Getting Acquainted

Now that we can finally see the floor here at the apartment, time has been freed up to do other, more entertaining things. Take Friday for example. We decided, spur of the moment, that we couldn't miss the premiere of Shrek the Third. However, going to a movie theater with two small kids spells D-I-A-S-T-E-R. Thankfully, there are a few drive-in theaters still operating in the Denver Metro area. Feeling like Speedy Gonzales, we ran around the house gathering up blankets and sweaters, piled in the car and headed to the Cinderella Drive In down the road in Engelwood. We got there with plenty of time to spare and while the girls finished their naps in the car, Ben went off in search of classic drive-in food (corn dogs, nachos, candy). I was amazed and how big this place is. It has two screens and rows upon rows of parking. By the time the movie started, the lot for Shrek was pretty darn full. There was quite a line of people hoping to get in and many who watched it through the slots in the fence. Next to us was a SWEET tan '46 Chevy Impala (kudos to me for identifying the car) and an awesome little family. We enjoyed the movie (well, Ben, Caitlin & I did, Cara slept) and the fact that we could take the whole family to the movies for under $20 without having to worrying about Cara crying or Caitlin sitting still. Shrek the Third gets about 1 1/2 thumbs up from us though, it was good but not "laughing until you throw up" funny.
Fast forward to yesterday, we spent the evening after Ben got home from work, driving around a northern suburb looking at housing. Ben is hopeful that we might be truly house hunting by the end of the summer. We found a couple of really cute townhouses in our price range. This town is not that far from Denver and has good schools. We are working with a mortgage broker to see what can be done. So, keep your fingers crossed for us. Anyway, it was fun to drive around, looking at homes, and talking about what we want or, do not want in a perspective house.
Today, we are planning a trip to Borders so that I can spend my birthday gift card and then to Payless to pick up THE PERFECT pair of shoes to go with Caitlin's flower girl dress for her Uncle Kofi's wedding in June. Then, we'll rendevous back to the "flat" to finish up some house work.
Oh, while we were out yesterday, I came across a table that was set up near the mall's play place that was promoting a new charter school in our area. While we're hoping to move out of Aurora, if we don't this could be a great option for Caitlin. They are teaching multi-culturalism and awareness and will be offering instruction in three foreign languages (Chinese and Spanish to start) with a promise to add a third next school year. Best part, it's a public charter school which = FREE! From what I've heard and read, this place sounds right up Caitlin's alley! The public schools here are not that wonderful, so this would be a great alternative.
One more thing...I may not be going back to work after all. The harsh reality regarding the price of putting two kids in day care has hit home--hard. My salary at the library will only leave me with $200/month after forking over $1500 for childcare. Did I mention that a few days a week, Cara will be in another person's care for 11 hours out of 24? Add that to the fact that we are having a hard time finding licensed people to watch Cara who are willing to be open past 6pm for those of us that do not have the luxury of working early mornings. The final decision hasn't been made yet, as Ben & I need to do some serious number crunching, but I think I know, in my heart, what's the right thing to do.

Okay, okay, I'm done rambling now, I promise!

Stop the Madness!

