I got the job!!!

A couple weeks ago, I posted about my decision to withdraw my name from the pool applying for the lead position. After much thought and prayer, I decided to go ahead with the interview and be brutally honest. The interview was with the regional manager and I had some things I wanted to talk to her about anyway. I ended up having my interview with her over the phone. She was on her bluetooth. I had a hard time hearing her and the interview was sprung on me as I walked into the office and was just handed the phone. YIKES! I don't like talking on the phone as is, but that was definitely out of my comfort zone!

She asked me the typical questions (What experience do you have? How would you handle an irate customer? etc). Then she said: "I'll be honest with you. You are a very strong contender for the position, but why do you think you would be better than everyone else who applied?" To which I answered: "I'm not sure that I am. Here are my concerns." I then told her that I am a mom first and foremost, that I'm only available Friday through Monday and that this isn't negotiable. I also told her that I had been told on two separate occasions by other leads that there is an expectation for leads to work off the clock to get everything done and that I was not willing to do that. I told her that I work for the benefit of my family and I'm not willing to give WDS any free time. She flew through the roof! She was really mad that people were working off the clock and said they could lose their jobs over that because it showed poor time management.

Today, my boss called and offered me the job and I accepted. They know my terms and if I am asked to work extra days or off the clock, I have already made it very clear that I don't do that. I did tell them that for training purposes, I could find childcare for a couple extra days as a one time thing, so my boss is training me Thursday, Friday and Saturday and then the show is mine Sunday and Monday. YIKES!!!! Not sure I'm ready to manage a bunch of adults who act like cranky toddlers much of the time. Oh, well. It's just a job, right?!?!?!

What have we been up to?

Every Tuesday, I watch the neighbor's daughter Erin, in exchange for her watching James and Gabby for me on Fridays. Here are James and Erin watching Aladdin this morning. James is "driving" at the same time.

Gabby was watching too, but she wasn't feeling very good, so she was keeping her distance. Poor girl :(.

James wanted to play with food colorings, so we compromised and the kids got to play with some leftover fondant I had. Playdough you can eat! How much better can it get? :)

Of course, Gabby chose (and ate) purple, her favorite color.

James went with green because he wanted to mix two colors, so I gave him blue and yellow to work into his fondant.

Gabby showing off the color residue on her hands from her hour of fun with her fondant (and yes, her dress is on backwards.)

And I, of course, have been baking. These are from a cupcake baking spree I had last week, lemon cupcakes with cream cheese filling. Today, I just baked chocolate cakes and haven't done anything with them yet, but the house sure smells good :-).

Why do I find this funny?

Let me say first of all that what I have to say in this blog may make some of you angry, as it may appear that I am heartless. I am not. I just find parts of our economic crisis amusing.

I just logged on to the Drudge Report, only to find out that the dow dropped 770 points today and I laughed. Why, you may ask (as I asked myself), in light of such a drastic drop, the largest single day drop ever according to Drudge, would I laugh? I guess it's because I'm starting to realize in the light of all of this how much we as Americans have taken for granted. We have had security and peace for such a long time. September 11th shook us up and then we went back to the lull of every day life. I don't think most of us really honestly realized that all of this could be gone in the blink of an eye.

Our church had a guest speaker this weekend, Dr David Hocking. He was a very dynamic speaker and I know he said some of what he said just for shock value, but one of the things he said has stuck with me. He said something like: "If you have come here today to hear about how important you are and how valuable you are to God's work, you have come to the wrong place. Sorry to break it to you, but there are more important things that YOU in the grand scheme of things! Your self-esteem is not what I'm worried about today." WHAT? How could he say such a thing? And yet, in light of all that is happening, in light of the past, the present and predictions of the future, my peace and comfort do not rank in the top 10 most important things. Now don't get me wrong. Jesus found our eternal peace important enough to die for, but I'm talking about day to day, starbucks, tv, cell phone and yes, even roof over my head peace. There are more important things in life and I hope and pray that all of this turmoil opens our eyes to the really important things and especially the most important One.

CONVICTED!

