Veterans' Day

It's nice having a day off in the middle of the week.  I was able to get all the errand-y type things I usually have to do on the weekend done and now feel like I can fully relax this weekend.  To make it better, most people decided to take today off work and have a four day weekend.  As nice as that would have been, coming in to work for just half a day meant that I could get more done in four hours than I usually do all week.  Why?  Because no one was there to bother me.  This means that come Monday, I'm better positioned to get through the week than I normally am.  I can relax even more!  Amazingly, I've also done all these things sans car since mine is still in the shop (I don't even want to go there).

I finally cashed in my birthday present and had the house cleaners come in yesterday.  The house is so clean and smells so great.  How wonderful!  There's nothing like that "clean house" smell. 

In other news, Roger has accepted a new position with a well established company that is starting an HVAC section here in Sacramento.  The company is known for it's solar power and while they are getting the HVAC thing set up, have offered to have Roger start early and learn the solar part of the business.  This means several things.  One, he will temporarily have to give up on the business, since it could cause some conflict.  This is sad in some ways because his business was taking off...but the unsteady income did make us uneasy.  Things were working well for us and the extra time he got to spend with Kaelyn was awesome, but I think he missed the daily grind of a regular job and with the economy being the way it is, it was scary for us to invest in something new.  Still, he did well for his first year and it seems that now that he's wrapping things up, people are calling left and right wanting service!  It was hard to pass up the additional income though.  It will be a great cushion for us and it makes us both feel so much better knowing that it's there.  The not so great part is obviously he will have less time with Kaelyn and I know he'll miss that.  We have great care for her and she's happy with our caregiver, so we are good there, but I know that Roger enjoyed the extra time with her, especially now that she's so little and so in love with her daddy!

For me, I think this move is all positive.  The opportunity for him to start something from the ground floor is amazing...and to be backed by such a well respected, well established company is even better.  Plus, learning about solar power can only be good.  Even though we live fine off my income alone and have been able to fund all our fun stuff with Roger's business, it's nice to know that we'll have the second steady income guaranteed to us.  We'll be able to save even more and have a fall back for times like when we don't have a renter and need to pay two mortgages (I did not enjoy that last month!)  We were not expecting this development in his career and I won't go into how it came about, but suffice to say, we were not looking for this.  The stars just aligned perfectly and we felt like we had to jump on it. 

We'll be getting used to a new schedule over the next couple of months and I have a feeling that the adjustment might be hard for all of us.  With both of us going into work early now (6:30 am), we'll have to work out how to get Kaelyn to our sitter.  It's a long drive, which means earlier mornings for both of us.  I just hope I have my car back soon so we can take turns.  As it stands now, Roger drives me to and from work...which is just extra driving and time for him.  Still, we are going into this holiday season with new hope for our future.  We're excited...even if cautiously so.  We'll be working hard, the days will be tiring, but the peace of mind will be nice.  We'll make that much more of an effort to maximize the time we do have together on the weekends.  I'll be looking into changing my schedule so that I can have a flex day every other Friday and Roger may be put on a 4-10 schedule that will give him three day weekends as well...so, we should be good there.

I'm ready for the weekend and plan to fully enjoy it.  We'll be helping friends move tomorrow and may go shopping on Sunday.  Nothing big.   Just time together as a family.  Always good.

To end:  Thank you to all who have served past and present.  Thank you to the families that sacrifice your loved ones.  And to all those who I've known that have lost their lives fighting for our freedom (and to everyone that I don't know)...THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!