The job search isn't going too well. Josh heard back from several companies, but they weren't offering him the pay and benefits he'd like. He makes pretty good money here (with some awesome benefits) in San Diego and they're offering him jobs for $12 and $15 per hour with little to no benefits. That's a huge pay cut and I can understand why he doesn't want to do it.... Even if it all balances out in the end. Less pay, less cost of living and less rent. We'd be almost as well off as we are here. However, we're moving to Saint Louis in hopes of being be one step up from where we are here. We don't want to be stuck in a little apartment forever.

It's looking more and more like we'll be staying here in SD for the time being and saving every penny we have. At least until Josh gets a good job offer. He's applied to and contacted (via me) almost 200 different companies in Saint Louis County. So we're still crossing our fingers that he hears back from a good one.

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In other news, I heard from the Ex yesterday. I guess we screwed up our 2008 taxes and we're being audited. :( He said we owe them quite a chunk of change. I'm worried that since Josh and I haven't received our return yet that they're going to take the money straight out of there. (Darn you EX... and doing your taxes in mid January! He already got his back...) We'll still have money left over, but it would definitely affect our plans to move. Less money back on the return = more money we are going to have to save up... If we have to stay here for a bit longer I'm gonna want to move out of this apartment which probably means having to sign another lease. We'd stay where we're at, but I'm really not liking this apartment any more. There's so much awful going on here that I just don't have the energy to list it all. (Just to name a few: Leaky fixtures that they don't seem to know how to fix. Neighbors that party and smoke RIGHT outside our door. Dog poop every where you look - and step! Never any hot water - We take luke warm showers. Washing machines that only do half loads -Sick of paying $60+/month to do our laundry!) The only real upsides to living where we are is that it's only a 5-10 minute drive to work for Josh AND we have central heat and air.

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I'm still on my mini blogging break. I just felt like updating. Not sure if I'll ever get back into blogging as much as I was. It was taking up a lot of my time and I'd much rather be spending that time with my kids and Josh. :)

*By the way, weight loss is going pretty well!! Lost about 6lbs so far!*

I feel like Josh's secretary. Not even joking. For the past week I've been searching out every.single.HVAC.company I could find in the Saint Louis area. I've been googling them. I've searched yellowpages.com. I've been checking craigslist for HVAC job listings. Searching Yahoo Hot Jobs. I've even been reading posts in a forum called HVAC-Talk (completely BORING!). I know waaaaaay too much about heating and air conditioning than I've ever wanted to know!

All in an attempt to help Josh find a job in Saint Louis.

He works 40+ hours a week and I've got nothing but time on my hands. (Ok not really, but nap times and when they choose to play quietly in their room I do...) I've e-mailed every HVAC company I could find on the internet. With his help I've typed out a resume and a cover letter. I've filled out applications. I've printed out several cover letters and resumes ready to fax to companies. When he gets an e-mail from any of the companies, I'm the one e-mailing them back.... as Josh of course.

I should be getting paid for this.

So far I've e-mailed, faxed, contacted via a web site or applied online to about 50 different companies. So far we've heard back from about 5. One is actually hiring for his job position.

Please send some prayers and good vibes our way that one of these companies like him enough to want to interview him!

Kind of.

I think I'll be taking a little mini-blogging break for awhile. I'm sure I'll be back, but for now almost all of my free time is being spent preparing for our move to Saint Louis.

Right now Josh and I are sending out his resume to HVAC companies in the area. So far we're not having much luck... As soon as he can land a good job then we're outta here! We were approved for the townhouse that we applied for as long as he can prove that he has a job set up out there prior to moving.

I'm thinking that the actual move itself will be taking place in about March or April. Wish us luck! I have so much to do before we leave San Diego!

I was 19 when I first got married... When Ronnie and I got our first apartment together my mom was really excited... Not because I was actually leaving, but because I could now take all of the crap I had been storing at her house with me!

One day shortly after I moved out she decided to clean out my old room and pack everything up in some big plastic tubs. The very next day she unloaded them all at my new apartment. We had hardly anything in our apartment at the time and these huge plastic containers went straight into my closet... and there they sat until we moved.
Each and every time we moved to a new place (I believe it was a total of 5 different places... plus the few times we had to put our things in a storage unit...) I would just haul these big tubs along with us. One time I decided that I wanted to go through them. We were living in a 3-story townhouse in military housing. The bottom level had the garage and a HUGE pantry/storage area. (I miss that place... lots and lots of storage there!)