James was driving me nuts this morning. Right off the bat, he starts worrying about his friend Elise who's coming over this afternoon. "What if she gets on my bed and breaks my sword?" "What if she puts the hamster food (with nuts) in my room?" "What if she finds my batman car and breaks it?". Out of exasperation, I finally looked at him and said: "James! She isn't even coming until after lunch! Don't waste your morning worrying about what might or might not happen!" Then I got convicted. You see, I've been worrying a lot lately. This trouble with the economy has me worried. Not because of the "doom and gloom" predictions, but because of  the uncertainty of it all. No one seems to know where our country will be in a year, so my mind is filling in all the what ifs. But, like I told James this morning, why waste today worrying about what might or might not happen tomorrow? Planning is one thing. We put up Jp's favorite toys and the hamster food to prevent unnecessary conflicts and we plan for what might happen by stocking up on bottled water, rice and beans and make wise moves with our money. But worrying is a waste of today. Only God knows what tomorrow holds and He has it all under control anyway. The only thing that makes me nervous about that is that God is known to refine us with fire and I don't like to get hot!

Why are we here?

I'm struggling today, because what I know I should do and what I want to do are not the same. You see, I have a drive to be at the top, an obsession with the limelight. I like to be noticed, to be special, but sometimes that's just not the best way to go.

I'm supposed to have my interview tomorrow for the lead position at work and I need to pull my name out of the pool, which has been a tough choice for me.  Both Jason and I have realized that me working more than a couple days a week is really hard on family life. On one hand, it's nice to realize that I do play a crucial role in this family and that just because I'm not bringing in a bunch of money doesn't mean that my contribution isn't valuable. But on the other hand, it's frustrating because I know that I could do well with WDS. I've been their top seller since the day I started and really enjoy what I do. The kids will only be little once, though, and I have a lifetime to work. In three years, Gabby and James will both be in school full-time and I will be able to work to my heart's content :-).

I think I may just have realized what it is about my job that is such a relief for me. At work, I have a start time and an end time. I have numbers the next day that tell me how well or how poorly I did my job and when the dishes are done, I don't have to do them again until the next day :-). At home, my "job description" isn't nearly as clear, the dishes never stay done and I don't get a report the next day letting me know whether or not I'm doing things right. So while I'm looking forward to having more time for cakes, play dates at the park, Bible studies and time with Jason, I'm sad to cut back on the instant feedback and structure that a job has been providing for me, not to mention the break from the monotony of day to day life.

Pics of the kids

Our little gymnast, watching tv :-)

James, feeling jealous that I took a picture of Gabby, wanted to do something so that I would take a picture of him too. Since he's sick, however, this is about as far as he got, poor guy :(

My first paid cake order!!!

After a week of tossing and turning, stressing, worrying and wondering why the heck I ever thought it was a good idea to take money for a hobby, I have finished it and all is well with the world again :-). The cake itself was pretty easy to do. My emotional roller coaster was more challenging, but it's done now :-). The cake is a 3 layer, 8" round dark chocolate cake with mocha buttercream filling, covered in ganache with colored candy melt decorations. And yes, I will take money for my hobby again ;-). I just wish I was closer to all of you so I could make all of your fun cakes.

Monday morning musings

The kids and I got to see Katie last night! YAY! We had a great time. Jason brought the kids to my work at the end of my shift and the kids and I drove up to Sacramento, where Katie is staying a couple nights for work training. Katie had bought some sandwiches and we had a little picnic in the park. The kids were a little disappointed because there was no play structure at this park :(. Once James found the firefighter memorial though, he thought it was pretty cool. We also walked through the Vietnam memorial they had in Capital park. Needless to say, James was FULL of questions, but Katie was there to answer most of them, so I didn't have to strain my brain too much :-). Unfortunately, I have no pictures. I always forget my camera wherever I go, so this time I put it in my purse...and forgot my purse when Jason and I swapped cars. Katie took a couple before her battery died, so when she emails them to me, I'll post them.

I've been working for a month now and the jury is still out as to how great of a situation this is :-). Ironically, I find working to be easier for me than it was to stay home 24 7. Jason on the other hand seems to be getting pretty tired. He told me yesterday that he didn't know how I did this (stay home) every day and I said: "Why do you think I'm so happy to be working!" hehe. In all honestly though, as is the case with pretty much everything, there are good days and bad. My job is not nearly as rosy as it first seemed, but all in all, it's not bad. I just have to remind myself that it's just a job, a means to an end, not a career because otherwise the chaos and disorganization, not to mention the illegal practices (having us work off the clock for one) would drive me crazy. The lead position I was offered has been put on hold. My boss' boss said they have to interview everyone interested in the position, so there are now about 10 applicants for the position and it sounds like it's Adrienne's choice, not Freda, who was the one who originally told me I would be one of the two leads. It's frustrating, not because I'm dying to be lead, but because I feel gipped. They told me I had the position and now I don't. GRRR! So again, I try to remind myself that in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter. We are blessed regardless.

