What a Screwed Up Blessing!

OK, you all know how Jason was laid off in December, the very beginning of December at that? So his old job, the one that laid him off, called him last week Wednesday wanting him to return to work the very next day. They wanted him to drop EVERYTHING and just jump. That just was NOT an option. I had appointments that I had scheduled around his Walmart schedule that I NEEDED to be at, and without the kids if possible. He told them he couldn't start then, he'd need to talk to the manager at Walmart, because Sign Art (the old job) was very unwilling to have him work around his current schedule until he can get a new availability to go through, and see if he can get his schedule changed and the manager was gone until today.

The manager at Walmart isn't willing to adjust what Jason is currently scheduled to accomodate Sign Art, and honestly, I can't blame them. He can put in a change of availability but that won't take affect for about 3 weeks, so until then, Jason would either be working what he is at Walmart and telling Sign Art to wait or working at Sign Art and for the days where the shifts overlap, calling in to Walmart. In the long term, Walmart is the better deal simply because of the stability of the job but also the fact that there is a lot of different ways he can take the job, and management is the ultimate goal.

However, we don't know if him NOT going back to Sign Art will affect his unemployment. It's been 6 months since he was laid off from them, and he's now on an extension of his unemployment, which will last about 33 weeks (20 regular weeks and then 13 bonus weeks because we live in an "overly distressed state"), so some time in to the New Year. Once Jason hits 90 days at Walmart (2 months from now) he can get switched to a different department and work full time.

We KNOW the job at Sign Art is temporary. MAYBE it will cover 3 months. Jason is friends with a guy that still works there and he told jason that honestly, he'd be better off staying with Walmart. However, Jason is only working part time right now, and we can't afford to live on just his part time Walmart pay and my measely child support (my ex is ordered to pay about 175 every two weeks, and only pays about 140, and that's about 1/2 of what he used to pay because he's also unemployed) especially with Jason making $3 less than what he used to. That being said, it took him almost 6 months to find this job and he spent at least 3 of the last 6 months unemployed. He doesn't want to screw himself out of a job and just quit at Walmart because we KNOW that Sign Art will lay him off again.

To us, at least, it would seem that he could tell Sign Art to jump off of a bridge, especially as he is re-employed, but he's NOT employed full time, and even though it's only temporary, they ARE going to give him full time there, and some over time too. So it's all really up in the air right now, and VERY frustrating. My suggestion is to tell Sign Art he can work part time, like on his days off or when he has evening only shifts until he can get the new change of availability in to effect.

Prayers and blessings everyone, I really hope that your daily lives are not nearly as convoluted as those going on here!

Thankful Thursday

I've been working having something to post about. I'll get back to it soon, I promise. Life is just a bit discombobulated lately, especially with Jason home during the days, though that is working itself out with him sleeping during the day to be on a 3rd shift schedule. On to the Thankfulness!

I'm thankful that I currently have heat because I certainly don't have water! At about 11:30 tonight (still on Wed here folks) I heard a hissing noise from our bathroom. Jason inspected it and thought it was the sink. He then went downstairs and saw our hot water heater gushing water from the hose on top! The only way he could figure out how to shut the water off to it was to turn all the water in the house off!

I'm thankful I don't have to pay the plumber to fix the water heater! Thankfully, ironically, we haven't bought the house yet (and in this market, another good reason to keep renting!) so we have a landlord to call and have him send the guy out to fix it for us, after all, that's what we pay rent for, right?

I'm thankful we get Jason's unemployment tomorrow so that we can give our landlord some money. He always does appreciate those twice weekly (it's easier for us to budget to pay him that way) checks he gets!

I'm thankful my kids are unique and wonderful individuals who don't feel pushed or shaped in to anything they aren't. Though I really do wish Izzy would get over his whole tornado phase. I always thought my previous kids were tornadoes, but trust me, they have NOTHING on Izzy!

I'm thankful Jason has a job, even if it is just 3 nights a week. It's a job and it makes him feel more useful and fulfilling of his "duties". Not to mention him sleeping all day keeps him out of my hair so I can run the heathens as I normally would. Things just go smoother with Mommy in charge.

I'm thankful we had such nice weather this week. I was able to open up the windows for three of the days and really air out the house and help refresh things in here. I wasn't able to open every window as most of them still have plastic over them and I know Michigan and we'll keep getting that wintery weather. However the ones I was able to open, even the front door and screen, was nice and helpful. I even opened one up in the playroom upstairs!

I suppose that is all for now folks. I'm going to try to get back in the habit of posting somewhat regularly. You may get a lot of posts talking about my pregnancy, but it's the big thing for me right now! Prayers and blessings everyone, I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week!