We were barely making end meet, were financially frustrated, itching to start a family, had no chance of buying a home and were ready for a little more job security. Too bad my lady doctor said I was not fertile because of my low weight and N’s job told him they really valued him but could not increase his salary from here on out. That was 5 months ago…

Can you believe how much has happen in 5 months? Holly crap! N got the job in Evansville, IN so we started planing our cross country move. We got engaged 7 days before we were scheduled to move. We made the week long cross country move with minimal drama. We were in our new home for 3 weeks, were planning our wedding for July 2009 then we found out we conceived our first child! I just did the bills and we actually have several hundred dollars left over after everything was paid oh and houses are damn cheap here!

That really is a ton of stuff that fell in to place all at once for us. I guess it makes up for the 3 years we spend in limbo land huh? I almost can’t believe all has worked out for us in such a freaking short amount of time.

Now I just need to master taking photos of water already (I didn’t forget Wordless Wednesday, just a bit late) Lotus says anyone can do it and my camera has a freaking macro setting but my water photos suck big time. I guess you can’t have it all huh? Here are my crappy attempts and a funny video!

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We are obviously happy and excited for our new opportunities despite the inevitable sadness of leaving the past behind. We are also counting our lucky stars that we were ready for this fallout. It’s been quite the journey that is for sure! Many lessons have been learned and we are totally ready for the next door to open for us.

I am planning to go watch the taping of the last broadcast over at the station tonight. Then N and I will be attending the sign-off party the station is hosting for all the staff and key community members. Tonight will be a night of drinks, appetizers and saying goodbye to all we have met over the years.

It will be nice to get out of the house and get our minds off the packing and moving preparation I hate goodbyes though…

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4:42pm – Update

As I am straightening my hair N calls me and says we are under a tornado watch here in Flagstaff, AZ till 5pm. I guess we are getting some preparation for Midwest living huh?

At least in the Midwest they have tornado sirins, we don’t have those here in Arizona. Myself and all the pets will be hanging in the master bedroom together till the storm passes.

The post Tonight one door is closing… appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

After we stressed out and had anxiety, my cycle got all jacked up with the stress, N’s was just walking around with his “poopy pants on”, we felt angry and unprepared, we sent out about 15 resume tapes, applied to 6 jobs online and the very next day we get the long awaited job offer.

It is exactly what we asked for in negotiations, we are thrilled and very relieved! It is for $55,000-$60,000 over three years, plus grooming perks, benefits after 30 days, $1500 in moving expenses oh and the cost of living is 10% lower there than it is here. Livable houses start in the $50,000 and go all the way up to $200,000 so we will totally be able to find something in our price range.

This pretty much sets the course for our lives this summer, we’re moving somewhere for sure! Now we just wait to see if any better offers come from other places as a result of the massive amounts of tapes we sent already.

We are open to any offer better than the one we are already sitting on but if we don’t see it in the next two weeks we’ll still have Evansville to fall back on, it is a totally acceptable offer to us!

Now I really have to get busy with packing and moving research! We were thinking of using a “you pack we drive” moving company, have one you would recommend? We are also thinking of trading the broke down Nissan for a running old beater motor home, or we will sell the Nissan and use the money to buy a used motor home…

Ugh, there is so much to do over the next 2 months but I am just so glad to know we will be doing this (for sure). Some direction is better than no direction, you know? So, life is about to get exciting for us again… I just know it is going to be a wild ride but I can’t wait.

The post Our news has finally arrived! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

I am feeling a bit better today! We are once again waiting to hear from Indiana, I wonder how many posts I have written about waiting for them to call… I found one here, here, here and here…

Anyway, N got a quick email response this weekend from Evansville about how they are putting together another offer for him. They said it was not 100% what he was expecting and that we could expect it on Monday (today). Now don’t hold your breath we have heard that before!

Over the weekend we were job searching/ applying machines! We burned over 10 resume DVD’s, labeled them, addressed padded envelopes to those hiring and today I am busting out cover letters for them so we can have them in the mail by tomorrow! N also submitted about 5 e-applications this morning linking to his online resume reel.

All in all we have applied for about 20 different stations all over the USA this week, that way if the Evansville thing doesn’t pan out we have our butts covered, plus we may get an even better offer from someone… I had a positive dream about the job search saga last night so I think my hope and positive attitude is back today.

We saw Sex and the City yesterday for fun, it was a good movie and we kind of related to it as we are still not married/ engaged but are long term committed. Speaking of engagement we were ring browsing (again) on Saturday and we both found a ring that was just perfect… It was a bit more expensive but N doesn’t seem to care about that…

I just want something unique and dainty, I am not all about the status of an engagement ring. Granted someday I will want a ring upgrade and perhaps a carat diamond, eventually, but I don’t think it is a requirement for engagement. He has different views.

Also, I just got word from a coworker that my presence is requested this summer at a Colorguard clinic I have taught at before. In previous years funds have been tight with the organization so they could not pay me to teach, I am not sure what is different this year but I am happy to get my mind off the job stresses and do something I love.

So, yeah… That is the weekend update in a nutshell! How did your weekend go? Oh, if you haven’t already could your vote for my mom in the lifetime tv photo contest? Thanks!

The post The infamous post about not posting and other jazz. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Here are the rules for the book meme:

Step One – pull out a book on the book shelf.

Step Two – go to page 123.

Step Three – read and write out the 5^th sentence.

Step Four – tag 5 more people.

I am currently reading Snow Blind by P.J. Tracy… Here is my sentence:

“The four-wheel-drive light.”

Well, that was not as good as I thought it would be. Boo… Ah well, I tag frogpondsrock, Mrs. Who, Shamelessly Sassy, Memarie Lane and Life on The Ranch.

Oh and for those of you following the Evansville job saga here is an update, for those of you who are sick of hearing about it you can stop reading here.

The flooding is still an issue out there… We were emailed yesterday @ 10am stating “if you don’t hear from me today you will most defiantly hear from me tomorrow”. Well, we didn’t hear from anyone today, it has been almost a week since the first low-ball job offer and I am just getting sick and tired of waiting.

Are we out of line for being peeved about this? I mean I know the weather is a big deal right now but Evansville is not under water and all we want is a quick email or call with a second offer/ dollar amount. Last weekend we were told the second offer would be sent over on Monday, we waited patiently and sent a follow up email late Tuesday evening. Wednesday we were promised an answer no later than Thursday, now Thursday has come and gone… Still no offer!

I am irritable and am having trouble staying positive about it all, mainly becasue the clock is ticking and we don’t have time to wait. We halted the job searching after they were flying him out there, this was like a month ago so if this doesn’t work out we lost a month of searching time and only have another month and a half to get it figured out and find a new place to live.

Ugh, I am just sick of waitin’… Okay, rant over! Thanks for bearing through it, I feel a bit better now.

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