I haven't been doing nearly as many cakes, obviously, but I do have my first paid order this week. The woman to whom I gave the 4th of July cake has ordered an 8" round for a birthday and she's paying me $40. I'm a little nervous, but it should be a pretty easy cake to do. Chocolate with Mocha filling and covered with chocolate ganache. YUM!

A video of James and Gabby

I taped a brief video of my crazy monkeys this morning. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZzfU1WgMfM

Gabby's gymnastics

Gabby had her first gymnastics class last night. She seemed a little overwhelmed at first, but she loved it. Here are a few pictures of her as we headed out.

I made her leave her purse and bracelets in the car, which she was perfectly fine with. She just wanted to "look BEAUTIFUL" for her gymnastics :-).

Heading for the olympics!!!

Off we go!!!

Gabby got to do stretches, jump on a trampoline, swing on monkey bars, slide down a slide, jump on a hopscotch mat (that was REALLY funny to watch), do summersaults and a handstand. She was pretty tired by the end of the 50 minutes, but she wants to go back. One of the things I realized while I watched her from behind the glass window is that we are going to get a lot of report cards mentioning her "chattiness" once she hits the school system. She was so cute, chatting up a storm the whole time. I asked the instructor what she was talking about, and she said Gabby was just chatting about hopscotch and anything else, really :-). Teachers beware! Here comes our chatterbox.

A life full of changes

Our kids are growing up so fast! James started preschool yesterday. He was SOOO excited he could barely contain himself :-). His teacher got pretty freaked out when I explained the epi-pen and his allergies to her. I had told her about them twice before, but for some reason yesterday it scared her. Oh, well. The assistant seemed calm and cool about it. I've noticed that people tend to freak the most when I'm done explaining the epi-pen and then specify that they need to call 911 right after administering the epi-pen. I didn't used to clarify that point, until one of the childcare workers at the church told me that she would page me if she ever had to use the pen. Um, yeah, AFTER you call the paramedics, since he wouldn't be breathing!!! To be honest, the older he gets and the more social he gets, the more I start to worry about it. I have less and less control over his world (ok you guys with teens. You can stop laughing now.).

He loved his first day at school. He showed me who his new friend is (a boy this time. Yay!). He doesn't know his name though :-). They made a really cute sunflower out of a paper plate, construction paper and real sunflower seeds. He also worked on matching like pictures and using scissors. I think this preschool will be a great fit for him.

Gabby starts gymnastics on Monday. She can't wait! She's been showing me her tumbles around the house and she is certain that she is going to be in the olympics when she grows up. We were watching some gymnastics clips on YouTube since we don't have tv and she saw a picture of the women during the medal ceremony, holding their bouquets of flowers in the air. She informed me that "someday I'm going to have flowers like that!" :-). It reminded me of my brother Mark who was convinced after the 1992 olympics that he was going to be in the cycling olympics in 1996 :-).

Both kids are out of diapers now (YAY!!!!). Gabby is using up the last of her pull-ups simply because they are princess pull-ups and she likes them :-). We've been washing a lot more bedding, but not every night. It's definitely nice to have the extra grocery money.

As you all know, life is full of changes. I know I am always evaluating and re-evaluating my priorities and goals. Lately, Jason and I have been really focusing on getting our financial affairs in order and we decided that we would not return to Oregon until Winter 2009 because of the extra expense. This past month, however, as we've seen how much the children have changed and grown and have been reminded of the value of family and friends, we have modified our debt plan to include a trip to Oregon this winter. We are planning on coming up Tuesday December 9th to Friday December 12th. We will be driving up again, which means we have to come before January because of the pass conditions. My work doesn't allow us to take any time off in November and December, so we have to fit our trip in on my normal days off. My boss is willing to work with me a little, but I have to be back for my weekend shifts, hence the weekday trip. Another factor that affected our decision was James. He told me this week that what he wanted most for his birthday was to have his birthday party at Nana's house.

Well, I'd better go. I promised Jp I would read some of his book on the Solar System to him and I promised Gabby that we would make some Black Bottom Bites, so I'd better get moving. I can't wait to see you all soon!