As you all know I generally refrain from posting personal life things here, I try to keep it about sewing and quilting and nothing else. But once in a while I do post about life in general on here.

In August my husband and I separated. It was a rough time for myself and the kids but we are making it through. I made the decision to come home. Home for me is Massachusetts, it is where I was born and raised and my family is here.

As a single mother I knew I would no longer be able to be a stay-at-home mom, so I went searching for a job and found a great one. The interview process was brutal!! First I had a phone interview, computer tests, then an in person interview with HR and then another in person interview with the department manager and two supervisors. I walked out of that building at 1pm feeling certain I blew it. It's my understanding that most people feel that way after exiting an interview. Only four hours later I got a phone call and a job offer, which I accepted. For days I was floating on a cloud because while I had applied to a lot of jobs this was the job I really wanted, the one I was really hoping I would get.... and I got it!! Then of course I had to pass a background check and previous employment verification (side note for the self-employed out there: save everything because you might need it some day).

Where I work they genuinely care about their employees. I do not dread getting up and going to work every day, I look forward to it. I love the people I work with, I love sitting at my desk with a bazillion pictures of my kids around me, I love helping people. The benefits are great too.

Anyway, once I had a job I was able to get a place for me and the kids. Then of course I had to go back to New Hampshire to get all of our stuff. Everything happened so fast.

As for daycare, I have always been a stay at home mother because I don't trust strangers to take care of my kids the way I do, plus you're always seeing these daycare stories on the news. I once did put my kids in daycare and that was a horrible experience and I said I would never do it again, and I didn't. But yet again things just worked out for me. My cousin and I grew up together and have always been close, but as adults we are best friends and wouldn't you know she's been running her own daycare for over 12 years, and what better person than her to watch my kids while I'm working? The one place that I know they are safe, loved and taken care of. She is the main reason I came home.

I can honestly say that I have struggled, I have questioned decisions I've made in the past, I've re-evaluated my life and the people in it, I have learned who is there for me and who is not. I have also seen just how generous and loving people can be. Being separated has been hard, but I can honestly say that I am blessed, I am strong. I literally went from having absolutely nothing to having more than I could have hoped for in just four short months. I am extremely grateful for my family and their undying support, I am so proud of  my children for getting through this with me. And quite frankly I am proud of myself for not falling apart, for going through all that I went through and never once letting my kids see me beaten or broken. My kids will always remember that I was there for them, that I never let them want or need for anything, that even in the midst of my own life falling apart I made sure that theirs did not.

Enough of the emotional babble. Basically I've been gone and now I'm back.

While I do love my job and life is really great right now I don't really have a whole lot of time to sew and quilt, but you know once I got everything unpacked the first thing I did was start a new quilt!! A mini quilt I'm hoping to finish before Christmas for my Aunt. She also quilts so I'm taking a single block from Snapshots and making it a wall hanging. A sewing machine, of course, which is free as I'm sure you are all aware, and you can find the pattern here.