…and I say… it’s all right.
A job offer has finally come. The job I interviewed for back at the end of March came through and offered me a position last Monday. I’ve been hesitant to post just because I don’t want to jinx myself, but things have all come through and I’m set to start tomorrow. I’ll be working as a Code Enforcement Inspector for a city around where we live, which I’m very excited about. It’s actually very entertaining to see everyone’s reactions. Those who know me from just working at the home builder give me a puzzled look so I have to explain how it all fits together with my work as a lifeguard instructor. Those who know me from lifeguarding, instructing and pool audits just laugh and all say that it’ll suit me well since I’m such a “rules” person. In reality, they’re right. Rules are there for a reason, especially when it comes to safety.
I’ve taken this past week off from guarding the 5am shift so I can sleep in and get some stuff done around the house. I’m still teaching in the evenings and teaching a lifeguard class over the weekend, but I’ve been able to get a lot more done, which is nice. I’m planning on spending the entire day cooking tomorrow so I can have plenty of freezer meals for those first few weeks while I’m getting adjusted to my new job. I’ve been able to go get a haircut, go out to lunch with some friends, get some yard work done, and just…relax. It’s been so nice.
This job comes with some pretty huge perks, including a take-home car, a laptop and a cell phone. I’m pretty excited about the car considering my Accord has a tempermental transmission and the fewer miles we drive it, the longer it lasts. It also saves us a pretty substantial amount of money each month considering my commute will be 16 miles each way. With those savings, we’ve already started looking at putting our house on the market and getting something a bit nicer in a large neighborhood in a neighboring city. We went and looked last Friday to get a rough idea of what our price range would get us and we were surprised in some respects and dead on in our expectations in others. We’ve pretty much settled on an area, it’s just a wait and see game to see how quickly we can get our house on the market and how quickly it will sell. Every penny of savings will count for a down payment, so the car is a pretty welcome perk when it comes to helping us out.
My stint of unemployment will end 2 days shy of 16 months. I won’t be sad to finally say I’m employed full time again. I’ve gotten a bit spoiled with the free time unemployment has allowed, even though I’ve been working part time throughout it all, but I’ll gladly take a full time paycheck instead. It’s been trying, that’s for sure. I still firmly believe everyone should have to go through it at some point in time. You learn a lot about yourself. You learn a lot about your spouse. You learn a lot about your marriage. You get stronger. You learn to rely on people more for support, which isn’t always a bad thing.
Life in the Fast Lane 