Summer Changes

It’s been a rather tumultuous seven days around here. Or as I like to call it…any typical week in this house.

With these two, anything can happen.

We finished the school year, and summer camp begins next week. So we’re currently in a week long limbo with the kids at home while I’m still trying to work. And although they’re old enough to do many things on their own, they choose this week to fight constantly, ask me a thousand questions about life that just happened to pop into their heads (why DO they call it a Q-tip?), and need my help with just about everything they want to do.

Usually my mom helps out with the kids during this week, but she’s currently in Canada. She picked a lousy week to decide to leave the country. I need to start befriending local college girls majoring in education to find a mother’s helper for summer.

On the upside, Cordy and Mira are really looking forward to summer camp next week, if for no other reason than spending summer days with mom is so boring that anything else sounds like a great adventure. Hmph…see if I ever bribe them with popsicles to sort laundry again – what’s not exciting about that?

On the good news front, I recently changed my job position, from contractor with BlogHer to employee at BlogHer. Telling you I’m thrilled is an understatement. What started as a temp job – something to get by for a few months when my position was eliminated from my previous nursing job last year – quickly became a job I loved and didn’t want to ever leave. Luckily, they felt the same way, and I can’t think of any other job where I’ve been happier. Not working the night shift is a bonus, too.

Aaron had some sudden good luck with employment, too. He started 2013 working full-time at his position, but while we were on vacation at Disney at the end of February, he found out that they were pulling him back to part-time. That was super-frustrating, and after months of being part-time he started looking elsewhere again.

He was called for a job interview for last week, and that first interview on Tuesday went well. But then, right after the interview, he got a call about another job he had previously been contacted about, this one with an offer. The offer was a surprise to him, since he had only had a phone interview once, although the person he spoke with had worked with him at a previous job.

Job possibility #1 might be a more stable job, with a larger company, but there was no guarantee he’d get the job. The offer on the table from job possibility #2 was a solid offer, although it’s a smaller company and the position required being a contractor for at least the first five months. Figures that after nothing for months, two opportunities pop up at once, requiring a decision within 24 hours.

(Funny story: that same day he received a call about a THIRD job opening, also. It wasn’t nearly as appealing, so he didn’t pursue it. When it rains it pours, eh?)

We discussed it all that evening, unsure of which direction to take. Should he hold out for hopes of an offer from job #1 or take the offer presented to him. He emailed his contact from the first job, explaining that he had an offer from another company but wanted to check if there would be a decision soon from this company. She responded, saying it can take their company weeks to get to a decision, and couldn’t confirm if he was a top candidate or not.

With that job proving to be anything but certain, he took the offer for the second job. Since I had recently acquired benefits, it’s less of an issue for him to be a contractor for a short while, and the company ended up countering his pay requirements with an offer above them. Above all, he’ll be full-time again and working not far from home, which are both great aspects of the new job. He’ll start the new job late next week.

And now? Now I watch for the sky to fall, because everything feels too awesome at the moment. It’s been a trend that we’re both not allowed to be happy in our jobs at the same time, a trend that has lasted for several years. I’m hoping we might break that trend this time, ’cause I’m ready for some good times around here.