The boys are back in town

ok, so what happened there then? Well, where do I start. Life kinda got in the way of this blogging stuff .. in a big way. In a nutshell I got pregnant again and our beautiful second son Caleb was born in August 2010 ...



He is no longer a baby.

Even less of a baby is his big brother. Quite the grown up our little lad starts school in a few short months time. We have a pair of proper cheeky monkeys on our hands ...



We moved again (twice!) relocating to York and buying our forever (for a while anyhow) family home ...



I have a serious lack of pictures of the place but you get the idea. 1950s semi with lots of bay windows.

House buying is all about compromise and we went for the dump of a house needing tlc but in the nice area. Last summer we spent six long weeks making it habitable throwing every ounce of energy and every penny of our savings we had left at it along the way. We got there ... almost. We still have a disgusting shell of a kitchen and a distinct lack of curtainage - for the latter I blame my obsessive need to have the right curtains for all those big bay windows, right curtains which cost such a lot of money even if you make them yourself :)



See those curtains there - yep those are linings held up by safety pins. I have no shame.

Finally, I went back to work full time when we moved. Himself looks after the tiddlers and I picked up a hefty job for my sins along with the not insignificant responsibility of being our single wage earner with a big fat mortgage ...



ok, so I don't manage this level of togetherness or glamour on any level but you get the idea. I hold the whole working mum thing together, just, for most of the time. I'll no doubt prattle on more about all that in due course.

So excuses made, re-introductions complete and we are back in business here at the patch.
Toodle pip
J
x

Work blues

I've had one hell of a few days - driven more miles than I dare to think about, coaxed into life the deepest recesses of my still baby fuddled grey matter, and I've even worn heels for the first time in 18 months - and all for one big fat disappointment :(

To explain, we've been having a bit of a life review at the patch recently. Our findings were threefold...

1. My own job, which brings in the bulk of our family income, is looking ever increasingly wobbly due to the uncertainties of project funding and I don't really fully enjoy what I do anymore as I'm on the fringes of the profession I trained for.

2. Dave hates his job and gets paid absolute peanuts.

3. We want to move up North somewhere to be nearer my folks.

So, after much naval gazing and probably far too much thinking/discussing (one of our very bad habits as a couple) we decided to capitalise on my earning power and put me out on the professional job market again, earmarking Dave to become a full time stay at home daddy for R once I found something. It wasn't an easy decision - muchos guilt about potentially not being a proper Mum to R, reality check that I was never going to be one of those lucky Mums able to knit, sew and bake cakes for a living while being a kept woman, plus lots of puzzled faces from the nearest and dearest who think I really have the best of both worlds at the moment by working part time. But, I'm a security first type of gal and the uncertainty over my future job situation and stress about the money not going far enough was getting me down. Decision made - now I just had to get my head round the whole job market madness again.

I saw the perfect job instantly and things moved really fast. But, to cut a long story short, things were not to be this time round and I'm gutted. The job was great, the Uni was great (full of fresh feeling energy and a 100% female senior management team!), and the location was perfect - one of our top two places on the wish list. The worst thing was that I was great too. I got 100% brilliant feedback after my interview - I'd really proved myself able to get back into proper work head mode and then some - so to then be told you really impressed us but unfortunately we had to give the job to someone else was a real bummer.

Oh well, pack away the violins ... enough feeling sorry for myself and back to scanning those job pages.
Toodle pip
J
x