thought came check the email, so I think okay, it won't hurt to just look. After I logged in there the very first email is from IRS and I have been offered the position of a data transcriber, FINALLY! I applied for the position back in the first part of October! I could not believe it. I had to go right before Thanksgiving and do a fingerprint and turn in some paperwork. They had to do a background check. I figured that the only bad thing in my background was bad credit, so I was afraid that I might not get the job because of that, especially it being the IRS. They said then to check your email every day including the spam section and I did but nothing came. I had applied for 2 different positions and the first choice (tax examiner) started the end of January. Well about a week before it was to start I sent an email asking when they would be interviewing so that I could work it into my schedule and they replied that they do not do interviews just background checks and how high you scored on the test. Well I scored in the 90s on both positions so I thought okay, but the first job is still starting soon and no response. Well I waited a few weeks and still nothing so I sent another email asking when we would find out about the jobs and they said that they were sending them out this week (That was last Thursday). So I faithfully checked my email every day and nothing. I checked Friday afternoon about 3 or 4 and no offer. I was really bummed and thought that I would be receiving a lovely letter in the mail with a denial. I was so excited when I read the email (mind this it is 11:00 at night and the kids are in bed) that I started screaming Yeah, Yeah and John was yelling What? I told him the good news and he came out and we hugged and then we read over the email. I had only 2 days to reply and so I waited until today to really think about and pray about it and I replied with an acceptance.

It will be a swing shift job (4-12:30) so I will be able to see Evanslee off to school in the morning, get to spend time in the morning with Caddis and Miko and then take Caddis to Headstart. Depending on where the actual job location is (I heard it could be at the Freeport Center, which would be lovely because that is only about 15 minutes from here) I may be able to see both of the older ones for a few minutes after school before I have to leave for work. I think I will enjoy working out of the home. I have been working from home now for 11 years and I need a change and a chance to socialize with adults besides at church. I am hoping and praying that this will go permanent but right now it is only seasonal approximately 6 to 9 months, but I will do my best so that they will want to keep me on permanently.

YIPEE!!!!

ER doctors are dorks!

So my reason for the title, Monday night/Tuesday morning John started not feeling well and was throwing up all night. Tuesday I got Zlee off to school and then John said that he felt that we should go to the ER. So I take him up there and we spend 5 hours or more having them give him fluids, antinausea meds, and pain meds. He feels a little better and they give him a prescription and send him home. I eat some lunch and then go to WalMart to fill his prescription. While I am waiting for his prescription and getting some groceries my mother-in-law calls and says that John wants me to come home now and he needs a blessing. I tell her to call the bishop's house and see if he is home. I get home and she said that she called the bishop's house and talked to his wife and she would get the message to him. By this time John is freaking out and unable to even keep down a sip of water. I called the next door neighbor (an old bishop) and he comes over, then the bishop calls and says he just got home and will be right over. They give John a blessing and then he wants me to call 911. I called the neighbor and she kindly took the kids to her house. I called a 911, they checked his blood pressure, extremely high, having a hard time breathing so they give him oxygen by mask, and decide to take him to the hospital. On the way up they started and IV and gave him some meds. Now for the fun part..... We arrive by ambulance (well I drove in a separate car so I would have a way to get home) and are immediately put in a room. By this time John has calmed down somewhat, not throwing up, but still not feeling well. They doctor and nurse examine him and we explain that we were there earlier this morning and are back. The doctor (DORK) says that he will go check the records and see what they did. I told him to enjoy the reading it will be long ---9 years worth. He comes back and says that he will give him some medicine to control the nausea and some pain meds. We are left back there FOREVER without anyone checking back. In fact John needed some help and I pushed the nurse button, I swear it was half an hour later before someone came back to ask what we needed, by this time I almost forgot it took soo long. She said that she was not the nurse and that she would go find the nurse and see what they will do. I was sure glad he did not go into cardiac arrest because I would have a dead husband from no response to our asking for help. We finally talked to the doctor and he said that all of the labs were normal so there was no way that he was having pancreatitis, probably just a virus. We ask if they can do a CAT scan because his symptoms are similar to a time when he had a blocked common bile duct. So they agree to do a CAT scan and it came back negative. He decided that we should just follow up with our doctor and contact a surgeon about possible surgery on his splenic thrombosis but that was all he was willing to do.

Now I forgot the best part of the ER. While I was sitting in the room waiting for John while they had taken him for the CAT scan, a woman was brought into the next room. I heard her complaints and understood why she was there but they way she was moaning it sounded like she was having SEX!!!! She just kept moaning and moaning, as if she was in middle of some intense stuff but no she has pain in her stomach. John comes back from the CAT scan and hears her moans and asks what is going on next door. I started laughing, and he gave me some hand gestures to indicate what he thought was going on, I thought I was going to lose it, I bent over and whispered to him what was happening and that I thought the same thing. I few minutes later she stopped so I assumed that they gave her some pain meds. It was just hilarious!!!

