by Sarah | Feb 4, 2019 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Home, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All About Ripley, All of Us, Blogging Life, Disney, Disney Mom, Florida Dreaming, Oola, Redefining Perfect, Universal, Universal Studios Mom
*disclaimer* I am writing this over a week before publication. All information is subject to change. I’ll try to update if that happens, but I’m working a LOT, so it’s not 100%
We decided on this move in June of last year.
For over six months I have been applying at hospitals all over the area we’re looking at moving to (central Florida – i.e. Orlando area where our son lives).
I have managed to garner an interview and a half in probably 50-100 applications over the past six+ months. It’s been rough with all of the no’s stacking up, knowing a good deal of them likely come because I am here in Indiana.
It’s not easy being entry level and trying to move. They keep touting they want “a quick turnaround” and none of my assurances that I can be down in two weeks, three tops seems to make a difference in their eyes. Although what company doesn’t want you to be conscientious and put in a two week notice?
Frustration is lacing into every second of this for me. It’s tarnishing the excitement and making me doubt it happening.
Then, after six+ months of doing nothing on his job hunt…
My husband finally jumps into the fray. He works in a pretty specific industry with 20 years experience there, but again…pretty darn specific.
He has sent out THREE resumes. Three. About two weeks ago.
In less than a week, he got a call on a potential job.
Four days later, a phone interview.
The job? Not ideal…but if they match his current income…we are GONE.
So fingers crossed.
We could make this a reality.
Our target date: July 2019
Current status: One positive interview for husband, still plugging away for me. Savings is on target. Would feel more confident if I knew tax refunds were coming.
We’re heading toward our dream #Oolalife…we are getting there. Every day another inch closer.
*~*
Edited for update: I have also had a promising pre-interview this past week. No set date for a real interview yet, but hoping to have one soon.
by Sarah | Jan 31, 2019 | All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Molly, All of Us, Blogging Life, Disney, Disney Mom, DisneyTips, Florida Dreaming, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect, Universal, Universal Studios Mom
So many times people think Molly and Kennedy are ACTUAL twins instead of Irish twins.
Oftentimes they (and I) have found it rather annoying…
Then…then…then…
You go on a trip to Disney/Universal for the youngest’s Wish.
Because Kennedy is SO in love with the Harry Potter books/movies/everything your very first stop on your very first day is none other than Ollivander’s so you can beat the crowds you’d heard were so crazy and have a chance at your little one getting the most awesome treat of being picked by Ollivander to get her very own wand.
It truly was our first day so we had no idea the true meaning of the magic of our Make-A-Wish badges and buttons…but within the walls of Ollivander’s Wand shop we learned quickly.
We also learned that it can be a good thing that people think Molly and Kennedy are actual twins…
Because when Ollivander selected those that would get their wands –
He picked Kennedy AND Molly.
(Here is where I would insert the video if it was not such a colossal mess of flipping sideways and darkness and not being able to hear everything. Sorry. The tale alone will have to do.)
First, he learned their names, then the wand selection began.
First, he handed Kennedy a wand made of Willow with a unicorn hair as its core. She waved with a “Wingardium Leviosa” and…well…the shelves went crashing down.
Then, he handed Molly a wand of hazel with a unicorn hair as its core. He instructed her to light it…and much to our surprise, she said in a very strong voice despite the crowd “Lumos!” Lightning flashed through the building, loud claps of thunder.
Ollivander used a quick spell to disperse the storm, and turned to my girls, tutting that they were indeed very difficult…
Then, the moment of brilliance.
He picked up the wands before each of the girls, making a statement to their twin cores…before crossing his arms so that each girl got the opposite wand to their first attempt, Molly with the willow and Kennedy with the Hazel…and then…
The moment of perfection, light and wind brushed across them as they found their perfect wands…or the wands found them.
Of course, we happily paid for the wands because they were chosen by Ollivander himself and brought them home with us. They had a prominent place until we began packing up to move. Soon enough, they’ll be on display again…and put to good use within the park itself.
It is true magic to see the wands choosing its wizard…and pure joy that both our girls got to experience the magic…together.
by Sarah | Jan 29, 2019 | All About Family, All of Us, Blogging Life, Redefining Perfect, Top Ten Tuesday
I’ve visited this topic before, but it was in one brief post. I wanted to broaden the stretch of my top tens, to address each answer and give it its own worth. So, without further ado:
#10 on my list is California.
Not a specific location in the state, but California.
When I was in middle school, my parents arranged and took my brother and I on a trip to California. We started in Fresno, drove down the coast, then back up through the state. We visited Monterey, Yosemite, Redwood Forest, San Francisco, and many others. Though boring at times (so much driving), and we never did Disneyland, I still remember that trip with much love and happy memories.
