Big Changes

Wow it's been like two months since I've posted. In my defense, my life has been CRAZY! In the last two months:

• We moved! It actually happened! We sold our house and bought a new one and everyone made it to the new place in one piece!  Moving is terrible! I can't find my stuff! I have a ton of unpacking and projects to do! My new neighborhood is great, though. The house is great too, although we've already had a few hiccups. On to the next bullet!
• We had a ton of rain and then water leaked into my mom's room in the basement. BOO! Our friend/contractor came over last weekend and he and Adam graded the ground on that side of the house--apparently it was somewhat sloped down toward the house, which isn't good. We've had a good 5 dry days but more rain in expected tomorrow so fingers crossed that it's fixed the problem!
• We had to have some electrical work that was supposed to be done after inspection repaired, which was super annoying. Then we had our friend/contractor fix it some more. We'd asked that all the ungrounded 3 prong plugs in the basement be grounded, but the replaced them with 2 prong grounded plugs, which these days are pretty useless! Since we needed to plug in computers and the like, our friend changed them out.
• Did I mention our neighbors are so nice? The realtor that sold the house lives across the street with her husband (who I recently found out is the dad of a guy I went to high school with). Two doors down from them is a guy around my age that works at Tyler's school. He brought over coupons for Macy's the first weekend. We also met the neighbors on both sides of us. There is an elderly lady to one side and a middle aged couple on the other. We are particularly fond of Mary (who is deaf and I'm fascinated by sign language)  and her husband Kevin. Kevin found out that our mower had died (literally the week before we moved) and I looked out my back window one evening and Kevin was mowing our grass. SO NICE!
• Where did I leave off with the book? I think I mentioned we were seeking out professional editing. Our publisher recommended a couple of people and we ended up working with a guy named Rob. His price was fair and he was very willing to edit without making huge plot changing suggestions. He cleaned up our technical writing a lot (God bless him, I hate that part) and made some great suggestions that we were able to incorporate with only minor edits and additions, but that I really feel make a big difference. And he's just all around a really nice guy and he really seemed to like the book and admire our writing. He was particularly impressed by our synergy writing together.
• Once we incorporated Rob's edits, we sent the book back to our publisher. About a week ago, we got the edits and their smart-edit report back. This publisher offers this report on all books they publish--basically, it's a list of possible grammatical errors, commonly misused words, works that are possibly overused, and other such things that their computer program can recognize. They are very clear that you can chose to make no changes based on the report. I thought it was pretty helpful and made a good deal of very minor tweaks, most of them on the repetitive word issue. The manuscript went back to the publisher late Sunday night and now we are OFFICIALLY in the production queue! A publishing date should be coming very soon, along with their proposal for our cover art!  So exciting!
• I got a promotion at work! I've done the same job for 11 years (at least in title, although the job has changed a lot over the years) and I've been searching for a new opportunity with my company for a long time. It's been difficult. We are a large corporation, but my office is relatively small and opportunities are very limited. About a year ago, my boss helped me make a big push to take on leading the group of people that do the same job as I did. The girl that coordinated the group ended up going on maternity leave (she was the one who was due around the same time I would have been with Gabe), so I performed a lot of her duties while she was out. When she returned, she didn't really go back to doing that portion of her job. They posted the job as a hybrid-type role--someone who would have regular shipping and invoicing duties (that's what I do (did)) and also act as coordinator and lead the team--train new associates, update work instructions, liaison with other departments, develop new process, etc. I am very happy that I got the opportunity and I had a lot of support. It's a lot of work, but I'm glad to be more challenged again.
• Unfortunately on the work front, I'm really juggling things at work now, covering for a coworker that is out on medical leave and preparing to cover for an invoicer that is leaving as of next week. Remember when I did the Canadian invoicing and then went to Ontario to train their new hire. Well, she's leaving. So now I'll be doing that again.
• Aside from that, there has been birthdays, field trips, and not nearly enough sleep!

Oh, one last thing! Kelly and I created a separate website for author/book stuff. If you'd like to follow us there, just visit positivevoicewrites.wordpress.com . All of our social media is linked there as well.

What a year I'm having!  The book, the job, and the house have been things I've wanted for a long time and they are all going to become a reality in the course of a few months! It's awesome and overwhelming!

Rejection is a dish...

...best not served at all. We've gotten two rejections from publishers. It wasn't unexpected, the editors had some positive things to say, but still, it isn't fun. I still have high hopes. We should hear back from 2 more publishers before the end of the month, one in particular that I'm anxious to hear from. So we'll see.

In other news, I might finally have a lead on a new position at work. I don't have specifics yet, but hopefully something will be solidified soon.

The kids are doing well. AJ has to have some dental work done in a few weeks, and it's extensive enough that it has to be done under general anesthesia. After the horrible experience Tyler had two years ago, I'm pretty anxious about it. I know that it was a fluke that his throat got scratched up during the procedure, which caused his pain, but I'm still nervous. And it's two days before my birthday, so I really hope he doesn't have a hard time.

