Picture this…A beautiful sunny 75 degree day, a cool breeze floating through open windows, birds chirping, flowers blooming, a small child sitting at a table eating mac n’cheese while singing the ABCs, another baby crawling on the floor--covered in saw dust, playing amidst a dirty shop vac, piles of splintered wood, and various power tools and toys. BAM, pause, BAM, pause, BAM! A nail gun is repeatedly interrupting the peaceful weekend morning. VROOM goes the air compressor. The wood floor of our beautiful kitchen is completely torn up so that my get-it-done-right husband can “fix” it before we move to Wisconsin in, oh, ten days. I’m standing in the corner watching all this ensue, praying CPS is not in the neighborhood. “Arlan, don’t chew on the extension cord!”
My husband and I have been living in beautiful Tucson, Arizona for almost six years. While the never ending sunny days are awesome, we really wanted to move back to our home state to be near both of our families. We want our kids to grow up knowing their grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins (a luxury I never really had as a child). Plus despite the horrible, bone searing cold winters, we love the state. It’s beautiful. So job opportunities came for both Jason and I to move our family and we jumped on it. We sang from the Rincon Mountains. WE DID IT! We’re moving back! Our wish was granted! We are so grateful! Then we realized the load of work to accomplish before we could say goodbye to the desert. Be careful what you wish for I guess because with any big change, there are hurtles. But boo-hoo, we got amazing jobs and have the luxury to move our whole family. So instead of pouting over our great fortune, I am going to laugh while jumping hurtles, instead of crying from the pain of falling flat on my face. So let’s have a good belly laugh shall we?
I got a call from Harley-Davidson to interview! This was during a time when my current work situation was extremely crazy, traveling all over and working multiple proposal efforts, we had major drama at our daycare (a whole other story), and a broken water heater. But no way was I going to turn down an interview with Harley! So during a trip to a supplier in Utah (with my Director) I had to take a personal deviation to Wisconsin to interview.
“Megan, why can’t you stay and participate on this work trip?”
“Ah, it’s ah…personal.”
Ugh, that’s hard for someone who tells everyone everything from how I got poop on my hands that morning to the latest gossip about my friend’s friend's cousin on facebook.
ANYWHO…Off to Wisconsin I went. And I left having absolutely no idea how I did during the four hours of interviews until the next day when I got a job offer and the words “we’d like you to start as soon as possible”. Then, voila, my husband interviewed with Baxter and had the same outcome. YAY!
Then we looked at the house we bought three years ago and sighed (a very very big sigh). Our YAY! turned into yay?. We are in the middle of a remodel and need to get it listed on the market in three weeks. The entry way is a concrete slab, the courtyard is dirt, the upstairs bathroom is ripped out, and other odds and ends need to be fixed. Oh, and my husband needs to “fix” the kitchen floor because it was uneven. Working full time, handling two babies, and finishing a remodel in three weeks equals AWESOME-NESS!
Of course Murphy’s Law kicked in as well and decided to deliver the nasty Hand, Foot, Mouth virus to my family. Arlan got it, and then I got it. Please keep in mind that this is a childhood virus, most adults have immunity. But since I think my state of mind was more like that of a two-year old toddler, the virus decided to make itself cozy. So Arlan and I looked like movie extras for Contagion for a week or so.
During all this craziness, my husband and I have had many lessons learned. I will share.
1. Baby rice cereal looks an awful lot like saw dust. Do not mix these two things up or use a saw blade in vicinity while mixing up your infant’s rice cereal.
2. While putting babies down for an afternoon nap, do not use a concrete nail gun in the house…only regular nail guns should be used during nap time. They are much quieter.
3. Crawling around in sawdust can make skin itch. Make sure to put extra layers of clothing on children for playtime in a construction zone.
4. Remember that your husband is wearing ear plugs to protect his eardrums so when you yell his name over and OVER he can’t hear you…or can he?
5. Try to remember where you put your baby among packing paper and boxes. He/She can easily get lost, or packed with the family photo albums.
