So, the last week has been awesome. First, Carter has learned to ride his bike without training wheels! And it only took less than 5 hours, spread out over 3 days. Ashley and I are very proud of him. If all goes well over the rest of the summer, he might be racing BMX by next spring, if not sooner.
Second big event, Cameron has been doing awesome with potty training everyday. Fewer and fewer accidents as we go along. We will be very happy when we don't have to deal with diapers any more! Also, she threw away her binkie last night. We got to the point of only letter her have it at nap and bed time for about a month. Last night we asked her if she was done with it and she said yes, maybe not really knowing what was going to happen. Then we told her if she was done with binkie, to throw it in the trash, and she did!!! We thought for sure she would have a hard time going to sleep without it, but she was out after a few minutes and didn't cry for it once.
Third on the list, Ashley and I both got a chance to take aptitude tests for Reynolds & Reynolds this week. After the test, I was called in for an interview, but Ash was not. But I am not going to hold my breath on it until they call us to say we got the job or not. We are hoping to get this job though, at least for me if not both of us. My body will appreciate it.
Number four, speaking of the possible new job, I have been on a leave of absence from work since July 11th because of a seizure I had a couple months ago. So I am off until November 11th, 2011 unless I have another seizure before then. My body really needed the break because I have been feeling so worn out trying to work hard in a warehouse that has an interior temp 5-10 degrees higher than outside. Today I have a second EEG at 9:45am, and it should tell the doctors what's going on in my brain. So, wish me luck!
So, I went to the Dr. on Friday . . .
What was supposed to be just a visit to find out what's causing all of my pain turned into an afternoon in the ER. At the Dr., she decided it would be good to take some blood for testing, which is good for me too. I want to get to the bottom of this pain issue. Well, I didn't realize how much blood was to be taken until the nurse brought in a tray with 8 vials in it. OH MY! Well, I never had any problem with giving my blood before, so I didn't think anything of it. I was doing ok until about the 6th vial when I was starting to feel a little dizzy and light headed. Next thing I know, as she finished the 8th one, I was out cold and having a seizure, from what my wife, the Dr. and the nurses said. I woke up on the floor, but still knew where I was.
To be safe they called the medics in to take me to the ER and make sure it was not something terrible. After sitting in the ER for about 4-5 hours, the Dr. there concluded that what I had was a vasovagal syncope, which is more fainting and a tightening of the muscles similar to a seizure, or at least that was my understanding. It was probably due to just having so much blood drawn at one time.
So, now I have to wait until tomorrow to find out what's going to happen now. And I might have to quit my job and find something else less strenuous on my body as part of the solution to the pain. The bad thing is, all the jobs I have ever worked have been some what active in one way or another. So, my options may be limited, especially without a A.S.S. or B.A. in some professional field. I wouldn't have a problem going back to school, but how would I pay our bills? Again, not many options. I wanted to get into hotels and tourism, but here in Dayton, there isn't too much open in that area, unless I wanted to be a janitor or in housekeeping. Which neither would be able to support my family at the rate they pay.
Oh well, we'll see what tomorrow brings. Wish me luck!
To be safe they called the medics in to take me to the ER and make sure it was not something terrible. After sitting in the ER for about 4-5 hours, the Dr. there concluded that what I had was a vasovagal syncope, which is more fainting and a tightening of the muscles similar to a seizure, or at least that was my understanding. It was probably due to just having so much blood drawn at one time.
So, now I have to wait until tomorrow to find out what's going to happen now. And I might have to quit my job and find something else less strenuous on my body as part of the solution to the pain. The bad thing is, all the jobs I have ever worked have been some what active in one way or another. So, my options may be limited, especially without a A.S.S. or B.A. in some professional field. I wouldn't have a problem going back to school, but how would I pay our bills? Again, not many options. I wanted to get into hotels and tourism, but here in Dayton, there isn't too much open in that area, unless I wanted to be a janitor or in housekeeping. Which neither would be able to support my family at the rate they pay.
Oh well, we'll see what tomorrow brings. Wish me luck!
An End To The Rain???
Might actually be a break in the weather! I can finally get the yard mowed, maybe lol. That is if it still isn't a huge swamp by Saturday.
So, where's the Ark?
With all this rain we've had, I'm beginning to wonder if we should start building an Ark and gather up some animals. This is getting crazy. The worst part is the grass is almost knee high in some places or the yard is a swamp and any day I have off that I'm not laid up in pain, it's raining heavy. With my work schedule, I only have 3 days open to mow, so I don't have many options.
Things like this make me wish we were full-timers, lol.
Things like this make me wish we were full-timers, lol.
New Family Member
I am slacking in my blog posts as you can see. We have a new member of the family. This new member is a 15 week old Ragdoll kitten. He was 12 weeks old when we got him, and is nam\
d Gibbs, after Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS.
d Gibbs, after Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS.
On the way to work
So, as I'm driving into work today, I just couldn't stop thinking how awesome it would be to just hop in an RV, pick a spot on the map and just go. I personally would have no problem picking the family up and go where ever the road takes us. Then, if we get bored with where we were, pick another spot on the map and move on.
Now, I know fuel prices are through the roof, but I don't think that would be a good enough reason not to do it. Honestly, the only real barrier we have is no RV. So even if we wanted to, we couldn't do anything now.
