Could it be a bright spot in the horizon I see?

Certainly not in the fertility area. In fact, I am feeling a bit bruised at the fact that I just sent my RE a very LARGE check for my last two (failed…sigh) cycles. Oh, how it hurt to write so many digits on a check with nothing to show for it.

I did make a final decision on David’s school for Kindergarten. It’s not the school I toured (and registered for) last week. It was my last visit to the last private school on my list. And to my surprise it was the BEST school. Expensive (what isn’t?) but was exactly what I was looking for in a school. And I think it meets David’s needs perfectly. I met with the teacher this morning after an initial tour on Saturday, and just loved it.

If you are wondering what we will do if the “catholic school” calls us back from the waiting list… well, it’s a no brainer. It’s a $5k difference in tuition, and I am not stupid.

So, my mind is at least at ease that we finally have a plan. Check that off my list!!

In work news, I found out that essentially I am taking a large paycut for 2008. Isn’t that just fabulous. It wasn’t good enough for hubby to get a 5-digit paycut this year. Now I am in the same boat. Oh, it will be slim pickin’s at the BagMomma house this year. Financial lockdown.

Oh, the bright spot. I’m getting there….

Yes, firming up the education plans was nice, but I’m not giving it full credit because of the money thing…

The bright spot for me today is the extra four weeks vacation I just was granted in addition to the four weeks I already get.

How? It’s called a sabbatical, baby.

You see, I was part of a very large software company acquisition in 1995. And, part of what was grandfathered into my new company was a little thing called a sabbatical.

A sabbatical was a four-week PAID vacation. You have to take all four weeks at once. I got my first one in my 5th year of employment. And because the hostile takeover occurred during that time I was grandfathered a second and final sabbatical at 15 years of employment. Of course, I filed that thought under the “I won’t be at this job for 15 years so who freakin cares” folder.

But guess what? Last month marked my 15th year. And how shit-faced happy was I last week when I called HR to see if my sabbatical was still valid after all those years.

AND IT WAS.

I get one whole month to be a stay at home Mom this summer. And I still get my other four weeks of vacation to take whenever I want this year. I can even tack on to the end of the sabbatical.

Hot damn. I get to disappear from the matrix for a whole month. I’m thinking of doing it late August and September.

I can’t wait.

One month off to cook, clean, organize, be home for my son after school, volunteer, take deep breaths, count my blessings, and file my nails.

So who cares if we just took a financial beating this week. I got something even more valuable than money……..

TIME