What We've Been Doing for the Last Two Months

I like to think I am good at keeping the blog up to date.  I did actually write that last post in September, immediately after going to the Bronx, knowing that we had a lot of activities planned for late September/early October that I would need/want to blog about.

So, I HAD good intentions, which I feel I should earn credit for.

Life has thrown us into a bit of a tailspin since then.  It started when I (really Mike and I) decided that I needed to quit my job.  It is a very long story as to what led to this epiphany, which I won't bore you with.  But, as you could probably tell from my blog posts (or, more accurately, LACK of blog posts), work was having a significant impact on my personal life.

Since that decision was made, I think Mike and I can agree that life has felt a bit like a runaway train that we are just trying to steer in the right direction.  I applied for, and was offered, a job with Living proof. They were in the news recently for signing Jennifer Aniston as an investor and spokesperson for the brand.

Upside to Living proof:  they are an amazing group to work with.  Most of the employees are younger.  Everyone is very collaborative and focused on making the brand a success.  They put a lot of emphasis on product performance, so research and development is very important to them.  They keep a kitchen stocked with fruit and miscellaneous junk food to keep us happy (someone must have researched what makes scientists and engineers happy).  And, I get paid to do what I love:  create new products.  I no longer have to manage people (which wasn't terrible), redo my budget five times or come up with a strategic plan that is needed 24 hours later but which no one listens to (which was agonizing).

Downside to Living proof:  the commute.  The distance is only 38 miles, so 10 miles further than commuting to Crabtree.  But, I am now commuting with traffic towards Boston, instead of going the opposite direction.  So, instead of a 28 mile commute that took 45 minutes, I know have a commute that takes 1 hour and 45 minutes most mornings.  Yuck.

Fortunately, we are now working close to each other.  Not so close that we can commute together, but close enough that we could find a new house more centrally located.

Which brings us to the chaos we are currently entrenched in:  sell this house and buy a new one.  The list of sub tasks associated with this is never ending.  We have a million little things that we needed to fix on this house.  Things that broke while we have been living here or we discovered were wrong since we moved in.  For example:  Mike is replacing one of the french doors to our office because a pane of glass fell out of the original.  In the process of swapping out door A for door B, Mike discovered the contractor didn't hang the door level or plumb.  Which, in hindsight, probably explains why the previous door never latched closed.  So, instead of just hanging a new door, Mike has taken down all of the trim and door jambs (which involved a saws-all at one point because he couldn't just use the crowbar to pry the stupid things out) and re-shimming everything in place correctly.

Then there is the master bathroom shower door.  There is a piece that goes on the bottom of the door to keep it flush with the track and prevents water from getting into the track.  Unfortunately, that piece fell off more than a year ago.  And, the holes for the screws were stripped, so we couldn't just reattach it.  Our solution was just enter and exit through the other door.  But, now we need to fix it.  So, Mike took off the existing shower door two weekends ago, only to find out that the stock shower doors were too tall.  Our size shower stall required a CUSTOM ORDER shower door (of course) which would take two weeks to get in.  So, we've been showering in the kids bathroom every morning, which frequently wakes Hannah, aka The World's Lightest Sleeper.

Add in the purging, packing, and cleaning (see pictures of my immaculate bathroom and pantry below) associated with moving plus decorating and shopping in preparation for Christmas, and it's a little insane here.  Okay, it's a lot insane.  But, we are trying to focus on the positive:  we are both gainfully employed.  We both work for companies that seem appreciative of our efforts.  And, once we get through the selling/buying/moving process, we will improve our quality of life for us and the kids dramatically.

But, the upside for all our family and friends who still read this blog:  I will probably blog a lot more when I am procrastinating to avoid all the home improvement projects.

:-)

Love, The Trahans