Unfortunately, I was laid off from my job effective September 15th. I was given two weeks notice, so I had time to see how to file for unemployment and look for work. My husband and I had just discussed about a week or so before I got the news; how perfect it would be for our lifestyle for me to work part time at a local job when our child was in school so I could take care of the house more and be there for her. Child care, although not quite as expensive as if she were not in school was about $80 a week and gas to and from work for just myself was between $120-$200 a month depending on how much gas costs, if I could find flex fuel when it was time to fuel up and if we went anywhere special on the weekend. My job didn't really make me much money and my boss gave me a hard time about things in addition to my not having much time to do housework or exercise because I was either tired or just didn't want to before or after work. Fortunately, on my last week of work, I had two job interviews and was offered both jobs on the spot. I decided to take one of them working for not much money, but part time and with a boss who seemed to understand my family needs coming first. So, I start a new job on Wednesday but before that, I have a couple days to get things in order at home and start our new routine, which I am extremely excited about!
Goal 1: Eat better!
Isn't this everyone's goal? I am a picky eater. I blame it on my parents for letting me eat what I wanted as a kid and fixing everyone different meals every night and not having a lot of lean meats, fruits and veggies in the house to offer.
I started this weekend (well, a little). My husband went to Sam's Club yesterday and brought me home a Ninja Auto-IQ Kitchen System since my smoothie maker broke last weekend and I wanted a new one so I could try having smoothies. So far, we have made smoothies 3 times, made salsa and made (unhealthy) ice cream flurries. I went to the store and purchased frozen and fresh fruit, some kale and spinach and other various fresh veggies to both eat and pop in a smoothie. I have also been pinning smoothie recipes on Pinterest!
Tonight we had a grilled chicken (on the George Foreman Grill) caesar salad with some whole grain veggie pasta for dinner.
I feel like I am on my way already!
Goal 2: Exercise at least 3 days a week!
Many of us struggle with exercise. We either don't want to get up early or don't feel like it after work. I am one of those people. Although I don't mind getting up early, and actually like to work out in the morning, I have a hard time with it because I need to shower after I exercise and that can be a struggle trying to get up early enough to do that plus get the kiddo up to take her to school.
Fortunately for me, my new job will allow me to take the kid to school at the start of school (instead of having to get her to morning program before school and try to make it to work half an hour away by 8:00am). So, if I still get up at the same time I always did, I can work out and then get the kiddo up and get her starting to get ready and still have time to shower and get myself ready on time. We also tend to neglect walking the dog, I plan to change this, which would be better for both of us.
Goal 3: Clean the house!
I know, this seems like a strange goal, but really, I am a bit of a pack rat and it is very hard for me to get cleaning done on the weekends when my husband always wants to go somewhere since it is the only time we get to have family time. It is also hard for me to do much when I get home from work because first we have to eat, then I clean up and load the dishwasher and make sure lunch for my husband is ready to go and get the kiddo to clean up and by the time that is all done, it is snack time then time for bed almost!
So this goal is really going to be a challenge, even working part time, I will not have much time extra to clean, but I need to get down to it and really work at it. We haven't even unpacked everything from moving in 2 years ago, and I don't get time to "deep clean" things a lot. We also have a full shed, a messy office and a disorganized kitchen! My husband says we have "too much stuff," I say we just need to have better organization!
So here's to my goals!
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Homemade Slurpees and Movie Theater Popcorn
We decided to have a family movie night last night, something we haven't done in a long time! To start off our night, we went shopping for some supplies, then chose some movies at the local video store.
Our goal was to make homemade Slurpees. I chose a couple recipes online to try and got the ice cream maker out and the smoothie maker too.
For our first recipe I tried using the ice cream maker, club soda and cherry Kool-aid. I followed the Kool-aid directions using the club soda instead of water and I also added a little ice.
I used the ice cream maker for about 30 minutes and then put the liquid in cups and froze it.
This recipe didn't turn out right. As it turns out I should have had the barrel of the ice cream maker in the freezer for a few hours at least first, but this was a last minute plan. It was not very tasty either.
Our goal was to make homemade Slurpees. I chose a couple recipes online to try and got the ice cream maker out and the smoothie maker too.
For our first recipe I tried using the ice cream maker, club soda and cherry Kool-aid. I followed the Kool-aid directions using the club soda instead of water and I also added a little ice.
I used the ice cream maker for about 30 minutes and then put the liquid in cups and froze it.
This recipe didn't turn out right. As it turns out I should have had the barrel of the ice cream maker in the freezer for a few hours at least first, but this was a last minute plan. It was not very tasty either.
The next recipe I tried was 1c club soda, 2.5 cups ice, 1/2 c sugar and the amount of cherry Kool-aid that makes 2 qts. of Kool-aid. I put these things in the smoothie maker and blended until the ice was crushed. I poured the liquid into cups and put it in the freezer. This recipe looked more promising, it was already the consistency of Slush Puppies.
About 45 minutes to an hour later, the consistency was still the same. We decided not to drink these but to try again the next day, although our daughter did try hers.
We also tried a new recipe for popcorn. We wanted that "movie theater" taste but without the popcorn getting soggy from butter. My husband was in charge of the popcorn. We chose the white kernels we bought at an apple orchard back in my hometown last Halloween. We melted butter and scraped off the top of the fat the first thirty seconds of microwaving. To add that yummy flavor, we decided to try putting coconut oil in the pan instead of vegetable or canola oil. We topped off the popcorn with the butter we had made and some popcorn seasoning that we purchased since we couldn't find Flavocal (the seasoning that my husband researched that was supposed to make the popcorn taste like the movie theaters make).
