In The Land of Bush and Lincoln

My last post -- OVER TWO WEEKS AGO -- mentioned being back to insanity.

This was not only true, but was compounded by the fact that I was also preparing the marketing materials for a conference in Washington D.C.

So - while you haven't seen SportsMum for quite a while - it's been for a good cause.
Trying to build my crazy business, visiting the land of Bush and Lincoln, and running willy nilly to and from and to and from and to and from - baseball!

I'm now off to the season opening game for Cameron...wish us luck!

Wordless Wednesday - Heaven and Hell

My home office...evidence that I got what I prayed for...

Ughh...Be Careful What You Wish For!

I disappeared again.

Not that I haven't been inspired to write. Quite the contrary...I have been writing for everyone but me!

I have been writing proposals, marketing plans, brochures, press releases, website pages and mission statements. All part of my grand plan to start my own marketing firm.

Be careful what you wish for because it could come true!

When I come up for air, I promise I will re-connect the world to the SportsMum clan!

As a teaser...Caeden and Jackson had baseball try-outs last weekend...Cameron is still recovering from his injured knee (one more week!)...Jackson entered a wrestling tournament and was eliminated in two rounds...Caeden was asked to consider joining a competitive soccer team for next fall...and John's team is out of the hockey play-offs and he is now polishing his golf clubs for the Ohio PPGA (Pretty Pathetic Golf Association)tour...

Stop The Madness!

Life, as I know it, has changed dramatically...over the course of ONE day!

I rarely talk about my work, but several months ago I mentioned that I had left my job and gone out on my own. The stress of that decision was enormous as my husband lost his own contract six weeks later. Leading up to Christmas, neither of us had any sustainable income.

My, how times can change when you persevere! This is where I have to go to my one and only source of wisdom; James 1:2 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."

Today - after months of writing proposals, attending meetings with no compensation, and doing "favors" for friends, I picked up THREE new accounts!

Three VERY BIG accounts. In fact, I may actually need to contract someone to help me manage my new workload!

But wait - there's more! I have to transition my new accounts into my new company, that I have been asked to manage...because my little rinky dink operation is being amalgamated into a larger firm...who woulda thunk?!?

So from trying to figure out how to pay the mortgage last week to looking at hiring some help...I don't really want to stop the madness...I just want to say thank you God...

Should Old Aquaintance Be Forgot...

I have a theory that applies only to me - every odd numbered year is generally not very good, even year's bring much more joy.

Starting in 1989, I can prove my odd year theory...
1989: New boss at work - the worse I've ever had; prompted me to hand in my resignation the end of the following year
1991: Bad leading to good - leave my home, my best-friends, my family; and move to the other side of the country. Meet John two weeks after I arrive :)
1993: John loses his first job; My Mom died
1995: John loses his next job
1997: My company refuses to compromise on my return after maternity leave, I quit and go freelance
1999: Stuff in our marriage - won't go into details
2001: REALLY bad stuff in our marriage (briefly break-up), and of course, 9/11
2003: John without work, forced to leave California for Ohio
2005: John still without permanent work, takes job in Wisconsin, we see him 4 days a month for almost two years; I take a new job at the university that I HATE!
2007: John has two jobs, second one ends unexpectedly; I quit my job earlier than planned - go deeper into debt

And the even year's:
1990: Tour with the Molson Indy circuit (a blast!), go to Vancouver, decide to quit my job and move!
1992: Marry John
1994: Cameron is born
1996: Jackson is born
1998: Caeden is born
2000: Buy new house in California; elected PTA President
2002: Marriage is GREAT; 10th Anniversary; lose lots of weight, look great!
2004: Start new job in advertising, start to settle into living in Ohio, Cameron makes first All-Star baseball team
2006: Back with advertising company, get lots of new clients, start making really good friends in Ohio
2008: My company is starting to take off, John has a new PERMANENT job he loves, boys are all very healthy, I will lose 40 pounds...(had to throw in a resolution somewhere...)

...THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

The New Job

John started his new job today.

You have to understand that I have held back from really letting myself believe this would happen until he actually set foot in the office and signed his first paper with our personal details for insurance, banking, 401K's.

We've not had much luck with jobs over the last five years, in fact, we even had a job with a signed contract that was canceled the day he quit his previous contract (and they couldn't take him back...)

So, he's officially in the office and filling out the mountain of paper work!

I had the first phone call at 10am - "what's your social security number..."

Second call at 10:20 - "what's Caeden's social security number..."

Third call at 10:30 - "what's the school district number..."

Fourth call at 12:10 - "going to lunch now..."

Fifth call at 2:55 - "they work 8:30 to 5:30 so I won't be home until around 7 - but the hours are flexible so I'm going to do 8 to 5 from now on..."

He's been home with me for five weeks...I guess it's withdrawal... :)

The New Camera

I have a new camera...not just any old camera, it's the camera of my dreams. It's a Nikon D40 with 18-55mm zoom lens!

I have wanted a camera like this since the dinosaur days of 35mm film; back when I entered the advertising industry in the 1980's. I dreamed of taking beautiful C/U shots of my friends -- fashion shots, pensive shots, artful shots. I was in a creative industry, after all.

Once the boy's came along, I so wanted to take pictures of my beautiful children and put them in frames all over the house. Of course, these would need to be black and white pics, with the light and shadows falling away in classic film noir style.

