Found Me A Job!

Time to reveal that I've got a job! I will be teaching Poetry and Newspaper for an after school program here in the town.

Where I live.

Trying not to reveal too much.

Trying to be professional.

Very happy to be teaching again. This program will be quite structured and for this I am thrilled. I am in the process of doing curriculum plans. Nice.

Other than that... I was out of town last week visiting my grandmother in the Midwest. She's in the hospital. It's kind of stressful time, as she's 92 and we all love her so much. That's about all I'll share for now.

We took Vivi to the vet today and she got her rabies shot and took it like a pro. That bitch has got mad skills as toughin' it out through the pain and discomfort. Like her moms.

She also has gained 2.2 pounds, for a grand total of 6.2 pounds now!! She's growing so fast and it just breaks my heart. I can't imagine having a baby, as this puppy's throwing me for a major loop. Ah, well.

Back to my research for lessons now...and if anyone has any tips on producing a class newspaper (like, um, can it be on regular 8x11.5 paper?) please leave 'em in the comments section).

Big Big Things!

Gosh, we've been here for four weeks now and we've definitely accomplished some things!

- Andy got a kick-ass job at the first hospital he interviewed at. It was his first choice, and seems like a really great, progressive place to work. He starts next Monday.

- I am making progress on reversing the effects of the I'm-30-and-am-without-a-driver's-license syndrome of which I suffer, and picked up the old driving manual and even took my 5 hour pre-licensing class yesterday.

- We bought a new car! Yes, a real, new car. 2009 Pontiac Vibe. Metallic Black. It rocks, and pictures of it and me in it will follow.

- We found a place to live!! We will be renting this condo in Pittsfield (where Andy's job is) temporarily - for at least three months - while we house hunt in the Northampton area. It's beeyoootiful and is an amazing place that we'd totally never be able to afford in NYC. Pictures of that will follow, too, when we move in, this Saturday!!

That's it for now. We're happy but totally freaking out about how much we're doing and how's it's just a lot all at once. But it's great, so who are we to complain?!

Only One Week?!!

It's a shock to realize that we've been back for only just a week. It seems like we have done so much. We are right back in a semi-normal way of life. As normal as not working and living with your mother can be.

After seeing great friends in the city last week for the two days we were there, we came up to New Paltz, where my mom and step-dad have a house.

We got Earl (our tan '93 Cutlass Ciera, inherited from my grandfather, named after my great-grandfather who owned a Harley Davidson shop) out of the garage and discovered, on the way to fix a leaking tire, that the brakes weren't working!

After a trip to many fix-it garagey people (can you tell I'm not a car person?) we finally had to leave it for a couple days. Because we were going to Northamton the next day for Andy's interviews, we had to rent a car.

Thursday we were up bright and early. We drove in the rental car (using a GPS system, which was awesome and spoiled us and which we subsequently bought at Circuit City's
going out of business sale) and easily got to Andy's schedule interviews on Thursday & Friday and a meeting with a mortgage broker to see if they'd laugh in our faces when we told them we aren't yet employed, nor have been for 7 months, and want to buy a house.

All interviews went well, with one in particular being an amazing RN job where the even have a wellness program for employees (and hopefully their spouses) that includes yoga and aromatherapy. Yes, please!!

The mortgage broker did not laugh in our faces at all and said she'd get back to us and it was likely we'd have to wait 90 days after employment start to get a mortgage, which was great news.

Now we're just waiting for job calls and then will get settled with a short-term living situation in Northampton or the surrounding area.

Returning to Northampton and driving around the Berkshires, we were reminded of why we want to live there. It's such a great town - it was lit up and lively on Thursday night in town, despite the cold, and it's just such a great area with outdoorsiness and shops and everything. We can't wait! We didn't take pictures this time, but here's some pictures from last year.



We are going to my grandmother's house in Michigan on Thursday, so it might be a while before I post again. Have a great week!