Oh boy, oh boy! Make it stop, please! I'm beginning to think that everything in my life has to be difficult in order for it to be worthwhile. You know that old saying, whatever doesn't break us will make us stronger? This seems to be my mantra. Just when I thought I had life, for the foreseeable future figured out, a few curve balls have to be thrown into the mix of things. Let me explain...
You all might remember that I recently took a job as a circulation clerk despite a decrease in pay, knowing that I'd be making pennies on the dollar after paying for child care X 2. Well, never in a million years did I expect to have this much trouble finding infant openings for Cara. I can't recall how many places we called, even going where no parent should ever go and checking out a few "centers" that are run out of shopping centers. Maybe I'm not current on things and this is the new trend but the few that we've seen have had very small rooms and one in particular smelled peculiar. I did the math and the "play area" in the infant room would allow for about 2 square feet of space per child. What?! Even in our small, awkwardly laid out apartment, Cara has more space than that and we're paying less a month in rent than they want for child care. Are they joking? We are not willing to dive into the realm of in-home day cares because I have lost faith in the Qualistar rating system as well as the state of Colorado's licensing program. The person who signed the license of the provider we originally had (pre-Three Bears) for Caitlin needs to be slapped! Anyway, I digress...we did finally find a early childhood center that we'd like to use for both girls ('cause I'd rather not drive all over Arapahoe county dropping off kiddos if I don't have to). We loved it because it's right across the canal from us and it's a Christian program. They also teach Spanish and ASL starting at the infant level. The atmosphere appeared to be well-rounded and loving. Couldn't get much better, you say? No, it really couldn't. There are just a couple of hurdles or curve balls--
1. They want tuition up front and you have to pay either monthly or bi-monthly. That comes out to $1400. For this financially struggling family, that is impossible to come up with in a week.
2. In addition to tuition, there's an enrollment fee (for both girls) and a materials fee.
3. They close at 5:30pm. That might not seem like an issue but for us, it will be because I do not know my hours at the new job and Ben will have a hard time making it back to Aurora from downtown by then.

So, what we have to decide is whether or not I should go back to work and if so, how on earth are we going to overcome all of these hurdles? I am debating contacting the library supervisor to see if we can't negotiate more money per hour so that it actually, somewhat, makes sense for me to pay 3/4 of my paycheck towards child care. Ben & I are actually considering the fact that it just might not be financially sound for me to return to work just yet...that I should wait until a better-paying offer comes along, preferably when Cara is a year old (no more worrying about her not taking formula or breast milk and also a rate drop if she's walking). We would also have more time to save up for the cost of enrolling the girls. My only concerns are that if I turn this job down, I will be burning bridges and not be able to work for this library system for a long time and may not find anything that pays well when the time comes. In addition, even though it's only a couple more months, I'm afraid that I will go wacko staying home any longer.

I know, I know...Ben & I seriously need to talk. But, when do you find time when your spouse works two jobs and when he is home, he's sleeping or we're jointly taking care of the girls? Late night chats via instant messenger seem to be on the agenda.

Enough venting, time for some strategetic decision making. What would YOU do?

The Good, the bad and the best!

The Good:
-I got a job with the Aurora Library. This means that, eventually, I'll be able to get these annoying, pesky creditors off of my back and I'll be getting out of the house!
-There will be "flexible income" again.
-We will be moving back to the city!
-I got hired despite a bad reference from a former boss (see below).
-Two of my dear friends gave me glowing references (thanks Jeanne & Jana).

The Bad:
-I was offered the Library Clerk position instead of the Library Assistant.
-The pay that I ended up being offered was about $4/hour less than was discussed at my interview.
-After paying day care, my take home will be a mere few hundred dollars.
-I found out that a former boss gave me a bad reference and had me panicked thinking I wouldn't get the job.
-I have to put my baby in day care and do not know of an upstanding one--time to do research. (Caitlin will return to the preschool she attended before)
-We will be 5 hours away from my parents, again.

The Best:
-The girls & I will be living with Ben again.
-We will be a family again, all under one roof.
-Ben & I have worked on our "differences" and what happened that fateful day in August & have mutually decided to save our marriage.
-I will be close to many of my wonderful friends on the Front Range.
-Did I mention that I will be getting out of the house?! Don't get me wrong, I love my girls but I think I'll be a much better mom if I'm not home with them 24/7, 365. Both will also benefit from the socialization that preschool/day care provides.

Well folks, that's the skinny. Now, even though I got the official offer...I still have to pass a background investigation, credit screen, drug test (shucks, no more poppy seed muffins) and have a physical. Other than the credit screen (for reasons mentioned in previous posts), I have no worries. What can I say except--WOO HOO! This good news came at the perfect time, the day before my 29th birthday!

Woot!

Just a short post to say that I have officially joined the ranks as a member of the gainfully employed! The final offer has not come in & I still have to pass a backgroung & credit check. But...the director said she wants me on her staff! I should have an official offer--postion & salary by the end of the week. Time to start packing...wagons east!

