Grateful for the change...

So I realize its been a while since I've posted, and to be honest it will be a long while before I do again. However upon request I have been asked to update so here it goes....

Brandon has finally gotten a job. He works up in Midvale for Sportsman's Warehouse in the Corporate Office. All I can say is that he is very lucky to have gotten this job and now all that leaves is for us to move up North with him. We're excited to be leaving Monticello, and now all we need is for our house to sale and then we'll be set.

Lets break this down for those of you that don't know the details of what happened.

On February 14th, 2010 after the most random investigation by Wells Fargo. Brandon received a phone call from his boss telling him to meet him at the office early the next morning. We knew then that it was over. Regardless of if it was right or wrong he was to be fired. The next morning came and so did the shock! It was over, the end no hope. I worked part time at the hospital and believe me having a job with no benefits made it all the harder. I couldn't leave work to comfort him I had to stay, I had no choice we now needed the money more than anything.

So that has become what is known to us as the "effing" week! I say that because its also Valentines day and to top it all off, my birthday was that week! So the "effing" week from HELL!!! We were afraid, we cried, we panicked, we fought, we reassured each other, we freaked out!!! So many emotions good and bad took place over the next year. Job after job interview, time and then more time... The waiting game was horrible and the whole time our kids stayed in daycare and I continued to work. I would say we easily put 30,000 miles on the car this past year driving to interviews from one end of the State all the way up to Washington. Brandon applied for so many jobs, it was hard to keep them straight. Day after day we received rejection letters. Usually stating the obvious, but after a while it became almost too depressing. Most of the time simply put, it was sorry we don't hire outside of the company for these types of jobs, but thanks for driving 1,600 miles, interview 6 times and spending the holidays away from your family... Okay I exaggerated they never thanked him....

It was hard and insane we sometimes didn't know if we were coming or going? We learned a lot about each other. Our strengths, our weakness, and our abilities. I'm not going to tell you that it was all pretty and fun and games, because it wasn't. I would say out of the people I know and the people I have lived around most of my life. Not very many would have come out of this standing on two feet and holding each other. When things like this happen in relationships a lot of the time people don't pull out of it. Just feel blessed if you don't ever have to go through it, loosing the bread winners job in a family is either a make it or break it time. We choose to stick through it, but the easy road was prevalent through out the whole situation.

349 days.... That's right, as hard as Brandon tried and as many people's door steps he showed up on it took 349 days before he was back to work. I read a lot of crap on the Internet about people and jobs and work, (I read those little posts) people put on there making fun of those who don't have jobs, who have lost jobs, and those on unemployment and how it is "debilitating" to the work force. Well here's my two cents. Until it happens to you shut your hole! Literally!! Brandon is a hard worker and he spent 40 hours per week just applying and interviewing for jobs. He was rejected from company's like McDonald's because of over qualifications. Now I'm no rocket scientist, but come on really? Like its hard to Flip a burger and fry those Fry's, or clean a damn toilet.

Most of the time he was told he would of needed to start with the company from day one, meaning he couldn't be educated and have work experience because they only hired the undereducated for the jobs and then you work your way up. There was no room for the one's who had the go to attitude and went to a University and graduated from said University with a degree to work at the un-named company's for X amount of money. What a freaking joke that was, he was refused on this only many times.
So for those of you who blog and make fun of others for being unemployed shame on you! We couldn't have survived with out the unemployment checks, and he worked equally as hard as anyone else earning that money by just looking for work! And for those of you that do abuse the program and have given up and just go to the bar and use that money to get drunk shame on you also for giving the people who try so hard a bad name.

Well with all that being said good luck to those of you who have lost a job. Don't give up on your family (if you have one). Stay focused on the end goal so that in the mean time you don't go totally nuts. Be kind to those who are unemployed, because who knows one day it could happen to you. Watch for opportunities to help those in need. Oh and if you are a hiring manager in a company who doesn't think out side of the box. Please for the love of all that is Holy. Get off your hi-horse and look at some of these candidates that apply for the job rather than just keeping the same old shit. After all if you want change and you want your company to grow, you need to find the niche outside of the box. If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. Don't be a lazy ass about it, seriously!

So for now this is it my "effing" week is quickly approaching so I need to think of a creative idea of how to celebrate the worst week of my life...