The popcorn was delicious! Our snacks were made complete with a few sweet treats as well!
Overall, success with movie night, but not so much success in Slurpees. We will try another recipe again!
Monday, September 4, 2017
Lay Offs and Positive Changes
I just received word on Friday (September 1st) that I will be getting laid off on the 15th. I always knew that something like this could happen due to the fact that my job is working for a non-profit and everything I do gets paid for by a State or Federal funded grant. But I always thought that it would be my Assistant first. I never thought that they would dare lay off a Coordinator first.
I knew something was up when my department director (my bosses boss) emailed me on Wednesday and asked if she could meet with me on Friday morning. She didn't tell me anything as to what it was about. We knew the President had not yet signed the Federal budget. We knew that funding was always expected but not guaranteed. We had been warned before that if we spent our money to quickly there would be layoffs. Likewise, if we didn't spend enough and had too much to send back, there might be less money in the future requiring layoffs. It used to be, however that the Assistant position was temporary and got laid off usually any time between March and August and the job came back any time between October and December. My current assistant had been with the agency 11 years and had been laid off quite a few times, including working for other departments within the agency. But it was unheard of to lay off a Coordinator. Apparently, not this time! My county and one other are the only two counties that have two workers, every other county has one, either an Assistant or a Coordinator, and of course our boss fills in whenever she needs to so that no county is left without anyone. This time, they looked at our counties and chose to lay off whomever had been with the agency the least time, unfortunately for me, that was me (and in the other county was my former Assistant).
Fortunately for me, my husband works full time making decent money and has a part time job to boot. We are trying to see the positive of it all. We pay for child care both before school and after school and I drive about 20 miles one way each day to work with a gas guzzling 4x4 truck. We are looking at this as a blessing in disguise.
When my husband first started his full time job, we discussed me quitting mine and thought it might be a possibility. My job is stressful and I don't get along well with my boss, I don't have a lot of time to do housework and he doesn't have any either, in addition to that, our six-year-old tends to be great for other people but tends to misbehave with me a lot and I find that when I focus more on her, she behaves much better. When summer ended, we looked at our finances again and figured that if I can't find another job that pays better, then it might actually be more beneficial for our family if I try to do something part time locally that I can work while our child is in school. I can take better care of the house, better care of my family, and better care of myself.
I plan to be making some positive changes during this time of being laid off. I will be able to blog more, which will hold me accountable for myself. I will be able to workout more, no excuses I'll have a lot more time. I will be able to clean more, again, no excuses. I will be able to research what we should be eating and what we should be doing more and put it into action. I will also be able to be there for my child more, be able to volunteer at her school more and be able to just be there when she needs me and not have to worry about child care or getting fired if she gets sick or has a snow day. Financially, we are losing money, obviously, but we are also not spending money on child care, and are spending less on gas and eating out when I forget to start the crockpot or pack my lunch.
Yes, this will be a new chance for change. I am actually looking forward to it!
I knew something was up when my department director (my bosses boss) emailed me on Wednesday and asked if she could meet with me on Friday morning. She didn't tell me anything as to what it was about. We knew the President had not yet signed the Federal budget. We knew that funding was always expected but not guaranteed. We had been warned before that if we spent our money to quickly there would be layoffs. Likewise, if we didn't spend enough and had too much to send back, there might be less money in the future requiring layoffs. It used to be, however that the Assistant position was temporary and got laid off usually any time between March and August and the job came back any time between October and December. My current assistant had been with the agency 11 years and had been laid off quite a few times, including working for other departments within the agency. But it was unheard of to lay off a Coordinator. Apparently, not this time! My county and one other are the only two counties that have two workers, every other county has one, either an Assistant or a Coordinator, and of course our boss fills in whenever she needs to so that no county is left without anyone. This time, they looked at our counties and chose to lay off whomever had been with the agency the least time, unfortunately for me, that was me (and in the other county was my former Assistant).
Fortunately for me, my husband works full time making decent money and has a part time job to boot. We are trying to see the positive of it all. We pay for child care both before school and after school and I drive about 20 miles one way each day to work with a gas guzzling 4x4 truck. We are looking at this as a blessing in disguise.
When my husband first started his full time job, we discussed me quitting mine and thought it might be a possibility. My job is stressful and I don't get along well with my boss, I don't have a lot of time to do housework and he doesn't have any either, in addition to that, our six-year-old tends to be great for other people but tends to misbehave with me a lot and I find that when I focus more on her, she behaves much better. When summer ended, we looked at our finances again and figured that if I can't find another job that pays better, then it might actually be more beneficial for our family if I try to do something part time locally that I can work while our child is in school. I can take better care of the house, better care of my family, and better care of myself.
I plan to be making some positive changes during this time of being laid off. I will be able to blog more, which will hold me accountable for myself. I will be able to workout more, no excuses I'll have a lot more time. I will be able to clean more, again, no excuses. I will be able to research what we should be eating and what we should be doing more and put it into action. I will also be able to be there for my child more, be able to volunteer at her school more and be able to just be there when she needs me and not have to worry about child care or getting fired if she gets sick or has a snow day. Financially, we are losing money, obviously, but we are also not spending money on child care, and are spending less on gas and eating out when I forget to start the crockpot or pack my lunch.
Yes, this will be a new chance for change. I am actually looking forward to it!
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