Starting Over... Again

Well, it's apparently time to start yet another new chapter for this blog, and my life. I'm moving. Again. For the fourth time in less than two years. *sigh* I HATE moving. And this is a big one in many ways. This time I'm moving almost 9 hour North to Pennsylvania, to a nice town just North of Pittsburgh. While not as big in distance as my first move from Washington to Alabama, this one is bigger in life impact because I'm not only changing jobs, but companies as well. I'm also going from direct hire to contract work, which is going to be a big change on many levels.

The last month or so at work has been rough, and going seriously downhill. Management seems intent on making things as difficult as possible for Rocky and I and I just plain reached the end of my rope. I'm so lucky to have Rocky as a friend as he made this whole change possible. He gave me the contact info for the recruiter who hooked me up with this job. It went so fast it seriously made my head spin! It took little over an hour from the time I sent her my resume (with no preamble) to her calling back to set up an interview for the next day. I had barely gotten off the phone for the interview and was texting my man about it when she called to say they wanted to extend me an offer! Basically in about 24 hours I went from nothing to having a pretty darn good job offer.

If you haven't worked as a contractor before, it can be hard to compare it to direct hire because you make more an hour, but you don't get any benefits. With a lot of help from my mom, and some advice from Rocky I crunched the numbers and determined that I would indeed be making a good amount more than I am now. And I'd be getting back into the Design side, which is where I need to be if I really want to advance my career as a Professional Engineer.

Now, making more money on each paycheck is all fine and good, BUT I have to get there first. And moving is really freaking expensive. Not only do I have to pay to move myself this time, but I also have to reimburse my old company for my moving expenses that they paid from my last move (since it's been less than a year and I'm quitting the company). So I have to find a new place to live, that will accept not only my two kitties here, but our other kitty back home and my baby girl, since they'll be joining me (along with my man!) in less than six months! Not many rentals are down with three cats and a medium size dog.

I did have a stroke of brilliance and rented myself a Pod instead of getting a U-Haul. This way I can load it as I pack (it's being delivered in a couple days) and they'll store it for however long it takes me to find a new place. So I don't have to worry about driving a big truck for 9 hours, and finding somewhere to park it, and unload it into a storage unit, then load it back up when I find a place, just to unload it again. This way I only have to load and unload once, and I don't have to drive it anywhere at all! If only they'd pack all my crap too... *sigh*

Anyway, this last week has been a head-spinning blur. Not only am I still planning my wedding from across the country (with lots of help from my man!) but now I'm working on changing jobs and moving all by myself on this side of the country. I did buy my wedding dress last week which was so unbelievably exciting! I totally fell in love with a dress that I never would have even tried on myself. And I get to customize it to totally fit my unique style. My man is going to be so surprised! I also have my shoes, and ordered a pretty hair piece (can we say birdcage veil??) and custom earrings, and a pretty handkerchief, and something for my Maid of Honor. Oh, that kind of bummed me out. The little one declined to be my MOH, I was SO sad! But I have a super awesome friend back home who picked up the pieces and took over! I am seriously blessed! I also ordered our toasting glasses and gifts for the parents. And a surprise present for my man :)

Well, that's basically what's new with me. I've packed all of four boxes and I'm already feeling totally overwhelmed by all this. It's bad enough having to move at all, but doing it on your own brings a whole new level of suckage to it! But I've done it before, I can do it again! 'cause I'm just awesome like that ;)