I’ve been away for too long, my friends.  My family and I have just had too much chaos in the past few months and I finally had to put the brakes on this out-of-control train, do a little audit of what was and wasn’t working in our little universe, and figure out what to do about it.  Of course, with all that’s gone on over the past few months, that’s taken a considerable amount of time!  In any event, my sincere apologies for staying away for so long.  It’s good to be back.  :)

So, about the title of this post:  An Extreme Life Makeover. Sounds sort of drastic and official, doesn’t it? Well, that’s how it feels, a little bit.

Many things have happened in the past few months that have prompted us to have to get a little drastic and official.  Thankfully the end result is that I - and we - feel like we’re finally finding our feet again, feeling more confident, happy, excited.  And it feels really, really good.

I’ll start off by getting you up to speed on what’s been going on lately…

As you might recall from my last few posts (from August and July, to my utter mortification), my wonderful husband was downsized out of his job back at the end of June.  I’m not going to lie: It was at times enormously stressful to have the primary bread winner NOT, well, “winning bread.” Nonetheless, I think he - and we - have handled it with as much calm and optimism as we possibly could in the circumstances with two children to support, a mortgage payment and all the other usual bills to pay.

There have been several things working in our favor, not the least of which is that my husband is a one-of-a-kind, wonderful, calm “glass is half-full” kind of guy. There’s also the fact that my husband has a fantastic network of personal and professional contacts.  We were stunned by how many people contacted Dan after his job loss, whether just to voice their support or to provide him with contacts or job leads.  If any of those people are reading what I’m writing here, please accept our heartfelt THANKS, because you kept us both hopeful and positive.

I think my husband’s strong work ethic and workhorse personality were also factors in our surviving the past few months.  The man refused to treat any of his time unemployed as “vacation” or “down time,” and he spent every day making phone calls, sending out resumes, finishing antiques “projects” he’d acquired over the years so he could sell them on Craiglist, helping friends complete home improvement projects that they lacked the ability or knowledge (or tools!) to do themselves.  He kept his mind and his body engaged the whole time, and I admire that about him.

So where am I going with this?  Well, let’s just say that Dan’s job search is over.  And we’re pleased as punch!

Don’t get me wrong: I loved having all of that one-on-one time with my husband and am grateful that fate threw us that curve ball when it did.  Dan had been stressed out and anxious leading up to the downsizing; once it was over and the dust had settled, he was back to being himself, the guy I know and love: calm, happy-go-lucky, driven, optimistic.  With his perspective back, it was nice having him around more, and the new routines we developed bouncing around the house together all day every day have been sorely missed now that he’s back to work again.  But Dan was ready and excited to begin his new professional journey, and so far, so good!

There are two other things that came up recently that have also forced us to examine our lives a bit more closely, especially when paired with Dan’s job situation.   Continue Reading »

Hi, friends.  It’s been awhile since I last posted; please accept my apologies.  As you might imagine, life’s been a little bit… strange around the G family household this summer!  

I say that because of this earlier post about my husband being unexpectedly downsized out of his job a month or so ago.  Remember now?  Okay, moving on…

It’s taken some time for all of it to really sink in for us, considering that I was already unemployed at the time (having chosen to leave my job early in ‘08 to stay at home with our son) and then there we were, both of us unemployed.  But while reality has sunk in, the panic really hasn’t.  Not yet, anyway.  

Financially, we figure we’re okay for several months if we’re careful, so that’s not so much a problem just yet.  And, really, there haven’t been ANY problems that have arisen out of the situation.  

Nope.  It’s all been pretty good, actually.     

Dan has been a million times less stressed out, which seems somehow wrong in the circumstances, but is actually really nice.  He had spent so many months being anxious and on edge in an environment that had become increasingly tense and unpleasant, so when the ever-looming question “will I be next?” was finally answered, it was almost a relief just to know so we could finally stop wondering and worrying.  

And not only has he been less stressed out, but he’s been surprisingly and gratefully optimistic and positive for the new opportunity that he’s been given by way of this unexpected career detour.  Our networks had rallied so quickly and effectively in the immediate aftermath of Dan’s downsizing that he had over half-a-dozen interviews lined up within the first two weeks, and he’s still in the running for several of those positions.  The tremendous support and encouragement our friends and business associates have shown is overwhelming and wonderful, and I know it has helped keep Dan’s outlook positive.  It’s good to feel wanted, to feel appreciated.  And that he is.  

