Hubby finally got a new job!!! Yes, it's official!!!

Thanks, jersey. He got home, roses in hand! He was pretty much an absolute BEAR to live with for the past 3 months, so I suppose he's trying, in his way, to make up for that. He's so excited, he's making dinner tomorrow night. My sons come over every Wednesday to spend the day and he's been very aloof, for the most part, since he lost his job. I knew he was feeling bad and angry at himself for losing his last job, but he spent a large amount of time taking it out on me and my sons (his stepsons). He is so psyched! I'm very happy for him, of course. He has a HUGE sense of obligation (although he really doesn't know how to express it very well) and losing that job was a tremendous blow, not only to his self-esteem, but also because he was feeling like a failure. I put up with a lot of crap that he was dishing out for 3 months, believe me! I held my tongue more times than I can remember, because I knew why he was acting that way. There were only a couple of times when I had to "let him have it" for acting like a jackass. I've shown him nothing but support for the most part. I encouraged him throughout this job interview process. I literally dressed him for his face-to-face interview because he had no idea what to expect, or what they would expect. He even thanked me for making him wear a suit and tie! Now, he's telling me that, with this new health insurance package, we can go anywhere in the world and get medical treatment... like we really will, sure. I'd LIKE to, but I won't be holding my breath. I'm just going to enjoy his great mood. It's been quite awhile since I've seen it!

Oh, how happy I am for you! You must be in one of the very best relationships around! Maybe that's because he usually works nights? They say that familiarity breeds contempt and it's true that when we have very little time to spend with our loved ones, we cherish the times we can spend together. But, in these past 3 months, I've been ready to either leave my husband or strangle him! (Just kidding about that last part.) He spent the majority of that time sulking and feeling sorry for himself. He was all but impossible to live with! Hopefully, once he starts this new job, we'll be able to appreciate one another better because he'll be happier and I'll get in my "alone" time.

I sort of know what you have been going through.. I was keeping up on your discussions. That's why I say hopefully your home life will get better. With him feeling better about himself about getting a good job it should up his spirits and hopefully won't drink as much either. Usually men are hard on themselves when they don't feel like they are the one supporting the family. I think after three months of him home I would go nuts too! Or the time would fly and I still wouldn't want him to go back. I don't know...the longest he was on lay off at a time was 6 weeks and that went way too fast and I still didn't want him to go back, but finacially I knew he had too. He was really down on himself during that time to because he didn't feel like he was providing for the family like he thinks he should have been. I told him being home is providing in taking care of the kids. thats good enough for me!

Thank you, leenie, for those kind thoughts. We're both very excited that he was able to get a great job so relatively fast in today's market. He had submitted his resume to every free job recruiting site we could find. I think that's one reason he was able to find such a great job so fast. I feel for you! I feel for you both! I know the kind of frustration that goes along with not finding work when you're willing and able to. I've been through that myself awhile back. If you don't mind me asking, what does your husband do? I know how age can affect, not only our ability to work, but also the willingness of employers to hire you! Age has worked against me, too. Has your husband tried to learn new skills? I'm trying to encourage my son to learn everything he can over the internet and from the library... to learn any and everything he can, just to broaden his knowledge base in order to open more doors for himself. I have been working on building a website of my own to sell hand-made things; good quality hand-made things. My son is great with his hands and has created some very beautiful smaller clay figures to use as pendants for necklaces. Once my website is up and running (hopefully, soon) we're going to try to sell his things. But, I've also tried to encourage him to learn website design. There's a lot on the internet where you can learn for free. That's where I learned how to do it myself. Is your husband good with his hands? Is he any good at gardening? I'm going to be starting my own business this year of rooting cuttings taken from trees and bushes, then selling them to plant nurseries. It's really easy to do because once the cuttings are made and they're in the rooting medium, they pretty much take care of themselves until they're ready to sell. Maybe your husband could give that a try? I bought a program that supposedly has a list of nurseries that buy rooted cuttings in bulk, but I haven't looked it over yet. If your husband is interested, please let me know and I can share that information with him. I can't stand to see anyone looking for work, especially these days with the price of everything rising except for salaries. My youngest son is in that position and takes any odd-jobs he can find. He told me he'd love to help me with my rooted cutting business and, hopefully, I'll be able to hire him full-time soon. I've just recently potted up 10 boxwood cuttings that I successfully rooted and I'm really psyched! That's why I think I'm ready to start doing this on a much larger scale now. Small, one-year-old rooted cuttings can sell for $3.00 to $5.00 if you sell them yourself and most of that is profit! I can sell my rooted cuttings to nurseries for around $2.00 apiece and, since all I have to pay for is the pot (I make my own compost) I'm still going to make money. I decided to try this out of desperation, mainly, because I didn't know how long my husband would be out of work. But, even with him getting this new job, I still want to go ahead with it to be able to put some extra money in the bank. It's just a thought, though. I always try to help when I can, especially with my extended 'family' here at myLot. Best wishes and good luck to you and your husband!

Hey MW! What's this about Paxil? I took that for about 7 years! It didn't help me, but why did you have a lawsuit against it? I'm almost afraid to hear the answer! I did hear some stuff about it! I've been off it for a little over 1 year now! Should I be worried?