OK, so right before Christmas Tim found out that he did have a job, but at a 10% pay decrease. After Christmas he found out that all the maintenance guys who worked with him were let go. Obviously Tim was moved to another position as one of 4 shift managers. Although he has worked at the plant for 32 years, he was not a member of the production department. So he got the off shift. He works Tuesday - Friday 4pm-midnight, and Sunday 8-4pm. This means that we cannot go anywhere overnight. He gets off at midnight on Friday and has to be back at work on Sunday morning. There's no such thing as a long weekend either.

My schedule as a teacher is totally inflexible, except during the summer - but where can you go with only 32 hours off at a time?

We have stuck with dance for the moment, but can only go once maybe twice a week. So we are not doing very well with learning new stuff. The dance practice parties are Friday night, which we can't attend.

I have to admit that I am tired of people telling me well at least he has a job. Yes, I am grateful for that, but our time together is very limited. He doesn't get home until 12:30 am or later and I have to be in bed, because my school day officially starts at 7:45 with kids. He leaves before I get home - my school day ends at 3:30 and he starts at 4pm.

OK, so that is my whining part.

We went to Virginia Beach mid-January for an engagement party for our son, future daughter, her sister, and Joe's fraternity brother. Joe & Ashley will be married in April; her sister & Doug will be married in June. A full year for their parents!

Otherwise things have been busy with getting little things ready for the wedding. I am having an Open House for them in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll get out to go dress shopping this coming weekend.

Thankfully the kitty continues to be good company for both of us. We finally settled on the name Cindy Lou Who, since she coos like a dove when she walks up to you.

So those are the good things and the crazy things going on right now. I hope now that Tim's schedule is more certain that I will be getting on Spark more regularly. I have been so down over all this that I really haven't felt like doing much. Plus it hurts to see my husband's reaction to this, so that hasn't helped either.

I felt I owed all my Sparkfriends an explanantion of my absence. Now I need to go cut up a baked chicken. My cooking patterns are changing too, since Tim isn't home for dinner. I have to do better with my evening meals. I'm working on crock potting and bought a magazine with lots of recipes. Many of them look awesome. So a chance to grow!

Sam