Then came sports and the documentation of every game. Oh how I wish I'd had a decent camera to catch all the action -- the first soccer goal, the first time pitching, the first wrestling match, the first home run...I missed all these firsts for Cameron!

But now I have the real thing, due largely to the fact that I now have my own company and can write this off as a business expense!

I have learned the basics and couldn't wait to get out and start taking shots of the boys in action. Unfortunately, my desire to be a photographer and the reality of my skill are miles apart. Hopefully this will improve before baseball season!

For All Those Keeping Score...

A quick update on the job front. We received an encouraging phone call today from the company that "conditionally" offered John the job in August and then pushed back the date to January.

The hiring manager said they don't want to lose him at the last minute and are making a place for him in their main office until the big project begins.

We expect a formal offer (in writing!) either tomorrow or early next week.

Happy Thanksgiving! :)))

Back to Basics

Today I had a chance to re-read some of my posts. Jackson is sick with some sort of virus so I pulled the short straw to stay home from church - hence, I have time to read!

I realized that my writing has taken a not-so-entertaining path over the last few weeks; obviously a result of the job stress. I really didn't like what I read - I really didn't like the person who was writing it!

In an earlier post I had discussed the symptoms of PMS and how it affects my emotions. Obviously, with stress, these same symptoms carried over into the last few weeks. Granted, I have probably dealt with more stress in the last several years than most people handle in a lifetime - our job situation, being forced to move, virtually being a single parent for the better part of three years, and raising a child on the autism spectrum! In the grander scheme of things, this doesn't appear to be such an immense burden (thank God we've all had our health!), but living it takes its toll!

This most recent contract loss briefly put me over the edge...I think last weekend was my rock-bottom! However, over these last several days, I have started to feel normal again and want to get back to basics with this blog! You'll see - SportsMum is back...

The Silly Season

What does a sports family do when there are no sports to play? It's called the silly season in our home, and it's compounded this year by the fact that John is "between contracts" (that's our new venacular for saying he's out of work...)!

It's silly in every respect. Silly because Cameron just got out of his cast -- this time last year he had started wrestling and we were running him to practices at all hours. Silly because Jackson decided at the last minute that he wanted to try wrestling this year -- first match is November 25th. Silly because Caeden is doing nothing and we don't have any plans for him. And silly because we are again without work - for the seventh time in five years!

But silly is also good...we have time this weekend to spend as a family without running all over town. Time to just "be" and hang out because we have no money to do anything else!

And the silliness extends to the promise of a job -- it looks like he has an offer coming today for a year long contract, which will hopefully prompt the company that has guaranteed him a permanent position in January to bring him in early so they don't lose him! Oh yeah - and Ernst and Young called yesterday with another permanent position they want to discuss...

And me?! I had a GREAT week...two new contracts - my candidate won - and I had my first meeting last night as the Marketing and PR Chairperson for our baseball league.

Honestly 2008 will be a very good year. If we can just get through this silly season...

Going Through The Motions

Our baby turned nine yesterday. By all accounts the plans surrounding his birthday were a resounding success, but I have to admit that I was a terrific actress throughout the weekend. I am so frantically stressed about the job situation (or lack thereof..) that my body is literally falling apart.

For me, stress tends to show itself physically...The initial signs are quite obvious...constant headache that begins in the jaw area from clenching my teeth and permeates down into my neck etc...I've had this symptom for two weeks now. I know that it's moved to a different level when my heart starts racing uncontrollably and I have to take a deep breath in order not to pass out...I think that started happening on Friday.

This latest stress, I've moved to a whole new level of physical breakdown...my entire left side from my waist down to my toes has gone numb. Yes - the obvious thing would be to get to the doctor BUT, our insurance was cancelled the day John's contract was cancelled! Doctors aren't in the budget...

Onto happier thoughts...Caeden's birthday - somehow I managed to arrange for seven 8 and 9 year olds to come here for a sleepover and also managed to organize a VERY fun scavenger hunt on our street that culminated in a fire and s'mores galore! The biggest success by far was the fact that not one of the boys had to call their parents at 2 in the morning to go home! Even after all that sugar, we successfully exhausted them into deep, deep sleep.

There Is A Reason For Everything!

Today something bad happened...then something okay...then something only God could have aligned...
John's contract was terminated today. Which means...he is without work. Which means...I am also without work. Which means...we are broke. That's the bad....

The okay...The company that has offered him a position, which was supposed to start in September and has been delayed to January...returned his call at 5:42p.m.(on aFriday no-less!) to say they will do what they can to bring him in earlier in order for them NOT to lose him on the really BIG project in January.

The God moment...today was the Pep Rally at school for the Spartan Bowl - the biggest middle school football event of the year! Over the last four years, John has been at about 2 BIG events in his kids lives...Today, because he lost his job...he came to the pep rally. He listened to them announce the seventh grade players...the eighth grade players...Then..."And Now - The Starting Team For The Spartans! - Number 87 - Cameron ..."

You get the picture - he was there as his oldest son was officially named a starter on his football team, for the biggest game of the year, in front of the entire student body! And he made starter with a cast on his arm...

God has a plan - it is MUCH bigger than us- and He works his magic in everything - even football pep rallys!