Drum Roll Please......

I got the job!!  Next year I will be the new head cook at the FarmHands' school.  Both of the cooks are retiring at the end of this year so I thought I had a pretty good shot at one of the jobs.  I'm a bit nervous about all the paper work involved, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

Thank you for all your prayers and good wishes.

The day I found out was one of those days when any piece of good news is not only welcome, but necessary to one's mental stability.  My laptop (that we bought in January) wouldn't let me get on line.  I'd been on with tech support for our ISP for hours the day before & they assured me the problem was in the lap top.

After work on Monday I called Walmart to find out what to do with the computer.  I talked to a woman in electronics and she told me I had until Friday (that would be 90 days from our original date of purchase) to return the lap top for an exchange.  I had to take #1 Son to the lab in the hospital to have his cheek (and never ending case of impetigo) cultured, so I was going to take the computer back during that trip to town.  I spent the next 40 minutes frantically dumping any kind of information we had put on the computer- programs, photographs, pass words, music- not knowing I could just restore the computer to it's factory settings.  All the while, I was furious because it took me hours to get all those photos loaded and tagged and edited the way I wanted.  And it took almost as long to get all my music transferred (and I really don't have that much music on my Zune).

By the time I threw Bitsy in the van and headed in to school (at the very last minute) to get the FarmHands, I was frazzled far too near to my breaking point.  At the hospital we had to wait for 20 minutes to get registered (normally we wait less than 5 minutes) and with 4 kids in an environment that demands calmness, that is not fun.  Finally got done there and headed to Walmart where they proceed to tell me they don't exchange computers after 15 days from the time of purchase.  I explained that I called at 2 o'clock and spoke to a woman who assured me I could even after I gave her the date on our receipt.  Everyone was baffled (including the woman working in electronics who said she hadn't spoken to me) and since I didn't get her name, I was out of luck.  The did give me a warranty page so I could get a hold of HP (since there wasn't one in the computer box at all) and apologized profusely for the misunderstanding.

I loaded the FarmHands back up & warned them that I needed a totally silent ride home or I might just fall apart.  For the most part, they listened.

As soon as I got home I called HP's warranty hot line and spent the next TWO HOURS and FIFTEEN MINUTES on the phone with my new Indian bff- Samantha.  After trying 75,000 different things and eventually returning the computer (that still held a bit of the personalizations I'd stored) to it's factory settings, it still did not work.  I finally had to tell Samantha I couldn't work on it any more.  It was 7:35 and my children still needed to be bathed, fed, and sent to bed.

That night was the school board meeting that would decide if I would have a job next year or not.  I spent the next 2 hours nervously fidgeting and waiting for a phone call that might not come till morning if it came at all.  By 9:45 I was about to snap like an over tightened guitar string.  I decided a hot bath was in order.  I had no more than stretched out in the tub than the phone rang.  Sure it was Husband calling to see if I'd heard anything about the board meeting, I answered from the tub.  It was the principal.

He congratulated me and told me who got the other job then told me they'd let me know about a training schedule as soon as they get one worked out.  I called Husband, Mom, and Art to let them know the good news then finally decided I'd better get out of the bath.

As I was getting ready for bed, I noticed the light was still on in BabyGirl's room (it was 11 o'clock at night by this point).  When I got on to her for still being up she said, "But Mom, I read the end of the chapter and had to find out what was going to happen next!  I just couldn't stop reading!"  Since BabyGirl doesn't read willingly, I couldn't really get on to her.

Then I told her I was going to be a cook at her school full time next year & that's when the best thing that happened all day occurred.  My daughter- willingly and of her own accord- hugged me!  She not only hugged me, but she hugged me and said, "Awesome!"

It was a good day after all.