5 Year Gap

Well.  It's been over 5 years since my last post.  I couldn't possibly recount everything that's happened with my life at the zoo in a single post.  So, Cliff's Notes version. . .

The end of 2013 husband tore his rotator cuff and was on leave from work, had surgery in early 2014 and spent several months in physical therapy.  During his time off, in early 2014 I attended Delaware State Fire School and became a nationally registered EMT volunteering at our local fire dept and an ambulance station in Smyrna, DE.  In the late summer/early fall of 2014 took a short course to attain my Maryland EMT Certification.  My dearest friend at the time and her family had moved to FL in early Spring of 2014.  The day after the kids were done with school, we packed some bags and headed down to see our friend's new digs in FL and have some fun with them for a week. 

The beginning of 2015, like, literally, the beginning, Jan 4th, I was going to take Tall One to her friend's house to hang out for the day.  Gravity had other plans for me.  I misstepped walking out of the front door and managed to break my left ankle and fracture my right ankle, spilling my entire travel cup of coffee in the process (and I'm still more upset about that than the broken ankles!  Haha!).  The fire dept I volunteered at responded to the house to take me to the hospital until Husband could get someone to keep an eye on the kids for us.  It was such a long day.  Several months later, cooking breakfast for dinner I took a cookie sheet of bacon out of the oven and didn't hold it as level as I thought I was and molten hot bacon grease poured over the edge and cascaded down to the top of my right foot which was basically completely exposed since I was only wearing flip flops.  The first half of 2015 was physically hard on me and my poor ankles/foot.  Just before we rang in 2015 my Aunt passed away.  I helped my mom a little going through her sister's apartment and my Aunt's cat, KC, took to me immediately.  I wanted to bring her home on that first day, but, with Husband always saying he has a cat allergy, I didn't.  He ended up giving in for me and letting her come live with us.  She's a sweet girl and very proper (for a cat).  It took her a couple weeks to adjust from being in a quiet child-free apartment to a chaotic house with a dog and 3 rambunctious kids.  Tall One, Thing 1 and Thing 2 quickly fell in love with her, but, she didn't share the same kind of affections.  They all wanted to hold her and carry her around and that's not her style.  She is a typical cat and will come to you when she wants your affection.  Just don't pick her up and carry her around, haha! 

The middle of 2015 my Mother In Law (MIL) wanted to retire, but, in order to do that she would have to sell her house and a) find something smaller and way cheaper, or b) move in with us.  We decided we'd do an addition on the house to make room for her.  Well, a bunch of trips to the county permits office and pricing for a completely overhauled new septic system we decided we'd look for a bigger house to accommodate the 6 of us.  We looked here and there, but, just didn't find anything in our price range in our area that didn't need a massive amount of work and money poured into it.  Husband, MIL and I talked it over and decided if we're going to move, let's go big.  I suggested North Carolina and husband and MIL suggested Florida.  Florida bound we became.  MIL sold her house very quickly and she and I flew to FL to look at houses at the end of 2015.  After a week of looking and losing hope, we found the perfect house.  She put in an offer, it was accepted and we began packing.  Our house stayed on the market and was rented out to an older couple who love it and are in the process of trying to buy it.

2016.  I moved to our new "Florever" home with a loaded down Suburban and a cat to get the house ready for the rest of the family to come down in Feb.  It was tough being in FL without my family.  I missed them so much everyday and I actually felt alone some days, even after I'd talked to husband and the kids on the phone that day.  I applied for a job working for the county as a fire rescue dispatcher and got the job!  It was a 9 month process and I didn't actually start until Aug 2016.  Until then there were a couple odd jobs to bring in a couple bucks until Charlie found a full time job and my job with the county started.  It was super tight in the beginning.  The move was really hard on the kids, so, our first year was bumpy to say the least.  I stayed with Fire Rescue Dispatch for almost a year, but, poor management and the long work hours were taking too hard a toll on my family.  I left Dispatch in the Spring of 2017 and found a job with a small, but growing, dental company in their cooperate office in their call center taking new patient appointments for the 17 offices they had at the time.  I worked there for 2 years and the company expanded to over 40 offices in that time. 

2019. Things in the "Home Office" were getting cold and sterile and they were losing touch with the "homelike" environment they had when they were smaller.  I noticed on the public school website that there was a secretary position available at the middle school my son attends.  I applied online, emailed the principal secretary my resume and even had my son take her a hard copy of my resume.  I was called in for an interview and it went really well.  I was offered the position and left the dental company to work in the public school system and be able to see my son everyday!  It was a dream!  I now have the same time off my kids to during the school year and summertime. 

Several weeks ago I was told that due to lack of enrollment at the school I was working in that my secretary position was being cut by the school district.  I was devastated.  My son was devastated!  I didn't know what was going to happen.  God had His hand on the situation and an opportunity to work at another school not too far from where I was before was available and I've been at the new school since.

We're getting ready to celebrate Christmas next week.  I can't wait to have 2 weeks off with my kids!

I realize I "skipped" over 2017 and 2018 and this post isn't really focusing on the funny, milestone, wacky antics of the kids.  This was just a quick recap of what I, personally, have been up to during this 5 year absence from blogging.  I'll get y'all caught up with my zoo shenanigans since my last post in Sept. 2013.