It’s also been nice to have him around more.  Yeah, those first few weeks were a little rough with us bumping into each other every time we turned around, but once we acclimated to all of us being home together all the time, we realized that it didn’t have to be hell!  We’ve started taking picnic lunches together, down to the lakefront, to a park, to the zoo.  We’ve taken time to go for bike rides, kick a soccer ball around in the backyard, take our dog for a walk, play a game.  Even just running errands together has become a nice little treat that we can do together.  We’ve felt more like a family in the past month than we have in a long time, and I think it’s because Dan’s mind is no longer preoccupied with the stress of his old job but is open and clear and looking to a better future. 

Aside from all that, we’ve been spending a LOT less money, which has helped us realize that we CAN spend a lot less money than we were.  Of course, spending less is a natural byproduct of finding ourselves mutually unemployed, but it’s not like we became paupers the minute Dan was downsized, so it wasn’t absolutely essential that we suddenly pinch every single penny. I think we’ve both just started really weighing whether something is worth spending money on right now, and we’re both coming up with “no” as the answer far more often, even with something as simple as stopping by Starbucks while out running errands.  It feels good.  I think this is one thing that’s going to stick with us even when Dan finds his next opportunity.  

Which leads me to the next segment of today’s post… 

Interestingly enough, one of the opportunities that Dan has been pursuing is with a company based in Georgia.  

Because Alexis is here in Wisconsin, Dan and I have never in our 10 years together considered the possibility of moving elsewhere.  Until now.

And, I tell you, it’s like a whole new world has opened up before our eyes.  We’ve been going through the past 10 years with blinders on, never thinking about or imagining making a life for our family anywhere other than where we are right now, probably because we’ve never had to think about it.  Funny how a job search in a crummy job market can force you to think outside the box!

Sure, in my early twenties I dreamed (often) of moving out to California, getting my big break in Hollywood and living out my days along the Pacific coast.  But those dreams went up in a cloud of smoke when I met Dan and decided he was “The One,” because his then 2-year-old daughter was here, which meant he had to be here.  

Alexis is now 12.  And while it would be very hard for us to move farther away from her, and it’s not what we’d prefer to do, at least it’s not as hard as it would’ve been when she was so little, and we may have to move in order to keep the ship afloat.  She’s old enough to understand now that even if we aren’t here physically, she’d always be in our thoughts and our hearts and would be just a phone call or plane ride away. She’s also at an age where she’s developing more of a sense of adventure, so the prospect of being able to visit us someplace totally new and different is kind of intriguing to her.  

The toughest aspect of us potentially relocating now is that Alexis is still adjusting to life after her mom and stepdad’s divorce, which became official in March after nearly 10 years of marriage.  Her stepdad was her day-to-day dad for all intents and purposes, and they had a wonderful relationship, so it’s been a big period of adjustment for her.  Fortunately, her stepdad has remained a strong figure in her life in the months since, and he and her mom have remained friends in the aftermath of their divorce, so we feel confident that he will continue to play a positive role in Alexis’ life.   

All of that notwithstanding, the fact that Dan was willing to consider the possibility of relocation for the one opportunity has resulted in us realizing that the scope of his job search can be so much bigger than we’d previously thought.  And it’s actually fortunate in the circumstances that I’m also unemployed because I’m not tied here by a job either.  We’re at the perfect crossroads in our lives to look at making a major move, and I have to admit that it’s a little bit exciting, realizing that.  

There’s nothing to keep us from going to Georgia, or North Carolina, or New York, or California, Seattle, Portland, Denver…  The world (or at least the United States) is literally our oyster right now.  How cool is that?!? 

Now, if only our friends and families would stop sending us emails and leaving us messages saying that we’re not allowed to move…  Although I suppose it could be worse: They could be encouraging us to move away! 

Thanks to those of you who have followed our story and offered words of encouragement - we really appreciate them!

