Hotlanta...not all it's cracked up to be

We have now been residents of Atlanta for just over 3 mths and I must say...I want to be just about anywhere other than here!

When we moved here I had all these grand ideas of how things were going to be and instead it just plain stinks! The hubby's company immediately slashed hours from 40 hrs a week to 32hrs which also brought a 20% pay cut. It's not hurting most of the others in the office b/c they have all been there 15-20yrs and they don't have kids that they need to feed and clothe much less just coming off a 9 mth stint of unemployment and job hunting and still paying part of a mortgage on a house in another state!! So, we are back to job hunting for something that will actually be 40hrs a week, with no pay cut and excellent benefits! If any structural engineering companies out there are reading this please shoot me an email if you need a Cad Manager and are located in the Greater Atlanta area, Raleigh Durham area or even Florida as we have friends and family there that would make that move easier than this one.

July 4th was hard for me. This was the first year in many yrs we were not with family or friends or at the lake, etc... celebrating. We had nowhere to go and no one to hang out with on Sun. while all our neighbors were celebrating with their own parties or off at their friends.
Saturday night the we did take the kids to the church festivities and fireworks. They had a lot of fun while I just sat there wishing I was somewhere else. If I got this low about 4th of July I am going to hate to see how I am at Thanksgiving and Christmas and even Halloween! Praying that someday soon we will have some friends that we can hang out with here, I am tired of the loneliness that a move to a new state and new city brings:(

I have been trying to find a job here, so far no luck. I did interview last week for a position that I pray I get and I pray I hear something from her tomorrow.

We do have renters in our home in NC. Praying that they buy it soon as that would be a BIG RELIEF for us! I found out that they have let a stray mother cat and her kittens into the home. Is it wrong of me to have them take them to the pound? I don't want to be mean but if you feed a cat it will never leave and it is sooo hard to give away cats these days. I don't want to drive up there oneday and there be 15 cats in and around my house, because it is still my house and they are just renting. Who knows what diseases,etc...a stray cat carries and I don't need the house infested with fleas on top of everything else. Especially if they decide not to buy the house then I am stuck cleaning up and dealing with whatever the cat may have done inside the house. UGH!

Sorry this post has been such a downer but I just needed to get this off my chest. I pray that no one else has to go through the stuff that we are going through. I pray for the economy to pick up, jobs to be in abundance, pay to be good, and for all who read this to have friends close by at all times!

Whole Foods Johns Creek and The Budget Mommy

If you live in or around the Atlanta area be sure to enter this great giveaway from The Budget Mommy (www.thebudgetmommy.com) The Whole Foods in Johns Creek has donated to her a $100 coffee, wine and gourmet snack basket to be given away on May 26th. Start entering and Good Luck!!

If you are Baptist(or any other denomination that does this) then you know that...

Monday nights for the most part equal visitation, where groups from the church go out and visit those people who have recently visited that particular church on one or more occasions. You would think being a ministers daughter I would have remembered this tidbit. As you also know, we have recently moved to Atlanta which means finding a new church. Having visited in the past and having friends there we have been attending North Metro First Baptist, Big Daddy has been attending since last Sept when he moved down ahead of the kids and I for his job and the kids and I have been attending since the end of March when we FINALLY joined Big Daddy in the land of the "Dawg" (that just makes this Gator shudder)

Anyways, we have been attending the church for sometime now and the thought had never crossed my mind that one quiet, rainy night there would 2 ministers ringing my doorbell just after dinner. For one, we never filled out a 'visitor' form for this very reason.

Somehow they found us!! As Big Daddy was making sure the kids were bathing and getting ready for bed and I was on the phone with Little Momma (my sister who is with child #2) the doorbell rang, Tebow (yes, for those new to the Paisley Magnolia, we (I) named our dog after "Superman" Tim Tebow) went nuts and who does Big Daddy find at the door but 2 ministers from NMFBC. Now let me just sayagain, we have been in our house a little over a month and there are still boxes in the "Christmas Tree" room that have not been unpacked, the dinner dishes were still in the sink and once I get home in the afternoons the clothes come off and the comfy pj's go on so there we were in our pj's...I have never been so embarrassed!!

So, this incident has now taught me that on Monday nights I must stay in my clothes until at least 8pm and it would be a good take out night so as not to have a dirty kitchen and it is time to get the cardboard out of the Christmas room...check back next Monday and see if it happens!

Another Preppy Giveaway

You MUST go to www. lwhelan.blogspot.com and enter her giveaway for a fabulously preppy apron!!
Follow her on Twitter, "like" her on Facebook (lwhelandesigns) and invite your friends and check out her Etsy store (love me some Etsy and her drink cozies)...the more you do the more entries you get!!
Good luck all you Paisley's out there!!

Getting acclimated...

that is what we are still in the process of doing here in Georgia. We have been here since the end of March, all 4 of us under the same roof.

We had to put the kids back in public school since there were only a few weeks left in the school year. The kids have adjusted well, both immediately had to take Ga's version of the end of year testing and both seem to have done very well on it. I am disappointed that they will be losing out on foreign language classes here due to "budget cuts". Both kids have been in spanish classes since kindergarten and now they will not be able to take them again until at least middle school if not later. All the private schools I have contacted for next school year are already booked so unless I opt to homeschool the kids will be back in public school come the end of summer.

We are getting plugged into things at North Metro First Baptist in Lawrenceville. The kids have made new friends and I have been attending the Thursday morning Ladies Bible Study with Jenna and have met several ladies through that.

Chris has spent the last 2 weekends at our home in NC getting it ready for our renters that are moving in next week. I pray that they are able to buy it very, very soon as I have come to realize I am not cut out to be a landlord!!

The first month of summer vacation will be spent tearing up the asphalt between ATL and Wake Forest. We are going back for the DIVA to dance in her dance recital at the end of May and then they kids are in camp at the end of June on beautiful Lake Gaston!

We are looking forward to experiencing all that HOTlanta has to offer this summer as well, from baseball games to festivals and more.

I am in the process of setting up a new website, as soon as it is ready I will post more about that on here. I love being able to be home with the kids but I need to start bringing in some money right now too. Since we are away from family that can help with the kids I am having to find something that will pay enough to cover daycare.summer care expenses and still bring in some money and that is hard to come across right now so I am looking into doing something at home on my own. Pray that this is the answer we are looking for.

P.S.

It is my Birthday today..WOOT WOOT!!!

Fantastic Mother's Day Giveaway from The Preppy Mafia

Head on over to www.thepreppymafia.com and enter for their Mother's Day giveaway!!! Be sure to follow all the directions so you can get the maximum number of entries!! Good Luck!!!