Seems like years ago Part 2

Back home, life has returned to normal...for the most part. Just after we returned home from the trip, I had a wonderful gift. My car! As you all know, my car's timing belt went bad last December (just before Christmas), and Anthony has been rebuilding the engine since. We ran into MANY snags along the way, including a guy in Salt Lake screwing us over on a major part, but my baby is finally fixed, and I couldn't be happier!

One of the random events we experienced just after coming home was our crazy neighbor, who I have dubbed Arson Man. One Friday night he came home early in the evening drunk (yet again) and grazed the side of a neighbor's car. I witnessed this event and watched his car sit high centered on the curb in front of his house, thinking to myself "that seems about right". A short time later he apparently got in another public fight with his wife, culminating in everyone leaving the house. But Arson Man was not yet done. He returned home to an empty house, and for some reason thought it would be fun to light their house on fire, then quickly leave. He was later picked up by the police for getting in yet another accident while drunk. Let's sum up: in one night this man managed to get in two accidents (one being a hit and run), got charged with a DUI, and oh yeah, tried to burn down his house with the animals inside. He wasn't charged with arson, as far as anyone knows, but everyone in the neighborhood knows he did it. Hence the name. :)

My life has most definitely taken some interesting turns in the last few months. I am working as a Data Entry Specialist for a records management company, and have been for quite some time now. This was supposed to be a temporary job, but since Hallmark fell through, I have stayed on for a lack of better job. It's a DULL job, and I hate it, but it's a job and it's been kind of interesting learning about mortgages. Just before we left on our trip, I was told that I wouldn't be given the time off I needed, and was advised to give my two weeks notice so that if need be I would be eligible for re-hire. I was exstatic! There was an end date in sight! The next morning I was called into an executives office, and told that I was too valuable to the company to let go, and they were giving me the time off I needed. I just had to do some paper work. Ok, so the end date was no longer in sight, but at least I didn't have to look for a new job. A plus, I guess. About two weeks before we left, an upper level job opened up, and thinking, "what the hell?" I applied. Low and behold, I got the job above some of my coworkers who have worked for the company for years (literally). And once we got home, I was told that I was also getting more of a raise than originally agreed upon. So not only did I get a promotion I didn't really care about at a job I desperately want to leave, but I got more money for simply having common sense. The irony is so thick it nearly knocked me over. I still despise the job, but at least now I'm getting paid almost a decent wage for it.

Anthony has been out of work for almost a year now. A job will come up every so often, but there hasn't been consistent work save for 2 weeks this summer. So he's been bumming around our house and keeping the animals company; working when the odd job pops up. Unfortunately for us it's better that he stays on unemployment than find a part time job that doesn't pay half what he normally makes. So he tries to find things to keep him occupied, or get him out of the house to prevent cabin fever, but it's been so long that the activities are running thin. In the last month his brother has gotten him into weight lifting, which has been really good for him. It gives him something to focus on and gets him out of the house for a bit everyday, but now that Brady's gone back to Utah it's hard for him to motivate himself. We all know that working out is much more fun if you have a buddy! Otherwise he basically plays video games, either alone or with his friends.

Our endless routine has made both of us a bit restless, me more so than Anthony. As of late we've been searching for things to change up our routine, but in a city like ours, that's difficult to do. Now with Anthony being out of work for so long, we're looking into the possibility of moving somewhere else. Something I've been wanting to do since we were married. Our plan was to only stay here for one year max, but circumstances have forced us to stay longer. If Anthony can find a good job somewhere, anywhere, we're gone. So everyone keep your fingers crossed that something wonderful comes up! Lord knows that after the year we've had, we could seriously use a break.