Amy Giampetroni is a happily married woman, a full-time stay-at-home mom to a preschool boy and a part-time stepmom to an adolescent girl, living in Wisconsin. You can read more about Amy here and at her blog, Average Everyday Super Woman. Click here to check out Amy’s other posts on This Mommy Gig.

Amy Giampetroni is a happily married woman, a full-time stay-at-home mom to a preschool boy and a part-time stepmom to an adolescent girl, living in Wisconsin. You can read more about Amy here and at her blog, Average Everyday Super Woman. Click here to check out Amy’s other posts on This Mommy Gig.

This weekend marks an interesting event, one that strangely hasn’t arisen for several years: I will be going to spend a few days with a girlfriend of mine whom I’ve known since I was 10. And I find myself wondering how that will all play out with her husband and four kids present and my son along for the ride, because - in the old days - it was just the two of us, knocking around together and being silly without any other distractions. The last time we spent anywhere near this length of time continuously together was probably a decade ago (God, can it really be that long? How old are we??), and no doubt we’ve both changed considerably in that time. I’ll admit, I’m a little nervous!

“G” and I first met in 5th grade, but weren’t really friends until we got into middle school and cheerleading. Before long, we became best friends, practically sisters, and we did pretty much everything together until we each went to our respective colleges. For me, that was UW-Madison; for her, it was a college up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Whenever G came home for breaks, we’d get together and she’d stay at my campus apartment for at least a day or two during her visits. In many ways, it was like we were hardly that far apart, and we fell easily into our old routines. Then everything changed.

When G was still in her final year of grad school up in Duluth, MN, and I was graduated and working my first post-college job in Milwaukee, she came for a visit and said she was worried about a lump she found in her neck. She showed it to me, and my blood ran cold with fear for her. After much prodding, I got her to see a doctor. It was cancer. Hodgkin’s lymphoma, stage IIa - the mass in her neck and a tumor behind her sternum. She was terrified, I was terrified, but we were in it together. I was with her when the doctor told her the bad news, I drove her up to school in Duluth after she had a bone marrow biopsy so she could take a leave of absence to pursue her course of treatment down in Madison & Milwaukee, and I spent pretty much all of my free time with her in between chemo and radiation to help keep her spirits up and her body strong and active. Thank God she was a decent athlete at the time because her 22-year-old body weathered the ravages of chemo and radiation remarkably well due in large part to the shape she was in going into the whole thing.

While her illness brought us closer together in some respects, however, it also created a quiet divide in the sense that she was fighting and surviving something I couldn’t even begin to fathom. She was facing questions and fears that I could understand in theory, but certainly not in practice. And there was more: she had met a guy a few months prior to her diagnosis while doing an internship in California, and she liked him. A lot. As she marched through the months of treatment, this guy visited from time to time, and I knew she felt differently towards him than any of the guys she had dated before. For crying out loud, this guy actually shaved her head for her when her hair started falling out in clumps, and still told her how beautiful she was. That was what she needed.

Shortly after she finished her treatment, I got engaged to Dan, whom I had started dating just a few months before G’s diagnosis. Shortly after that, G discovered she was pregnant with her first child, and got engaged and married within a matter of months. This was all very happy news, especially since there had been a 50/50 chance that the chemo portion of her treatment would render her infertile - except that G’s doctors had warned her repeatedly during and after her treatment that she should not get pregnant for at least two years in case her cancer didn’t stay in remission. She knew that - and so did her boyfriend. I was angry - at him - for not putting her best interests, her LIFE, before his own interests. And thus the divide grew.

Thankfully, G had an excellent, healthy pregnancy and gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy early the following year. Though her oncologist had to skip one set of scans due to G’s pregnancy, when they were able to do the scans after she gave birth, all looked well and all indications were that her cancer was in remission. Still, I knew she was scared. It was no longer a matter of simply worrying about her own life or death, but she had a baby to worry about then, too.

About a year and a half later, we had a major falling out. It’s a long story and the details don’t need to be shared, but suffice it to say that secrets and lies are not among my favorite things. We didn’t speak for nearly a year.

I was hurt, angry, determined. I missed my best friend terribly. But I wanted nothing to do with her. And I moved on.

