Transitions for Team Smelkins

Image Credit: someecards.com

Since my last update a few exciting events have occured in the Smelkins household:

• We paid off our car loan!
• Matt left his crappy day job at a big-box retailer. Today was his last day!
• I realized that my temporary, part-time restaurant job has morphed into a year long, full-time commitment that is leaving no room for seeking full-time, meaningful career-type work. So I'm leaving Olga's and this is my last weekend waiting tables!
• Matt had an interview last Monday and a job offer by that Friday to be the newest Quality Assurance Engineer with a local company!
• Matt's starting wage will be larger than our yearly combined income!

Life is changing in a wonderfully strange way. It is awesome that we are both leaving jobs that were killing us to pursue work that we enjoy. Until I find myself an adult job like Matt did, I'm going to continue on-call work with our local DV agency.

Tomorrow Matt and I are going to take the early bus to downtown Seattle to check out the timing and bus route he will be taking to work. Since we'll already be downtown we're going to make a celebratory date-type event out of it! I'm very excited and you can look forward to a picture post detailing our date.

Image Credit: vahidbehzadi.wordpress.com

Come hell or high water...

It has happened! After hemming and hawing around for the past month, a date and a location has finally been picked for our move. September 3rd we leave for Seattle. It is inexplicably nice to stop saying "We plan to  move..." and start saying "We are moving...".

(Source: Google Images)

We have been living rent free with our family and generally meandering about life. Matt has still been working, but I usually just hang out at home with the plants, animals and a book in the sweltering Texas heat. About a week past, I had some strange meltdown where I felt like my life was totally out of my control because I didn't have any direction or structure - no school, no job, no worries.

That amount of freedom was disconcerting and uncomfortable. My guess is that my pace of life changed so dramatically from being absurdly busy to painfully idle that it sent me reeling after a few weeks. I felt useless and indolent - the amount I accomplished in a day was so minuscule in comparison to my prior standards.

Now, that has all changed. Matt and I have a huge load of decisions to make, things to research and contingencies to plan for. I have never felt so pleased at the prospect of being overwhelmed.