Okay, so we are sent home (doctor kindly gave us some samples of pain meds, since we said that the ones prescribed earlier are sitting in the pharmacy and it would be closed before we got there). John is afraid to sleep downstairs in the bed, because of his trouble breathing, he felt it was making him more sick. So he sleeps upstairs on the recliner, and all night I was startled awake either from him talking in his sleep (do to the meds) or throwing up (now let me explain that John is a VIOLENT vomiter and is SO NOISY). So needless today I got approximately 3 hours of sleep in total. I got Zlee off to school the next morning and as soon as I walked into the door he said that he wanted to go back to the ER. So again we go back up and fortunately we see the first doctor that we saw the morning before. He says since this is your 3rd time in 24 hours we are just going to admit you. FINALLY!! John later that evening called to tell me that his doc came in and talked to him. He said that the ER doc from the night before had called him and said that he felt that John was faking it. HELLO!!!!! He came by ambulance! I want to pay $1000 for an ambulance ride plus $2000 to $3000 for the 2 ER visits just for drugs, ARE YOU CRAZY! I would rather find a drug dealer and pay him a few hundred then go through all of that crap. His doc said he totally believes John and that they should read his first experiences 9 years ago and see the labs back then (that were so high it was unbelievable) and then say that he is to be called before they make and decisions. He said he knows that John is only coming because he is to the point that he needs to be admitted. PHEW!!! Somebody that really believes us and has our back!

Well today they had to catheterize John because his kidneys were not working properly and his sugars are so low they are keeping a close eye on him. Now I would love to have that ER doc read the reports now and tell me that John is FAKING IT! DORK!

Oh the life of chronic diseases!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to one and all. I am hoping that this new year will bring more blessings and less struggles. I am hoping that I will get the job that I applied for and be able to support my family better. I do not make New Year resolutions because I never keep them so I will just try to be a better person, wife, and mother. Hopefully I will be able to accomplish that in the next year. We had an enjoyable New Years Eve with the kids, we actually went out for pizza and then came home and played games. Wii Mariokart and Monopoly. The 2 little ones actually went to bed by about 10 and Zlee stayed up until after midnight playing Monopoly with John and I. It was fun to spend time as a family since many years before we would end up going to bed since everyone was too little to stay up and dad was usually sick anyway, so it was nice to be able to ring in the New Year with my little family.

John and I have a late night date last night and went to see Valkurie (so if I spelled it wrong) and enjoyed the movie and the time together. We went late so that the kids would be in bed and grandma would be able to handle watching them. It turned out just fine. I have to say thanks to my brother for giving us gift cards for Christmas as that is what we used to SPLURGE on ourselves. It was a very needed time for us to just be alone together and I got to have MOVIE Popcorn with butter, YUMMY!!!! It really is sad how much they charged for it, and I have a hard time now paying those prices when my budget is so tight!

Well I hope that everyone has a Happy New Year and receives all the happiness and blessings in their lives this next year.

Christmas Miracles

So, since John has been out of work since February and not able to collect unemployment due to being to sick to be able to work, finances have been tight (TOO TIGHT). Well John helped his friend put in a new server in his office and he paid him for his help. We paid off my credit card (because the annual fee was coming up soon) and closed out the account. The woman from the credit card company was asking me why I wanted to close my account and I said because my husband has not worked since February, and she has the nerve to say well how can you pay it off then, would you like us to lower your interest rate instead? ARE YOU CRAZY! I do not need another bill or added finances. Well later that day my hubby decided to pay on his credit card (too big of a balance to pay if off) and forgot that we had paid mine off and ended up putting us in the negative in our checking account, so negative that after my paycheck was deposited it is still in the negative. So I was stressing wondering how we were going to get the last minute gifts that we still had to buy without using the credit card and I went out to the mailbox the other day and there is a card addressed to us with no return address. It is post marked from Salt Lake but anyone could have gone to Salt Lake to post it so that we could not figure out who did it, well the card said that they understood that finances were tight and decided to give us some help. There was money in the envelope. Then on Sunday night the Bishop comes to the house and I answered the door and he said just the person I wanted to see and handed me an envelope and said Merry Christmas. I opened the envelope and again money. I cried, the Lord really understands are needs and has angels to help him answer our prayers and help us in our time of need. I have prayed for those angels to receive special blessings for being so generous and loving as to donate money to help others. I know I cannot pay them back but I sure can pay it forward when we are on a more financial stability and I will definitely be willing and wanting to do it.

Christmas is a time for miracles and love and I am excited for Christmas and the opportunity to spend time with my loved ones.

I wish everyone who reads this a very Merry Christmas!

A Happy Mommy!

Today I am a Happy MOMMY! Zlee was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I do not say proud, because that is being prideful, but I am definitely happy for her. It is hard to believe that it has been 8 years since she was a little newborn in my arms and I was wondering what I was going to do, now that I became a mom. Now I can look back and be glad that I have made it this far with a lot of help from family and friends. She was so excited to be baptized and after she was baptized, she was shivering from being wet and she told me that the water was kind of cold, my poor little girl. Her dad later confirmed that it was indeed a little cold. The other little girl that was also baptized came into the dressing room after and she as giggling, I am not sure if it is because she was cold, bashful, or just happy, I will go with the happy part. I gave the baptism talk, I was nervous and hoping that I would be able to say the things that I needed to, everyone afterwards told my I did well (including the hubby, my honest critic). I do not remember what I said but I know I was emotional. She chose the song "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" for the opening song, I was leading the music at it just made me emotional, I teared up and could not sing, I had to wait until the 2nd verse to get myself under control. Then after the song and prayer I had to give my talk. All in all it was wonderful and I am definitely a happy mommy.

Evanslee has been a wonderful daughter. She is obedient, loving, fun, playful, smart, kind, always wanting to do her best, I couldn't ask for a better daughter to be my oldest. She is my little friend and I love her dearly. I thought I knew what loving a baby was all about until the day she was born. It was a completely whole different kind of love, one that fills you up completely but there is always room for another one after to add to that love. I think a mom's (or dad's) heart just grows every time a little one comes into their life. So those moms out there with a litter of children must have gigantic hearts, because mine is really big for having 3 children.