Am I seriously down to once a week?

Oy. My apologies to whomever still reads my blog. I've been busier than a one-armed paper-hanger lately. We've either been driving back and forth to Pittsburgh or I've been plastered to the computer trying to find a job. Initially, I wanted to find a job in Pittsburgh. Now, I just want to find a job anywhere...Pittsburgh, Erie, Cranberry, Meadville. All up and down the western side of Pennsylvania, I'm open to suggestions. I've got about a dozen resumès/applications out, most of which were sent yesterday. I've even sent unsolicited resumès to the Meadville Tribune and the Post-Gazette. I need work.

In other news, my children have run amok. Nay, not "children," I mean to say "child." Beth has gone completely wild. It's almost as if she's never known any rules in her short four years on this earth. I'm trying to attribute it to the move, with her being out of sorts and confused and whatnot, but I think it's more to do with her being four. Do all four-year-olds suddenly develop a need to push you at every turn? To challenge every rule? To drive you to the brink of insanity and laryngitis? Oh. My. God.

Ah, sweet DSL.

Windstream finally showed up (a day late) and installed our DSL. Seriously folks, do they really need someone to do that? They don't let you do it yourself, apparently, they have to do it. It's all very Big Brother. They don't use a software installation CD - like AT&T did in California - so that it's easy peasy. No, no. The lady hooks up the modem and then opens Internet Explorer, types in Windstream's URL and does it for you through their website. I don't much care for the process but I wanted my internets back too bad to object. Besides, the woman doing our installation was an alumni from my high school so we had a nice little chat about people we both knew. She's eight years my senior so the connections were few, but it was a nice chat.

So now...to find a job. We're very confused about what we want to do from here. Do we stay in this charming little podunk town and live a simple life (which is, ultimately, what we kind of want) and work jobs we really don't care for...or do we try to make a go out of Pittsburgh? And if we go with Pittsburgh, do we find a place to live first and then hope like hell I find work really quick? History shows that living on unemployment income alone while looking for work doesn't pan out too well. Or do we try to find me a job first and then scramble like mad and hope to hell we find someone willing to rent to us within a week or two?

Very confusing. Very. Thoughts?

Welcome back, Mr. Kotter.

So I'm sitting here in what's now my mom's office. It was first my bedroom, then my playroom, then it was a piano room for a while (even though we kept calling it the toy room), and after we moved out, it was mom's office. Don't get confused: she doesn't actually need an office. But it's where she keeps all her papers and stuff.

We've hooked up our desktop PC and it's all less-than-conveniently shoved on to one corner of the desk, tower parallel to the monitor, sitting directly behind it, printer perched on top of the tower. We're using dial-up until the Windstream people come and install the DSL on Wednesday. I told mom to tell whomever she spoke with that I was capable of installing a DSL modem but apparently she either didn't or they ignored her. So we signed up for free Netzero until they get here. Bah. Dial-up is so. friggin. SLOW.

My travels were as smooth and easy as can be expected. All of my flights left on time. Southwest is exceptionally punctual. We left within five minutes of our scheduled take-off with both of my flights. My only complaint? I wish I could have flown alone. I understand I couldn't leave both kids with my husband and take the easy way out and that the intent of the generous ticket purchase was to alleviate the mind-numbing terror of driving for three days with a young toddler...but it would have been so relaxing to be without the inherent worry for a child all day. Not to mention the inevitable tears and frustration that goes with being stuck in a carseat all day, the pressure that builds up in his little ears despite incessant binky suckage, being too excited to eat, the hassle of security, and the whiplash he must have after the pilot hit the brakes in our 737 in Pittsburgh. The poor kid was conked out right through our descent but snapped to (quite literally) when they hit the brakes.

All in all, though, I couldn't complain. Our night with family was pleasant and, thankfully, peaceful. The minute I laid him down he stopped squirming and passed out within ten minutes. We drove up to my mom's work the next morning and had lunch, then mom and I hit the grocery store and drove "home" to Conneautville. The next morning, we met my mom's friends for lunch at the little diner in town. Rob says, when I told him what we were going to do, "You're taking my son to a hen fest?" Indeed, I was.

Everyone I've run into has said, "Welcome back!" or, even weirder, "Welcome home." It's crazy. I know it should feel like home but I still feel like an outsider. I've been gone for almost six years. Should it feel like home? "Home" for me has been in California since 2003. I can tell you it feels good to be here. I feel normal again. In California, I was a little too redneck and a little too...countrified. I'm polite to people, I'll say "Hi!" to complete strangers, I say "please" and "thank you." I hold doors open for people and expect the same from others. Rarely, if ever, did I experience that in California. Also, it seemed like no one was ever happy out there. Back here, I don't know, it seems people enjoy life a lot more. And I dig that.

So, I guess "Welcome home" maybe isn't so ill-fitting.

A Few Things

I've been slacking lately, I know, but I have my reasons. First of all, I have absolutely nothing to blog about. Scratch that. I have absolutely nothing to blog about that I am willing to write about until we're back in Pennsylvania. My kids haven't done anything truly noteworthy, aside from learning a few new words which, thankfully, isn't uncommon with the younger one. With Beth, between her 2nd and 3rd birthday, every new word was a celebration.

My husband started his first semester ever of college on January 20th. He's doing alright, he learned how to navigate online courses fairly easily and with very little help from me. I have been helping him type the papers because he needs some help with punctuation but otherwise, he's been on his own. But with him studying during the day, I have to watch the kids and that doesn't leave me much time for blogging. See, while we're here at my in-law's place, we have to stay on top of what the kids are doing. We've childproofed the necessary stuff: outlets have covers, stairs are gated, all the doors have child locks on them. But there are certain things, like picture frames, glass decor, and certain cabinets that aren't locked and have to more or less be monitored at all times. I hate blogging in pieces so I try to wait until I can tap one out in a single sitting. It almost never happens here. I think I'm averaging two blogs a week, which compared to my previous five-a-week isn't much. I'm pretty sure I've lost a majority of my readership because of it. I hope that once I'm back in Pennsylvania and we can manage our time better that I can get back up on the horse and blog daily.

I must admit, I'm a bit nervewracked about the trip. My end of things is more or less handled...my husband's, on the other hand, is going to be a bit hairy. Money's going to be extremely tight and there's no telling whether they'll be able to stop for the night at any point. This really worries me because Rob's the only driver. I'm not worried about Beth or the cat, they'll be fine; but he wants to stop and sleep in a Walmart parking lot or a rest area and terrifies me. I realize that with such a tight budget, he'll have to do what he has to do to make it across the country without wrecking the car. I guess I just don't want to know about it. I've told him I just want to see them arrive safe and sound. I don't want to hear any plans; just leave on the 10th and try to be in Pennsylvania by the 13th.

I'm down to three days left here, I depart on the 10th. I'm supposed to have lunch tomorrow with a friend - and this lunch, by the by, is our first meeting; we've only chatted online thus far - and then I gotta get down to the nitty-gritty packing. I have to do all our laundry, pack all our bags, and determine what goes with and what can sit in storage until the first week of June. YIKES. I think I'm most remorseful about coughing up $94.00 a month for the stupid storage unit.

So, my friends, I'll be back next week. On the very good chance I won't get to blog again until next week, I leave you with this: I'll be in town on the 11th, have a birthday party on the 14th, but beyond that, we're free. We'll be broke, but we're available! I know all of you will be beating down our door to see us (ha ha) so all inquiries should be directed through my mom's phone number.