Unplugged

Well, we've been really busy these past few weeks... we moved our house-full of stuff into our new house out in the country (a whole ordeal in itself), and we have been working diligently on getting our old home ready to sell and listed (another massive ordeal), driving back and forth each day to drop the kids off for their last few weeks of day care for the month of July. It has been busy indeed!

In our new home we currently have:
1) No Internet
2) No Home Phone
3) I lost my smart phone before the move so no Internet Phone Access, using a prepaid dumb phone
4) No Cable Television (I don't watch TV, but my husband is catching a few stations on his rabbit ears)
5) No Clothes Dryer (ours started smoking...) been drying them outside on a makeshift clothesline and wherever I can.
6) No Oven (I've been using a crock pot and microwave to cook family meals).
7) No Dishwasher (We've been doing it the old fashioned way!)

We are also a good 10 miles away from all the fast food places and convenience stores that we were so accustomed to hitting up and we have a big 'ole gravel driveway with an old rusty gate that we keep locked up now to prevent strangers driving down looking for things to run off with... (apparently this can happen occasionally out where we live if you invite it, so we keep the gate closed, which is what the neighbor we share our driveway with tells us we should do) It is a pain in the butt to unlock, so we've been spending our evenings at home unpacking boxes, cooking at home, and trying to get settled in and organized - it is kind of a deterrent from driving anywhere you don't really have to go. But I truly feel "unplugged"... no Internet, no phone. I realize how much I have missed being able to surf the Internet, google interesting things, get on Blogger, and read and respond to email, or drive a mile down the street to go to Starbucks, Panera, or Goodwill. I'm checking email right now in our vacant old house, which still has our access temporarily... It feels so good to be able to do this right now because it has been so long! It's going to take me a while to catch up with everyone.

All in all, we are so blessed, even though still stressed and maxed out financially, hoping that our old home will sell quickly, but very very thankful to be in our new home and looking forward to a simpler lifestyle, more privacy, more nature, and more time with my kids. I want this move to bring me closer to my husband, my family, and to God, and lately, I think we have been in over drive mode, it's been having the opposite affect, but today, my husband and I got to go to confession together alone, (only 2 more days before full time kids = crazy mode :-) and a nice relaxing lunch and walk downtown. It's an amazingly beautiful day today. Going to catch up on my email now... while I have a chance to do it!

Saying Goodbye to the Corporate World

A week ago on Friday was the last day of my full time job as a Software Engineer at GE Aviation. HOLY COW, YES-I-DID-JUST-QUIT-MY-JOB!!!!!!!!!!!  It's been such a surreal head trip, I haven't had a chance to really process it or sit down and write about it until just now. This wasn't really officially planned or thought out very well... it was a decision made more on emotion, than logic... The "smart" thing would have been to:

a) finish our home renovations
b) move
c) sell our current home
d) move the kids into the newer (much more affordable daycare in our new area) and work for another year so that we could begin to pay off the large amounts of credit card debt we are quickly racking up.

But I decided that I just didn't want to. I wanted to stop working.

So I put in my 2 weeks and resigned. It's insane really, but I want to throw financial caution to the wind and be a stay at home mom and the sooner the better. After years of praying about it, my husband is finally on board. I know there will be a lot of lifestyle changes. We eat out all the time. We buy most of the groceries and misc. household items that we need (want) without really a second thought or discussion. We don't have a tight regulated budget. We are going to have to figure out how to live off of less than 1/2 of the income we are accustomed to. I'm not exactly sure how we are going to make this work... but there is no turning back now.  (OK, well, I do know actually, and that is with Epic Withdrawals from my 401k plan and a lot of prayer, that is how.) I'm also going to have to figure out how to be WAYYYYY more domestic than I am now... and that, my friends, is a scary thought, but I am really excited about learning. I'm going to have to develop a heck of a lot more patience when interacting with my children also, so I'll have to take that day by day. I'm going to have to cook and clean and all that stuff that does not come easy to me.  I'm about as opposite of a "Martha Stewart" type as they come...

Right now I feel very humbled and extremely blessed to have my family's support in making this very huge transition in my life. I want to thank every blog reader who ever said a prayer for me when I needed it. (And there were many times when I really needed it!) Thanks to every family member and friend (Nova and Lisa) who listened to me complain for hours about my job stress.  Thanks to a few amazing co-workers (Barb and Char) who sent me off with kind words and the perfect parting gift, and for my Spiritual Encouragement group (Pat, Mike, Jim, Mike, John, and the rest of the gang) who prayed over me for "success" in my new "job" and gave me a very touching card.

And most of all, thank you to my husband, James. You are my best friend. I love you! I know I am a very lucky woman to have you and thank you for putting up with all my crap.

Anyway, the coolest part of all this was coming home last week to a "surprise party" my husband and kids put together for me.

SURPRISE!!!

I mean, how can much better can life get than walking home to a welcome like this???

My kids don't know what they are in for...

Check out my cool sign!

And I even got an Ice Cream Cake! :-)

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you all enjoy your 4th of July weekend with family and good friends. God Bless!