From the sites in Yosemite, the giants of the Redwoods, to the ocean views, and the oddities on display around Fisherman’s Wharf. There was never a shortage of cool things to see.
I would love to be able to give my kids a chance to see the state like that. I’ve always said I never wanted to live there, but I loved to visit California, and it still holds true. There is so much beauty and fun to be had.
I’m thinking a two week road trip, north to south like we did back then, but making it to the original house of mouse unlike my first trip. With so much to see and do, it would take a ton of vacation time, but be so worth it in the end.
Have you been to California? What were your favorite parts?
by Sarah | Jan 28, 2019 | All About Family, All About Me, All of Us, Blogging Life, Pour Your Heart Out, Random, Redefining Perfect
We all know the phrase. We use it all the time when we have little ones, “It takes a village to raise a child.”
I think it goes farther than that – It takes a village…period.
We ALL need a village…or a tribe…we need people.
We need each other.
So why do we resist our village when they rise to help us?
I have a friend, a good friend, who has come to mean a lot to me in the past couple of years. Six months ago they moved many miles so her husband could take a very exciting job that suited him perfectly. After years of being self-employed, they would have regular checks coming in…and he would be doing a job that was pretty darn amazing.
He is now one of the hundreds of thousands of workers furloughed because of the shutdown over the asinine wall.
We’ve had a lot of talks over the past month as she’s grappled with the existence. I made a comment to her that she should put it out there to ask for help from those she’s helped and taught. She’s resisted, and resisted, stating they’re okay right now.
When I went to send her money for an item I’d purchased, I sent her extra.
“What did you do?” Was her response, “You’re saving for Florida!” I reassured her we’d talked about it and were fine with our decision…and she relented and we continued our discussion…and it struck me hard.
It’s long been proven in so many studies and just general truth…we are STRONGER in a community. When we rely on each other.
So why do resist?
We often are afraid to ask, or we feel like a failure or inadequate, so we are too embarrassed to ask.
It also doesn’t help that in today’s society we are full of Judgy McJudgersons ready to tell us how we should have been prepared, we should have done this, or done that…who are super eager to sit behind the anonymity of their computer screens and tell us why you should do it YOURSELF…
But you can’t. Not always.
Friendship is about love and caring and support.
The next time you see someone you know struggling…
Be their village. Not their judge and jury.
Be their village.
They’re going to resist. So stick with something small. A silly card, something you know they’ve wanted off the wall, or just sitting with them and letting them vent without commisserating (i.e. telling them your story of woe to match).
Remember, in a village, it’s not always about YOU. Sometimes it’s about them.
Be their village.
Because one day, you’re gonna need them to be yours.
by Sarah | Jan 25, 2019 | All About Erik, All About Family, All About Me, All of Us, Oola, Personal, Redefining Perfect, Story of Me
I’ve been carrying on for a while now about this Oola stuff, I know. So, I thought I would share a little about how I came to find it, what it is, and what it means to me/us.
One day about a year and a half ago I was perusing netgalley (as I love to do) and saw the cover over there <—.
I was intrigued, but saw it was self-help/non-fic and thought maybe it was too crunchy crazy for me because of the VW bus on the cover and moved on past.
About a month later one of my local friends on twitter posted something with the hashtag #oola. For some reason, the word had stuck with me from that cover and I immediately tackled her on it, asking what she knew of it. Her response is lost to the twitter gods…but it was along the lines of “It’s amazing.” I said I remembered seeing an oola book on Netgalley and I’d go see if it was still available.
It WAS! I snatched it up immediately – and then promptly forgot about it for probably five or six months.
One weekend after I’d quit the job I hated, I took a chance to run some surveys at a local movie theater. I was only to survey people coming out of a couple of particular movies. Not sure if you know this, but movie theaters run movies in chunks. So everything goes in and releases within a half hour span every couple of hours. That left a LOT of time sitting around staring at this –>.
While sitting on a bench during one of the lulls, I opened the kindle app on my phone, pondering what to read.
I’m not sure what called me to it, but as soon as I saw Oola, I downloaded and began to read.
Within an hour I was sending my husband screen captures saying “Read this! And this! and this! This is amazing!”
Whether it was the right timing, or the right words, the book spoke to me. Some of the stories didn’t speak to me, but many left me in tears. It inspired me, uplifted me, and made me look at EVERYTHING in my life differently. It changed my life.