When at last we spoke again, it was tentative, charged with unspoken words and emotions that ran very deep. We tried to talk about what had happened, but it was clear that it needed to be left in the past. We managed to repair our friendship somewhat in the months that followed, but it wasn’t the same. Truth be told, it still isn’t the same now, six years later.

Is she still my best friend? Sadly, no. Is she someone I still want in my life? Yes. We share so much history, such intense history. That does not a friendship make, nor is it justification to stay in a friendship that’s no longer healthy. But I think we’ve both made peace with where things stand between us, we’ve learned to accept the choices we’ve each made without comment, and what’s left is still the two of us, knocking along together whenever we can, even if there’s now a gaggle of little ones and pesky husbands in the mix, too.

By the way, G will mark her 10th anniversary of being cancer-free next spring. And in the past ten years, she’s given birth to not just one but FOUR healthy, beautiful children - two boys, two girls. She’s still an athlete, incredibly healthy, and happy. And all of that makes me very happy.

But I’ve never stayed with her family before. We’ve visited them for a few hours when we’ve been in Michigan for Dan’s family things, but never stayed there, much less for three days. And since she got married and had her children, she’s never stayed with my family. I don’t really know why other than perhaps the demands of our extended families have certainly cut short the little time we have together when she’s in Wisconsin or I’m in Michigan, not to mention the demands of having little children.

So, yes, I’m nervous. But I’m also excited. Excited to get back to the old “us” again, to have three days of uninterrupted time together to talk, dream, gossip, laugh, play, and just enjoy passing time together again. I love the many girlfriends I’ve made in the years since G and I drifted apart, but there’s still something very special about the friends who have known us since we were little, the ones who have seen us bumble and stumble our way through childhood, adolescence, early adulthood. Who’ve made stupid mistakes and had great laughs and adventures with us.

I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Amy Giampetroni is a happily married woman, a full-time stay-at-home mom to a preschool boy and a part-time stepmom to an adolescent girl, living in Wisconsin. You can read more about Amy here and at her blog, Average Everyday Super Woman. Click here to check out Amy’s other posts on This Mommy Gig.

Like many moms, I’m often amazed at the things that come out of my son’s mouth, primarily because they illustrate just how active his mind is at making connections and sorting out what it means to be a part of this crazy world.  With Angelo, one often gets the impression that he’s an old man in a little boy’s body based on the things he says and the observations he makes. 

Case in point:  Angelo and I meet up for lunch with a good friend of mine (my sister’s high school boyfriend, to be specific) about once a month, and Angelo really likes him.  Mike is great with kids (he has a 19-year-old stepson, an 8-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter himself — and is happily married, I might add!) and does a fabulous job of helping me keep Angelo from dying of boredom while he and I chat about grown-up things that mean nothing to my son, like work, our families, etc.  

Anyway, last night as we were driving home from our friends’ house, Angelo asked what we were going to be doing today, and I told him that we had lunch plans with Mike, and that Daddy was going to join us for a bit since Mike offered to help Dan with his job search (long story short, Mike is a VP at an exec placement firm - perfect, right?).  

Angelo was quiet for a bit and then said, “Dad, have you met Mike?”

Dan replied, “Not yet, buddy.” 

“Oh.  Well, you’re really going to like him.  He’s a great guy.”  This from my FIVE-year-old, people.  

Dan and I looked at each other and I commented on how unusual it was for Angelo - a five-year-old - to say something like that.  I mean, the simple fact that he has even contemplated Mike and whether he’s a “good” or “bad” guy says volumes about his awareness, and that he came to the conclusion that Mike is, in fact, “a great guy” that his dad should meet and get to know is absolutely delightful to me.

His other big thing of late is to ask me what the words he overhears in conversations, on t.v. shows and in movies mean.  Words such as “devastation,” “anxiety,” “landscaping,” and others.  The funny thing is, I will give him a definition one time and then days or weeks later he’ll use the words completely appropriately in conversations we have.

Ang’s awareness of the world - and, specifically, the people and conversations around him - blows me away.  I have no memory of being that way myself as a child, but my mom assures me that I was. I also apparently had very strong verbal skills and a crazy-huge vocabulary at a young age, as does my son. 