Let me be lucky!

Please, let the stars, or is it the planets, line up; let Yin & Yang be in balance; let there be good karma...
Momma needs a job! I am in the running (I hope) for two library jobs in Aurora. I interviewed for one last Tuesday and I believe I impressed them with my thorough responses to their questions. Heck, I think I even managed to sound articulate and educated. My "mommy brain" took a temporary vacation. I have another interview with the same library district for another position next Tuesday. This is the one that I really want, it's a Library Assistant position, which is a little more glamorous and pays a lot better than the Library Clerk job that I interviewed for last week. Truth be told though, I'm so desperate right now, that I'll take which ever one is offered to me. It sounds like they are very short-staffed too, so hopefully, that will work in my favor. When I asked when the director hoped to have the position filled, she replied, (direct quote) "the day before yesterday"! Now, I'm not bilingual in Spanish like they'd prefer but I'm more than willing to learn. I'm hoping that my customer service skills just won them over. What can I say, I like working with people (most days). This library district is right down the road from where we used to live and pretty central to any other part of Aurora that we chose to live in, so it's perfect. The schedule might be a bit funky (something like 6 days on, 2 days off and then 4 days on, 2 days off) but, we can work around that. I mean, I used to work EVERY, single weekend when I worked for DOC. All in all, I'm really psyched and have a good vibe that I'll get an offer for one of the positions by the end of next week. As much as I love being back in "small town Colorado", I have come to realize that it will take a miracle for me to find a good-paying job doing something that I'm good at here. Besides, I actually like living in the Denver Metro area.
When we were there last week, Ben, the girls & I spent an evening walking in LoDo visiting the Denver Public Library (oh my gosh, amazing), a huge Barnes & Noble were I snagged the latest in the Shopaholic series, and then had dinner at BD's Mongolian BBQ. While it was windy and sleeting at one point, we all had a wonderful time. There's something awesome about being amoung tall buildings and culture at every turn. Gives me the chills! I am already making plans to visit the many museums with Ben & the girls and have many eating establishments to try out. Mile High City, here we come, again (I hope & pray)!

Then again, maybe not...

Boy am I so glad that I stew things over, over-think or double check things sometimes. Here I was, making plans to go to Denver to interview for the technical services position when it hit me that maybe I might want to remind myself what exactly I would be interviewing for. So, I logged on to their human resources department website and scanned the job duties and such. Scrolling down towards the bottom of the posting, I saw the salary and did a double take--$13.83/hour! Excuse me! Obviously, I must've not been thinking clearly when I applied or confused the salary with that of one of the many other positions I applied for the same day 'cause that so NOT a living wage. So, I had to email my would've-been boss to tell her to withdraw my application. Thank goodness I did this before driving all the way over ther to find out this pitiful salary. See, sometimes it pays to be neurotic.

Stretched pretty thin

I thought I would let you all know about my job search as of late. The time has come for me to find gainful employment as I have started to get those threatening phone calls from creditors. Granted, I had been looking before now, just not as hard. Currently, I have applications and resumes in all over the state of Colorado, seriously. I just applied for two more library positions, one in Pagosa Springs (south and east of here, near Durango) as a Youth Services Librarian and another in Parachute (east of here along I-70) for the same position. I was amazed that neither require a MLS and that the pay is decent. I also got an interview for next week at Regis University in Denver. I applied a week or so ago for a technicial services position there. So, it looks like I will be making the trek over the mountains to see if this is something that I'd want to do. There are a lot of unknowns (housing, child care, etc), but I'm going to cross those bridges when I get to them. First step, get a sassy new interview outfit and hair cut to impress the big wigs! Wish me luck. I am hoping for more calls regarding interviews soon. Imagine this, I may actually get to CHOOSE which job I want...totally foreign concept. I have lost count as to how many applications/resumes I have it, but could list all of the cities (but I won't, too boring). So, it looks like I may actually be able to get on my feet soon, which would be wonderful.

Well, that's the latest...