hello blogworld!

Gosh, it's been a while. I've just started to feel somewhat like "myself" again in the last few weeks, but I've been transitioning (for what has seemed like months now) into a new role at work that will give me almost zero computer time. So, my blogging suffers another blow!

I'm excited about my new position at work! I work for a clothing recycling company, and up until now I've been doing admin work (boooring!). But the new role will be totally different; I'll be a "site finder", which means I'll drive around Minneapolis and St. Paul asking various businesses if they wouldn't mind hosting one of our collection boxes in their parking lot. (we collect clothes in boxes around town rather than one drop-off location) Sometimes this is super-easy and the business owner readily agrees with smiles all around. Sometimes it's ridiculously difficult, involving getting numerous signatures and permits from cranky city council members. And sometimes it's just plain demoralizing, hearing "no" after "no" after "no". I just tell myself that those people probably give their kids lumps of coal in their Christmas stockings too. Somehow that makes it all better. hahaha

I just found out that my boss in the office has hired a replacement for my current position in the office, and I will start training her next Monday. That means that I will be site finding full-time by the following Monday, if all goes well. I am really excited and a little scared, too.

I'm excited because I'll be essentially working for myself (as a contractor, with my company as a "client") which means I set my own hours. Yaaaay! No more 5:30 mornings! I can leave the house whenever I darn well please! I do have a quota of sites that I have to get each week (4-5, which works out to one a day, more or less) but I'm free to get more, and to do it all in one day or to get one every day, or whatever. The freed-up schedule is SO liberating after spending over a year chained to an 8-4, M-F schedule. Now I can come home at noon if I get a site early in the day... or I can take the random Thursday off to take a day trip to wherever my lil heart pleases. It's also exciting because if I *just* meet my low-end quota I will roughly triple my weekly income. Um, yay??!! Of course, I'm comparing pre-tax vs. post-tax, so that has to factor in, but over all, it's vastly better both financially and time-wise.

I'm a little scared because there is NO hourly pay. It's 100% commission. IOW, I can work my bootay off all day (or week) long and if I get no sites, I get no money. That's a lot of pressure, especially if I have a bad day physically or something. And right now, this is our primary source of income. Double pressure.

I say "primary" because Rob and I are both still building our MonaVie income, and in a few weeks we're starting a 3-month program called the "Diamond Run" that should more than kick our income up a few levels. This is also very exciting, since it's all about teamwork (which I'm seeing more and more that it's based around the biblical model of discipleship) and getting to know/love people. The goal is to have MV replace my job as our primary source of income by September, which is when the love child is due to arrive and demand my full attention.

Speaking of the love child... I started feeling little rolls and pokes and bumps about two weeks or so ago. It's the strangest sensation! Trying to describe it is really hard, it feels like I swallowed a live fish and it's swimming around inside me. Hahahha Or if you've ever caught a tadpole or a guppy when you were a kid and you have it trapped in your hand underwater, it kind of wiggles and bumps against your hand... that's a perfect example of the feeling. (C'mon, I can't be the only girl who caught "things"?) Anyway, it's kind of gross and kind of fun at the same time.

Wednesday is our day to "peek" and hopefully find out what the love child IS. Aside from human, of course. ;) I'm really excited... for one thing, I hate calling a human being "it" all the time, and I think naming it and knowing how to relate to it will really help me bond even more. And that's always a good thing, especially when we're talking about a child here! haha

I think we've settled on a name if it's a boy, and we have 3 or 4 that we're deciding between if it's a girlie. Name and sex will be freely shared once we find out on Wednesday, if the lil wiggler cooperates!

Alrightie, well for not blogging in over a month, this was much longer than intended. Sorry to all my readers who don't like long posts! (ahem, Erica)

I'll be back on Wednesday!

Oh, for those of you who like visuals (I do!) here's a picture of me last week (at 18 weeks or 4.5 months):