A few weeks ago Josh went on a trip to Saint Louis, MO. He was there for a job interview... and unfortunately he didn't get the job.

No biggie...

We've decided that with the economy the way that it is and with the HVAC industry being in it's slow time of year we're going to be putting our St. Louis plans on hold. Just for the time being. This Summer when business starts picking back up we'll try again.

So for now we'll be staying in San Diego. I'm not really complaining though. Beach, mountains, desert, nice weather, sea world, zoo... Could be worse. ;)

We are moving though.... down the street and around the corner into a house with a garage, washer/dryer hookups and a yard. The bedrooms are a bit smaller than where we're at, but we'll have a yard to play in to make up for it! Moving day is next weekend, the 27th!

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In other news, my ex-husband returned from Japan sometime this month. I got a text from him the other day and we talked briefly on the phone... Apparently he and New Wife aren't hitting it off so well and they're getting a divorce. (Can I just shout out a BIG, "I TOLD YOU SO!"???) Does everyone else see the pattern now? Get them pregnant, marry them and leave them before the baby is even a year old. (For the record, our marriage was actually planned, babies were planned... and some how I managed to last 6+ years before I got cut. Wife #1 and #3, not so lucky.)

Now I'm just feeling really sorry for the guy. It's sort of hard to explain. I guess I'm feeling sorry because he just seems so lost. He's 28 years old, married 3 times and has 4 boys that he'll probably never get to know.

I wrote this in a letter to him just over a year ago... (December 2008)

"I really hope you've thought long and hard about all of this before you decided to give up your chance at being a family with us. It would be incredibly sad if you decided a month or 6 months or a year from now that you've made a huge mistake... because by then the damage will have been done and the 3 of us will have moved on with our lives without you."

Wow.

I have a little one sitting on my lap so I'm gonna have to keep this short.

About an hour ago I dropped Josh off at the airport... He's on his way to Saint Louis for a job interview!!! About a week and a half ago I sent a cover letter and Josh's resume to a company that is hiring for a maintenance tech in this historic high rise apartment building. (Really ritzy and nice looking.) They wanted someone with lots of HVAC experience... (someone like Josh who has worked in the HVAC business for the past 5+ years.) They called Josh the next business day and asked him when he could come interview. Once the guy on the phone mentioned the pay Josh tried to be polite about it by saying that he wasn't going to be out there for another month or two. A day or two later Josh gets an e-mail from the General Manager asking why he can't come interview now. Josh wrote back saying that he just couldn't take that kind of pay cut... and he was sorry for the misunderstanding. It was $5 - $7 an hour less than what he makes now. She wrote back and offered him $5.50 more than they originally did... and asked him if that would get him to come out to St. Louis to interview with them. So we decided to go for it.

He interviews tomorrow morning. I'm so nervous and excited for him! It's not exactly what his dream job is, but it's a start. They're offering him decent pay and all the benefits that he has at his current job. And let me tell you, this place is NICE. It's not just some run down apartment building... It's like top of the line everything.. Clothing store, restaurant and even a doggy salon in this building. (And the best part, you can order room service from the restaurant!) I told him if he gets hired we should see if we could get a discount on this place. I was only half joking though... I know he wouldn't want to live where he works. ;)

If things don't go well at this interview I wrote down a bunch of Heating and Cooling companies that don't have websites so he can drive around and look for work that way.

If absolutely nothing goes well and he comes home with no job from this, well, at least we can say that we tried. Business is pretty slow in the HVAC industry right now. This economy isn't helping at all. I'm just thankful that he does have a job here and he's not in any danger of being laid off. If we have to stay here a little longer than planned it's not a big deal.... We'll just be stuck in a 2 bedroom apartment until further notice.

Kids are getting cranky... Gotta run! Wish us luck!

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 know I've been a bit MIA from the blogsphere this past week... That's only because I've been super busy doing some research on what we will be calling our new home. Remember when I mentioned moving to Saint Louis, Missouri awhile back? (No? Ok, well I did... lol) Josh and I have been talking about moving to Saint Louis for awhile now....

And now, it's actually starting to become a reality!

Our good friends who just moved back there were finally able to get their own place in these cute lil townhomes. We took a look at them online... liked the location, loved the pictures, loved the surroundings... so we decided to go for it.

On Tuesday I e-mailed the property and told them our situation and let them know that we couldn't be out there until July. I mainly wanted to know if our dogs were going to be accepted. I know out here it can be hard to find any where that will take a dog over 30 pounds... and even harder, one that will take two dogs! (Not to mention that Harley is still a puppy...) Anyway, I got an e-mail back telling me that we can apply for a townhouse as early as that day! I talked things over with Josh and we applied online last night.

This morning I e-mailed them all the necessary documents and now I'm playing the waiting game. We should be able to find out today if we're approved or not. If we are then we can be put on a waiting list for a 3 bedroom. They don't come up often so we're able to get first dibs if one pops up around the time we'll be moving. If there's none open we'll just move into a 2 bedroom. Both have washer/dryer hook-ups in the units. (Very excited about that!)

Once we have this place secured Josh can start looking for a job in the surrounding area. We might be doing things a little backwards, but I will feel better knowing we have a place to move into... Now he has about 5 and a half months to figure out where he'll be working.

Oh my gosh, we're really doing this... Starting to feel a little bit more real now... I'm so ready though.