Final Friday is here again.

We’ve been on a roller coaster ride for a few months now.  So this installment of Final Friday is going to be a little different!

Employment

In May, we were informed that my husband would be laid off in November.  The company that he worked for was bought out and he would help with the transition and then be let go.  He did have a job “waiting in the wind,” but this job would be a $20,000/year pay decrease when insurance and pay cut was considered.

This has put me in overdrive for a few months, trying to find ways to cut down our budget and bring in a little more money.

We’ve told my mother in law that she could sell sleeved bibs that she made for years.  So, I decided to learn how to sew and try to sell them myself.  I put in tons of time, energy, and some money into this whole endeavor.  When I finally heard back from the company who designed the pattern, I was told that another company had just bought exclusive rights, ugh!  While I was not too upset at the time and energy I spent (I mean, I did learn a good skill), I was a little disheartened when I thought of all the fabric (and the money spent) that was sitting by my sewing machine.

I was also extremely upset because I was going to use the money that I made from the bibs to finance a dream that I have come up with to help parents be better parents.  So now, I am struggling on finding other funding options, because I don’t want to go into debt for it!

At the end of July, my husband was offered his job with the new company.  Yea!  What a burden lifted off our shoulders.  When he accepted this job, his boss informed him that it kind of came with an understated expectation of him going back to school to get a degree.

Now we have been focusing on finding a program that would best work for him (and us).  The plan is for him to start in October.

New Game Plan

Now that we are pretty certain that he will be starting school soon, we have had to come up with a new game plan.

There are certain things that I would LOVE to have accomplished before he starts school (office organized and everything filed, storage room reorganized,closit put in the playroom, kids’ toys gone through and organized).

We have already asked my in-laws for help (they are so amazing, I am truly blessed) and even discussed finding funds in our budget to possibly hire help a couple of days during the week.  I think I will need this for sanity sake, because my husband does a lot around the house and we know that he won’t be able to help as much during this time.  (Read this great blog post on SAHM needing help too!)

Parenting/Marriage

My husband and I desperately need to get away for the weekend. While we love our children to death, but we need a break.  We have noticed that we are running out of patience and sanity.  We really need to make this a priority and get away.  We don’t have a budget for this, but I feel that dipping into our savings for something like this is alright.  We really just need to pin down a time and go!

We are working on getting into a new school schedule and still battling attitudes towards chores and picking up toys.

House

As I mentioned yesterday, we’ve had a couple of storms, so we’ve been having to deal with insurance and researching companies for roofing and replacing our electronics.

Overview

Our goals for this month are:

• get house organized before my husband starts taking classes
• get a new roof
• replace electronics that were ruined due to the lightening storm
• schedule a weekend away for my husband and me
• build a closet in the playroom
• I need to get my e-mail inbox under control (I have 13787 unread!- ouch!)
• keep brainstorming ideas to make my dream come true

What I’m Reading this Month

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What are your goals for the coming month?