Off With a Bang!

I had another blog out there in cyberspace but I decided that I wanted to start over fresh. I like starting over. I like new things. Every few months I buy a new journal because I like seeing the blank pages, knowing that eventually those pages will be filled with my thoughts.



I am loving living in Maine right now. I honestly never thought that I would want to move back here to live semi-permanently but here I am, loving every minute of it. We've been getting hit pretty hard lately with the snow storms. Snow is the one thing I don't like about living in Maine...that, and the fact that it gets frigid and stays frigid until about April.



I am currently living with my brother to help him out during the winter months. He had been laid off about six months ago and with the economy the way it is, jobs have been pretty scarce. We've struggled for a few months to pay the mortgage, the heating and electricity, the cable/Internet and the other necessary evil, the cell phone. My mother has helped us out as much as she can but there's only so much she can do especially since she has bills and rent she has to pay.



I worked at a daycare center for the better part of last year. I really enjoyed the kids and the staff. For the first time in a long time I really enjoyed getting up and going to work. I was certainly spoiled too. I had a nice set schedule where I had weekends off. The daycare was bought by a larger, chain daycare company and the employees were told two days before Christmas that we were out of jobs and if we wanted to work for this new company we would have to go through the application process. Needless to say, the holidays were pretty tight financially and I didn't get the job with the new daycare. I don't know how I feel about daycare chains. This particular daycare has about ten different locations all over southern Maine and they're adding four more in the coming months. I just think the level of care becomes compromised when you have a chain of the same thing everywhere. Most daycare centers up here are closing anyway due to the fact that many parents are losing their jobs and can't afford childcare.



Due to the fact that I was unable to land that job at the daycare, and I have been unable to find anything paying enough to make getting up in the morning worthwhile, I have begun receiving unemployment checks. Now, I don't like having to rely on the government to pay my bills and my rent and put food on the table, but I will admit that it is nice to have a check every week until I can find suitable employment. Thank you State of Maine!



So, right now I'm enjoying this little hiatus from work and catching up on some much anticipated reading.