I suppose the fact that both Dan and I are very verbal, social people probably helps, not to mention that I’m an avid reader and make a point to read to Angelo as much as he’ll let me.  And we’ve never really done the whole “baby talk” thing with him either.  It probably also helps that Angelo has been obsessed - obsessed - with dinosaurs (and animals, fish and insects) since he was two and has been able to name at least three dozen varieties of dinosaurs since that point because we own and read dozens of books on dinosaurs and he plays with all of his many, many dinosaur toys and dinosaur puzzles on a daily basis.  My mom would try to read him his dinosaur books if Angelo was staying with them and he would repeatedly correct my mom’s pronunciations of a lot of their names, like “ornitholestes” and “parasaurolophus.”  She couldn’t believe it!

Funny parting story: All through daycare and into junior kindergarten this past year, whenever Angelo was asked to talk or draw a picture of what he wanted to be when he grows up, his answer was always “a paleontologist.”  But because of his verbal ability, and his frequent habit of making a surprisingly solid case for the things he feels strongly about, his daycare providers and his kindergarten teacher would write in parentheses that they think he’s going to be a lawyer.  

And that wouldn’t surprise me a bit.    

Amy Giampetroni is a happily married woman, a full-time stay-at-home mom to a preschool boy and a part-time stepmom to an adolescent girl, living in Wisconsin. You can read more about Amy here and at her blog, Average Everyday Super Woman. Click here to check out Amy’s other posts on This Mommy Gig.

As you may have read, my husband was downsized out of a job a week ago today.  I was up north visiting my dad for the few days afterwards, and got home last Thursday evening.  Since then, Dan, Angelo and I have spent a whole lotta time together, which one would think would be a good thing.  And it was - at the beginning.  I think that today was the tipping point.  

Naturally the weather was stormy and wet for much of the day here, so Ang and I were cooped up indoors instead of getting together with a friend of mine and her kids for a day of swimming at a pool. Now, I’m never one to get too disgruntled by a previously scheduled day suddenly becoming “free,” but I think both Angelo and I were ready to get back to our normal routine.  Which normally involves Daddy going to work before we wake up in the morning and us having the day - and the house - to ourselves until at least 6pm!

Dan spent yet another day on the phone with various friends and business contacts talking about possible opportunities, which meant that Angelo and I had to keep the racket down to a minimum. That is soooo not the norm for us!  Heck, I’m usually vacuuming or I have my iPod on our speaker system and I’m singing (and dancing) while I do other housework or knitting or whatever, and Angelo has the sound up at a normal volume on his computer games or the t.v., or is running around playing with toys and being, well, a normal 5-year-old boy, complete with truck noises, alien invasion noises and all.  It was hard having to tiptoe around half the day making sure we were “quiet for Daddy.”  

This evening, we all decided to run to Target after devouring their flyer and the coupon sections of yesterday’s paper looking for deals on the things we needed.  For starters, Angelo didn’t want to go “run errands,” so he was already being a little belligerent, but then he also kept asking if we could buy a new Ben-10 alien.  We kept trying to explain to him that with both Mommy and Daddy not working at the moment, we don’t have the extra money for that right now.  Totally fell on deaf ears.  Totally.  

On top of that, Dan and I aren’t usually what you’d call “bargain shoppers” - usually when we go to Target, we have maybe six items on our shopping list but we end up with 60 in our cart by the end, and we never get out of there for less than $100 - EVER.  And normally we don’t really care!  Well, tonight we were on a mission to get good deals and save as much money as possible.  That meant much longer stops in each aisle as I scoured the flyer to see if that was on special and dug through my freshly-clipped coupons to see if I had one for those items.  Stops when Angelo had a little more time to make some mischief and beg and whine for a Ben-10 alien, naturally.  

To make matters worse, Dan was also feeling the cabin fever Angelo and I felt, and my usually patient-as-a-saint husband was testy and impatient.  I’m sorry but that’s usually MY gig, and I’m not handing over those reins without a fight!

Needless to say, it didn’t add up to a very pleasant shopping experience, which is sad because when both of us were working full-time, we used to really enjoy running errands as a family - that was our together time, and since we weren’t usually worried about money, it was just easy and fun and… um…. fruitful.  :)

On the way out to the car, Angelo was really laying on the whining thick, and was pulling his hand away from us, which he knows is a total no-no in a parking lot.  Dan yelled at him, Angelo got sassy back, and both were fuming while I was trying to defuse the situation.  I hate being in that role!  

