A Timeline

Confession: I love to work because I love the validation

I used to feel guilty for loving to work. I didn't expect the internal struggle I'd have when I had a baby. I worked up until the day I went into labor, and the Personnel Office (My First Real Job) left my position open just in case I wanted to come back. I didn't think it would be a tough decision to stay home. I had always known that once you were a mother you stayed home and that working mothers definitely only worked because they had to. I felt sad about not going back to work, and then I felt like there was something wrong with me for not jumping for joy at the opportunity to stay home with my little girl. Don't get me wrong, I was excited to have a baby and loved being with her. I just found myself missing work.

I still had school to finish, Calli was 18 months old when I graduated with my BS. We were surrounded by other couples doing the same thing, so we traded kids and finished school. Looking back, I wonder how we did it. Scott was finishing his degree in Elementary Education, so he was teaching all day and working as a custodian from 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. every day. He only slept from 4:00-6:00 a.m. then tried to nap after school if he didn't have homework and lesson plans to write before dinner.

I remember nearly having a nervous breakdown minutes before my group was supposed to present in one of my public relations classes. I was out in the hall heaving and hyperventilate trying to pull myself together. I had stayed up almost all night merging and rewriting portions of our project. Calli was sick so I had to bring her with me, and I lost it. It freaked me out because that had never happened to me before. I wasn't the nervous breakdown type. Group projects. Blah. I'm sure they are nice people.

I didn't work after I graduated. Scott got a job in Layton, so we bought a home in Syracuse and lived off of $40 per week. That's when I became The Budget Nazi. All of the other teachers at Scott's school wondered how we did it? It was easy. We used cash only and didn't eat very much. (When I say "much" I don't mean "often," we ate every meal, but very meager portions. Kind of like Survivor. We could dominate that game.) We never bought produce because we couldn't afford it. It would have been wise to eat only produce, but I hated--and still hate--cutting up fruits and vegetables so it probably would have all gone to waste anyway. I used to feel my heart beat rise rapidly at the grocery store as I would add up the cost of groceries I was putting in my cart.

Whenever I am stressed about money, I hide it from Scott. If he knows I'm worried he immediately jumps to the extreme and says he'll quit teaching and find another job. (He denies being an extremist, but whatever.) I hate it when he says that because it means he thinks he's not providing enough for our family. The truth is, I feel like I have failed him by not bugeting well enough. So, I don't tell him. I just smile and say "that's fine" when he approaches me with a purchase he wants to make. Then I go spend hours on Quicken juggling numbers around until I can make it work. I am happy that he is doing what he loves. He wanted to be a teacher from the time he was in 5th grade. I never want him to think I'm not supportive. Sticking to the budget is my way of showing support; I never want him to think I feel we don't have enough. And for the most part, we make it work!

Four months after we moved into our house, my parents arranged with Scott to have one of their pianos moved up to our house as a birthday gift to me. I'll never forget walking into the house and seeing the piano there in the living room! I think I immediately lost all ability to stand on my own because I was instantly on my knees and sobbing. I couldn't believe I had a piano! I was pregnant with Ty at the time, so I started on my plans to teach piano. I passed out more than 500 flyers. I was dreaming big, but the reality was I only got one student from those flyers. The other two were from Scott's school who heard by word of mouth. I was disappointed and realized it was going to take more time to build my studio. (I like to call it a studio even though it's my living room. Maybe someday I'll have a real studio!)

Scott applied for his Master's Degree two years in a row but wasn't accepted; he needed more years of teaching experience.

After we realized that money wasn't going to start pouring in, we did what every sane couple would do, we certified to ref soccer. It was actually pretty good money, but really hard on my emotions. Scott could care less if people yelled at him, but I was like a mama bear ready to attack anyone who complained about his calls. I also felt bad that we had to leave our kids with neighbors or family members when we'd go. We reffed for a couple of years until Scott got head-butted by an assistant coach. To make a long story short, I didn't really like reffing after that. Then I tore my ACL so I had a legitimate reason to quit! Yea ACL!

More than six years have passed since I started teaching and I've built my studio up to 23 and back down to 16 students. I wish I could take on that many students again, but it's time when my family is home. As much as I love teaching, it's really hard when my kids need me and I can't be there for them, and it's really hard for them to understand because they're staring right at me. That's the hardest part of the job. I'm pretty sure my family gets sick of hearing the piano constantly on Mondays and Tuesdays. I'm also pretty sure that that's the underlying reason behind Scott's recent offer to buy me a digital piano!


I started working at Stroops almost a year ago. Stroops is a manufacturer of athletic training equipment and have some really cool patented products! We ship stuff all over the world and to really cool places like The Biggest Loser ranch and professional sports teams. The most recent line is Stroops MMA. (Once they asked if I would fight if they sponsored me. I haven't watched Cinderella Man because I can't even watch Hollywood fights without my stomach churning. There's no way!) Anyway, I really enjoy it there; the people I work with are great, the job is more flexible than I could have hoped for, and I'm getting opportunities to help the company improve. I've worked primarily in Accounts Receivable and built really great relationships with a lot of our customers who now send us money like they're under a spell! I've also had the chance to proofread and write product descriptions for the company's newly marketed athletic products. It's rewarding to be a part of innovation and growth. And we have birthday cake once a month. What's not to love?