6. Pizza is your best friend.
7. Craigslist might not be the best place to sell all your unwanted items. There are many many scammers out there that take innocent naïve women, usually with two children who live in Tucson, Arizona and drive a Honda Pilate, for granted because “these women” believe the con-artists are legit. THE NERVE!
8. You think kids go through a lot of outfits on a normal day? Take that number and triple it.
9. Hammers are not toys.
10. Please do not call CPS. I did exaggerate…or did I? (Insert evil laugh here)
To be continued…
My husband and I have been living in beautiful Tucson, Arizona for almost six years. While the never ending sunny days are awesome, we really wanted to move back to our home state to be near both of our families. We want our kids to grow up knowing their grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins (a luxury I never really had as a child). Plus despite the horrible, bone searing cold winters, we love the state. It’s beautiful. So job opportunities came for both Jason and I to move our family and we jumped on it. We sang from the Rincon Mountains. WE DID IT! We’re moving back! Our wish was granted! We are so grateful! Then we realized the load of work to accomplish before we could say goodbye to the desert. Be careful what you wish for I guess because with any big change, there are hurtles. But boo-hoo, we got amazing jobs and have the luxury to move our whole family. So instead of pouting over our great fortune, I am going to laugh while jumping hurtles, instead of crying from the pain of falling flat on my face. So let’s have a good belly laugh shall we?
I got a call from Harley-Davidson to interview! This was during a time when my current work situation was extremely crazy, traveling all over and working multiple proposal efforts, we had major drama at our daycare (a whole other story), and a broken water heater. But no way was I going to turn down an interview with Harley! So during a trip to a supplier in Utah (with my Director) I had to take a personal deviation to Wisconsin to interview.
“Megan, why can’t you stay and participate on this work trip?”
“Ah, it’s ah…personal.”
Ugh, that’s hard for someone who tells everyone everything from how I got poop on my hands that morning to the latest gossip about my friend’s friend's cousin on facebook.
ANYWHO…Off to Wisconsin I went. And I left having absolutely no idea how I did during the four hours of interviews until the next day when I got a job offer and the words “we’d like you to start as soon as possible”. Then, voila, my husband interviewed with Baxter and had the same outcome. YAY!
Then we looked at the house we bought three years ago and sighed (a very very big sigh). Our YAY! turned into yay?. We are in the middle of a remodel and need to get it listed on the market in three weeks. The entry way is a concrete slab, the courtyard is dirt, the upstairs bathroom is ripped out, and other odds and ends need to be fixed. Oh, and my husband needs to “fix” the kitchen floor because it was uneven. Working full time, handling two babies, and finishing a remodel in three weeks equals AWESOME-NESS!
Of course Murphy’s Law kicked in as well and decided to deliver the nasty Hand, Foot, Mouth virus to my family. Arlan got it, and then I got it. Please keep in mind that this is a childhood virus, most adults have immunity. But since I think my state of mind was more like that of a two-year old toddler, the virus decided to make itself cozy. So Arlan and I looked like movie extras for Contagion for a week or so.
During all this craziness, my husband and I have had many lessons learned. I will share.
1. Baby rice cereal looks an awful lot like saw dust. Do not mix these two things up or use a saw blade in vicinity while mixing up your infant’s rice cereal.
2. While putting babies down for an afternoon nap, do not use a concrete nail gun in the house…only regular nail guns should be used during nap time. They are much quieter.
3. Crawling around in sawdust can make skin itch. Make sure to put extra layers of clothing on children for playtime in a construction zone.
4. Remember that your husband is wearing ear plugs to protect his eardrums so when you yell his name over and OVER he can’t hear you…or can he?
5. Try to remember where you put your baby among packing paper and boxes. He/She can easily get lost, or packed with the family photo albums.
6. Pizza is your best friend.
7. Craigslist might not be the best place to sell all your unwanted items. There are many many scammers out there that take innocent naïve women, usually with two children who live in Tucson, Arizona and drive a Honda Pilate, for granted because “these women” believe the con-artists are legit. THE NERVE!
8. You think kids go through a lot of outfits on a normal day? Take that number and triple it.
9. Hammers are not toys.
10. Please do not call CPS. I did exaggerate…or did I? (Insert evil laugh here)
To be continued…
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