Getting back into the swing of it all

Well, we're finally moved and settled into our new house. Nix that, we've been moved in but not quite settled for almost 2 months.

With an 8 month old, 2 year old, and a 12 year old, it's a bit impossible to be on top of everything...

The kids have adjusted quite nicely to living in a town of only 4700 people. My husband has been a little more apprehensive considering our old town was a cesspool for gunshots, muggings, drug dealings, and whatever other illegal activity you can think of. I think he's finally come to terms with just how nice our new town is.

As for me, I love it! This is MY town! I grew up here from birth to age 23. This is the life I've always known. I'm so excited to be able to share this with our children. I'm no longer fearful of the nights my husband isn't home or about unexpected knocks at the door. It's truly a blessing to be home. :)

One thing that isn't great around here are jobs. With a community so small, everyone kinda climbs over each other to acquire the higher payer jobs. Hubs found a job but it isn't quite cutting it. Thank goodness I'm still able to use my online trading business in order to help make ends meet. One of the joys of working from home* is being able to bring business with you.

Oh, I almost forgot, since the last time I posted we added a new addition to our household. Olive was born 11.09.13 and she is/was beautiful. She's already 8 months old and so chubby and sweet. Her smile is so infectious and everyday she concretes herself into this family more.

I couldn't be prouder of my children and the ways they all play, converse and love each other. Our oldest is the greatest big brother. He loves his sisters and dotes on them constantly. He is so helpful and patient, taking care to really get down on their level to play. Our middle child, SJ, is such a good big sister. At 2 years old, she is getting better at playing gently and loves sharing her toys with Wee-Uh (how she pronounces Olivia).

(I am hopeful that my 2 girls will be good friends through school!?!)

It's so good to finally be home!








*If you're interested in working from home, please email or message me for more details.

Today is just not my day.

I hate getting mail! It seems like every time I go collect the mail, there's always something in there that I don't want or need. Today it was bills.

Why does it cost over $1000 to be hooked up to a heart monitor for 15 minutes?? Is there something magical inside that machine that I should know about? I highly doubt it. I'm all for paying our bills and getting things taken care of in a timely manner but you can bet your ass, we'll be sending in payments for this $1000 and I'll be calling about this so-called bill first!!

I'm so irritated right now. Ugh.

In other news, my MIL made me a homemade birthday cake yesterday. It was chocolate with cream cheese frosting. It was delicious... and SWEET! So sweet that it made my teeth ache for a couple minutes afterwards. Y'ouch! It was really good though.

Lil' Miss is stirring so that's my cue to hop off here.

Today is a great day! Thank God for small favors!

Today, I got a call from hubs and he was moved to a different route system. What exactly does this mean for us? It means hubs is getting big paydays now. I'm so excited!

The routes hubs was running were averaging about $1000 take home every 2 weeks. These new routes will bring home about $2500! Who's excited? Me, me!!

Last year was so rough on us, hubs was drawing unemployment and we were struggling. We didn't know how we were going to make it day to day, let alone month to month. It was an awful struggle and really tested our new marriage. The tears that fell from uncertainty and doubt were almost too much.

We found our strength in each other and tried to push ourselves along as best we could. We had a 10 year old and few month old depending on us. Nick did little odd jobs when he could find them and I started free trading and selling everything we could live without. (We found out we could live without A LOT!) We even pawned our wedding rings that had been in Nick's family for 3 generations.

It was a struggle.

Then, this year (2012), hubs got a call for an interview and was hired. For the last 6 months, Nick has worked 5-6 days a week, 14 hour days and now it is starting to pay off. When he called today, I could actually hear the excitement and relief in his voice. It made me tear up. :)

We are still living month to month but I'm proud of what we've accomplished and how we've fought through what I never thought we were going to.  I'm glad we stuck this journey out together. I look forward to more years with my hubs. He's definitely the one for me.

Another record breaking day!

Today the temp in our city broke the highest temp recorded since 1933.

This is just something that I am NOT impressed with. It is so miserable outside. We ventured out for lunch at Hacienda and nearly melted. Our A/C in the van was just not up to par. Poor lil' miss' cheeks were red the entire ride.

My husband's occupation is that of a food delivery driver. He is a door to door route driver and frequently services farmers and many that live in the country. Yesterday he had a talk with one of the local farmers and because of the lack of rain, this farmer and his family have lost all their income for this year as well as $250K which was spent on planting his 120 acres.

It breaks my heart to know this.

My small town up bringing often causes me trouble here in town. More times than not, I am too trusting and not aware enough. The mannerisms of myself and my husband are night and day. I remember when he first started his route driver business, he was very wary of stepping into anyone's home and was seriously disturbed when they invited him in.I am happy to report he has since changed his country outlook attitude and we are trying to save and pay off debt so we can move to the country. (Although, he still gives me the stink eye when I say hello to complete stranger walking down our sidewalk.)

Right now, everyone in the house is napping, including hubs. This hot weather just drained us!

Welcome to my life.

So here starts my journey into the world of blogging.

Before I sat down, I had thousands of thoughts swirling in my head as to what I would write about. Now that I'm parked, I'm blank.

I'll guess the best thing to do is just to start by introducing myself.

I'm Jennifer. I'm almost 30 and I live in a big 'ole city in Southern Indiana. I hate the city life. I'm from a small town and I firmly believe that small towns are where its at.

I'm married and have been for 2 years. My husband is my best friend and also my biggest pain in the ass at times. I love him and wouldn't change a thing. My husband is addicted to trading card collecting. We have hundreds of thousands in white boxes in our living room. (No Joke!) His passion is collecting and he dreams of one day opening up his own card shop. I hope he never gives up that dream because it sounds pretty cool. :)

Nick and I have 2 kiddos.

Our oldest is 11 (going on 35). He is an extremely opinionated and charasmatically little man. Little man thinks he's a teenager now and is already expressing his individualism and attitude.

Lil' Miss will be 2 towards the end of this year and she is a spitfire! Her favorite word is "No". She loves Dora and Boots and anything with puppies. She looks like her momma and acts like her daddy. (True story.) It's amazing just watching her grow and learn.

Nick and I are also expecting our 3rd. Lil' Miss #2 is due in November and is growing right as scheduled.

So, in a nutshell, that's our family. Thanks for visiting!