Won one for the Brays

I've learned that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them, and less to do with how many years you have lived. ~Anonymous

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I'm not a religious person. I'm sure that probably sounds bad, but let me explain.....I consider myself much more spiritual than religious. I think church is great if you are the type of person that gets something out of it, but I'm not. Maybe its because my father is Hindu and my mother is Catholic. The three of us were raised Catholic..my two sisters went to Catholic school...but I fell astray somewhere after my first communion..yes, I might have been 6 or something. But seriously, I truly think that whatever you believe in is what is true for your life...I, personally, took pieces from each of my parent's religions and made it my own. If you believe in heaven, you will go. If you believe in reincarnation, have fun the next time around....and if you believe that the party's over when the lights go out, make sure you make it worth it ;)

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Recently..well not so much...I posted a blog about couponing and a part-time job I had taken up to help support Corbin's golden milk habit. Just for the record..he's still got it. Yup, his intake has decreased slightly, but that Morton's milk is still being ordered via Ebay and he's still sucking us dry. I'm not going to lie....the job is not my favorite. It feels so wrong, but when you have babies and grow up..sometimes the things in life that suck the most are the most rewarding. My weekly paycheck has helped us off Ramen noodles and my couponing addiction has filled our pantry with the bare necessities..such as Oreos, Pop Tarts, and about 18 hundred boxes of cereal. (Why won't anyone agree that if the store pays you to take them...it is SO worth it?????) Check out my latest deal...guess the price...nope, nope, need a hint....$18 (including 4 pears, 2 sweet potatoes, and 2 peaches for Corbin's food)!!! Oh yeah baby, I saved $78...that's 81%..don't hate, I'll teach you the system ;) I've even had to clear out Corbin's baby cabinet to make room for my loot. I figured I'd give him credit for introducing me to the wonderful world of free crap by taking away his rights to a full cabinet. It only seems fair in my mind. Anyway, here's our story on faith.

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Back in March, Richard became truly fed up with his job. He's been with the company for about 3.5 years and got a huge promotion last year that turned out to be more for the company than for him. It's sad, but I guess that's business. He made a jump from a Financial Reporting Analyst to a Corporate Accounting Manager. We were psyched until Richard took over payroll for the company and realized that they got a steal by promoting him. From that day forward, the chip on his shoulder kept getting heavier. So like most people who feel slighted by their employer...he started looking for a job. I kept saying I hope you get this one..I hope you get that one, but for some reason September sticks out in my mind (I've also posted about how psychic I am..so please forward your questions to me). He went on interviews galore, but the problem was that he was competing with people who had more experience and were older in order to make an upward move. It sucked! Next I quit my job to stay home and we switched insurance...turned out that his company had done a lock in/lock out of dental on January 1. Yes, Corbin was born on the 11th...and by the way...my teeth are crap. It totally felt like it was one thing after another with Richard's job and Corbin's belly. Next the freakin' dog has high liver enzymes....he's going to have to wait. (For the PETA people out there..he's not in any pain, I promise)

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So finally, Richard's recruiter called with a Controller position at a company, literally, three minutes from our house. It definitely seemed way too good to be true, so neither of us had our hopes up. He went, interviewed, and got a second interview...YAY! At this point, I had started forgetting when he had interviews. He went to the second interview last Wednesday and it ended up being "informative" just to let him know about what he would be doing!! It was crazy!! Long story short...after 6-7 months of looking for a job and not giving in when everyone told him he'd never find anything, he got the salary he wanted, a 20% bonus, and DENTAL INSURANCE (this is very exciting to me)...wahoo!!

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It almost feels like the universe is rewarding us. The past 8 months have truly been challenging for our family. Not in this unbearable, I can't believe this is happening to us, sort of way, but in a way that felt like a huge transformation for all of us. We graduated college and both got jobs where we made decent money. We didn't have any children, so we got into this habit of just buying whatever we wanted and not having to think about it...in a semi-reasonable way. Then came Corbin and we became the stereotypical, white picket fence family, but were naive to what it truly means to make it. Mostly because we were spoiled...more me than him I hate to admit. I love staying home with Corbin, but there came a time when what I wanted was not what was important. I needed to help our family through a tough time and in turn, came upon this perfect job to fill the gap while we were figuring things out. We made it through Corbin's colic and learned how to lean on each other for support. We have now come through the next phase of babies...the whole sucking us dry thing....and have learned the true value of money and material possessions. In the end, neither of us really have any desire for those things we bought without concern. With this lesson, Richard found a job that will allow me to keep the stinky part-time job if I want or leave it and do what I really love. I truly believe that when it comes down to it, you don't have to believe in a certain god or set of beliefs to find your way...you just have to believe in something..anything. Then just live it and everything has a way of working itself out. :)