I know, I know…I’m using the words “It was LIFE-CHANGING.” The thing is…I don’t say this lightly. I’ve read my share of self-help books that didn’t do anything for me. Again. I don’t know if it was the timing, the words, or the simple complexity of the whole theory…but it struck me. It didn’t hit my husband in the same way…at first. Now? He’s fully on board. We’ve both read an Oola book (There are currently 2 versions with a 3rd to be released soon and a 4th planned) at least twice. I’m on my third go right now.
Okay, so what is it?
From the Oola website:
oo-la (noun): That state of awesomeness. It is when your life is balanced and growing in the seven key areas of life – the 7 F’s of Oola (fitness, finance, family, field (career), faith, friends and fun).
It’s a book that guides you on how to find balance in the 7 key areas of your life. (Heads up, the authors are deeply Christian and as someone who isn’t this could have easily turned me off…but in the Faith section they admit they’re Christian and say “but you do you.” Which, for me, made them a-ok in my book).
The book leads you through every one of the key areas, talking about how you can attain Oola in each, or what it means to attain Oola in each.
They break down what are called “Oola blockers” – like Fear, Guilt, Anger, etc. Then, they talk about my favorite – the “Oola accelerators” like Gratitude, Love, and Passion.
You are given quizzes to see where you are in each area so that you might create your Oola Wheel and see what you need to work on. You’re also given steps to find three daily tasks that take you closer to your Oola goals. By working on one area of your life, the Oola spreads to other areas so you see a general lift in each area. I’ve experienced it, I’ve seen it have a huge impact on our lives. It sounds hokey, but it works.
I met the Oola guys
In June I got to head to a local Barnes & Noble to get my Oola books signed by the authors.
I even got to put my own Oola goal on the Dream bus…on the layer of stickers covering the VW. (My dream is not in this picture…it must have been before I placed it…but it was to move to Florida – weeks before we made the decision to do just that).
I kid you not, I was like a kid at Disney World when I walked around the corner and saw that bus outside. It was real, and I was adding MY dream to the bus.
I know I keep saying it, but it’s made a big change in our lives. We keep each other in check by reminding each other “Oola” when things get rough. We have open discussion about Oola Blockers and Accelerators. We’ve taken steps to better our lives using the principles and are seeing positive changes.
We stumble, sure. Of course we do. Lately, my biggest struggle has been in the fitness aspect and it’s bringing me down everywhere. So, I’ve quit smoking finally (over 2 months now), and I’ve gotten back on a healthier diet, I’ve been working on quitting pop, and am doing exercise program that worked for me in the past. My goals don’t involve a number on a scale, but a general return to the healthy level and excellent shape I was in almost 2 years ago.
We are living the #oolalife as best we can – and knocking out our Oola goals as we can.
I know, I’m one of THOSE people…never thought I would be, but I SO am.
Come on in, the water’s GREAT.
by Sarah | Jan 22, 2019 | All About Family, All About Me, All of Us, Florida Dreaming, Oola, Personal, Redefining Perfect, Story of Me
Last month I participated in this wonderful event run by an Ojibwe Medicine Woman called the 21 Day Ceremony Challenge.
The whole thing was amazing, powerful, so intense. I learned things about myself. I built up my altar with new items and offerings. It was a wonderful way to spent a few minutes every day focusing on myself.
One day, pretty early in the process, she sent us on a little guided meditation to find the spirit animal that would be guiding us on our journey.
Honestly, it took me several tries to get in the right frame of mind to truly get into it. I expected something like the fox or deer I’d recently seen.
Nope.
My spirit guide came plodding along on all fours. Green. Bumpy. Big teeth.
An alligator.
Honestly…I had to really take a few minutes to digest it. I’ve seen all sorts of spirit animals from spiders to horses to hawks and even mice.
But an alligator? What?
Then, I thought more about it – and it makes total sense.
For one, the obvious, we are planning to move to Florida. What’s crazy-prevalent in Florida? Alligators, of course.
Then there’s the fact that my middle one, Molly, has had the nickname of “Gator” since she was a baby. It’s a cute story about a onesie and an enamored daddy…but we’ll save that for another time.
Once I sat with the knowledge for a while, I took in the lessons he brought me.
His message to me was to work hard at being my authentic self, which I have always struggled with. The rest will fall into place if I continue accepting and becoming my true self. His presence with me tells me to continue my path of sticking to my guns and know that even though I’m gifted with emotional understanding, I don’t have to allow myself to be dragged into the chaos and mire of others drama.
So I’m happy to walk with the alligator, and let him be my guide…
And proudly say that I’d bet anything my spirit animal is weirder than yours. Which is just how I like it.
We decided on this move in June of last year.
