At the end of May, I, along with several others, lost my job at the Sheraton. I've been working since I was 15 years old and have never been laid off or fired from a job so you can imagine what a shock it was for me. I knew it wasn't personal, I knew it was just business but still. The hotel was doing poorly, they needed to cut expenses and since my position was a newly created position, it was deemed a luxury. The timing actually worked out in my favor . . . I was home all summer with KJ, got to enjoy the pool every day and worked on my tan, I was able to see a lot of my lax family when they came up for tournaments, I was able to go to Vicksburg for 10 days in July for the pageant, I was able to spend quality time with T-Bone when she came home for a week at the end of July, I was able to drive KJ to and from volleyball camps and clinics and I was able to be involved in her JV volleyball experience. I was also able to fly to Oxford for a few days in October and, had that damn hurricane not happened, I would have been able to enjoy a week in Cabo! Now, the holidays are upon us and I was looking forward to hosting Thanksgiving and having all of our family here for Christmas. Simply put, I have not been looking for a job. But a job found me.
Tuesday I received a text from one of my co-workers at the Sheraton asking me if I was interested in a position in the Sales Department. Something had come up and I was the first person they thought of. On Wednesday afternoon I received a call from HR asking if I could come in Thursday morning to meet with the new GM. Within an hour, I had an offer of employment. My head is spinning!!! I start on Monday. Naturally, I ran to the mall to buy some new clothes!
We have got so much going on over the next couple of weeks, I'm questioning the timing of this new job but things have a way of working out. We are also in the process of buying a house here in Maryland so I was very honest with the DOS and the GM. I told them up front that I'll need some days off for the closing, the move, etc and I absolutely positively have to have off the entire week of Christmas. That was not negotiable.
When we first moved here we decided to rent since we really weren't sure if we were going to stay. Fortunately, KJ loves it here and is positively thriving. She made the honor roll 1st semester of high school as well as all 4 semesters of 8th grade and we couldn't be prouder. She's in all AP classes and did an incredible job of balancing academics and athletics. This coming from a child who hated school in Alabama and begged to be home schooled. Every morning was a struggle with KJ. She begged to stay home, every morning brought a new ailment ... a headache, a stomach ache, etc. She loves her school, likes her teachers, she's got a great group of friends, she's popular and she's got quite the social calendar. So, we decided the time to buy a house was right.
Unfortunately, finding a house has proved to be difficult and not without it's challenges. Obviously we want to stay within our current school district. We do not need nor do we necessarily want a McMansion which seems to be the rage up here. Houses in our current neighborhood start at $625K. It's just the three of us for the next three years (we have accepted the fact that T-bone will probably never live in Maryland). We do not need a 5-bedroom house. We're trying to find a smaller house that fits our needs and a house that we can quickly sell once KJ is off to college and we can downsize even further. Unfortunately, a smaller house in this area equates to a much, much older house needing updates.
We've been searching since the spring and think we may have found our next home. It is an older home but the kitchen and master suite have been beautifully updated. The house is on an acre and backs to the woods. It's a brick ranch that has none of it's original floor plan. The master suite is huge and also has a separate sitting room that was probably one of the original bedrooms, beautiful hard woods, his and her closets and one wall of exposed brick. The family room is an addition it is also has beautiful hardwoods, walls of windows overlook the back yard and a wall of exposed brick. The house has two fireplaces -- one in the formal living and one in the finished basement -- but my favorite room is the mud room off the garage. I have always wanted a mud room!!! There is a guest bedroom in the basement and KJ will take over the entire renovated attic. So, if we do put an offer on this house and the closing goes through, we will be the proud owner of three homes and a lacrosse store! Yup. Our house in Hoover is currently being rented by a nice family from MS with 2 high school aged girls, the renter in our condo has been there for over 5 years and it doesn't look like he's going anywhere and of course we still have Stickhead. We keep joking around that all we need next is a condo in Ocean City!!!