When we got in the car, I leaned over to my wonderful husband and whispered, “Please don’t turn into me now.  You’re supposed to be the nice, calm, happy one of the two of us, right?  And please cut him [Angelo] a little bit of a break - he’s not used to you being with us all day for this long.  I know you’re frustrated, but we all have to find a way to get used to this new arrangement, and it’s going to take some time.”  He paused, looked at me, and said, “You’re right.  I know.”  Enough said.  

I think the magnitude of this situation really started to hit us both today.  Which is unfortunate, because we’ve been riding this tide of support and job leads, confidence and optimism for the past week and were doing pretty darn well with the whole thing, all things considered.  We know from a practical standpoint that we will be okay financially for several months if nothing pans out right away, but I think we’re starting to consider the other aspects of the situation now, like being together far more now that we need to tighten our belts.  It’s one thing on gorgeous sunny days when I can take Angelo to the zoo (we have a family zoo pass) or to a park or on a picnic while Dan keeps his nose to the grindstone in his new full-time job of finding a new full-time job.  But on the days when the weather stinks, we have to deal with the fact that we’re going to be hanging out together a LOT more, because we don’t have memberships to any other indoor places, and those places otherwise cost money.  Thank goodness we have a decent sized house - we can at least hide out in our own corners when we need a break from one another!

It’s challenging but also interesting having to suddenly find a new normal for our household now that Dan’s home with us.  Trying to find a balance between time spent together, taking advantage of the fact that Dan is home, and time spent doing our usual things or whatever needs to get done.  Trying to find a balance between saving money and saving our sanity.  I’ll keep you posted on how it all plays out!

Amy Giampetroni is a happily married woman, a full-time stay-at-home mom to a preschool boy and a part-time stepmom to an adolescent girl, living in Wisconsin. You can read more about Amy here and at her blog, Average Everyday Super Woman. Click here to check out Amy’s other posts on This Mommy Gig.

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays, and as usual, I had all sorts of fun things planned for the week:  A trip to Ashland to visit my dad and stepmom with my son; spending the day at our community 4th of July parade and then heading to a friend’s house for an “after-party”; watching fireworks with my family…   All good, normal, everyday kinds of things, right?   Well.

On Monday, I drove 7 hours north to Ashland with no major mishaps.  The weather was beautiful, Angelo was a good little traveler, and traffic was great being that it was a weekday afternoon.  There was just one tiny little problem:  Starting in the late afternoon, I couldn’t reach my husband when I was trying to call him to let him know where we were in our travels, and he KNOWS from experience that I like being able to reach him when I’m traveling without him in case anything happens.  With each trip into his voicemail I was growing more concerned, and then more frustrated.  By the time I got to my dad’s at 8pm, I was flipping out.  

I had no sooner sat down on the couch to visit with my parents when their phone rang.  It was my husband.  When I asked why he hadn’t been answering his phone, his answer knocked me right off my feet:  ”Honey, I was the latest one to be ‘downsized’ today.”

WHAT?!?

I thought he was kidding, trying to get out of me being ticked that I couldn’t reach him for the past four hours.  I even asked him if he was joking.  His answer?  ”‘Fraid not.”

I felt instantly sick to my stomach as a hard knot of panic settled into my gut.  This cannot be happening, I thought.  I’m a stay-at-home mom; I’m not working.  Now he’s not working.  What are we going to do?!?

I was speechless as he filled me in on the gory details of his afternoon.  I could hear the shock in his voice as I stood there, 375 miles away from him, and I just wanted to hop back into the van and drive straight back home.  

We had a good conversation - I only cried once! (miraculous) - and in the end we both resolved that this is NOT the end of the world and we weren’t going to waste our time panicking or freaking out over it.  We’re obviously concerned, but we’re not desperate: We have enough resources to get us through several months so he can really focus on his next move, and we’ve both got great professional networks, not to mention wonderful and resourceful family members and friends.  Yes, it’s scary to think that the money can and will eventually dry up and COBRA only lasts so long, but we both feel confident that this is simply an opportunity for the next door to open and lead us somewhere better.  Thankfully we’ve lived and learned enough to put this into perspective.  

