Phillips Phamily Updates!

There have been a few things going on around the Phillips’ house since last I wrote on our blog! Maybe you have noticed the lack of blog entries, maybe not. You may be wondering, are the Phillips’ still around? Why is Karen so quiet? That is SO not like her! Then again, maybe you are thinking, yeah! Karen IS quiet! Haha Well, we are here, everyone is well- I am just trying to adjust to our new schedule, one that doesn’t have a lot of sleep at one time.
I have been wanting to contribute to the family finances for a while now. It didn’t seem right that Michael had to be the one doing all the work. I also wanted a job where I wasn’t away from Maddie much at all-she & the older 2 kids are my main priorities! So I got a job delivering newspapers! (I guess I should say “we” got a job delivering newspapers!) Our route is in Cayucos, which is about 5 miles north of us. There are 2 routes for the entire town & we got the good one-not a lot of country & remote deliveries! I started on Sat, April 3rd. The first day I rode with my manager. I met him in San Luis Obispo at 2am at the Tribune parking lot. He taught me how to fold papers & then we were off. I think I got home about 6:30 that morning. We went for a drive on Saturday afternoon to do our route to try to familiarize ourselves with the houses-they look totally different in the day then they do in the dark! We also throw The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s & Investment Business Daily.
Then the next day, Sunday, Michael went with me. After folding our papers-we only had to do 1/3rd of the route ourselves, we were off! It took us quite awhile & was very weird shining a flashlight at houses looking for their addresses! I drove & Michael read the list of who to deliver what to. Michael is still quite humorous at 3 am! He says you just can’t shut it off! Haha
Side note here- PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR HOUSE IS WELL LABELED! If not for your newspaper carrier, for emergency responders! A few of the houses we just had to guess at the address.
I don’t remember what time we finished on Sunday. On Monday, I got up at 1 & was in SLO to get our papers at 1:30. I fold all our papers there (in the parking lot with many other carriers) & then call Michael on my way home, swing by pick him up & off we go again. This day we get to do 2/3rds of our route. Today he drove & I read the addresses. (I like doing it this way much better!) Again I can’t remember when we got home. But we try to be real quiet when we get home, so we can try to get a little sleep before everyone gets up before school. The first week, I don’t think we got too much sleep after delivering!
Then comes the big day-Tuesday! We get the whole route ourselves! I think it’s around 240 papers or so that I fold & bag. But we did it! Did you know McDonalds opens at 5:30??? We have found that out.
On Wednesday’s, we have another local paper that we throw. There are 500 copies of this one! On this day, we throw to the people that have paid for this paper, then the rest of the copies we have until Thur 4:30pm to throw them. So the morning took us a little longer as we had to throw a few more papers. But when we finished our route & got home, I just stayed up & folded the rest of the 500 papers. Maddie went to my folks for lunch & nap, so Michael & I went to throw the rest of those papers. It was kind of confusing at first-who to throw to, but then we got the hang of it & had a blast. We’re just driving up & down the streets chucking papers left & right! Too fun! Really! This paper is stopping publication after 78 years, so we only would be doing it for one more week.
We now have a system down: I get up at 1 & head into SLO to get our papers & fold them. I swing by home, we change drivers & we’re off to Cayucos. I read the list, we have both windows down & are throwing papers out both sides of the car! It’s kind of fun driving down the middle of the main street at 4am. Hardly anyone out. It is also beautiful to see the moon shining on the ocean, watching the white water as the moon makes it look phosphorescent & hearing the bell toll as it bobs on the buoy in the ocean. We enjoy doing this together-it’s our time together-who needs date nights when you have date mornings?! We have given the houses little nick names-art deco house, hidden driveway, 200 porch or stolen, firetruck house, etc. Whatever it takes to help us remember the house. We for sure don’t have it memorized, but are getting quicker! We have had mornings this past week where we were back home & in bed by 4:45! Wohoo! We put approx 60 miles on the car each time we do our route.
Now sleep…that is a whole different story! Haha. I go to bed pretty much after Maddie goes to bed & get my chores down, around 10 or so, get up at 1am, back to bed when we are finished until Maddie gets up-could be 2-3 hours, then try to get a nap when she does. We are adjusting to the new “nap schedule”. My priorities have shifted & sleep has definitely taken a priority to being on my computer. So I am not on it much at all anymore. In fact, I have hardly done any digi pages since my new career! But I think it will all iron out eventually & I will be able to juggle things a little more. I do try to respond to emails, but it just may take me a day or 2 to get to them.
Maybe the bigger, more exciting news is that Lindsay went to London with the Morro Bay High School choir over spring break. This was a trip they worked on fundraising for 2 years. She had a great experience & she is ready to go again. The choir won a gold medal & the Spirit of London award! Way to go MBHS choir! I will try to get some pictures up soon from her trip. It is very nice to have her back home. We missed her.
Finally, the last big news-Lindsay got her driving permit yesterday! Way to go Lindsay! Of course she wants to drive everywhere now! Haha We are very proud of her!
I think you are now caught up in the lives of the Phillips Family!
Thanks for reading!