A Whole New World ...

That's the song that was playing in the car on our way back home this afternoon and I found it very fitting. Fitting because I am about to enter a "whole new world". Not in a move across the country all by yourself and start a new life sort of way. Been there, done that, would do it again if I had to. Actually, I find that sort of thing to be very exciting ... exhilerating even (even if i can't spell it) although also very stressful at the same time. But no, not that kind of whole new world this time around. I've been a stay-at-home, work-at-home mom for three years now but that is about to come to end and soon. As in next week soon. Yikes!
I've thought about this a lot, I've stressed about it a lot, and I think this is the best decision that can be made at this point. I think the daycare will be great for Houston. It's Brody i'm sad about. I really wish I didn't have to leave him until he was two. But at the same time, I have to do what's best for my family and I appreciate the fact that I've been home with him for the first fifteen months of his life. Not many people get to do that in this two-income world we live in so I'm very appreciative that we've been able to make it work for this long. I wanted to work two days a week but due to the daycare situation and fees and all that I will be working three days a week. I'm trying to focus on having four day weekends because that's a happy thought. Not having to work on sunday evenings is a happy thought too. And not having money stress anymore is a very happy thought. Not in a "we're gonna be loaded" sort of way but in a "my income will finally be stable" sort of way. We bank on me making X dollars a month and that has worked out really well for us until the past six months or so. Wouldn't it figure that a few months after we take on a car loan my income goes to nothing every other month or so? A lot of what I do deals with new home construction and as most of you know, that's not going so well in Florida these days. So when we have months where I make less than X dollars, well you can imagine what that does to our budget. And that has happened several times in the past six months. So ... that combined with my being tired of working at night instead of spending time with my family has led us to make the decision for me to go back to work. I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity that I do since there is no work in the aerospace field here. And I'm really looking forward to working at work and being home at home, if that makes sense.
So after many phone calls and much research, we finally visited a daycare today and were pleased with it. They will let us use and pay for three days. It's a little more expensive than I thought it would be, especially since we can't find somewhere for only two days, but we liked it and the kids seemed to like it too. Everyone was very nice and they've come highly recommended by several people. It's fairly close to the office too so I really can't complain. And they ended up lowering the rate for us a little today (sibling discount) compared to what they told us on the phone which I really appreciated.
There are so many things running through my head right now about this whole situation. Some of them good, some of them not-so-good. I'm going to try my best to focus on the positives for now. And also on my new job responsibilities. I'm hoping i'll be busy enough during the day that I don't worry too much about the kids. One of the great things in all of this is that i'm still technically working for myself so if I want to leave and go get the kids then I can. I don't have to worry about sick leave or vacation time or anything like that. All in all, I think it's going to be great. Hopefully it really will be the best of both worlds.
So wish me luck as I enter into the next phase of my life. I'm scared to death, super excited and pretty much an emotional mess all at the same time but at least there's a resolution in sight. Now I can focus on the details at hand instead of all the possible stressful situations I can dream up in my head about what we may need to do. Brett has a new truck, I have a new job, the boys have a good daycare to go to ... things are looking good. :) Hopefully I can relax at yoga tonight and allow our new life plans to settle in peacefully.

And for a little crafty bit, because you know it wouldn't be me if there weren't something thrown in here about yarn or knitting or painting or something crafty ...
I sold more stuff on Etsy. I continue to be surprised every time I make a sale. I like my stuff but I just get tickled pink every time somebody wants to buy some of it. I have more undyed yarn coming sometime this week too so hopefully I'll be able to get it dyed and posted soon. And something i'm really excited about ... some knitting friends of mine are opening a yarn shop in Gainesville. Isn't that great? Well if that wasn't great enough already ... they want me to teach a yarn dyeing class for them. How cool is that? We're meeting in a couple of weeks to work out the details but it looks as if the first class will be December 9th at Troy Springs. Cool beans, huh? :) You can check out the progress of Hanks Yarn and Fiber here.