Moving

It has been decided, we are moving back to Montana. I will be looking for work in Gillette Wyoming.

I feel comfortable with the idea of looking for work in Wyoming, the unemployment rate for Wyoming is the lowest in the nation sitting around 4% where here in Oregon its at or above 9%. My Dad will be helping us out with the move, and will give us a place to stay until we get on our feet again. We will be living out in the middle of nowhere near the Wyoming/Montana border, about 40 to 50 miles outside of Gillette.
I will miss Oregon, and the people I have met while i have been here.. It will be nice to be back in Montana, where Riley will have a chance to get to know more of her family.. most who have only seen her once when she was 10 months old. It will be good for her to be raised in an area where there is a lot of family.
My father just bought two colts, one will be his and the other will be Chrystal and Stephanie's.. Stephanie is my brothers fiance. They both were raised around horses, and love the idea of being able to work with them again.
I am glad that Chrystal is so open to the idea of living in Montana.. She is nervous about leaving everything she knows here in Oregon, but also glad to get away at the same time. I don't have much keeping me in Oregon.. Most of the good friends I have made here have moved to other states. I will miss the sand dunes, and I will miss how green it is here. I wont miss the rain much, I dont know how many times I would wish it would snow instead of rain this winter
The big moving day is on March 30th. It should take us a couple days to get to Broadus.. I hope the weather is decent, we will be going up to the gorge to attempt to bypass the passes over the Cascades.. There wont be a way to bypass the mountains in western montana. So heres for hoping there wont be any snow storms at the end of March.

first evening after being laid off

I suppose I should have seen it coming. Although I was probably in denial.. How long can one person get away with sitting at work for 8 hours a day and only really work for maybe 3 of those hours. I wasn't being lazy, nor was I trying to avoid having an extra task or two to help keep me busy throughout the day.

When i was able too.. I worked in the fabrication shop covering for Joe (Fab shop manager) while he was at a work site in Utah. I also used my free time to build shelves for my desk, I scavenged through old office furniture from the recently closed machine shop to find a cabinet to organize my shipping supplies... There is only so much a person can do before they end up sweeping the floor.. even though they did that the day before.

I started to think.. "I'm the only person here who knows everything about the shipping/receiving department, why would they get rid of me" or "I can work in more than one department, since they laid off Joe (which happened yesterday) I'm probably the person who will take care of whatever jobs come through for the Fab shop" I guess it was that "I'm irreplaceable" train of though.. Even though I try to remind myself that I am replaceable, so i better do a good job.

So here I am... unemployed, and waiting to see how much unemployment will end up paying. Now I just need to figure out where to go from here.. Do I stay in Oregon, and look for work? Or, do i pack up my family and move back to Montana.. Both options are risky.. I will know more when I know what I have to work with..

I know i will have support from family.. That even bugs me a little.. not the fact that they are willing to help out. But the fact of how many times they have had to help me out.. every time i finally get on level ground something has to happen.. lose a job, turn stupid and chase after a girl (that one shouldnt happen anymore since I'm married), have a kid (I wouldn't trade Riley for the world.. but when we found out we were going to have a baby.. it did throw a wrench in our plans) All i want to do is get our debt paid off, fix my credit.. then someday buy a house for my family to live in...

I guess I can look and the bright side... I do have a lot of good referances to use on job applications. From co-workers to the company CEO.. I must have done something right..