Change...

 Change…the one constant in life!

(Warning...this is a journal entry for me to remember, 
so it is a LONG BLOG POST!)

Twenty-twelve…the year for major change in my life!  
I had chosen the word “GUMPTION”
for my word this year which means
“nerve”, “courage”, “initiative, 
“the quality of being sensible and brave enough to do the right thing in a difficult situation”

GUMPTION is the perfect word for me as
I am NOT good at taking initiative,
OR having the “nerve” and “courage” to really say and do what I feel! 
It’s definitely something that I want to make a strength in my life this coming year.
Once and for all
I’m going to take the quote by Steve Jobs and apply it to my life!

Well, my year definitely started off using 
a lot of GUMPTION from my part.  
You see, after 21 years of being at the same company, Artco, 
I turned in my letter of resignation when I went back to work after the Christmas break.  

(Background) The company I worked for was definitely seasonal as they are a printing company for Christmas Cards, graduation announcements and wedding invitations.   It seems with the economy that year after year they have struggled and so it makes it where we have about 2 months out of the year that are REALLY stressful for Christmas and another 2 months that are stressful for graduation and wedding seasons. SO, it puts us really short handed in the busy times and there are many a day you are chained to a phone cord and it feels you can hardly break away to use the bathroom, most days.  Well, November 4th  Tracy called me as he usually does when he is on his way home and I broke into tears, it had been one of those EXTREMELY stressful days where my kidneys hurt, my body ached, my emotions were on edge and Tracy gave me his blessing to quit. I didn’t want to leave my department in a bind during the busiest time of the year and so I stuck it out until the end of the year. I told myself I would see how I was feeling after the Christmas break.  

I had a wide array of emotions.
I knew that financially we would be okay.
We would definitely have to watch our pennies because we wouldn’t have my income to fall back on (while my income went to pay off debt and extra on our mortgage, I still was able to contribute to adding money for FUN and activities to our finances).  
We definitely know how to live frugally and will definitely be able to put our frugal living skills to use, in a way that we have never before done.
It will be a GOOD thing to “Regroup” to get our home life in order
and for me to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life.

On Christmas morning I got the sweetest card from Tracy
and I knew that everything would be okay to quit Artco and to move on.
I felt I was SO lucky that I was being given a second chance to redesign my life
for the mistakes I had made in our early years of marriage with career/school choices. 

December 27th
I turned in my letter of resignation and it was definitely the hardest thing I had ever done. I didn’t think it be taken the way it did. I had people stumbling over themselves wanting to know what changes they could make to the work environment to get me to stay.  They even tried to find a different position in a different department to get me to stay.  I definitely felt SO loved and appreciated and valued!!  It was a good feeling, but sad nonetheless. 

 (my last day at work...my work station)
January 12th…
It was crazy driving up for my last day of work…I had driven to that building pretty much everyday for the past 21 years of my life!   
Definitely a bitter-sweet day…my last day of work,
sad to say goodbye to all of the many wonderful friends I have made through the years. They are truly all like family, we route for each other kids, have been there for each other to celebrate marriages, births, deaths and all of the events that come from having a family.  My last day was supposed to be on the 13th, however, we were slow and they were making people lose hours, so they told me on the 11th that my last day would be the 12th.  I’m glad they gave me a warning so I could bake up “Pink Cookies with Sprinkles”…
my signature cookie that I could share with my co-workers on my last day.

 It was very surreal to clean out my desk, load everything in my car and use my name badge to “punch out” for the last time ever…
 to know that I would never be walking through those doors again to put in a hard day’s work.
Crazy, weird feeling!

(this letter of recommendation from my boss made me cry...
Betsy was truly the BEST boss I have ever had in the 21 years of working at Artco)


It was definitely taking a leap of faith…
 I had butterflies for weeks, wondering how it would all work out,
but everything turned out great and I haven’t looked back.   

For the first time in my life
I have been able to daily have breakfast with my family
and send my boys out the door with a big hug and kiss!   
I have had ENERGY
that I never knew that I had and it’s been  
wonderful to actually stay awake for a movie!!

Ethan just can’t comment enough how AWESOME that mom is home every morning to have breakfast and how AWESOME it is that YAY, we have watched many movies this past few weeks and mom has stayed awake for every one of them!    
WOW, and has the spark in our love life been ignited!! 
I thought our marriage was passionate and loving before,
but, quitting work has added LOTS more love and romance than we have ever had
AND it’s given us energy AND time to REALLY connect and enjoy each other!!

Just purchased the following book 

 and I’m excited to enjoy lots of sexual fun with my Sweetie!! 

What my time off work is NOT…
 it is definitely not a vacation and definitely not a party!! 
I can’t believe how many people have come up to me and said that is so awesome that you are not working….you’ll have to come to this event, or that event, or, how fun that you can blah, blah, blah!

The only way I justified quitting my job, was so my full time JOB could be to once and for all FINALLY get our home in order,
since working part time and then dealing with family/church obligations in my remaining time, made it where I never had any large blocks of free time to get to any of our languishing projects.

 Our basement is full of PILES of things that need organized and gone through.
(it pretty much looks like something blew up down there). 
Between home improvement projects and then on many occasions having company/family come over and so what did we do when we were in a mess?  We took our “Piles” of whatever project we were in the middle, hauled them down the basement so the main level was clean and organized and everything looks PERFECT…after doing that for 12 years and NOT having time to really get to taking care of those piles, they are seriously out of control, actually BEYOND out of control!!!      

SO at this stage of my life, I wake up every morning, get ready, make lunches and breakfast, have LOTS of great conversations with my men while we eat breakfast and I send them all out the door with hugs and kisses!    
I then hit the pavement hard doing my NEW full time job of organizing and de-cluttering my home!  

Most days I don’t even get on the computer as I don’t want to get “Sucked” in. I want to make the best use of my time out of the work force, so as soon as everything is organized and there is a place for everything and everything in its place,  
THEN I get the fun of painting walls, and trim and helping Tracy
get our home FINALLY once and for all FINISHED so we can truly be able to put all of our energy towards making our DREAMS of what we really want to do with our life, become a REALITY!   

This time off work is a “regrouping” for ME!
A chance to get my body back in-shape after being at a sit-down job for 21 years,
a chance to get our life in order,
a chance for me to have a few months of time that I don’t have to
grovel for each vacation day I can use,
a chance to be able to help in my kids schools and for the first time EVER…
a chance for me to have ONE summer of my life
that I don’t have to work half of the day…
I get to spend each day of the summer with my BOYS!!  

Come August or September
I look forward to being back in the work force, 
 making a difference in people’s lives and most of all
being able to help in contributing to our family finances once again!

Time is going SO quickly
and I hope I’m able to accomplish everything that I have on my lists of things to do.   
Grateful for my blog,
where I can document this next adventure in my life
and hopefully, I’m able to make the progress in my life and home that I have set a goal to achieve! 

Here are some things I’ve been working on so far…

 (pulled everything out of the freezers 
and took an inventory and typed a list of what we have to use)

(organized the cabinets in my kitchen)

(canned up 36 pints of chicken and organized my food storage room)

(shoveled the driveway on three different occasions that it has snowed)

FINALLY got pictures printed off and hung in our
wall collage frame that we have had since Christmas 2010)

This coming week the "Office in a Closet" will be finished 
and I'll finally start taking care of the piles in the basement!

(OH, and I am embracing my straight hair 
and taking my hubby's advice that it looks good on me...
so far I am really enjoying it)

Here’s to a wonderful, 
happy, productive 2012!!