The Life of the Unemployed

Unfortunately for me, I was laid off at the end of January due to budget constraints. My boss fought to try and keep me on through the end of March, but such was not our luck. At first I was really bummed and felt like a complete failure even though I know my being laid off had nothing to do with my productivity or success at work. While they say the economy is bouncing back, its a slow bounce and still effecting many people out there. So for now, while looking for new employment, I'm doing what I can to stay busy, and prepare for London's arrival. I've been checking off to dos on my home check list left and right, started walking regularly as well as a pregnancy weight & stretching regime. But mainly I am tackling large home projects I would normally reserve for weekend projects and then not get done because on the weekends I'd be too tired or have other things Cameron and I needed to get done together.

So far I've been able to clean up and organize our closet. It's wonderful to be able to walk into it again. We have a tendency to fill small walk-in spaces to full capacity and prevent ourselves from being able to walk into them. This is the reason my current project is our organizing our pantry. I should have taken a before picture - we could open the door, and walk in 3 feet before getting stuck in food, recycling bins and small kitchen appliances. The pictures above are from when I took everything out and slowly started to put things away. When taking things out, I did discover a 7up can of soda was put in there with a small leak, resulting in mold in my 5-month-old pantry! After some bleach dowsing, done by Cameron, some sanding and painting, also done by Cameron, the mold appears to be gone. I've gotten a lot back into the pantry now, but still have a lot sitting out on the kitchen counters as well. Cameron's in the process of building another shelf in there, which will create more space for food and small appliances. Hopefully he'll have the shelf built tomorrow so that the pantry is in order before Super Bowl on Sunday. We're headed to Matt & Lynde's like most of our friends. Once again our TV will also be going so that there are two screens to watch from.

Next project - the downstairs hall closet - yet another space where the floor is completely covered.

Also on Cameron's to do list is painting the trim in London's room. We received her crib bedding in the mail last week and color-matched the dark purple in it at Home Depot for the trim. We've also just ordered her nursery furniture, so he'll need to get to the trim sooner rather than later, so that I can then put the furniture together and arrange the nursery.

Tulley is doing great. She's got sit and stay down perfectly. We still need to work on come when she's distracted. Potty training is in the bag and we've also got it so she runs and sits at Cameron's feet when he gets home from a day in the field. Melody's adjusted as best as I think she can. She likes spending time in Cameron's office when he's working from home and she gets to go on walks alone with me every few days when its not raining, so we're making sure she gets her own special attention. Jake and Kelsey are, for the most part, fine with Tulley's arrival now. Kelsey likes to keep watch over her, just from a safe spot from above. Jake just does his thing and when Tulley bugs him he hisses and swats her away. We're also working on teaching Tulley not to chase the cats, which is a 50/50 chance that she will when they are at her level. She's growing up fast, that's for sure. Cameron weighed her at 17 lbs the other night and we go to the vet for her second round of shots Monday.

Tootles,
Sarah