Tyler enjoyed spring break and is back at school. He is doing really well, all A's. He's become a big help around the house and he's so sweet with AJ. AJ is trying to do everything Tyler does. He jabbers all day long and says the funniest things!

We are still working like mad on the house. This weekend we are sanding and refinishing our kitchen cabinets. I'm really starting to feel like we are in the home stretch. We still have to paint my mom's room and we are having the carpet in the family room and upstairs hall replaced (the one and only project that we are not doing ourselves, though we will remove the carpet ourselves to save a little bit), but the rest of our projects are fairly small.  Right now, we should be done with everything by early June, so my goal is to list the house no later than July 1st. I really think we can do it, barring anything unexpected.  

So that's it for now! We've created a Facebook page and Twitter account for our book, feel free to check it out, we're slowly putting more information out there and hopefully some big things will be announced there soon!

https://www.facebook.com/positivevoice02/

https://twitter.com/PositiveVoice02

And now, I leave you with a random photo of AJ with raspberries on his fingers.  Because, why not?

 

All that and a bunch of stuff

I'm such a terrible blogger.  I have things I want to say and then don't have time to sit down and write them.  I was even late putting up Tyler's birthday post!  Mom fail.

So what have I been busy with?  So much!  January was actually a pretty crummy, stressful month. I don't want to dwell on it, but here were a few lowpoints from December and January.

• We finally had to replace the sewer line in our front yard.  We had been avoiding it for awhile, limping it along with a good rotor-rooter once a year or so.  Basically what had happened was tree roots had broken into the pipe leading from the house to the main line.  The line backed up twice in a week, so we knew the problem had escalated.  Sure enough, the pipe was actually beginning to break/collapse.  So we faced the music and had it done.  $4000 (financed) dollars later and we were left with a very muddy yard that looks like a giant gopher had dug across it and a house with plumbing we could actually use without worrying. Yay.
• Mom was sick sick sick for like 6 weeks in a row.  We all had colds, then she and I both got a horrible cough that was REALLY terrible for her.  After that came ANOTHER cold and THEN a severe ear infection with a ruptured ear drum.  That last part entailed Adam and I taking the combined total of an entire work week off because she was so sick, there was no way should could watch the kids.  After that, we came up with a back up plan for these sort of situations, since obviously we need to be at work whenever possible.  Adam's dad is retired now, so he may be able to serve as a back up, so that combined with Adam and I driving separately and me going in to work very early so I could leave in time to pick up Tyler from school will work in the future.  His dad watched both of the kids on MLK day, which they all enjoyed, and after that, mom was beginning to bounce back.  Her ear is still healing and her hearing is coming back slowly, but it's progress.  I have another cough, so I am hoping she doesn't catch it or anything else!
• I've had some disappointments at work lately.  I've been trying to figure out the next steps in my career for awhile now.  It's challenging, because the path I originally thought I would take hasn't worked out.  They changed the preferred qualifications to include a preferred degree in a technical or engineering field. Obviously, I don't have that.  It's not like that particular job was my DREAM job, but it was just about the only one I thought I'd be able to transition into (that would be a promotion, not a lateral move). I've applied for that job a total of 4 times now and not gotten the position.  I'm at peace with it now, but it was tough and frustrating at the time.  I also applied for another position, and I'm told I was definitely a top candidate, but I more or less took my name out of the running, because the amount of business travel required was up to 50%.  It was a great opportunity, but with the kids still being so young, it just wasn't possible for me.  It was my hope that by applying and interviewing for it, it might open doors down the road, so we'll see.  My boss is being great about the whole thing too.  He's contacting a lot of people on my behalf, so hopefully something will come of it.  
• My sister had moved out, but unfortunately she lost her new job, so she moved back with us for awhile. She's got a good job now, so hopefully it's just a small setback
• We're still working on the house, but with Christmas and illnesses, we're a little behind (again, some more).  The goal is looking more like early May to list.  Fingers crossed!!
• Our dryer also broke, but thankfully it was just a belt and Adam was able to fix it fairly easily.  What did we do before YouTube how-to videos?

So, on to more pleasant things!  Another thing that has been taking up a lot of my time and attention, is a project a friend and I have been working on. I can't remember if I mentioned it or not?  I have mentioned that I've had aspirations to write a book.  I talked about writing one about infertility, and I still might someday.  I also wrote a novel myself, but never felt like it was something I could develop into a real project.  But awhile back, my friend Kelly came to me and asked me to work with her on a writing project.  Our writing styles seem to compliment each other. We are both very creative, and we have different strengths and weaknesses in our writing.  I edited what she had written and then we worked together to develop the and complete the story.  I don't want to say too much yet, I have no idea how this stuff works, but it's geared toward Young Adults, but fairly mature young adults.  There is a love story involved, even a bit of a love triangle, but it also deals with heavy issues like teen suicide, self-harm, and depression.  We've completed the manuscript, so now we're hoping for some feedback and we are preparing the necessary items to start sending it out to publishers.  I'm not assuming anything, we may get a slew of rejections, but it feels good to be trying and who knows where it will lead!

