29 April 2009

On the Bright Side

Whew. The semester is almost over! I went through a mid-term slump, so now I'm playing a little catch-up and sorta cramming for finals. I have my Chemistry final tomorrow. It's actually an optional final, and will only count toward my grade if I get a better score than I did on any of my other tests. Since I got a big fat D on my last exam, the final will be replacing that. It's a cumulative test and I'm really hoping there are more questions from the first two exams (which I actually did okay on) and less questions from the last exam.
Chemistry is really the only class I'm very worried about. I get to have a sheet of notes for my Statistics final. I'll be writing all kinds of formulas (formulae?) on there because the points I missed on previous exams were due to using the wrong formulas at the wrong time. I'll be done with this semester precisely one week from today! Woot!
I'm not going to be taking summer school as originally planned. David has been laid off from the Railroad, so I'll have to become a working mom. I really hope I can get a job as a dental assistant, so I can get some experience for the dental hygiene program and so I don't have to go to Convergys. Blech!
Hopefully David will be picked back up to work soon; there are about twenty people with seniority over him who are also laid off, and business is pretty slow. He will be able to collect Railroad unemployment (not from the government), so there will be some income from that. We have mixed feelings about collecting the unemployment. On the one hand, David and I are both young and able-bodied, and there's really no reason we can't both go get jobs. On the other hand, if David goes out to get a job, he'll have to tell any prospective employers that there's a chance the Railroad will call him back to work the next day, and he'd quit the new job. So we are looking at the unemployment thing as sort of an insurance that he's paid into since he started working at the railroad, and now he's collecting on it. Hopefully not for too long. The Railroad will also continue to provide health insurance (and they'll pay the premiums!) for up to three months for David, and four months (or maybe six--we've heard two different quotes) for the kids and me.
There really is a bright side to all this! The boys have loved having David home more often (and I've appreciated it, too. He folds laundry and empties the dishwasher which are the chores I hate to do most of all)! We've been able to spend lots of family time together. Also, he's been able to make it to all our soccer games (we're in the coed city league again this Spring).
If worse comes to worse, we can always sell a bunch of stuff and move to Arizona City. They've got some good deals on houses there!

6 comments:

abby's photo shoppe said...

I didn't know about the lay off. THat is a HUGE bummer. I hope it gets better for you guys. Good luck on the test and the new prospects on your possible new jobs. I wish there were something I could do for you!
Abba

Laura said...

I can't believe he got laid off! That's hard. Good for you for having a good attitude (it's okay if you want to complain a little bit too, though! I'll listen.). I bet your finals will go well--you are a super-smart chick! We'll send some prayers your way and hope that the next step in your lives will be made clear to you.

Lura said...

Good luck finding a job that you enjoy! Hope Dave is not out of work for too long... we're thinking of you!

Kadee said...

Sorry to hear about the layoff. You seem to be handling it well, good for you!
That'd be great if a dental assistance job came thru!

Nurse Heidi said...

Aw crud. Layoffs are the pits. We've been there :P. I hope for your sake that things pick up soon and he goes back to work.

Unknown said...

Good job looking on the bright side of things. Just think, you'll be done with school before you know it and then you'll be making up for that studying and craming for tests. I am working on my statistics final right now as a matter of fact. Good luck with all that you do, you are in our prayers.

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