I offered to come home the next day, but Dan said he was doing fine and wanted me to stay put and enjoy my time with my dad.  I had my doubts at first, and had a hard time sleeping that first night, but when he and I spoke the next day, he sounded so good, rejuvenated and positive that I realized he was right: No sense in my cutting my trip short and heading home early when he was rolling with it and getting a good jump on his job search without us underfoot.  As it turned out, he had gotten so many phone calls and emails from friends, coworkers and business contacts since sending out an email to everyone to let them know that he was no longer with his company that he had PLENTY of follow-up and networking to keep him busy.  

In just three short days, the man has received several solid leads on new positions, and we have countless friends putting out feelers elsewhere, so there’s every reason to believe that something will come through sooner rather than later.  He’s a great guy with tons of talent, experience and knowledge, and that hasn’t gone unnoticed in his career or elsewhere in his life.  It’s nice to know that so many people have reached out to offer their help in the circumstances, especially since the job market isn’t what it was even a few years ago.  

Downsizing stinks, no question about it.  But I think it’s entirely true that - while difficult and stressful at the time - it usually leads you to something bigger and better.  We both believe that we’ll look back on this in a year and laugh about it.  What else can you do?  

Onward and upward!

Amy Giampetroni is a happily married woman, a full-time stay-at-home mom to a preschool boy and a part-time stepmom to an adolescent girl, living in Wisconsin. You can read more about Amy here and at her blog, Average Everyday Super Woman. Click here to check out Amy’s other posts on This Mommy Gig.

Late Sunday afternoon I returned from a week of vacation up in northern Wisconsin with my entire family and all I can say is, “Oy vey!”

For starters, many of you have heard - or experienced - the severe flooding that ravaged much of southern Wisconsin earlier this month. Unfortunately, it was the source of major headaches for me and many other travelers heading west or north on Friday, June 13th (yes, I’m aware of the superstitious nature of that date, believe me!). Case in point: What is typically no more than a six hour drive took me over eight hours to complete.

I was supposed to meet my mother north of Madison in the mid-afternoon and caravan up north with her, but I simply couldn’t get through to Madison, no matter how hard or what route I tried. I was rerouted no fewer than four times just between Milwaukee and Madison, at which point I gave up trying to head west and simply chose to head north. Unfortunately, my efforts to travel north to reconnect with Hwy. 51 proved completely fruitless, and I ended up being rerouted (no fewer than five times) so infuriatingly far east that I realized I’d have been entirely better off if I’d just left from MIlwaukee heading north in the first place!

To make matters worse, while completely lost somewhere in Fond du Lac county, I unintentionally exceeded the speed limit on my way through a small town in the middle of nowhere while trying to find a highway sign I might recognize from my last map-checking stop that would get me heading NORTH. I was so frustrated and exhausted that I almost burst into tears (that’s so cliche, isn’t it?), but I simply didn’t have the energy at that point.

I tried calmly explaining to the officer the ridiculous, endlessly frustrating, and heavily rerouted journey I’d already been on and the fact that I was still hours away from my destination and had no idea how to get there from where we sat on the side of the road. The officer just nodded his head and asked me about my driving record; I said it was perfect (which it was). I presumed that he’d asked the question so he could decide whether to ticket me or warn me, and I prayed he’d show mercy and just let me off with a warning (which I’d most certainly have heeded). Unfortunately, he happened to be a hard-nosed guy who seemed to take an excessive amount of joy in giving me my first speeding ticket, worth FOUR points on my record. Grrrr… I left with a bitter taste in my mouth (and many curse words curled up a little deeper down) and some patronizingly given directions which the officer said “should” get me back to Highway 51 (never mind that I’d already heard that word more times than I cared to count that day).

Another four hours later, I finally reached my destination. We rolled up to the lake house after 10pm… We should’ve been there by 7pm. My younger brother had a cold beer waiting for me, God bless him.