If we were to do it, and become full-time RVers, I would want to homeschool the kids. I want to do that anyway, and this would be even more reason to do it. The only issue would be they wouldn't have many friends except maybe other families we might become friends with. And that wouldn't be so bad, meeting different people from around the USA. I have read a few blogs from full-time familes and I wish that was us.
Another issue I thought of though, Ash and Cameron are homebodies, although Sis seems to want to go "bye-bye" more often. Who knows, maybe that would change if we could at least try full-timing for a summer or even a year. We would need some income during that time but there are always opportunities to make money either taking a short term job in the area you camp or working at the campground, etc.
Oh well, maybe my dream will come true. We'll just have to see what God has planned.
Now, I know fuel prices are through the roof, but I don't think that would be a good enough reason not to do it. Honestly, the only real barrier we have is no RV. So even if we wanted to, we couldn't do anything now.
If we were to do it, and become full-time RVers, I would want to homeschool the kids. I want to do that anyway, and this would be even more reason to do it. The only issue would be they wouldn't have many friends except maybe other families we might become friends with. And that wouldn't be so bad, meeting different people from around the USA. I have read a few blogs from full-time familes and I wish that was us.
Another issue I thought of though, Ash and Cameron are homebodies, although Sis seems to want to go "bye-bye" more often. Who knows, maybe that would change if we could at least try full-timing for a summer or even a year. We would need some income during that time but there are always opportunities to make money either taking a short term job in the area you camp or working at the campground, etc.
Oh well, maybe my dream will come true. We'll just have to see what God has planned.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8
It's Been a While
So, I haven't posted much on here in forever and I wish I had. I have so many thought's and ideas that go in and out of my head that I need to document them somehow and maybe get some feedback from others. Plus, I wouldn't end up writing such long posts that people would lose interest in within 5 minutes, lol.
The problem is though, with my new work schedule, I pretty much sleep, get ready to go to work, work, then come home, shower and sleep before doing it all over again. I used to be on a 8 hour, 5 day a week schedule, but since volume was down from last year, we changed to 10 hours, 4 days a week. On one hand, it's awesome because I get 3 days off, but on the other, during the week, I am too exhausted to spend time with the family, and after last week, I have been so worn out I haven't felt like doing much more than vegging out, lol. So, I have either been on the computer, watching TV, or reading while watching the kids play. I've been giving them my attention, but I still don't feel like I get much "time" with the family. And since Ashley has been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, and before then, she hasn't been feeling like doing much either, but everyday.
And you know, I like my job as a Walmart orderfiller since it keeps me active and the day goes by quickly, and the pay is much better than anything I could get in Dayton. Which leads to the issues I have with the job now, after 8 months. Don't get me wrong, the incentives we get, free lunches for meeting certain goals, and other "perks" are nice, but like most jobs, there are some down sides. First, my body is just not doing well with it, and the doctor says I need to find something less strenuous or I'll be in real bad shape in a short time. Second, the DC is an hour away, so the time spent getting to and from work is taken away from my family time, and since I'm driving my in-laws Suburban, fuel is costing me over $125 a week. And third, Walmart insurance, for lack of a better/nicer word, sucks! I might have been better off getting on a plan through an agent instead of through the company.
All of this has me wishing, like everyone else in America, that I could make a decent living doing work from home. I have about a million ideas, but they all require a major source of capitol, building facilities, or improving on the skills I have but I don't have time to do. I would need to find something to do that would continually earn about $20.00 an hour for 40 hours a week on average.
Things that I have thought of doing include:
- Buying cars at auctions, fixing them up then selling them - but with this economy, not many would sell as quickly as I need and I can only sell 5 in 12 months before I'd need a dealer license. So, the vehicles would need a much higher resale value.
- Call me what you will, but I like baking and I thought I could sell baked goods through places like Etsy and various bake sales. But after some research, I found hat I would pretty much have to build a second kitchen in the house that no one and no pets go into besides me. I would love to specialize in "healthy desserts".
- I started doing graphic design work on invitations and announcements a couple years ago and thought I could do that. But so did hundreds of other home based workers that have way more graphic design experience than I do, and 100's more designs ready to sell. I have about 15, lol.
- Lately, I thought I could build small animal housing using recycled materials and cull lumber from lumber yards. This is still possible, if the demand is there. But, I haven't made a sale yet since I don't have anything built for examples, just designs in my head.
- To go along with the small animal housing, I thought about raising livestock. I'd love to help my family become more self sufficient and save us money on our grocery bill. Then I wouldn't have to try to make so much money, at least a few hundred less a month. But, we plan to move some time soon if we either build or find the right house.
- I also tried being a handyman, but that defeats the purpose of working from home. That just makes me self-employed, lol.
Now, I hate being negative about all of those things, but it's hard when there seem to be so many barriers in the way.
My final thoughts in this looooooong post is this, I would love to have my family and I become full-time RVers and travel the lower 48, seeing new places, doing new things, meeting different people, and teaching our kids about history and important life skills by example, not just some book. I'm so sure about homeschooling our kids that any talk of public and private schools has me space out, lol. Besides, it's what God wants us to do!
Well, I feel better now that I got that off of my chest. Now maybe things will be clearer and I can sleep tonight. We'll see.
God bless you for reading and I hope you practice J.O.Y. - Putting Jesus first, others second, yourself last. Lord knows I'm still working on that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