Okay, enough for one night!  I hope someone is still reading out there!  I'm still reading blogs, but since I can't comment like I used to (my phone is terrible for commenting), I know it doesn't seem like I'm reading!  But I'm still here!  Take care, all!

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it's off to work we go

Shew, we have been BUSY!  When we aren't at work or out running, we are working on the house!  We've been trying to get ready to list our house for sale for AGES, as I've mentioned here before, but we weren't really making much progress.  We finally sat down and made a list of all the projects we wanted to do and actually put them on a calendar.  That put things in perspective, because with mainly only have time to work on things on the weekends....well that was going to take a lot of weekends.  We've been hard at work for about 6 weeks solid and we've actually made a lot of progress!

We have work to do in every single room in the house.  A lot of projects are just fresh paint and curtains, but we knew that both bathrooms and the kitchen needed major overhauls.  We've already redone the floor and countertops and sink in the kitchen, but the raggedy wallpaper needs to be removed (yeah, I talked about starting this in the Spring of 2014 and I'm ashamed to say only one wall got done back then), the walls and cabinets need painted, new hardware will be installed and new lighting will need to go in. 

I'm thrilled to say that the upstairs bath is DONE!!!  Well, we still need to install one more towel rack, but I'm calling it done anyway!  We replaced the flooring, shower surround, vanity and counter, both lights and painted the walls and I think it looks really great!

BEFORE:  Sadly I lost the other before pics I took when I accidentally deleted all the photos on my phone

AFTER:  Vanity cabinet purchased at auction, top from the Habitat for Humanity REstore, and the faucet was an auction leftover!

AFTER: Shower Surround after!  Also bought at an auction. The shower head and faucet are also from plumbing auctions

AFTER:  New lighting, purchased at the REstore for I think $15.

The downstairs bath is basically done too!  It was a HUGE huge HUGE change.  The downstairs bath is really a half bath with the laundry and utilities also housed in it.  Until recently, it had mis-matched paneled walls, exposed rafters, icky flooring, a cheap accordian door, a bare lightbulb, and the heater and water heater were very much out in the open.  With the help of Adam's coworker/contractor, we now have clean white paneled walls, new flooring, a drop ceiling, can recessed lighting, a newly stained vanity with a new faucet, a sliding paneled door (like a pocket door, but it just slides against the wall, and a the utilities are now tucked away in a closet with slatted wood doors.  I'm thrilled with how it turned out!  I love the doors and the lighting! It was so dark and dingy before and now it's bright and clean!  I need to put a coat of paint on the door and hang curtains, but then it's done too!

BEFORE: Dark, mismatched walls, exposed ceiling

BEFORE: Exposed utilities (excuse the litter box)

BEFORE: accordion door, exposed duct work/pipes

AFTER: New sliding door, enclosed utilities with slatted doors (REstore, $10 a door)

AFTER:  Stained Vaniety and added hardware, new walls and towel rack.  Mirror Walmart $15

AFTER:  New flooring, drop ceiling, recessed lighting

This weekend we painted our hall (just white, not very exciting, but fresh and clean) and finished up some things on the bathrooms.  I feel like we've made progress, but there is still a lot to do. We are taking next week off work and we plan to work on the kitchen walls and also outside.  Outside we want to paint the shutters and front door, remove the damaged outdoor carpeting from the porch and stairs, clean out the gutters, power wash the patio, porch and siding, put up a new porch light, and do some basic pruning and weeding.  I also need to put down a little grass seed in a few places. Eventually I'll plant some flowers in the pot at the curb, but I'll probably leave that until right before we list.  Of course, these outdoor plans are hinged on the weather, which has been really crummy here lately.  Enough rain!  Don't make me call Noah!

Over the next few months, we have more painting to do (master bedroom, Tyler's room (sob!  Goodbye pawprints!), living room, downstairs hall, and mom's room), flooring (stairs and upstairs hall and new carpet in the family room), change out the ceiling tiles in the basement, lots of lighting (family room, entry, hall x2), and putting up curtains in basically all the rooms.  It's overwhelming at times.  I hope we can keep this momentum going and I hope the money holds out (actually that's it's replenished, because Adam has been working so much on the house that ebay has suffered).  I touched base with our realtor and she's happy with our progress and they're going to update our information to give us a better idea of our budget and what we might expect to get for our house, so fingers crossed for some good news there!  Michelle started her new job awhile back and it's going well so she's starting to look for a place as well, so it seems like things might be beginning to fall into place. I hope I'm not wrong about that!