Here’s the good part: I love my family. I love spending time with my parents, my brothers and my sister, and their families. We have SO much fun together, laugh so hard, play games of Cranium and Texas Hold ‘Em, and just enjoy our week together more than I can possibly say. Within an hour, my brother had me laughing so hard my sides hurt, and all my silly woes of the day melted away.

Unfortunately, the flooded and impassible roads weren’t the only things foiling all of our best-laid plans: Mother Nature had more surprises in store. Last year’s vacation was my definition of perfect in terms of weather, with 75-80 degree temperatures and plenty of sunshine every single day. This year? Not so much. We got lucky two days when the temperature went above 70 degrees, but we could only swim on one of those days because the other came with winds so chilly that the mere thought of coming out of cold water into colder wind sent chills down our collective spines.

On the plus side, where the weather was so gorgeous last year that we spent all our time in the water, this year we actually spent a bit more time in town, shopping and go-carting, which is always a big hit with my family, from my 5-year-old son and nephew right up to my fifty-something parents!

I always hate when the fun comes to an end, and it always comes too soon with some of my siblings, who have to leave early due to work or other plans. My sister and nephew left on Wednesday afternoon because my sister - a nurse practitioner in the Eau Claire area - had to work Thursday and Friday, and my brother and sister-in-law left Thursday afternoon because my brother had to attend his best friend’s rehearsal dinner and wedding Friday night and Saturday back in the Madison area. While it was lovely to spend a few days alone with my parents, I hate seeing my sibs leave early, not to mention that it was hard for my son not to have his nephew to play with.

This was a bittersweet trip to the lake house, as the owners of the house informed me a month ago that they may sell the house this year. It needs a LOT of work and they haven’t got the time or resources to keep up with it anymore, not to mention that the husband has MS and simply isn’t physically able to do the work himself these days. My parents considered making an offer, but I’m really not kidding when I say the house needs a TON of work - as in, it’s probably best to look at razing it and rebuilding. And at the price my friend and her husband were tossing around, that just wouldn’t be feasible for my parents. Which means that we will have to find another place to rent before next June to continue the family fun. That’s fine and all, and I’m sure we’ll have fun wherever we go. But it’ll be hard not to return to the same place our children and we have come to love over the past four years.

Oh well. Here’s to another fun week with my family, and to many, many more, wherever we may be!

I think I’m embarrassing my son with the wide variety of emotions I’m experiencing (and expressing) as his first year of school winds to a close.  He vacillates between watching with amusement as I cry while I read (and re-read) the very sweet letter his teacher included in his Jr. Kindergarten Memory Book to rolling his eyes at me and asking in a very exasperated voice, “Mom - WHY are you crying??”  

I don’t know what’s the matter with me.  I’m actually very excited for him to be finishing his first year of school, because it means he successfully traversed the halls of education for the past nine months, and it means that in just three more months he’ll be joining “the big kids” in full-day Sr. Kindergarten, a fact which causes him tremendous pride and joy.  I’m also terribly proud of him and all he’s learned this year, despite being in school for just 2-1/2 hours a day.  He went from pretty much only being able to write his name and count to 20 back in September to writing whole sentences and beginning to read, and a million other really cool things.  In the circumstances, you’d think I’d have a perma-grin on my face and be turning joyful, happy cartwheels instead of bawling at the drop of a hat.  

I hope Angelo can tolerate my emotional rollercoaster tomorrow as he wraps up his very last day. Unfortunately, as one of the two room moms, I have to be there at the end of the morning to help the kids present Miss G with her end-of-year gift, and I have a sinking feeling I’ll be a weepy mess in front of my poor child and all of his little pals.  Ugh… the shame….  

Oh well.  Better that my boy get used to it now, as I expect there will be PLENTY of occasions for me to cry and make a spectacle of myself at his school functions over the years to come.  (Can you imagine his high school graduation?!?  I’ll need to be sedated, you just watch.)

In all seriousness, here’s to a wonderful first year of school for Angelo, to a phenomenal teacher, and to a beautiful and fun summer to come!

P.S. I’m heading out of town tomorrow for a much-needed vacation and I don’t think I’ll have access to the Internet much (if at all) while I’m away, so here’s wishing all of you a great weekend and week, and I’ll catch up with you when I’m back on the 23rd!