Work

So things are going good right now for us.  Eric has been working for 2 and 1/2 weeks now and it is going pretty good.  He trained really quickly and is doing great.  He is a little sore in the shoulders and fingers and his toe nails are purple.  Otherwise he is doing great and the pay is good too. 
I have cut down my hours to 10 a day instead of 12 and this week I have all four kids as they are all on spring break this week.  It may take a miracle for grandma and I to make it to friday.  But I will get paid good this week too. Which will add to our savings right now.

I am also a couponer and have been having a great time this week.  Logli is doing triple coupons and I have bought 22 jugs of laundry soap in the last 2 days. But I have also saved over $70 this week alone and I still have shopping to do in the next couple of days.  I am starting to accumulate a stockpile and am hiding part of it from Eric because I don't think he would be happy with all the laundry soap.  He doesn't like it enough that I have gotten so much deodorant and I am going to buy more tomarrow.  I have gotten cat treats and diet pepsi free this week.

If you have any questions about coupons let me know  otherwise have a great week.
catherine

Eric's job

So a few months after I started my job with the kids, Eric went and quit his job.  He wasn't happy and had wanted to go to truck driving school and said he was going to do that so I let him quit.  Well he thought about it and decided not to drive and so was just searching for a job in one of the hardest times to be without a job.  The national unemployment rate was going up and no one was hireing. 
Here we are 2 and 1/2 years later and the good news is that he starts his new job monday.  It has been a rough time but we have made it through.  I am so happy for him.  He is working at chrysler in belvidere here.  I feel a great weight taken off my shoulders with him starting work.  I have worked my hardest to make ends meet and pay all the bills.  I got rid of cable for a while and applied for food stamps to help us out.  And now starting monday he will be making money again so we can start building up our savings and get out of debt and move on with life. 
I have felt that our life was at a standstill the last 2years waiting for this job. I wanted to start a family and buy a house in the first years of our marriage but that has been put on hold for now.  My focus is to build up a savings and to pay off debt and be done with debt and credit cards for good. 
Good luck monday to my wonderful hubby.  Hopefully he may keep this job for years to come.
Until next time.
Catherine

My job

My job has changed a lot over the years.  Out of college I started by working at a daycare where I worked for 10 months until I got a job at a daycare closer to home.  I worked there for a long time at least 2 years and ended up being the lead teacher in the toddler room.  Well my assistant teacher quit and the one they hired to replace her was horrible and I couldn't work with her. Plus a ton of rules changed and I had enough.  I had to get out of there. By then I had my own apartment and took a total risk quitting my job before I had another one. 
I did get another one right away.  I started working at Portrait Innovations.  I enjoyed it most of the time and within a year was one of the top sales people.  Then over the 2nd christmas season I listened to the manager and did as told and my sales dropped because I wasn't shooting as much and doing what the customer wanted instead of what I was suppposed to.  So I come back from vacation in January and was fired.
Eric and I were living together at the time so I was ok there.  I went on unemployment to at least be able to pay my bills.  In August of 2009 I got a job as a nanny for 3 kids.  I started August 17th and have been with them ever since.  The littlest was 11 months old and at this point is 3 and1/2 and in preschool now.  Most of the time I like my job and I really love the kids but I could do without the extras in the house taking over my job and I wish they would just let me do my job and leave me alone.
I hope to someday be able to watch kids in my home.  It is my dream to stay at home like my mom and just watch kids there.  So hopefully someday.   Until then I will suffer though this time in my life.
Until next time
Catherine

new blog

So I am starting up a new blog and using it as sort of a journal to have for memories and for my kids to someday read about what their parents were like before they were around and what we have gone though.  At this point we have been married for 1 and 1/2 years and it hasn't been the easiest.  There has been a lot of ups and down and now things are turning around for the better.  I am working been working 12 hour days and will finally be able to work fewer hours soon.  Eric is just waiting now for a call as to when he starts his new job at chrysler.  I am excited that things are heading in the right direction for us now. 
I have so much I want to write about but I am going to take it a little at a time post by post to "catch up" on life as its been.  But for now I am off to make some cards and enjoy the rest of the day.
Catherine